The Last Few Movies of 2019
Dec. 31st, 2019 04:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroKnives Out - Clever, tightly plotted, with twists that actually work. Totally recommended.
Steven Universe: The Movie - Mostly an excuse to have a full-length movie’s worth of time so they could fit in an entire emotional arc and have room for half a dozen real songs. Because really, it makes no sense if you haven’t watched the show and the emotional beats…are all rehashed from the show. I will admit, my favorite part (probably undeservingly so) was Steven and Greg fusing into Shin Universe.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - In a moderately-unnecessary nostalgic collection of setpieces, we walk back most of the interesting parts of The Last Jedi and rehash the emotional beats of Return of the Jedi. It’s the Star-Warsiest Star Wars for the nostalgic fanboys, and we can be done now. (I do give them credit for putting in a rock-solid explanation for Snoak, including everything he did and knew. Less credit for randomly bringing back a long-dead villain nobody needed to see again.)
Transformers: Bumblebee - Finally, some good damn Transformers movie! The 80s references were a little thick, but they fixed a lot of the problems of the Bayformers set: The humor is slapstick but not scatological; the human characters (primarily a teenage girl who is NOT SEXUALIZED) play most of their scenes with the Transformers; the violence is either robot-based or cartoony; and the whole thing opens with a proper giant robot battle. Oh, and the military pretty much only makes things worse, a pleasant change from Bay’s military-worship. (Also, man, Cliffjumper never survives anything, does he?)
Steven Universe: The Movie - Mostly an excuse to have a full-length movie’s worth of time so they could fit in an entire emotional arc and have room for half a dozen real songs. Because really, it makes no sense if you haven’t watched the show and the emotional beats…are all rehashed from the show. I will admit, my favorite part (probably undeservingly so) was Steven and Greg fusing into Shin Universe.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - In a moderately-unnecessary nostalgic collection of setpieces, we walk back most of the interesting parts of The Last Jedi and rehash the emotional beats of Return of the Jedi. It’s the Star-Warsiest Star Wars for the nostalgic fanboys, and we can be done now. (I do give them credit for putting in a rock-solid explanation for Snoak, including everything he did and knew. Less credit for randomly bringing back a long-dead villain nobody needed to see again.)
Transformers: Bumblebee - Finally, some good damn Transformers movie! The 80s references were a little thick, but they fixed a lot of the problems of the Bayformers set: The humor is slapstick but not scatological; the human characters (primarily a teenage girl who is NOT SEXUALIZED) play most of their scenes with the Transformers; the violence is either robot-based or cartoony; and the whole thing opens with a proper giant robot battle. Oh, and the military pretty much only makes things worse, a pleasant change from Bay’s military-worship. (Also, man, Cliffjumper never survives anything, does he?)
