After a busy few weeks, got to binge at the cinema a couple of times in the last fortnight and went to see Ghostbusters, Suicide Squad, Bad Moms, Sausage Party and Star Trek Beyond. First up Ghostbusters. Eh, nowhere near as good or as charming as the original, but still a pretty decent chunk of fun. Was mostly disappointed it never hit the heights of The Heat or even Spy, so definitely not one of Feig's finest moments. Certainly didn't deserve the all the crap it got, but the male constituent of the nerd/geek community are vaginaphobes* who like nothing better than to express years of pent of frustration at being physically bullied, by being shits from behind the safety of a keyboard, which is why it got all the crap. As for Leslie Jones... She was mostly anonymous in the film, so I guess the message there is that's there's a good reason the geek/nerd community is primarily white, it's because they're the fucking KKK-lite with wedgies. And with that off my chest... With the exception of McKinnon's Holtzman and Hemsworth's Kevin, the characters were mostly bland. Holtzman was fun, in many ways made me wonder what if the original had featured Chevy Chase in the line up, and I'd cheerfully see a movie base around her. Kevin... Kevin went too far. They overplayed the stupidity too much. What could've been a fun character too often tread upon Jar Jar levels of annoying. The villain, Rowan, was actually pretty decent, although I kind of wish they'd have had Charles Dance as the villain. Because Charles Dance. If you have him in your cast, milk that motherfucker. He was wasted. So yeah, fun film, but no match for the original - and in some ways that pleases me. The original doesn't deserve to be eclipsed by a newer version, but equally the newer version doesn't deserve the shit-coated brickbats flung it way. I'd have like to have seen what they could've done with a sequel, as GB2 certainly deserves an eclipsing, but I guess we'll have to wait until the fucktards die of soul-poisoning for that day to dawn. *As a kid you get the societal view of Men > Women, so getting bullied by Alpha Males is one thing, Alpha Females quite another. So you end up with adults who fear strong women, feel they 'deserve' the objects of their affection and who'll go fucking nuts when a women dares tread on their sacred territory. See Twitter.
Suicide Squad. Why they did they push the Joker so much in promoting this? He was in it minimally, serving to bookend Harley's plot and to act as a general plot device. Again, a film that wasn't so bad, but the promotion was so very, very different from the end product. We were sold DC's version of GotG, that's not what we got. Sure, we had a few dayglo moments, but by and large it was a redemption piece and fairly dark one at that. Although one thing did shock me - Jai Courtney can play something other cinematic wallpaper, hopefully his future directors will take notice. Diablo was, bar Harley, the most interesting of the bunch. Deadshot was played too goody by Smith in the latter part of the movie, at the start he was the kind of cold, make-a-deal-to-get-what-he-wants type, but by the end he was practically a good guy. Harley stood out, very well done, and her Joker backstory jives quite well as it was quite plain that, in the car crash scene, whilst the Joker loves Harley, he loves himself more. The Joker was also pretty good, the laugh was nicely creepy, and the characters occasional gang-related efforts were updated appropriately. He's the Clown Prince of Crime, not just an architect of chaos. Waller was nicely cold, almost as much of a villain as the actual villains. So yeah, DC still not hitting them out as well as Marvel can, but they're getting there. Slowly.
I've seen David Brent: Life on the Road and War Dogs in the last couple of weeks. Very disappointed by David Brent (I heard that the original writer has gone, which might explain it.) Not funny. The character, now revealed to have mental health problems, is basically bullied for 2 hours by a load of knobs. War Dogs is very good. Think the Wolf of Wall Street, but with gun-running.
I think Merchant was busy, so the end product was the equivalent of Dayton running the NotDayton account. I figured it was going to be a wait-til-its-on-the-telly movie, and that's with me having already paid for unlimited trips to the cinema.
Star Trek Beyond Much as I liked the first two JJTrek movies, they were flawed, and felt somewhat unfinished. Beyond doesn't. Visually, one of the most appealing since TMP, and storywise, prolly the best since FC. The Enterprise gets to play a part even after being destroyed, and this was also the best destruction of the Enterprise, and the most reasonable one since TSFS. The villain wasn't the best ever, but Krall was played well by Elba, and I think the life-prolonging machine stripping him off his humanity could've been used much more effectively - think a mixture of Dorian Gray and social commentary about wars. But we got a different spin on the Starfleet Officer Goes Rogue trope than usual, and very welcome it was too. Can't help but feel that if Trek 2009 had been this film, the reboots wouldn't be so polarising, especially since there were some moments with Spock and McCoy that genuinely felt like Nimoy and Kelley verbally sparring. The missing doohickey Kirk had acquired looked enough like the Stone of Gol that maybe they could've rolled it in, especially as a 50th anniversary hat tip. There were a few nonsensical things, but hey, it's Trek. The swarmships exploding when cut off from each other could've been handled better - for example, the crew discovering they self-destructed on their own as a security measure in case of capture earlier in the movie, which is exactly the kind of thing Kirk and co do. But this was the first of the reboots to take place in the actual TOS era, with both ST09 and STID taking place prior to it, and it showed. It also augers ill for Discovery, as again this shows prequels to TOS have so far yet to work across the board. The starbase looked amazing, and whilst it's tech didn't jibe with TOS, I guess it does with the Apple Store Enterprise of the reboot, and it was magnificent. And it was the first film since Insurrection that didn't actively have Earth as being threatened. So yay! The defence of the starbase from the swarmships had the air of GotG about it, which is nothing to complain about if you ask me. If you're going to borrow from other franchises, borrow the best bits. So yes, best Trek film since FC, and the one I found most personally satisfying since TUC.
Sausage Party Or "How We Watched Deadpool and Let It Influence A Totally Unsubtle, Yet Funny, South Park Type Plot About Religion With Better Animation" Actually that could just be the review. Not sure this is out in the US, so spoiler free I shall be. It's well worth watching, and is very funny, and one of the scenes towards the end will have you wondering how the hell it didn't get a higher rating, as well as having Parker and Stone wondering why the fuck they didn't do Team America with anthropomorphic food instead of human marionettes, just to get things by the film classification bods. But yes, it's very unsubtle, and - like South Park - strings up both the religious and those who go full Dawkins on the religious in a "yes, they're fucking loons, but being an arsehole about it is a dick move" way. You know from the trailer what it's about, there's no real twists or turns, it's just an out-and-out offensive comedy that goes for the crass over the sublime, and it works well. It's a film that'll get you laughing and leave you a little shellshocked and what they got away with. And fair play for them having done so, takes some doing to make Sadaam Hussein buttfucking Satan look prosaic, but this has now been achieved. Not sure it'll go down in history as a good thing, but hey ho. Go watch, and depending on how socially conservative you are will depend if your outrage outweighs your enjoyment.
Bad Moms An enjoyable enough film, but not exactly worth paying to go see. It plays a lot like a Melissa McCarthy movie, but with Mila Kunis instead. The message is "stop being so fucking uptight and expecting perfection", which isn't a bad message, and the three main protagonists, only Mila Kunis comes across as being realistic, Kristin Bell is the Stepford Wife with a few circuits missing and Kathryn Hahn is the sleazy, easy, it's-all-an-effort type, and by the end all have gravitated towards being normal. Basically it's a 100 minutes of getting to "hey, you don't have to pick between prefect and deadbeat, get your husband to do shit and find your happy!" in a mildly amusing way. There are no real laugh out loud moments, and the most darking thing is the antagonist (Applegate) is every bit as fucked up, and so the resolution isn't an in-yo-face victory, which is somewhat unsatisfactory given what a queen bitch she plays. Sure, it's the nice and right way to do things, but part of the reasons we go to see the cinema is to leave that behind and feed the primal instincts rustling beneath our veneer of civilisation. Worth watching. Not worth leaving the house to watch, wait until you can watch it from the sofa.
Oh, I never cared if it was "a dick move", I cared if it worked or not. If it worked, I'd still be doing it. I've read up on psychology, and I know not only doesn't it work, but why. And I think that's kind of what the flick was saying. "Refine your tactics".
I mostly agree with your take on Beyond, but this? Don't take the piss. The destruction was cheap blockbuster fodder. In contrast the destruction of the original Enterprise was multi-layered, not just in the context of The Search For Spock, but in the entire history of Trek up until that point. Oh, and this... I think this movie indicates that it takes a man more talented than Abrams to successfully marry the fans of the franchise with the wider audience, and this is the most Trek like of the three reboots, and arguably the most successful with fans. At the same time the least successful with the main audience. I have long believed that the two aren't mutually exclusive, but Beyond seems to suggest that the more Trek like a movie is the more exclusive it's audience appeal will be. Personally I am fine with that and can handle the budget cuts that might come with that. But can the studio? So I think we need someone who can do another Wrath of Khan or Voyage Home. Something that the regular audience still likes but the Trekkies don't revolt over. Oh, and mods, can I suggest that Ecky's Beyond post be moved to the Beyond thread and the rest be put in the "last movie you watched" thread?
There really aren't any tactics. Reasoned debate? Not going to work, their platform is based on a fairy tale, therefore not only is logic not going to work, neither is using it's own internal logic as it's got more loops than a Goldman Sachs contract. Being abusive? Sure, as a stress ball, or just plain exasperation, but it achieves nothing except making you look the unreasonable one. Even being shown evidence won't work, fiction has an allure fact cannot tackle, something Sausage Party highlighted pretty well. You've got to wait til they achieve some form of realisation. Other than that, it's pea shooting for personal entertainment and hope - or, if you're feeling perverse, pray - nothing serious depends on convincing them, because that's not going to happen.
TSFS destruction was over-long, badly-done, cheap-Chinese-firework-going-bang-in-a-cheap-Chinese-Enterprise-model. It looked crap, and, from what I recall, pretty inconsistent. As the first destruction of the Enterprise, it held an emotional resonance for the viewer, and for the few crew on board, which was played well. You're not going to get that from the viewer after this being the third time we see an Enterprise go bang, and you're not going to get that from a crew that hasn't the emotional attachment to the vessel we see in TSFS. And its bleeding unreasonable to expect to. In TSFS it was to take out the Klingons, in Generations it was an underhanded move on the Klingons. Here we see it being done as an actual military tactic to achieve an end beyond some moustache twiddling nefarious fiend just wanting to Blow Shit Up 'Cos Kirk. It was cruel and calculated to acquire something. As opposed to some bangs going off, we saw the ship slowly ripped apart. It's means of escape taken away, it's 'head' severed, each violation with an intent. It was strategic and nasty. Something Trek, other than DS9, typically shies away from. Well, you're never going to satisfy the majority of the fans of the franchise. Stick 10 Trek fans of different age ranges and try to get them agree on one episode to watch from the whole gamut, and you'll get something not entirely unlike 10 teenage girls battling over the make-up box. Trek fans are some of most tragically self-absorbed, self-entitled and unreasonable people going once the subject of Trek itself comes up. It's like watching Dr Jekyll swallow a test-tube of potion, you just know things are going to get unpleasant and angry, and you'd just wish they'd fuck off and find something to die of. Best the studio can expect is a decent profit, the best fans can expect is what is made comes close to their own personal preferences in the knowledge the internet is going to be filled with outrage from those who don't share those preferences. Best thing Paramount could do is just let everyone do fan productions and find some way of milking that. I wouldn't be thrilled at the lack of official Trek, but I'm that fucking tired and bored of the whining that I'll deal with it. Life's just too fucking short.
Continuing on that thought, if Discovery does go south, and the 4th JJTrek is the last of the reboot, I'll be happy of the franchise is left to mostly wither for the next half century or so. There's the books, etc. to keep everyone entertained. Every x0th anniversary, just wheel out whoever is still breathing and willing to do TV, and do a special. No battles, no enemies, just acting. Chuck in some clips if need be. It'd be a catchup show, an hour of what happened to our favourite characters. A Thanksgiving special, Chakotay, rain drenched, nose pressed against the glass, looking morosely at the Voyager crew having jollies, again pushed out of having much too much to do with a turkey. Picards funeral, TNG characters raiding a glass and sharing tales. Sure there'd still be shitstorms about who married who, and who got what rank, but these are One Tree Hill level shitstorms, and would be on a par with shippers feuding with their handbags of woe.
Honestly, one of the reasons I think for STB's lack of financial success compared with the last two was that Paramount didn't bother marketing this movie much at all here in the US. We got two trailers that made the film look like it was all another shoot-em-up that Trek fans were tired of and which the majority of casual viewer likely shrugged at and save their money for Suicide Squad the following week.
I was REALLY trepidatious to go see it, I honestly came this >< close to seeing either "Suicide Squad", or "Sausage Party", twice instead.
It's an issue with marketing across the board, Suicide Squad suffered from it too as did Ghostbusters. Problem is, the studios hire people who understand the forest that is the market, what they don't necessarily get are the individual trees. You bring them a sci-fi film, and their references points are going to Star Wars, you bring them a summer blockbuster, the reference point will be Michael Bay. And so on. They look at cost, and tally up expected returns expecting a movie that follows some kind of previously successful template. Unless you get a director/producer who can get their own way, and we're talking a Nolan, a Lucas or a Spielberg here, you're in that web where the people promoting your movie are getting significantly different messages than the ones you're giving the fans. And you also run the risk that the studio, upon seeing the difference between the bullet points, start to interfere. Watching about indie bands signing up to majors in the 80's, and you got a similar thing. A band was taken on board because they were successfully selling albums, of course the suits at the major label hate the music - they want their MOR/AOR unit-shifters, not feedback-drenched angst from a bunch of pissed-up Scots and so begins a problem. There's a complete ignorance about why what they've got has a gained the level of success it has, so they try to mould into what they know is successful.
That's all true, but people at least knew Suicide Squad and Ghostbusters was gonna be out, and when. Paramount didn't even have trailers until three months out.
I thought that the "message" was that you can't just be negative in tearing down the delusion - that you have to present the positives. Such as a less prudish attitude to sex, amusingly illustrated. And sciency stuff, also illustrated by Bubblegum Hawking. I can get behind that.
I've still zero idea why they thought that was a good plan, hopefully one day we'll find out what was going on behind the scenes.
Oh yes, hence my "yes, they're fucking loons, but being an arsehole about it is a dick move" bit, but there really is little you can do successfully tear down that delusion, positive or negative, if there's not already a nascent ball of awareness that it's all a big old fairy tale already in there. It's like any addiction, you've got to want to kick it at some level, and, like with anything else, honey succeeds better than piss and vinegar at drawing them away from it. And sex is a powerful force, hard-wired into most peoples brains, which is why it's one of the first things religions and cults hijack. Once you can convince people that those impulses are bad, you can pretty much convince them about anything.
