Winchester (2018)

The Winchester mansion in San Jose, California is a real place, built in the early 20th century by Sarah Winchester. It’s a massive place with doors that lead nowhere and hundreds of rooms all built to keep any spirits killed by the Winchester rifle at bay. I felt as though the film wanted to make some sort of commentary about gun violence, but decided at the last minute to become a standard horror film full of jump scares. The movie stars Helen Mirren and Jason Clarke and it’s easy to spot the scares a mile away. 

The Wrong Missy (2020)

Tim (David Spade) has met the woman of his dreams. Unfortunately her name is Melissa (Molly Sims) and right before meeting her he went on the worst date with a different Melissa (Lauren Lapkus), and by the title you can probably guess which one he invited to join him on his company retreat.

This is not an original concept. This is the latest Happy Madison Productions flick to stream on Netflix and it has all the characteristics of every Happy Madison film that came before. The Missy that joins Tim on this trip is incredibly obnoxious. It’s the perfect way to balance Tim’s blandness. 

Tim hates that Missy is there until he doesn’t. Of course he ends up falling for Missy and all her undesirable qualities. Lapkus embraces the role fully and she will go anywhere required for her role. She plays it a little too well as there was nothing likable about her character. The filmmakers would have us root for this romance, but it’s difficult especially since the perfect Melissa is well, perfect. Still, you’re not expecting anything else while watching it so it is what it is.

Hamilton (2020)

Hamilton has been on my radar since my summer as an acting apprentice at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. It quickly became something I added to my watch list. Unfortunately, it became a show that only certain people could watch as the prices were exorbitantly high. Now it’s streaming on Disney +. 

Getting to see a show I’ve been wanting to watch for years from home was cool. It was also a grim reminder that there’s nothing like live theatre and at this point it’s not clear when we’ll be able to enjoy it again. There is also aspects of the show that are problematic and should be acknowledged.

The show is centered around the founding fathers, though they’re much cooler than they ever were in real life. The fact that they were slave owners is also glossed over. Still, I believe it’s worth a watch.

Hamilton had been a work in progress for six years. It opened at New York’s Public Theatre before transferring to Broadway in 2015. Alexander Hamilton and hip hop is an odd combination, but it works incredibly well. The show was recorded while the original cast was still performing.

The first act of Hamilton takes place during the revolutionary war. The entire cast is dynamic. The big show stopping songs are impressive to watch and it’s apparent that the cast, led by creator Lin Manuel Miranda, is having a blast. It’s also beautiful to see all the color on the stage. Hamilton proved that actors of color are more than capable of playing roles they otherwise wouldn’t be cast as. 

The resurgence of Hamilton fever has brought up criticisms about the show’s ability to gloss over the ugly aspects of the country’s origins. Hamilton himself wasn’t as anti slavery as the show makes him out to be.

Miranda also portrays Hamilton as an immigrant. Hamilton was born in the Caribbean, but again Miranda’s portrayal isn’t an accurate representation of Hamilton. It is very clear why Miranda took this creative liberty. It’s beautiful to hear a founding father say “Immigrants get sh!t done” as he’s portrayed by someone who would not have been able to do so even just a few years back.

It’s marvelous to get to watch this show, but I’m sure it doesn’t compare to getting to see it live. Still, there are perks to the filmed version, mainly getting to see certain details up close that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to see in a theatre especially if you’re sitting far from the stage. The second act takes place after the revolutionary war and it’s much quieter than the first act and it truly benefits from the close ups. Still, even in the faster, louder moments, the camera work doesn’t leave you wanting for anything other than the energy you can only get from a live audience.

I’m glad that I finally got to watch this show even if it was on the small screen. The show isn’t perfect. That being said, I believe it should continue to be celebrated for what it was able to accomplish. We can critique it and grow from it as performers, producers, etc. and hopefully use it as a spring board to make Broadway the equitable, equal, diverse place we deserve and yearn for.

18 Regali

18 Regali is an Italian film with English subtitles and it focuses on Anna (Benedetta  Porcaroli) as she struggles to cope with the death of her mother Elisa (Vittoria Puccini). Elisa was diagnosed with cancer during her pregnancy and died shortly after giving birth to Anna, but before dying she bought Anna 18 presents, one for each year until reaching adulthood. Anna is filled with grief the older she gets until it overwhelms her and she rebels. On her 18th birthday she runs away and an event afterwards leads her to find the closure she needs.

The film is inspired by Elisa Girotto who similarly left 18 presents for her unborn daughter after her own cancer diagnosis. That’s where the similarities end. The rest is purely a work of fiction. Elisa and Anna actually meet in a dream of Anna’s. Both get to meet each other, something they were unable to do in life.

Anna is a highly annoying character and it seems like she will never redeem herself.  She does and the film ends on a beautifully bittersweet note.

Arctic Dogs (2019)

This is a cute enough, but it’s definitely aimed at children and thus has little substance. In a little village way up North called Taigaville lives a group of arctic animals including our hero Swifty (Jeremy Renner). After an encounter with the delivery dogs of the arctic delivery service as a child, Swifty dreams of joining their ranks when he’s older.

As an adult he finally gets a job working for the service, but manning the conveyor built that leads the packages to be sorted. He begs his boss Magda (Anjelica Huston) to let him join the delivery team, but she continues to refuse his request as he’s too small. After a package misses the delivery deadline, Swifty decides to deliver if himself in order to prove his worth. 

Of course there is more to this story and it actually gets a little bloated as it tries to cram a message about environmentalism in the form of an evil walrus (John Cleese) who is determined to dig deep under the town to a reserve of natural gas. He’s of course defeated, changes are made in the delivery system and everything ends happily. It’s a lot to cram into a short running time, but the animals are cute and the story passable.

All Day and a Night (2020)

All Day and a Night follows Jahkor (Ashton Sanders) a boy who was taught to man up and never express his feelings. He keeps things bottled up, but after committing crimes, he’s determined to come out of jail a changed man.

The film is written and directed by Joe Robert Cole, as he shows how dangerous and vicious cycles can be ingrained from father to son in each generation. 

The film opens as Jahkor kills a father and mother in front of their daughter. He is caught and after the trial he begins to recount the events that have led to this point in his life.

Jahkor wants to be a rapper, but he’s learned to survive on the streets by committing crimes. His father JD (Jeffrey Wright) is in jail for most of the film for the same reasons. 

Things change for Jahkor after learning that is girlfriend (Shakira Ja’Nai Payne) is pregnant. The film realistically explores how sometimes people want to make a change for the better, but circumstances prevent them from rising above the obstacles in their way.

The only moments that weren’t clear to me were the moments with Jahkor and JD in jail together as it took me a while to realize that the man Jahkor was interacting with in jail was his father. Otherwise though, Jeffrey Wright was great in the role as per usual.

This was my first time watching Sanders and he did a phenomenal job as well. He played Jahkor with a sense of longing for what could have been, but ultimately what can be and you truly believe he will come out of this a changed man for the good of his son.

Aladdin (2019)

Aladdin Review

Cult of Chucky (2017)

Honestly, as a demented child, the second installment in the “Child’s Play” franchise was my favorite as a kid for a while. I never knew how long the Chucky franchise existed after this, but we found this one, which is apparently the seventh, on Netflix. There’s strong evidence after watching this that a Chucky should have stayed dead a long time ago. Cult of Chucky is ridiculously silly and I’m not sure even horror fans would enjoy this.

This film is written and directed by Don Mancini. I enjoyed this film simply because it was so bad and so ridiculous, I couldn’t help laughing at the situations occurring on screen. This film is currently streaming on Netflix if you’d like to check it out for yourself and get some good laughs in.

I haven’t seen anything after Child’s Play 2, but this film clear picks up after the events of what was probably the sixth film in the franchise. Nica (Fiona Dourif) is in a wheelchair and after finally giving in to her psychotherapist Foley (Michael Therriault) by saying that she in fact committed some murders and not Chucky, she’s moved to a lower security asylum. To continue her healing in therapy he brings in a good guy doll and of course, this proves to be a mistake.

Also appearing in the film are Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) from the first Child’s Play installments and the Bride of Chucky herself, Tiffany (Jennifer Tilley). I’m really only familiar with Andy, but Tiffany is well known as the Bride.

Cult of Chucky has a slow start. We see the pristinely white asylum where the patients live and we get glimpses into their therapy sessions, but things don’t start to pick up until Chucky shows up on the scene and the killings begin. 

More than one killer doll exists in the asylum and they take pleasure in killing the residents in over the top, but never too gruesome ways. As I said, I got more laughs out of this film than anything else.

The good news is that this film is relatively short. The bad news, this is as over the top as ridiculous as a horror movie can get. For being the lead Fiona Dourif isn’t used much and I wish she had been. I don’t know if more films will be added to this franchise (I believe the latest iteration is a reboot), but I wouldn’t be surprised if this storyline continued down the line, especially since the reboot flopped. I wouldn’t be surprised if Nica, Tiffany and Chucky joined forces again and honestly, I might watch it especially if I’ll get a good laugh out of it.