Movies

A bunch of things that I’ve recently watched:

Napoleon

Ugh.  Napoleon’s a huge gap in my history knowledge.  I know he was a military genius, but I don’t know much about his battles.  I know he got involved in a land war in Asia, a century and a half before Hitler made the same mistake during a Russian winter.  I know about the Napoleonic code, but not what it entailed.  Two exiles sandwiched around the Battle of Waterloo.  

There are major gaps, and I was hoping that this would fill in a bunch of them.  Ridley Scott directing seemed to bode well for it.  But no.  I got a mishmash of a film, with unexciting battle scenes and a dysfunctional yet uninteresting relationship between Napoleon and Josephine.  Joaquin Phoenix is too busy being weird to be good.  A complete disappointment.

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: No

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Stupid

The Killer

David Fincher and Michael Fassbender team up for this engrossing examination of a hitman’s life.  The attention to detail and apparent verisimilitude of the lifestyle made for a slower paced, but never boring, film.  Not sure how rewatchable it is, though.

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Nice

Bye Bye Barry

Documentary about Barry Sanders.  Worth watching just for the highlights.  That guy was fricking unparalleled in his prime.  I don’t think there’s a more entertaining running back to watch.  The rest of it is cookie-cutter documentary material.

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Pretty good

Brawn GP

Keanu Reeves(!) hosts this documentary about the Brawn GP Formula 1 team, a story that I’d never heard before.  It’s extremely well done and engaging, and the 4 hour-long episodes fly by.  As with Drive to Survive, F1 is way more fun to follow than to watch, so I’m all-in to top notch presentations like this.

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

I was lukewarm on the idea of this until I read that the entire cast from the movie was returning to do the voices.  Scott Pilgrim vs the World is one of the best movies ever, and any chance to get this group of people back together was reason to celebrate.

Then as I watched the first episode, I wondered what the whole point of it was.  Why have a practically beat-for-beta remake of the movie?  Did the creators have nothing new to say?  I mean, I was still going to watch the whole thing, but I wasn’t going to love it.

Then I got to the first evil ex fight, everything turned upside down, and I was completely energized for the rest of the series.  What a splendid take on a splendid movie in this age of reboot after reboot.  

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: Yes

Rating: Good

Barbie

Super late to the game in watching this, I never got a chance to see it in the theatres.  

Things I liked:

• Margot Robbie.  I thought that Harley Quinn was the perfect role for her, but it turns out that she’s just as perfect as Barbie.  I don’t know who else could have possibly played this role.

• The 2001 opening.

• The opening number.  In fact, all of the musical numbers and songs.

• “You’re so beautiful.”  “I know it.”  Perfect movie moment.

• Simu Liu.  Between this and Shang-Chi, he’s doing a phenomenal job of mainstream Asian representation.

• Michael Cera playing himself (yet again.)

• Emma Mackey, finally putting her doppelgangerism of Robbie to good use.

• Rhea Perlman

• “Note to the filmmakers, Margot Robbie is the wrong person to cast if you want to make this point.”

• The message.

• Greta Gerwig.  After nailing all the big things, she went ahead and nailed all the little details too.  This is an impeccably put together film.

Things I didn’t like:

• Ryan Gosling Ken.  Not the actor or the performance, but the character.  But then again, I was supposed to.

• The Patriarchy pisses me off so much.  But then again, it’s supposed to.

• The heavy-handedness of the message.  It needs to be said, but I wish it wasn’t so nail-on-the-head.  The second half is definitely weaker than the first; the world building is a lot more fun than the plot.

• Kate McKinnon playing herself (yet again.)  I love her to no end, but I’m getting a little tired of her thing.

This is an amazing movie.  I’m so happy that it exists.

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: Yes

Rating: Really good