Tag / jennifer lee

by Jaime Rebanal

A Wrinkle in Time – Review

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Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time is a film of a rather significant first, because it is the first film with a budget of over $100 million to have been directed by an African-American woman. While it’s certainly admirable on Ava DuVernay’s end that she managed to get this made, unfortunately talking about the film itself will be a whole other story. The film’s social significance cannot be overstated but because of that whole other story regarding the actual quality of the film, it also sets a worrying note for WOC filmmakers working in Hollywood. It’s worrying because of the possibility that this film will end up being weaponized against them, especially when it isn’t so much a failure as said concept would end up making it out to be.

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by Jaime Rebanal

The Worrying Stature of A Wrinkle in Time

Don’t let that title deter you from reading more, I’m not going to cover my own opinion of Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle in Time but rather the worrying note it leaves for the future of female POC filmmakers working in Hollywood. From directing Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time, director Ava DuVernay, whose previous films include the Academy Award-nominated Selma and 13th, had become the first black woman to direct a live-action film with a budget that exceeds $100 million. Of course, its release was set to become a big deal within the film industry across the globe but its fate at the box office was perhaps one thing that was always going to be leaving us feeling uncertain about what it means for WOC filmmakers in the future.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Frozen – Review

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Of all Disney’s recent animated fare, it would probably be easy enough to note Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee’s Frozen as the most overexposed from the bunch especially with the popularity it has acquired from females of all ages. Sadly this apparently has turned synonymous with the actual film’s quality even with the many admirable things to have come about from it. There are many calls back to what had made Disney so great during its Renaissance era (now going back to a Hans Christian Andersen tale again after The Little Mermaid) which allow for Disney themselves to live within what had made said musicals as impactful (something which their previous, Tangled, had managed to capture with ease). But all of this joy should call for me to love it and instead I just find it so lacking – then again I was never a huge fan of this particular musical from the first day.

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