One of the toughest things about the COVID thing is not being able to go to the movies. Yes, we can go now, and I have gone to the movies twice in the past few months. However, I’m a guy who used to go at least once per month. I will be going again soon with some big movies coming out, which I will list at the bottom of this post. In the meantime, I had the opportunity to catch up on 2 movies that I missed in the past few months and caught them at home.
Candyman
Now, I was really wanting to see this movie in theaters. Horror movies in the theater are just better because you are out of your element and you have other people’s reactions amplifying the effects of the movie. However, I couldn’t get anyone to go with me, so I opted to finally watch this movie at home.
Background
For those of you who know horror movies, Candyman was a super solid horror movie made in 1992 starring a young Virginia Madsen as, Helen Lyle, a grad student researching the urban legends of the then still standing housing projects of Cabrini Green. Tony Todd was the original Candyman who’s enhanced voice and stature provided to be iconic. Clive Barker’s story was based on a short story, and the movie really presents like one. Intense and delivers on urban myth as a man with a hook lurks in the dilapidated walls of the high rises of the projects. The element of bees swarming around the villain adds even more latent fear. The descent of the heroine into madness as she pursues Candyman is often copied in modern horror. I loved the original and think it still stands up as cult classic horror movie. There were several sequels that I did not watch. So when I heard that Jordan Peele was going to make a remake, I was very interested.
This Version
Peele has brought the modern horror genre forward a la Alfred Hitchcock. With Get Out and Us, he has tackled both horror themes and putting current race relations at the forefront of his movies. Peele tapped a young and quickly ascending director, Nia DaCosta with this movie. The opening scene set in the late 1970s set the ton of this movie, as the Candyman encounters a young boy.
The cast is great, including an appearance by Todd. The red hot, Yahya Abdul Mateen II (Watchmen and Aquaman) is a great choice as the hero in this one. His character, Anthony McCoy, is a new urban artist searching for a new subject matter for his next work. His girlfriend, Brianna Cartwright (played my Hollywood crush, Teyonnah Parris – Madman and Chiraq) is a gallery purveyor setting up Anthony’s work. Anthony and Brianna live in the now gentrified Cabrini Green in a luxury building, and when Brianna’s brother shares the story about Helen Lyle’s demise, Anthony finds his inspiration.
Anthony gets immediately taken down the Candyman rabbit hole including meeting a former Cabrini resident who had firsthand experience with the Candyman – the boy from the opening scene. Things for Anthony quickly change as he literally begins to connect with the urban legend.
Review
Full disclosure, I always love Chicago-filmed movies, so this one was filmed a lot in the last remaining buildings of the original Cabrini Green – the Cabrini Rowhomes. The Chicago Housing Authority has plans to rehab or redevelop that section, so using those buildings makes me excited. DaCosta and Peele’s take on the tale is a true sequel. I thought they did an excellent job linking the original to this movie directly. In fact, the development of the lineage of Candyman to not just the 1992 film, but previous iterations of Candyman tales is great. Of course, it opens the door for prequels, which you have seen with The Conjuring series, but I don’t mind that.
The movie definitely takes a stance on the race in America today. The impact of Gentrification on both former public housing and black America is very overt. As I’ve written before in other posts, I think America needs to hear this over and over until we listen. So, I like it. In addition, this version actually humanizes Candyman more than the original. Candyman, as an eternal evil force, was created not by some evil force or spirit, but the pain and dehumanization of African Americans. The “Boogie Man” is a scapegoat for the ills of the local area, even when not responsible. I thought that take, in addition to the direct references to racist tendencies was my biggest takeaway with this Candyman movie.
I also thought the shadow puppet scenes both during the movie and in the end credits were both beautiful and haunting.
I understand not everyone is a horror movie person, but Candyman is still worth seeing and I would fully expect another one of these coming at some point.
In The Heights
I had heard about this movie a couple months ago from family members. As loyal readers know, I lived in the DR in my 20s doing Peace Corps, so anything having to do with Dominicans will always be suggested. However, sometimes I have to be in the mood for a musical. For some reason, I was in the mood last night, and I was very happy to have made the decision to watch it.
Background
Lin-Manuel Miranda, the legendary creator of Hamilton, had written the early versions of In The Heights as a musical play. The play received several awards as it ascended from off Broadway to the top of the Broadway marquee. Adapted to the big screen, Miranda tapped John M. Chu (Step Up series and Now You See Me) to direct this colorful musical with a big heart.
The story starts with a young Dominican-American man, Usnavi (Anthony Ramos – A Star Is Born) in a frame story as he tells his story about Washington Heights the predominant, Latino neighborhood in Upper, Upper Westside Manhattan to some children at his beach resort. Usnavi is a colmado (corner store) owner who is struggling to make it with dreams of opening a beach side resort back in the DR. Meanwhile, we are introduced to a full list of neighborhood characters like Vanessa (Melissa Barrera), the beautiful nail tech with dreams of being a Downtown fashionista; Nina (Leslie Grace), the hope of the neighborhood who struggles at Stanford; Benny (Corey Hawkins – Straight Outta Compton), the hard working taxi dispatcher; and Abuela (Olga Merediz), the doña of the neighborhood who is the matriarch to so many despite not birthing a single person.
All of the characters have their own dreams, but the reality of living in The Heights crushes their spirit in a variety of ways whether it be discrimination, gentrification or lack of citizenship.
Review
I loved the movie. The music is just incredible. The dance numbers were vibrant and powerful. I thought that I would tire of the songs, as I often do in musicals of this type, but I did not. Both the aspirations of the characters and love stories were varied, and yes, again biased here, but the immigrant journey, especially of Caribbean people will always pull me in.
In my experience in the DR, almost anyone who was going to US went to live in Washington Heights. In fact, when I lived there, if someone referred to the US, they called it Nueva York (New York), as if the entire country was NY. Specifically, Washington Heights was the epicenter of so many Dominicans’ journeys to the US as an immigrant.
The Heights attacks the barriers to immigrants, specifically Latino immigrants, in a very positive way without heavy messaging. However, the message is there. The song performed by Abuela tells the story of so many, and is juxtaposed with Nina’s experience at Stanford.
The young stars in this movie – Melissa Barrera and Leslie Grace – were incredible. I realize both of these young women have had major success in Mexico and in the Latin American music market respectively, but I had not seen them before. Hope to see them excel more in other movies ahead.
My only knock is that they could have found a Dominican to play Usnavi (Ramos is Puerto Rican), but I can look past it. The portrayal of Washington Heights as a melting pot of Dominican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Mexican and even Jamaican played out in the “Carnaval del Barrio” song was powerful.
If you want a fun, heartfelt story about what America is all about, then The Heights is for you.
So, both movies are recommended. Check them out on demand on streaming services.
Movies I’m excited to see – hopefully in the theater:
- No Time to Die – Daniel Craig’s last James Bond movie – General Release Date: 10/8/2021
- Dune – Remake of 80s Sci-Fi classic – General Release Date: 10/22/2021
- King Richard – Story about Williams’ Sisters Father and Their Rise with Will Smith – 11/19/2021
- Spider Man – No Way Home – Sucker for Marvel Movies – General Release Date: 12/17/2021
- The Matrix – Resurrections – I’ll See This One – General Release Date: 12/22/2021
- Luzzu – Foreign Film with a ton of good buzz – No Release Date I can See
Until next time.
Wegs