Crazy Rich Asians - Entertaining, it's ok for what it was. I mean, it was tremendously hyped but I always knew it's going to be a commercial rom-com. The angles (poor little rich girl), caricatures (sassy, hip-hop loving sidekick, bitchy mother-in-law, accessory gay, who is obviously well-versed in fashion, because why not?) But I thought the fact that we would be presented with a different culture would make things more interesting. Instead they ran something like Maid in Manhattan or Monster in Law (wow, Jlo's film career is so limited! lol) though a sort of Asian facsimile. Stuff like this is so regressing.
Constance Wu is just naturally endearing and funny just like the Jlos an Sandra Bullocks of earlier rom-coms! She truly deserved this moment though. Michelle Yeoh was a bit of a disappointment because I know she's capable of so much more. But maybe the role didn't require much.
Also amazed at the fact that all the prominent Asians look vaguely Western verging on mixed. I know it's supposed to be set in Singapore, which can look very multicultural most of the times, but in this specific framing it just looked odd. But it's a nice enough storyline. Would have preferred a bit more of Rachel's life prior to their trip to Singapore, just to truly show the disparity between the two worlds.
As a whole I'm just oddly amazed that the one time there's a major Asian-driven film aimed at a wide demographic, the subject matter ditched martial arts for vulgar excess. So basically, from one stereotype to another. Not exactly a step in the right direction, if you ask me.
Election (1999
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So cynical, I hadn't felt as empty after watching a movie since I saw "Stardust Memories". I know it sounds so provincial but it actually tainted my memory of how charming Broderick appeared to me as Ferris Bueller, the image of youthful resourcefullness, seeing him as a middle aged bore was just awful. Witherspoon wasn't all that, she is very annoying/entitled herself but her acting was nothing to write home about. Nicole Kidman in To Die For, whom Reese cited as an inspiration for her performance, was soooo much better as the psychotic bimbo in To Die For, that character was certainly over-the-top but it still felt real and human. On top of all that, the movie is just so ugly.
Lmao! Agreed about the 'ugliness'! It does look really dour I suppose, very British in a sense. Election sort of falls in line with Drop Dead Gorgeous or John Waters films around the same time - I'm speaking in terms of visual style. I'm not sure at which point the majority of American cinema became so vulgarly saccharine and over-processed, which the masses seemed to have lapped up (see the success of Desperate Housewives.)
I do like the movie an awful lot and would probably rank it among my favourites. It's mainly Tracy, who reminded me very of a fictionalised version of a young Hillary Rodham. But more than anything my takeaway of the film, then and now, was probably how we process female ambition. In this case it was showcased so ruthless and aggressive, like a cross between Willie Stark and Rhoda Penmark, which I guess for the time seemed perfectly in order.