Ty Watches "Black Widow"

My wife and I watched "Black Widow" like most of the rest of the country this Friday. It was her turn to pick, but had it been my turn I would have picked it too. We have wanted to see this movie for two years now.

"Black Widow" was the first really big movie I remember being postponed due to COVID. I was bummed when it got pushed, but of course I understood. We also did not go to the theater to see it. We rented, or maybe bought it, on Disney+. I guess a lot of other people got it on Disney+ as well. Apparently they made something like 60 million plus dollars this weekend on people using Disney+.

Anyway, I kind of enjoyed this movie. I get some of the criticism that it is getting. It seems awkward to make a movie about a character whose outcome we already know, but it is a flashback in its essence. Scarlett Johansson was outshined by other people, but I like when other actors step up in movies that they are not the focus of. And the plot and twists were pretty easy to get, but it is a Marvel movie so the plot twists and whatnot are usually easy to follow. So the criticisms, while valid, I can find reasons to refute them. Otherwise, this movie is solid. One of my wife's friends at work said it was a spy thriller with "Mission Impossible" style action scenes. He was right on the money. Black Widow herself is a spy, and she comes from a family of spies, so that works. The action was rad, and had crazy stuff like helicopters and big planes falling from the sky. The fight scenes were also really well choreographed and expertly done by the actors.

As for the actors, they did good. Scarlett Johansonn was very solid as Black Widow. She played her like she has in all of the other MCU movies she has been in. We have come to know that character so well that any change would have been unnecessary. Rachel Weisz was very good as the surrogate mom who is a brilliant scientist. Weisz has had such a good and solid and sometimes exceptional career as an actor. She has seemingly played every role, and she usually does a very good job. The villain was cheeky and over the top and exactly what I want from my Marvel villains. I thought Taskmaster was cool. I liked the look of the suit and her never ending desire to do as informed by her father and creator. But the stars, by a wide margin, were David Harbour and Florence Pugh. Harbour was the father figure and Russia's version of Captain America. He was so funny. He was so goofy. He said the wrong thing at the wrong time. He was so fantastic in this role. This is such a great role for him. He looks like a regular dude and acts like one too. This was an exceptional performance from him. But Pugh was the absolute star. She was simply perfect. She was funny, but also very tough and a great spy. She had a great Russian accent. She acted the most like a child when being around Weisz and Harbour. She had the most moving moments in the movie. She made fun of all the stuff we have come to love about Black Widow, and it made me laugh. When she did Black Widow's pose and then scoffed, that was incredibly funny. I hope, and assume, that she is going to be around the MCU in this new phase, and I am here for it.

All in all I enjoyed myself while watching the movie. I recommend other people check it out too. Do not listen to the comic book nerds and misogynists that are bad mouthing this movie. They are punks and children. "Black Widow" is a good movie. It is a nice second step in the new MCU phase.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Better Late than Never on "Jojo Rabbit"

In my quest to watch as many movies as I can during quarantine that I have wanted to see again, or for the first time, my wife and I sat down on Saturday night, our quarantine date night, and watched "Jojo Rabbit".

Right away, this movie is incredible. It is funny, well shot, perfectly acted, colorful, sad and triumphant. It is a beautiful movie. I loved every single second of it. I am a very big Taika Waititi fan, as you all know, so when I first heard about this movie I wanted to see it strictly because it was being directed by Waititi. I then saw the trailer for it, and that made me want to see it even more. I was supposed to see it in theaters, but when I had the time, and my father had the time, he wanted to see it too, my wife and daughter unfortunately got sick, so I stayed home to care for them. I never got another real shot to see it while in the theaters. I knew that it won an Oscar, that a ton of my friends really liked, and I figured I would see it soon enough.

So while we were picking a movie, it was my turn, I scrolled through the available movies, and as soon as I saw "Jojo Rabbit", my mind was made up. We watched it, and as I said, I loved it. My wife liked it too, but she also spent a good amount of the movie in tears. I cried while watching it too. I am not afraid to admit that. For all the accolades, good reviews and trailers I had watched I was able to avoid all spoilers. All I knew going in was the basic story, and that Waititi was not only directing, but also playing Hitler. I assumed the movie was going to be a goofy, funny and interesting look at how stupid and asinine the Nazis were. That was my idea. And while the movie has all of that in it, there is some heavy, heavy things going in. There is crushing and devastating deaths. There is a harrowing story about the main kids father. There is the Jewish girl that hides out in the attic, who Jojo's mom is helping out. There's all this, and so much more. But, I like that Waititi is doing more stuff like this. That he is willing to make movies that aren't just straight up comedy, which he is a genius at, but that he is expanding his horizons. He made a great super hero movie, so why not try a war dramedy? He did, and he crushed it.

Yes, the movie is sad, there is very tough stuff to see and it made my wife and I cry, but it was also funny. I mean, Waititi plays Hitler! Now, he is Jojo's imaginary friend, and Waititi plays him like the idiot I imagine he was, but still, to see him with that hair, those clothes and that mustache, it was wild. He played him so hilariously inept though, every time he was on screen, I was laughing. The rest of the actors were very good as well. Scarlett Johannson is tremendous in her role. She is Jojo's mom, she is anti Nazi and anti war and she is simply splendid. It's a role like this, a performance like this, that reintroduces me to how great she is. Sam Rockwell and Alfie Allen are very good as well. They play Nazi lovers, but they have hearts of gold. Rockwell is one of those actors that I always enjoy when he is in a movie. Rebel Wilson was perfectly cast as the woman worker in the Nazi office. She was made for a comedic role like this, and she thrived. And even in a small role, Stephen Merchant shows why he is such a coveted character actor in comedies. He was great. But the kids in this movie were the true stars. Jojo was played by a kid named Roman Griffin Davis, and man is he wonderful. He is so good as the fanatic young kid, who thinks he is destined to fight in the German army, but he really is a good kid underneath it all. It just needs to be pried out of him by other people in his life. The scenes between him and Waititi are so god damn funny. But, the stuff between him and Johannson is so moving and beautiful and easy to relate to as a parent myself. He should have gotten an Oscar nomination. The girl that played the Jewish kid hiding out in the attic, Thomasin McKrnzie, was so so so good. She was tough and willing to fight for herself. She also was the one that really helped Jojo realize that he is a good kid. She also was a perfect big sister type character to Jojo. And the scene where they dance together was so pretty, it made me happy cry and I think about it quite often as one of the most heart warming things I have seen in a movie in some time. And then we have Archie Yates, who played Yorki, Jojo's best friend, who was the perfect comedic foil to Jojo. Seeing him in German Army gear was great. Hearing him chastise the German Army later on was hilarious. Him telling Jo Jo that he missed him mom so much because of the war, and that he needed to "go home and get some cuddles", was the best. Yorki was amazing. All these kids were amazing.

This movie was amazing. I cannot recommend it enough. I will say, know going into it that it will make you cry, but it will also make you laugh and you will be happy at the end. I love this movie. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.