Winter 2022 Movies
Feb. 28th, 2022 09:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroThe Matrix Resurrections (HBOMax) – Lana Wachowski didn’t particularly want to make this movie, so rather than making a real movie, she made a long string of Fuck Yous to a bunch of different people and institutions, starring all of the actors she likes. (Seriously, half the cast of Sense8 was in this.) It was also pretty surprising how little bullet-time there was in the action sequences; they were fairly generic. It was absolutely not necessary for this movie to exist and it doesn’t really add much to the original trilogy, but clearly some people had fun making it; and it’s inoffensive as such things go.
Soul (Disney+) - I think this was aimed at my generation; it certainly wasn’t aimed at kids. Not because there’s anything offensive in it, but because I don’t think anyone younger than college-age would get either the emotional beats or half the humor. It tried to do for music what Ratatouille did with food, and did an okay job with it; and had a general theme that appeals to lost 30-somethings who were sold lies about dream jobs.
Encanto (Disney+) - Lin-Manuel Miranda is the hot shit right now, and I just…don’t like his work that much? I mean, it’s generally good, I can see why he’s successful, but I don’t have the love for it that so many people do. There are good songs in this and I can see why it’s going to be the next Frozen as everyone refuses to talk about Bruno. But the songs didn’t actually stick in my head and I’m not interested in listening to the soundtrack repeatedly (which is the same reaction I had to Hamilton). Still, we could do a lot worse than a movie about a big latinx family where the moral is you need to actually talk about your needs and problems rather than hiding them.
The Road to El Dorado (Amazon, rewatch) - Tumblr loves this movie for being the most bisexual, polyamorous cartoon ever made. While there is, of course, zero text that Miguel and Tulio are actually lovers (while the "they're both interested in Chell" text is loud and clear and we're all just reading subtext), I’ll note that Miguel and Tulio get the standard breakup/makeup romance arc. I'm sure lots of people read a love triangle, but "do we stay in El Dorado vs go back to Spain" is the actual wedge between them, and Chell plays as much role in that as the goddamn horse does, as just being someone to represent a side of that divide. This is a poly movie especially because it divorces love for a life partner completely from sexual attraction. Whether or not Miguel and Tulio bang (and whether Tulio and Chell bang) is immaterial to their deep loving companionship, how well they know each other and work together and would clearly give up their own dreams to support each other.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Amazon) – A movie that knows what it is: A comic love story between a man and his alien parasite that happens to have a bunch of CGI fights and explosions. Ann and Dan do a wonderful job as the long-suffering but still caring ex trying to fix her boyfriend’s new relationship and her new boyfriend who doesn’t want to deal with the drama but does for her sake. The first movie wasn’t quite sure why the audience was there. This knew and really ran with it, and it worked.
Free Guy (Disney+) - A formulaic-but-fun “character in a video game becomes real” story that ignores a lot of things about the actual functioning of MMOs (and how servers work) but gets terrible video game studio management perfectly (played to a T by Taika Waititi). (There are several plot holes Jethrien pointed out that can be easily addressed with, “Antwan is an idiot.”) It’s a little longer than it really needs to be, but the cuttable stuff is mostly funny cameos and entertaining action sequences, so that’s forgivable. If you like watching Ryan Reynolds have a good time and appreciate humor in the form of sarcastic and witty asides, it’s a fun film. I’m glad I didn’t brave the theater at the height of the pandemic to go see it, though. It’s perfectly fine on a home screen.
Soul (Disney+) - I think this was aimed at my generation; it certainly wasn’t aimed at kids. Not because there’s anything offensive in it, but because I don’t think anyone younger than college-age would get either the emotional beats or half the humor. It tried to do for music what Ratatouille did with food, and did an okay job with it; and had a general theme that appeals to lost 30-somethings who were sold lies about dream jobs.
Encanto (Disney+) - Lin-Manuel Miranda is the hot shit right now, and I just…don’t like his work that much? I mean, it’s generally good, I can see why he’s successful, but I don’t have the love for it that so many people do. There are good songs in this and I can see why it’s going to be the next Frozen as everyone refuses to talk about Bruno. But the songs didn’t actually stick in my head and I’m not interested in listening to the soundtrack repeatedly (which is the same reaction I had to Hamilton). Still, we could do a lot worse than a movie about a big latinx family where the moral is you need to actually talk about your needs and problems rather than hiding them.
The Road to El Dorado (Amazon, rewatch) - Tumblr loves this movie for being the most bisexual, polyamorous cartoon ever made. While there is, of course, zero text that Miguel and Tulio are actually lovers (while the "they're both interested in Chell" text is loud and clear and we're all just reading subtext), I’ll note that Miguel and Tulio get the standard breakup/makeup romance arc. I'm sure lots of people read a love triangle, but "do we stay in El Dorado vs go back to Spain" is the actual wedge between them, and Chell plays as much role in that as the goddamn horse does, as just being someone to represent a side of that divide. This is a poly movie especially because it divorces love for a life partner completely from sexual attraction. Whether or not Miguel and Tulio bang (and whether Tulio and Chell bang) is immaterial to their deep loving companionship, how well they know each other and work together and would clearly give up their own dreams to support each other.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Amazon) – A movie that knows what it is: A comic love story between a man and his alien parasite that happens to have a bunch of CGI fights and explosions. Ann and Dan do a wonderful job as the long-suffering but still caring ex trying to fix her boyfriend’s new relationship and her new boyfriend who doesn’t want to deal with the drama but does for her sake. The first movie wasn’t quite sure why the audience was there. This knew and really ran with it, and it worked.
Free Guy (Disney+) - A formulaic-but-fun “character in a video game becomes real” story that ignores a lot of things about the actual functioning of MMOs (and how servers work) but gets terrible video game studio management perfectly (played to a T by Taika Waititi). (There are several plot holes Jethrien pointed out that can be easily addressed with, “Antwan is an idiot.”) It’s a little longer than it really needs to be, but the cuttable stuff is mostly funny cameos and entertaining action sequences, so that’s forgivable. If you like watching Ryan Reynolds have a good time and appreciate humor in the form of sarcastic and witty asides, it’s a fun film. I’m glad I didn’t brave the theater at the height of the pandemic to go see it, though. It’s perfectly fine on a home screen.
