One Night in Miami, a Promising Young Woman named Earwig met Malcolm and Marie to discuss The Little Things! - Renegade Home Theater #3

It’s episode three of the Renegade Home Theater, featuring such modern motion pictures as HBO Max’s Earwig and the Witch and The Little Things, Netflix’s Malcolm and Marie, Amazon’s One Night in Miami, and Promising Young Woman, which is out on premium VOD right now! Quite an eclectic bunch of films lined up on this episode, so let’s get to the show notes, and hit that play button so you can hear the podcast with Keona, Jacob, and Hayden!

---

It's episode three of the Renegade Home Theater, featuring such modern motion pictures as HBO Max's Earwig and the Witch and The Little Things, Netflix's Malcolm and Marie, Amazon's One Night in Miami, and Promising Young Woman, which is out on premium VOD right now!

---

First up on the podcast, we have Amazon’s One Night in Miami, a film adaptation of Kemp Powers’ play which imagines a night where football player Jim Brown, singer Sam Cooke, boxer Cassius Clay (later known as Muhammad Ali), and civil rights activist Malcolm X all meet in a hotel room and discuss their different approaches to the issues and struggles African-Americans deal with in their daily lives at the time. The film is dramatic, emotional, heartfelt, and challenging, and an excellent showcase for first-time director (and veteran actress) Regina King, as well as the inspired script by Powers himself. I loved the performances on display, as well, with special kudos going to Kingsley Ben-Adir as Malcolm X and Leslie Odom, Jr. as Cooke. Everyone is on their A-game, and it pleases me to say that the movie doesn’t vilify anyone; rather, it simply puts forth the ideas that these men were developing and the troubles that they faced throughout their lives, and how they responded to it in incredibly strong and often empathetic ways. Highly recommended!

Next up is my personal favorite of the bunch, Promising Young Woman, a dark comedy/thriller directed by Emerald Fennell, another first-time director and actress (who you can see on Netflix’s The Crown). The film stars Carey Mulligan as a woman named Cassie who lost her best friend ten years ago due to a horrific tragedy, and follows attempts to mete out justice in her memory. It’s a bit of a revenge flick, but it doesn’t follow the usual tropes of the subgenre. Rather, Cassie is a super-intelligent, cunning, and resourceful woman who barely lifts a finger against anyone, but manages to find the upper hand in nearly every situation. The movie is obviously a Me-Too allegory, but is done with enough self-awareness and cleverness that it avoids becoming a political screed. I love Mulligan’s performance here, and the extended cameos by actors like Clancy Brown, Molly Shannon, Adam Brody, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Alison Brie, and Alfred Molina (among others) shows how incredible all these performers are in a limited amount of screen time. The ending is also one of the most shocking and gut-wrenching final acts I’ve seen in a long time. A must watch!

Third on our list is the latest in HBO Max’s simultaneous theatrical and streaming release schedule, John Lee Hancock’s mystery/suspense/thriller, The Little Things, starring Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, and Jared Leto. I’m going to just say it here: I hated this movie. To me, it was akin to playing the old NES Silver Surfer game, where you constantly die if you just brushed an obstacle or an enemy or a stray projectile. It was honestly so slow and boring and devoid of personality that I couldn’t stand watching it. It genuinely made me frustrated. The only good point about this movie was Thomas Newman’s musical score, which sounded like it belonged to a far better thriller. Seriously, if you want to watch Denzel chase down a serial killer (or guide someone into doing it for him), watch The Bone Collector, or Devil in a Blue Dress, or Fallen. Hell, if you want to watch a detective/crime thriller, turn on Silence of the Lambs, Kiss the Girls, Along Came a Spider, or Seven! Any of those is so far superior to this movie, I can’t even comprehend what the point of actually producing and releasing this was. Not recommended in the slightest, and I hated it.

Fourth up is Netflix’s Malcolm and Marie, a drama about a film director named Malcolm (portrayed by John David Washington) and his girlfriend (played by Zendaya), a young actress whom he forgot to thank at his movie’s premiere. Before I go on, let me just note that this movie has drawn some ire from audiences and critics due to various factors, including Malcolm’s outlook on criticism of his own film (he freaks out at positive reviews, never mind the negative ones), as well as the age difference between the actors (Washington is twelve years older than Zendaya), which can make their more intimate scenes a bit uncomfortable to watch. Personally, I see how this film can be fairly and rightfully critiqued, especially since director Sam Levinson has seemingly based Malcolm’s character on himself in certain respects (which is a whole controversy in itself). However, I do think the movie showcases its two actors in some powerful ways. There are a lot of elitist, melodramatic speeches, arguments about authenticity, and even a scene where Marie slaves over a stove to make the most gourmet-looking mac’n cheese dish I have ever seen. Yes, this movie is flawed, and I certainly understand the negative press its garnering, but I do respect Washington and Zendaya for giving it their all. Moderately recommended.

Finally, we have the latest feature film from Studio Ghibli and director Goro Miyazaki (son of the legendary Hayao Miyazaki), Earwig and the Witch. Now, I do not possess encyclopedic knowledge of Ghibli’s output, and I certainly haven’t watched all of their films. I’ve seen Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Spirited Away, and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, and I’ve enjoyed all of those films immensely, as Ghibli’s artistry and mastery of hand-drawn animation is second to none, and the themes explored in those films along with their character development and stylized action and adventure sequences are nigh-perfect. All that said, Earwig is a different kind of project for them, as it’s their first CG animated feature film, and while a learning curve is to be expected, I don’t believe this was a success for them. First of all, Earwig is a brat of a character, whose arc really goes nowhere and who seems designed to be unlikable. Her constant narration and bizarre character design is not endearing in the slightest, and the other characters in the film, with the exception of the talking cat and Earwig’s mother, are just as insufferable. Second, there’s no real goal for Earwig to reach here, other than learning how to do magical spells. In other Ghibli films, there’s always an end goal, a narrative focus that drives heroines like Kaguya or Mononoke or Chihiru. Here, Earwig just seems content to try to manipulate anyone in her vicinity. Finally, the animation and music just isn’t up to par, in my opinion. Designs are bargain-basement Pixar wannabes, at best, the CGI mostly is just serviceable, and the score is overly noisy and upbeat. And if I have to hear Kacey Musgraves sing “Don’t disturb meeeee” one more time… GRRRR. Sadly, this is the first Ghibli film I actually dislike. Not recommended.

And that’s all we have for this installment of the Home Theater show! Thank you to everyone who made it this far into the show notes and all of you who listen to our show! Be safe out there, Renegades, and we’ll see you for the next one!

-Neoplasmic