Theater Camp, Barbie and The Equalizer 111

 

Warm hearted and pacy, Theater Camp (not surprised that Google does not like the spelling) is a funny and clever mocumentary. Partly improvised with cinematography that was "naturalistic, imperfect and un-pretty". I could see that. I liked all the crew including the dance teacher (Nathan Lee Graham), costume (Owen Thiele) and particularly Alan Kim as the young agent who is never off the phone. That continuing gag is one of the best. Ben Platt and Molly Gordon are the leads as the best friends who run the camp, but it is the young members of the cast who terrific, both on and off the stage. Jimmy Tatro as the son of the hospitalised owner is the stupid counterpoint to all the gaiety. Only one gripe and that it is all musical "theatre". I guess it had to be.

After weeks of avoiding Barbie I was persuaded as an avid film fan to give it a go. And I had great respect for director Greta Gerwig after her Lady Bird and Little Women. Well, the first half hour in Barbieland was fun, but going into the real world was a big disappointment, All except for mother and daughter America Ferrara and Arriana Greenblatt, spoilt only by America's tedious monologue towards the end. 

The film has so much to say about gender inequality and I get it. But not rammed down our throats for an hour. Was making the Mattel board all male meant to be funny? It was a good joke that became tedious and monotonous as it went on. A pregnant Barbie was discontinued? I had to agree with Camilla Long in The Sunday Times (they had to parachute in a female critic) who said it was "A hot pink mess of a film ......... it's squealing, corporate and grasping". And don't get me started on the ending.

I avoided the first two in the series, but The Equalizer 111 gained much better reviews. And it was set in Sicily where we had holidayed many years ago. The pictures of the scenery were amazing, some helicopter shots made me dizzy. Denzel Washington is now 68 so I bet he was glad when an early injury meant he had to use a stick. When he was better, he was supposed to run up steep steps up a cliff side. But we only get shots at the bottom and top! So a predictable story, much like a James Bond movie but so well directed by Antoine Fuqua. There is some poetic justice at the end. Once again I was the only person in the cavernous Screen 3 at Cineworld. There were two new trailers: one for the next Poirot and Ridley Scott's Napoleon. Both look promising.