At least at our house, the award for both the top film and the top song of the summer belong to KPop Demon Hunters. I have to chuckle because when I first saw this movie recommended to me on Netflix, I gave it a pass. But now both my daughter and I are obsessed with this movie. I downloaded the soundtrack and we listen to it in the car all the time. I even bought a Huntr/x T-shirt!
So needless to say, when Netflix announced a limited theatrical release for KPop Demon Hunters, I knew my daughter and I had to go. We ended up driving to another town, since our local AMC wasn’t showing it. And it was absolutely worth it!
This theatrical release was promoted as a sing-a-long experience, which initially I wasn’t sure about. If I’m watching a movie in the theater, I typically want to be immersed in the visuals and story, without distractions. However, since my daughter and I have already watched this movie a bazillion times, it was actually quite fun to hear people singing along.
There was a real sense of joy, excitement, and fun in the theater, and it felt really cool to be a part of that. It reminded me of the sense of hype surrounding Thursday night movie premieres before COVID, when fans would all gather to watch the new Avengers or Star Wars movie as soon as it was released.
With everything going on in the world these days, watching fans rally around and geek out over KPop Demon Hunters this summer has made me really happy. I’m hoping to see lots of cosplay from this film at my regional con next year!
Highs, humor, and heartfelt moments in Strange New Worlds
From what I can tell based on online chatter, this season of Strange New Worlds has been, perhaps, a bit divisive. There has been more silliness and humor, although that personally doesn’t bother me. (However, I will say that while “Four-and-a-Half Vulcans” made me laugh, it did veer too far into “parody” territory sometimes and didn’t do the best job capturing the nuances of Vulcan culture.)
The Original Series is my favorite era of Trek, and I have come to love Strange New Worlds just as much. My favorite episodes this season are probably “Wedding Bell Blues,” which was humorous but also left space for deeper character development and growth; and “Terrarium,” which strands Erica Ortegas on an isolated planet and forces her to confront past trauma. The first of these episodes is lighthearted, and the other is darker and more contemplative, which I believe perfectly symbolizes the storytelling spectrum that Star Trek does so well.
As of the time I’m writing this blog, I have not yet watched the finale. Aside from feeling like I need far more than 10 episodes, I’m pretty pleased with this season overall and I will miss it when the finale premieres and the long wait for season 4 begins.
The Roses: A dark comedy that delivers sharp performances and a shocking finale
Sometimes, you know right away while watching a movie whether you’re going to love it or hate it. But more rarely, sometimes I’ll watch a movie and get to the end and find I’m not quite sure what to think.
That’s how I felt (and still somewhat feel) about The Roses, a dark comedy about a couple’s deteriorating relationship.
The things I liked: Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch are fantastic as the couple in question, and their chemistry and verbal sparring is wonderful to watch. And I will never complain about an appearance from Kate McKinnon.
What I struggled with sometimes was the tone, and the dramatic contrast between the movie’s more grounded, tragic moments involving a love story falling apart, and then the very over-the-top final act in which the couple…well, I won’t spoil the plot here, but let’s just say things take a decidedly dark turn. And it’s not often that a movie’s ending catches me completely off guard, but this one certainly did.
I’d still recommend this movie, because I think it has plenty of fodder for discussion, but I don’t know that I’d watch it again.
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