Movies seen in March '24
Mar. 31st, 2024 03:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessDune – part 2 - I enjoyed this ‘continuation’, though I didn’t think quite as much of it needed to be set at night time/in the darkness as Villeneuve did. BUT the production design continues to amaze (the Emperor’s spaceship was sooooo gorgeous.) We’re invested, and the expansion of the universe continued to be interesting, as were the story and the themes: politics, revenge, religion, survival, ambition and love, so it’s far more than spectacle. Although, frankly, if you haven’t seen part 1, you’ll be mightily confused.
I kept being distracted by the fact that Florence Pugh’s princess Irulan was apparently Christopher Walken’s emperor’s daughter, not grand-daughter (or great-grand-daughter.) This is the first thing I’ve seen Austin Butler in, and, sure, he’s playing a psycho, but he really has charisma to burn and a good ear. Obviously, I was team Chani!
Interesting and exciting – what I want sci fi blockbusters to be.
American Fiction – I would totally have gone to see this in the cinema based on the trailer and award buzz, but it was pulled from local cinemas after one week, which happened to be an inconvenient week for going to the cinema for me. So, I was pleased it was available on Prime straight after the Oscars (which tells you something about cinema’s problem these days.) Having seen it, I’m a bit surprised it won best adapted screenplay awards, because, although some lines bit deep, some scenes were very good, and I enjoyed the various strands (family dramedy, literary satire with a critique of attitudes towards race AND metafiction) but as a whole it wasn’t very cohesive. There was way more family dramedy than I was expecting, which spoke to me and was well acted and all, but it undercut the enjoyable literary satire. (Full disclosure, I need several months of recovery after contact with litfic, although.) You have to do a lot of mental handwaving for the high concept to work. Jefferey Wright deployed a whole range of pained faces. I was gutted by what happened to Tracee Ellis Ross’s likeable character.
Road House – again, I would totally have gone to see this in the cinema because of the trailer, knowing it was directed by Doug Liman, Jake Gyllenhaal was in it and the premise. I haven’t seen the original, so I can’t be sure how many nods there were to it, but given the whole meta ‘this is like a Western’ and comments about how brawly everyone is in this town, I imagine there were some.
Sometimes you just want B-movie kicks on a blockbuster budget. (Well, I do.) This was entertaining, and even if Dalton’s past and the reason for the campaign of terror were cliché, the fight scenes really weren’t. (So not a film kids should be watching, especially kids prone to wrestling their siblings.) A few moments where I went ‘oh, there’s Donnie Darko.’ Also, I appreciated the varied female characters. The performer playing Dalton’s main opponent (Connor McGregor) has a bit of Vinnie Jones energy, although he was definitely playing the crazy dialled up to 11 on purpose, and was obviously cast for the fighting prowess.
I’ll also shout out The Vast of Night, a low-budget science fiction movie that went direct to streaming a few years ago. It was recced to me, and if you want to see a movie that has interesting things to say about storytelling, two rootable, rounded nerds who were into the tech of their time, it’s well worth 90 minutes or so.
[Lightly edited 30/12/24.]
I kept being distracted by the fact that Florence Pugh’s princess Irulan was apparently Christopher Walken’s emperor’s daughter, not grand-daughter (or great-grand-daughter.) This is the first thing I’ve seen Austin Butler in, and, sure, he’s playing a psycho, but he really has charisma to burn and a good ear. Obviously, I was team Chani!
Interesting and exciting – what I want sci fi blockbusters to be.
American Fiction – I would totally have gone to see this in the cinema based on the trailer and award buzz, but it was pulled from local cinemas after one week, which happened to be an inconvenient week for going to the cinema for me. So, I was pleased it was available on Prime straight after the Oscars (which tells you something about cinema’s problem these days.) Having seen it, I’m a bit surprised it won best adapted screenplay awards, because, although some lines bit deep, some scenes were very good, and I enjoyed the various strands (family dramedy, literary satire with a critique of attitudes towards race AND metafiction) but as a whole it wasn’t very cohesive. There was way more family dramedy than I was expecting, which spoke to me and was well acted and all, but it undercut the enjoyable literary satire. (Full disclosure, I need several months of recovery after contact with litfic, although.) You have to do a lot of mental handwaving for the high concept to work. Jefferey Wright deployed a whole range of pained faces. I was gutted by what happened to Tracee Ellis Ross’s likeable character.
Road House – again, I would totally have gone to see this in the cinema because of the trailer, knowing it was directed by Doug Liman, Jake Gyllenhaal was in it and the premise. I haven’t seen the original, so I can’t be sure how many nods there were to it, but given the whole meta ‘this is like a Western’ and comments about how brawly everyone is in this town, I imagine there were some.
Sometimes you just want B-movie kicks on a blockbuster budget. (Well, I do.) This was entertaining, and even if Dalton’s past and the reason for the campaign of terror were cliché, the fight scenes really weren’t. (So not a film kids should be watching, especially kids prone to wrestling their siblings.) A few moments where I went ‘oh, there’s Donnie Darko.’ Also, I appreciated the varied female characters. The performer playing Dalton’s main opponent (Connor McGregor) has a bit of Vinnie Jones energy, although he was definitely playing the crazy dialled up to 11 on purpose, and was obviously cast for the fighting prowess.
I’ll also shout out The Vast of Night, a low-budget science fiction movie that went direct to streaming a few years ago. It was recced to me, and if you want to see a movie that has interesting things to say about storytelling, two rootable, rounded nerds who were into the tech of their time, it’s well worth 90 minutes or so.
[Lightly edited 30/12/24.]
