Y2/D256 - Dinner & the Movies!
Nov. 27th, 2021 07:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatMilestone - I went to my first movie and ate inside my first restaurant with a friend since March 2020. The last time I did that was on March 8, 2020.
Movie Buddy (aka cjl) and I went to see the 1:45pm show at the Regal Cinema's on Court Street - or downtown Brooklyn.The movie house was semi-crowded.
They required proof of vaccination. (I have two apps saved on my phone providing proof of vaccination - so I whipped that out. And showed my id. I need to start using the NYC app which has the id and vaccine card, the NYS app just has the vaccine card. ) CJL had the tickets saved on his phone.
We sat towards the left side of the theater, on the aisle. What was interesting was the bulk of the audience sat on the right side of the theater - they had soda and popcorn, and no masks. While those of us who sat on the right side, wore masks, and were more distanced from each other.
We weren't eating popcorn or drinking any soda. Also the groups of folks seemed to sit on the left side.
There were about - give or take, forty people total in the theater. Approximately ten percent wore masks. We were social distanced. There were two seats between CJL and the folks sitting in the other seats on our row. I sat on the aisle, with one person in front of us, and we were elevated like on bleachers with our seats.
(I felt safe, and again, no one was allowed into the theater without proof of vaccination. In NYC, you cannot eat inside restaurants, go to a movie theater, a gym, concert venue, or Broadway show - without proof of vaccination. We all have apps on our phone with our vaccine information saved, plus our ID. One guy and his family of five, (white family), tried to get in line and get tickets, and was turned away because they didn't have "proof" of vaccination. They were pissed - they'd come a long way and apparently didn't see that on their website. Which is odd since this is kind of known - the newspapers, everyone has reported that everyone needs a proof of vaccine to enter the theater - they even had something on the door stating it.)
The Eternals directed by Chloe Zhao.
So we saw the Eternals. Does it need to be seen in a movie theater? Eh, yes and no. There's action sequences that use the whole screen - which may get cut off on a television. Zhao utilizes the whole screen in a way few directors do. For example? In Nomadaland she shows the van and the desolation of the camp around it, with the lone cacti - and it really needs a wide screen to get the scope. (I saw Nomadaland on a 55 inch screen.) Here, we have an action sequence between Mikali and Icarus - where she uses her speed to beat him down - and it just doesn't work without that scope.
Eternals is an uneven film, in that where it exceeds in action sequences, character development, plot, and theme - it fails in pacing, and focus. The central character, Circe, is oddly the weakest link. We know the least about her - and she's kind of a cypher, without a strong personality. The strongest most interesting characters are supporting, or killed off.
That said, it has some nice surprises. I'm not certain the romantic elements quite worked - I didn't care about Circe and Icarus' failed romance, nor was I invested in Gilgamesh and Thena's as much as I should have been, while I wanted more of Diurg and Mikalia's. But the motivations of each character made sense, and they were all built well - considering it had a huge cast - that's impressive.
Weirdly, Kit Harrington's Dane Whittmore had more impact than expected. (He wasn't a main character in this film.) I actually missed him when he wasn't on-screen. I didn't expect that at all. He brought a sense of humor to the proceedings. And his banter with Circe and Sprite was entertaining.
I had to rely on cjl to tell me who Dane was, and it is revealed after the credit sequence, but being unfamiliar with this section of the Marvel Universe - I needed his expertise. The Black Knight from the Arthuriarian Legends. Which explains the Excalibur reference that Thena makes, and Dane's assumption that Circe is a wizard..
What also doesn't quite work in it is ..the inconsistencies. It doesn't quite make sense that no one realizes that the earth is doomed by a celestial, or that the Celestials don't interfere with Thanos or ask the Eternals to interfere with Thanos.
But the villains in this are well drawn and very "grey". They aren't "evil". Nor are the good guys, necessarily "good". Which makes them a touch more interesting, along with the story line. It doesn't go the cliche route. And it introduces a gay Marvel Universe character - who has a husband and a kid, and is black. Also highly intelligent. That's kind of a big deal for a superhero film. The diversity of the cast, and the choice to go with POC as the heroes, and white guys as supporting or not heroes...is an interesting decision. Ajax is played by Selma Hayak - she's the original leader. If this film had been made ten to twenty years ago, it would have been someone like James Brolin or Nick Nolte or Scean Bean. We've come a long way.
Just the other day, on Twitter, someone asked why Superman was a "White Male Straight American" - and I tweeted because two white male immigrant Jewish Americans who happened to be straight created him in the 1930s. But, in a couple of years? We'll have a new iteration created by Ta-Hanesi Coates who is Black. The world is changing, finally, in bits and pieces.
Overall? I enjoyed it. May even re-watch when it makes it to Disney Plus.
So a solid B effort, in my opinion. I liked Black Widow slightly better, but this entertained me more than some other things have.
**
After the movie, we ate at Bareburger in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, about two blocks away. Inside. Without masks. There weren't that many people there. Kind of weird in a way. Pre-pandemic - it would have been a bustling restaurant, with a ton of folks in it. Now, there were maybe ten people if that.
I was struck by how few restaurants were open now, and how little people were about for 6pm on a Saturday night. Usually it's more bustling than this. It was earlier.
**
When I returned from my outing, a black kitten was sitting outside my neighbor's door, crying faintly. Too faint, I think to be heard. She (I found out it was a she) looked up at me with plaintive eyes, a little scared and lost. "Are you lost kitty? Is this your home? I'd let you into my home - but I don't have anything for kitties." I want inside my apartment thinking they'd discover her eventually. Thought for a moment. Decided to peek out again to see if they had. Nope. So I got up the nerve to ring their bell.
Neighbor: Who is it?
Me: There's a cute black kitty curled up outside your door waiting to come in.
Neighbor (bearded fellow) opens the door: Oooh, where did you find her? We were missing her and looked everywhere.
Me: I didn't find her anywhere. I just came home and there she was.
Neighbor looks at me : Where do you live?
Me: Right here - I point at my door. She was right there.
Neighbor looks down at kitty, who has came into his apartment and climbed up on his counter top to peer at me in thanks.
Neighbor: So you're living right there -
Me: Yup. (I smile at kitty and the little boy peeking at me from behind him. BTW its a tiny one bedroom apartment, smaller than mine - and he has a kid, another roommate, and two cats, and a bike. SMH - NYC living.)
Neighbor: It's amazing that she knew where to find us. Wow. And thank you for letting us know.
Me: You're welcome and no problem.
My good deed for the night. I often talk to animals - I look into their eyes, and its all there.
And yes, I wish I could take care of a few too. Maybe some day, I'll volunteer at an animal shelter.
**
Random photo of the night...sunrise in Brooklyn, picture taken from top floor of movie theater...
Movie Buddy (aka cjl) and I went to see the 1:45pm show at the Regal Cinema's on Court Street - or downtown Brooklyn.The movie house was semi-crowded.
They required proof of vaccination. (I have two apps saved on my phone providing proof of vaccination - so I whipped that out. And showed my id. I need to start using the NYC app which has the id and vaccine card, the NYS app just has the vaccine card. ) CJL had the tickets saved on his phone.
We sat towards the left side of the theater, on the aisle. What was interesting was the bulk of the audience sat on the right side of the theater - they had soda and popcorn, and no masks. While those of us who sat on the right side, wore masks, and were more distanced from each other.
We weren't eating popcorn or drinking any soda. Also the groups of folks seemed to sit on the left side.
There were about - give or take, forty people total in the theater. Approximately ten percent wore masks. We were social distanced. There were two seats between CJL and the folks sitting in the other seats on our row. I sat on the aisle, with one person in front of us, and we were elevated like on bleachers with our seats.
(I felt safe, and again, no one was allowed into the theater without proof of vaccination. In NYC, you cannot eat inside restaurants, go to a movie theater, a gym, concert venue, or Broadway show - without proof of vaccination. We all have apps on our phone with our vaccine information saved, plus our ID. One guy and his family of five, (white family), tried to get in line and get tickets, and was turned away because they didn't have "proof" of vaccination. They were pissed - they'd come a long way and apparently didn't see that on their website. Which is odd since this is kind of known - the newspapers, everyone has reported that everyone needs a proof of vaccine to enter the theater - they even had something on the door stating it.)
The Eternals directed by Chloe Zhao.
So we saw the Eternals. Does it need to be seen in a movie theater? Eh, yes and no. There's action sequences that use the whole screen - which may get cut off on a television. Zhao utilizes the whole screen in a way few directors do. For example? In Nomadaland she shows the van and the desolation of the camp around it, with the lone cacti - and it really needs a wide screen to get the scope. (I saw Nomadaland on a 55 inch screen.) Here, we have an action sequence between Mikali and Icarus - where she uses her speed to beat him down - and it just doesn't work without that scope.
Eternals is an uneven film, in that where it exceeds in action sequences, character development, plot, and theme - it fails in pacing, and focus. The central character, Circe, is oddly the weakest link. We know the least about her - and she's kind of a cypher, without a strong personality. The strongest most interesting characters are supporting, or killed off.
That said, it has some nice surprises. I'm not certain the romantic elements quite worked - I didn't care about Circe and Icarus' failed romance, nor was I invested in Gilgamesh and Thena's as much as I should have been, while I wanted more of Diurg and Mikalia's. But the motivations of each character made sense, and they were all built well - considering it had a huge cast - that's impressive.
Weirdly, Kit Harrington's Dane Whittmore had more impact than expected. (He wasn't a main character in this film.) I actually missed him when he wasn't on-screen. I didn't expect that at all. He brought a sense of humor to the proceedings. And his banter with Circe and Sprite was entertaining.
I had to rely on cjl to tell me who Dane was, and it is revealed after the credit sequence, but being unfamiliar with this section of the Marvel Universe - I needed his expertise. The Black Knight from the Arthuriarian Legends. Which explains the Excalibur reference that Thena makes, and Dane's assumption that Circe is a wizard..
What also doesn't quite work in it is ..the inconsistencies. It doesn't quite make sense that no one realizes that the earth is doomed by a celestial, or that the Celestials don't interfere with Thanos or ask the Eternals to interfere with Thanos.
But the villains in this are well drawn and very "grey". They aren't "evil". Nor are the good guys, necessarily "good". Which makes them a touch more interesting, along with the story line. It doesn't go the cliche route. And it introduces a gay Marvel Universe character - who has a husband and a kid, and is black. Also highly intelligent. That's kind of a big deal for a superhero film. The diversity of the cast, and the choice to go with POC as the heroes, and white guys as supporting or not heroes...is an interesting decision. Ajax is played by Selma Hayak - she's the original leader. If this film had been made ten to twenty years ago, it would have been someone like James Brolin or Nick Nolte or Scean Bean. We've come a long way.
Just the other day, on Twitter, someone asked why Superman was a "White Male Straight American" - and I tweeted because two white male immigrant Jewish Americans who happened to be straight created him in the 1930s. But, in a couple of years? We'll have a new iteration created by Ta-Hanesi Coates who is Black. The world is changing, finally, in bits and pieces.
Overall? I enjoyed it. May even re-watch when it makes it to Disney Plus.
So a solid B effort, in my opinion. I liked Black Widow slightly better, but this entertained me more than some other things have.
**
After the movie, we ate at Bareburger in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, about two blocks away. Inside. Without masks. There weren't that many people there. Kind of weird in a way. Pre-pandemic - it would have been a bustling restaurant, with a ton of folks in it. Now, there were maybe ten people if that.
I was struck by how few restaurants were open now, and how little people were about for 6pm on a Saturday night. Usually it's more bustling than this. It was earlier.
**
When I returned from my outing, a black kitten was sitting outside my neighbor's door, crying faintly. Too faint, I think to be heard. She (I found out it was a she) looked up at me with plaintive eyes, a little scared and lost. "Are you lost kitty? Is this your home? I'd let you into my home - but I don't have anything for kitties." I want inside my apartment thinking they'd discover her eventually. Thought for a moment. Decided to peek out again to see if they had. Nope. So I got up the nerve to ring their bell.
Neighbor: Who is it?
Me: There's a cute black kitty curled up outside your door waiting to come in.
Neighbor (bearded fellow) opens the door: Oooh, where did you find her? We were missing her and looked everywhere.
Me: I didn't find her anywhere. I just came home and there she was.
Neighbor looks at me : Where do you live?
Me: Right here - I point at my door. She was right there.
Neighbor looks down at kitty, who has came into his apartment and climbed up on his counter top to peer at me in thanks.
Neighbor: So you're living right there -
Me: Yup. (I smile at kitty and the little boy peeking at me from behind him. BTW its a tiny one bedroom apartment, smaller than mine - and he has a kid, another roommate, and two cats, and a bike. SMH - NYC living.)
Neighbor: It's amazing that she knew where to find us. Wow. And thank you for letting us know.
Me: You're welcome and no problem.
My good deed for the night. I often talk to animals - I look into their eyes, and its all there.
And yes, I wish I could take care of a few too. Maybe some day, I'll volunteer at an animal shelter.
**
Random photo of the night...sunrise in Brooklyn, picture taken from top floor of movie theater...
no subject
Date: 2021-11-28 10:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-11-28 08:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-11-28 12:55 pm (UTC)As I said in our dinnertime discussion, this was about two-thirds of a really good movie. It would have been a much better movie if it weren't tethered to the MCU. Eternals was always one of Jack Kirby's loopier cosmic creations for Marvel, and it was an awkward fit even in regular comix continuity. It's worse here. The idea that the Celestials would do nothing about Thanos--who was a direct threat to their carefully seeded plans--almost breaks the movie before it even starts.
(And if someone out there says, "I don't care about the continuity of the MCU," then you're not really the audience for this movie anyway.)
The other main problem of this movie is Gemma Chan as Sersi. She's astonishingly bland, almost superhero wallpaper. Admittedly, some of that is due to the plot: Sersi is supposed to be underestimated, her full power unseen by the rest of the Eternals until the moment of final crisis. But Chan underplays her to the point of invisibility. Yes, Sersi is kind and very very pretty, but you kind of scratch your head why two weird and complicated guys like Ikaris and Dane Whitman go gaga over her.
No problem with the rest of the cast. As you said, vivid characterization with clear motivations for just about everyone. Excellent, excellent work by Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos and Barry Keoghan as the mind-controlling Druig, who brought home the philosophical conflicts in the material.
Chloe Zhao could have easily cut 15-20 minutes of runtime, especially in the beginning; it wouldn't have lost anything important and might have improved the pacing. But I can understand why she didn't want to lose any of her historical tableaux. They're so colorful and beautifully shot, it seems a shame to a lose a minute.
But hey, as they say in writing, sometimes you gotta kill your babies.
Not a full-fledged disaster (as I've read in some reviews); I would characterize Eternals as an "interesting failure." Well worth a second look when it comes to Disney+...
no subject
Date: 2021-11-28 08:27 pm (UTC)It worked and it didn't. I get the mixed feelings most of the audience and fans had regarding it - they liked it, but weren't enthused, kind of similar to Captain Marvel actually. I wanted to like it more than I actually did.
no subject
Date: 2021-11-28 09:17 pm (UTC)Everything else was just a bunch of plot points stitched together--and you could see the seams.
I also think that Brie Larson STILL hasn't got a handle on Carol Danvers. Carol was recovering from amnesia in the solo movie, and Larson was kind of...blank. (Carol looked impressive and iconic, but there wasn't a lot of personality.)
She didn't have much to do in Endgame and Shang-Chi. I'm hoping that The Marvels (Feb.2023) gives Larson a lot more to chew on.
no subject
Date: 2021-11-29 01:28 am (UTC)Brie hasn't really worked well within the MCU, she's kind of a fish out of water. I don't think she's a fan or understands the verse.
no subject
Date: 2021-11-29 06:03 am (UTC)Or sometimes in music too, it seems. Are you familiar with these guys, by chance?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8sHrD48zPU
They changed the spelling of the band's name slightly, 'cause they thought that "cide" was just too dark, but the name was originally derived from a similar source to the one you mentioned.
Got to see them live right here in town during the last summer before the pandemic. Wonderful.
no subject
Date: 2021-11-28 02:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-11-28 08:30 pm (UTC)