And so, on with 2023...
Mon 9 Jan
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody
This was disappointing. In recent years there have been a series of these biopics about singers/musicians, such as Walk the Line (Johnny Cash), I Saw the Light (Hank Williams), Bohemian Rhapsody (Freddie Mercury), Rocketman (Elton John), Respect (Aretha Franklin) and Elvis (Elvis Presley) off the top of my head. Each of these have something notable/worthwhile in the telling. Even those that focus on a particular phase of one of these people's lives, such as Judy (Judy Garland) or Miles Ahead (Miles Davis). In comparison to all these, this Whitney Houston one really lacks, pretty much everything.
This film seeks to compartmentaiize WH life and career that is both a disservice but also undercuts their relevance. Wishing to learn about her life, I would strongly direct towards the 2018 documentary, Whitney, rather than this movie that barely scratches at the surface. The writing and direction are the two biggest problems here, but they are far from being the only flaws. The music (and admittedly I was never a great fan of her music, but can appreciate the talent she possessed none the less) is by far the strongest suite on display, but that didn't need a movie to showcase that. The writing especially is deserving of much criticism in that it lacks to show how all of the myriad of problems, such as her drug use, money disputes with her father, toxic marriage with Bobby Brown etc, which are all interweaved in her life are barely brushed upon and when each is touched on, it is in isolation, which misrepresents the truth of her tragic downturn.
Once again, I cannot more strongly recommend the 2018 documentary, Whitney, over this lightweight fabrication in comparison. Dud.
The Enforcer
A short brutal actioner telling of the redemption arc of lifelong enforcer, 'Cuda (Antonio Bandaras), and it plays out a bit like a surrogate version of Taken, set in this seedy side of Florida. The movie doesn't try to pretend it has layers of depth, it does what it says on the tin and doesn't outstay it's welcome, but it's nothing fantastic either. Even though the AD did not work didn't feel like I missed much in the way of subtle, but could maybe be tempted to revisit it if there was functioning AD as it was listed as having.
Avatar: The Way of Water
Pretty much goes through the motions of the first, only this time moved from the forrest to the water in the wake of human invasion. Am guessing there are no shortage of reviews of this of people that are far more in target for this movie, who can see and appreciate the visual aspects of the world building and CGI etc. The story,, like the first, is pretty simple and don't think it really needed a 3+ hr runtime to tell it.
Just as the original lwft me with the strongest impression of being a sci-fi version of a cross between James Stewart in Broken Arrow (1950) and Kevin Costner in Dances With Wolves (1990), so does this one feel like a teen take on moving to a new place, being the odd ones out and finding their place in this new setting, making new friends and proving themselves etc, which has been played out in countless kids and teen movies over the years. Simple enough really.
I never really felt immersed in this world, but I get it is a highly visual film so AD is always going to struggle to do it justice in that regards, but the long and the short of it is, it didn't do a great deal for me and while can at least say have sat through it, don't think I will be bothering with it again.
Last edited by Taz; 01-10-23 at 10:18 PM.