The End of Oak Street, Six: The Musical Live, The Rivals of Amziah King
a three-film day at the cinema
Yesterday, I spent the day at the cinema. Literally. I saw three films, which I will break down for you here in the order that I watched them.
The End of Oak Street, set in 1982 Michigan, sees Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor fight to save their suburban family from dinosaurs when their neighborhood is mysteriously shunted into the prehistoric past. The film pretty much assumes that those viewing it know the premise, as it was made clear in the trailers. Still, it gives us a tense, interesting build-up when the characters don’t know (first) what will happen or (second) what has happened. It’s all a setup for the main attraction, though: one family runs for their lives as dinosaurs invade Oak Street. I was skeptical about this simple and generic premise, but I gave the film a shot on the strength of the first trailer and the talent of the cast.
The film clearly has several cinematic cousins. The entire Jurassic Park franchise—especially the Jurassic World trilogy—is impossible not to consider. Resist too much comparison, though, because Oak Street has no chance to meet the perfection of the first (and, really, only worthwhile) Jurassic Park. It manages to keep itself distinct by some switches: instead of bringing the dinos to our time, the humans are sent to theirs; instead of paleontologists, we’re rooting for an average family; and the design of the dinosaurs is updated to reflect their now-presumed avian nature. There is plenty of action, but it is less varied and creative than that prior blockbuster, as our protagonists only have a two-mile radius of suburb to criss-cross in their flight.
Another film that seems to have heavily inspired The End of Oak Street is 1983’s Testament, which was filmed in the year this movie has chosen for its setting. That movie dealt with a community’s travails following nuclear war, but there were more than a couple parallels that seemed obvious to me. Finally, despite the overt denials by producer J. J. Abrams, it is clear that this movie is—or was—part of the Cloverfield universe (created by Abrams). It is possible that the film was tweaked to remove it from direct relation to the Cloverfield films, but there are too many connections to ignore, especially given Abrams’s involvement. Just as in The Cloverfield Paradox, the film features random phenomena that switch parts of one world (or perhaps just one time) with parts of another. The family’s surname is Platt, the same as T. J. Miller’s character in the original Cloverfield. Finally, the name of the Platts’ displaced neighborhood is Flowervale (a clear synonym substitution for “Cloverfield”), and that name was featured in the film’s working title. So, who do you think you’re fooling, J. J.?
The movie ended up being great fun (the group of young adults behind me laughed more than gasped, since the mayhem is framed so absurdly) and genuinely exciting…even if there wasn’t much to the story. The actors do a great job, particularly Hathaway and her onscreen son, Christian Converly. And, in true Abrams style (Although this was written and directed by someone else, it has Abrams’s stamp all over it), the ending is clever and surprising.
The latest in this year’s explosion of Broadway musical proshots brings us the 2022 reunion performance of the 2017 show Six’s original London cast. The premise is actually great: the six wives of Henry VIII form a Spice Girls-esque girl group to reclaim their narratives from their mutual husband’s shadow. (Each wife is recast as a 2020s archetype: the “no you didn’t” Catherine of Aragon, the “my only filter is on my phone” brat Anne Boleyn, the loving wife Jane Seymour, the diva Anne of Cleves, the oversexed Kathryn Howard, and the torch-singing soul sister Katherine Parr.) The lyrics also include some clever puns that blend history class with Queen Bey (Henry’s exploits with women whom he “didn’t put a ring on”, a cry for the group to get in “Re-formation”, etc.), and the songs are catchy for what they are. And the Spice Girls they ain’t. But in our day of cookie-cutter dance pop, the tunes and obnoxious choreography fit right in.
However, due to that strut-and-pose choreo and the overall sassy camp of the whole affair, I just couldn’t get into it. I hate camp. And this show is ultra-camp. Like, I expect there to be a cast made up of all drag queens any day now. Beyoncé on Halloween camp. It’s all snaps and “mm-hmmms” and cheeky winks and faux pole-dancing…not for me. My main problem, though, is the design. It’s horrifying! Jane Seymour manages to look somewhat decent, but all the spiked headdresses and chains and bedazzled Tudor sleeves are enough to ruin the whole thing for me. But you may enjoy it more. Just do a quick review of the wives’ history, though. Written for British audiences, I found it assumed a little too much knowledge on the part of the crowd. Still, it creates the important context…but you’ll miss the quick jokes.
Lastly, I watched The Rivals of Amziah King, starring Matthew McConaughey as a charismatic, kindhearted apiarist/bluegrass musician in Oklahoma who reunites with a former foster daughter. The first half of the film is really good—kind of random, but a random you’re happy to ride along for. Honey heists! Gruesome workplace injuries! The philosophy of potlucks! A comically tragic swarm at an elementary school! Crazy characters and long musical jams!
And the music is amazing! McConaughey is born for this role and actually does a great job. The directing is just a little skewed, in a good way. It’s a film I wanted to live in, hanging out in random little houses playing raucous bluegrass with the life of the party and soul of the community, Amziah King. BUT. Halfway through, the tone shifts dramatically. It’s not that there are no good scenes in that half, but the story is barebones, Angelina LookingGlass is dull as the grown-up foster kid, and some serious moral lines are crossed that are not in keeping with the character and community fostered by Amziah King.
The movie ends with a bleak and disappointing thud, when it started with an exhilarating yee-haw banjo riff (both metaphorical, you understand). And there isn’t even a soundtrack out yet! Just one single. I need this music!
It was a full and varied day of film, and it helped heal my soul after a couple weeks of emotional deterioration. And yet, none of these movies got higher than 3 stars out of 5 from me. Anne Hathaway is on a roll, though! Showing off her impressive range, she started the year in Mother Mary, returned for The Devil Wears Prada 2, moved on to The Odyssey (and an almost certain Oscar nom), chased dinos in The End of Oak Street, and next appears in the tantalizingly dark lit-thriller Verity. That’s my girl. And Princess Diaries 3 on the horizon…!