Movies are different beasts, however, much of the time, because they don't have time to be subtle about everything. Some things, maybe, but they often lean upon the meta-knowledge of the audience. That is, expectations about the type of character that actors tend to play, or how narrative tropes turn. Sometimes, that works in interesting ways, and sometimes...we enjoy our two hours and immediately forget them.
In any case, as summer is winding down and I find myself facing new spaces, new faces, new EVERYTHING, I've decided to mark the end of my vacation by watching a movie a day. Some of them are new, some of them are a bit less than that, but they're all new to me, and that's what I'm counting. SPOILERS, of varying degrees, for Guardians of the Galaxy, Don Jon, The LEGO Movie, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Lucy, The Giver, and Snowpiercer.
- Guardians of the Galaxy (theatre, 3D): It should be noted that this was the third time I watched Guardians. The first time, I saw it in 3D, and the second time, in regular movie version. I really, really love this movie. It's got the chaotic-neutral vibe that Firefly did, and the depth of background AND emotion that made Farscape spectacular. Vin Diesel and Zoe Saldana have been two of my favorite actors for pretty much fifteen years or so, and I am pretty much all-in on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Like, it took serious force of will to see other movies in the theatre.
Maybe I will see it again anyway.
- Don Jon (Amazon streaming rental): I had wanted to watch this with some friends when it was in the theatre, but our schedules never managed to sync up. After watching it at home, alone, I was so glad that didn't work out. Like, I knew the hinge of the story was "Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character watches a lot of porn," but...yeah. That could have been awkward. For the record, though, I was WAY more discombobulated by the profanity and male-gaziness of Tony Danza's character than any of the (actual, real) snippets of pornography.
Anyway, the movie was a little too enamoured with its own clever/indieness, but it ably highlighted the way our media habits--whether porn, romcom, football, or text message--influence the way we frame the world, as well as how other people perceive us. JGL's character, Jon, is dim, but his interactions with Scarlett Johansson's and Julianne Moore's characters demand he grow and, like, maybe he does. I guess?
My favorite scene, however, is about two thirds of the way in, when Jon's best friend (played by Rob Brown), shows up at his apartment and asks him if he's okay. That, more than any other scene, felt like it could be real people having an actual, if difficult, conversation.
- The LEGO Movie (Amazon streaming purchase): My brain could not process this movie. It felt like too much, too quickly. But it came at the end of a long day, and it made me laugh, so there's that.
Really, though, I kind of dig how much this movie reflects The Matrix, which is kind of weird and neat. I'm especially pleased with the interactions between Wyldstyle and Vitruvius, which hinted at depth that wasn't present in the big gathering of master-builders. Also, the twist/not-twist at the end was sweet, even if it felt almost too pat and Toy Story for its own good.
I was worried for a while that The LEGO Movie would go the way of the first Kung Fu Panda, in which we were told that training didn't matter, because if you BELIEVED enough, you could be the very best (URGH ARGH). Instead, we're given not-special Special Emmet, and the message that an insistence on specific awesomeness/branding originality can lead us to devalue co-operation and/or experimentation. Which I dig.
Also, extra points to the LEGO version of Batman, which might be the most perfect version of Batman I ever encounter. Also, the crazy trip into Unikitty's world was delectably dark at the center. Also, SPACESHIP. SPACESHIP. SPACESHIP!
- Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Netflix DVD): You're the first against the wall, Draco Malfoy.
I had trouble with the first chunk of the movie, because, like, pet chimps will bite people's faces off. So the idea of James Franco, friendly neurobiologist and devoted son, adopting a baby chimp to live with his Alzheimer's-suffering father? Nope. That his douchebag neighbors never reported him to the police? Nope. That his VETERINARIAN girlfriend never thought to question the pet chimp for five years? NOPE. NOPE. NOPE.
And then Caesar started with social experimentation, and just decided to make his people smarter? If this movie established anything credible, it's that human beings are awful. I'd guess I'm not the first audience member to feel thrilled when the apes took control of their own destinies.
- Lucy (theatre): I went into this movie expecting an Elseworlds version of Black Widow. Instead, it was...weird. Like, if you spliced together The Fifth Element, The Matrix, the second season of Bravest Warriors, and two decades of National Geographic specials. And I had no idea what would happen, which was both disconcerting and refreshing. So, maybe I liked it? I am not sure. Scarlett Johansson continues to impress me, at least.
I think, if I had to pick one thing that bugged me, it would be how totally not freaked out all the other people acted when Lucy did her crazy thing. Like, at most, her allies and opponents were mildly disconcerted by this woman who was LEVITATING things and CONTROLLING PEOPLE'S BODIES. Several points in the movie, I sat there thinking, Y'all need to be curled up in the fetal position now, gibbering. Also, aside from a couple of quick scenes with Lucy's mother (via phone) and a friend, there are no other speaking women in this movie, which sucks.
Anyway. It's not a good movie or a bad one. It's a weird movie. A weird and pretty movie.
- The Giver (theatre): I didn't understand The Giver the first time I read it. It took me a couple of rereads to really grok what it portrayed. As Lowry continued to write sequels, I also grew a little disenchanted with the series. I expected to dislike the movie, but I didn't.
Don't get me wrong, the movie did try to squish the narrative to fit the YA action movie paradigm, but there was snippets of perfection that sort of counter-balanced that. When the Giver is training Jonas, we get walloped with color and breathlessness and emotion. It's enchanting; I was with Jonas with every gasp, every rapturous moment.
Because of the tropes of YA action movies, the story did get sort of weirdly compressed in the middle (I wish we had spent more time with Jonas learning and juxtaposing), and surprisingly elongated at the end. We get a good 15-20 minutes of Jonas on the run with the sturdiest baby in the world. The ambiguity of the book's ending still played out, but it was much more muted.
But, I don't know. I got teary-eyed every time Jonas experienced a new memory. Those moviemakers knew what they were doing, at least in those moments.
- Snowpiercer (Amazon streaming purchase): So here's where my week o' movies plan sort of backfired, because Snowpiercer is BONKERS, and I no longer have the capacity to sufficiently react to things. Just, like. Tilda Swinton?! Closed-circuit eternal train?! Twice-yearly sushi?! I cannot do anything but nouns and interrobangs.
Or, I don't know. Maybe it's this movie. Maybe this movie defies explanation. Also, I am a lightweight when it comes to blades and squishy gore, so I had to cover my eyes for about a third of the movie.
The overall design of the movie--the forced structure of having train car after train car after train car--is intensely evocative, if pretty illogical. Like, where do all the front passengers sleep, if each car is devoted to things like aquaculture and confusing saunas? And the aside of, uh, the gate guy telling his daughter about the revolutionary seven was just, I don't know, a really beautiful moment. I was rooting for them, and didn't care so much about the other stuff.
It's, man. This movie. I can't even. Nice to have something different and not predictable--in the same vein that I liked Lucy, and felt disgruntled with The Giver and The LEGO Movie, I think.
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