“I just want to fast forward
to the part of my life when
everything is okay,” Issa says
to her reflection in the mirror.
It’s a statement that we can all
get behind.
Life has its trials and tribu-
lations. Oftentimes, it feels
like there’s no possible way to
get through the storm. But the
series finale of HBO’s “Inse-
cure” is proof that things do
eventually work out in the end;
we just have to stop standing
in our own way.
Created and written by Issa
Rae (“The Lovebirds”), “Inse-
cure” is a dramedy television
series partially based on her
web series “Awkward Black
Girl.” After blessing the screen
with five amazing seasons, the
show is a monument of signifi-
cant representation of modern
Black women within friend-
ships, relationships and every-
thing else in between.
The finale seals the deal and
confirms the legacies of the
main cast in their exit from the
show. It fast forwards to all
the big moments that will hap-
pen between Issa (Issa Rae, “A
Black Lady Sketch Show), Kelli
(Natasha
Rothwell,
“Baby
Shark’s Big Show!”), Molly
(Yvonne Orji, “A Black Lady
Sketch Show”) and Tiffany
(Amanda Seales, “The Story of
Our Times”), such as the girls
getting together for Molly
and
Issa’s
birthday
party,
Kelli starting a new chapter
in her life and the girls visit-
ing Tiffany after her move to
Denver. However, the episode
also illustrates struggles, such
as Issa’s having to make the
decision between being with
Nathan (Kendrick Sampson,
“How to Make Love to a Black
Woman”) or Lawrence (Jay
Ellis, “Escape Room: Tourna-
ment of Champions”) and Mol-
ly’s overcoming a sudden death
in the family. At the end of it
all, the episode tells the audi-
ence that everything will be
okay for the group of friends.
While the series embraces
interpersonal
relationships
between Black women, what
stands out the most is the epi-
sode’s ability to show what it
takes to make decisions con-
fidently. When Issa invites
Lawrence over for a tour of her
new office space, she reflects
on what it took to get to where
she is now, realizing it was her
own anxious thoughts that
kept her from her true wishes
and hindered her potential.
Issa is now consciously aware
that she has full control over
her life and that when she lets
doubt stand in the way of mak-
ing decisions, she has no one to
blame but herself.
The finale also portrays the
true meaning of friendship.
At moments, we see Molly
grieving over a sudden death
in her family. Fast forward
to the night of her wedding,
when Molly shows gratitude
for her friendship with Issa.
This dynamic shows that their
friendship is what keeps Molly
strong. With Issa in her cor-
ner, she believes that she can
get through anything.
“Insecure” does a fantas-
tic job of making sure the
viewers have an insight into
some of the real-life dynam-
ics between Black women. The
finale inspires the viewers to
have empathy for all the char-
acters, not just Issa.
By the end of the series, the
women learn how to go through
the motions of life and expect
the unexpected. Sure enough,
life throws a few curveballs,
but choosing to stay firm with
the decisions you make in
those tumultuous times and
relying on healthy friendships
will see you through. Eventu-
ally, everything will be okay.
Daily Arts Writer Jessica
Curney can be reached at jcur-
ney@umich.edu” s
Arts
“Don’t Look Up” is a film that plays
things safe but thinks it is doing something
brave. The film, co-written and directed
by Adam McKay (“The Big Short”), is an
allegory for climate change, providing
audiences with the ambivalent reactions of
the media and government leaders to the
impending doom of the planet presented by
a comet heading towards the earth. In this
story, the comet is discovered by Randall
Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio, “Once Upon
a Time in Hollywood”) and Kate Dibiasky
(Jennifer Lawrence, “X-Men: Dark Phoe-
nix”), who continually try and fail to get
people to realize the apocalypse is coming.
The film delivers its story and overall
message with a sense of self-importance
that is unwarranted. Yes, it is important to
sound the alarms and take action against
the developing climate disaster, but any-
one who is aware of the effects of climate
change is likely already trying to do some-
thing about it. Not only that, but the major-
ity of the people that will see this movie
are already in that camp, meaning McKay
and co-writer David Sirota (a journalist
and former Bernie Sanders campaign advi-
sor) spend two hours preaching to an echo
chamber that already believes in the mes-
sage.
By the time Randall Mindy gives his
Howard Beale-esque “I’m mad as hell” rant
on live television towards the end of the
film, he’s essentially just explicitly re-stat-
ing what the message of the film is to the
few members of the audience that didn’t
understand what took place in the previous
two hours. The lack of subtle commentary
isn’t necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it can
be quite provocative and effective at times
— see the ending of Spike Lee’s “BlacK-
kKlansman.” However, “Don’t Look Up”’s
ideas are not elusive, bold or provocative in
the slightest.
Because the film’s climate change mes-
sage has no weight behind it (given the
audience’s preexisting understanding of its
drastic effects), it becomes nothing more
than a perfectly adequate drama. It rarely
feels boring, seeming more focused than
the rest of McKay’s filmography. His previ-
ous two films, “The Big Short” and “Vice,”
were very messy in their execution (for
good and bad). Both tried to go for a hybrid
drama-sketch comedy tone that only kind
of works in “The Big Short” and doesn’t
work at all in “Vice.” McKay has ditched
that for the most part and “Don’t Look
Up” then works as a fairly straightforward
drama with some heightened, cartoonish
characters.
Docu-drama handheld cinematography
and frantic editing, McKay’s trademark,
are still here but feel more toned down
than usual. Neither works particularly
well (apart from the wild cutting taking
place when Dr. Mindy is having anxiety
attacks) and when the film’s cinematog-
raphy doesn’t look downright ugly, it just
looks fairly bland. It makes sense that this
film was released on Netflix because it isn’t
particularly cinematic; it looks like an epi-
sode of “Succession” with a bigger budget.
“Don’t Look Up” so desperately wants
to be this generation’s “<a href=”https://
www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-mov-
ie-dr-strangelove-1964”>Dr. Strangelove</
a>,” that it not only tries to capture its tone
but also references similar key details like
its use of a World War II-era love song as a
sign of the apocalypse.
I appreciate what McKay tries to do in
his films because his ideas in terms of con-
tent and form are quite unique compared to
mainstream Hollywood filmmaking. They
don’t always work — “Vice” really struggles
and it took me three viewings to finally
come around on “The Big Short” — but the
attempts are never complete failures. His
projects, including this one, always have
potential, but he never finds the right bal-
ance in his execution, which leads to either
wildly messy projects or an uninteresting
final product. “Don’t Look Up” is unfortu-
nately the latter.
Daily Arts Writer Mitchel Green can be
reached at mitchgr@umich.edu
‘Don’t Look Up’ is Adam
McKay’s most focused and
least interesting film
MITCHEL GREEN
Daily Arts Writer
puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com
By Craig Stowe
©2022 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
01/12/22
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
01/12/22
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Wednesday, January 12, 2022
ACROSS
1 Gauchos’ gear
6 Postpone
11 Shakespearean
possessive
14 Pass a test with
flying colors
15 __ Lodge
16 Tint
17 1994 Best New
Artist Grammy
winner’s winged
pet?
19 Noteworthy time
20 Drives up the
wall
21 Word with filter
or field
22 Google __
24 Retirement
fund
26 Causing the
heebie-jeebies
28 “La La Land”
actor’s winged
pet?
32 “1984”
antagonist
35 Got the pot
36 Also
37 Backing-up
warnings
38 Auntie, to mom
39 Sheepish?
41 “__ say!”
42 Quagmire
43 Sees, and then
some
44 “Shake It Off”
singer’s winged
pet?
48 Arctic abode
49 Biblical shout of
praise
53 Lost strength
55 It may be called
56 Defensive ditch
57 “I need a __”
58 “Network” Oscar
winner’s winged
pet?
62 Kerfuffle
63 “Superman”
actor
64 Start of el año
65 Bronze
component
66 Gives the green
light
67 Sees
DOWN
1 Tidal low area
2 Yellowish shade
3 Onion relatives
4 Landing site
5 Farm structure
6 Pattern
7 Bk. after
Proverbs
8 In favor of
9 Music producer
Brian
10 Coxswain’s
charges
11 Pointer’s
proclamation
12 Damage
13 “Uh-huh”
18 Easternmost
major U.S.
airport
23 Plague
25 Seers?
26 Big heads?
27 Dog’s age, so to
speak
29 Gulps
30 Squat
31 Leaves
32 Last bio
33 Horror film first
name
34 Putting one’s
faith in
38 Middling
39 Big galoots
40 Nutrient
abundant in liver
42 Dude
43 Rolling-in-the-
aisles causes
45 Tee size: Abbr.
46 Seasoned expert
47 Waldo
forerunner?
50 Large chamber
ensemble
51 Mother-of-pearl
52 Oldest Musketeer
53 “__ now?”
54 Volkswagen
subsidiary
55 Bunch of
beauties
59 Comics shriek
60 Green or black
beverage
61 Sustained
SUDOKU
WHISPER
“Quarantine
housing?”
By Ed Beckert
©2021 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
12/08/21
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
12/08/21
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Wednesday, December 8, 2021
ACROSS
1 Midday tide-me-
over
6 Landlocked
African land
10 Acrimony
14 Common wrist
measurement
15 Tatting fabric
16 Geometry
calculation
17 Execs who only
look the part
19 Pics for docs
20 Stephen Colbert’s
network
21 Jury makeup
22 Beyond heavy
23 Burden
24 Screwdriver, e.g.
25 Ostentatiously
nice sort
31 MLB game-
ending
accomplishments
32 Tomatoes used
to make paste
33 Guest beyond a
velvet rope
35 Pac-12 squad
36 Shrink in fear
37 Spreadsheet input
38 Debussy’s sea
39 Expert
40 More delicate
41 Pompous types
44 High-flying mil.
group
45 __ museum
46 Land divisions
48 Hard stuff
51 Pollution
watchdog org.
54 Designated
money
55 Pretentiously
elegant one
57 Help in a bad way
58 Puckish
59 Type of coffee or
whiskey
60 Start from scratch
61 Simple tops
62 Tot’s tea party
guest
DOWN
1 Project detail
2 Without feeling
3 European range
4 Wisconsin winter
hrs.
5 Security system
components
6 Game with
rooms
7 Rapunzel’s
“ladder”
8 Play divisions
9 __ Moines
10 Panda’s diet
11 Of no
consequence
12 Parts of Hawaiian
greetings
13 Get (into)
carefully
18 Attention-getting,
in a way
22 Reactions to
fireworks
23 Little piggies
24 Winter Palace
monarch
25 Starting spots for
some races
26 Reversed on
appeal
27 Treasure __
28 Blew away
29 Dark clouds,
maybe
30 Internet
destinations
31 What a
capital sigma
symbolizes, in
math
34 Course standard
36 Informal London
eatery
37 Gossip
39 Degs. for
choreographers
40 Campsite
staple
42 Familiar with
43 Unclear
46 Off in the
distance
47 Rubik creation
48 Reveal
49 Almost never
50 Protest singer
Phil
51 Children’s author
Blyton
52 Returning GI’s
diagnosis
53 Pallid
55 Considerable, as
a bonus
56 “Where __ you
now?”
WHISPER
“I don’t know
how I feel
about school”
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
6 — Wednesday, January 12, 2022
JESSICA CURNEY
Daily Arts Writer
‘Insecure’ finale tells
us that everything will
be okay, eventually
Before watching “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” I was
extremely worried it would be bloated and not make
sense. I am a big fan of everything Spider-Man, and I was
afraid the movie would try to ride off of its MCU status
instead of being good on its own. I was happy to discover
that it did not do this, instead actually taking some major
risks with its characters that ultimately pay off in a very
emotional movie.
The movie starts off right where “Spider-Man: Far
From Home” left off, with Peter’s (Tom Holland, “Chaos
Walking”) identity revealed to the world. I am going to
try to avoid spoilers as much as possible and just stick to
what was shown in the trailers, and just a fair warning,
watching this movie with as few spoilers as possible is
the best way to watch it. The film is full of remarkable
dramatic reveals — all of which are best left unsaid to
those who want to watch it unspoiled.
Willam Dafoe (“The Lighthouse”) is a national trea-
sure. He plays one of many returning villains in the
movie, but his Green Goblin is the ultimate villain out of
them all. Willam Dafoe elevates the role in everything he
does, fully immersing himself in the character in a way
that I just loved. The Green Goblin is not just a crazy
killer; he actually challenges Peter Parker ethically.
Throughout the movie, Peter struggles to get everything
he wants, attempting to return to a normal teenage life
while still being Spider-Man. The Green Goblin wants
to convince Peter that he is unable to use his powers to
save everyone; he can’t live a normal life and will have to
sacrifice his morals in order to win.
Tom Holland’s Peter Parker stood out amongst other
superhero movies for its lack of a true origin story. Audi-
ences generally already know how Peter Parker becomes
Spider-Man; they did not need to see it again. “Spider-
Man: No Way Home” is the origin movie that the MCU
never gave him. In this movie, we see Peter mature and
make difficult decisions, fully coming into his role as
Spider-Man and living up to the classic words of “with
great power comes great responsibility.”
This movie makes many bold choices with the char-
acter of Peter Parker, forcing him to choose between his
personal life and saving as many people as possible, with
Holland giving an extremely compelling performance
that adds to the complexity of Peter’s decisions. The film
rises above the heightened action scenes, giving some
incredibly emotional interactions and confirming my
personal undying love of Spider-Man as a character.
That all being said, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” does
have all of the usual MCU-specific problems: A lot of the
humor is very quippy (passable, but with occasionally
cringey lines), the fights are full of quick cuts between
CGI-ed characters and it still solidly fits within the MCU
format of the first act being set-up, the second act being
the hero struggling to beat the villain and the third act
being a big action set-piece. Many people are getting
tired of the repetitiveness of Marvel movies, and this
movie definitely didn’t get rid of the highly over-pro-
duced aspects of the MCU.
This movie is not perfect. I know some people com-
plained about plot holes it created in the MCU canon,
but I found the explanations to make enough sense that
I could just go with the flow. The ending itself has con-
fusing bits, but it seems like that is done on purpose to
create anticipation for future movies.
In all, “No Way Home” is still an engaging movie,
which makes it that much more impressive. It drew me in
despite the formulaic nature of most MCU movies, with
the ties into the rest of the films never really distract-
ing from the heart of the movie. It has actual emotional
depth that will definitely make it stand out in the coming
years of constant MCU content. I think overall the movie
is one of the best representations of superheroes on the
big screen, showing how they can really address moral
questions, while still giving a blockbuster experience.
be expected when they created this universe a decade
ago. The sheer gravity of a decade, ten years, is in itself
an ode to the passion of fandoms that really love what
they create. Superwholock was a god. Today it is a house
of memories built with love and care, its doors open to
generations to come for several more decades.
Daily Arts Writer Zach Loveall can be reached at
zloveall@umich.edu.
‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ is the
MCU’s most daring movie yet
ZACH LOVEALL
Daily Arts Writer