Movies of Recent Viewing
Mar. 23rd, 2018 10:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroBlack Panther - Beautiful, well-cast, well-crafted, with a fairly stock Marvel movie plot. The supporting cast (nearly all women of color) are the real winners, here. Shuri is my new favorite Disney Princess.
Fullmetal Alchemist (Netflix) - While it's harsh to say so, this has a bit of a The Last Airbender vibe. They tried to cram down a season of TV into two hours of movie, which means it's a “good parts” version where those parts don't really line up. (They avoided the racial casting problems, though—everyone is Japanese, as they should be.) The CGI for Al and the alchemy is quite nice, but they couldn't have spent more than $10 on the blond wig Ed is wearing, and that's just painful. Oh, and Major Armstrong is cut out entirely. Honestly, even if you're a fan, you can give it a miss.
The Thin Man (1934 film) - A classic that Jethrien suggested for a movie night because we hadn’t seen it. It’s very silly; overacted and just shy of slapstick in a lot of ways, and the ending twist only sort-of holds together. But Nick and Nora are funny drunks and their banter is delightful, and I appreciated the clever use of 1930s forensics and how a clever crook could fool them.
Power Rangers (2017) - Do you have nostalgia for the original Mighty Morphin years of Power Rangers? Because with a bigger budget, racially re-arranged casting and a slightly deeper mythology, that’s what this is. (And an argument can be made that this cast is closer to being “five teenagers with attitude” than the original.) Elizabeth Banks chewing the scenery as Rita Rupulsa was also totally worth it.
Justice League (which runs only two hours, a brilliant choice that forces reasonable pacing) is shockingly entertaining. You can definitely tell where Whedon sanded down the Snyder parts, and while Steppenwolf is utterly cliché and forgettable, the interplay between the characters is delightful. This Barry Allen is a hoot who gets all the best bits. Wonder Woman is everything we expected. Aquaman is everything you wanted: Insane muscles, badassery and casual disdain for any kind of seriousness. Heck, even Bat-Affleck isn't bad, but then, it feels like they were actively trying to walk back a lot of the dumbest parts of Superman Vs. Batman. Walking into this with low expectations likely helped, but overall, it's a solid B+, making it the second-best DCU movie of the recent batch.
Fullmetal Alchemist (Netflix) - While it's harsh to say so, this has a bit of a The Last Airbender vibe. They tried to cram down a season of TV into two hours of movie, which means it's a “good parts” version where those parts don't really line up. (They avoided the racial casting problems, though—everyone is Japanese, as they should be.) The CGI for Al and the alchemy is quite nice, but they couldn't have spent more than $10 on the blond wig Ed is wearing, and that's just painful. Oh, and Major Armstrong is cut out entirely. Honestly, even if you're a fan, you can give it a miss.
The Thin Man (1934 film) - A classic that Jethrien suggested for a movie night because we hadn’t seen it. It’s very silly; overacted and just shy of slapstick in a lot of ways, and the ending twist only sort-of holds together. But Nick and Nora are funny drunks and their banter is delightful, and I appreciated the clever use of 1930s forensics and how a clever crook could fool them.
Power Rangers (2017) - Do you have nostalgia for the original Mighty Morphin years of Power Rangers? Because with a bigger budget, racially re-arranged casting and a slightly deeper mythology, that’s what this is. (And an argument can be made that this cast is closer to being “five teenagers with attitude” than the original.) Elizabeth Banks chewing the scenery as Rita Rupulsa was also totally worth it.
Justice League (which runs only two hours, a brilliant choice that forces reasonable pacing) is shockingly entertaining. You can definitely tell where Whedon sanded down the Snyder parts, and while Steppenwolf is utterly cliché and forgettable, the interplay between the characters is delightful. This Barry Allen is a hoot who gets all the best bits. Wonder Woman is everything we expected. Aquaman is everything you wanted: Insane muscles, badassery and casual disdain for any kind of seriousness. Heck, even Bat-Affleck isn't bad, but then, it feels like they were actively trying to walk back a lot of the dumbest parts of Superman Vs. Batman. Walking into this with low expectations likely helped, but overall, it's a solid B+, making it the second-best DCU movie of the recent batch.
