I wasn’t sure about keeping the site going. It requires money and lots of time, and was anyone still reading it? I don’t track stats or traffic. Maybe my entire readership is one dude in prison. (And Kristopher at BOLO Books, who gave me a kind and completely unexpected shout-out in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.)

But then I remembered when I’d started PCN, I’d done it for me. I’d barely known what a blog was, much less how to get anyone to read it. I just wanted to write, and mostly amused only myself. What’s wrong with being the lone tree in the forest? I wasn’t falling; I was dancing, often without pants. Eventually, some very cool people came along and joined in. They became my friends.

So I decided to give the site a makeover, once again make it a place where I want to hang out. I forgot, however, that 10 years ago when I installed the original template, I’d cried, not having a clue about CSS code or HTML or any of that mumbo jumbo.

This time around didn’t go much better, as I found myself in the fetal position, unwashed, muttering to myself for days. It was like trying to build a spaceship with a plastic spoon, using only my feet. Why wouldn’t all the clicky thingies work??? Luckily, after much blind tinkering and tech support, I managed to make the site work.

And I like it. It’s not final yet—not sure what to do for the header—but it’s pleasing enough for me to want to fill its pages again. I hope you like it, too.

If you’re still here after 10 years, I thank you heartfully (a real word in my mind). If you’re back after being away, it’s nice to see you again and your hair looks fab. If you’re new, welcome.

Party for PCN (reenactment)

Ironically I start this new chapter by looking backward, at some of the pop culture I enjoyed most this year. I didn’t want to overthink these lists, which are in no particular order, because I’m going with the idea that the most memorable are the first titles that come to mind. Plus, I have no order in my life.

Favorite Movies

Despite having seen many awards contenders that aren’t out yet, my favorites remain those released earlier in the year (sorry, Mary Poppins Returns and Vice). Other films may have had superior acting or more important messages, but I found them overhyped or too earnest or straight up boring. The movies below entertained me, and isn’t that what movies are about?

Favorite superhero movie: Black Panther

This was a complete package for me: strong acting, complex characters, eye-popping action and costumes, humor, and a storyline addressing real-world social issues from which even the fictitious residents of Wakanda aren’t exempt.

Favorite indie film: Searching

Sony Pictures

From my review:

A riveting, innovative thriller…the entire movie is viewed via the different screens in our lives—phone, computer, surveillance cameras, TV, etc… . It’s a thriller that happens to have an Asian-American family at its center, speaking perfect English and doing everyday, even boring things (David’s job). Well, until the daughter goes missing. But Dad still doesn’t break out any martial arts or have any particular set of skills a la Liam Neeson. He’s just a regular dad. Who looks like John Cho. (Buy it here.)

Favorite action flick: Mission: Impossible—Fallout

From my review:

The action is breathtaking and so visceral, if you wear your Fitbit while watching, you might see a million steps recorded afterward.

The death-defying stunts provide an adrenaline rush you get to experience while safe in your seats. The plot is a bit confusing (lots of physics…or something) but it doesn’t matter. The acting is good and there’s even a softer side to Ethan Hunt. This is the rare franchise that has improved as it ages. (Buy it here.)

Favorite musical: Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again

Photo: Jonathan Prime

From my review:

I found it better than the first because it resonates more emotionally and deals with more complex issues… If you need a burst of joy (who doesn’t?) and a dash of Colin Firth (again, who doesn’t), I highly recommend seeing it.

That was 5 months ago. Since then, I’ve bought the Blu-ray and seen it at least twice more, and last week attended my friend Mari’s Mamma Mia-themed holiday party. And I intend to organize a family sing-along when I go home for Christmas. The movie spreads cheer, and some of my happiest memories this year come from watching and dancing to it with the most wonderful people I know. (Buy it here.)

Me, in Donna’s overalls, with Mamma Mia friends. Photo: Christian Moralde

Favorite TV shows

This year I was on the TV nominating committee for the SAG Awards and had to watch even more TV than usual (twist my arm). Before I get to my favorites, can we discuss the beautiful packaging some of the screeners came in?

In case it’s not obvious, season 2 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel arrived in a hatbox and The Kominsky Method is in a sleeve resembling a script. The Handmaid’s Tale opens up like a board book, with pictures and script excerpts.

Julia Roberts’s series, Homecoming, came packaged like confidential documents.

Some others:

But just because I watched more doesn’t mean I found more to like, and sometimes an otherwise solid series has weak episodes. The following are shows I consistently enjoyed and had me looking forward to each new episode.

Favorite dramas:

Killing Eve

From my review:

[Sandra] Oh plays Eve, a bored MI-5 agent on the trail of [Jodie] Comer’s international assassin, Villanelle, and the two actresses are great foils for each other. Eve is messy and quirky but razor sharp when it comes to work. Villanelle is a slick sociopath, but Comer’s performance and Waller-Bridge’s writing manage to add ink-dark humor to the brutal kill missions. Even the soundtrack is funny. (Buy S1 here.)

Bodyguard

Richard Madden turns in a superb and nuanced performance as a war veteran trying to hide his PTSD so he can keep his job as bodyguard to the home secretary, played by Keeley Hawes. Watch the opening scene of episode 1, which takes place on a train that may have a bomb on it, and see if you don’t find yourself sweating with dread.

Bodyguard was created, written, and directed by Jed Mercurio, who’s responsible for the rocket-paced BBC drama Line of Duty, so I’m on board for anything with his name on it.

Favorite sitcoms:

Superstore

Eddy Chen/NBC

I previously wrote about this show:

America Ferrera heads the cast playing employees at a Walmart-like store, except here the employees are more outlandish than the customers.

But the characters aren’t weird for weird’s sake. The writing and acting show why they behave the way they do, which engenders more understanding and compassion than judgment toward them. And isn’t that what we need more of?

A recent episode has the store’s usually clueless manager, Glenn, give one of his employees an unexpected Christmas present that’s incredibly moving. The show addresses issues like lack of maternity leave for minimum-wage employees and undocumented workers with heart and humor.

The Good Place

Colleen Hayes/NBC

This is arguably the smartest sitcom on TV right now, or at least the most philosophical, often referencing Immanuel Kant. It’s hard to define; Good Place somehow tackles ethics and morality and life after death and makes us laugh at all the above while possibly reevaluating our life choices. The cast, led by Kristen Bell and Ted Danson, is crackerjack, and each season the show evolves into something different. I don’t know where it’s going but am eager to find out. (Start with S1.)

Ronny Chieng: International Student

This Comedy Central show easily won for most laughs per episode. Creator/star Ronny Chieng based the show on his experience as a law student in Australia, and the situations are zany but relatable at the same time. Extra credit goes to the hilarious Hoa Xuande as an ultraconfident, F-word loving Vietnamese exchange student who lords his superior intelligence over everyone. Oh, and the Asian students excel in school and sports. Where else on TV can you see that?

Favorite rom-com series:

Younger

TV Land

Are you watching this sexy show set in New York’s publishing world? It stars Tony winner Sutton Foster as Liza, a woman who reenters the work force after raising a daughter and has to pretend she’s 26 instead of 40 to get a job at a publishing house.

The situation gets complicated when chemistry develops between her and the publisher (Peter Hermann), who not only believes she’s way too young for him, but it’d be highly inappropriate for him to make any kind of moves toward an underling. (He’s hot because he’s moral!) This sexy tension has been escalating for four seasons, and this year it exploded, y’all. (Start by streaming S1 here.)

Speaking of publishing, this post is now almost novel length, so I’ll save my thoughts on this year’s favorite books for another post.

Which movies and TV shows have you enjoyed this year?

This post contains Amazon affiliate links, which could earn me commissions if you make a purchase.

Following are mini reviews of two I’ve seen.

First Man (Oct. 12)

Daniel McFadden/Universal Pictures

Ryan Gosling reunites with his Oscar-winning La La Land director Damien Chazelle for this Neil Armstrong biopic, culminating in Armstrong’s landing on the moon.

The visuals are awe-inspiring and the acting is beautifully subtle—from Gosling and Claire Foy as Armstrong’s first wife, Janet—but perhaps Chazelle stayed too close to Armstrong’s stoic spirit.

While I admire the movie and respect the craftsmanship, I can’t say I was deeply moved by it. But see it in IMAX and you can almost cross off a trip to the moon from your bucket list, because Chazelle makes you feel like you’ve already been there.

Widows (Nov. 16)

20th Century Fox

“Hoo-weee, this movie’s intense.” That was the first thing I said to Mr. PCN when Widows ended.

Based on the novel by Lynda La Plante (Prime Suspect), this heist thriller was adapted for the screen by Gillian Flynn and Steve McQueen, with the latter also directing.

Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, and Elizaeth Debicki give gritty, riveting performances as women whose men left them in a bad way. Their lives are threatened when shady characters want the women to repay their former lovers’ debts. The women give payback, all right.

The characters are strong but messily and realistically so. They’re not wonder women but regular folk tired of being messed with. Tony winner Cynthia Erivo joins the trio later in the heist’s planning stages, but they find she’s a quick learner.

Remember how Daniel Kaluuya’s character was unnerved by all the creepy white people in Get Out? His performance in Widows made me feel like that. He is a nasty piece of work here.

Flynn does what she does best—give us portraits of complicated women capable of whatever men do, with all the good and ugly and in between. McQueen ratchets up the tension so much, I was often holding my breath.

Heist movies aren’t my favorite subgenre, but this one is less about the score than people in desperate situations finding their mettle. It’s a character study—on steroids.

Which fall movies are you excited to see? Stay tuned for more reviews as the screenings ramp up!

First I saw writer/director Aneesh Chaganty’s Searching, starring John Cho, and thought it was a riveting, innovative thriller. In case you don’t know the concept, the entire movie is viewed via the different screens in our lives—phone, computer, surveillance cameras, TV, etc. It highlights how we think we’re so connected and have so much information about people but we really don’t.

Sony Pictures

David Kim (Cho) is looking for his missing teenage daughter, Margot (Michelle La), and searches for clues in her laptop and social media accounts.

I like how there’s nothing particularly Asian about the movie. It’s a thriller that happens to have an Asian-American family at its center, speaking perfect English and doing everyday, even boring things (David’s job). Well, until the daughter goes missing. But Dad still doesn’t break out any martial arts or have any particular set of skills a la Liam Neeson. He’s just a regular dad. Who looks like John Cho.

Next I binged the first season of Ronny Chieng: International Student on Comedy Central and laughed hard. Got a big kick from Elvin (Hoa Xuande), the Vietnamese student who’s the most hilarious character, and how Asians are portrayed as smart, funny, *and* good in sports. Whaaaat? Mind blown. Chieng also gets laughs in breezy fun Crazy Rich Asians, which killed at the box office for the third weekend in a row. Have you seen it yet?

CBC

On a roll, I checked out Kim’s Convenience on Netflix and ended up also whipping through its first season. This show about a Korean-Canadian family who owns a store is sweet and laugh-out-loud funny.

The show’s humor is topical, mainstream, and specifically Asian, all at the same time. Every actor shines, even the customers in the store who have only short exchanges with the Kims. Can’t wait to continue with season 2.

I can’t recall the last time I’d had so much quality entertainment available to me that featured central characters of Asian descent. These people have agency, are masters of their own lives, are sexy, funny, flawed, not second bananas, or targets of racist remarks or butts of jokes.

As I wrapped up my binge-athon, I had a realization. I’d spent the whole time bracing for the Asian characters to experience some kind of bullying or microaggression. Hours later, when that hadn’t happened, I became aware I could finally exhale.

Photo: Jonathan Prime

I’ve seen Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again twice now and laughed both times, cried both times. I found it better than the first because it resonates more emotionally and deals with slightly more complex issues.

My second viewing was at an uncrowded matinee so I got up and danced in the aisle and surprisingly wasn’t kicked out by theater employees. If you need a burst of joy (who doesn’t?) and a dash of Colin Firth (again, who doesn’t), I highly recommend seeing it. Best to go in knowing as little as possible and just let the sunshine and music wash over you.

Photo: Paramount Pictures

Mission: Impossible–Fallout is also quite entertaining. The action is breathtaking and so visceral, if you wear your Fitbit while watching, you might see a million steps recorded afterward.

The death-defying stunts provide an adrenaline rush you get to experience while safe in your seats. The plot is a bit confusing (lots of physics…or something) but it doesn’t matter. The acting is good and there’s even a softer side to Ethan Hunt. This is the rare franchise that has improved as it ages.

Which movies have you enjoyed recently?

Killing Eve

I’ve been salivating for this since I heard about it back in February. BBC America’s comedic thriller stars Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer and is written and exec produced by Fleabag‘s brilliant Phoebe Waller-Bridge, whom I’ll follow anywhere (she’s next up in Solo).

Oh plays Eve, a bored MI-5 agent on the trail of Comer’s international assassin, Villanelle, and the two actresses are great foils for each other. Eve is messy and quirky but razor sharp when it comes to work. Villanelle is a slick sociopath, but Comer’s performance and Waller-Bridge’s writing manage to add ink-dark humor to the brutal kill missions. Even the soundtrack is funny.

The adaptation is much better than the novellas—all gathered in Codename Villanelle—by Luke Jennings, who, while depicting two strong female protagonists, still wrote them from a male POV. Plus, Eve is white and 29 on the page; I love that Oh got the part. She, Comer, and Waller-Bridge bring the women vibrantly and gleefully to life.

A Quiet Place

This thriller about monsters who track their prey by sound is watching-through-your-fingers suspenseful, and its 6-person cast, including John Krasinski (also the diretor) and Emily Blunt, gives fantastic performances, almost entirely without dialogue.

My two quibbles are 1) we see too much of the creatures too soon and 2) we don’t know what their motivation is. Monsters need motivation, too. Take something like Aliens and it’s clear why the mother alien is hostile. A Quiet Place‘s creatures seem nasty for nasty’s sake.

But if you like fine acting and being kept on the edge of your seat for almost an hour and a half, this movie is worth a look.

Blockers

Three teenage girls make a sex pact to lose their virginity on prom night. Their parents find out and set out to stop the kids. Hijinks ensue.

I appreciate the questions Blockers poses—if boys are celebrated for losing their virginity, why can’t the same go for girls? Why is sex even bad?—but the movie still subjects viewers to really crude gags involving butts and balls. You’ve been warned.

Bottom line, I found more to cringe at than laugh at.

What did you watch this weekend?

I’ll write about the books in a separate post, but below are some quick thoughts about Tomb Raider, which opens Friday, and Collateral, the four-episode miniseries available now on Netflix.

Tomb Raider

MGM

I went in with very low expectations and was surprised when I didn’t find myself incessantly rolling my eyes. I can’t imagine this was the best project offered to Alicia Vikander after she won an Oscar, but the always riveting actress is the reason Tomb Raider is watchable. And hey, Angelina Jolie also chose to play Lara Croft after she won her Oscar so what do I know?

Vikander gives Lara a welcome vulnerability and grounds the action in this world even as Lara chases artifacts from ethereal realms. Yes, her arms and abs are corded with muscles, but her most impressive features remain her expressive and intelligent eyes, which let us know she can handle herself in tough situations.

The first half of the movie covers how Lara goes from being a broke bike courier to badass treasure hunter, and the second half resembles a video game that really wants to be Raiders of the Lost Ark. It doesn’t come close, but Vikander makes it palatable and you don’t feel stupider afterward.

Collateral

BBC

On paper, it sounds like this miniseries covers too many timely issues: anti-immigration sentiment, racism, fear of terrorism, sexual harassment, PTSD, human trafficking, drugs, and a church’s resistance to gay female vicars.

But somehow Collateral makes it all work without being preachy, wrapping everything up in a mystery surrounding the assassination of a pizza delivery man. In this way the show reflects real life, where we have to deal with multiple obstacles every day.

As Detective Inspector Kip Glaspie, Carey Mulligan gives the most quietly commanding performance I’ve seen from her. Jeany Spark is haunting as Captain Sandrine Shaw, an intense war veteran who only wants to protect her country but no one protects her when she needs help. And it’s always wonderful to see Nicola Walker (Ruth from Spooks/MI-5), playing a vicar who must choose between her own needs and those of her parish. I was slightly annoyed, though, that her lover, Linh, is Vietnamese but played by an actress (Kae Alexander) who obviously isn’t.

Written by lauded playwright/screenwriter Sir David Hare and directed by S.J. Clarkson, Collateral is a thought-inducing show about the complex times we’re living in, and the compromises that are sometimes made in order to do the right thing.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

If writer-director Martin McDonagh’s name is on a movie, I will run to the theater without passing Go or needing to know what the movie’s about. In Three Billboards, my choice for the year’s best picture, Frances McDormand plays the mother of a murdered teenage girl who puts up billboards to force the police to explain why they haven’t solved the case seven months after the crime.

Original, fiercely acted, and darkly funny, it makes you think it’s about one thing until you realize it’s about something else altogether, something bigger and more profound. McDonagh, McDormand, and Sam Rockwell (as a cop the mother antagonizes) are all sure bets for Oscar nominations.

Coco

This is surprisingly dark for a Disney movie—a kid is in a literal life-and-death situation and there’s a murder—but I appreciated how Coco tackles death and the afterlife in a complex, vibrant, moving, and almost comforting way. At some point, adults will have to explain death to their kids; take them to Coco. But make sure they’re older than 8. The 4-year-old next to me started crying after 10 minutes and had to leave.

Lady Bird

Greta Gerwig wrote and directed this funny and poignant semiautobiographical movie about a 17-year-old girl from Sacramento who’s told she’s average in every way and advised to aim lower in life. But she’s determined to get out of “the Midwest of California” and go to Columbia University.

Gerwig captures that feeling of being on the cusp of adulthood, the impatience to leave home and then realizing afterward how precious home was. The beauty lies in Gerwig’s compassion toward her characters, judging neither the parents who want to shield their daughter from disappointment nor the teen who wants more. Saoirse Ronan is the perfect alter ego for Gerwig, with Laurie Metcalf and Tracy Letts turning in subtle, nuanced work as the parents.

Wonder

After being homeschooled for years, a ten-year-old boy born with craniofacial deformities goes to school for the first time. Let’s just say not all his classmates are nice to him. In another time, I might’ve found this too afterschool-special, but in our current atmosphere of hate, this uplifting movie was something I needed. Without getting too schmaltzy, Wonder reminds us to choose kindness, and that it saves us when we least expect it.

Jacob Tremblay, superb as the kid in Room, makes Auggie’s light shine through heavy layers of makeup. Julia Roberts provides the heart as his mom, and Owen Wilson brings the humor as Auggie’s dad.

The Man Who Invented Christmas

A debt-ridden Charles Dickens needs a book to save his career and comes up with A Christmas Carol. There’s nothing new here, the inspirations seem too obvious—a handicapped boy practically has an arrow pointing to him and a caption saying “Inspiration for Tiny Tim!”—and the performances, including Dan Stevens’s as Dickens, are forgettable.

Also—I hope it’s not a spoiler because we all know he finished the book, right?—I experienced an editor’s horror when Dickens, under a ridiculously tight deadline, writes the last word and then rushes the manuscript straight to the printer so copies could be printed in time for Christmas. What, no revisions? No proofreading??

Molly’s Game

Aaron Sorkin is hit-or-miss for me but I can’t deny he writes smart dialogue. He’s directing for the first time here so he also gets to guide actors through his trademark long speeches. Molly’s Game is based on the real story of Molly Bloom, who ran high-stakes poker games in New York and L.A. until she was busted by the FBI.

Because I know less than nothing about poker and everyone talks fast, I struggled with understanding all the machinations, in and outside the game, but the lead actors—Jessica Chastain as Molly, Idris Elba as her attorney, and Kevin Costner as her father—do compelling work.

Which movies are you planning to see?

Photos: Coco/Disney-Pixar, Three Billboards/Fox Searchlight, Lady Bird/A24, Wonder/Lionsgate, Man Who Invented Christmas/Bleecker Street, Molly’s Game/STX Films

I’ve been attending lots of award-season screenings and am behind in reviews, so I’ll do some in this format. Below are my quick thoughts on Justice League.

What you want to know up front: I liked it. It’s not even close to being as good as Wonder Woman, but is much better than Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, which was garbage.

More info: Thanks to Joss Whedon coming in to finish the movie and oversee post-production (director Zack Snyder stepped away when his daughter committed suicide), Justice League is lighter in both tone and palate. I can actually see the details in scenes instead of them being all murky and dark.

The plot is inconsequential and the villain is a bland CGI monster, but I enjoyed seeing the heroes in action. Ezra Miller steals the show as The Flash and nerdy comic relief. He could crack me up with only his eyes behind a mask.

I love me some Wonder Woman, but as the only female, she mostly has to act as den mother so Gal Gadot doesn’t get to display much of her fun side. At least she remains fierce.

Jason Momoa doesn’t work for me as Aquabro but I don’t think that’s his fault. He’s playing the role as written, and the powers-that-be tried too hard to hip up Aquaman, with the long hair, tattoos, dudespeak (“My man!” and “All right”), and heavy rock music every time he appears. I just rolled my eyeballs.

Ray Fisher does his best with Cyborg but the character can be summed up as Sulky Strong Hybrid Guy.

Difference between men and female directors: In JL, Diana wears tight leather pants and a cleavage-baring top, with the camera sometimes lingering on her butt during a walking shot, and there’s at least one upskirt shot of WW. Both Mr. PCN and I noticed this and it made us uncomfortable. Patty Jenkins never objectified WW or Diana that way.

Conclusion: See it if you’re into DC superheroes. It has fun moments. Then go home and rewatch Wonder Woman on Blu-Ray.

Photo: Warner Bros.

I hated last year’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and even Wonder Woman’s cameo couldn’t save it. I wasn’t impressed by what little I saw of Gal Gadot in that movie. All she was allowed to do was be a mannequin in gorgeous gowns and briefly fight as WW, without showing much personality.

What a difference it makes when she gets to be the star of her own movie. Gadot doesn’t have the greatest emotional range, but she’s much warmer and playful in Wonder Woman. She’s convincing as both a warrior and an innocent, when Diana meets a man, leaves her all-female home island of Themyscira, and experiences the real world—all for the first time.

That man, of course, is pilot Steve Trevor, imbued by Chris Pine with gravitas when called for, and deadpan humor when not. Steve isn’t just a helpless mortal always in need of being saved, like women often are in movies about male superheroes. Pine gets to do some heroic stuff, too. He and Gadot make a winning crime-fighting pair.

The supporting cast of Amazons, led by Connie Nielsen as Queen Hippolyta and Robin Wright as General Antiope—Diana’s mother and aunt, respectively—can be best described by one word: fierce. Their fight scenes are awe-inducing. I’ve followed Wright’s career for more than 30 years and I’ve never seen her kick ass like this. It made me think of Chinese martial arts films, where women fight as brutally as men and no punches are pulled for them. They aren’t trying to be cute or bopping someone over the head with a frying pan. These women are warriors and have the scars to prove it.

The real leader of cast and crew is director Patty Jenkins, who has managed to create a thrilling, action-filled movie that’s also surprisingly poignant and contains social commentary. Instead of going up against CGI monsters, Wonder Woman fights man, those consumed with power and greed who are willing to slaughter innocents in their bid for supremacy. WW is refreshingly free of angst—when she sees evil, she charges full steam ahead to combat it. She doesn’t go on a long trip to some far-flung location to gaze at her navel first, like some of her Justice League pals.

Wonder Woman—like the other Amazons of Themyscira—believes we should be governed by decency, wisdom, compassion, and courage. She’s the hero we need right now. Her world is an inspiring place to visit, and I can’t wait to see it again soon.

Yes, Emma Watson can sing. She doesn’t have the widest emotional range as an actress, but her natural intelligence, pluck, and sense of decency make her perfect as Belle, the bookworm who wants more than a provincial life.

Dan Stevens, playing Beast, can sing, too, but his performance isn’t especially memorable. Out of hairy makeup, he’s Generic Pretty Prince. Robby Benson left a stronger impression with only his voice in the 1991 animated classic.

This live-action retelling is faithful to that previous version and has moments of splendor, but it doesn’t improve on the ’91 film so I’m not convinced its existence is justified.

The ballroom scene with Belle in her golden gown? Lovely, but no better than the iconic iteration. The “Be Our Guest” number? Looks more like a typical, splashy musical number here than an enchanting moment with a singing, dancing candelabra and his dinnerware friends. (Ewan McGregor does a fine job voicing Lumiere but I really missed the late Jerry Orbach in this scene.)

One thing that is different is the “gay moment,” as it’s been dubbed in the media. I was pleasantly surprised by it (saw the movie before director Bill Condon’s comments were made public). It’s funny and sweet and just a quick bit, neither in your face nor so ambiguous it leaves you wondering. It’s not a big deal. At all. The hullaballoo and boycotts are much ado about nothing, people judging the movie before they see it.

Oh, and also? Luke Evans, who perfectly embodies Gaston, is openly gay in real life but that didn’t stop the studio from casting him as the alpha male and Belle’s most ardent suitor. Disney is gettin’ with the times, yo.

Another difference is the running time. The animated movie is less than 90 minutes, but this one is about 2 hours 10, which might be too long for little kids to sit through. And this Gaston is more violent toward Beast than I remember the previous Gaston being. Yet this movie is rated PG. Who is its intended audience?

This inconsistency between themes and running time and rating perhaps means the new Beauty and the Beast is trying to be all things to everyone, but as the prince eventually realizes, bigger spectacles don’t equal more substance.

Nerd verdict: Competent if not quite magical Beauty