Film Reviews
Jul. 29th, 2018 06:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatWhee...figured out how to post photos using Google Photos onto DW finally.
Saw two movies this weekend.
1. Finding Dory -- which is on Netflix until August 1. It's the sequel to Finding Nemo, which I've completely forgotten. So can't really tell you which I preferred. Dory can be appreciated on its own merits, you really don't have to see Finding Nemo to understand it. (I forgot the entire plot of Nemo and bits came back to me during this film...sort of in the same way that bits of Dory's memory came back to her. It's not that important, because we are in Dory's pov and Dory has short term memory loss...so can't really remember it either.)
I liked the film better than I thought I would. It's rather innovative in spots, and hilarious in others. Hank, the Octopus, nearly steals the entire film. He's hilarious. There's some good sight gags here and there. Also it makes a rather strong statement about how humanity treats the ocean and ocean life in general. (Hint: We're a bit too self-motivated for our own good.) In fact, much like the first film, the villain here is well-meaning humans setting up exhibits to protect ocean life.
Whomever is making these movies is clearly pissed off at the Marine Life Research and Rescue Mission.
Dory, as voiced by Ellen Degeneros, is a kind and lovable fish. She can't remember things, but pushes her way through and saves the day, reuniting her family.
It's a lovely little movie that I highly recommend, if you can figure out how to see it.
2. Ready Player One -- this is Steven Spielberg's adaptation from the popular novel of the same name. The novel is a lot better, and considering I didn't like the novel that much that's saying something.
It's a busy action movie, with a lot of bad CGI. Too dark -- I don't mean content, I mean color scheme, hard to see, and everything is in grays, and dulled colors. You'd think the Oasis would be more colorful. Everything looks a wee bit too computer generated (TRON's special effects were better and more interesting.) In some respects it reminds me of the film "TRON", except it was a better film as was "The Last Starfighter", which had similar concepts.
My attention kept wandering during it, and I was having a lot troubles caring or following it.
The best bit is a long homage to the film "The Shining", which by the way was not in the book or I don't remember it being in the book at all. Also the book focused more on old video games, than this does, in part because old style video games aren't all that interesting to watch on the big screen.
Everything else is rather hoo-hum. And that's a problem. The villains are boilerplate as are the earnest young heroes. Spielberg doesn't have much to say that he hasn't said elsewhere, in a more convincing manner. And I felt that the best bits from the novel were completely lost -- and this is coming from someone who found the novel to be okay, at best.
Don't waste your time on this one. Rent Wrinkle in Time instead. It has much better special effects.
Saw two movies this weekend.
1. Finding Dory -- which is on Netflix until August 1. It's the sequel to Finding Nemo, which I've completely forgotten. So can't really tell you which I preferred. Dory can be appreciated on its own merits, you really don't have to see Finding Nemo to understand it. (I forgot the entire plot of Nemo and bits came back to me during this film...sort of in the same way that bits of Dory's memory came back to her. It's not that important, because we are in Dory's pov and Dory has short term memory loss...so can't really remember it either.)
I liked the film better than I thought I would. It's rather innovative in spots, and hilarious in others. Hank, the Octopus, nearly steals the entire film. He's hilarious. There's some good sight gags here and there. Also it makes a rather strong statement about how humanity treats the ocean and ocean life in general. (Hint: We're a bit too self-motivated for our own good.) In fact, much like the first film, the villain here is well-meaning humans setting up exhibits to protect ocean life.
Whomever is making these movies is clearly pissed off at the Marine Life Research and Rescue Mission.
Dory, as voiced by Ellen Degeneros, is a kind and lovable fish. She can't remember things, but pushes her way through and saves the day, reuniting her family.
It's a lovely little movie that I highly recommend, if you can figure out how to see it.
2. Ready Player One -- this is Steven Spielberg's adaptation from the popular novel of the same name. The novel is a lot better, and considering I didn't like the novel that much that's saying something.
It's a busy action movie, with a lot of bad CGI. Too dark -- I don't mean content, I mean color scheme, hard to see, and everything is in grays, and dulled colors. You'd think the Oasis would be more colorful. Everything looks a wee bit too computer generated (TRON's special effects were better and more interesting.) In some respects it reminds me of the film "TRON", except it was a better film as was "The Last Starfighter", which had similar concepts.
My attention kept wandering during it, and I was having a lot troubles caring or following it.
The best bit is a long homage to the film "The Shining", which by the way was not in the book or I don't remember it being in the book at all. Also the book focused more on old video games, than this does, in part because old style video games aren't all that interesting to watch on the big screen.
Everything else is rather hoo-hum. And that's a problem. The villains are boilerplate as are the earnest young heroes. Spielberg doesn't have much to say that he hasn't said elsewhere, in a more convincing manner. And I felt that the best bits from the novel were completely lost -- and this is coming from someone who found the novel to be okay, at best.
Don't waste your time on this one. Rent Wrinkle in Time instead. It has much better special effects.
no subject
Date: 2018-08-01 12:53 am (UTC)I like bouncing things off with you as well.
While I get where you are coming from...I think what worked for me here is that the writers went in the exact opposite direction of the Pixar brand. (It's worth noting that all the films you mentioned didn't really work for me on some level, and it may have been how they sort of neatly dealt with loss. I think when we lose someone they stay with us. In small ways, and big ones. Coco sort of got that across, although I had issues with Coco too, because it made a big deal of how if you don't actively remember someone they are lost...and I don't agree with that perspective. I think the people we meet are a part of us, we learn from them and they stay with us in various ways. We don't require mementos.)
What I liked about Finding Dory and how it surprised me is it didn't go the predictable route all the films before it had gone. It surprised me. Of late, all these movies go that route and think they are shocking and real, but they aren't. For a few, perhaps, but not everyone. And unlike the other films the film wasn't about "losing someone" but about "finding yourself". In the end, it isn't really that important that she found her parents. Note that after she finds them, she barely spends time with them, her attention is on saving Nemo and Dad, and at whatever cost. She also saves Hank the Octopus. Helps him get past his fear of the ocean. Her parents were really about her rediscovering who she was, finding the shells, finding the way home, and letting go of that guilt. Letting go of the past which was "weighing" her down. After she reunites with them in that depressing spot, where they stayed until she found them again...she moves one.
And while they move with her, she's not living with them. They are part of her life again. When before...they weren't part of her life at all, to Dory, she had no parents.
It's such a complete subversion of UP, Finding Nemo, and the Pixar Trope. And you know me, I love it when someone subverts a trope or does the exact opposite.