I took a break from baby stuff to see the new Blade Runner movie. Considering that Blade Runner is one of my all time favourites, I was a bit apprehensive about the new film, but I loved it! The movie captures the strange, dreamlike feel of the original but still feels fresh. So many movies nowadays are chock full of action and incomprehensible plot twists just for the sake of having them, no matter if they fit the story or not. This movie has An Actual Plot with Actual Complex Characters and it takes the time to tell the story, lets it breathe. There are enough nods to the original Blade Runner to keep the fans happy, but you could enjoy the film even if you haven't seen the original. And I love the fact that this is actually an independent sequel, not a remake, or a remake masquerading as a sequel (Star Wars, I'm looking at you. How many times can you blow up a Death Star anyway?).
So, great movie. Definitely go see it if you like the original.
At a loss about what to watch this Halloween? Here are a few nostalgic favourites to get you in the mood. These are more fun and scary than blood and guts, just so you know.
I've never seen Hocus Pocus or Bedknobs and Broomsticks, so I decided to correct that oversight. Hocus Pocus is witchy fun for the whole family, and not in that sickly sweet way. Loved it. Bedknobs, on the other hand... Well, it has an equal amount of fun and cringeworthy moments. The way it reduces different minorities into stereotypes (Portobello Road, I'm looking at you) and the awful, recycled animation from Robin Hood were among the low points, and I didn't love Eglantine's character arc from independent witch to mother. The Nazi thing feels very stapled on, especially as the movie is set during wartime but doesn't really get into the real issues that much, it's all just background noise. I did like the dancing shoes, the armour coming to life in the end, and the opening of the movie, though.
Want something a bit more grown up? Check out The Witches of Eastwick or Death Becomes Her. These movies, too, are of their time, and the gender roles in Death kind of bug me, but it's hard to be objective about movies you first saw in your teens.
And who could forget The Addams Family? *snap, snap* Still so good. The Craft is the ultimate teen witch movie, in my opinion.
And last but not least, Practical Magic. This does fall in the rom com category, and whether you'll enjoy this probably depends on how you feel about Sandra Bullock films.
Watching these movies again it surprised me how many of them were about women chasing after or fighting over men. As a kid/teen, those weren't the things that stuck. I remember the twisting-the-neck around and hole-through-the stomach special effects from Death Becomes Her, the cherry stone scene from Eastwick, and the midnight margaritas from Practical Magic. It didn't occur to me to question how they portrayed women, but these were the gender roles we were offered in the 1980s and 1990s. Today these movies would be very different, I think. The world has changed a lot, hasn't it?
What about you? Any childhood favourites that didn't age too well?
This summer has been frustrating, movie-wise. Every time I wanted to see something, it got crushing reviews and I decided to wait for the next one. I'd been looking forwards to Suicide Squad for months, and I liked the trailers. Then the reviews started coming in.
Oh boy. Not another one.
My first reaction was disbelief: how could anyone screw up such a great premise? In the end I decided to see the movie anyway, because I really wanted to see Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn. She didn't disappoint: Harley was the best thing about the movie for me. I also liked Will Smith as Deadshot. I know people haven't loved Leto's Joker, but he actually didn't bother me. But yeah, the movie, while not the unwatchable train wreck some reviews would have you believe, was a mess.
I actually liked the origin stories, but they felt all too brief; there just wasn't enough movie to give them the time they deserved. Each of them could have been a movie of its own. On a related note, the movie had way too many characters. It would have been much better if they had dropped the boring ones (rope-guy, boomerang-guy, and Katana come to mind) and focused on five or six main characters. Another problem was the villain. Just a cardboard-cutout Evil Temptress out to destroy the world, just because. I also hated her alter ego, the spineless archeologist who mostly just had crying fits and waited for Big Strong Soldierboy to save her. And the plot! So by-the-numbers, like they didn't put any thought into it. They completely wasted Joker as a character, none of the character motivations felt real, most of the time we had no idea about character goals or what was at stake. Waller as a character feels inconsistent, and even her plan to assemble the suicide squad isn't really explained. Why did she decide to go for the criminals when there are heroes available? And where were Batman and Wonder Woman and the Flash while the Enchantress was doing her thing?
This could have been a great movie, if they had given it half a chance. So much potential, wasted.
My verdict? If you really like Harley, maybe check this movie out, but otherwise just go watch Deadpool again.
What would I like to see next? What about a buddy movie where Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy paint the town red? Okay, Deadshot can come; I liked Deadshot. Maybe they could flip around that scene where everyone is ogling Harley while she's changing? For the record, I didn't have a problem with Harley's costume. Let her wear glitter hot pants if she wants, I think she totally would, but maybe subvert audience expectations once in a while?
Just saw Captain America: Civil War yesterday. There were many enjoyable moments, but it was a bit of a bumpy ride, I think. I'll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, but I'm going to mention character names and that kind of thing, so if you haven't seen the movie, read at your own risk.
The basic set-up has to do with the collateral damage the Avengers leave behind when fighting the bad guys. When a brawl in Lagos results in the death of innocent bystanders, political pressure mounts to control the Avengers and hold them accountable for their actions. This takes the form of the Sokovia Accords (remember Sokovia, the small, Eastern European country destroyed in Age of Ultron?), internationally ratified legal documents that would make the Avengers a task force operating under the jurisdiction of the UN. Stark, overwhelmed with guilt, is ready to sign, but Cap refuses, feeling that it would be giving up his freedom to choose what is right and when to intervene. When Bucky, aka the Winter Soldier, is implicated in a bombing, the two are forced further apart, until the other superheroes are forced to pick sides.
For me, the movie suffered from an over-convoluted plot, too many action sequences, and an overabundance of characters; the emotional moments got lost in all the action. One in particular, a moment that should have had Cap and the audience sniffling, was over in a few minutes and cheapened by just being there to build up Cap's conviction that he's doing the right thing. The Black Panther side plot felt quite generic, and if the screenwriters had cut that, we could have focused more on the character relationships that matter to the story. Yes, I get that they were trying to reinforce the theme of revenge consuming people, but is the side plot necessary to the story? Also, did we really need Hawkeye for his one? He doesn't actually have a whole lot to do. The Scarlet Witch felt a bit redundant, too. Couldn't the mistake she made have been made by Stark, for example? Wouldn't that have reinforced his motivation to sigh the accords? The movie rushes from locale to locale, giving us big and flashy action sequences all over the world, but even action scenes get boring if you repeat them long enough. At almost two and a half hours of movie, I feel we should have gotten more character moments. Sometimes less actually is more.
But there was good stuff, too. I enjoyed the banter between the superheroes, and the fight at the airport was pure fun. Ant-Man and Spidey got the best lines, and the dynamic between Iron Man and Spidey was fantastic; I just wish we had gotten to see more of it. I loved the film's version of Spider-Man. I also liked that the Captain America/Winter Soldier storyline got its conclusion, and I quite liked the ending.
So, not my favourite Marvel movie, but worth seeing, nonetheless.
When it comes to scary movies, my taste veers more towards supernatural horror, fairy tales, and Victoriana. Subtle is good; you'll find no splatter or slasher flicks here. (Although, I do have a soft spot for Scream. It's a growing-up-in-the-nineties thing.)
My favourite Halloween movies are by Tim Burton, big surprise. The Nightmare Before Christmas is the ultimate Halloween movie, but the others work, too. I forgot to include Sleepy Hollow in the picture, but that's probably my favourite after Nightmare.
For the more fairy-tale minded amongst you, Labyrinth might do the trick. It's got everything: goblins, weird creatures, talking door knockers, and David Bowie as the Goblin King. *swoon*
Who you gonna call? You can't go wrong with Ghostbusters.
I love Alien and Aliens. No matter how many times I watch these, they're still among the scariest movies I've ever seen, and the special effects have stood the test of time. These have an added nostalgia bonus for me, because when I was a kid I'd sneak down to watch these and then have nightmares for the next three nights. I'm sure my parents were delighted.
Don't you love old 50s creature features? Here's a few of my faves. The old Hammer Horror films are fun too.
I had a bunch of movie tickets that expire this week, so I dragged treated my husband to two movies last weekend.
But I chose . . . poorly.
Very poorly.
On Saturday we saw In the Shadow of Women, an artsy French film about infidelity. (Yeah, most French films are.) I chose it just so we could practice our French, and I guess that particular mission was accomplished, but boy was the movie depressing. Black-and-white, it opened with a dude eating a baguette. For like five minutes. Then he walked around for the rest of the movie looking like he had swallowed a lemon. Then everybody cheated on everybody, depressing stuff. It would have been cheaper just to stay home and listen to the next door neighbours have one of their relationship discussions. Lots of yelling. Lots of loud chewing. An annoying voice-over. There was nothing new, nothing insightful, about this film whatsoever. Yes, I kind of hated it. So did hubby.
So, on to movie number two, Tale of Tales, a fantasy movie about Italian fairy tales. Our expectations were very low, but it couldn't be as bad as the first one, right? Right?
Wrong.
Oh, boy. How to even describe this one? The movie had three different fairy tales that had absolutely no connection to each other, not even thematically. There was no message that I could see. And they were disgusting. I don't know which one grossed me out more, the king who loved fleas too much or the woman who had herself flayed to become young again and somehow still managed to hike up a hill from the forest to the king's mansion. Or the princess who slayed a poor ogre for no apparent reason other that that he had won her as his bride, fair and square. Don't get me wrong, the movie had some effective scenes, but it just didn't come together. It all just felt so random.
I'm never getting my husband to the movies again. Or at least I owe him four hours of opera-watching for this . . . It's going to be painful. And German.
The weird thing was that both of these movies got good reviews. I don't know, am I crazy? Do I have bad taste? Or is this a case of the emperor's new clothes, where no one dares to tell the truth?
Well, there was a bright spot. We got to see the trailer for Crimson Peak. That was the highlight of our moviegoing experience, which tells you something about how bad it all was.
Here's the trailer for Crimson Peak. I have a feeling I'm going to love this movie. Tom Hiddleston, Victoriana, creepy ghosts, and Guillermo Del Toro. It has to be amazing.
