BARBIE Review

Barbie has its fake plastic cake and eats it too. When the first note of Lizzo's "Pink" drops accompanying the reveal of production designer Sarah Greenwood's "Barbieland" as these real-life dolls dressed in Jacqueline Durran‘s wardrobe descend from their Dreamhouses there is a sense that what we, the audience and spectator, are being welcomed into are images and feelings that possess an equal amount of simplicity and elegance. There is the immediate sense of influence in that one can easily see images and references from this movie integrating themselves into the culture; stills painted in Hollywood murals alongside classics like The Wizard of Oz or characters standing next to Marilyn Monroe. At the same time, there is an adventurous sense that one has no idea what they're truly getting themselves into or at least, where this movie might go both literally and thematically. By the final scene (or two) of the film it is clear this duality of simplicity and elegance is wholly intentional so that the film works on different levels for different audience members whether that be someone who currently plays with dolls, someone who once played with dolls, or even those who always felt too boxed in by expectation to either play with dolls themselves or at least acknowledge the appeal of them. 

Yes, this is a movie about a doll, but the “we’ll sell more toys” aspect didn’t bother or invade my experience because of how intelligently writer/director Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird, Little Women) uses this packaging to tell the story she and co-writer/life partner Noah Baumbach decided to tell or how it emphasizes the themes they wanted to explore and discuss. In addition to the levels and ideas (or levels of ideas), Barbie is also just a Technicolor fever dream of musical numbers and comedy bits that land with such frequency that even if your sympathy for Ken is maybe greater than it is for Barbie or even if Allan weirds you out a little bit (which we’ll get to) there is plenty here for all to enjoy if not hopefully (eventually) consider.

Official Teaser Trailer for Marvel's SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS

Created by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin,  Shang-Chi made his comics debut in 1973 as a result of Marvel attempting to capitalize on the popularity of martial arts in America. There are reports that Marvel and Stan Lee were trying to develop a film adaptation as early as the 1980s, (one such planned incarnation was to have starred Brandon Lee) but it wasn't meant to be. After a long road to the big screen though, the martial arts master is finally joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe at a time when new blood couldn't be more welcome. Directed by Dustin Daniel Cretton — who was born in Hawaii and is of Japanese descent — the filmmaker initially made a name for himself with 2013's Short Term 12 (which now features a murderer's row of talent including fellow MCU hero Brie Larson) as well as helming the little-seen The Glass Castle, and 2019's Oscar-contender, Just Mercy. Cretton, who has said he never had any intention of making the crossover to big-budget tentpole cinema, has gone on to say that making a superhero movie with a predominantly Asian cast has, "helped contribute to what I think is a really beautiful update to what started in the comics a few decades ago." As for the titular star of the film, the casting of thirty-one-year-old Simu Liu, best known for his role as Jung Kim on the Canadian sitcom Kim's Convenience, is a Cinderella story in and of itself. The actor had been tweeting at Marvel as early as 2014, so when Shang-Chi was officially announced, he naturally followed up with the domineering movie studio and to Liu's surprise, actually received an invite to audition eventually landing the role in July of 2019. As the beginning of a new franchise for the MCU, this will be an origin story many (including myself) are very much unaware of which makes for the third film post-Endgame (and the first starring a new character) all the more exciting and mysterious. Cretton's film, which he co-wrote with Dave Callaham, will follow our protagonist from his raising as the son of Wenwu (frequent Wong Kar-wai collaborator Tony Leung) who serves as the head of a villainous organization known as the Ten Rings. Wenwu has gone by many names in the world of the film including that of The Mandarin who first appeared in 2013's Iron Man 3 to controversial and mixed reactions when he showed up as a fraud via Ben Kingsley's Trevor Slattery. When we meet Shang-Chi in this film, he’s been free from his father's influence for a decade after choosing to walk away from a life of death and crime, but of course he is unable to run from his past forever. With some terrific-looking fight sequences as shot by legendary cinematographer Bill Pope (The Matrix, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) and a supporting cast that includes Awkwafina, Fala Chen, Meng’er Zhang, Florian Munteanu, Ronny Chieng, and Michelle Yeoh, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will hopefully deliver us back into the world of movie-going and the bright future of the MCU when it opens in theaters on September 3, 2021.