2017.10.30
Stranger Things is Nostalgia Chow(tm).
Aliens. ET. Gremlins. product placement foods. Firestarter. every 80s horror movie cliche as a Halloween costume in 4 seconds. someone wearing Siouxsie as a Halloween costume. someone wearing Johnnie Rotten not as a costume. John Carpenter style music. An extremely specific model of flashlight (red plastic, chrome) from the late 70s/early 80s that I haven't seen since then. Some hair care products from then. A dustpan. etc.
And I'm eating it right up. This is just like that book, Ready Player One. Take a rather sterotypical story, and festoon it with decorations in some particular style. In this case, the style that pushes all my nostalgia buttons.
And yet there are some modern touches which feel like fresh air: the good guys (warrior-mom Winona Ryder, Our Gang of kid heros, and small town cop) and the bad guys (arrogant government top secret experimental science lab doctors and soldiers) are cooperating, and even even cutting each other some slack when things start getting out of hand. Sometimes... they even listen to each other.
Only two episodes to go.
2017.10.31
Done, and on Halloween, no less. The only spoiler I saw was the 4 kids in Ghostbusters costumes (indicating Halloween... this is years before cosplay... but the quality of their costumes was too high... almost like cosplay... indicating a show that is overfunded and possibly overproduced...).
I liked it, even though it ended on a happy note. Nostalgia Chow aside, this ending feels undeserved at first, but when you think about it, it is earned. The first season felt like our heros getting beaten up, and ending on a down note of everyone having lost something. Which is actually a good season ender, as you leave lots of questions and problems in need of resolution. Season 2 ends with every problem solved, with a bow on it. Our heros have been through a year or two (or lifetime) of hell, and deserve this break. But where does that leave the show?
This is a fine ending, the show could continue or not. But the season one ending was raw, and demanded continuation. This ending is satisfied with itself, and ready to settle down. The gate is closed, there's no need for anyone to do anything else. If there's a season three, they're going to have to go looking for trouble.
P.S. Biggest nitpick: nosebleeds equal mana points expended; single nose bleeds are used all the time, so you know shit's getting serious when at the finale we go to full double noseblood, and then have to go even further to screaming streaking double nosebleed. This is, of course, a direct reference to Stephen King's Firestarter, where one of the main characters has psionic power at the cost of nosebleeds - but it really was a cost, not some cosmetic afterthought. Its been years since I read that story, but I think he basically had half a dozen nose bleed psionic power displays, and then he died. Eleven (Jane) could go single nostril bleed power display any time she liked, with no cost. Even when she went double-nostril-bleed rampage of rage on the gate monster... she was still just fine to attend the rhythmic ceremonial ritual.
Monday, October 30, 2017
Saturday, October 21, 2017
John Wick 2 (2017)
Unsatisfying.
John has to do a job for a guy or die, who will then decide he has to die anyway. John knows this will happen so he sets up weapon caches in advance. Why not just kill that guy right from the the start?
John doesn't kill him because he is aware of the intricacies of the politics and rules of this world and won't violate them? But then he goes ahead and kills that guy anyway, violating all the rules.
You can't have your cake and eat it too, movie. You started a beautiful franchise, and ruined it almost immediately.
John has to do a job for a guy or die, who will then decide he has to die anyway. John knows this will happen so he sets up weapon caches in advance. Why not just kill that guy right from the the start?
John doesn't kill him because he is aware of the intricacies of the politics and rules of this world and won't violate them? But then he goes ahead and kills that guy anyway, violating all the rules.
You can't have your cake and eat it too, movie. You started a beautiful franchise, and ruined it almost immediately.
Monday, October 16, 2017
Into the Forest (2015)
If you can let go that this is not a story about how to survive in the woods without much help from civilization, then you might enjoy it as the story of two sisters who.... have to learn how to survive in the woods without much help from civilization.
As soon as Dad needed to be whisked off stage so it could be only about the two sisters, you know what the story is going to be about. Characters in stories tend to die quickly when the story requires it, but the reason he died is because of poor knowledge and preparation. Operating dangerous machinery alone, not wearing protective gear, felling a live tree with a small chainsaw, not focusing on all the dead and dropped wood first (which also prevents fire hazard). At first I thought he was felling a tree to block the driveway, so people couldn't just drive up, but why waste precious gas on cutting trees with a chainsaw, when there should be plenty of deadwood to harvest with hand equipment?
Maybe his wife (conveniently off stage since before the movie) was the real prepared person in the family. How else do you explain that there's over a year's worth of rice and beans? It also explains why nobody noticed the roof caving in. A roof doesn't fail in one to two years of neglect, it takes decades so there's no excuse for dad to have missed it... unless he wasn't really the prepper in the family.
The deceased wife must also have been the hunter in the family, and I guess nobody ever showed interest in it, because the kids have no idea what to do until they have to try and learn it from books.
Still, I want to excuse all that, so we can focus on the real story of the two sisters who really shouldn't be alive any more. And then they go and burn down their last asset. Yes, black mold and roof caving in, but there's tons of useful things that can be salvaged for their next home (glass, nails and other metal objects, the books). The excuse that its to throw scavengers and thieves off their trail could have been made to work, but there were never any visitors except the two people who knew they were there, and who quickly left.
That's the problem with post-apocalypse movies, they like to focus on a variable or two (electricity) and assume everything else goes away. Even if the grid is destroyed, we're only knocked back to the 19th century, but with all our current knowledge. Civilization doesn't end, society doesn't end, governments don't end, people don't, its just been rebooted, and depending on the scenario, maybe not even all that long. Speaking of which, there's no reason why in the past year an armed group of people on horseback hasn't shown up yet, checking every property for salvage and survivors (or if a less benevolent new government, loot and slaves).
Speaking of post-apocalyptic fantasy, references to The Last of Us are too many to count, but the best one is Eva heading out to hunt to save the person back at base (that image of Ellen Page in the tree waiting for prey could be right out of the game).
As soon as Dad needed to be whisked off stage so it could be only about the two sisters, you know what the story is going to be about. Characters in stories tend to die quickly when the story requires it, but the reason he died is because of poor knowledge and preparation. Operating dangerous machinery alone, not wearing protective gear, felling a live tree with a small chainsaw, not focusing on all the dead and dropped wood first (which also prevents fire hazard). At first I thought he was felling a tree to block the driveway, so people couldn't just drive up, but why waste precious gas on cutting trees with a chainsaw, when there should be plenty of deadwood to harvest with hand equipment?
Maybe his wife (conveniently off stage since before the movie) was the real prepared person in the family. How else do you explain that there's over a year's worth of rice and beans? It also explains why nobody noticed the roof caving in. A roof doesn't fail in one to two years of neglect, it takes decades so there's no excuse for dad to have missed it... unless he wasn't really the prepper in the family.
The deceased wife must also have been the hunter in the family, and I guess nobody ever showed interest in it, because the kids have no idea what to do until they have to try and learn it from books.
Still, I want to excuse all that, so we can focus on the real story of the two sisters who really shouldn't be alive any more. And then they go and burn down their last asset. Yes, black mold and roof caving in, but there's tons of useful things that can be salvaged for their next home (glass, nails and other metal objects, the books). The excuse that its to throw scavengers and thieves off their trail could have been made to work, but there were never any visitors except the two people who knew they were there, and who quickly left.
That's the problem with post-apocalypse movies, they like to focus on a variable or two (electricity) and assume everything else goes away. Even if the grid is destroyed, we're only knocked back to the 19th century, but with all our current knowledge. Civilization doesn't end, society doesn't end, governments don't end, people don't, its just been rebooted, and depending on the scenario, maybe not even all that long. Speaking of which, there's no reason why in the past year an armed group of people on horseback hasn't shown up yet, checking every property for salvage and survivors (or if a less benevolent new government, loot and slaves).
Speaking of post-apocalyptic fantasy, references to The Last of Us are too many to count, but the best one is Eva heading out to hunt to save the person back at base (that image of Ellen Page in the tree waiting for prey could be right out of the game).
Saturday, October 14, 2017
Spy Kids (2001)
The only reason I watched this is because my favorite movie review podcast (Double Feature) recommended it. Its been so long, I don't even remember why, but I tried it anyway.
It was a kids movie not for me, but was it a good one? Speaking as a former kid, I have no idea if I could have related to this then. The world it takes place in so fantastical (hyper James Bond tech, not the physics or physiology of this world, civilians have little reaction to public displays of monsters or future tech, etc.), its hard to relate to anything human in this movie. If you want to get through this, you just have to accept the fundamental premise of this world and go with it.
I got through it, but I was left with absolutely nothing for the time spent. Then I listened to that podcast again and gained a bit of an appreciation for it, but without that I'd be left with nothing.
It was a kids movie not for me, but was it a good one? Speaking as a former kid, I have no idea if I could have related to this then. The world it takes place in so fantastical (hyper James Bond tech, not the physics or physiology of this world, civilians have little reaction to public displays of monsters or future tech, etc.), its hard to relate to anything human in this movie. If you want to get through this, you just have to accept the fundamental premise of this world and go with it.
I got through it, but I was left with absolutely nothing for the time spent. Then I listened to that podcast again and gained a bit of an appreciation for it, but without that I'd be left with nothing.
The Happening (2008)
I feel bad for these competent and sincere actors who have to try and breathe life into this wooden dialogue. There's a bit of charm in how low budget activities, like people milling about a train station or wind through the brush, can invoke some real dread. But then the exposition dumps are dropped, in the form of authorities on TV, and the movie completely undercuts itself, not trusting you dummies - the audience - not to get the message.
The message is on the chalkboard right from the beginning of the movie, mess with the Earth and it will mess with you. And it will do so in ways that are so supernatural and fast that science will be of no help to you. The movie tries to invoke science, but actually uses magic to try and make the story work.
Again, I feel bad for these actors and crew who put in good work, but this movie rings false throughout.
The message is on the chalkboard right from the beginning of the movie, mess with the Earth and it will mess with you. And it will do so in ways that are so supernatural and fast that science will be of no help to you. The movie tries to invoke science, but actually uses magic to try and make the story work.
Again, I feel bad for these actors and crew who put in good work, but this movie rings false throughout.
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
The Girl with All the Gifts (2016)
Its as if someone took the story from The Last of Us and made it into a movie, and made it even a little more hard edged.
It felt way too long in some ways, too short in others, but I like the conclusion. In some ways, it takes the Last of Us story and goes even further with it. Humanity will suffer setbacks, but we shall prevail.
It felt way too long in some ways, too short in others, but I like the conclusion. In some ways, it takes the Last of Us story and goes even further with it. Humanity will suffer setbacks, but we shall prevail.
Sunday, October 8, 2017
Outbreak (1995)
Finished watching Sicario, this movie came up next on auto-play, and I was too tired to get up and change. And then we caught enough of it to get sucked into watching the rest. There was a nostalgia angle, we haven't seen this movie since it came out.
There are a lot of big names in the cast, and you can see the big budget on the screen, and as you would expect its got Hollywood all over it. I could have almost bought Dustin Hoffman as the hotshot virologist, but the crudely stapled-on romance with the other top virologist undercut his presence to the point where I just did not believe in him as a human being, let alone a top scientist.
Sicario (2015)
I only noticed this, and watched it, because this was also the director of Bladerunner 2 (or whatever its called). I was immediately impressed with some of the visuals of southwestern USA, especially some angles I don't think I've ever seen before.
The characters, the dialogue, the story, its all OK. Nothing really new, doesn't really add anything, so no real lasting memory of it.
If a soundtrack is good, you're not really supposed to focus on it, almost not even hear it. That's mostly the case, sometimes its this really subtle effect like an accelerating sense of dread, like an increasing heart beat rate, but sometimes it goes to far and its like one section of the orchestra drowning out the rest.
I recently heard someone articulate that Americans don't like reading text on a movie. Subtitles aside, there's no need for the subtitles as to where in the southwest we are, or at what air force base, especially when the characters drive through the front gate and there's the name anyway.
It was cool to read what the title of the movie meant but there was no reason to explain the title in the movie at all.
If this movie offers any hope for the Bladerunner movie, I expect it to be competently told, look good, be interesting as I watch it, but leave me with little to nothing to remember about it.
The characters, the dialogue, the story, its all OK. Nothing really new, doesn't really add anything, so no real lasting memory of it.
If a soundtrack is good, you're not really supposed to focus on it, almost not even hear it. That's mostly the case, sometimes its this really subtle effect like an accelerating sense of dread, like an increasing heart beat rate, but sometimes it goes to far and its like one section of the orchestra drowning out the rest.
I recently heard someone articulate that Americans don't like reading text on a movie. Subtitles aside, there's no need for the subtitles as to where in the southwest we are, or at what air force base, especially when the characters drive through the front gate and there's the name anyway.
It was cool to read what the title of the movie meant but there was no reason to explain the title in the movie at all.
If this movie offers any hope for the Bladerunner movie, I expect it to be competently told, look good, be interesting as I watch it, but leave me with little to nothing to remember about it.
Sunday, October 1, 2017
Rick and Morty season 3 (2017)
2017.10.02
Just finished watching the last episode of S3. It felt right; it felt earned. I want to want more, but it was plenty. Its enough to sustain you for the probably multi-year wait for S4.
I can see Rick and Morty as a product now. Over the years it has established enough of a shape that you can see the silhouette. You have a sense now of the formula of how much sci-fi stuff, cultural references, meta and self-references that the show is made of. And it is good.
But it is no longer exciting or dangerous. There were a few episodes there were it felt dangerous and new, but now it has found its track.
It could be that again. I'll find out later, but even if I don't it has left its mark.
Just finished watching the last episode of S3. It felt right; it felt earned. I want to want more, but it was plenty. Its enough to sustain you for the probably multi-year wait for S4.
I can see Rick and Morty as a product now. Over the years it has established enough of a shape that you can see the silhouette. You have a sense now of the formula of how much sci-fi stuff, cultural references, meta and self-references that the show is made of. And it is good.
But it is no longer exciting or dangerous. There were a few episodes there were it felt dangerous and new, but now it has found its track.
It could be that again. I'll find out later, but even if I don't it has left its mark.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)