Birds in the sky and outer space chop suey
WHILE writing this, I’m reading about the wins for “Beef” at the Emmy Awards. Congratulations to all those involved and Steven Yeun for winning a Golden Globe and an Emmy. It’s out on Netflix if you still haven’t seen it.
I attended the special screening for Universal’s “Migration” last weekend. There are things one has to concede when you’re in Megamall on a Saturday afternoon in a cinema playing a movie for kids: the kids will be chatty, and some parents will be scrolling their phones.
“Migration” is about a family of ducks who have an adventure flying out of the East Coast to the sparkly blue coast of Jamaica. If you’re looking for something safe, harmless, sometimes funny and engaging enough for kids this weekend, this is it.
I found it extra “kiddie” though. It’s much higher on the kiddie scale than
“Happy Feet.” Voice talents include Kumail Nanjani, Elizabeth Banks, Danny DeVito, Keegan-Michael Key and Awkwafina. Mike White, creator of one of my favorite shows, “White Lotus,” co-writes the script along with director Benjamin Renner.
“Migration” is also preceded by a “Despicable Me” short called “Mooned.” It has a lot of slapstick, but being in my almost default goth mood, I found the plot about being stranded in outer space with no way back to Earth, combined with the other souls out there being Minions, downright creepy. Maybe I’d just not rather remember “Event Horizon.”
Speaking of outer space, despite a 22 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and despite not being a Zack Snyder fan, I still watched “Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire.” It’s a derivative of “Star Wars,” “Lord of the Rings,” “Game of Thrones,” “Dune,” “Mad Max,” “The Matrix” and “Seven Samurai / The Magnificent Seven” in terms of plot points, characters, costume design, world building. It borrows from everything.
The cast includes Sofia Boutella as kora — a warrior who assembles a team to rise up against the Imperium, the army of an oppressive Motherworld. Also in the cast are sci-fi, superhero and fantasy guns for hire Charlie Hunnam, Djimon Honsou, Ray Fisher, Bae Doona, Ed Skrein and Michiel Huisman (yes, someone thought it clever to cast the actors who played Daario Naharis on “Game of Thrones”).
It started Ok, but then, the mishmash intensified towards the end. Nevertheless, I had a stressful week and it somehow did its job as a distraction.