Over the holiday, I saw two movies with my mother. Star Wars : The Last Jedi and The Greatest Showman. Enjoyed both. Was a tad disappointed in Last Jedi, it was good but not as "good" as I was lead to believe, and surprised by The Greatest Showman, which was a lot better than I was lead to believe. Moral? Ignore reviews. Movies are a subjective thing. Also, don't let other people tell you what is good, art or worthy. Again, art is a subjective thing and doesn't require an education to figure it out. As long as you enjoy it, it moves you, it haunts you, or changes you in some way -- it's art.
Anyhow. Excuse me, while I get geeky about movies.
1. Star Wars: The Last Jedi -- this is a movie I'm going to have to rent and re-watch "on demand" because there's a lot in it that needs to be unpacked. Also, as I was discussing with![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beer_good_foamy, there's a lot to love in this movie, in fact there is a great movie in there just striving to break out. But alas, it's a Disney film and well...dream on. From an editing perspective? I think Thor was better edited. It was tighter. Even though it was two hours, it didn't feel that long. OR I didn't notice. And the seats were less comfortable. Last Jedi? God, that was a long movie.
I loved what smartbitches said in their review about it --
I’d happily give this movie an A, but frankly I think it’s at least two movies crammed into one. If it had been split into two ninety minute long movies certain elements could have been more fleshed out and we wouldn’t all have needed to pee so badly once the credits rolled. There’s pacing issues because of leaping from plot line to plot line, and some things don’t make sense although the plot does makes MUCH more sense than the plot of The Force Awakens.
AND..
The movie is 152 minutes long not counting trailers. Don’t drink any soda.
Yep. My mother and I both had to go to the bathroom during it, and that never happens. It wouldn't have been so bad if there weren't thirty minutes worth of previews before it started. So the film was about three hours. The preview trailers put my mother to sleep. She was snoring. I had to keep nudging her awake during the big battle sequence in the beginning of the film.
Otherwise my Mom and I would have given it an A. But too many long-endlessly-long-unnecessary-fight sequences and chase scenes. Yes, I know the audience is into this sort of thing. But it can be done well and it was at one point towards the end of the film. Actually the fight scenes in the last portion of the film were really good. The fight scenes in the first and middle half are repetitive.
(Also, if you've seen Thor: Ragnarok - you know how well a fight scene can be done.) These were for the most part hard to follow, and often went nowhere or were repetitive. (We did not need the endlessly long chase sequence on the pleasure planet.)
And the pacing - god, this film had pacing issues. My attention kept wandering. I want to rent and fast-forward and rewind. It's basically two films crammed into one. And unlike Empire -- where the action is split between Han/Leia and Luke/Yoda, here we have Rey/Luke/Chewie, Kylo Ren/Snoke, Poe/Laura Dern & General Leia, and Finn/Rose/BB8. We leap around a lot. This works better on television than in film. Television is set up for serials or novels, film is set up for short stories or novellas. They were trying to cram a 600 page novel into a 2 and half hour film. ARRRGH.
That said? There's a lot to love here. And moments of pure brilliance, where my jaw dropped in amazed glee. It's a deeply flawed film. I desperately wanted to edit it. Because there's so much that works.
To go into what works...we sort of have to go into spoiler territory. But the unspoilery bits can be found on Smart Bitches review for the most part. Strong female characters, multicultural cast, broadening of the verse, furthering Lucas's central themes better than he actually has -- which is the force is in us all, and democratic systems can fall into corruption through ego and hubris, and a desire for unbridled power to be "special". The film kicks to the curb "Destiny", "Chosen One", "bloodlines", or "Redemption". If Star Wars came about post Vietnam and Nixon, and was in a way a commentary on both, LAST JEDI is a commentary on Trumpism, among other things.
[Although to be honest, I didn't see any of that in the first films. I did however see it in the prequels and the ill-fated Star Wars Christmas Special. I think Lucas got irritated and started preaching.]
This film in many ways is Luke's story as the last was Han's. Except Luke is given a far chunkier role and a lot more depth. It's also Mark Hamil's best performance, other than his excellent voice work as the Joker.
( spoilery review of Last Jedi )
2. The Greatest Showman -- this was worth seeing just to watch Hugh Jackman dance and sing.
Created by the same folks who did La La Land, I found myself once again on the opposite side of the critics. I liked it better than La La Land. It didn't take itself as seriously, and was a lot more fun. Also, it kinda helped that the stars could actually sing and dance. (And I'm not a fan of Ryan Gosling. I honestly don't get the appeal. I'm thinking I may just be too old? Hugh Jackman on the other hand is just a few years younger than I am and hot. He's also a nice guy. )
This is the story of PT Barnum as told in song and dance. Some of the songs are rather good, some not good at all. Frankly, it's a mixed bag. Zendagya -- who plays the trapeze artist that falls for Zach Efron, is amazing. And one of my favorite numbers is their song and dance sequence with a rope and a trapeze. Sort of blows LA LA LAND's out of the water. But as my mother put it, they are different musicals. LA LA LAND was a commentary on the old style Singing in the Rain, 1950s Hollywood musical, complete with dance montage, while Greatest Showman is more in line with the modern age musicals, where most of the story is told via song and dance, and the dance numbers are full-fledged affairs.
Both talk about career taking over, and cutting out what is important. This one, I felt, ended better, with Barnum choosing his family. And letting go a bit of his colossal ego or need to be respected by the higher ups.
It's not a great film, and hardly worthy of any awards or accolades. But, it is a lot of FUN. My mother stayed awake throughout. The audience applauded at the end. We all had a great time. It was a nice respite from a rainy cold day. I'd happily see it again.
Anyhow. Excuse me, while I get geeky about movies.
1. Star Wars: The Last Jedi -- this is a movie I'm going to have to rent and re-watch "on demand" because there's a lot in it that needs to be unpacked. Also, as I was discussing with
beer_good_foamy, there's a lot to love in this movie, in fact there is a great movie in there just striving to break out. But alas, it's a Disney film and well...dream on. From an editing perspective? I think Thor was better edited. It was tighter. Even though it was two hours, it didn't feel that long. OR I didn't notice. And the seats were less comfortable. Last Jedi? God, that was a long movie.I loved what smartbitches said in their review about it --
I’d happily give this movie an A, but frankly I think it’s at least two movies crammed into one. If it had been split into two ninety minute long movies certain elements could have been more fleshed out and we wouldn’t all have needed to pee so badly once the credits rolled. There’s pacing issues because of leaping from plot line to plot line, and some things don’t make sense although the plot does makes MUCH more sense than the plot of The Force Awakens.
AND..
The movie is 152 minutes long not counting trailers. Don’t drink any soda.
Yep. My mother and I both had to go to the bathroom during it, and that never happens. It wouldn't have been so bad if there weren't thirty minutes worth of previews before it started. So the film was about three hours. The preview trailers put my mother to sleep. She was snoring. I had to keep nudging her awake during the big battle sequence in the beginning of the film.
Otherwise my Mom and I would have given it an A. But too many long-endlessly-long-unnecessary-fight sequences and chase scenes. Yes, I know the audience is into this sort of thing. But it can be done well and it was at one point towards the end of the film. Actually the fight scenes in the last portion of the film were really good. The fight scenes in the first and middle half are repetitive.
(Also, if you've seen Thor: Ragnarok - you know how well a fight scene can be done.) These were for the most part hard to follow, and often went nowhere or were repetitive. (We did not need the endlessly long chase sequence on the pleasure planet.)
And the pacing - god, this film had pacing issues. My attention kept wandering. I want to rent and fast-forward and rewind. It's basically two films crammed into one. And unlike Empire -- where the action is split between Han/Leia and Luke/Yoda, here we have Rey/Luke/Chewie, Kylo Ren/Snoke, Poe/Laura Dern & General Leia, and Finn/Rose/BB8. We leap around a lot. This works better on television than in film. Television is set up for serials or novels, film is set up for short stories or novellas. They were trying to cram a 600 page novel into a 2 and half hour film. ARRRGH.
That said? There's a lot to love here. And moments of pure brilliance, where my jaw dropped in amazed glee. It's a deeply flawed film. I desperately wanted to edit it. Because there's so much that works.
To go into what works...we sort of have to go into spoiler territory. But the unspoilery bits can be found on Smart Bitches review for the most part. Strong female characters, multicultural cast, broadening of the verse, furthering Lucas's central themes better than he actually has -- which is the force is in us all, and democratic systems can fall into corruption through ego and hubris, and a desire for unbridled power to be "special". The film kicks to the curb "Destiny", "Chosen One", "bloodlines", or "Redemption". If Star Wars came about post Vietnam and Nixon, and was in a way a commentary on both, LAST JEDI is a commentary on Trumpism, among other things.
[Although to be honest, I didn't see any of that in the first films. I did however see it in the prequels and the ill-fated Star Wars Christmas Special. I think Lucas got irritated and started preaching.]
This film in many ways is Luke's story as the last was Han's. Except Luke is given a far chunkier role and a lot more depth. It's also Mark Hamil's best performance, other than his excellent voice work as the Joker.
( spoilery review of Last Jedi )
2. The Greatest Showman -- this was worth seeing just to watch Hugh Jackman dance and sing.
Created by the same folks who did La La Land, I found myself once again on the opposite side of the critics. I liked it better than La La Land. It didn't take itself as seriously, and was a lot more fun. Also, it kinda helped that the stars could actually sing and dance. (And I'm not a fan of Ryan Gosling. I honestly don't get the appeal. I'm thinking I may just be too old? Hugh Jackman on the other hand is just a few years younger than I am and hot. He's also a nice guy. )
This is the story of PT Barnum as told in song and dance. Some of the songs are rather good, some not good at all. Frankly, it's a mixed bag. Zendagya -- who plays the trapeze artist that falls for Zach Efron, is amazing. And one of my favorite numbers is their song and dance sequence with a rope and a trapeze. Sort of blows LA LA LAND's out of the water. But as my mother put it, they are different musicals. LA LA LAND was a commentary on the old style Singing in the Rain, 1950s Hollywood musical, complete with dance montage, while Greatest Showman is more in line with the modern age musicals, where most of the story is told via song and dance, and the dance numbers are full-fledged affairs.
Both talk about career taking over, and cutting out what is important. This one, I felt, ended better, with Barnum choosing his family. And letting go a bit of his colossal ego or need to be respected by the higher ups.
It's not a great film, and hardly worthy of any awards or accolades. But, it is a lot of FUN. My mother stayed awake throughout. The audience applauded at the end. We all had a great time. It was a nice respite from a rainy cold day. I'd happily see it again.