Greetings from Atlantis

I had a nice Wednesday -- got some work done in the morning, then met my high school friends Linda and Stephanie for lunch at CAVA, where we caught up on mutual acquaintances, world politics, health issues and our families. We are meeting again next week with another friend so this is a big treat that we have to do more often! Afterward I went to CVS with Stephanie and did a raid at the Pokemon gym on the corner before heading to AC Moore for some jewelry findings.

Paul made chick'n and biscuits for dinner, but the real highlight of our evening was Aquaman, which is finally streaming so we have finally seen it! I had been advised not to think about the physics too much or the women's roles in Atlantean society at all, and also not to count things swiped from other movies (which may in turn have swiped from the comics, I don't know), but I really could not help that last, though it's part of the fun!

Okay, "Wet Thor" is an apt description, though really so is "Wet Black Panther" which I mean as a compliment as I love both those franchises. There are piles of parallels -- the child raised in a strange land, the sibling conflict, the Ring of Fire battle which is pretty much Thor-Hulk from Ragnarok underwater, the Asgard Atlantean castle, the dynastic boys' club "only the true king" fight to rule Wakanda excuse me the seas...even the Age of Ultron-esque credit statues.

Again, I don't mean any of that as complaints -- I mean, I really love Avatar which is a straight-up screenplay rip of Disney's Pocahontas complete with all the ways that's problematic. There were even things that remind me of Star Wars movies (AT-AT walkers! the Gungan underwater city! and the octopus drummer beats Max Rebo the non-elephant). Toss in a couple of Bible and King Arthur nods, and one scene that reminds me of Tidelands, and I am smiling.

Visually the movie is so spectacular that I was sorry not to be seeing it on the big screen, and I don't just mean Jason Momoa. The effects aren't perfect but the underwater city, with sea turtles that tow freight and sharks ridden by soldiers, and giant jellyfish lighting the battle arena! How come no one ever told me there were pterodactyls in the Earth's core? And the Genesis planet! And Treebeard voicing a giant crab! I even liked Atlanna, and Nicole Kidman is never a sure thing for me.

I guessed that I was not going to love Aquaman as much as Wonder Woman; 'it has fewer and less empowered women than even Black Panther (weird that the illegitimate child of a queen has any power, given that she is slated for execution for having independent sexuality, while Mera is nearly exiled for abandoning an arranged marriage). But it's definitely my second-favorite DC movie, and it's even funny ("We could have just peed on it")! Wow, it got late typing that, so here, have some Brookside geese: