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Ari's Art Review 5
Batman, resident aliens, time wars, wrinkles in time, Ella's life with cancer, and more.
Copyright © 2024 by Ari Armstrong
December 31, 2024
Batman: Recently I rewatched both Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (2005) and Matt Reeves's The Batman (2022). Both are excellent films with spectacular casts and gritty, relatively realistic action. The theme of both films is similar: Vengeance easily can lead to nihilism. The 2022 film finally gets Catwoman just right with Zoë Kravitz (although I also enjoyed Anne Hathaway in the role). Two of the best superhero films, both very optimistic despite their dark look and vicious villains.
Resident Alien Season 3: I continue to love this show. Yes, there's the sci-fi backdrop about an alien trying to help humans stave off an alien invasion (different aliens). But this show shines in its deeply personal, human relationships. The show explores themes of jealousy, failure and personal inadequacy, alienation, human connection, and redemption. The show also is amazingly funny. This is a comedic role Alan Tudyk (as the alien) was born for. And Corey Reynolds as the small-town sheriff is riotously funny. There's a fourth season coming. This is one of those shows I'll definitely watch again.
This Is How You Lose the Time War: This strange novel involves two women fighting each other in a cosmic time war who end up falling in love. Much of the book consists of their love letters. Although all the background action seems too distant from the story, overall I enjoyed the story and the writing.
A Wrinkle in Time: I reread this book after decades and quite liked it. The religious themes seem tacked on and basically irrelevant to the story. The theme of the book can be interpreted in religious terms but need not be; it is that forcing others into conformity is bad and loving people as individuals is good. The brother and sister at the center of the story are great characters.
Life by Ella: This AppleTV show is about a teen girl moving ahead with her life after her cancer goes into remission. She has decided to live courageously, take chances, and not let fear overwhelm her. One of the episodes deals with another girl who dies of cancer. So the show sometimes is heavy stuff. On the other hand, it is filled with silliness and some cheesy performances. On the whole I love this show and highly recommend it for children ready to handle discussions of death.
Adventures in Public School: The good news is this film does not follow the stereotype of homeschoolers as religious nuts. Instead, it follows the stereotype that homeschoolers are friendless and completely cut off from the real world. In fact, the homeschooling communities in which my child and I participate foster deep friendships and many hours of free play. Anyway, in this film, a homeschooled high schooler intentionally bombs a test so that he can go to regular school and be around a girl he likes. Overall I enjoyed the film despite the dumb stereotypes.
Tuttle Twins: Angel Studios lets people watch the first two seasons of Tuttle Twins at no cost. These are good libertarian takes on inflation, civil disobedience, protectionism, and more, from the perspective of two children. I think these are great for kids to watch, so long as kids also explore other perspectives. Oddly yet briefly, the series explicitly endorses the ideas of anarchocapitalism, which parents can discuss or let fly by.
The Adam Project: This glossy sci-fi features a silly story and a cartoonish villain, but as a reflection on personal growth and the love of family it has some nice moments. My kid loved it.
The 12 Days of Christmas Eve: Another Groundhog Day Christmas, this one featuring Kelsey Grammer. It's a serviceable enough light holiday film about work-life balance; nothing special.
Edward Scissor Hands: I had the same feelings when rewatching this film as I had originally. The characters and cinematography are really interesting, the story of the persecuted oddball is compelling, but ultimately the ending is too depressing and pessimistic.
A Heroic Bond? "I don't think James Bond is a hero," an Amazon executive said of the iconic character. Given that Amazon now owns the franchise, this does not bode well. Yes, you can have a flawed hero, even a tragic hero. But to strip Bond of his heroism would be a huge mistake.
Atlas: As a sci-fi about AI, this film is completely stupid. As a buddy film between Jennifer Lopez's character (Atlas) and an AI-driven exosuit as the two make their way across a hostile yet beautiful planet, it's somewhat enjoyable. My nine-year-old liked it.
Uglies: Apparently someone thought it would be a good idea to use a dystopia to convey moral messages about body image to tweens? I didn't hate this film so much that I stopped watching before the end.