Thursday, November 17, 2016

He’s an idea so powerful

that we can’t destroy him by rationality.

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Please, lord, let me get one more.

Hacksaw Ridge - 2.5/5
First half sucks, straight cornpone, Andrew Garfield with an accent stupider than his actual speaking voice; but that battlefield's a rager. Mel Gibson's directorial proclivities tend to be less about courage, in particular, but the endurance of courage over time. The difficulty of sustaining faith. Moral torture porn. Spiritual masochism. But he doesn't really talk about belief, to dive in deep; he just wants to show it, and for us to accept it. "Belief'd be a lot easier if, um, nobody'd question it," almost as if to say. There's almost an interesting parallel with the Japanese man's seppuku at the end – a strange belief that we don't relate to, but is true to them – but that just seems odd, other, while Desmond's belief is acceptable, no need to question. Test, yes, but not question. I have a great admiration for the morality at the center of this movie and I think Desmond Doss is an unbelievably heroic human being whom I greatly admire, but I just have this personal thing where I wish a sense of right and wrong didn't come from above.

I've come to bargain.

Dr. Strange - 3/5
That Dark Light Store At The Mall: The Movie. You know how Matrix pulled from obscure sources to make its ideas seem fresh? Dr. Strange feels like it's pulling from obvious sources to make its ideas seem fresh. It's nothing you haven't seen before – but that doesn't mean it's not still fun to watch. A rollercoaster's a rollercoaster, bro-bro. It's the story of most Marvel movies – half good, half 'wish it was better.' More concerned with building a sequel than building a story. But fun to watch.

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

All ratted up like a teenage Jezebel.

Hairspray (Original) - 2.5/5
What it shares with the musical (which I love) is that Tracy Turnblad is so genuinely enthusiastic. She just wants to dance and she ain't got reason to only dance with one type of person. Beyond that, a lot of the movie just felt like a reason for John Waters to pull out his record collection (which is fantastic). He wants to share his taste with you, good and bad.

Monday, November 7, 2016

'Post-war' lasts a long time.

Shin Godzilla - 3.5/5 
A tense political thriller, with some Godzilla. As my first non-Broderick'd, non-Taylor-Johnson'd Godzilla, this one that people claim is close to the originals in its attempt is closest to legitimately placing Godzilla as some impenetrable act of god. Doesn't matter so much how it got made, by human hands or no; it's here, and we've got to stop it. I think it does what a lot of American big-time movies fail to do, which is to infuse the proceedings with a genuine sense of hope (and an environment of desperation that hope needs in order to be effective?). I love that the ending isn't a celebration so much as a whole country going 'I need to take a nap.' And it's funny, being an American, seeing America portrayed as more of a 'bad guy' than Godzilla... not in that traditional American version of a Russian bad guy who's bad 'cuz bad, but through our power and reputation forcing people to make decisions they don't want to have to make. "Either you make the decision or we'll make it for you." We are not hope; we are what comes instead.

Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

The King and I – 2/5
I have no idea what this was about. The movie was at its most special when it was at its most Siam (the Uncle Tom's Cabin play was killer, dude), but the movie is about making the place more European? And then they're in love or some shit? Dunno, bro. Otherwise: Yul Brynner was having a lot of fun, but I didn't really care for the songs.