MOVIE REVIEWS
Welcome back to Thursday Thoughts. I should welcome myself back; I haven’t written a TT post in a while. One thing I have done is watch a lot of movies, and I wanted to share my thoughts on two of them.
La La Land
I remember reading something when this movie was coming to theaters by Tom Hanks that said this is what movies are all about. Someone else told me it was so beautiful and would change your life.
Then, I never made it to the theaters to see it. (womp womp)
I knew that seeing this movie was going on my summer to-do list. So when I stumbled across it at our local library, I picked it up and decided I would watch it that night since Paul was at poker night. (He’s not so much into the musicals.)
It immediately made you feel like you were watching an old movie just because of the way it was shot. The opening musical number set the tone for the film in that there were several song and dance sequences. All were beautiful, and all of them sucked you right into the story and swallowed you whole. I tend to get very lost in musicals. I get caught up in the emotion and the talent and the feeling. There’s nothing like that feeling. It was truly a moving film and deserved every award and nomination it received.
Ryan Gossling and Emma Stone have so much chemistry together on screen. People have compared them to Fred and Ginger and Bergman and Bogart. Theirs is a believable romance and relationship. There is a scene when they go to the movies, and it is the very beginning of their relationship. They are stealing glances at each other and inching their fingers closer and closer until they are holding hands. It so accurately depicts that new, butterflies-in-your-stomach feeling you get when you’re about to enter that territory with someone new that you really like. I was smiling the whole time from the nostalgia that crept up inside because you know you’ve been there too. Those early, excited feelings with your significant other. That thrill it is to touch their skin in such an intimate yet innocent way for the first time. Like I said, they’ve got chemistry.
I can’t end this review without talking about the music. The songs are beautiful. Ryan Gossling and Emma Stone have great voices and then they threw in John Legend. So…yeah…winner in my book! And it’s not just the singing that is great, but there’s some amazing piano music, mostly jazz, that is all throughout the movie. Gossling plays a jazz pianist trying to make it, and the piano playing is a huge part of the movie.
I realize musicals are not for everyone. But I feel that even if it’s not really your speed that you’ll enjoy it. It’s definitely not something being done regularly in Hollywood, and I love that.
Hidden Figures
I realize I’m much too late to this party, but this was one movie I will not soon forget. I was left completely moved by this film.
These three women were looked over time and time again. They were the best at what they did, so unbelievably smart, witty, strong, and determined. I knew a little about the story just from all of the publicity it got when it came out and during awards season, but I didn’t know everything. I have to say I was truly inspired by this story, by all three women, and by the portrayal of these women by the actresses who played them: Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, and Taraji P. Henson.
One of my favorite things about the movie was the backstory they told on all the women. Mary Jackson, played by Janelle Monae, was such a spitfire! There’s a scene where she puts her husband in his place at a church picnic, and I laughed out loud at her assertiveness and how he closed his mouth so fast. And she stayed like that the whole movie. I loved her outspokenness and her determination to never give up and to get into a course she needed even when it wasn’t geared toward women and certainly not African American women. She was smart and capable, and she knew it.
Dorothy Vaughn, played by Octavia Spencer, was a genius. She got the IBM computer for the space mission up and running correctly and effectively and was later put in charge of that. Another victory for women and African American women. And in the movie she was portrayed as being self-taught in programming. That just blows my mind! I know we live in a digital age and it’s almost expected that each new generation be more technologically inclined, but in the 60s? I was so impressed and inspired by her drive and mental capacity. Smart girls are awesome!
Katherine Johnson was a math wiz. Taraji P. Henson played her flawlessly. She was a widow with three young daughters trying to make a living. Then she got sent up to the land of white men and had to fight her way to prove that she was worthy of that desk and that her math skills were up to par and even better than they ever expected. She played an integral part in putting John Glenn into space. She is a true roll model for girls of all ages.
I cried watching this movie. It moved me in ways that made me proud to be a woman. It broke my heart to see how they were degraded for being women and for being black. It didn’t matter that they were wearing skirts or using a “colored restroom”; they were the smartest, most capable people for the jobs at hand. And they proved themselves to be successful and perfect for their jobs. In this modern day wave of women’s liberation, it’s stories like this that make me proud to be a woman. And stories like this one that inspire me to go after what I want and not back down because I may not have the skills or be qualified. It inspires me to take the opportunity to educate myself and acquire those skills to be successful in whatever I want to do. Isn’t there a meme that says, “In a world of Kardashians be a ___________________”? Well, in a world of Kardashians, be a Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughn, or Mary Jackson. Because these are the women you should strive to be.
Thanks for sticking around for my long post. I get so passionate about movies and entertainment. I hope you have a fabulous rest of your week and a wonderful weekend. Hope to see you back on Sunday for more home decor projects. I’m off to work on more curtains! 🙂
Happy Thursday, y’all!