Orcs, Fish and Ghosts
It's a little baffling how fast this summer has been going. Between our vacation and plonq being gone every few weeks, it doesn't feel like we've had very much summer to enjoy.
One thing that we have been doing, though is hitting up some of the movies we've wanted to see. We didn't get to see all of the movies we're interested in (for example, we missed the latest Avengers movie because we're way behind and I want to watch them in order), but we've made it to three so far this summer. That's pretty good for us.
My thoughts on each movie, in reverse chronological order:
Ghostbusters. I admit that I was concerned when I saw the first trailer. It looked like they were doing a shot-for-shot remake of the original, while I'd wanted either a reboot (starting from scratch from the same theme) or a sequel (the women buy the Ghostbusters franchise from the old guys, etc.)
After a few reviews I felt a little better about the movie, and a few minutes into actually watching it I realized I had nothing to worry about. The movie was well-written, was pretty damn funny in the right doses, and stood fine on its own. I loved the cameos from the surviving members of the original cast, and Holtzmann was fantastic.
I felt it did suffer a bit in the editing room, though. A few scene transitions just didn't work; it felt like crucial moments from the previous scene were missing before moving on to the next scene. And while I really (really!) deeply appreciated the fact that they could write a movie with female main characters who could do action scenes without acting "sexy," or be emotional without acting bitchy or weepy, I didn't feel myself going "THIS IS SO IMPORTANT OMG WOMYN" like some of the Tumblristas have been doing. Yes, it's great! Fantastic! Please keep it up, Hollywood! but I think a lot of the overcompensation by the feminists is a counter-reaction to the vitriolic hatred of the male fanboys who declared that this movie was going to ruin their childhoods.
Anyway, good movie! Well worth seeing.
Finding Dory. I don't have a lot to say about this movie, other than that I really enjoyed it... And her whale shark friend is my new favourite fish character.
The whole "your parents abandoned you and it's your fault" plot might be a little bit dark for really young kids, but any kid over the toddler stage should be able to cope with it, especially if they see the end.
Warcraft. Holy fuck, what a train wreck.
I knew going in that it wasn't going to be a work of fine art. Video game movies are rarely up for Oscars, except maybe for special effects.
What I wasn't expecting was how boring it was. Oh my god. Now, the Warcraft universe has a lot of stories that they could have told, and they chose a tiny sliver of a story in a larger world. In whatever sliver they chose, they had to a) introduce the world, b) introduce the major characters, c) set up the story, and d) wrap up the story, all in about two hours.
Yes, other movies have done just that, but for Warcraft they picked a super important event to tell: the invasion of Azeroth by the orcs... But that's the whole story. The orcs invade, assisted by the human Medhiv, and then stick around to build their lives there. That's it. And they dragged it out to two hours.
The only reason I found it the least bit entertaining was the little in-jokes they added for players, and also playing "spot the lore character." (Mostly that was "Hey, we killed that guy in that one dungeon!") Otherwise, I found myself fidgeting in my seat as Garona made moon-eyes at various human males, and I wondered when they were going to GET ON WITH IT ALREADY. I can't imagine how it would have felt for someone who wasn't familiar with the story, knowing that a big climax was coming.
To sum up: not recommended unless you're going to MST3K it.
One thing that we have been doing, though is hitting up some of the movies we've wanted to see. We didn't get to see all of the movies we're interested in (for example, we missed the latest Avengers movie because we're way behind and I want to watch them in order), but we've made it to three so far this summer. That's pretty good for us.
My thoughts on each movie, in reverse chronological order:
Ghostbusters. I admit that I was concerned when I saw the first trailer. It looked like they were doing a shot-for-shot remake of the original, while I'd wanted either a reboot (starting from scratch from the same theme) or a sequel (the women buy the Ghostbusters franchise from the old guys, etc.)
After a few reviews I felt a little better about the movie, and a few minutes into actually watching it I realized I had nothing to worry about. The movie was well-written, was pretty damn funny in the right doses, and stood fine on its own. I loved the cameos from the surviving members of the original cast, and Holtzmann was fantastic.
I felt it did suffer a bit in the editing room, though. A few scene transitions just didn't work; it felt like crucial moments from the previous scene were missing before moving on to the next scene. And while I really (really!) deeply appreciated the fact that they could write a movie with female main characters who could do action scenes without acting "sexy," or be emotional without acting bitchy or weepy, I didn't feel myself going "THIS IS SO IMPORTANT OMG WOMYN" like some of the Tumblristas have been doing. Yes, it's great! Fantastic! Please keep it up, Hollywood! but I think a lot of the overcompensation by the feminists is a counter-reaction to the vitriolic hatred of the male fanboys who declared that this movie was going to ruin their childhoods.
Anyway, good movie! Well worth seeing.
Finding Dory. I don't have a lot to say about this movie, other than that I really enjoyed it... And her whale shark friend is my new favourite fish character.
The whole "your parents abandoned you and it's your fault" plot might be a little bit dark for really young kids, but any kid over the toddler stage should be able to cope with it, especially if they see the end.
Warcraft. Holy fuck, what a train wreck.
I knew going in that it wasn't going to be a work of fine art. Video game movies are rarely up for Oscars, except maybe for special effects.
What I wasn't expecting was how boring it was. Oh my god. Now, the Warcraft universe has a lot of stories that they could have told, and they chose a tiny sliver of a story in a larger world. In whatever sliver they chose, they had to a) introduce the world, b) introduce the major characters, c) set up the story, and d) wrap up the story, all in about two hours.
Yes, other movies have done just that, but for Warcraft they picked a super important event to tell: the invasion of Azeroth by the orcs... But that's the whole story. The orcs invade, assisted by the human Medhiv, and then stick around to build their lives there. That's it. And they dragged it out to two hours.
The only reason I found it the least bit entertaining was the little in-jokes they added for players, and also playing "spot the lore character." (Mostly that was "Hey, we killed that guy in that one dungeon!") Otherwise, I found myself fidgeting in my seat as Garona made moon-eyes at various human males, and I wondered when they were going to GET ON WITH IT ALREADY. I can't imagine how it would have felt for someone who wasn't familiar with the story, knowing that a big climax was coming.
To sum up: not recommended unless you're going to MST3K it.