Quick Reviews and Other Stuff: June

I don’t know how we’re already at the end of June, but we sure are, huh.

Here’s my thoughts on some movies I saw, books I read, and theatre productions that I enjoyed!

Movies

1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: I’d somehow managed to miss seeing this when it came out in 2018, and then for a while I think it was only streaming on Netflix, and then it was streaming other places, and then they took it away from streaming because they wanted you to buy it because of the new movie. Anyway, I checked the DVD out from the library like an old person and omg it is incredible?? I have had so many years in my life where this movie wasn’t a part of it?? How is that fair? How did no one sit me down immediately and force me to watch it?? The animation is incredible, the different styles for each character are so eye-catching, and the story is great.

2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: I don’t know that this movie needed to be 2.5+ hours long but it kept me captivated the whole time. Once again the animation is amazing, I loved the widening of the, uh, spider-verse, and honestly, animation studios have absolutely no excuse to put out movies where every character looks exactly the same. Absolutely delightful and I very much want to watch it again.

3. Open Heart: Documentary about former NHL goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who had to navigate leaving the team where he’d spent his whole career, moving to a new team, and suddenly learning that he had a heart problem that was going to require open heart surgery and ultimately end his career. Seeing this film in NYC surrounded by Rangers fans — the audience literally did the “HEN-RIK *clap* *clap*” cheer during the movie, applauded any time another classic Rangers player showed up on screen, and groaned when the film broke down the game-winning goal from Alec Martinez that ended the Rangers’ Stanley Cup hopes— was perhaps the best way to experience this. I don’t know that there’s much of a market for this outside of a) hockey fans or b) people who like documentaries but I found it to be an interesting look at a legendary goaltender who suddenly had to face the end of his career much more quickly than he’d expected, and how the notoriously fierce competitor dealt with this challenge. There’s a scene where he’s speaking with a doctor who essentially tells him that he needs to stop playing or risk death, and the anguish in Lundqvist’s voice as he processes this is rough to listen to. He’s an interesting guy — it takes a special type of personality to be able to thrive under the lights of Madison Square Garden, and Lundqvist was seemingly made for life in NY.

4. Asteroid City — I admittedly have only seen a few Wes Anderson movies (I’ll get around to the rest of them eventually), but everyone knows his schtick by now. All that to point out that my thoughts on this movie aren’t really related to having or not having many Wes Anderson feelings. The visuals in this — the detail in all of the sets, the use of color, the blocking of scenes — are absolutely stunning. I wasn’t expecting the layered plot-within-a-plot-within-a-plot angle, but it really added to the absurdity (affectionate) of the whole movie. I was entertained — it’s very witty and some of the cameos/brief appearances are so unexpected — and would probably watch it again to be able to better piece some of the subplots together, but also just to catch more details that I probably missed. Also I desperately need the jacket that Edward Norton’s character wears.

Books

1. Galatea, Madeline Miller — More of a short story than anything else, it doesn’t even hit novella length. I honestly was unfamiliar with the story of Pygmalion so came into this not entirely knowing what to expect or that it was related to a larger, actually established mythology. The story hits the right notes of creepy and foreboding, and it’s a very quick read. I wish there were more of it, but in relatively few pages, Miller fleshed out the world enough for the story to hit in just the right way.

2. Beasts of Prey, Ayana Gray — YA fantasy/mythology in an African-inspired setting. I really liked the worldbuilding here, and I did not put the pieces together to figure out the ending at all — I thought I’d figured it out but there were some interesting twists. It was a relatively slow read overall but still engaging, particularly once all of the plot lines come together. (There’s one plot line that doesn’t really connect to the other two until over halfway through the book.) I appreciated that while there was some romance, it wasn’t the main part of the plot. It’s been a while since I’ve been a regular YA reader, and for a while it seemed like every book had a highly predictable love triangle. While I’m sure the genre hasn’t gone away from that entirely, it was nice to read something where the romance developed naturally and didn’t take over the story.

3. Demon in the Wood, Leigh Bardugo (art by Dani Pendergast) — Graphic novel version of a short story about the origins of the Darkling. The art is fine but not mind-blowing, although I did like the use of the different color schemes for the different settings. Also what happened to people actually drawing backgrounds? Anyhow, doesn’t add anything new to the canon, but helps establish a villain origin story.

4. Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened, Allie Brosh — Even 10 years after its publication, Hyperbole and a Half continues to be extremely relevant and on point with the struggles of basically being a neurospicy individual in a world not set up for that. Back in the late 2000s-early 2010s internet, Allie Brosh was one of the first people who articulated feelings of depression, anxiety, and ADHD in a way that made me feel seen, like someone else understood what was going on in my brain. While there’s some parts that wouldn’t get published today (in particular, the r-word in reference to one of her dogs) the essence of the stories she tells still works very well and there’s something in here that nearly anyone can find relatable. If you’re young enough to not have been around during the 2000–2010 internet/blog/cartoon heyday, Brosh’s book will illuminate a lot of things that have made their way into the internet lexicon as memes.

5. I Have Some Questions for You, Rebecca Makkai — I’m still not sure what I think about this book. Bodie is a lead character who’s hard to like at times because she is so single minded, sees the world with her own blinders on. She even gets called out on this but I don’t think she even recognizes it. She’s not a particularly good person, and when she gets an idea in her head she just plows forward with it, which isn’t always the greatest idea. I don’t need to like Bodie, though, I just need to want to know what happens to her next.I’m a few years younger than Bodie in the book, but going to high school in the 1997–2001 range, a lot of the experiences that Bodie relates here ring true for me. The bulling, the name calling, the “boys will be boys” attitudes from people in positions of authority. The rumors. The casual groping that you have to pretend to ignore because what else are you even going to do with that information, and who’s even going to bother to believe that someone groped you, anyway?I found the ending to be somewhat unsatisfactory — one mystery gets solved, sure, but I was left wanting on some other aspects. Then again, maybe there are so many loose ends because that’s just how these things play out in real life. There are no resolutions. There is often no justice. There is no closure.

Theatre!

1. West Side Story (Chicago Lyric Opera): I’d missed seeing this when it came through in 2018–19 so was excited to finally get to see it. I have some mixed feelings about WSS — it was the musical my senior year of high school, which is always fun, but there was a lot of interpersonal drama happening between my friends and at school at the time, so it was sort of a weird vibe. Anyway, my 20+ year old memories aside, this is a beautiful production. The sets are fantastic; the actors who played Tony and Anita in particular were fantastic.

2. The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window: Did I go to NYC specifically to see Oscar Isaac in this? Listen you don’t know my life. This play was very much a product of its time (it was first performed in 1964) but there are a lot of uncomfortable truths in it that are problems we’re still dealing with today. (Politics, race, relationships, religion, etc.) Isaac is great as Sidney, an unsuccessful artist always looking for his next big project while also dealing with a troubled marriage. I didn’t always love Rachel Brosnahan’s Iris, she felt kind of flat at times, but I’m not sure if that’s her in general (I also don’t really like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) or an acting/character choice that just didn’t resonate for me.

3. Some Like It Hot: What an absolute fun time! The musical premiered last year but is based off of the 1959 film. You could be forgiven for thinking this is an old musical, though, as the big dance numbers, arrangements, and choreography (so much tap dancing!) feel very much like a throw-back. Unfortunately, Tony-winner J. Harrison Ghee didn’t appear during the performance that I saw, but understudy Demarius R. Copes was compelling as Jerry/Daphne. Christian Borle is a great comedic actor as always, and the supporting cast is fantastic as well. The scene where Jerry/Daphne talks about identity and feeling authentically at home as Daphne is profoundly moving and very important. It’s a conversation that couldn’t really happen in the 1959 movie in the same way. The show’s delightfully campy in the best possible way. The costumes — especially the shoes — are absolutely exquisite.

4. Good Night, Oscar: Sean Hayes absolutely earned his Tony on this one. His performance as Oscar Levant is a collection of twitches, grimaces, and despair as he fights against his own mind. Hayes does the heaviest lifting in this one, and he’s up to the challenge. You feel bad for Levant and you’re also a little scared of him, and if that was Hayes’ mission, he’s succeeded. I also did not know that Hayes was an accomplished pianist before he became an actor; one of the final scenes of the show involves Hayes playing piano as Levant, which absolutely blew me away. (After seeing Some Like it Hot, where the cast all convincingly mimes playing their instruments but do not actually play during the show, I was skeptical at first, but my rush ticket was in the literal first row of the stage and there was no mistaking the fact that Hayes is actually playing.)

5. Grey House: This was my fourth pick for a Sunday matinee show (I was thinking about seeing Sidney Brustein again but Oscar Isaac — the main reason that show has repeat value for me — wasn’t appearing; Parade was sold out; Leopoldstadt only had restricted view seats left) and I picked it largely because the internet kept advertising it to me as something incredibly creepy. That it was — the production very effectively uses lighting (or, the absence thereof: they frequently employ total blackouts) and sound (creaking, scratching, thumping, eerie music and voices; occasional a cappella singing from the cast) to great effect. But I didn’t wholly understand it — I think the vagueness is intentional but it does leave things feeling somewhat unsatisfying. Laurie Metcalf is basically amazing in everything she appears in, though, and Tatiana Maslany is excellent as well. Just prepare to not feel like you get it when the final curtain goes down.

Other Stuff!

• Finished watching Poker Face (starring Natasha Lyonne, created by Rian Johnson) and it was an incredibly good time. It’s a murder mystery/case of the week type show, and the guest stars that they got to fill out the cast are absolutely off the charts. Each episode eventually begins with what will be the mystery for the show, then flashes back in time to show how Lyonne’s character is involved, then proceeds forward to the resolution. It’s fun trying to unravel clues to figure out where things are going to go next.

• I (clearly) spent some time in NYC in June. I stayed in a hotel near Times Square for a few days, then moved down to a hostel to Brooklyn for the rest of the trip. NYC is a city that I used to not “get” — like, I liked the tourist parts but didn’t really see how people lived there. But I went in 2019 and stayed out in Astoria and suddenly the whole city just clicked for me in a way it hadn’t before. I obviously love the chaos, the hustle, of bigger cities — it’s why I live here in Chicago, it’s why I love Los Angeles so much — and NYC is quickly becoming a place that I could easily see myself landing in, if the stars ever aligned. I love going to a place enough times where it starts to feel familiar — where I have favorite restaurants and know which subway car to get on to be closest to the exit and turn corners and just instinctively know where I am. I keep vaguely trying to finagle a brief return trip to see Parade before it closes, but I will probably be responsible financially and not do that.

What’s Next?

• I’ve already got a ticket to see Oppenheimer (the Music Box is showing it on 70mm)! Also: Barbie movie! (I had deluded myself into thinking this came out in June but I was wrong.) New Mission: Impossible! I do want to find time to re-watch all of the past M:Is but we’ll see how that works out with the rest of my schedule.

• I just finished reading One True Outcome by K.D. Casey, who writes m/m baseball player romance novels (come back at the end of the month for my thoughts, other than 🔥) and will now probably immediately spiral into reading the rest of their work now.

• July is Go Drive Around to See the Mountain Goats A Lot time, so the first two weeks of the month will have a lot of that and not much time for anything else. On the agenda this week: Iowa and Wisconsin. Next week, a string of shows through the south that were postponed because of COVID. And then I will sleep for like two solid days.

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