Wonder Woman 1984 Review and discussing The Prom - Renegade Home Theater #1
Happy Holidays and a joyous New Year to all! Welcome to the first edition of the rechristened Renegade Home Theater, formerly known as the Streaming Wars! Mike, Jacob, Hayden, and Keona review Wonder Woman 1984 and Netflix’s The Prom, featuring a guest appearance by Hayden himself! Warning: We do discuss spoilers for WW84, so beware of that if you listen to the second half of the episode! Enjoy the episode, and let us know how we’re doing in the comments!
So, The Prom is a fun musical from director Ryan Murphy that stars Meryl Streep, James Corden, Keegan Michael-Key, Nicole Kidman, Andrew Rannells, Ariana DeBose, and Jo Ellen Pellman, who steals the show as Emma, a lesbian high schooler who is barred from attending her senior prom by a bunch of uptight, moralizing PTA types. The film is based on the hit Broadway musical and is buoyed by great performances from Streep, Kidman, and Rannells, as well as DeBose, who is very impressive in her role as Emma’s girlfriend. The songs are catchy and fun, and the self-aware humor kept it from being overly-preachy, in my opinion. And it was so much fun to see Hayden at the end of the film, even for just a split-second! A fun and uplifting movie musical that is also topical without being a screed. Check out the podcast for more thoughts on the movie!
Now, let’s talk about the big release of the month, and the final tentpole film hurrah for 2020: Wonder Woman 1984! The highly anticipated sequel to one of 2017’s best films, WW84 is a more lighthearted, Silver Age-inspired adventure starring Gal Gadot as Diana, Princess of Themyscira, the land of the Amazons; Pedro Pascal as Maxwell Lord, a greedy wannabe oil baron whose ambition is only surpassed by his self-importance; and Kristen Wiig as Barbara Minerva, an awkward, put-upon scientific researcher who idolizes Diana until she mysteriously gains powers of her own. The film is directed by Patty Jenkins, who returns to the character she developed in the original movie, and is co-written by Jenkins, Geoff Johns, and Dave Callaham. While the script has a grand scope, it’s unafraid to maintain its focus on three main characters (eventually four once Chris Pine returns as Steve Trevor) and their individual subplots. WW84 is also unafraid to be funny and comedic, which isn’t something the DCEU has featured all that much in the past.
That said, for me, the film is not nearly as good as the first solo Wonder Woman outing from 2017. I thought the plot and script was quite messy and jumbled, and the pacing of the film suffers in its second act. Certain sequences felt overly long, and the general tone of the film felt a little off for me. The climax went on far too long and was over the top. Finally, the main plot of the film was underwhelming. It felt overblown and resolved in a very clumsy way.
However, I will say that I didn’t hate the film. I love Gadot as Diana and her chemistry with Pine continues to be perfect. Pascal gave it his best effort as Max Lord, and he has some of the best lines in the film. Wiig is mostly good as Minerva, but she relies on her typical SNL delivery in her early scenes, especially when she acts awkward. She gets better as the film goes along, though, so it isn’t a deal-breaker.
Overall, I’m not the biggest fan of the film, but if you listen to the podcast, I’m alone in my assessment. Mike, Jacob, and Hayden all enjoyed the movie far more than I did, which is great! I’m happy they did, and I wish I could get past my issues and have as much fun with the film as they did. Still, I’d recommend people watch the film and decide for themselves how they feel about it. It’s not a bad film by any means, and is worth a watch, especially for fans of the DCEU and anyone who wants a healthy dose of escapism in their comic book adaptations.
Oh, and as a bonus feature for those of you who enjoyed the podcast… Here’s Brock and Mike with a video review of WW84!
Well, the first Home Theater episode is now complete! Thanks so much for all the support and for checking out our podcast! Please comment below and let us know how we’re doing, stay safe out there, and Happy New Year, Renegades!
Greetings, fellow movie fans, and welcome to a very special episode of the Renegade Home Theater! Today Mike, Jacob, and Keona welcome a very special pair of filmmakers to RPC’s Remote Headquarters: Taylor Morden and Zeke Kamm, director and writer (respectively) of The Last Blockbuster documentary, which is currently streaming on Netflix! Yes, we know, it’s ironic. Alanis Morisette wrote a song about it once. Enjoy the episode!