Some Brief Movie Thoughts

Some Brief Movie Thoughts

I've seen some films in the last few months. Rather than actual reviews, I've jotted down a brief thought or two regarding some of them.

Thor: Up until I saw the second trailer released for this film, I was very dubious that anyone could translate a (sometimes great) comic book starring a blond beefcake who wears a silver winged hat, speaks in pseudo-Shakespearean English, and flies by hurling a big hammer and then letting it drag him through the sky into anything resembling a good movie. Some things just look better on the page than on the screen. But I was wrong. This was a fun movie.

X-Men: First Class: Marvel's having a good summer (and Captain America promises to keep it going for them). This is the only summer film that I've seen twice in the theater. It proves a point I didn't realize until I saw the movie: the X-Men belong in the 1960s. The James-Bond-with-superpowers vibe going on in this movie is pitch-perfect.

Priest: This rather forgettable little post-apocalyptic vampire film looked like films made 5-10 years ago (inspired by comics and rpgs made 10-15 years ago). Could have been so much better with better writing.

Bridesmaids: I expected this comedy to be a lot funnier and less moving. Not sure if that's criticism or praise? Me either.

Super 8: This movie was aimed right at me. A Spielbergian group of smart, creative kids have an adventure involving aliens set in 1979? Awesome. Reminded me both of my own youth and the summer movies of my youth (E.T., Goonies, Close Encounters, etc.). I also had the pleasure of going into this movie with no preconceptions. Didn't even know it was a science fiction film.

Green Lantern: This isn't as bad a movie as people are saying. It's not a great film, and pales in comparison to the other super hero movies of the year so far, but if it had come out when the comic book movie bar was lower, we geeks would all be singing its praises and ignoring its flaws, like we so often do. Instead, overcome with an embarrassment of riches, as a group we seem to have decided to toss this one aside. (Are geek movies getting so good that fans don't need to justify the plot holes and glaring problems anymore? And if so, is that a good thing or a bad thing?)

Midnight in Paris: It's interesting to me that a filmmaker like Woody Allen can make a fantasy movie (because that's what this is) but no one will call it that. And in so doing, he can ignore all the issues that fantasy/science fiction movies need to focus on and just get to the heart of the film. There were a couple of times that I found myself asking things like, "wait, how could he possibly have just found her diary in a shop?" But those moments didn't last, as I realized this wasn't that kind of movie. It's not supposed to have verisimilitude. Which is fine. In fact, in the context of this specific movie, it's great. I'm not a huge Owen Wilson fan, but here I found him charming. Like with Super 8, I also had the pleasure of having absolutely no idea what this film was about. Even though I like sneak peeks as much as anyone, I'm one again reminded that movie trailers actually subvert movie watching pleasure.

Larry Crowne: There should be a word for comedies that aren't so much funny (as in laugh out loud funny) as they are simply charming, pleasant, and fun. Like say, Big. Or The Terminal. Or just about any Tom Hanks comedy. Like Larry Crowne. Tom Hanks is just charming in practically everything he does, and so all the parts in this movie involving him (which is most of it) are wonderful. As time goes on, Julia Roberts becomes more and more unlikable, and this movie, however, is just the latest example of that. All the parts of the movie that involve her range from not-so-great to dreadful. How anyone is supposed to believe (let alone hope) that Tom Hanks, or a wonderfully Tom Hanksian character like Larry, would fall for Julia Roberts, or the horribly Julia Robertsian character like Mercy, is beyond me. The thing is, I did really like this movie. The parts that are pleasant, funny, and charming are far more numerous than the parts that aren't. But one more rewrite of the script (getting rid of Bryan Cranston's character entirely for starters, and devoting some time to give Julia even one likeable quality, if possible) could have made this good heartwarming comedy a great one.