Review #15: Frozen

Frozen

Release Date: November 27th, 2013
Writer: Jennifer Lee
Director: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee

Logline: Fearless optimist Anna teams up with Kristoff in an epic journey, encountering Everest-like conditions, and a hilarious snowman named Olaf in a race to find Anna's sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom in eternal winter. (Source IMDb)
Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Musical. 102 min.
Bechdel Test: Passed all 3 tests.

Review
I was the default reviewer of Disney's Frozen because Alyssa hates animated movies and I tend to really like them. Sadly, this is another big miss from Disney.

Frozen is a disjointed collection of unfinished pieces of a movie that don't come together. At its core is a movie about sisters who have been divided by differences. A nice idea. Let's see where it falls apart.

The movie opens with a musical tribute to CGI ice. This has almost nothing to do with the movie. In fact, it confused me on the first watch because I assumed it meant the city was already in a frozen wonderland. It was not. Then after the random musical ice number is the introduction of the two sisters, Elsa and Anna, who are the lead characters. For reasons not explained, one of them has magical ice powers. Come on, Disney. You couldn't come up with an evil witch, a curse from birth, a prophecy, nothing? Elsa just has powers and the audience needs to go with it. Then Elsa tries to hide her powers from the world, and she becomes a recluse because she is afraid of hurting people. So she hurts people. To avoid hurting people. Anna sings a medley "Do You Want to Build a Snowman", further reinforcing the initial belief I had that the city was in a frozen wonderland. But it wasn't yet, it took 30 minutes in before Elsa accidentally casts a spell sending the city into a frozen wonderland. I think it's pretty clear that by that point I didn't care.

Do you see why I dislike Frozen? I get that this is a kids movie, but when the standard for comparison is Shrek, Finding Nemo, Up, The Incredibles, and How to Train Your Dragon, the expectation of a quality story is high. Like other Disney films, this was destined to be successful with kids because it's got those essential elements - the same beautiful animation of Tangled, a big imaginative setting, and a stunning broadway singer (Adele Dazeem). The major story problems though are unforgivable. It becomes generic and forgettable.

I think the biggest failing of the story is not having a straightforward central conflict. That doesn't necessarily mean an enemy, like what The Snow Queen originally was. Many of the movies I named previously don't have a big bad, they just have a central conflict usually around their unusual qualities being rejected by society. Elsa is fearful and isolates herself, but she totally embraces her powers. She makes herself a kickass ice castle and gives herself a makeover. The whole "uncontrollable powers" thing is gone, and with it goes her fear of her powers. The stakes are even further removed at this point because we are lead to believe there is some terrible collateral damage because the town is now in a frozen wonderland. However, without any characters who live in this town or even show why that's a bad thing, this curse has no effect at all. At least Josh Gad's snowman sidekick character shows up, to distract the audience.

I'm just going to skip right to the ending - Spoiler alert? Lets be honest, the plot is about as complicated as a peanut butter and jelly recipe. Sandwich spoilers: it's peanut butter. And jelly.

The movie ends with Elsa getting "saved" by Anna choosing to save Elsa or some nonsense. Love was the key all along! Once again, this makes no sense. Here's why: Elsa choose to flee the city from fear of hurting her loved ones, meaning she loves these people so much she sacrifices herself. Then she choose to make an amazing ice palace, which shows she had precise control over her powers. So what was the part she was missing? She had control, and she had love. Or is this about Anna? It can't be. Anna loved her sister at the beginning, and loved her sister when she scaled a mountain to go visit her, and loved her sister at the end when she sacrificed herself. Can someone explain this to me? Did she have to feel regret to "heal" Anna? Because she felt that at the beginning when she hurt her the first time. This whole love-saves-the-day thing is a deus ex machina in disguise. This ending is so contrived it negates almost everything that previously happened. If love is how Elsa learned to control her powers, then she should have been able to control them at the very beginning when she hurt Anna the first time and was so distressed over hurting her sister that she sacrificed her whole livelihood to stop it from happening again. In fact, I'm not sure any conflict is even resolved in the end. Elsa's powers are still bizarrely unexplained, and the town only accepts her witchcraft after she unfreezes them and puts on a show. Bread and circuses, I guess?

If I were to ignore the plot holes, I still have a problem with the fact that the movie feels like it's all setup with no payoff. The climactic ending feels like the halfway point to most movies because that's the first time the characters became convicted in their goals. It's the first time stakes seem to be relevant. It was an incredibly long movie for such little payoff. It all left a bad taste in my mouth.


But hey, there's an Arrested Development shout out. I guess that's cool?

Portrayal of Women:
One of the sisters is introduced as being only interested in being swept off her feet by a man. Then she gets swept off her feet by a man. Then she gets swept off her feet by another man.

The other sister is bitter and jaded from the expectations of her as future Queen.

I mean. I don't even know what to say about that. At least Rapunzel in Tangled had a myriad of interests and hobbies, she was driven to discover her family, her own person, and was willing to defend herself. Rapunzel was a character who lived in the world and was shaped by it, not just a cliche damsel in distress. I can't say the same about the women in Frozen.

It's nice that they love each other as sisters, but neither one is a quality character.
Oh and they both looooove chocolate. Sorry Disney, this is a big miss.

Sisterhood Moment:
You know, it's super disappointing that in a movie about the love of sisters, I can't think of a really great moment I loved with the two of them. Their relationship was generic and uninspired.

When Elsa is totally isolated and uses the power of song to build a castle, plus a new ice-outfit. Maybe it's real clothes, who knows. If I was locked in a castle, you better believe I'd be wearing a cape, too.

Oh and Disney, just because you made the Princess and the Frog doesn't mean you've met your diversity quota. This movie was whiter than snow.

Rating: 2 out of 5 annoying kindergartners.

IMDb - Frozen (8.0)
Wikipedia - Frozen
Rotten Tomatoes - Frozen (89%)

Academy Awards Wrap Up

The Oscars are done, the awards given out, In And Out burgers consumed.

Big props to Ellen DeGeneres for hosting. She was pretty funny all night, and kept things moving, in my opinion. A lot of critics are saying she wasn't a great host, but I disagree. The Oscars are such an old fashioned mode of entertainment that they're always going to be boring and slow. Ellen has made a name for herself by being so nice to everyone, rarely does she mock individuals, so anyone looking for a scathing monologue making fun of the nominees was clearly looking for another host. 

Highlights: 

• JLaw tripping again. It sure would be embarrassing if someone brought that up...
• Ellen asking if anyone in the audience wanted pizza and Kerry Washington shot her arm so fast. 
• Pizza's legitimately arrived and Brad Pitt got super into it.
• Harvey Weinstein not understanding a joke "Pizza costs more than $200?" Leave it to the professionals. Lupita paid in Lip balm. Girl knows whats up.  
• The selfie that broke Twitter (Alyssa and I were booted from LiveTweeting) 

Whatever complaints people have about Ellen's job hosting, I think the most important thing was she got into the audience and got the celebrities involved. Sure some people love a song and dance routine, but I found her interactions with the nominees to be fun and refreshing. 

As for the rest of the show... There were some ups and downs. Some long speeches, some adorable moments, Amy Adams almost fell asleep at one point. 

Other Highlights

•  Let It Go won for Best Original Song...Actually no one cares about the song, but they made the cutest acceptance speech ever made. The married couple who wrote the song recited with enthusiasm a rhyming sing-song. They were my favs. Also, EGOT is a thing! 
• Pharrell's Best Original Song nomination for Happy was the best musical number of the night. He had a huge number of choreographed dancers, bright colors, and a great up tempo song to dance to. Lets be honest though, the best dancers were Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, and Lupita Nyong'o.
• Now that Lupita has her Oscar win, she's going to transition into a first-name only, fashionista starlet. Oh wait, she's already that. 
• Cate Blanchett. The Queen of Red Carpet Fashion. The Queen of the movie The Queen. One Bad-Ass Mother. She got to take home her Oscar for Best Actress from her role in Blue Jasmine. She's the only Red Carpet diva who can make us go "huh, that dress is... interesting." and then still end up on our Best Dressed List. 
• Kerry Washington got pizza, by the way. So Did Jared Leto's Mom. SoCute.
• Kevin Spacey showing up everyone by giving Frank Underhill on stage. I may have screamed a little. 
• Love for Whoopi Goldberg who's kind of a hosting legend. 
  
• Love for Liza Minnelli who's a living legend. 
• Love for Liza Minnelli who showed up in Pajamas and no one cared. She still rocked them. 
• Love for Liza Minnelli who tried real hard to get into a picture with Ellen, then got denied. (It's ok, she might not be in the photo that broke twitter, but she had her own Ellen Selfie.)
• Everyone brought their Mom's. Seriously, everyone. Jared Leto had a family reunion. Matthew McConaughey showed where he gets his "Vegas Pimp" fashion sense from. Jonah Hill's Mom was so cute, and pretended not to notice that everyone was making dick-jokes. And of course, Bruce Dern brought his talented daughter Laura Dern. What a sweetie.

Here at Fempire, we try to support women in writing and directing roles, as well as behind the scenes. So congratulations to Jennifer Lee for winning Best Animated Feature with Frozen. 

We are also super proud of Melisa Wallack, screenwriter for Dallas Buyers Club. Although she lost out on Best Original Screenplay to Spike Jonze's Her, and Best Picture to 12 Years a Slave, her movie still took home some statues. Matthew McConaughey won Best Actor, and Jared Leto won Best Supporting Actor. The film also took home the trophy for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, which was an incredible win for the ladies involved. They did such an incredible job, with a $250 BUDGET. Are you kidding me? I've got more makeup than that in the bottom of my purse. Girl's a damn miracle worker. Again, big props to Robin Matthews and Adruitha Lee for making that happen. 

To celebrate these wins, we're going to review Frozen and Dallas Buyers Club for you this week. Right, Alyssa and Sarah? You're not going to get lazy and forget about it, now are you? What did you think of the 2014 Oscars? 

Review #14: Whip It

Whip It

Release Date: October 2nd, 2009
Writer: Shauna Cross
Director: Drew Barrymore

Logline: In Bodeen, Texas, an indie-rock loving misfit finds a way of dealing with her small-town misery after she discovers a roller derby league in nearby Austin. (Source IMDb)
Sports, Comedy, Drama. 111 min.
Bechdel Test: Passed all three tests.

Review
This should not be a good movie. By all accounts, it should be forgettable, disposable, and cliche. But 5 years after its release, I still kind of love it.

Whip It has some good summer popcorn staples to give it legs. Ellen Page was fresh off of Juno, the roller derby fad was just blowing up, the soundtrack is killer, but there's some extra magic in this movie that makes me love it.

First and foremost, the cast is outstanding. Ellen Page, playing Bliss, is just so damn talented. The rest of the cast is really filled out by secondary characters who are extremely well written. It's a big red flag of lazy writing to make minor characters who get the story moving, to have no personality whatsoever, and yet it happens all the time. Rounding out the cast is the vicious Juliette Lewis, the saccharine Marcia Gay Harden, the hysterical Alia Shawkat, and the lovable 'Hot Tub Johnny' Jimmy Fallon. Notice that all of those characters have a defined character? That's so important in making a movie memorable. Giving all the derby girls a reason to be there, and complicated lives and personalities makes them fun and real.

Second, don't you just love a good sisterhood moment? Girls are sort of taught not to play on teams, not to trust each other, and that's not fair. Whip It has Bliss finding herself within a team of women. She's not individual who rises above, she gets the support of her girls. You know what I love even more? She doesn't limit herself to the identity of being someones girlfriend. I can't think of another female lead movie where her relationship was NOT the most important thing in her life.

Finally, the relationship Bliss has with her Mom is portrayed spectacularly. Who doesn't have a relationship like that with their Mom? At some point the overbearing good intentions of Bliss's Mom becomes that direct motivation to rebel. Something often botched in coming of age films. More importantly, however, is how that relationship grows and changes. I love the scene when Bliss talks to her Mom about her boyfriend. It breaks my heart. So many films show kids rebelling and abandoning their parents reign, and they find nothing but boundless success after without ever needing to reconcile those two worlds. I have so much appreciation for the fact that Bliss remained tied to her parents in this movie, it's realistic and genuine.

This might be a flat movie for some people, it's predictable and a little cheesy at times. It's certainly not going to win any awards, but it's a ton of fun. It's one of my favorite feel-good movies. Did I mention the soundtrack is killer?

Portrayal of Women: Can the badass ladies of Roller Derby get any better? It's not just the women, all the characters. They're textured, they're real, they exist beyond the stereotype. I want to be on a Derby team with Drew Barrymore, Kristen Wiig, Zoe Bell, and Eve.

Sisterhood Moment: Bliss and Pash hanging out in the diner, singing and dancing to Jolene (more specifically, their own version called Bodeen). I'm pretty sure every girl in American has sang Jolene at some point. Dolly Parton is a force of nature.

Rating: Two packs of twizzlers.

IMDb - Whip It (6.1)
Wikipedia - Whip It
Rotten Tomatoes - Whip It (84%)

Review #13: The Queen of Versailles

The Queen of Versaille

Release Date: July 20th, 2012

Director: Lauren Greenfield

Logline: A documentary that follows a billionaire couple as they begin construction on a mansion inspired by Versailles. During the next two years, their empire, fueled by the real estate bubble and cheap money, falters due to the economic crisis. (Source IMDb)

Documentary, 100 min.

Bechdel Test: N/A

Review

During that most annoying phase of life where people are constantly asking "So what are your plans after you graduate?" I started to answer with "I really just want to marry rich."  Usually this would elicit a polite laugh and then they'd leave me alone. 

But really, doesn't marrying rich sound amazing? You can just chill all day, buy whatever you want and revel in the realization that your biggest worry is whether you have coordinating Louboutins for every outfit.

That's exactly the situation that we find Jackie Siegal in.  She is married to a real estate billionaire who is building her the biggest home in North America. She has a bunch of kids, a bunch of dogs, and a ton of cash - her life seems amazing.  Then the 2008 economic crisis comes along and we get an entirely different perspective. We see that her relationship with her husband is strained and her kids are being raised by nannies. She seems to have lost her identity in the overwhelming lifestyle of the rich.

This documentary gives the viewer a captivating look at what life is like for the richest of the rich. No matter what kind of pay cheque you're bringing home, everyone worries about pretty much the same things: money, fitting in, family, and house training your dogs.

Portrayal of Women: Jackie is the most interesting person in this film.  Her life was filled with ups and downs and her marriage to David was supposed to be her happy ending.  I wonder if she is truly happy with that decision.

In her hometown, people talked about how smart she was and how they could always tell she was going places.  Is marrying a billionaire hindering that potential?  Should we envy her or pity her - is she wasting her life away as she completely identifies as David's wife?

The answer to that is no one's business but Jackie's, but I'm dying to know how she would answer.

Sisterhood Moment: You can tell Jackie does have good intentions when it comes to helping people. She sends money to her high school bestie to help save her house from being foreclosed.  Even if you don't speak to your high school girlfriends anymore, that history always counts for something.

Rating: 3/5 plus 3 Pomeranians and a Miss America sash.

IMDb - The Queen of Versaille (7.1)

Wikipedia - The Queen of Versailles

Rotten Tomatoes - The Queen of Versailles (95%)