Joel Fry-days: Cruella (2021, PG-13)

*Premise spoilers.*

*Note: I’ll be referring to the main character as both Estella and Cruella here.*

I remember seeing the trailers before this movie came out and thinking it had potential. I liked the punk aesthetic, and Emma Stone and Emma Thompson are always good. But I only went to a few movies in 2021, and Cruella didn’t make the cut for me—I didn’t feel like springing for the premium rental on Disney+, either. And after that, it just fell off my radar. When I saw it on Joel Fry’s filmography, though, I was pleased to have a good reason to finally catch up on it, even if I wasn’t sure how it’d rate as a film for him. Let’s get into it!

When her mother is killed, young Estella—scrappy renegade, aspiring fashion designer—runs away to London, where she falls in with a couple young pickpockets. As an adult, Estella is good at grifting but longs to design more than just disguises. When she gets herself noticed by the Baroness, a premier designer, Estella jumps at the opportunity. But working for the self-involved, demanding Baroness brings an old grudge to light, and with it, the “crueller” parts of her personality that her mother had always urged her to suppress. 

Okay, just off the bat: making a Cruella de Vil movie and giving her the origin story “my mother was killed by dalmatians” is absolutely ridiculous. Flat-out bonkers. Weirdly, the movie kind of makes it work within the full context of the story, but when you stop and think about it in isolation, it’s absurd. It’s like a parody of a villain origin story. No two ways around that.

But as I said, in the grand scheme of things, they sort of make it work? Because on the whole, I really like this movie, and I’m able to engage with the dalmatians without dwelling on how silly their pivotal opening scene is. So the film accomplishes something impressive there. 

As with Maleficent, this isn’t so much of a villain origin as a villain reinvention. Despite familiar characters and certain elements being slid into place by the end of the film, I can’t quite imagine this Estella/Cruella becoming the full-on baddie she is in One Hundred and One Dalmatians. The nods to the original film are mostly just nods, with the primary focus on a story that’s entirely its own.

After spending years, not just suppressing her crueller instincts, but also hiding her distinctive black-and-white hair, Estella is tired of always trying to be “good.” It never seems to last long, and the other side of her always bursts out at the most inopportune moments. But Estella’s vendetta against the baroness unlocks something inside her, and for the first time, she gives herself completely over to the part of her that wants to be bad. In doing so, she’s flamboyant, wickedly creative, and provocatively fashionable. She shows her ingenuity in her designs, of course, but also in the meticulous ways she’s setting out to ruin the Baroness’s life.

A classic revenge tale typically goes one of two ways: either it’s a badass wish fulfillment fantasy, or it’s a story of someone getting increasingly consumed by their pursuit of vengeance, letting every possible good thing in their life fall by the wayside for something that won’t actually bring them the satisfaction they seek. Cruella juggles both in a way—it’s definitely cool and badass to see her wrecking the Baroness’s scene as a punk designer who stages guerilla fashion promotions, but we also see how her quest may cause her to lose the things that really matter. More on that in a bit.

The top draw here is probably the audacious costumes and hair/makeup, which don’t disappoint. From the Baroness’s sleek couture to Cruella’s daring fashions, this is a film that looks delicious throughout. There’s also the cool soundtrack—although the original film is from 1961, this prequel takes place in 1970s London, and the needle drops always match the mood. And then, of course, there’s the acting. Both Emmas, Stone and Thompson, are terrific as Cruella and the Baroness respectively. Both do an excellent job as their own characters, and they’re particularly great when they’re onscreen together. Whether it’s the Baroness delivering some blistering career advice to her protege Estella or one of her splashy galas getting upstaged by Cruella’s theatrics, they play off each other wonderfully. The always-good Mark Strong does a nice job as the Baroness’s valet John, and Paul Walter Hauser is delightfully fun as Estella’s thieving buddy Horace. And some of the smaller roles are filled out by some welcome faces: Emily Beecham (the Widow from Into the Badlands) plays Estella’s mother in the opening segment of the film, while Kirby Howell-Baptiste (who I still love best as Simone from The Good Place) plays Anita and Kayvan Novak (Nandor from the TV version of What We Do in the Shadows) plays Roger.

Okay now, let’s talk about Joel Fry! He plays Jasper, Estella’s other thieving buddy. It’s been a good two decades since I’ve seen either the animated film or the live-action movie from the ‘90s, and all I really remembered about Jasper and Horace were that 1) they were Cruella’s henchmen, possibly bumbling, 2) there was a tall skinny one and a shorter fat one, and 3) Hugh Laurie played Jasper in the live-action version (both he and Fry, naturally, are well-suited to playing the “tall skinny one.”)

As I said, I wasn’t sure what kind of material this movie would give Fry to work with. Sure, the movie was obviously going to completely reinvent Cruella, but would they do the same for her henchmen? I went in prepared for the possibility that Jasper wouldn’t do much besides lackey work and some comic relief.

Instead, and I swear this is more than just my bias talking, Jasper kind of winds up being the heart of the film? In this version of the story, Jasper and Horace meet Estella as kids, and they all grow up together grifting as street urchins. That carries over into their adulthood, when Jasper is the one who helps Estella get her first inroad into the fashion world, insisting to Horace that he’s not working an angle with it. “I’ll tell you what,” he says. “The angle is that Estella is way too talented to be doing grifts with the likes of me and you.” And when Estella first puts the Baroness in her crosshairs, Jasper and Horace are both a little wary but ready to help her as their friend.

Both guys have plenty of screentime throughout the film. Fry and Hauser are an entertaining duo together. Horace is uncomplicated and slightly dim—Cruella’s voiceover describes him in their childhood meeting as “generally annoying”—while “Jasper was the insightful one [...] which was also annoying.” First in their early montage of grifts, and then in the various stages of Cruella’s revenge quest, they show off their assortment of underworld skills. Jasper has a knack for lockpicking, he knows how to disable a security system, and he’s good at improvising when things go south in the middle of a job.

And because Horace doesn’t quite have the range to articulate it, Jasper is the one who takes the reins on expressing their concerns as Cruella gets in deeper and deeper. He wants to help and support his friend, but he’ll also push back if he thinks she’s going too far. This is especially true when Cruella directs her derisive insults at him and Horace, when she starts treating them less like partners and more like henchmen. “Hey!” he exclaims when Cruella calls Horace an imbecile. “No, no, no, you can’t talk to us like that! We’re helping you here!” Icily, she responds, “So don’t.”

Throughout this whole descent, Jasper is trying to keep one hand on the steering wheel so things don’t get out of control. He’s standing up for himself and Horace, making it clear that Cruella shouldn’t take them for granted. And he never really stops trying to reach Estella, worried for her even as he’s upset with how she’s treating him.

It’s a genuinely great character, and Fry plays him so well—his Jasper is funny, sharp, and earnest. He has some good bits of physical comedy, like his gangly flailing as he and Horace are struggling to walk some fierce kidnapped dogs, and he brings a nice honesty to his scenes with Stone. Also, we get some guitar playing from him, which is always welcome!

Accent Watch

London.

Recommend?

In General – Yes. Get over the goofy thing with the dalmatians at the beginning and just enjoy yourself. This is a fun, stylish movie, and everyone involved put their all into it.

Joel Fry – Absolutely! No lies, I kind of love Jasper. Fry is awesome here!

Warnings

Thematic elements, some violence, scary moments for kids, drinking, sanist language (repeated use of the word “psycho,”) and a few scenes of animal peril (but I have to stress, there are no serious moments of animal cruelty in this movie.)

Y tu Luna también: 3Below: Season 1, Episode 13 – “Bad Omen” (2018)

*Episode premise spoilers.*

And here we are at the season 1 finale! A lot goes down here, in terms of action, plot, and emotion. I’ll avoid major spoilers, but I have to spoil a little in order to talk about the episode at all.

While Jim and the Trollhunter crew do battle around town, Aja and Krel have their own crisis to deal with: General Morando, having learned their location, has sent a suped-up robot called Omen after them. Omen has taken control of the Mother Ship and is planning to hijack it, along with their parents’ life cores. Our heroes fight tooth and nail to confront Omen, retake Mother, and protect the king and queen.

Very quickly, our character of the week is Queen Coranda, Aja and Krel’s mother. Like Aja, she’s voiced by Tatiana Maslany, and although the premise of the show demands that she’s extremely sidelined throughout much of the series, the moments when we do see her shows us a fair queen and a kind mother. Here, we get a brief flashback of the kids on Akiridion-5, failing to appreciate a lesson their parents are trying to teach them. Coranda is understanding, patient, and maybe a little indulgent, but she consistently believes in her children’s capacity to do good.

Onto the rest of the episode, which is a banger. Because Omen’s first attempt to abscond with the Mother Ship fails, much of the action is set in the freshly crashed ship, which fluctuates between its actual appearance and its retro house camouflage. This leads to cool scenes of Aja, Krel, and co. dodging blows in a sharply tilted kitchen or climbing down interior ship corridors that are at a 90° angle. Omen can take over other machines, so not only has it subsumed Mother, it’s taken control of Lucy and Ricky, coopting them into murder bots who still have their corny Lucy and Ricky personalities. That means we get scenes of Lucy grinning madly as she chucks dinner plates at the Akiridions, or Ricky calling things “swell” as he tries to bash someone’s head in.

Unsurprisingly, all the alien adults in Aja and Krel’s life want to do everything possible to defend them, but of course they can’t fight the Tarrons’ ultimate battle for them. Different forces conspire to keep the adults occupied with various threats, leaving Aja and Krel to press onward into the bowels on the ship and take on Omen on their own. As they generally do when they’re at their best, they work together, with Aja handling the derring-do to give Krel time to come up with a tech solution to some of their most pressing problems.

Another great showing for Krel here. I like that, even though Omen has taken over Mother, Ricky, and Lucy, he recognizes that they’re being controlled and wants to make sure they’re detained/thwarted but not harmed. Similarly, there’s a moment where he’s working on his tech stuff and the controlled Mother is mocking his attempts. Exasperated, he snaps, “Don’t mother me, Mother!” I love that, that he still treats her like her even when she’s being controlled by an evil robot and is being used to try and kill them all.

Krel wouldn’t be Krel if he wasn’t a bit cranky and cynical, so we get some fun lines from him even in the midst of all the drama. When Aja presses him over their comms, asking, “Are you making any progress?” as she fights the aforementioned evil robot, he shoots back, “No, I was just thinking of taking a nap!” And he later takes the air out of a tender moment by pointing out that he saw “Home is Where the Heart Is” written on a doormat: “Humans wipe their shoes on this saying.” Oh Krel, never change.

But at the same time, he also dramatically quotes Winston Churchill? Basically, it’s awesome. Krel is great, and Diego Luna does a bang-up job playing him. I love it all. Bring on season 2!

Other Doctor Lives: Broadchurch: Series 3, Episode 5 (2017)

*Written in 2018*

I think the show’s investigation game has changed a little with each season. In series 1, Hardy and Ellie would typically focus on one suspect for an episode or two, largely eliminate them, and find someone new. In series 2, they had Hardy’s main suspect that they’d come back to amid occasional forays into other possibilities. Here, there are a number of potential suspects, and it’s still very much up for grabs.

The investigation expands as another woman comes forward about being raped several years ago, under circumstances that are disturbingly similar to Trish’s. Ellie and Hardy look for connections and try to figure out which of their suspects might have had ties to both women. Meanwhile, a secret of Trish’s comes out and has a ripple effect through her circle.

With the widened scope of the investigation, I like seeing Ellie and Hardy compare the details and speculate as to how they might fit together. It remains to be seen whether the rapes really were committed by the same person (though personally, as a storyline, I’m guessing they were,) but it’s interesting to see how that changes the questions the detectives have as they examine the evidence.

There’s a lot in this episode dealing with the effects of rape culture, which I appreciate. Katie, a.k.a. Officer “Maybe She’s Making It Up,” has had her eyes opened a bit to the weight of what’s going on, and while I’m not a huge fan of how the show goes about that, it’s good to see her attitudes changing a little. I also appreciate the sentiment behind Hardy’s slightly stunned realization that the other woman didn’t report her rape until now because she didn’t think the police would believe her, although again, the execution feels a bit off. I don’t know—maybe it’s in fact depressingly realistic, but to me, it feels a little, “Is this your first rodeo, Hardy? How do you not know this?” Trish also experiences a pretty awful confrontation with someone she’s close to, in which they throw an ugly rape myth in her face. Hard to watch, but very real.

On the Beth side of the proceedings, she has a few things going on. She has a debriefing session with a colleague, getting into her own feelings about her work with Trish, and she also deals with Mark’s continuing obsessions, questioning why she’s always expected to shoulder the burden of his grief. Overall, I’ve been liking what they’re doing with Beth this season. To be sure, Jodie Whittaker is good at handling the intense emotions of the first two seasons, but at some point, it starts to feel like the show has nothing for her outside of crying or raging. Which is of course totally understandable for where she is at that time, but it’s much more narratively satisfying to watch her have a chance to be more proactive, to really channel her grief into something positive.

*Written in 2025*

In my original post, I talked about Hardy’s surprised reaction that the second woman didn’t come forward earlier out of fear of the police’s response. I stand by my “is this your first rodeo?” sentiment there, but I also appreciate that Hardy recognizes that his reaction has a time and a place. When he and Ellie are interviewing the survivor, he’s nothing but professional and quietly reassuring. As with Trish’s initial interview, he lets Ellie take the reins, and when the survivor says, “I know how women like me get treated,” he simply promises her, “Not by us.” It isn’t until later, when he’s in the car with Ellie, and he laments, “She didn’t report it ‘cause she didn’t think she’d be treated with respect or dignity.” He never makes his feelings the woman’s problem.

This episode also sees him meticulously grilling a suspect, asking for every single detail of his alibi to poke potential holes in it: the route he drove to allegedly go fishing on the night of the rape, what he caught, and how many were left over after the fish dinner the following day. David Tennant does a really nice job in this scene. Hardy is calm and even-toned but relentless, never letting up. He’s the one taking the lead here, and at Ellie’s first question, the suspect condescendingly crows, “Oh, she speaks!” At that, Hardy still doesn’t raise his voice or get aggravated, but you can feel the ice in his tone as he orders, “Answer the question, please.”