Entertainment
Netflix and Kid Cudi have made a classic New York rom-com to kick off your fall
“Entergalactic,” premiering Friday on Netflix, comes from Scott Mescudi, who makes information as Child Cudi, underneath which moniker he’s additionally releasing an album of the identical title. Initially meant as a collection, its episodes have been smushed collectively right into a 90-minute film marked by chapter headings. This feels proper, on condition that it performs like a function, a candy, corny and pretty lovely rom-com, temperamentally old school however made newfangled by advantage of being animated and the musical tie-in. (The songs are within the image; the image illustrates the songs.)
Created by Mescudi with Kenya Barris (“black-ish”), with a narrative by Mescudi and a teleplay by Maurice Williams and Ian Edelman — who gave the world the nice, underappreciated “Learn how to Make It in America,” through which Mescudi co-starred — the present was written to suit the album, described by Mescudi as “a set of songs on the great thing about being freed by love.” Romantic comedy appears like a pure extension of Mescudi’s songwriting, with its recurrent themes of non-public development.
The plot is easy, following the venerable arc of “boy meets woman, boy loses woman, boy will get woman.” (Sorry if that constitutes a spoiler, however whether it is you want to watch extra films.) Jabari (Mescudi) unadvisedly hooks up with Carmen (Laura Harrier), a former girlfriend he hasn’t seen in a number of months, simply earlier than he meets fated-to-be-mated new neighbor Meadow (Jessica Williams); misunderstandings result in alienation, which leads, inevitably, to reconciliation. (This isn’t a darkish drama.) The framework would have served Cary Grant and Irene Dunne nicely of their day, although they might have been dwelling on the Higher East Aspect, consuming cocktails as a substitute of smoking weed — and never having intercourse, in fact, till simply after the closing credit. (That the characters hail taxis as a substitute of calling for ride-shares appears like a nod to an earlier New York.)
Jabari is a road artist identified for a determine he paints on buildings and buses, Mr. Rager (a reference to a Child Cudi tune, album and alter ego); he’s simply been employed to develop the character into a comic book e book, which is presumably how he’s been in a position to afford that light-filled, double-level loft in Decrease Manhattan — “this one-percent-ass condo,” as a pal describes it. Meadow, whom Jabari first encounters in a “West Aspect Story” dance-at-the-gym second, because the celebration she’s throwing fades round her, is a photographer about to exhibit in a bunch present.
As is conventional, he’s bought a few goofy pals, Jimmy (Timothée Chalamet) and Ky (Tyrone Griffin, a.okay.a. Ty Dolla Signal), who give him questionable recommendation; she’s bought a wise one (Vanessa Hudgens as Karina), whose counsel is nice. (Ladies — together with Mescudi’s personal sister, Maisha Mescudi, as Jabari’s sister — are the extra developed characters right here.)
If a little bit unformed and fewer than fully trustworthy with himself, Jabari is an honest man. Strolling alongside Meadow, he takes the chivalrous curb place; he counsels a pal, “Cease saying ’bitches.’” There may be an interesting modesty to the courtship, which progresses by steps from shy appears and nervous banter, to awkward hugs, to a traditional bonding stroll within the rain, to an equally archetypal romantic montage: Jabari and Meadow journey bikes, take picture sales space footage. He watches her work in her darkroom; she appears over his shoulder as he attracts. They hang around on the sofa, take a practice to an artwork park. They brush their tooth aspect by aspect. It’s not the type of story the place characters sleep collectively first and determine issues out later. (For distinction, a joke a couple of well-liked, skanky relationship app runs by means of the chapters.) Not that there gained’t be issues to determine.
Fully recognizable and geographically right, director Fletcher Moules’ painterly, psychedelicized New York is stuffed with life and lightweight. “It simply will get me tight that folks equate New York with grey and darkness when town’s mad colourful,” says Nadia (rapper 070 Shake), an artist who paints large cutout footage of pizza slices and the Statue of Liberty. It’s the movie’s aesthetic credo. Parks and storefronts, bodegas and bars, a farmers market and the Flatiron Constructing are all represented; that’s clearly a Mark di Suvero sculpture on the artwork park.
The animation has the step-framed look related to anime, an financial comfort that has turn out to be a deliberate fashion. If the characters do at instances exhibit the expressiveness of the Sims, it’s visually interesting general, with good digicam angles and framing and well-limned particulars. And there are the sensible benefits that include making a cartoon: innumerable places employed with out permits or rental charges; a forged (together with Macaulay Culkin as a long-haired road sage, Arturo Castro as an unhelpfully useful workplace mate and Christopher Abbott as Meadow’s picture rep) that might be tougher to wrangle have been they required to get up early and sit for make-up and wardrobe; and the liberty for actors to play characters they by no means may in their very own our bodies. (Mescudi is 38 and Jabari clearly a lot youthful.)
And there’s the liberty to go wild, to remark graphically on the motion. There are fantastical scenes — goals, nightmares, drug-induced visible distortions. Jabari’s work come alive. (The nice Keith David makes a quick look because the voice of Mr. Rager.) As an expression of the central love metaphor, Jabari and Meadow float in area amid stars and nebulae, the “galactic” of “Entergalactic.”
However a number of aspect plots — his job, her present — love and relationships occupy middle stage in most scenes and conversations, in addition to the songs that run on the soundtrack: “That is the day I’ve been ready for … Your contact paralyzes me within the morning/ And I don’t need you to go/ sincerely yours eternally extra.” “Love is the simplest factor on the earth when it occurs accidentally,” Jabari’s sister tells him, “but it surely doesn’t get actual till you do it on objective.” The climax of the movie — involving a speech to a roomful of individuals meant for one explicit particular person, a message in spray paint and a hurried journey to a major location — is straight out of “Notting Hill,” if Richard Curtis have been a Black, twenty first century New York hip-hop musician. It really works fairly properly.
‘Entergalactic’
The place: Netflix
When: Anytime, beginning Friday
Score: TV-MA (could also be unsuitable for kids underneath the age of 17 with advisories for language, nudity, intercourse and substance abuse)
Movie Reviews
Movie Review: “Wonka” – The Aggie
A warm family film that could’ve been explored more
By INDRANIL BASU — arts@theaggie.org
“Wonka,” directed by Paul King and written by him and Simon Farnaby, was released in December of last year under Warner Bros. Pictures. The film has been a commercial success and well-received by audiences and critics. It became the 70th-highest-grossing film of 2023 and was nominated for awards including the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film, a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (for Timothée Chalamet).
The musical fantasy comedy film is premised on the origin story of Willy Wonka, the well-known character from Roald Dahl’s famous children’s novel, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” starring Chalamet in the titular role. King uses Dahl’s body of work to visualize his backstory and create a fantastic exploration of the intriguing personality of Wonka.
Set in a vague 1940s European city, Wonka arrives as a young man, inventor, magician and chocolatier after spending seven years as an innovative chef at sea. He is ready to make a fortune, and more so a life for himself, with his chocolatey inventions that he has perfected during his time and travels across the world. The film follows his journey of achieving that dream, one strongly connected with themes of family — both blood and chosen — love and generosity.
“Wonka” is well written, in plot, dialogue and lyrics, as well as brilliantly filmed by Chung-hoon Chung and scored by Joby Talbot. The musical numbers are well worked, performed (mostly) by Chalamet, and well created but don’t stand out too much vocally in the way they are composed or sung.
Chalamet as Wonka fits into the image of the beloved character in the overcoat, hat and cane, with a suitcase full of his inventions and dreams, as iconized in previous films by Johnny Depp in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (2005) and Gene Wilder in “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971),” definitely drawing more from the latter in its characterizations. He seems out of place in his young boy-next-door looks with ruffled hair and American accent, which matches Wonka’s background if we consider him American and the film as a modern interpretation of him (which it is in many ways).
He is simple, friendly, innocent and giving, unlike Depp’s portrayal and more importantly the novel’s sassy, socially awkward, apathetic and androgynous Wonka who is the embodiment of eccentricity. The filmmakers run with the straighter 1971 version of Wonka who is none of those but innovative — rather an aspirational underdog the audience can relate to, which he perhaps was before making it as a chocolatier and becoming the pop culture phenomenon he is seen as in previous appearances. Although the filmmakers have stated that Chalamet was their top choice for casting, maybe someone else could capture the fantastic seed of eccentricity that must have still been in him as a young adult, one that the film could have explored more.
The ensemble cast delivers wonderful supporting performances in the film: particularly Calah Lane as the orphan girl Noodle, whose character arc is significantly in parallel with Wonka’s’; Keegan-Michael Key as the corrupt Chief-of-Police, Paterson Joseph; Matt Lucas and Mathew Baynton as the “Chocolate Cartel” leaders; Jim Carter as the accountant Abacus Crunch; Olivia Colman as the British-evil Mrs. Scrubitt and Hugh Grant as the single Oompa-Loompa of the film.
The film is definitely a “savage indictment of capitalism,” as the filmmaker has stated himself, especially in Western socio-political structures, with a hugely corrupt (three)-man monopoly (on chocolate). Constantly colluding with the church and the police, the film uses (chocolate as their currency of) bribe, to maintain their hegemony and the large economic gap between them and the consumer.
Daydreaming comes with a fee in this economy. Some of the language, however, such as Chocolate “cartel” for the corrupt oligarchy of the three Galéries Gourmet Chocolatiers, or “monks” for the “chocoholic” clergymen, is fairly questionable. It makes a good critique of capitalism but falls just a bit short on Wonka and leaves it to us to bridge the gap between him at the end of this film and the beginning of Wonka as we know him.
“Wonka” is a good film to watch with family, with its themes of family, love and sharing over greed and dreaming. The movie maintains a visual spectacle with excellent set and costume design that absorbs the audience into an earlier fantastical era in Europe and its musical numbers. You will understand Wonka as someone just like us, and discover the story of his drive for spreading happiness by making chocolate. Be ready to shed a chocolatey tear of joy. “Wonka” is now streaming on HBO Max.
Written by: Indranil Basu — arts@theaggie.org
Entertainment
Kate Beckinsale's 'Tummy Troubles Survivor' shirt hints at ailment that hospitalized her
Kate Beckinsale appears to be out of the hospital and back home after a months-long medical issue.
The English actor was all smiles and back to her irreverent self in an Instagram series posted Tuesday. While the “Underworld” star didn’t directly state what had been ailing her, the T-shirt she wore in the images contained the biggest clue thus far: “Tummy Troubles Survivor,” it said, bearing an illustration of an armored bunny behind a medieval shield.
The 50-year-old captioned her post with a muscle-flexing emoji and a white heart, but didn’t add further details. A few photos showed her doting on her Pomeranian, who was wearing tiny hand gloves on its front paws, and another image showed her cuddling with her fluffy cat Willow, all from the comfort of her luxe bedroom.
A spokesperson for Beckinsale did not immediately respond Wednesday to The Times’ request for comment.
“The Aviator” and “Pearl Harbor” star revealed she was sick in a since-deleted March 11 Instagram post honoring her mother on U.K. Mother’s Day. She did not disclose the nature of the illness or why she had been admitted to a hospital but shared a series of photos from her medical-grade bed. Concern mounted when the actor continued to share updates from the medical facility and was visited by her pets. In a March 14 Instagram story — several months after the death of stepfather Roy Battersby — Beckinsale wrote that she feels pain in many ways.
On Tuesday, fans took to the comments section on her latest post to share their well wishes and relief over her apparent recovery.
“Glad to see you back home with furbabies ❤️ I need that shirt!!!! Colitis survivor ❤️” one commenter said.
“I am SO glad to see you are doing better! I have been worried this entire time. Very cute pics and thank you for the relief,” another wrote.
Movie Reviews
Pon Ondru Kanden Movie Review: This vanilla rom-com wastes a good premise with hasty execution
Writer-director V Priya’s Pon Ondru Kanden is a love triangle, and like almost any such film, it takes a meandering route to get to its point. Siva (Ashok Selvan) and Sai (Vasanth Ravi) are childhood foes turned friends. At the start of the film, their younger selves fight it out over a classmate named Sundari. Years later, Siva is a gynaecologist and a womaniser, still looking for a girl in his life. He has flings and has such a casual idea about relationships that he does not get it when his sister sends a girl to his office for a marital arrangement. Mistaking the girl for a potential client, gynaecologist Siva makes a remark that puts her off, and the interaction ends in a slap. This scene is supposed to be funny, but the joke does not land. On the other hand, Sai has a hard time looking after his mother, who has dementia. He is a clueless guy who dresses like a gentleman, tells girls jokes that miss the mark, and eventually turns to Siva for relationship advice. Sai is the quintessential “boomer uncle,” but a dossier on him should have him riding an old scooter in place of the Bullet.
Director: V Priya
Cast: Ashok Selvan, Vasanth Ravi, Aishwarya Lekshmi
There is so much buildup for their school-and-college-time rivalry at the start, but the two guys who cannot get along with each other become thick friends just like that. Here itself, you realise that Pon Ondru Kanden is such an easy-on-the-eye film about good-natured guys where conflicts resolve themselves.
Speaking of conflicts, the film is pretty uneventful until Aishwarya Lekshmi’s Sandy makes an appearance in Sai and Siva’s lives. One of them knows Sandy from his past, but he finds it hard to talk to his friend about it because he does not want to spoil their party. There is a clever use of the ‘Pon Ondru Kandein’ song from the Sivaji Ganesan film Padithal Mattum Pothuma, with the lines, ”Nee partha pennai naan parkavillai,” which encapsulates the situation of Sai and Siva. There is also a clever juxtaposition of Sai imagining himself with Sandy in a relationship and Siva doing the same with back-to-back songs. Unfortunately, however, the same cleverness hardly extends to the rest of the screenplay.
In a bizarre stretch of storytelling, Sai tells Siva that Sandy got married at a young age; it is a point she also insists on, but there is no age difference between her past and present versions. No amount of makeup or de-ageing technology might save a film with such an archaic screenplay, but it still would not hurt to try and strive for authenticity, especially in terms of character appearances.
In another bizarre occurrence, four songs appear within 20 minutes in the middle of the film. While two of these songs take the plot forward, the others are simply crammed into the narrative. The third song follows a meet-cute moment and paves the way for a proposal scene, which catches the heroine off guard and makes her equate herself to a Mani Ratnam heroine. They get into a relationship so fast, and it could have worked, but the execution makes you wonder why the editing and storytelling are in just as much of a hurry.
Pon Ondru Kandein is a deceitful title, and the idea of the film that comes together at the end is more interesting than the execution. Two of the lead characters start to grow on you slightly the longer you watch the film, which is probably the best you could expect from such a vanilla rom-com. The three leads try to infuse some spark into the narrative but mostly give off the impression that they are in an ad film. Yet, given what Pon Ondru Kandein becomes, the fact that none of the actors takes the premise too seriously works more in favour of the film than against it, as it helps keep the tone light. That being said, it would not hurt to have some more actual comedy in the meandering climax instead of the puerile ones it does have.
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