*I also watched a lot of TV, including 7 seasons of The Office, 4 or 5 seasons of the Great British Bake Off, and the latest Fresh off the Boat season.
The book was better
Blade Runner – I enjoyed Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? more. I was not a huge fan of the film noir-ness of the movie.
A Wrinkle in Time – Not a great adaptation. It looked great, but felt like there wasn’t enough substance to either the characters or the plot.
Unspoiled
Fight Club – I had never seen the movie or heard the ending until 2019. I can’t talk about it.
Not a fan
You may have noticed I’m not super picky about movies. I enjoy most of the ones that I watch. But not all of them.
The Shape of Water – The cinematography, score, characters, cast, and setting were all great. The plot was not. Midway through, there was one thing I knew the writers were going to put in, and I’m still asking – why?
Phantom Thread – Slow in the beginning, picked up in the middle, but then took that sharp left turn into why? territory. I’m usually fairly forgiving of characters doing dumb things (see Finn interrupting Rey in the middle of a lightsaber battle with “hey Rey, it’s me. I’m here! Also I can’t really do anything to help you right now.” in the latest Star Wars movie) but this crossed some sort of line for me.
Gravity – I couldn’t get over the incorrect orbital mechanics, and I don’t know orbital mechanics.
Epic finales, or Fanservice
Take your pick.
Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame – To prepare, I watched every Marvel movie up to this point. I do think a lot of these two movies was explosions, people fighting each other, people chasing each other, questionable plot points, and “act now, think later” moments, but in the end, I’m happy (and impressed) with how they concluded their twenty-three-movie superhero saga.
Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker – A big complaint about the whole trilogy was that the writers and producers had no creativity and were basically telling the same story they did the first two times we had Star Wars trilogies. I agree somewhat with that, but it’s also intentional in a non-money-grubbing sort of way. Each trilogy follows the development of a character who discovers they have the force and the fight between rebels and an evil empire. Same story, different characters, variations on plot points and settings. The critics can complain, but I liked the movie. [If you have a lot of interest and time, you can also read a theory about how the first six movies are connected through ring composition.]
Everything else
Solo: A Star Wars Story – Han Solo and Chewie go on an adventure. Probably not as good as Rouge One, but it’s still a fun movie that tells the story of how Han, Chewie, and the Millennium Falcon came together.
Crazy Rich Asians – Some of the nuances of the book are lost because of the number of characters involved. Similarly, some plot points were either simplified or eliminated, but it was a pretty good adaptation, all things considered. Overall, it’s a spectacle, one that I enjoyed watching.
Dunkirk – The movie depicts the evacuation of Dunkirk during WWII, shown from land, sea, and air. Recognized for being fairly historically accurate and unsensationalized.
Mr. Holland’s Opus – It’s a two-and-half-hour-long movie about a high school band teacher. Does anything much happen? No. Do I care? Also no.
The rest: O Brother Where Art Thou?, American Pie, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Die Hard, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Graduate, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Napoleon Dynamite, Julie and Julia, Lady Bird, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Moonlight, Legally Blonde, Call Me By Your Name, Eighth Grade, Love Simon, Ocean’s 8, A Simple Favor, Let it Snow, Drumline, The Devil Wears Prada, Ocean’s Thirteen, The Irishman
Disney: Pocahontas, Hercules, Mulan, Tarzan, Lilo & Stitch, The Emperor’s New Groove, The Princess and the Frog, Bolt
Rewatches: The Prestige, The King’s Speech, Stardust, Meet the Robinsons, Chicken Little, Men in Black, Good Will Hunting, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Adventures of Tintin, Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi
No comments:
Post a Comment