Stacey's ability to transform a film I found purile and shruggable into a nihilistic screed against the Disney pleasure dome is my favorite part of today.
Most of what I consider the best films have no CGI or loads of action and jump cuts, just a good story and great acting. These films usually get little notice from the general public, but I love them. Some examples would be LA Confidential, Cold Comfort Farm, Sunshine Cleaning, Secrets and Lies, Amelie, The sting, Casablanca, Fading Gigolo, The Thin Man, The Sting, Big Night, Au Revoir Les Enfants, Belle du Jour, Fundamentals of Caring, Chinatown, Klute, Sunset Boulevard, etc.
Mentioned in the context of Dr. Strange and the M of M (which I've also not seen), I realized something about myself: I really despise stories that key on the whole "multiverse" twaddle. I'll spare you any of the numerous lengthy screeds I can easily embark on (a few I've actually published in philosophical literature.) To me, it is lazy story-telling (and worse science.)
You'll get no opposition from me. Maybe my inability to get through more than 20 minutes of that particular hot-mess or the massively popular Squid Game, makes me a middle-aged dinosaur? But I just don't get it. It's Everything Everywhere All F'cked Up. The fact that it has been nominated for an Oscar is even more baffling (and disturbing). Have we (movie lovers and film buffs) really sunk that low and abandoned good stories and great scriptwriting for jumbled and fragmentented stories on speed? A former colleague (a living encyclopedia of film) with whom I used to work with in the film industry shockingly said to me a few years ago: "film is dead, TV is where it's at." Considering I've seen few noteworthy films since, I reckon he may be right...
I was watching the trailer for this movie about half an hour ago. And I thought, ah, another one of these. A movie for our shiny new neuropathways that have no ability to focus for more than 6 seconds. The movie version of sex expectations after watching too much porn. This movie has gotten so much buzz I too thought, well, it must be some failing of my own. Something I'm missing. I can't keep up anymore. And what's up with Marvel? I have never understood why grown humans are so enamoured with cartoon movies. Thank you for voicing that we are not all under the spell. And if I want to go into the metaverse I will happily pull out my William Gibson.
I watched it coming back to the states from Italy, I was exhausted and trying to stay on the right side of the Greenwich Mean Time. I didn’t allow myself to even think about analysis as I sat there basically slack-jawed, pumping Visine into my eyes and water into my bladder. It was entertaining. I’m a bigger fan of Jamie Lee Curtis and how she lost her shit over Michelle’s nomination. THAT’S why I watched it. It served a purpose. But it won’t be my new Rhinestone Cowboy, that’s for sure.
Stacey, I totally agree with you. I wanted to like it since a few people in a class I took said it was great. It was exhausting-do noisy, so much fighting, with a way too few meaningful moments thrown in here and there, and near the end. I left the room a few times to do kitchen chores figuring I would’t miss much, just more of the same. My husband walked out on it way sooner, as I struggled to go the distance.
I saw the movie 8 times in the theater. I'm a sucker for a well choreographed fight scene and I was delighted every time by the fanny pack fight. But the real reason it replaced Harold and Maude as my favorite movie is this: at it's core, it's about a mom doing everything, even breaking her own mind, to save her daughter from suicide. Waymonds speech about how his optimism is his source of strength hit home HARD. I had never heard my own reality so eloquently and yet succinctly put. The mom that starts out criticizing her daughter instead of hugging her. She stopped asking "what if", torturing herself really, and just dug in and stayed in the moment. It was like years of therapy in one afternoon at the IRS. But the end, when she realized to let go of her anger, it really resonated with me. I feel like we watched different movies. But I also think you are running into the same problem a lot of others do. You went in with expectations. You were expecting something serious. Because the Oscars. But you need to shut off that analytical brain. Gummies help. And let it wash over you. You may find it's worth when you stop trying to dissect it. It's a goofy film with a message of love wrapped up in hot dog finger jokes and heartbreaking boulders
Stacey's ability to transform a film I found purile and shruggable into a nihilistic screed against the Disney pleasure dome is my favorite part of today.
Most of what I consider the best films have no CGI or loads of action and jump cuts, just a good story and great acting. These films usually get little notice from the general public, but I love them. Some examples would be LA Confidential, Cold Comfort Farm, Sunshine Cleaning, Secrets and Lies, Amelie, The sting, Casablanca, Fading Gigolo, The Thin Man, The Sting, Big Night, Au Revoir Les Enfants, Belle du Jour, Fundamentals of Caring, Chinatown, Klute, Sunset Boulevard, etc.
i walked out.
Mentioned in the context of Dr. Strange and the M of M (which I've also not seen), I realized something about myself: I really despise stories that key on the whole "multiverse" twaddle. I'll spare you any of the numerous lengthy screeds I can easily embark on (a few I've actually published in philosophical literature.) To me, it is lazy story-telling (and worse science.)
You'll get no opposition from me. Maybe my inability to get through more than 20 minutes of that particular hot-mess or the massively popular Squid Game, makes me a middle-aged dinosaur? But I just don't get it. It's Everything Everywhere All F'cked Up. The fact that it has been nominated for an Oscar is even more baffling (and disturbing). Have we (movie lovers and film buffs) really sunk that low and abandoned good stories and great scriptwriting for jumbled and fragmentented stories on speed? A former colleague (a living encyclopedia of film) with whom I used to work with in the film industry shockingly said to me a few years ago: "film is dead, TV is where it's at." Considering I've seen few noteworthy films since, I reckon he may be right...
I was watching the trailer for this movie about half an hour ago. And I thought, ah, another one of these. A movie for our shiny new neuropathways that have no ability to focus for more than 6 seconds. The movie version of sex expectations after watching too much porn. This movie has gotten so much buzz I too thought, well, it must be some failing of my own. Something I'm missing. I can't keep up anymore. And what's up with Marvel? I have never understood why grown humans are so enamoured with cartoon movies. Thank you for voicing that we are not all under the spell. And if I want to go into the metaverse I will happily pull out my William Gibson.
I watched it coming back to the states from Italy, I was exhausted and trying to stay on the right side of the Greenwich Mean Time. I didn’t allow myself to even think about analysis as I sat there basically slack-jawed, pumping Visine into my eyes and water into my bladder. It was entertaining. I’m a bigger fan of Jamie Lee Curtis and how she lost her shit over Michelle’s nomination. THAT’S why I watched it. It served a purpose. But it won’t be my new Rhinestone Cowboy, that’s for sure.
Stacey, I totally agree with you. I wanted to like it since a few people in a class I took said it was great. It was exhausting-do noisy, so much fighting, with a way too few meaningful moments thrown in here and there, and near the end. I left the room a few times to do kitchen chores figuring I would’t miss much, just more of the same. My husband walked out on it way sooner, as I struggled to go the distance.
Bombastic, pointless movie... I didn't stick with it for long. Great review and commentary, Stace.
I saw the movie 8 times in the theater. I'm a sucker for a well choreographed fight scene and I was delighted every time by the fanny pack fight. But the real reason it replaced Harold and Maude as my favorite movie is this: at it's core, it's about a mom doing everything, even breaking her own mind, to save her daughter from suicide. Waymonds speech about how his optimism is his source of strength hit home HARD. I had never heard my own reality so eloquently and yet succinctly put. The mom that starts out criticizing her daughter instead of hugging her. She stopped asking "what if", torturing herself really, and just dug in and stayed in the moment. It was like years of therapy in one afternoon at the IRS. But the end, when she realized to let go of her anger, it really resonated with me. I feel like we watched different movies. But I also think you are running into the same problem a lot of others do. You went in with expectations. You were expecting something serious. Because the Oscars. But you need to shut off that analytical brain. Gummies help. And let it wash over you. You may find it's worth when you stop trying to dissect it. It's a goofy film with a message of love wrapped up in hot dog finger jokes and heartbreaking boulders