Allegiance

This Broadway musical about the Japanese internment was beautifully sung and acted. The sight of people chanting "Resist" in the face of prejudice and wartime paranoia is very timely, and I thank George Takei for pushing this message so we never forget. It's also so refreshing to see a cast of mostly Asian Americans instead of more Hollywood whitewashing. Too bad that this show was not successful against Hamilton. It is not depressing but rather uplifting, with a touching personal story of redemption and forgiveness.

George Takei plays WWII vet Sammy Kimura in the present day, as well as Sammy's grandfather in the past. The flashback introduces us to the family during a Japanese summer festival where they tie wishes to a tree, so that the wind will blow them away and grant the wishes. The song conveys their hopes and dreams for the future, and is bittersweet in light of what the war has in store for them. After the Pearl Harbor attack, Sammy and his friends try to enlist, but are rejected as "enemy aliens." Sammy's father argues not to make trouble or draw attention to themselves, that nothing can be done about the rising anti-Japanese sentiment.

Lego Batman

The Lego Batman movie was funny, sweet and great. Not at all grim-dark, though it had serious dramatic moments. Just the right dose of Will Arnett that I needed to cheer myself up these days. And I don't know if it was an Arrested Development nod to the hermano confusion over Marta, but I liked how they kept using Spanish for their terms of endearment. Goofy, earnest Robin was fantastic, as was parental Alfred and awesome Batgirl.

I would say the only complaint I had was that the movie seemed to shove aside all the regular Batman villains in favor of the Phantom Zone villains. We barely had any lines from Catwoman, Two-Face, Riddler, etc, simply to focus on the Joker as the greatest enemy. It also took me a second viewing to realize the female police chief was a genderbent Chief O'Hara, and I'm not sure why Batman kept calling Bruce Wayne "Bruno" when talking about his "roommate." But I do agree that "Iron Man sucks" lately in the last couple of Marvel films with the Avengers.

Another thing was that I saw an ad for the Fathom Event showing of George Takei's Allegiance show about Japanese internment camps, so I'm going to see that today. I wish they wouldn't do such short notice on these kind of events. I missed the last showing because I was working that day and couldn't take off.