Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
James L. Brooks, the writer and director best known for his multiple-Oscar winning and nominated pictures Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News, and As Good as it Gets, returns to cinemas with his first film since 2010’s poorly reviewed How Do You Know? Unfortunately for Brooks, Ella McCay is bound to share the same fate as that forgettable flop rather than achieve the accolades of Brooks’s earlier titles.
First, here’s a bit of context and factoids for your next trivia night: Barbie (the doll) was created by Ruth Handler and manufactured by the toy company Mattel, Inc. in 1959. A live-action Barbie movie had been rumored and tossed around in studio purgatory for many years before landing in the hands of Warner Bros. and director Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird; Little Women). There are over forty previously released Barbie movies, most if not all straight-to-video and all animated, but Gerwig’s vision was bound to be different. With each new set photograph, marketing ad, and interview released, anticipation grew to a fever pitch. Now it’s finally arrived: Barbie the live action blockbuster summer movie! And it’s as playful as a child could want and as incisive as everyone older yearned for.