Cruella and A Quiet Place Part 2 - Renegade Marquee #3
Mike, Jacob, Hayden, and Tyler join forces to review Disney’s live action re-imagining of the villainous Cruella, and John Krasinski’s latest, A Quiet Place Part 2, the sequel to 2018’s horror hit. Also, Mike tells us a sordid tale of his time at the theater watching the former, which we’ll save for the podcast itself. Enjoy the episode!
“Cruella is a crime comedy film based on the character of Cruella De Vil from One Hundred And One Dalmatians. It was directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Dana Fox and Tony McNamara, with the story credited to Aline Brosh McKenna, Kelly Marcel, and Steve Zissis. The film is set in 1970s London amidst the punk rock revolution, where a young grifter named Estella is determined to make a name for herself with her designs. She befriends a pair of young thieves who appreciate her appetite for mischief, and together they are able to build a life for themselves on the London streets. One day, Estella’s flair for fashion catches the eye of the Baroness von Hellman, a fashion legend who is devastatingly chic and terrifyingly haute. But their relationship sets in motion a course of events and revelations that will cause Estella to embrace her wicked side and become the raucous, fashionable and revenge-bent Cruella. From the start, the film paints itself into a tight corner, as their answer to the question of “how do you sympathize with a dog murderer” is to flip the script. And yet, the reason this works as well as it does is the shear power of two stellar co-lead performances, a fun ensemble cast, and a director at the helm who understood the assignment. I won’t spoil any major twists or anything, just that Emma Stone and Emma Thompson were perfectly cast, and their battle of wits is ultimately what most audiences will be there to witness. Personally, I had a lot of fun with Joel Fry and Paul Walter Hauser’s portrayals of Jasper and Horace respectively. Their comedic timing has matched just about every other version of these characters. The jury is out whether or not I enjoyed this more than Maleficent and its sequel, but one thing all three have in common is that they’re each at their best when they chart their own path, yet at their worst when forced to hit certain beats from the original. Granted, with Cruella, there’s a bit more room to play with, and yet opportunities were still left on the table.”
“A Quiet Place Part II is the highly anticipated follow up to 2018’s A Quiet Place, written and directed by John Krasinski, based on characters created by Bryan Woods and Scott Beck. Following the deadly events at home, the Abbott family must now face the terrors of the outside world as they continue their fight for survival in silence. Forced to venture into the unknown, they quickly realize that the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats that lurk beyond the sand path. I adored this movie about as much as I did the original for many of the same reasons, and a few new ones. For starters, this film (and by extension, the franchise) has proven Krasinski’s talent as a filmmaker. Even if he’s standing on the shoulders of giants like Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and Ridley Scott, he still manages to leave his own mark on the genre. While the stakes of the first film were mostly limited to the Abbott family, this film effortlessly expands the world, introduces some new characters and leaves the door wide open for multiple sequels and spin-offs. Cillian Murphy’s character Emmett is certainly one of the best new additions to the cast, and the chemistry he has with Millicent Simmons’ Regan, whose role has been expanded here, is incredible. At such a young age, Simmons is really starting to come into her own as an action heroine, following a path not too dissimilar to Linda Hamilton or Sigourney Weaver. Of course, just like the first film, the sound design is top notch, and I really appreciate how much of the film was shot in Upstate New York, particularly Buffalo, Erie County, North Tonawanda, and Barcelona Harbor. Now, while I personally loved the movie from start to finish, I’ll admit that other people’s mileage may vary. Some people may prefer the more contained story within the first film, while others simply couldn’t get behind the franchise to begin with.”
That’ll do it for another episode of the Marquee! Thanks to Mike, Jacob, Hayden, and Tyler for co-hosting the episode, and we’ll see you in the next one, where our cinematic sleuths take a look at The Conjuring 3. See you next time!
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