Monday Media on Tuesday, 5/11/21

[owlmoose]

The Mandalorian, Season 1: The catching up on Disney+ content continues! I don't know that I've ever seen a more brilliant performance via voice acting and body language alone than Pedro Pascal as the Mandalorian. You never see his face, and yet you almost always know what he's thinking, what he's feeling, what he's going through. I'm very impressed. The bond he's developed with the Child is both adorable and heartwarming. It's interesting, though. Since I've basically only watched the movies, it's rare that I've followed characters who know essentially nothing about Jedi and the Force (with Solo possibly being the only exception). So I wouldn't really expect anyone here to recognize Yoda's species, but it does strike me as a little odd that none of them realizes that the Child is using the force, especially Cara, who fought with the Rebellion. Also interesting is the conversation that the Armorer has with Mando about the "wizards" who did battle with their people, speaking of the Jedi as though they are mystic figures lost to legend. It's always struck me as strange that the Jedi went from world power to forgotten in less than 20 years, and this is yet more evidence of that.

L.A. Story: T and I were talking about something a few weeks ago that brought this movie to mind, and the idea struck us to watch it again. He looked for it on streaming, it wasn't there; I was certain that I owned it on DVD, but turned out I was wrong. So, we bought it. And last night we finally got around to watching it. I've long thought of it as one of my favorite movies -- a great "city-as-character" piece and a fun romantic comedy -- but I hadn't seen it in many years, so I wondered how it would hold up. And I'd say it held up pretty well! The funny bits were still funny, the romance was still sweet (although there are some borderline consent moments between Harris and Sara, of the "grabbing and kissing" variety), and the city was still a main character: Los Angeles as a city of dreams and dreamers. Definitely worth a rewatch. Would I recommend it to someone who'd never seen it, as opposed to viewing it through a lens of nostalgia? That's harder to say, given how very nostalgic I am for this movie. But if you like romantic comedies and don't mind unexplained mystical elements, I'd say give it a try.