ava duvernay 'he's a wrinkle in time is
so well-intentioned and has such
beautiful moments that i can totally
understand why critics were to loss for
words when the social media embargo
lifted last week basically they decided
if they didn't have something nice to
say they weren't gonna say anything at
all although today as the actual embargo
lifts you can see that the inevitable
was only avoidable for so long and I
suspect audiences by the way will be
just as conflicted because what does one
say about a film that clearly has such
love in its heart yet the harsh reality
is that as a film it is an utter failure
and I actually would go that far even
though it pains me to do so now I would
say the best way to describe I ever do
Veronese a wrinkle in time is as a
Michael Jackson music video without any
of the awesome music or dance numbers
and I think the film would have
benefited from such additions now some
of you might be like that's horrible
grace how could you say that a wrinkle
in time needs music and dance numbers
well once you see the movie you'll
understand that it would have fit
perfectly especially with some of the
clear Bollywood influences in the
costume and hair and makeup design
because it needs something I'll tell you
that and the reason I referenced Michael
Jackson's music videos in particular is
because they had very high production
values they were famous for this ornate
and ambitious setups were chock full of
important messages and sometimes had
awesome cameos but as stories made
little sense and were a bit too obvious
that's a big problem here yes this
wrinkle in time is so concerned with
message and inclusiveness and tries to
check so many boxes so many boxes it's
like pick your battles Ava Duvernay and
screenwriter Jennifer Lee but because of
that none of the characters seem real
because there isn't enough time to
really establish any of them and
speaking of time Duvernay and again
frozen screenwriter jennifer leigh take
a 250 a 256 page book with minimal
illustrations and make it seem like
they're adapting a glossy short
children's big picture book in
instead I also found it ironic speaking
of adapting the source material that
while a wrinkle in time is supposed to
celebrate women in science right the two
women who made it basically stripped all
the science out of the story it's only
there and face value and on that and on
that note it does seem like large chunks
of the film have been edited out it runs
under two hours with bits like Meg for
example explaining traveling via the
fifth dimension which we saw in the
second trailer cut out of the movie also
to keep things speeding along at
breakneck speed really you're like
Snowdown I'd like to spend some time in
this scene please really important
things like the dramatic first entrance
of mrs. whatsit happen off-camera and as
a result when you couple that with the
impressive yet still television level
production values it makes the film's
far-flung theories even harder to
swallow basically I just didn't believe
that any of this was happening I know
it's a movie and it was you know I know
that it's shot in front of a green
screen and it's VFX and it's fictional
but you know you're supposed to be able
to take the journey with the characters
but you were like really you know like
you just wouldn't believe it
right it seemed like child's play like
it just seemed like a flight of fancy
that you just couldn't go along on so
what's left with the science and most of
this story stripped away well and this
is great there's a lovely theme about
loving yourself through the lens of a
mixed-race nerdy girl like Meg who
doesn't see herself as beautiful or of
any worth and her journey of gaining
self-confidence is the best thing in the
movie and clearly what interested Ava
Duvernay and Jennifer Lee helping the
story line a storm read as Meg a very
likeable actress and later on the movie
albeit briefly she gets the chance to
show a little range as an actress as
well I was impressed I was I got you
know it's a small little thing but she
sold it it was one of the few moments in
the movie where I was like I like that
and then Oprah Winfrey is the one who
helps her on this journey and their
heart-to-heart conversation about
halfway through the film is the best
thing in the film in fact it reminded me
of that recent powerful photo of the
little
girl looking at Michelle Obama's
official portrait at the National
Portrait Gallery that went viral and I
just I thought that that's what this
movie has to offer that's the gift that
is wrapped under all of this noise right
beautiful noise well-intentioned noise
but that's that's the heart here I also
thought the VFX with giant Oprah was
pretty cool and also very one of the few
believable moments in the movie I
believe that Oprah was a giant walking
through the story who is cool
Oprah also has the best makeup and
costume design or maybe it's that Oprah
can just rock the look whereas I think
Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling
struggled a little bit in that
department and they as for those two
they had their moments but really they
underscored here that they are small
screen talents you know Reese
Witherspoon not always but certainly
these days but as for Derek McCabe he
takes precocious to a whole new level
and I do not mean that in a good way he
posts considerable focus in the film
away from Meg often to the point of it
seeming like his movie and he just he's
the least real element in the movie he
feels like a total Hollywood construct
really misguided I think they're trying
to accomplish certain things with his
character but I think the the fakeness
of it and that he has no let layers and
never seems like an actual person
there's like kind of a reveal about his
character so I can understand why they
chose to make him so precocious but you
know if you're gonna try to you know I'm
basically I think they're you know I
think he's supposed to be a gay
character but I think a movie like loves
Simon his farm is far more effective and
accomplishing anything here whereas this
seems like tokenism and like we should
have moved past this kind of depiction
at this point I don't think you're doing
any favors for that kind of
representation by not making it such a
character seem real to have actual
emotions and ups and downs etc alright
so as for the other male characters in
this story well their roles are all very
small and very thinly constructed it's
worth noting that Chris Pine Andre Hall
and Zach Galifianakis and Michael Pena
are all able to do quite a lot with very
little each hitting impressive emotional
beats but as for Levi Miller ouch
0 for 2
everything about his character from the
way Calvin is written to the way Miller
portrays him rings false so again well a
wrinkle in time is very well-intentioned
it's hard to believe that two people
with such strong films on their resume
although frozen was a little bit of a
happy accident as we know from the
behind the scenes story there but it's
still but still with those two films on
their resume it's shocking to see them
fail so utterly and adapting this book I
can't recommend it for theaters unless
unless and this is important you feel
the message about self-love is one that
you or someone you know needs to hear
and if that is the case then despite its
rampant flaws I think that a wrinkle in
time will still be a very special movie
for you so at least it's got that going
for it
so that's my review of a wrinkle in time
I'm curious to hear your thoughts down
below
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