Feminism

A Wrinkle In Time (2018): 2018’s Most Ambitious Flop?

Posted on by Jack Drees

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Before we get into my thoughts about “A Wrinkle In Time,” I just want to say that this movie is distributed and produced by Disney. This company, as you may know, relies a lot on making entertainment catered towards a family-friendly demographic. Pretty soon, a couple will probably be going to see more of these movies. After all, they are having a kid. This couple by the way goes by the names of Paul and Genevieve. Their journey to conception, while extended, may have been worth the time in the long run. This is all explained… in “What the IVF?!”

“What the IVF?” is a new series on YouTube currently cranking out short videos starring the recently mentioned couple. This goes over the two’s miseries and joys of having a baby, that is, before actually having a baby. The two encounter struggles in sex, exams, decisions, money, math, and how many needles was that again? Oh, right, too many! You can find the latest episodes from “WTIVF?” on their YouTube channel, such as the one above! This latest episode starts off from where the last one ends, and it explains the couple’s PGD results. Not only that, but it also goes into a mystical way to break a curse the couple assumes is upon them. Be sure to subscribe to the “What the IVF?” YouTube and ring the bell! Also, be sure to check out these two on other forms of social media, along with the show’s very own website! All of the links are below, and be sure to tell them that Jack Drees sent ya over!

WTIVF? WEBSITE: http://www.whattheivf.com/

WTIVF? YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCILXSidkzWgwrQ5Oa1py78w/featured?disable_polymer=1

WTIVF? TWITTER: https://twitter.com/WTivF

WTIVF? INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/wtivf/

WTIVF? FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/What-The-IVF-288868031634125/

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“A Wrinkle In Time” is directed by Ava DuVernay (Selma, Middle of Nowhere) and stars Storm Reid (12 Years A Slave, Sleight), Oprah Winfrey (The Oprah Winfrey Show, Lee Daniels’ The Butler), Reese Witherspoon (Big Little Lies, Wild), Mindy Kaling (The Mindy Project, The Office), with Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover, The LEGO Batman Movie), and Chris Pine (Star Trek, Wonder Woman). This movie is based on a book of the same name written by Madeleine L’Engle and revolves around a girl by the name of Meg Murry. She and her brother are one day sent into space by three odd life forms on a journey to find their father (Chris Pine) through a CGI infested adventure.

When it comes to most of the movies I’m reviewing in 2018 that are listed as official movies to have come out in that particular year, there is a good chance that I’ve seen that specific movie in theaters. As far as “A Wrinkle In Time” goes, that’s not the case. In fact, since I’ve seen this as late as I have, that will probably make this review a lot more interesting. Upon some research, this movie has some interesting history. This is the second attempt Disney is making of creating their own version of “A Wrinkle In Time.” The first attempt didn’t work out so well, and apparently neither did this one. According to Wikipedia, this movie is labeled as a “box office bomb” while at the same time, being the first film directed by an African-American woman to earn a total of over $100 million domestically. Unfortunately for the movie, it couldn’t even make its $250 million budget back because it ended up earning $132 million worldwide. And you know what? This movie should have been better than it was. Because everybody’s raving about female empowerment nowadays, which is something some praise “A Wrinkle In Time” for, but to me, it’s all surrounded in one gigantic CGI mess of a movie.

Now with that being said, I will give some credit and say that the CGI in this movie for the most part is not half bad. There are times where I really feel like I’m looking at a super obvious green screen, but for the most part, I can’t complain. It’s colorful, and it works. A little over-saturated at times, but nevertheless, it works. In fact, in some ways, this might be the CGI that some would come to expect for a movie whose target audience is in the family and children demographic. Did I mention the word colorful?

As much as this movie may look good on a screen, in fact, this is one of the only real compliments I can give to “A Wrinkle In Time,” the real problems come with some of the writing, sometimes the directing, and the acting.

As I watched this film, I gave credit to some of the neat shots that line up all of what’s fresh and necessary in the frame. If this film were silent, I may have enjoyed it more, but if you consider maybe some of the music or characters talking, that enjoyment would have ultimately been taken away. There is one shot and scene that lines up together that could have totally worked, but it’s ultimately ruined by some f*cking pop song. I suddenly go from watching this movie that’s supposed to have an interesting story, and now I’ve suddenly transitioned into a music video. What the f*ck?!

I mean, seriously! This is an adventure movie! I don’t even think I can come up with one single place that even requires a pop song that would add more value to the film as a whole! Can you seriously imagine what would happen if “Harry Potter” were playing some song like Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” during a Quidditch match? People would riot! I may be cheating here with this comment, only because this regards a franchise whose books I haven’t read, not to mention whose movies I haven’t watched, but I felt like I was watching “Fifty Shades of Grey” because I hear those movies are full of random pop songs everywhere!

Let’s talk about the writing in this film. While this screenplay definitely progresses from the beginning point to the final point, it’s just a bit predictable. Sure, it’s a movie for kids and families, so maybe that’s a somewhat forgivable statement. Although having seen the trailers, I could almost predict where this movie was going to go from start to finish. While I wasn’t entirely right, I certainly had the proper ideas. And I feel like part of why this movie may have been on the more predictable or formulaic side is because it just has that Disney sort of flair to it. It’s a Disney movie! It has to be kid friendly! It has to have that chart used for all of the recent films made by Disney! In fact one of the writers for this movie goes by the name of Jennifer Lee, whose writing credits on IMDb are all for Disney products, including one of my least favorite animations of the decade, “Frozen.” Granted, she wrote “Zootopia” and “Wreck it Ralph,” I gotta give her credit where it’s due. But it just felt like this product from her just comes off as a studio film. As I saw this name attached to this project, it made the film feel a tad less inspired. Then again I wasn’t there, so I may be jumping to conclusions too quickly. Ava DuVernay, the director behind this film, is a competent director. She did a great job on “Selma.” Although I think she could have done better here. Although one of the faults of the movie is that Duvernay has to work on a script that just didn’t really seem that interesting. I was kinda bored at times, I’ll be honest. Maybe it was because I watched this movie on a plane, but still.

Speaking of writing problems, as I watched this film on the plane, I turned on closed captioning in order to fully grasp what was being said. I wouldn’t have done the same at home because there I would probably get more peace and quiet, you have a lot of noise on the plane that could potentially ruin the experience. This allowed me to see something… interesting to say the least.

The movie’s lead character, Meg Murry, has a mother who possesses a Doctorate. When I watched this movie I put on closed captioning to enhance the experience and suddenly I hear Reese Witherspoon’s character refer to Meg’s mother as Dr. Murry, which according to Wikipedia, is the correct way to refer to that particular character. But in the closed captioning, I actually rewound the footage to make sure I wasn’t seeing things, it apparently refers to the character as Mrs. Murry.

OK? Is this is Disney’s fault? A screenwriter’s fault? Someone who was a major part of post-production’s fault? Maybe it’s JetBlue’s fault? I don’t really know. But I’m just glad to say that this isn’t Spirit Airlines’s fault. I’m kinda curious to buy the DVD or wait for this to become free on Amazon Prime or something to know if this is a JetBlue thing or a movie thing. And if it’s a movie thing, that’s not even my biggest problem with it, I gotta say the pop music takes the cake for that.

Let’s talk about the characters in “A Wrinkle In Time,” starting with our main hero, Storm Reid’s Meg Murry. I honestly can’t really say that Meg was that interesting of a character. Sure, she’s kinda smart and all, but there are some times where I just felt like I checked out for a minute because she didn’t seem to pop or she’d make a choice that I’d think would feel out of place for a main hero. Honestly, at this point, I’m starting to forget a lot about this movie. Part of it has to do with having to make two other movie reviews recently and putting one special post I’ve been making on hiatus. Did I not mention it was just uninteresting to watch? I didn’t hate Meg Murry in this movie, but nothing stood out about her except maybe her intelligence. I mean, I guess for this movie and character, that’s better than saying her body, but she wasn’t really that interesting.

When it comes to Meg’s kinda sorta brother (he’s adopted), nothing really stood out about him either. I SORT OF bought the chemistry between Meg and Charles Wallace (middle), which if you watch the movie, that’s the way he’s referred to. His character probably had the same dimension as Meg, however he’s just a bit more quirky. There’s not even much of anything I’m really enthusiastic about when it comes to him. Although there’s one time where he says “Shut up, Meg,” which made me think of “Family Guy.”

Moving onto our weirdos in the movie, we have Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon), Mrs. Who (Mindy Kaling) and Mrs. Which (Oprah Winfrey). These names don’t even justify the weirdness of some of these characters, which I can tell is something that the movie was going for. After all, just look at them! They all look like what would happen when aliens try to dress themselves up as female versions of… uh… I dunno, let’s go with… Elvis Presley… Michael Jackson… and… I’m not even sure at this point, let’s just go with Forest Whitaker. Out of these three characters/mentors, the one I found most interesting was probably Oprah’s character of Mrs. Which. I say that because these are all supposed to be some sort of mentor figure, and Mrs. Which was probably the most mentor-like out of all of them. She tries to empower the heroes in a way that you may expect, and it works. Mrs. Who speaks only in quotes, which kind of got on my nerves after a while. But then again, it’s probably because I didn’t like Mindy Kaling in that one Xfinity commercial she did so maybe I’m overreacting. I’ll be honest though, and I say this personally, if I were to have a mentor who only spoke in quotes from other people, that would be diminishing overall, because that mentor would only be speaking another person’s words. Sure, we have tons of great people in our society that may have been built off of the shoulders of giants, but the important thing about becoming a better person is being yourself. You know, unless you’re an asshole. And honestly, when it comes to Reese Witherspoon’s character of Mrs. Whatsit, I think this was a waste of her talent, not to mention my time. Witherspoon won an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a Primetime Emmy, and has taken on a wide range of roles in both film and television. Taking all of that into consideration, it just made me go crazy. I wonder if Witherspoon was even trying, maybe it’s a result of bad directing that probably went more towards trying to get the best shots as opposed to the best performances. After all, it’s a Disney movie set for a late Winter release, who f*cking cares about “A Wrinkle In Time?”

The best character in the movie to me however has to be Meg’s father, Dr. Alexander Murry, played by Chris Pine. I haven’t seen all of Chris Pine’s work, but this to me definitely showcases his talent. In fact, in a movie that’s full of uninteresting characters and somewhat tolerable (maybe) performances, Chris Pine is a bright spot here. In fact, that’s why his character is my favorite, because out of everyone in this movie, maybe except Charles Wallace, he shows the most emotion. I doubt “A Wrinkle In Time” is gonna get any kind of recognition at the Academy Awards, but Chris Pine definitely gave the best performance in this movie, and made me care slightly more about what was going on.

I haven’t even gotten into the worst character of the movie though. Out of everyone, I gotta say that the thing that made this movie the biggest waste of my time is the character of Calvin, played by Levi Miller. I found him to be rather cliche, much like a lot of the other characters, and nothing was a shining star when it came to Calvin. But the worst thing to me about Calvin is the chemistry (or lack thereof) between him and Meg. I’m not gonna go into too much detail, but this is one of those connections that just feels forced and has no reason to exist other than spice things up, which ultimately doesn’t end up happening on my end because I never asked for this.

In the end, I wasted my time watching “A Wrinkle In Time.” I will say that the experience could have definitely been worse… I could have had to pay for it. I will say again, I watched the movie on a plane, and this was one of the free movies I was able to choose from. But if I were to watch this movie again, that would be amazing. I never read the book to “A Wrinkle In Time.” Maybe the book is better than the movie, but nevertheless, I just found myself uninterested, bored, and going through something that seemed somewhat familiar. I’m gonna give “A Wrinkle In Time” a 5/10. Thanks for reading this review! Pretty soon I’ll have my review up for “Ant Man and the Wasp,” be sure to stay tuned for that, and if you want to know how you might be able to save some money at the movies, you’re in luck! Be sure to click the link down below to find out more about AMC’s new A-List program exclusively for Stubs members! Also, be sure to follow me here on Scene Before through WordPress or through your email so you can stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, did you see “A Wrinkle In Time?” What did you think about it? Did you read the book? Tell me what you thought about that! Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

AMC Introduces A-List Program For Stubs Members: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/06/25/amc-introduces-a-list-program-for-stubs-members-is-this-a-good-deal/

International Men’s Day: Is This Holiday Worth Celebrating?

Posted on by Jack Drees

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Hey everyone, Jack Drees here! Today is November 19th, 2017. Today is World Toilet Day, although there is another holiday that is getting a little more recognition than that and it’s International Men’s Day. This holiday was conceived on February 8th, 1991, and inaugurated on February 7th, 1992. The holiday is now observed annually on November 19th, much like how International Women’s Day is observed on March 8th. I’ve been thinking recently and a lot of other people have as well, what is the true significance of International Men’s Day?

To answer that, I was on Twitter earlier today and I managed to come across a variety of tweets. Many people are saying things along the lines of: More men have mental illnesses than women, you should recognize men who may as well be considered role models, and this day shouldn’t even be worth celebrating because “every day is International Men’s Day.” My response to that last one is this: Yes, it is true that men are more privileged than women. Men are traditionally paid more, they’re not sexually harassed as often, and they never had to ask for the right to vote (with exceptions). However, to say that every day is International Men’s Day is like saying that the Hulk is always incredible. That’s not true, the Hulk is sometimes angry too. While I was on Twitter, I came across a tweet from a user I follow who happens to work for Teen Vogue, @laurenduca, a user who I admire because basically she’s fighting for women’s rights and she’s written a great article I read in the past. However she recently crafted a tweet that personally, I disagree with:

Let’s get something straight here. I was going through some of the replies to this and some of them were rather chuckleworthy. They were talking about Louis CK and Harvey Weinstein. As I was reading this, I wasn’t necessarily “surprised” she would tweet something like this, but it made me question this very holiday. I already have questioned it in the past, but it brought the questioning back into my mind. Not to mention, it brought a new question into mind as well. That question is: How many women hate men? Also, how much do they hate them? I’m not saying Lauren Duca hates all men. If she did, there’s a good chance she wouldn’t have liked some of my tweets praising her. Although let’s dive a little deeper into this by talking about the concept of feminism, because a little birdie told me Donald Trump is a little too controversial.

Feminism by definition is the advocacy of women’s rights in the realm of gender equality. If you ask me, I believe women deserve an equal amount of rights as men. Although here’s the thing. We already have an International Women’s Day, and I actually happen to recognize that holiday more than I recognize International Men’s Day. International Women’s Day is recognized because women fought for rights, mainly the right to vote. I recognize this holiday more because I feel that men get a lot of credit, and there are times when women don’t really get much spotlight so I feel the need to give it to them. On Twitter, I give shoutouts to women in honor of this day. I literally search for random Twitter users who happen to be female or I choose from female users I already know and give them a shoutout. In 2015, I did this for a month. In 2016, I did it for a few days, and in 2017, I made a whole day out of it. My question is when it comes to these holidays, if you want gender equality, why can’t both genders get a holiday? Yes, women, throughout history, had more struggles, but both men and women deserve recognition. At the risk of sounding like Donald Trump, I’m referring to the good ones. We don’t need to recognize men like Adolf Hitler or Osama Bin Laden or Joseph Stalin, we can honor those who have done good for the world. People like John F. Kennedy, Benjamin Franklin, Martin Luther King Jr., or Alexander Graham Bell. The same goes with women on their day. Forget about people such as Abby Lee Miller, Kim Kardashian, or Irma Grese. Try to remember those who have brought positivity from your gender. People like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Amelia Earhart, or Oprah Winfrey.

Down below is an image I’ve seen from multiple Twitter users.

If you ask me, you could probably do without the domestic abuse victim statistics because when it comes to basic math, 40% is below the majority between the genders (I assume these stats possibly include men who identify as transgender). Also, the fact that men serve longer in prison isn’t exactly worth pointing out either. It’s almost like saying “Hey! We committed crimes! So give us more credit for our time!” Although at the same time maybe they’re talking about the average time spent for similar crimes committed by both genders so this kind of makes sense if that’s the case. Granted, prison is awful, plus there’s always a chance that someone might be there for a reason they don’t deserve. Let’s say that there’s a law broken that the majority of people disagree with, or there are people who have been falsely accused, etc. Nevertheless, these statistics are valid and are worth recognizing. Suicide is a major issue, it’s executed multiple times a day and it’s very unfortunate whenever it happens. I just want to say to everyone who’s thinking of committing suicide, don’t. You won’t know what you’re missing. Why not live life a bit longer? See if it turns around if it’s got you down. Homelessness is also a big issue, if I were homeless, I wouldn’t be writing this. I want people, regardless of gender to have a home that way they can be who they want to be. …As long as they don’t become an asshole. Pretty much all of these issues are important.

When it comes to mental health, that’s a focal point for this year’s International Men’s Day. Men are more likely than women to find themselves living with antisocial disorders or substance abuse. Also, there are men who have been raised to to become masculine, and there are also those folks who can’t join that club. They remain silent for themselves and don’t express their feelings as much as other people.

In reality, the real reason why I think people question the idea of International Men’s Day is the fact that men are often viewed as privileged compared to women (which is true) but the thing is, I feel that a number of people fail to recognize that there are good men out there. There are also men out there who need help. Going back to Lauren Duca, to “cancel” a holiday like this one is discrimination. Yes, men have done this to women for years. Although in reality, we all want equality. The whole idea of feminism is to not only make progress in terms of giving more rights to women, but to make sure they have AS MUCH, NOT MORE, rights and power aside men. Sure, there are different rights women can have as opposed to men, like rights having to do with being able to get abortions. After all, men can’t get pregnant, but I’m pretty sure my point is made. Stuff like this is why I hate the new “Ghostbusters” reboot, it’s saying “women are superior to men.” They’re not. Men aren’t superior to women either. As genders, we’re supposed to work together. We have our differences, but in the end, said differences are just in existence. Think of it this way. If a woman said the male gender doesn’t deserve International Men’s Day, imagine what would happen if a man said the female gender don’t deserve International Women’s Day! Also, what if we took away Father’s Day? It would also be fair to take away Mother’s Day. Actually, you know what? A small part of me wants those taken away that way Hallmark has less cash-cows on their hands. By the way, love you mom and dad! We have holidays for food, for f*cking food! National Cheeseburger Day is on September 18! National Lobster Day is on June 15! We even have… a holiday… FOR CROUTONS! CROUTONS! FOR F*CKING CROUTONS! I’M NOT MAKING THIS UP! We, a civilized society, have a holiday, for f*cking croutons! Look it up! I’m not kidding! National Crouton Day! Observed on May 13th! EVERY F*CKING YEAR! I mean, people like croutons. So… I better let them have their day.

Ultimately, I think International Men’s Day is not a bad idea. Sure, International Women’s Day is a day that I recognize more, but it doesn’t mean I just completely ignore the idea of International Men’s Day because there are men who deserve recognition. Whether it be the brains like Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, or Neil DeGrasse Tyson, or the brawn like Mahatma Gandhi, William Wallace, or Aron Ralston, or even those men who can’t speak for themselves. So people, if you think all men are bad or get too much attention, look further. Women are advancing up the charts in terms of achievement and recognition and part of me sees what the future will be like for them. Although while women will have their rights, part of me wonders if we’ll be seeing a role reversal in the future where women get all the rights and men don’t get as much. I’m not saying that this will happen, and I believe a good portion of us are capable of knowing what “equality” means, but it’s something that I wondered if it will ever happen. I don’t mind a future where mostly women have power, I just want a future where people of any gender will have rights as equal as the person next to them. So yeah, happy International Men’s Day.

Thanks for reading this post, and I want to know your thoughts. Do you think International Men’s Day is worth celebrating? Do you think it’s stupid? Let me know your thoughts down below! Also, as far as movie reviews go, I have tickets to see “Justice League,” I’m seeing it the day before Thanksgiving so look forward to that review and a couple days later I’m gonna be seeing “Wonder,” which stars Jacob Tremblay, who also starred in one of my favorite movies of the decade, “Room.” Stay tuned for those reviews and other great content! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!