Henry Cavill can be extremely charismatic when given the opportunity, it turns out. Who knew? And every action setpiece is delightful, funny, engaging, and extremely low-tech. This is, I think, to what the Bond franchise wishes it could return. (And won’t, until they finally cast Idris Elba, by God.) Or, what White Collar would be if it was a movie set in the Cold War. Also, Armie Hammer’s eyelashes are unreal, and I want Alicia Vikander to star in a gender-flipped remake of Risky Business.
Anyway, A+++++ spy movie with extraordinary chic, would rent again.
Beauty and the Beast, 01 August 2017, Blu-ray via Redbox
- I am unsure why this movie exists, but who am I to question an accurately multicultural post-medieval town?
- Belle is a frickin’ snob, stealing bread and tramping on laundry while trashing the town for being provincial. You know what books are good for, Belle? Teaching empathy.
- What war did Gaston fight in? Was the enchantress Madame Defarge in disguise?
- Why do you need a rose, Belle? Your village economy seems to be entirely floral-based.
- We can all now acknowledge Gaston and the Beast only differ in that Beast has guilt-ridden hostages instead of gullible villagers to bludgeon Belle into compliance, right?
- I was going to cry foul about the two townsfolk frocked up and horrified but the third took it FIERCE, so: change approved!
- Despite my ambivalence, I got teary-eyed at the end when they revealed the townsfolk had half their memories wiped by the curse, too, which is an extra layer of horror to an excessively sadistic curse. *sniffle*
Despite the baked-in racism and heteronormativity, Baby Driver is a finely-crafted movie. Like the La La Land of heist flicks. (Seriously, have Eiza Gonzalez play Jon Hamm’s role, Hamm play Jamie Foxx’s, and Foxx play Gonzalez's. Simple fix.) So many folks I know loved this movie, but after the first twenty minutes or so, I was ready to walk out.
Power Rangers, 02 August 2017, Blu-ray via RedBox
This is essentially Breakfast Club for YA Speculative Fiction Fans. I mean, they make sure we can see all the diversity boxes they’re checking (multiracial, neuroatypical, sociocultural strata), but it's charming, I found.
There is no version of the universe where this shot isn’t delightful
Warcraft, 03 August 2017, Blu-ray via Redbox
I am an on-again, off-again World of Warcraft addict, so I was thrilled to see this movie was being made--even after the bad reviews started accumulating--because I figured the SFX would be worthwhile (the work on the gryphons is magnificent), and I'm genuinely fascinated by the mythology and aesthetic. Plus, Ruth Negga! And, essentially, it's what I expected: an expensive piece of fanfiction that won't cross over into fanservice even though it really, really wants to. It should have been better, and more accessible to non-WoW folks, but this is a movie for folks who loved it already, whatever its flaws would end up being. (It passes the Bechdel test, though, which in hindsight is staggering.)
Well, of COURSE the king’s map of the continent is a 3D Catan set. OF COURSE.
And the resolution was a genuine and, actually, moving surprise. I didn't think that could happen in fantasy movies anymore, y’all.
Kong: Skull Island, 04 August 2017, Blu-ray via RedBox
I am largely unschooled in the tradition of WWII-flavoured atomic monster anxiety fiction, but let's all admit American senators sponsoring scientific exploration spurred by Cold War brinkmanship is the real nostalgic fantasy here. In any case, this movie is pretty great, as giant monster movies go, with some genuine funny moments, Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson in T-shirts, and John C Reilly providing the wry-yet-heartfelt emotional through-line. Bravo.
Atomic Blonde, 05 August 2017, Riverdale 10 VIP Cinema
This movie is overall brutal, with a savagely perfect soundtrack and wardrobe, and Charlize Theron is predictably ice-brittle and sharp. Also, I really want to go back to Berlin now. Also, I have started fantasizing about a sequel co-featuring Angelina Jolie and Gina Torres.
The Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, 05 August 2017, Amazon streaming
The first scene was a pandemic montage and the second scene had chimpanzees fighting a bear, so really, it's everything I could want from this franchise from the get-go.
Bridget Jones’s Baby, 09 August 2017, DVD via the public library
I will admit, I read the book before I watched this, though it turned out the book came out after the movie. In any case, I find the book superior in its inclusion of Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), while the movie opts to kill him off and replace him with McDreamy. Like, I’m not ANTI-McDreamy, but the whole baby storyline becomes much less fraught when one of the dudes is a total stranger. But also, McDreamy is not a nightmare like Daniel, which means it's actually sort of nuts that we’re supposed to root for awful, controlling, passive aggressive Darcy. Darcy, who returns to Camilla whenever Bridget’s not properly appreciative of his buttoned-down and unspoken devotion? And even MARRIED Camilla once? (Can you even imagine what Camilla's wine nights with friends are like? Goddamn, that poor woman.) DARCY IS THE WORST.
Sigh. Bridget is delightful, as usual, and, as usual, shown to be the most adult among a world filled with poseur toddlers. The heart wants what the heart wants, I guess. *grumble*
The Dark Tower, 12 August 2017, Riverdale 10 VIP Cinema
The Dark Tower is basically an extra-long episode from the final season of Fringe, except with twenty times the SFX budget and a cinematographer who grew up watching Westerns. (I am boggled by the, as it stands right now, 18% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but suspect Fringe proper received a similar response in its time. Vulture’s review is a decent response to the mass of critical side-eye.) Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey are marvelous foils for each other, and the gun battles are briskly instructive. I imagine I missed a ton of references to Stephen King’s collected works, but I'm overall really satisfied with the way the whole thing hangs together.
Clouds of Sils Maria, 13 August 2013, DVD via Netflix
I love movies that feel like stage--they’re filled with chatter and silence, and the film format affords observation of smaller, telltale gestures that might be lost at a distance. And I love stories about the tangle of vanity and despair that twine about stage actors. Binoche and Stewart are wonderful, but their performances don't need me to have an opinion. I think, perhaps, this movie is perfect, in that it's 88% self-enclosed, and I have no idea how I would go about changing it.
Saving Face, 18 August 2017, DVD via the public library
What's that you say? A romantic comedy about queer Asian-American women? Why yes, that DOES sound delightful! (Spoiler alert: It is.)
The Big Sick, 19 August 2017, Riverdale 10 VIP Cinema
Two rom-coms in a row about the intersections of romance and immigrant families, and both of them excellent. This particular one teased out some pretty searing laughs--I’d never expected anyone to ever manage a successful 9/11 joke, ye gods--and never once leaned on the low-hanging fruit of one-note characters. Bravo.
Blade Runner: The Final Cut, 25 August 2017, DVD via public library
I dig the technicolor noir of this, and echoes crammed into spaces meant for teeming. I love that we're given a world whose diversity feels natural and messy. And it comes with bonus unicorn, as if this movie wasn't frickin’ weird enough, with its Twin Peaksian synthesizer and faux-philosophical violence falsely studded with slow motion.
Whose Streets? (documentary), 26 August 2017, Riverdale 10 VIP Cinema
I cried through most of this documentary, which focuses on Ferguson after the murder of Michael Brown. Rather than a formal-type film, this is mostly stitched together phone videos from the Black community in Ferguson, as things happened, and the utter violation of their lives and neighborhood in the aftermath. There were some interviews as well, of folks looking back on what happened, and a few snippets from news channels. It was powerful, and horrifying. After the movie was over, I got into my car and cried some more.
Other reviews of the film have pointed out the filmmakers chose not to present their research objectively; I’d argue any attempt at objectivity in the face of a teenager’s wrongful death is morally questionable.
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