Mulan I & II

Mulan was a big hit with pre-teen girl crowd when this came out and it is easy to see why.  As voiced by Ming-Na Wen this is a young girl with spunk.  She has a strong spirit and an engaging personality.  It is interesting, however, that this came out some seven years after "Beauty and the Beast" with animation and songs which were somewhat less impressive than those in Beast.  The music can be forgiven.  After the tragic loss of Howard Ashman Disney struggled a bit to fill the void.  It's very evident here where the songs are mostly forgettable repeats of the same chorus, over and over.  The flatness of the images, though, is perplexing.  The only depth one sees is in an avalanche which takes place about half-way through the film.  Effort is made from the opening credits through to the end to honor Chinese culture and history but the cast is nearly fifty-percent white, something which would never happen today.  The sequel, made in 2004, worked to correct this a bit by casting more of the major roles with Asian actors, including more Chinese.  One surprise in the original film was Eddie Murphy playing a very "Donkey-like" character some three years before he did the first Shrek film.  It was an unnecessary character, in my opinion, and a less irritating sidekick could have been created.  The major difference between the two films is that the first is about a search for self, the second is about the search for love.  Something to think about that the search for self is more compelling and interesting than the search for love.  In film, anyway.  Perfectly good fare for younger kids without the nice depth which parents might enjoy.  A live-action version comes out in 2020.  I'm hoping for something with a few more layers.

Suicide Squad

As is my custom, I caught this one a good long while after it had exited theatres.  I can see why it was a hit but not a critic's darling.  There is enough action and skin for the average comic book fan but depth was sorely lacking for 90% of the film.  The one scene with some dialog meat took place late in the film, at a bar just before the big finale.  Margot Robbie was talked about a good deal and I'll give her props for fully committing to the crazy but I have to think that the buzz was as much about her lack of a clothing as about her acting.  Clearly, this thing was written and directed by a man and came off as a bit of a throwback in an era of kick-ass female power-houses.  The biggest sadness was that the attention on Margot Robbie took away from Will Smith, whose subtle, sad, angry Deadshot was understated and brilliant.  Mr. Smith was so immersed in the character that it took a couple of scenes before I realized it was him.  Jay Hernandez, as Diablo, gets a great monologue near the end of the film and does it with skill and grace.  Other than that the rest of the squad, and every other character, comes off as fairly flat and unmotivated.  This is even true of the luminaries Viola Davis and Jared Leto (seriously, Gotham's Cameron Monaghan is a better Joker).  I have to blame it on the writing and directing.  The film is dark, of course, but as the recent Deadpool films have shown, one can have dark without being bleak.  In this case, I didn't mind watching it on the small screen.  While there is talk of a sequel I won't be running out to see it.

Humana Festival, The Complete Plays

When looking for new monologues there really is nothing greater than short plays.  You can find a wide range of styles and characters in plays which aren't hugely well-known, so you don't have to worry about doing the same piece as everyone else on the block.  The Humana collections (I have several) are great for this.  Recently finishing the 2004 version, I was able to find half a dozen monologues.  The plays ranged from a epic poem lasting a few pages to lengthy multiple acts.  Most are not realistic and range from absurdism to modernist.  On a personal level this worked for me and not.  There were plays I loved (one, in particular which I would love to direct) and plays I couldn't make heads or tails of.  This was particularly true of the final "play" which was four plays by different authors interwoven.  It was too many characters, too many threads.  I found myself reading and re-reading whole pages to capture the storyline.  That being said, collections like these are a boon to actors.  I'm definitely looking to update my holdings to some of the more recent options.

New Season

Well, it's been three to four weeks, so time to review the current TV season.  If nothing else, the new shows have distracted from the endless drone of our infant-in-chief as the midterms warm up.

Best goes to ... "Sorry for Your Loss" streaming on Facebook and "Doctor Who" season 13.  "Sorry for Your Loss" can be difficult to watch at times but is so clean, direct and real that it kept drawing me back.  Elizabeth Olsen is a winner.  Expect kudos in award season.  "Doctor Who" finally got a female doctor.  A diverse cast which looks like the real world and Jodie Whittaker.  Need I say more?

Lots of frothy adventure fare worthy of DVR time.  None of these will tax your intellect but all are decent:  "Chicago Fire", "9-1-1" (credit to Angela Bassett for knocking it out of the park at 60!  you go, girl), "Station 19" and "The Rookie" (great premiere with Nathan Fillion being more Malcolm Reynolds than Richard Castle.  Needs to lose the 17 year gap physical relationship, however, with the 47 year old Fillion and much younger Melissa O'Neil.) 

Grab the kleenex:  "This is Us" and "A Million Little Things".  Quality friends/family dramas.

Hospital drama with emphasis on the drama:  "Grey's Anatomy" (continues to balance the medical with the personal, the main reason it is still raking in viewers while other Shonda Rhimes' shows aren't) and "New Amsterdam" which will have liberals in ecstasy.  Ryan Eggold ain't bad, either.

The CW:  Yup, I still watch nearly all the superhero shows and very much enjoy them.  The new "Charmed" appears decent, if not somewhat darker than its predecessor.  Like many shows, the post-911 version is a tad bleaker and more violent.  Bailed on "Legacies" as I am done with the whole vampire stuff for now.

Sitcoms:  Newcomers "Single Parents" and "The Kids are Alright" do well.  The first one is a smart show which requires actual listening to the dialog, the second is more touching than ha-ha.  Both have nice family relationships.  "Modern Family" continues although it is aging.  Rumor has it there will be a death soon?  "The Good Place" remains nicely arch and the CBS Thursday night lineup continues to be a great staple, with one exception.  Leaving the DVR?  Wanted-to-love because of the casts but can't because of the scripts -- "Murphy Brown" and "I Feel Bad".   One is gone already and the other is dropping to the bottom of the list.  Don't forget to tune in for the upcoming season of "The Guest House" next week, now set in a beach town.

Sci-Fi Anyone?  I didn't want to like "Manifest" given NBC's struggle with great sci-fi shows at 10pm on Monday or Tuesday nights.  I fell in serious like for the last four or five shows and didn't want my heart broken again.  Oddly enough, "Manifest" is getting truly great ratings, so maybe it will hang in there.  I've enjoyed watching and continue to hope.  It is as much family drama as sci-fi, so maybe some non-sci-fi types will tune in.

This, of course, is the fall season.  Stay tuned for the Spring season, including the final episodes of "Gotham" and "Jane the Virgin".  Still trying to decide if it is worth joining Netflix to watch my much-beloved "Lucifer".