Happy New Year, everyone!
I am someone who goes to
the movies regularly but not too often; I’m an average movie-goer. I don’t go
every week. I don’t see everything at the cinema. If it’s a Marvel film, I’m
100% there and if it’s DC then I’ll probably never see it. Movie version of a
book I like? I’ll see it. Random comedy or action flick? Probably not.
This summer, however, I’ve
found myself at the cinema staring unblinkingly at a screen a grand total of five times. That’s a lot of cinema. And
weirdly, I enjoyed every single one and was actually quite impressed with some
of them. So I thought I’d review them here. I’ll keep these reviews spoiler
free and so they’ll be fairly light.
I’m deliberately not
giving these films a star rating, but I will rank them in order of my favourite
(#1) to my least favourite (#5) of the movies that I’ve seen this summer.
They’re presented here for you in the order that I viewed them.
Viewed with: Adamo
Format: Regular cinema
viewing
Ranking: #3
Honestly, me rating a
Marvel film is a bit superfluous because I am guaranteed to love it. You could
make the worst movie in the world, slap a Marvel logo on it, and I would be so
blinded by my adoration for Marvel that I would still rate it 10/10. This
particular Marvel film had to work a little harder to impress me because I’m
not a huge fan of Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Dr Stephen Strange (the
titular Doctor Strange). But despite being wary of the lead actor, I still came
out of this film feeling very pleased and with a new favourite movie in the
Marvel MCU. Actually maybe The Avengers still takes that place. But Doctor Strange comes a close second.
My biggest criticism with
Doctor Strange has to do with Rachel McAdams, who plays Dr Christine Palmer. I
really like her as an actress, I think she’s very talented. But I also think
she’s a bit typecast as The Girlfriend Character (Who Doesn’t Do Anything Else
Of Note Except Be The Girlfriend Character). And in Doctor Strange she’s a very successful Girlfriend Character. She
does a bit of medical stuff – I said to Adamo while we were watching it “oh
good, it’s secretly a medical drama!” – but she’s a reactive character only and
although she performs some important duties to support the protagonist, I felt
like any other character could have stepped into her shoes. There just wasn’t
enough to her character. When I’m looking for a strong female character in the
media, Rachel McAdams in Doctor Strange
does not make my list.
Anyways, criticisms aside,
this is a movie with a good blend of action and comedy, a protagonist who’s
kind of a dick but in a loveable Tony Stark sort of way and some really cool
magical powers and effects, although they do occasionally look a lot like
Inception. Marvel fans have got to see it, but people who aren’t Marvel
fanatics will probably also enjoy it.
Viewed with: Aimee
Format: Regular cinema
viewing
Ranking #5
It was such a pleasure to
take another walk through the Harry Potter universe. Everything was so familiar
– the wands! The spells! An attractive British redhead! And yet this was a
strange film to watch because for the first time I went to see a Harry Potter
film without knowing the story. Of course I’ve read the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,
but it’s just a textbook, not a storybook.
There’s controversy
surrounding this film too and, as with Doctor
Strange, it’s around the casting. Here’s an article that mentions the issue
http://thenewdaily.com.au/entertainment/movies/2016/11/16/fantastic-beasts-and-where-to-find-them-review/
Personally I feel that this controversial casting decision could and should have been avoided. Depending on
the direction that they want to go with the character in future films this
actor may be a good choice from a technical acting perspective. But I think
this controversy speaks to a larger issue in that a generation of fans were
raised by the Harry Potter books & movies to support the little guy, end
discrimination, fairness for all, stand up for the abused and punish the abuser
(see: Umbridge’s centaur-related fate) and now J K Rowling and the producers of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
have made a casting decision that goes against the worldview that Harry Potter
and his adventures instilled in so many. Here’s an article (not the one I
actually wanted to share, sadly) that sort of touches on this larger issue and
is sort of about other things as well http://thebaffler.com/blog/harry-potter-laurie-penny
Okay so, Eddie Redmayne.
Yes please. I thought he was great as Newt Scamander (the author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,
although in this film the book hasn’t been written yet) and I’ve been loving
him in all the publicity for the film, especially when he stands up for
Hufflepuffs. I’m a Ravenclaw myself but my sister Eileen has been a Hufflepuff
since forever and Adamo is a Hufflepuff, so I can appreciate that Hufflepuffs
are cool people. I’m glad they’re getting some mainstream appreciation.
And look, I adore Eddie
Redmayne but ultimately he was not the stand-out actor in Fantastic Beasts. That honour goes to Colin Farrell who was
incredible as the character Graves. What a brilliant performance, honestly. He
was charming and creepy, and what’s not to love about the homoerotic tension in
his scenes with the equally creepy Ezra Miller?
But we haven’t yet touched
on my favourite thing about the film, and that is the magic. Cinema technology
has come a long way since we first met Harry Potter on screen in 2001 (gee
whiz, has it been that long?). The magic in Fantastic
Beasts is what made the film interesting and beautiful to me. It’s not even
the magic creatures that do it, although the Bowtruckle is cute, the platypus –
sorry, the Niffler – is hilarious and the Erumpent makes for a comical scene.
No, it’s the everyday magic and in particular the household magic. It’s Tina
and Queenie using magic to change their clothes; because of course witches would be able to change their clothes using
magic, what’s the point of being a witch if you still have to take a spare
dress and shoes along and spend half an hour in the bathroom redoing your look?
It’s making an apple strudel out of thin air. It’s the ironing doing itself.
It’s real-life magic, the sort that we wanted to see Molly Weasley doing and
instead we got animatronic pots & pans because that was the best they could
do. I loved the magic.
I won’t say anything about
the plot because I just don’t think I can do it without spoiling something. I
think certain key elements were inadequately explained and that is why, despite
being totally in awe of the magic and the look of this film, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
only ranks at #5 of the 5 films I’ve seen this summer. That said, go and see
it. Take your friend who refuses to read Harry Potter or see those films; you
can enjoy this movie without all that background information.
Viewed with: Adamo and
also my parents, although we didn’t sit with them because the cinema was too
full
Format: iMax 3D
Ranking: #1
Important background
information: yes, I’ve seen all the Star Wars movies. I support a 4, 5, 6, 1,
2, 3 viewing order. And then I guess 7, which I thought was pretty good. But
honestly, while I do enjoy the Star Wars movies, I’m not an actual fan of the series. I think R2D2 is
annoying rather than cute, sorry.
But oh my god you guys, Rogue One was incredible. INCREDIBLE. Go
and see it if you haven’t seen it already.
I’m so glad that we saw it
in iMax 3D. It was big and loud and absolutely beautiful up on that screen. And
the iMax 3D glasses are a better shape than the RealD 3D glasses, for wearing
over my spectacles.
I don’t have any
criticisms.
Diego Luna is beautiful,
and also a very talented actor.
Felicity Jones was so so
good and everything I could ever want out of a strong female protagonist.
I did not expect the
ending.
Sassy robot was my
favourite character.
Readers, go and see this
movie. It is my number 1 favourite out of the movies that I have watched this
summer and it is absolutely amazing.
Viewed with: Adamo
Format: Regular cinema
viewing
Ranking: #4
Sorry Moana, it’s not that you weren’t good, it’s just that you weren’t
as good as the other films that I saw this summer. It seems unkind to rank this
film #4 because it was very good. And of course it was going to be good, because
Disney is generally more hit than miss and this was no exception.
Firstly, the short. I love
Disney shorts. This one is called Inner
Workings and it was completely relatable and cute. Disney movies often make
me cry and this one had me a bit damp-eyed before the main feature even
started.
Here’s an article about
mixed reactions from Pacific Islander peoples to this film http://vmagazine.com/article/mixed-responses-moana/
I think what’s great about it is that it is representation for a huge group of
people, which is fantastic, but it’s more than just a princess who’s not white
for once, it’s also about the representation of an entire culture. Some of the
big criticisms I’ve read have been about Maui (voiced by Dwayne “The Rock”
Johnson) and about how it was unrealistic for Moana to be in line to be chief
because women are not chiefs. So basically, it’s not perfect, but perhaps it’s
a step in the right direction for mainstream representation of a culture that’s
not white & blonde (oh hi, Elsa, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Aurora, Eilonwy,
Alice, Odette – I think that’s most of the blondes).
I like musicals. I like
singing. I love singing along to musicals, like when I’m driving or playing
computer games or literally whenever I hear a song from a musical. So I tend to
be more of a fan of toe-tapping, catchy, sing-along numbers. I came out of Moana a little disappointed in the
music. Not that it wasn’t great, it was. The music was fantastic and it was a
really different sound from anything else that we’ve heard in a Disney film
before. But I didn’t come out of the film singing anything. Nothing in this
film ear-wormed me. And then… a few days later I found myself singing “You’re
Welcome”, which is the big song sung by Maui. Here it is if you want to listen https://youtu.be/79DijItQXMM Moana features music by Lin-Manuel
Miranda. If you’re not familiar with this guy, look up his musical Hamilton, which won every Tony award
ever. He’s fairly talented.
The animation was
beautiful and I think that was the main thing that had us walking out of the
cinema saying “that was great!” because it was a beautiful movie to look at. It
was bright and colourful and the water was well animated. Water done wrong is
really obnoxious to watch. Actually the water as a character was a bit
obnoxious but that’s not the point I guess.
All in all, it’s worth a
watch. I’m sure kids will love it. It made me cry quite a lot, but Disney
movies tend to do that.
Viewed with: Adamo and my
parents
Format: Moonlight Cinema
in King’s Park
Ranking: #2
And it was a close one
with Rogue One, this was a great film
that nearly took my #1 spot out of these 5 movies.
You guys. The protagonist
of this story is a linguist and she literally saves the world using her
linguistics powers. I mean linguistics knowledge. She’s awesome.
The co-protagonist is a
physicist and he’s bloody useless. Sorry physicists, I feel like you were let
down a little by this movie. I mean, he’s a nice guy. Nice to look at
(hellooooo Jeremy Renner). But he doesn’t actually do much physics-ing.
Amy Adams gives a great
performance as linguist Louise Banks.
This is an alien movie and
I think aliens are something that movies do really badly all the time. They
give us bad aliens. I thought that the aliens in this film were good aliens. I
won’t tell you details because I don’t want to spoil it. The big reveal of the
aliens is an excellent scene. Tension is built well and the reveal has
gravitas. These are not silly aliens and they are not badly done aliens. They
are really good aliens.
Linguist as a protagonist?
Sign me up! The movie never asks its protagonist to justify the importance of
linguistics. When we meet Ian Donnelly (the physicist played by Jeremy Renner)
he basically argues that science is more important to civilisation than
language is. He’s wrong, of course. But I can see why STEM types would agree
with him. Linguistics is a “social science” or a “light” science; you can take
it as part of an Arts degree (like I did). People often take linguistics
alongside English literature (and obviously a study of literature and art and
culture is totally unnecessary to
society…) So it makes perfect sense that the physicist in the movie would, at
least at first, brush aside linguistics as a secondary field, something less
important than physics. Relevant XKCD http://xkcd.com/435/ (interestingly,
linguistics doesn’t appear in this comic panel, but I would argue that although
it is closely related to sociology it actually falls in between biology and
psychology, because an understanding of neurobiology and the biology of the
larynx, mouth, etc. is a necessary part of the study of linguistics, and both
sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics are their own thing). Anyway, the point
is that in this film it quickly becomes apparent that linguistics far outranks
physics simply because you can’t do
science unless you have a way to communicate about the science. Louise
Banks has to justify particular choices she makes, but she never has to justify
the relevance or necessity of her field, and I think that’s amazing.
This is a really difficult movie to talk
about without spoiling something. Adamo picked up on what was happening earlier
than I did. For me, the ending, the revelation, the twist, the explanation,
whatever you want to call it, was a complete surprise.
Arrival is science fiction.
And it’s real science fiction. It’s not space opera like Star Wars (and let’s
face it, space opera is a subgenre of fantasy, not scifi). It’s not fantasy
with aliens. It’s not fantasy on a spaceship. It’s proper, hardcore science
fiction. It takes knowledge that we have now and it applies it to aliens, which
lets you bend the rules just a little, extends the knowledge a little further
than our current understanding, and delivers as a fiction that is entirely plausible. That’s true,
hardcore sci-fi. And that’s how I like my sci-fi.
Usually I like movies that are fun. I went
to see Moana, Fantastic Beasts, Doctor Strange. These are all fun movies. Rogue One was fun too, with a few
comedic elements thrown in there to balance out the action and serious drama. Arrival wasn’t fun. It wasn’t very funny.
But it was deeply enjoyable.
Maybe I was biased towards liking this
movie. Because I’m a linguist. But I think people who aren’t linguists will
appreciate the film too, and so I urge you to go and see this one.
Now let me summarise these films for you in
the order that I ranked them:
#1 Rogue
One: A Star Wars Story, a beautiful, fantastic addition to the Star Wars
universe that you should definitely go and see.
#2 Arrival,
hardcore sci-fi with a linguist as the protagonist, utterly brilliant.
#3 Doctor
Strange, a magical, Marvel adventure.
#4 Moana,
a Disney princess film featuring a Pacific Islander princess.
#5 Fantastic
Beasts and Where to Find Them, a magical movie based on a textbook set in
the Harry Potter universe.
BAM reviewed.
Have you seen these films? Do you plan to
see them? What’s your take on them? Which was your favourite? How often do you
attend the cinema? Am I procrastinating my chores and sewing today? Let me know
your thoughts.
♥Nancy♬
