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The Devil Wears Prada 2
Over the years, few films were able to accurately portray a boss from Hell, such as that of 2006’s “The Devil Wears Prada.” Actress Meryl Streep stepped into the role (largely based on fashion editor Anna Wintour), delivering a steady stream of cuttingly deep acerbic one-liners so fierce that she earned a Golden Globe award for her efforts. That film was based on a small fictional book series by author Lauren Weisberger, which satirized her time under Wintour herself at the historic Vogue magazine. The 2006 film delivered a space for the breakthrough career role to emerge for actress Emily Blunt, transitioned actress Anne Hathaway into more dramatic films, and legitimized Stanley Tucci as a character actor who could appropriately handle any scene, be it dramatic, madcap, or otherwise. Twenty years later, the long-gestating sequel has debuted with much cutting aplomb.
Hathaway’s character from the original film has turned her career toward the more journalistic side as she reports upon the darlings of award seasons, while Streep’s character is hit with some rather negative press. The plot device here naturally lends that Hathaway help clean up her former boss’s public relations situation. Interestingly enough, Blunt’s character pops up as something of a fashion magnate in her own right as she battles the fashion landscape with influencers and digital fashion campaigns, an area that Streep’s character knows little about.
Director of the 2006 film David Frankel, as well as original writer Aline McKenna, are both pulling double duty in this sequel by creating a changing of the guard in the fashion world while better informing audiences of the not-so-subtle changes in the advertising realm here. To effectively manage this, there are witty and alternative verbal slugs that balance between breezy and malicious. For me, one of the better parts of the film is Tucci’s character, Nigel, who acts as a moral compass.
In the early summer film season where little green aliens munch on blue cookies, backroom mazes mimic the infinite abyss, and where the universe can only be saved through CGI bouts of Mortal Kombat, “The Devil Wears Prada 2” is a pleasant yet entertaining dialogue-heavy film about real people and real landscapes that gives the audience a social commentary to work with sans blue cookie munching aliens.
The Mandalorian and Grogu
Upfront, I confess to having seen only a couple of episodes of the Disney+ series hit, “The Mandalorian.” I can tell you that it involves a bounty hunter who protects a mini-Yoda look-alike somewhere in the Star Wars universe. In director Jon Favereau’s sci-fi summer adventure, “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” Disney+ has delivered to the big screen one of the more recognizable little alien faces in some time, his internet memes notwithstanding.
The film centers around the Mandalorian himself and the diminutive Grogu, who attempt to disrupt the crime family of the Hutts. The Hutt name is from the iconic “Return of the Jedi,” in which the overly slug-like Jabba the Hutt enslaves the scantily-clad Princess Leia amongst a sea of intergalactic Muppet aliens. Here, his son, Rotta the Hutt, is presumably running the show now (or is he?) and it’s up to the Mandalorian and Grogu to bust up the criminal activity. The real charm here is in the many facial expressions and intermittent little squeaks that the young Grogu emits while eating blue cookies. While the Mandalorian looms over like a father figure, the real heart of this film is how Grogu must work to save the day and protect his protector. Even in a lightsaber-less film, “The Mandalorian and Grogu” delivers big here on that little sci-fi matinee adventure feel without overshadowing the story.
Over the years, few films were able to accurately portray a boss from Hell, such as that of 2006’s “The Devil Wears Prada.” Actress Meryl Streep stepped into the role (largely based on fashion editor Anna Wintour), delivering a steady stream of cuttingly deep acerbic one-liners so fierce that she earned a Golden Globe award for her efforts. That film was based on a small fictional book series by author Lauren Weisberger, which satirized her time under Wintour herself at the historic Vogue magazine. The 2006 film delivered a space for the breakthrough career role to emerge for actress Emily Blunt, transitioned actress Anne Hathaway into more dramatic films, and legitimized Stanley Tucci as a character actor who could appropriately handle any scene, be it dramatic, madcap, or otherwise. Twenty years later, the long-gestating sequel has debuted with much cutting aplomb.
Hathaway’s character from the original film has turned her career toward the more journalistic side as she reports upon the darlings of award seasons, while Streep’s character is hit with some rather negative press. The plot device here naturally lends that Hathaway help clean up her former boss’s public relations situation. Interestingly enough, Blunt’s character pops up as something of a fashion magnate in her own right as she battles the fashion landscape with influencers and digital fashion campaigns, an area that Streep’s character knows little about.
Director of the 2006 film David Frankel, as well as original writer Aline McKenna, are both pulling double duty in this sequel by creating a changing of the guard in the fashion world while better informing audiences of the not-so-subtle changes in the advertising realm here. To effectively manage this, there are witty and alternative verbal slugs that balance between breezy and malicious. For me, one of the better parts of the film is Tucci’s character, Nigel, who acts as a moral compass.
In the early summer film season where little green aliens munch on blue cookies, backroom mazes mimic the infinite abyss, and where the universe can only be saved through CGI bouts of Mortal Kombat, “The Devil Wears Prada 2” is a pleasant yet entertaining dialogue-heavy film about real people and real landscapes that gives the audience a social commentary to work with sans blue cookie munching aliens.
The Mandalorian and Grogu
Upfront, I confess to having seen only a couple of episodes of the Disney+ series hit, “The Mandalorian.” I can tell you that it involves a bounty hunter who protects a mini-Yoda look-alike somewhere in the Star Wars universe. In director Jon Favereau’s sci-fi summer adventure, “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” Disney+ has delivered to the big screen one of the more recognizable little alien faces in some time, his internet memes notwithstanding.
The film centers around the Mandalorian himself and the diminutive Grogu, who attempt to disrupt the crime family of the Hutts. The Hutt name is from the iconic “Return of the Jedi,” in which the overly slug-like Jabba the Hutt enslaves the scantily-clad Princess Leia amongst a sea of intergalactic Muppet aliens. Here, his son, Rotta the Hutt, is presumably running the show now (or is he?) and it’s up to the Mandalorian and Grogu to bust up the criminal activity. The real charm here is in the many facial expressions and intermittent little squeaks that the young Grogu emits while eating blue cookies. While the Mandalorian looms over like a father figure, the real heart of this film is how Grogu must work to save the day and protect his protector. Even in a lightsaber-less film, “The Mandalorian and Grogu” delivers big here on that little sci-fi matinee adventure feel without overshadowing the story.
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