The Force Awakens
So I saw the new Star Wars movie, thought I'd give my reactions. Reasonably SPOILER-FREE this time. Maybe I'll do more spoilery reactions later.
I enjoyed it! And the first thing I will say is that the movie succeeded very well at the A-Number-One thing it needed to do, which was being an actual honest-to-god Star Wars movie. They had me by the end of the opening text crawl, and that trademark Star Wars epic grunge aesthetic? Totally nailed it. (There's a starship graveyard in this thing; it's the perfect backdrop of grand and humble and "I would have known that was there all along if I'd just thought about it;" you just have to see it.) The new heroes (and one new villain) are engaging, and the return of the old heroes is great to see; not sure what to add on that front without getting spoilery.
I will say, though, as the movie went on, at a certain point the magic started to wear off somewhat (like about the time the Resistance showed up; not their fault, but best landmark I can find for it). After that, it felt like it got stretched too thin, like there was so much stuff in the movie that nothing had enough space to feel grounded or develop organically, which left certain people's character arc points (and the fallout therefrom) feeling hollow to me.
(Lately, I seem to ding movies a lot for that kind of problem, of feeling like characters' motivations and development, etc., were just declared and never shown to my satisfaction. Either I have become a very tough audience or the inevitable (and admittedly awesome) crowd-sourced internet exegesis has become an acceptable substitute for putting this stuff in your goddamn movie.)
My one other complaint with The Force Awakens: it is blatantly incomplete. The thing ends on what's essentially a big, lush, cinematic "To Be Continued" sign. One of the main characters' arcs is at a satisfying checkpoint; everything else is pretty much left up in the air.
But you know what? I'll be happy to see the next episode. And that's kind of what Star Wars has always been like for me. Not perfect, but good, with food for thought and a fun, immersive ride.
Oh, and I made a note to myself in the trailers that the Warcraft movie actually looked interesting. I also noticed that a lot of trailers these days try to skate by on audio/visual/visceral thrill riding and maybe a dash of pseudo-profound bullshit without actually telling you anything about the story. It was after a few of those that the Warcraft trailer came up and lo and behold, I felt like it was actually trying to sell me on its plot and themes! Don't know if I'll pop for a cookie for them yet, but it is appreciated.
ETA: CAUTION - COMMENTS CONTAIN SPOILERS.
‡ original post at Dreamwidth ‡
I enjoyed it! And the first thing I will say is that the movie succeeded very well at the A-Number-One thing it needed to do, which was being an actual honest-to-god Star Wars movie. They had me by the end of the opening text crawl, and that trademark Star Wars epic grunge aesthetic? Totally nailed it. (There's a starship graveyard in this thing; it's the perfect backdrop of grand and humble and "I would have known that was there all along if I'd just thought about it;" you just have to see it.) The new heroes (and one new villain) are engaging, and the return of the old heroes is great to see; not sure what to add on that front without getting spoilery.
I will say, though, as the movie went on, at a certain point the magic started to wear off somewhat (like about the time the Resistance showed up; not their fault, but best landmark I can find for it). After that, it felt like it got stretched too thin, like there was so much stuff in the movie that nothing had enough space to feel grounded or develop organically, which left certain people's character arc points (and the fallout therefrom) feeling hollow to me.
(Lately, I seem to ding movies a lot for that kind of problem, of feeling like characters' motivations and development, etc., were just declared and never shown to my satisfaction. Either I have become a very tough audience or the inevitable (and admittedly awesome) crowd-sourced internet exegesis has become an acceptable substitute for putting this stuff in your goddamn movie.)
My one other complaint with The Force Awakens: it is blatantly incomplete. The thing ends on what's essentially a big, lush, cinematic "To Be Continued" sign. One of the main characters' arcs is at a satisfying checkpoint; everything else is pretty much left up in the air.
But you know what? I'll be happy to see the next episode. And that's kind of what Star Wars has always been like for me. Not perfect, but good, with food for thought and a fun, immersive ride.
Oh, and I made a note to myself in the trailers that the Warcraft movie actually looked interesting. I also noticed that a lot of trailers these days try to skate by on audio/visual/visceral thrill riding and maybe a dash of pseudo-profound bullshit without actually telling you anything about the story. It was after a few of those that the Warcraft trailer came up and lo and behold, I felt like it was actually trying to sell me on its plot and themes! Don't know if I'll pop for a cookie for them yet, but it is appreciated.
ETA: CAUTION - COMMENTS CONTAIN SPOILERS.
‡ original post at Dreamwidth ‡