Quiz Lady (2023) | REVIEW

Awkwafina and Sandra Oh in Jessica Yu’s Quiz Lady — PHOTO: 20th Century Studios.

Directed by Jessica Yu — Screenplay by Jen D’Angelo.

Jessica Yu’s Quiz Lady follows Anne (played by Awkwafina), a young woman with social anxiety and an obsession with a certain game show named ‘Can’t Stop the Quiz.’ One day, she is informed that her mother has fled the home that she was in and left for Macau presumably to gamble and get out of her gambling debt in America. This information also reaches Anne’s older sister Jenny (played by Sandra Oh), who is a decidedly more outgoing party girl, and they reconnect for a few days. On one of those days, Jenny secretly records and uploads a video of Anne watching her favorite game show. It becomes an instant hit online as Anne knows every single answer to every single question.

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Loki: Season Two (2023) | REVIEW

Tom Hiddleston as Loki in Marvel Studios’ LOKI, Season 2, exclusively on Disney+. © 2023 MARVEL.

It’s no secret that since the launch of Disney+ required Marvel Studios to produce a litany of superhero series, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been in a bit of an identity crisis, which is also partly due to how the Marvel films in the post-Avengers: Endgame era haven’t always felt like they were pushing the overarching story forward in exciting ways that also spoke to its characters and their growth. There are always exceptions — like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 on the film side or Wandavision on the streaming series side — but Marvel Studios has lately been feeling like it’s been stuck in mud, with the release of the star-studded but already forgotten Secret Invasion, which crash-landed, being a notable attempt that failed to really find an audience or audience excitement. Because of all of this it feels really good to be able to say that Loki: Season 2 is a return to form for Marvel — it’s a great show and one of the very best things that’s been put out by Marvel Studios since the release of the outstanding Avengers: Endgame.

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Ahsoka: Season One (2023) | REVIEW

Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano in AHSOKA — PHOTO: Disney+ / Lucasfilm.

Series created by Dave Filoni — Episodes directed by Dave Filoni, Steph Green, Peter Ramsey, Jennifer Getzinger, Geeta Vasant Patel, and Rick Famuyiwa.

Ever since the now-Disney-owned Star Wars franchise ended its sequel film trilogy to mixed reception in 2019, the stories about a galaxy of heroes set a long time ago have had its live-action portion relegated to streaming television, even though its films once revolutionized and forever changed Hollywood. On the one hand, it makes sense to try to grow the franchise on the small screen and win over new audiences that may one day follow the lasersword-wielding heroes back to the big screen. However, what I find to currently be the case is that rather than telling bold new stories to gain a new audience on the small screen, what the head honchos at Lucasfilm are doing is, instead, servicing die-hard fans. Now, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing if the shows are executed at a relatively high level, but, more often than not, what we have been getting are these almost vapid easter-egg-filled series that either don’t have enough meat on the bone to justify a full series (and thus ought to have been a film instead) or a series that doesn’t have enough episodes to have complete and rich story and character arcs.

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Ed Sheeran’s The Sum of It All is Better Than Your Average Modern Music Documentary | Review

Everyone gets a documentary nowadays. Whether it’s Apple TV+, Disney+, or Netflix, you can find several documentaries highlighting musicians. Naturally, some of these documentaries are more fascinating than others. Some music documentaries are put out to function as tell-all documentations of a tour or the construction of an album, others function as these musician origin stories that are obviously heavily constructed by the musician so that the right story is told from their point of view. The very best music documentaries get to find a way under the skin of their artist. On the surface, this Ed Sheeran docu-series may look exactly like one of the many unremarkable types of music documentaries. But once you dive right in and follow along, you are met with the kind of documentary that goes more than merely skin deep.

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REVIEW: Clock (2023)

Dianna Agron in CLOCK — PHOTO: 20th Digital Studio / Hulu / Disney+.

Directed by Alexis Jacknow — Screenplay by Alexis Jacknow.

Alexis Jacknow’s Clock follows Ella (played by Dianna Agron), a woman constantly questioned for not wanting children of her own, as she decides to check herself into a clinical trial for cognitive therapy that could kickstart her biological clock. However, after having undergone behavioral therapy, Ella starts having these terrifying visions that interrupt her daily life and shake her to her core.

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REVIEW: Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022)

(L-R): Dale (voiced by Andy Samberg) and Chip (voiced by John Mulaney) in Disney’s live-action CHIP ‘N DALE: RESCUE RANGERS, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Disney Enterprises, Inc. © 2022 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Directed by Akiva Schaffer – Screenplay by Dan Gregor & Doug Mand.

From the director of the hilarious pop-mockumentary Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers is a Who Framed Roger Rabbit?-style live-action and animation blended film wherein the animated characters Chip and Dale (voiced by John Mulaney and Andy Samberg, respectively) are actors who starred in their very own television show — i.e. the real-life television show of the same name — but who, thirty years later, have gone their separate ways and lost touch. When their old co-star Monterey Jack (voiced by Eric Bana), who has a ‘stinky cheese addiction,’ is kidnapped by the so-called Valley Gang, Chip and Dale must work together to find and save Monterey Jack before he is forced to be a part of the Valley Gang’s bootlegging business.

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Goodbye 2021: Vaccinations, Variants, and Streaming

Sometimes once a year comes to an end, I like to close it out with a few thoughts on the year that is about to be behind us. Just last year, I spent a lot of my Goodbye 2020 article on the state of the film and movie theater industries during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it certainly seems like this edition of these New Year’s Eve articles will have to have a similar focus.

Because while I do think it’s possible to see a light at the end of the tunnel since most people are accepting the vaccines, it is also true that the world isn’t completely out of the woods yet (in part due to the various different variants of the contagious disease that has dictated our lives for a very long time now). But what has all of this meant for the aforementioned industries and, more broadly, the ‘movie year’ that was 2021? Well, let’s talk about that.

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REVIEW: Jungle Cruise (2021)

Emily Blunt as Lily Houghton, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as Frank, and Jack Whitehalll as MacGregor Houghton in Disney’s JUNGLE Cruise — Available now in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access — Photo: Disney / Disney+.

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra — Screenplay by Michael Green, Glenn Ficarra, and John Requa.

There are many films that have been turned into theme park attractions as a direct result of their popularity. However, the reverse doesn’t happen successfully as frequently. We rarely see great films that are instead based on popular attractions. Disney did find that kind of success, when Gore Verbinski turned the Pirates of the Caribbean-attraction into a beloved film franchise. It wasn’t Disney first or last attempt at making a successful film out of one of their many theme park attractions, but they have all mostly failed to garner the same success that Verbinski’s beloved films did.

Some of the not-so-successful attempts include the Eddie Murphy-led The Haunted Mansion and Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland. Jaume Collet-Serra’s Jungle Cruise is based on the Disney attraction of the same name, and, even though it is not a true home run for Disney, I think it’s definitely the best of its kind since Verbinski’s swashbuckling action-adventure trilogy set sail.

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Additional Bite-Sized Reviews, Summer ’21: ‘Mare of Easttown,’ ‘Cruella,’ and More

Emma Stone as ‘Cruella’ in Disney’s live-action ‘CRUELLA’ — Photo: Disney / Disney+.

In this edition of my monthly movie and television catch-up article series titled ‘Additional Bite-Sized Reviews,’ I reveal my mixed thoughts on the Emma Stone-vehicle Cruella, and then I recommend three television shows, one of which I’ve been meaning to review for several months. This edition of Additional Bite-Sized Reviews is jam-packed!

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REVIEW: Luca (2021)

“Luca” Still Image – Photo: Disney / Pixar.

Directed by Enrico Casarosa — Screenplay by Jesse Andrews & Mike Jones.

Pixar’s Luca, which is available to watch right now with a Disney+ subscription, is a, pardon the pun, fish-out-of-water coming-of-age story about Luca (voiced by Jacob Tremblay), a teenage sea monster, who is curious about what exactly happens above the surface of the water. His parents — voiced by Maya Rudolph and Jim Gaffigan — tell him to stay away from the surface out of a fear that the sea monster-fearing humans might catch him. But Luca, like another Disney-protagonist once sang, wants to be where the people are.

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