Overall: 9.8
As a conclusion to the latest Batman trilogy, this movie is very satisfying. As a comment on the dangers of dishonest and/or envy-driven politics, it is even more so.
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Monday, July 30, 2012
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
At the Movies: The Amazing Spider Man (2012)
Overall Rating: 8.4
I know, I know...the Spider Man launch from 2002 was already good, so why did they launch it again so soon? Frankly, my dears, I don't give a damn. This was still a good solid movie.
Plot Synopsis:
Geeky, put-upon so of a corporate genius gets bit with genetically mutated spider (not radioactive this time). Guy gets bizarre powers and uses his own intelligence to enhance them. Guy accidentally creates a monster that he must contain. Guy falls for girl who happens to be daughter of police chief whose declared war on guy. Police chief comes to respect him while they do battle with monster, but asks guy to stay away from girl for fear of her safety. Guy vows to protect New York as superhero. This is not a new story.
The Skinny:
This rendition actually is quite a bit different than the one Marvel produced just ten years ago. That version showed you the basics of how he got his powers, but didn't focus all that much on the emotional story behind Peter Parker's childhood and rise to prominence. This movie is exclusively about that emotional story (there's a monster to fight, but that only happens because Peter gives a dangerous man too much information and has to clean up his own mess - otherwise this is entirely about Peter coming to terms with his new condition and coming of age). As such, this movie is much slower to develop, into a full-blown action film, but, IMHO, carries much more personality.
The criticisms of this version seem to run along three fronts:
I know, I know...the Spider Man launch from 2002 was already good, so why did they launch it again so soon? Frankly, my dears, I don't give a damn. This was still a good solid movie.
Plot Synopsis:
Geeky, put-upon so of a corporate genius gets bit with genetically mutated spider (not radioactive this time). Guy gets bizarre powers and uses his own intelligence to enhance them. Guy accidentally creates a monster that he must contain. Guy falls for girl who happens to be daughter of police chief whose declared war on guy. Police chief comes to respect him while they do battle with monster, but asks guy to stay away from girl for fear of her safety. Guy vows to protect New York as superhero. This is not a new story.
The Skinny:
This rendition actually is quite a bit different than the one Marvel produced just ten years ago. That version showed you the basics of how he got his powers, but didn't focus all that much on the emotional story behind Peter Parker's childhood and rise to prominence. This movie is exclusively about that emotional story (there's a monster to fight, but that only happens because Peter gives a dangerous man too much information and has to clean up his own mess - otherwise this is entirely about Peter coming to terms with his new condition and coming of age). As such, this movie is much slower to develop, into a full-blown action film, but, IMHO, carries much more personality.
The criticisms of this version seem to run along three fronts:
- We just did this same story ten years ago - hence there is not as much dramatic tension. I don't think this criticism is really valid. The bad guy is essentially the same, but many of the elements of jeopardy in his story are different (and, IMHO, bigger, which is a good thing) and much more weight is placed o the drama derived from Peter's travails. I still felt sucked into the plot without a problem.
- The dialogue - especially the stuff between Peter and Oscorp staff - was weak. Here, I think this complaint is valid...Connors' motivation is really weak and comic-booky (sorry Comic fans...there's a difference between cartoon bubbles and actual dialogue) and there are huge swaths of the movie that say less than they probably should have. They hit the high notes, but didn't play the whole aria - for example, when Peter's uncle is shot dead as a result of Peter choosing not to stop the crook at the convenience store, we get all of two scenes devoted to the impact this has on his family and on him. When Peter starts hunting for people who look like his Uncle's killer, little, if any, attention is paid to it in words. They could have really made an emotional mark if they'd chosen to.
- They appear to have focused more on visual flare than o storytelling. While I think this is overstating things quite a lot, I will say that the visual effects were FANTASTIC and quite gripping. There were moments where Spider Man was flying through the rooftop jungle of Manhattan and I literally felt terrified of heights and started getting vertigo. It was that realistic. They obviously put a TON of effort into making the look fo this film conform to the great look of most other Marvel movies of recent vintage.
What they got right:
- Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield has magnetic chemistry together. The romantic interludes (include the sad goodbye) were VERY real to me. I loved how they chose to get Peter to confess both his affection for Gwen and his superhero status - that was right up there with the famous Superman and Lois Lane scene in which Superman divines the color of Lois's underwear and she dives for cover and blushes beat red. If you haven't seen it yet, TRUST ME...you'll enjoy that moment.
- The effects are, in fact, quite breath-taking. I don't need to say much more than that.
- The plot pacing is ideal, IMHO - start with a smaller story and make it bigger and bigger, and as you do, ramp up the pace. Perfect.
- The cast is talented - I wish they'd been used to somewhat greater effect.
Writing: 7.0
As noted, the script isn't weak, per say, it just lacks a certain punch that other Marvel films have carried.
Acting: 8.0
Connors is the only character that I think was played too heavily. The rest do a more than solid job - I am starting to be quite impressed with Garfield i particular.
Effects: 10.0
This movie earns all of its' high score for the effects...the best-looking film of 2012, perhaps (though Brave is close).
Message: 8.5
I really like the added emphasis in this version of Spider Man toward the need for Peter to embrace his role as a heroic figure, rather than using his gifts for selfish things like revenge or manly strutting. They developed that very well and it leads nicely to the final sacrifice - Peter giving up (at least for now) his romantic interest in order to pursue his life as the hero the city needs. That story never gets old for me.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
On 'Brave', Steph Begs to Differ
When it comes to Pixar's latest, I'm going to have to disagree with Matt's Sunday review. I don't know if it's a girl thing or just a me thing, but I had absolutely no trouble connecting with the emotional undercurrent that runs through Brave. Indeed, if I were to rank Brave according to Matt's ten point Pixar-specific scale, I would've given it something much higher than a three. I'm thinking it deserves a six -- i.e., a "better than average" rank.
For all the reviewers who think Brave is somehow out of place in Pixar's canon, I have only this question: Have we been watching the same Pixar movies?
(More under the cut!)
For all the reviewers who think Brave is somehow out of place in Pixar's canon, I have only this question: Have we been watching the same Pixar movies?
(More under the cut!)
Sunday, June 24, 2012
At the Movies: Brave
Overall Rating: 8.0
This movie didn't aim high, but it hit its mark.
(Spoilers beneath the cut!)
This movie didn't aim high, but it hit its mark.
(Spoilers beneath the cut!)
Saturday, May 12, 2012
At the Movies: The Avengers
Overall: 9.0
There's a reason why this movie has Hulk Smashed box office records. Quite simply, it is awesome.
There's a reason why this movie has Hulk Smashed box office records. Quite simply, it is awesome.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
At the Movies: The Muppets (2011)
Overall Rating: 9.999999 - or is that 0.0999999, you'll have to ask Fozzy (joke from the movie)
I have one tiny complaint with this movie...but it winds up not mattering much - just trust me on that.
Plot Synopsis:
After long years of neglect, the Muppet Theater in Los Angeles is reaching the end of its' lease and an oil magnate plans to purchase it - ostensibly to turn it into a Muppet Museum. In secret, however, he's discovered that the lot sits on top of a rich deposit of oil and he intends to tear down the site and go drilling. The only way to save the theater (and incidentally, the rights to the use of the term "Muppet" - which our evil corporate shill will use to back a new group of harder, edgier Muppets that he thinks will sell better) is to raise 10 million dollars by the end of the lease...in less than two weeks. Our unsung hero - Walter...so obviously a Muppet...overhears the details and, with the help of his human companion Gary and his somewhat alienated girlfriend Mary (who he's been dating for ten years!), Walter seeks out Kermit the Frog and they get the band back together bit by bit. They then pitch the idea of a Muppet telethon and variety show to get the business going one last time.
They finally convince one TV exec - who makes the case that the Muppets just aren't cool anymore and won't sell, but then agrees to give them two hours after one of her shows (Punch Teacher!) is sued - but under the stipulation that they must find a human celebrity host and fill the audience for the show, which must go on in two days. After a lovely cleaning montage, the theater looks new again and the talent assembles for their rehearsals (minus Ms. Piggy, who was hurt by Kermit's refusal to be in a relationship with her if all she was seeking was fame). The first tries are disastrous as everyone is rusty and many of them need Animal's drum-beat to keep time (he's refusing to drum on the advice of his anger management counselor...LOL). But, like all theatrical productions, it comes together (it's a miracle!). Of course they at first have no audience, but people begin to trickle in as the show starts - with special guest host Jack Black (kidnapped to fill this role and spending the entire show tied to a chair begging people to believe hi that it's not part of the act...and groaning at Fozzy's horrible jokes!).
Meanwhile, Ms. Piggy has returned, but is, for a time, frosty to Kermit...and Kermit has spent the last several hours trying to convince Walter that he should be a part of the show if he can look inside himself and find a talent to show off. When it's Walter's turn to perform, he panics and breaks through the wall of the theater to escape. But during the show, Kermit explains to Piggy that he has always needed her in his life and is just not good at saying so and tries to get her to accept that she doesn't need the whole world to like her if he does. And Gary, who has gone home to be with Mary (who feels a bit jealous that he's spending all his time with Walter and the other Muppets), comes back to save the show from the oil baron and to convince Walter that he needs to grow up and believe in himself. Walter finally summons the courage to get on stage just in the nick of time for the final act and he would have propelled the Muppets to a victory and their 10 million if not for a phone-line interruption caused by the baron. The Muppets lose the battle and are forced to leave the theater...only to discover that legions of their fans have gathered outside to cheer their heroic show. Walter joins the Muppets as a full time cast member, Gary finally proposes to Mary, the oil baron gives back the theater after Gonzo knocks him over the head with a thrown bowling ball and they end on a big happy note with promises of more Muppet adeventures to come.
The Skinny:
The thing that always made Jim Henson productions great was their commitment to the steadfast believe that if we believe that children can follow a wholesome, imaginative story, learn moral and life lessons that will follow them through life, and have enough of an attention span to stick with you...they will do all of those things. This movie basically concentrated decades worth of classic Henson studio magic into 90 minutes of awesome. It stands like a great beacon in the night - stubbornly refusing to accept that a successful formula from 1985 that was based on faith in our children would fail today simply because society has moved on and is now "harder and edgier." Well let me be the first say...HELL YEAH. Society isn't some sentient being that changes by itself in some organic way over which we have no control. We live in a world shaped by our own creations. "Punch Teacher" style TV only sells because no one else is challenging this mindless, sensational garbage. You can damn well guarantee that if the Muppets came back to prime time, many of the over 100 million Americans in nuclear families with children would be clamoring to watch something about which they need not worry if their kids see. Especially if that show included humor that appealed to all generations, brightened our days with laughter and song and a belief in the possible and the wonderful, and came with characters we could easily learn to love again.
But the virtues don't end with that clarion of hope for a future not dragged inexorably into sensationalism, sex and violence. No...like any good Muppets episode, this movie tackled real life morals and lessons in a sensitive, loving way that is unmatched in children's programming today. We had Kermit's struggle to express how he feels properly to Ms. Piggy - followed by one of the most important things a child can ever learn. Namely, Kermit convinces Ms. Piggy that if she's ever going to be happy in a relationship, she can't try to be loved by the entire world - she has to focus on the one she loves. If more of us understood that a pair bond implies a certain exclusivity that makes it the wonderful and intimate thing that it is...we'd be much happier in relationships.
And there's more...because it also brings home the point that the most important part of growing up is learning who and what you are and making a conscious choice to prioritize some parts of yourself in the pursuit of what you really want. This is one of the hardest things for young adults to do...give up some dreams to pursue others. But this is exactly what Walter and Gary must do. And it means that they will have to go their separate ways...but they do so knowing that they will always be there for each other in times of need. This kind of struggle is played out in most American families as children grow up and become their own people, and only the Muppets could show it while keeping a smile on all our faces.
Just trust me...the Muppets will make you cry - just as they do on Farscape and did when you were a kid. They still have the magic over there...and this movie is among the most refreshing, wonderful things to hit the big screen in recent memory.
Writing: 9.9
I'm dinging it 0.1 for interrupting Kermit's big speech to the ad exec for a silly bit of slapstick comedy. He was about to make the passionate plea that if we believed in children, they would amaze us and he got cut off for no good reason. Otherwise...this movie is awesome personified.
Acting: 9.5
I thought the guy who played Gary was a little...erm..."Blues Clues"-ish. That was probably intentional, but still...occasionally it seemed silly.
Production: 10.0
80s production values still work for these folks...it delivers everything it promises.
Message: However many points I need to get to my final score...LOL
The message here is way way WAAAAY off the charts. It blows away the other elements of this movie and renders component scoring meaningless.
I have one tiny complaint with this movie...but it winds up not mattering much - just trust me on that.
Plot Synopsis:
After long years of neglect, the Muppet Theater in Los Angeles is reaching the end of its' lease and an oil magnate plans to purchase it - ostensibly to turn it into a Muppet Museum. In secret, however, he's discovered that the lot sits on top of a rich deposit of oil and he intends to tear down the site and go drilling. The only way to save the theater (and incidentally, the rights to the use of the term "Muppet" - which our evil corporate shill will use to back a new group of harder, edgier Muppets that he thinks will sell better) is to raise 10 million dollars by the end of the lease...in less than two weeks. Our unsung hero - Walter...so obviously a Muppet...overhears the details and, with the help of his human companion Gary and his somewhat alienated girlfriend Mary (who he's been dating for ten years!), Walter seeks out Kermit the Frog and they get the band back together bit by bit. They then pitch the idea of a Muppet telethon and variety show to get the business going one last time.
They finally convince one TV exec - who makes the case that the Muppets just aren't cool anymore and won't sell, but then agrees to give them two hours after one of her shows (Punch Teacher!) is sued - but under the stipulation that they must find a human celebrity host and fill the audience for the show, which must go on in two days. After a lovely cleaning montage, the theater looks new again and the talent assembles for their rehearsals (minus Ms. Piggy, who was hurt by Kermit's refusal to be in a relationship with her if all she was seeking was fame). The first tries are disastrous as everyone is rusty and many of them need Animal's drum-beat to keep time (he's refusing to drum on the advice of his anger management counselor...LOL). But, like all theatrical productions, it comes together (it's a miracle!). Of course they at first have no audience, but people begin to trickle in as the show starts - with special guest host Jack Black (kidnapped to fill this role and spending the entire show tied to a chair begging people to believe hi that it's not part of the act...and groaning at Fozzy's horrible jokes!).
Meanwhile, Ms. Piggy has returned, but is, for a time, frosty to Kermit...and Kermit has spent the last several hours trying to convince Walter that he should be a part of the show if he can look inside himself and find a talent to show off. When it's Walter's turn to perform, he panics and breaks through the wall of the theater to escape. But during the show, Kermit explains to Piggy that he has always needed her in his life and is just not good at saying so and tries to get her to accept that she doesn't need the whole world to like her if he does. And Gary, who has gone home to be with Mary (who feels a bit jealous that he's spending all his time with Walter and the other Muppets), comes back to save the show from the oil baron and to convince Walter that he needs to grow up and believe in himself. Walter finally summons the courage to get on stage just in the nick of time for the final act and he would have propelled the Muppets to a victory and their 10 million if not for a phone-line interruption caused by the baron. The Muppets lose the battle and are forced to leave the theater...only to discover that legions of their fans have gathered outside to cheer their heroic show. Walter joins the Muppets as a full time cast member, Gary finally proposes to Mary, the oil baron gives back the theater after Gonzo knocks him over the head with a thrown bowling ball and they end on a big happy note with promises of more Muppet adeventures to come.
The Skinny:
The thing that always made Jim Henson productions great was their commitment to the steadfast believe that if we believe that children can follow a wholesome, imaginative story, learn moral and life lessons that will follow them through life, and have enough of an attention span to stick with you...they will do all of those things. This movie basically concentrated decades worth of classic Henson studio magic into 90 minutes of awesome. It stands like a great beacon in the night - stubbornly refusing to accept that a successful formula from 1985 that was based on faith in our children would fail today simply because society has moved on and is now "harder and edgier." Well let me be the first say...HELL YEAH. Society isn't some sentient being that changes by itself in some organic way over which we have no control. We live in a world shaped by our own creations. "Punch Teacher" style TV only sells because no one else is challenging this mindless, sensational garbage. You can damn well guarantee that if the Muppets came back to prime time, many of the over 100 million Americans in nuclear families with children would be clamoring to watch something about which they need not worry if their kids see. Especially if that show included humor that appealed to all generations, brightened our days with laughter and song and a belief in the possible and the wonderful, and came with characters we could easily learn to love again.
But the virtues don't end with that clarion of hope for a future not dragged inexorably into sensationalism, sex and violence. No...like any good Muppets episode, this movie tackled real life morals and lessons in a sensitive, loving way that is unmatched in children's programming today. We had Kermit's struggle to express how he feels properly to Ms. Piggy - followed by one of the most important things a child can ever learn. Namely, Kermit convinces Ms. Piggy that if she's ever going to be happy in a relationship, she can't try to be loved by the entire world - she has to focus on the one she loves. If more of us understood that a pair bond implies a certain exclusivity that makes it the wonderful and intimate thing that it is...we'd be much happier in relationships.
And there's more...because it also brings home the point that the most important part of growing up is learning who and what you are and making a conscious choice to prioritize some parts of yourself in the pursuit of what you really want. This is one of the hardest things for young adults to do...give up some dreams to pursue others. But this is exactly what Walter and Gary must do. And it means that they will have to go their separate ways...but they do so knowing that they will always be there for each other in times of need. This kind of struggle is played out in most American families as children grow up and become their own people, and only the Muppets could show it while keeping a smile on all our faces.
Just trust me...the Muppets will make you cry - just as they do on Farscape and did when you were a kid. They still have the magic over there...and this movie is among the most refreshing, wonderful things to hit the big screen in recent memory.
Writing: 9.9
I'm dinging it 0.1 for interrupting Kermit's big speech to the ad exec for a silly bit of slapstick comedy. He was about to make the passionate plea that if we believed in children, they would amaze us and he got cut off for no good reason. Otherwise...this movie is awesome personified.
Acting: 9.5
I thought the guy who played Gary was a little...erm..."Blues Clues"-ish. That was probably intentional, but still...occasionally it seemed silly.
Production: 10.0
80s production values still work for these folks...it delivers everything it promises.
Message: However many points I need to get to my final score...LOL
The message here is way way WAAAAY off the charts. It blows away the other elements of this movie and renders component scoring meaningless.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
At the Movies: Cowboys & Aliens/Rise of the Planet of the Apes
(I'm doing capsule reviews today because I'm tired -- and because both movies were pretty "meh.")
Cowboys & Aliens
Premise: "The Old West.. where a lone cowboy leads an uprising against a terror from beyond our world. 1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don't welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford). It's a town that lives in fear. But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known. Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation..." - from the Universal Pictures summary
Steph's Comments: This movie was -- not what I expected. Instead of the self-aware B-movie romp the title promised, what I got was a story that was played completely straight. The laugh lines in the trailer were pretty much the only laugh lines in the entire script -- and to be honest, I found that rather disappointing. If you're going to mash together two different genres, you should at least have a little fun in the process. Bring in some sparkling wits to pep up the dialogue. And don't be afraid to be a little meta! If this movie had taken the opportunity to lovingly mock a trope or two, it would've completely won me over. As it is, it just -- kind of lays there.
Steph's Rating: 5.0
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Premise: "An origin story set in present day San Francisco, where man's own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy." - from IMDB.
Steph's Comments: Oh no, it's a prequel! Run for the hills!
Actually, as prequels go, this one wasn't too bad. I appreciated the little details the screen-writers included to link this movie to the original story -- like the throw-away news reports regarding the manned mission to Mars. I also believe that Andy Serkis deserves all the plaudits he's getting for his contribution to the animation of Caesar, who does come through as a real character with understandable motivations. And lastly, I'd like to send some praise John Lithgow's way, as his performance (as the father of the lead researcher and an Alzheimer's sufferer) is excellent and very sad.
Even with all of these positives, however, I still found some major flaws in the writing. We have, for example, Steven Jacobs, who starts off hyper-concerned about the unanticipated consequences of Rodman's drug, yet changes his mind halfway through the movie and becomes Mr. Damn-the-Danger because -- well, pretty much because the plot demands it. And the ape shelter run by the Landons? Sorry -- I didn't buy that at all. If this were the real world, Tom Felton's character would've been reported to the local Humane Society faster than you can yell, "Animal abuse!"
Final verdict? This movie is better than a sharp stick in the eye, but there are bits that are way, way over-the-top.
Steph's Rating: 7.0
Cowboys & Aliens
Premise: "The Old West.. where a lone cowboy leads an uprising against a terror from beyond our world. 1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don't welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford). It's a town that lives in fear. But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known. Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation..." - from the Universal Pictures summary
Steph's Comments: This movie was -- not what I expected. Instead of the self-aware B-movie romp the title promised, what I got was a story that was played completely straight. The laugh lines in the trailer were pretty much the only laugh lines in the entire script -- and to be honest, I found that rather disappointing. If you're going to mash together two different genres, you should at least have a little fun in the process. Bring in some sparkling wits to pep up the dialogue. And don't be afraid to be a little meta! If this movie had taken the opportunity to lovingly mock a trope or two, it would've completely won me over. As it is, it just -- kind of lays there.
Steph's Rating: 5.0
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Premise: "An origin story set in present day San Francisco, where man's own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy." - from IMDB.
Steph's Comments: Oh no, it's a prequel! Run for the hills!
Actually, as prequels go, this one wasn't too bad. I appreciated the little details the screen-writers included to link this movie to the original story -- like the throw-away news reports regarding the manned mission to Mars. I also believe that Andy Serkis deserves all the plaudits he's getting for his contribution to the animation of Caesar, who does come through as a real character with understandable motivations. And lastly, I'd like to send some praise John Lithgow's way, as his performance (as the father of the lead researcher and an Alzheimer's sufferer) is excellent and very sad.
Even with all of these positives, however, I still found some major flaws in the writing. We have, for example, Steven Jacobs, who starts off hyper-concerned about the unanticipated consequences of Rodman's drug, yet changes his mind halfway through the movie and becomes Mr. Damn-the-Danger because -- well, pretty much because the plot demands it. And the ape shelter run by the Landons? Sorry -- I didn't buy that at all. If this were the real world, Tom Felton's character would've been reported to the local Humane Society faster than you can yell, "Animal abuse!"
Final verdict? This movie is better than a sharp stick in the eye, but there are bits that are way, way over-the-top.
Steph's Rating: 7.0
Saturday, July 23, 2011
At the Movies: Captain America (The First Avenger)
Overall: 8.3
This movie is solidly enjoyable and, in parts, very refreshing.
Plot Synopsis:
A ninety-pound weakling by the name of Steve Rogers is selected to participate in a WWII-era military experiment whose goal is to breed super soldiers. The experiment works swimmingly, and Steve - after a brief stint as a USO star - sets out to defeat a super-Nazi's plot to take over the world.
Hey -- it's a superhero movie. You weren't expecting a complex story, were you?
The Skinny:
As the kids in fandom say: OMG U GUYS! Steve - aka Captain America - is so cute!
Mind you, I don't mean that in the physical, beef-cake sense. No -- I'm referring to the opening scenes of the movie, which manage to hit one of my biggest kink buttons. What's that button, you may ask? Well, as you all should know by now (especially if you've been reading my Babylon 5 reviews), I love brave-yet-underestimated underdogs -- and Steve (initially, anyway) perfectly fits that bill. I love his desperation to join the fighting overseas, which drives him to visit Army recruiting centers again and again and again (only to be labeled "4F" again and again and again). I love that he gets into a fight with somebody twice his size over the other fellow's razzing of a newsreel -- and doesn't surrender even though he's wholly outmatched. I love that, while at boot camp, he leaps onto a (dummy) grenade without a second thought. And I definitely laugh when I think about his elegant solution to a certain flagpole challenge. (Hmm. Let's see. I think I'll just pull these pins here and here... *and the pole comes down with a crash*)
Without a doubt, the scenes mentioned above successfully establish the future Captain America's bravery, intelligence, and basic human decency -- and that's actually a key thematic point. Dr. Erskine selects Steve to be his test subject because he knows that Steve will not abuse his new-found power. As he states (and I'm paraphrasing here), "The strong man - the one who has known power his entire life - is more likely to take power for granted. The small man, on the other hand, is more likely to respect it." He then explains that the super-villain of the piece, Herr Schmidt - aka Red Skull - has also been enhanced by the serum that eventually gives poor Steve some muscle mass, but because Schmidt's sole goal was and is to gain power over others, such enhancements warped him beyond all human recognition.
Overall, the take-away messages of this movie seem to be as follows: 1) A man with a brain and a heart is preferable to a man with pure brawn; and 2) Don't be a bully -- but don't stand by and let other bullies win the day either. And you know what? I can certainly applaud both of those morals. They are simple, clear, and wholesome -- just as the superhero genre in general used to be before some of today's writers mucked it up by inserting their modern prejudices.
Writing: 8.0
Sure -- some of the story beats are a bit cheesy. But as I said at the start, this is a superhero movie. I wouldn't say this script quite matches, say, Iron Man in terms of its quality, but it's perfectly respectable for the genre.
Acting: 7.0
I'd say the acting is the weak spot here. The performances are pretty average even by superhero movie standards.
Production Values: 8.0
There were no sequences that really took my breath away, but the effects are nonetheless decent. The way the production team digitally diminished Chris Evans for the opening bits is particularly noteworthy.
Message: 10.0
The heroic themes in Captain America are definitely what I enjoyed most. As I imply above, the writers really take us back to the genre's roots. And I suspect that's why this movie is resonating with ordinary Americans. (Box office take so far: $65 million plus.)
This movie is solidly enjoyable and, in parts, very refreshing.
Plot Synopsis:
A ninety-pound weakling by the name of Steve Rogers is selected to participate in a WWII-era military experiment whose goal is to breed super soldiers. The experiment works swimmingly, and Steve - after a brief stint as a USO star - sets out to defeat a super-Nazi's plot to take over the world.
Hey -- it's a superhero movie. You weren't expecting a complex story, were you?
The Skinny:
As the kids in fandom say: OMG U GUYS! Steve - aka Captain America - is so cute!
Mind you, I don't mean that in the physical, beef-cake sense. No -- I'm referring to the opening scenes of the movie, which manage to hit one of my biggest kink buttons. What's that button, you may ask? Well, as you all should know by now (especially if you've been reading my Babylon 5 reviews), I love brave-yet-underestimated underdogs -- and Steve (initially, anyway) perfectly fits that bill. I love his desperation to join the fighting overseas, which drives him to visit Army recruiting centers again and again and again (only to be labeled "4F" again and again and again). I love that he gets into a fight with somebody twice his size over the other fellow's razzing of a newsreel -- and doesn't surrender even though he's wholly outmatched. I love that, while at boot camp, he leaps onto a (dummy) grenade without a second thought. And I definitely laugh when I think about his elegant solution to a certain flagpole challenge. (Hmm. Let's see. I think I'll just pull these pins here and here... *and the pole comes down with a crash*)
Without a doubt, the scenes mentioned above successfully establish the future Captain America's bravery, intelligence, and basic human decency -- and that's actually a key thematic point. Dr. Erskine selects Steve to be his test subject because he knows that Steve will not abuse his new-found power. As he states (and I'm paraphrasing here), "The strong man - the one who has known power his entire life - is more likely to take power for granted. The small man, on the other hand, is more likely to respect it." He then explains that the super-villain of the piece, Herr Schmidt - aka Red Skull - has also been enhanced by the serum that eventually gives poor Steve some muscle mass, but because Schmidt's sole goal was and is to gain power over others, such enhancements warped him beyond all human recognition.
Overall, the take-away messages of this movie seem to be as follows: 1) A man with a brain and a heart is preferable to a man with pure brawn; and 2) Don't be a bully -- but don't stand by and let other bullies win the day either. And you know what? I can certainly applaud both of those morals. They are simple, clear, and wholesome -- just as the superhero genre in general used to be before some of today's writers mucked it up by inserting their modern prejudices.
Writing: 8.0
Sure -- some of the story beats are a bit cheesy. But as I said at the start, this is a superhero movie. I wouldn't say this script quite matches, say, Iron Man in terms of its quality, but it's perfectly respectable for the genre.
Acting: 7.0
I'd say the acting is the weak spot here. The performances are pretty average even by superhero movie standards.
Production Values: 8.0
There were no sequences that really took my breath away, but the effects are nonetheless decent. The way the production team digitally diminished Chris Evans for the opening bits is particularly noteworthy.
Message: 10.0
The heroic themes in Captain America are definitely what I enjoyed most. As I imply above, the writers really take us back to the genre's roots. And I suspect that's why this movie is resonating with ordinary Americans. (Box office take so far: $65 million plus.)
Sunday, July 17, 2011
At the Movies: Harry Potter 7B - The Deathly Hallows (Part II)
Overall Rating: 8.9
I have a few complaints regarding the pacing and tone of the movie...and I'm sure my co-author, who has actually read the entire book series, rather than merely the first two books and excerpts from the rest, will have other comments (which I would request she contribute in comment form below this post). But the general reaction has to be: fantastic artistic presentation, visually stunning, and relatively true to the books.
Plot Synopsis:
I am not going to attempt to detail the plot for this blog. You have either read the books and know what happens or you have seen the movie and...really don't. That is the beef I have with it.
The Skinny:
I have one major question for David Yates - why attempt to make HP7B into the second shortest movie in the entire franchise? None of the predecessor movies with the exception of HP2 (The Chamber of Secrets) whose plot was the thinnest in the lot have come in under 2:25. But this one...the one that has to make all of the events of the entire story fit together into a neat little package...is 2:10. And not with complete disclosure of events. I don't mean to sound overly harsh, but the big reveal from Snape's tears needed to show us more...much much MUCH more. It's a good thing that my co-author has told me a lot about Snape's motivations over the years or I'd have never known that Potter used to pick on Snape...that Snape was defended by Lilith...that he thereafter fell in love with her.
Without prior knowledge of events, I got no hint of why Snape entered his bargain with Dumbledore, no understanding of why the Elder Wand didn't work for Snape, and didn't feel the emotional impact of the deaths of the Weasley twin, the other Hogwarts students or Remus and Tonks Loopin...because they only showed us who they were for about five seconds each and that wasn't enough for me to recognize them. And other than a very nice bit of acting by Maggie Smith (McGonagall), they did absoltuely nothing to show us how the other characters felt after the battle.
The end felt a bit perfunctory as well...the book included a great confrontation between Voldemort and Harry before their final wand duel in which the reason he would lose was explained with all of the students watching. The movie had none of that...the final wand duel took about 15 seconds and his death made no sense to me. They killed his pet snake (the final horcrux) and then a simple attack and disarm spell made him crumble like leaves in the wind? You know...when you beat the bad guy in an action movie, the crowd should be cheering...there should be a "YEAAAH!!!!!" moment...there was in the book...the students saw the end! Why did they choose to take that out of the movie? It really makes that duel seem anticlimactic. The YEAH! moment was the killing of the snake...but...that somehow doesn't seem right (even though I love Neville to death).
Having said all of that, the central themes of the books survived intact and the story was gorgeously told. Yates has a real eye for understated beauty in the way he tells his story, and all of the actors...every last one of them...has matured into extremely gifted performers. One of the major problems with the early movies was the weak acting of the child stars of the franchise (all except perhaps Emma Watson, who was strong very early on). David Radcliffe and company have greatly improved as they've grown into their roles. Like the readers of the original book series and the characters within the story, the actors became adults...and it shows. I now invite my sister to write an essay on the moral and character themes in the book series for this blog under our literature banner...those themes made it nicely to the big screen.
Writing: 6.0
The decision to turn the seventh book into, essentially, a 4.5 hour movie was a good one...unfortunately, the way those 4.5 hours were divided was unwise and limited the effectiveness of the story. We needed HP7A to be the 2-hour movie, not HP7B.
Acting: 9.5
We knew that Maggie Smith was a pro (and she showed it this year, once again), but the children have all grown up and become masters of their craft.
Artistic Direction and Technical Mastery: 10.0
Like HP7A, this film is beautiful to behold, the music is effective, and Yates proves that he's a brilliant director when it comes to telling the story, once the script is written.
Message: 10.0
In our dark impulses - our desire to conquer death, our desire for power and control, our desire for acceptance and for love at any cost - we sew the seeds of our own destruction. Snape brought his fate upon himself (despite the best of intentions)...and of course, so did Voldemort. This was the leading theme of HP7B (well...apart from the truth that love is what makes life worth living and the only effective weapon against unchecked hate)...but a more complete description of the themes of the entire Harry Potter franchise is (I hope) forthcoming.
I have a few complaints regarding the pacing and tone of the movie...and I'm sure my co-author, who has actually read the entire book series, rather than merely the first two books and excerpts from the rest, will have other comments (which I would request she contribute in comment form below this post). But the general reaction has to be: fantastic artistic presentation, visually stunning, and relatively true to the books.
Plot Synopsis:
I am not going to attempt to detail the plot for this blog. You have either read the books and know what happens or you have seen the movie and...really don't. That is the beef I have with it.
The Skinny:
I have one major question for David Yates - why attempt to make HP7B into the second shortest movie in the entire franchise? None of the predecessor movies with the exception of HP2 (The Chamber of Secrets) whose plot was the thinnest in the lot have come in under 2:25. But this one...the one that has to make all of the events of the entire story fit together into a neat little package...is 2:10. And not with complete disclosure of events. I don't mean to sound overly harsh, but the big reveal from Snape's tears needed to show us more...much much MUCH more. It's a good thing that my co-author has told me a lot about Snape's motivations over the years or I'd have never known that Potter used to pick on Snape...that Snape was defended by Lilith...that he thereafter fell in love with her.
Without prior knowledge of events, I got no hint of why Snape entered his bargain with Dumbledore, no understanding of why the Elder Wand didn't work for Snape, and didn't feel the emotional impact of the deaths of the Weasley twin, the other Hogwarts students or Remus and Tonks Loopin...because they only showed us who they were for about five seconds each and that wasn't enough for me to recognize them. And other than a very nice bit of acting by Maggie Smith (McGonagall), they did absoltuely nothing to show us how the other characters felt after the battle.
The end felt a bit perfunctory as well...the book included a great confrontation between Voldemort and Harry before their final wand duel in which the reason he would lose was explained with all of the students watching. The movie had none of that...the final wand duel took about 15 seconds and his death made no sense to me. They killed his pet snake (the final horcrux) and then a simple attack and disarm spell made him crumble like leaves in the wind? You know...when you beat the bad guy in an action movie, the crowd should be cheering...there should be a "YEAAAH!!!!!" moment...there was in the book...the students saw the end! Why did they choose to take that out of the movie? It really makes that duel seem anticlimactic. The YEAH! moment was the killing of the snake...but...that somehow doesn't seem right (even though I love Neville to death).
Having said all of that, the central themes of the books survived intact and the story was gorgeously told. Yates has a real eye for understated beauty in the way he tells his story, and all of the actors...every last one of them...has matured into extremely gifted performers. One of the major problems with the early movies was the weak acting of the child stars of the franchise (all except perhaps Emma Watson, who was strong very early on). David Radcliffe and company have greatly improved as they've grown into their roles. Like the readers of the original book series and the characters within the story, the actors became adults...and it shows. I now invite my sister to write an essay on the moral and character themes in the book series for this blog under our literature banner...those themes made it nicely to the big screen.
Writing: 6.0
The decision to turn the seventh book into, essentially, a 4.5 hour movie was a good one...unfortunately, the way those 4.5 hours were divided was unwise and limited the effectiveness of the story. We needed HP7A to be the 2-hour movie, not HP7B.
Acting: 9.5
We knew that Maggie Smith was a pro (and she showed it this year, once again), but the children have all grown up and become masters of their craft.
Artistic Direction and Technical Mastery: 10.0
Like HP7A, this film is beautiful to behold, the music is effective, and Yates proves that he's a brilliant director when it comes to telling the story, once the script is written.
Message: 10.0
In our dark impulses - our desire to conquer death, our desire for power and control, our desire for acceptance and for love at any cost - we sew the seeds of our own destruction. Snape brought his fate upon himself (despite the best of intentions)...and of course, so did Voldemort. This was the leading theme of HP7B (well...apart from the truth that love is what makes life worth living and the only effective weapon against unchecked hate)...but a more complete description of the themes of the entire Harry Potter franchise is (I hope) forthcoming.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Sunday, December 12, 2010
At the Movies: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Overall: 7.3
Here, I'm going to have to lead with the classic reader's complaint: the book is better.
Here, I'm going to have to lead with the classic reader's complaint: the book is better.
Friday, September 10, 2010
At the Movies: Serenity
Overall Rating: 9.8
And here, at last, we come to the culmination (unless you count the comics) of Joss Whedon's greatest series - a cruel yet satisfying movie that amplifies the pro-liberty and pro-human themes to be found in the original fourteen television episodes.
Plot Synopsis:
A few contributors have written a plot synopsis at IMDB here.
(Apologies. Normally speaking, for such a high-rated production, one of us would compose an original synopsis, but certain family-related circumstances have made that impossible this week.)
The Skinny:
Stephanie S.: It can be argued that all of the major themes of this magnificent film are developed through the evolution of the principals. On the side of right - well, at least by the end of the movie - we have Mal. At the start, the writers imply that quite a bit of time has passed since the events of Objects in Space and that Mal and his crew has struggled to keep afloat in the meantime. This time of tribulation, we can see, has made Mal hard and bitter. Focused purely on the survival of his ragtag team, he is even willing to go so far as to deny another human being escape from a Reaver attack. When Zoe confronts Mal about this later, it becomes evident that Mal is teetering on the edge of choosing naked self-interest over the beliefs that drove him during the war. He is - as he himself observes in a much later scene - a man who has lost his moral rudder.
As the plot of the movie unfolds, however, Mal rediscovers his Browncoat idealism. In the face of horrifying evidence of the Alliance's illiberal and immoral willingness to experiment with human beings, he becomes a hero. What makes him thus? He recognizes that there are things - ideas - in the 'verse that must be put before his own instinct for self-preservation, and he finds the strength to risk death for a cause. But beyond that, he latches onto a cause that is right. It is not enough to simply believe - the content of the belief definitely matters. If your convictions are based on love and hope and liberty - as Mal's ultimately are - they are good.
On the other hand, the movie implies, if your convictions are based on an underlying contempt for and a desire to control your fellow fallen human beings, they are evil. Whedon is not a Christian, yet it's astonishing how much his development of the Operative cleaves to the Church's ethical teaching. The Church tells us that any act can be judged based on two elements: its intent and its execution. The Church further stresses that both elements matter; thus, Christianity teaches that the best acts are those that combine good intent with good results and that no evil should be performed so that good can come from it. Of course, the Church also takes into consideration a variety of subjective circumstances that influence every ethical decision, but the fact remains that Whedon's Operative perfectly embodies the Church's point that the particulars of an action matter just as much as the ideals that drive it. The Operative is willing to die for his own cause, but he is villainous because he has chosen an earth-bound "utopia" that seeks to "perfect" man by any means necessary - means that include engineering human weapons (River) and essentially murdering millions of innocent people in an attempt to scientifically quell their baser impulses.
And hell yes, my co-author is right below - the evil we see in the Operative and in the operation on Miranda is profoundly and immediately relevant to our post-modern world in which a variety of ideologies have embraced a consciousness of man's sin while losing sight of the love of God. Current-day forms of Marxism - or the now very powerful environmental movement - seek to impose the Cross on mankind while neglecting the hope of the Resurrection. These movements punish while pretending to be compassionate.
SABR Matt: There are three themes that are of deep importance to me that make this movie one of the best sci-fi presentations I've had the pleasure of viewing.
First and foremost - the (highlighted) line that makes my blood boil over with passionate acclamation that serves as the most well-known theme of this canon:
This desire to engineer God's greatest creation...to make us in the image of an anointed elite...to control what that group fears most - the sometimes chaotic and always freedom-loving voice of the people - is currently destroying the science to which I've dedicated my life (atmospheric science - now run amok with a multinational green movement more interested in culling the global population and creating world government than in actually pursuing real science). It has made mockery of well-meaning religions, torn apart Europe on several occasions, and led to the greatest evils of any generation. Whenever we try to play God...unspeakable horrors follow.
Second, the cure for this evil is made known at the end of the story - love. Love makes us do impossible things. Love for one's brothers in arms, or for the families back home who need their protection, allows men to face terror on a daily basis in the service of the military. Love for our soul mate allows us to overcome our petty personal desires and dedicate ourselves to the propagation of the species (and to a more perfect relationship with God). Love for our country brings us to the streets when protest is required and allows us to sacrifice for a cause greater than ourselves. And above it all...love comes from God. His love is stronger than any evil. No matter what happens on this, our flawed planet (filled with men and women who have the desire to control our every thought and action), we can face it and overcome evil if we look to that love. Mal is not speaking only about his ship when he talks about love as they prepare to take off at the end. Any great Captain does form a relationship with the ship that bears him home...but we all know to what he is referring. Even if he, himself, cannot admit it.
And finally, there are the more subtle undertones about the intrinsic value of human life. No matter how River Tam might threaten Serenity, her life still has value. She cannot be cast aside simply to make things easier for all who dwell within. Her life, the lives of those turned mad by the Pax (yes...even those Reavers...though they must be exterminated for the good of the rest...we mourn for the loss of those peoples' souls), the lives of those who simply stopped caring about their own lives...all of those lives have value and treating that life like a commodity on which experiments can be done for the "greater good"...is never an acceptable morality. The same reason Communism does not work (and inevitably leads to corruption and the violation of the inalienable rights of the people) applies. Government should not treat its' population like beans in a jar...there is an INFINITE value to each life. It cannot be measured and compared...there is no cost-benefit analysis when dealing with human lives.
When you put such POTENT messages on top of a brilliantly written, engaging story and add in some fabulous acting performances and a dash of much-needed humor throughout...you get a thoroughly satisfying experience.
Writing: 10.0 / 10.0
Whedon pens an action-packed and morally grounded story that gives every character in the ensemble his or her moment in the sun. In the process, he manages to sprinkle in those Whedonesque touches of humor - from the characterization of Mr. Universe to River's child-like report that she swallowed a bug during the first great escape from the Reavers - that attracted us to this author's oeuvre to begin with. In short, this script is a true tour de force - a magnificent contribution to the genre of science fiction.
SABR Matt Chimes In: I can't find a single hole in this script. The full range of emotions are perfectly choreographed to tug on the heart strings. The words choices are magnificent and pleasing to the ear and the mind. The direction and staging of each scene is creative and effective. I challenge anyone to find one reason to complain.
Acting: 9.0 / 9.5
Performance-wise, I noticed moments of awkwardness here and there, but those moments were few and far between. For the most part, the ensemble makes the transition to the big screen with consummate skill. I was particularly impressed with Summer Glau, whose dance background really comes to the fore in River's action sequences.
SABR Matt Chimes In: Nathan Fillion, Summer Glau and Jewel Staite were the top performers, if you ask me, though Chiwetel Ejofor (The Operative) had many top moments as well - as did Ron Glass and Gina Torres. Forget about finding anything majorly off-putting about the acting and just enjoy the show.
Message: 10.0 / 10.0 +++++++++
What grabbed me in this movie on first viewing five years ago was its uncompromising attack on social engineering. As I implied above, Serenity is a cautionary tale that should encourage our elites to think twice before foisting their idea of utopia upon the rest of us.
SABR Matt Chimes In: I've said my fill in my main comments. I wish I could scream this message directly into the minds of people like Michael Mann and James Hansen (climate change opportunists of the worst kind). Of course, I'll simply be characterized as a denier or as an irrational angry man by folks like them (and by the media), but for now, I'll settle for believing that, eventually, reality will reach these people. If this seems like a tangent to the readers...go back and reread my comments in the Skinny section above...I assure you...it's directly relevant.
Highlights:
TEACHER: It's true that there are dangers on the outer planets. So with so many social and medical advancements we can bring to the Independents why would they fight so hard against us?
YOUNG RIVER: We meddle.
TEACHER: River?
YOUNG RIVER: People don't like to be meddled with. We tell them what to do, what to think. Don't run, don't walk. We're in their homes and in their heads and we haven't the right. We're meddlesome.
TEACHER: River, we're not telling people what to think. We're just trying to show them how.
OPERATIVE: You know, in certain older civilized cultures when men failed as entirely as you have, they would throw themselves on their swords.
MATHIAS: Well, unfortunately, I forgot to bring a sword. (Ah, but the Operative has one handy. Indeed, he whips it out right at this moment, and a light of fear is kindled in Mathias' eyes.) I would put that down right now, if I were you.
OPERATIVE: Would you be killed in your sleep like an ailing pet?
MAL: Did the primary buffer panel just fall off my gorram ship for no apparent reason?
WASH: Looks like.
MAL: I thought Kaylee checked the entry couplings.
WASH: I've a clear memory of it. If she doesn't get us extra flow from the engine room to offset the burn-through, this landing is gonna get pretty interesting.
MAL: Define "interesting."
WASH: Oh God, oh God, we're all gonna die?
(Mal gets on the horn.)
MAL: This is the captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence,
so we may experience some slight turbulence... and then explode.
JAYNE: We're gonna explode? I don't wanna explode.
MAL: (noting what Jayne is packing) Jayne, how many weapons you plan on taking? You only got two arms.
JAYNE: I just get excitable as to choice. Like to have my options open.
MAL: I don't plan on any shooting taking place during this job.
JAYNE: What you plan and what takes place ain't ever exactly been similar
MAL: Listen up! We're coming down to empty that vault!
GUARD: (calling up from within said vault) You have to give me your authorization password!
(Jayne fires a few rounds down into the hatch. A beat.)
GUARD: Okay!
MAL: The leg is good. It'll bleed plenty, and we avoid any necessary organs.
GUARD: I was thinking more of a graze.
MAL: No, you don't want it to look like you gave up.
(After the early flight from the Reavers.)
SIMON: River?
RIVER: (dazed) I swallowed a bug.
MAL: Man has to cut loose, learn to stand on his own.
ZOE: Like that man back in town?
MAL: I had to shoot him. What Reavers would've done before they killed him...
ZOE: I know. That was a piece of mercy. But before that, him begging us to bring him along...
MAL: We couldn't take the weight. Would've slowed us down.
ZOE: You know that for certain?
MAL: Mule won't run with five. I should've dumped the girl? Or you? Or Jayne? Oh, Jayne...
ZOE: You could've tossed the payload.
MAL: (scoffing) Tossed the... Zoe, I got bits falling off my ship, I got a crew ain't been paid, and, oh, yeah, a powerful need to eat sometime this month. We tell Fanty and Mingo we skunked the job what do you think they'll do to us? (A beat.) We're close to gone out here. We get a job, we got to make good.
ZOE: Sir, I don't disagree on any particular point. It's just... in a time of war, we would've never left a man stranded.
MAL: Maybe that's why we lost.
KAYLEE: When I carried such a torch, when we could've... We're going on a year now I ain't had nothing twixt my nethers that weren't run on batteries!
MAL: Oh, God! I can't know that!
JAYNE: I could stand to hear a little more.
MAL: (to Simon) I believe you've got some storytelling to do. What the hell happened back there?
WASH: Can you start with the part where Jayne gets knocked out by a ninety-pound girl? 'Cause I don't think that's ever getting old.
MAL: I could have left her there. I had an out. Hell, I had every reason in the 'verse to leave her lay and haul anchor.
BOOK: It's not your way, Mal.
MAL: I have a way? That better than a plan?
BOOK: Only one thing is gonna walk you through this, Mal: belief.
MAL: You know I always look to you for counsel, but sermons make me sleepy, Shepherd. I ain't looking for help from on high. That's a long wait for a train that don't come.
BOOK: When I talk about belief, why do you always assume I'm talking about God? (A beat.) They'll come at you sideways. It's how they think. It's how they move. Sidle up and smile. Hit you where you're weak. Sort of man they're like to send believes hard. Kills and never asks why.
MAL: It's of interest to me how much you seem to know about that world.
BOOK: I wasn't born a Shepherd, Mal.
MAL: Have to tell me about that sometime.
BOOK: No, I don't.
KAYLEE: But how can you be sure Inara don't just wanna see you? Sometimes people
have feelings. And I'm referring here to people.
MAL: You all were watching, I take it?
KAYLEE: Yes.
MAL: Did you see us fight?
KAYLEE: No.
MAL: Trap.
MAL: Zoe, ship is yours. And remember, if anything happens to me or if you don't hear from me within the hour, you take this ship and you come and you rescue me.
ZOE: What? Risk my ship?
MAL: I mean it. It's cold out there. And I don't wanna get left.
MAL: Dear Buddha, please bring me a pony, and a plastic rocket, and...
INARA: Mal! What are you doing here?
MAL: Well, you invited me.
INARA: I never thought for a second you'd be stupid enough to come!
MAL: Well, that makes you kind of a tease, doesn't it?
OPERATIVE: I think you're beginning to understand how dangerous River Tam is.
MAL: She is a mite unpredictable. Mood swings, of a sort.
OPERATIVE: It's worse than you know.
MAL: It usually is.
OPERATIVE: That girl will rain destruction down on you and your ship. She is an albatross, Captain.
MAL: Way I remember it, albatross was a ship's good luck, till some idiot killed it. (to Inara) Yes, I've read a poem. Try not to faint.
MAL: Advice from an old tracker: you want to find someone, use your eyes.
OPERATIVE: How long do you think you can really run from us?
MAL: I never credited the Alliance with an overabundance of brains. And if you're the best they got...
OPERATIVE: Captain Reynolds... I should tell you, so that you don't waste your time... you can't make me angry.
INARA: Please, spend an hour with him.
OPERATIVE: Nothing here is what it seems. He isn't the plucky hero. The Alliance isn't some evil empire. This is not the grand arena.
INARA: And that's not incense. (BOOM! Good for Inara.)
INARA: We've every reason to be afraid.
JAYNE: Why, 'cause this guy beat up Mal? That ain't so hard.
MAL: He didn't beat me up. Nobody said that.
MAL: Look, we get back to Haven in a few hours' time...
JAYNE: Oh, yeah. Hiding under the Shepherd's skirts... that's a manful scheme.
MAL: You wanna run this ship?
JAYNE: (bluntly) Yes.
MAL: (surprised by Jayne's directness) Well... you can't!
JAYNE: Do a damn sight better job than you. Getting us lashed over a couple of strays. No offense, Doc. I think it's noble as a grape the way you look to River. But she ain't my sister and she ain't your crew. Oh, and neither is she exactly helpless. So, where's it writ that we got to lay down our lives for her? Which is what you've steered us toward.
MAL: I didn't start this.
JAYNE: No, that's right. Alliance starts the war, and then you volunteer. Battle of Serenity, Mal. Besides Zoe here, how many... (Mal starts to walk away.) Hey, I'm talking at you! How many men in your platoon came out of there alive?
MAL: I got no answers for you, Inara. I got no rudder. Wind blows northerly, I go north. That's who I am. Now, maybe that ain't a man to lead, but they have to follow. So you wanna tear me down, do it inside your own mind.
INARA: I'm not trying to tear you down.
MAL: But you fog things up! You always have. You spin me about. (A beat.) I wish like hell you was elsewhere. (He leaves.)
INARA: I was.
MAL: (to River) The government's man, he says you're a danger to us. Not worth helping. Is he right? Are you anything but a weapon? I've staked my crew's life on the theory you're a person, actual and whole, and if I'm wrong, you'd best shoot me now. (River cocks her gun.) Or we could talk more.
ZOE: This is us, at Haven, and here's Miranda. All along here - that empty space in between? That's Reaver territory. They just float out there, sending out raiding parties. You go through that, you're signing up to be a banquet.
WASH: I'm on board with our standard run-and-hide scenario.
MAL: Don't move.
BOOK: Won't go far.
MAL: Shouldn't have been you. Alliance should've hit us. Should've hit me.
BOOK: That crossed my mind. (A beat.) I shot him down.
MAL: Yeah. I see.
BOOK: I killed the ship... that killed us. Not very Christian of me.
MAL: You did what's right.
BOOK: Coming from you, that means almost nothing. (Another beat.) I'm long gone.
MAL: No, Doc will bring you around. I look to be bored by many more sermons before you slip. Just don't move.
BOOK: Can't order me around, boy. I'm not one of your crew.
MAL: Yes... you are.
OPERATIVE: I'm sorry. If your quarry goes to ground, leave no ground to go to. You should have taken my offer. Or did you think none of this was your fault?
MAL: I don't murder children.
OPERATIVE: I do. If I have to.
MAL: Why? Do you even know why they sent you?
OPERATIVE: It's not my place to ask. I believe in something greater than myself. A better world. A world without sin.
MAL: So me and mine gotta lay down and die so you can live in your better world?
OPERATIVE: I'm not going to live there. There's no place for me there any more than there is for you. Malcolm... I'm a monster. What I do is evil. I have no illusions about it, but it must be done.
MAL: Keep talking. You're not getting a location trace off this wave.
OPERATIVE: And every minute you keep River Tam from me, more people will die.
MAL: You think I care?
OPERATIVE: Of course you care. You're not a Reaver, Mal. You're a human man.
ZOE: Sir... do you really mean to turn our home into an abomination so that we can make a suicidal attempt at passing through Reaver space?
MAL: I mean to live.
KAYLEE: What are they doing? What's everybody doing?
SIMON: There's no unusual discoloration. Nobody's doubled over or showing signs of pain.
MAL: There's gasses that kill painless, right?
INARA: They didn't fall. None of them. They just... lay down.
RIVER: (Chinese muttering, then:) Make them stop! They're everywhere! Every city, every... every house, every room! They're all inside me. I can hear them all, and they're saying nothing! Get up. Please get up. (More Chinese.) Please, God, make me a stone...
JAYNE: (freaked out) She is starting to damage my calm.
ZOE: Jayne...
JAYNE: She's right! Everybody's dead. This whole world is dead for no reason!
RECORDING: ... these are just a few of the few images we've recorded. And you can see it isn't what we thought. There's been no war here... and no terraforming event. The environment is stable. It's the Pax. The G-Paxilon Hydroclorate that we added to the air processors. It was supposed to calm the population - weed out aggression. Well, it works. The people here stopped fighting. And then they stopped everything else. They stopped going to work... they stopped breeding, talking, eating. There's thirty million people here, and they all just let themselves die. (We hear a commotion in the background.) I have to be quick. About a tenth of a percent of the population had the opposite reaction to the Pax. Their aggressor response increased beyond madness. They have become... (We hear more noise in the background.) Well, they've killed most of us. And not just killed. They've done things...
WASH: (realization dawning) Reavers. They made them!
MAL: This report is maybe twelve years old. Parliament buried it, and it stayed buried till River dug it up. This is what they feared she knew. And they were right to fear... because there's a whole universe of folk who are gonna know it, too. They're gonna see it. Somebody has to speak for these people. (A beat.) You all got on this boat for different reasons... but you all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything I know this: they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, they'll swing back to the belief that they can make people... better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running. I aim to misbehave.
ZOE: (to Mal) We need to draw them till it's done. This is the place. We'll buy you the time.
JAYNE: All right, let's move those crates back there for cover. Make sure they ain't filled with nothing goes boom.
KAYLEE: Wait, Wash! Where's Wash?
ZOE: He ain't coming. (And the long moment of silence that follows is devastating - as is the look on Kaylee's face.)
JAYNE: Captain's right. Can't be thinking on revenge if we're gonna get through this.
ZOE: Do you really think any of us are gonna get through this?
JAYNE: Well, I might!
SIMON: I never planned... anything. I just wanted to keep River safe. Spent so much time on Serenity ignoring anything that I wanted for myself. My one regret in all of this... is never being with you.
KAYLEE: With me? You mean to say, as... sex?
SIMON: I mean to say.
(Kaylee gathers her resolve.)
KAYLEE: The hell with this! I'm gonna live!
MAL: You shot me in the back! I haven't made you angry, have I?
OPERATIVE: There are a lot of innocent people in the air being killed right now.
MAL: You have no idea how true that is. I know the secret. The truth that burned up
River Tam's brain. Rest of the 'verse is going to know it, too. 'Cause they need to.
OPERATIVE: Do you really believe that?
MAL: I do.
OPERATIVE: You willing to die for that belief?
MAL: I am. (Then he fires his gun at the Operative several times.) Of course, that ain't exactly Plan A.
OPERATIVE: Do you know what your sin is, Mal?
MAL: Ah, hell. I'm a fan of all seven. (They continue to struggle.) But right now... I'm gonna have to go with wrath.
OPERATIVE: You should know there's no shame in this. You've done remarkable things. But you're fighting a war you've already lost.
MAL: Yeah, well I'm known for that.
MAL: (to the Operative) Sorry about the throat. Expect you'd want to say your famous last words right now. Just one trouble: I ain't gonna kill you. Hell, I'm gonna grant your greatest wish. I'm gonna show you a world without sin.
OPERATIVE: It's not over, you know. I can't guarantee that they won't come after you. The Parliament. Your broadwave about Miranda has weakened their regime. But they are not gone, and they are not... forgiving.
MAL: That don't bode especially well for you... giving the order to let us go, patching up our hurt...
OPERATIVE: I told them the Tams were no longer a threat. Damage done. They might listen... but I think they know I'm no longer their man.
MAL: They take you down, I don't expect to grieve over much. Like to kill you myself, I see you again.
OPERATIVE: You won't. There is nothing left to see.
ZOE: Sir, we have a green light. Inspection's pos, and we're clear for up-thrust.
MAL: (talking about more than one thing) Think she'll hold together?
ZOE: (also talking about more than one thing) She's tore up plenty. But she'll fly true.
MAL: You know what the first rule of flying is? Well, I suppose you do, since you already know what I'm about to say.
RIVER: I do. But I like to hear you say it.
MAL: Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse... but you take a boat in the air that you don't love... she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down... tells you she's hurting before she keels. Makes her a home.
RIVER: Storm's getting worse.
MAL: We'll pass through it soon enough.
And here, at last, we come to the culmination (unless you count the comics) of Joss Whedon's greatest series - a cruel yet satisfying movie that amplifies the pro-liberty and pro-human themes to be found in the original fourteen television episodes.
Plot Synopsis:
A few contributors have written a plot synopsis at IMDB here.
(Apologies. Normally speaking, for such a high-rated production, one of us would compose an original synopsis, but certain family-related circumstances have made that impossible this week.)
The Skinny:
Stephanie S.: It can be argued that all of the major themes of this magnificent film are developed through the evolution of the principals. On the side of right - well, at least by the end of the movie - we have Mal. At the start, the writers imply that quite a bit of time has passed since the events of Objects in Space and that Mal and his crew has struggled to keep afloat in the meantime. This time of tribulation, we can see, has made Mal hard and bitter. Focused purely on the survival of his ragtag team, he is even willing to go so far as to deny another human being escape from a Reaver attack. When Zoe confronts Mal about this later, it becomes evident that Mal is teetering on the edge of choosing naked self-interest over the beliefs that drove him during the war. He is - as he himself observes in a much later scene - a man who has lost his moral rudder.
As the plot of the movie unfolds, however, Mal rediscovers his Browncoat idealism. In the face of horrifying evidence of the Alliance's illiberal and immoral willingness to experiment with human beings, he becomes a hero. What makes him thus? He recognizes that there are things - ideas - in the 'verse that must be put before his own instinct for self-preservation, and he finds the strength to risk death for a cause. But beyond that, he latches onto a cause that is right. It is not enough to simply believe - the content of the belief definitely matters. If your convictions are based on love and hope and liberty - as Mal's ultimately are - they are good.
On the other hand, the movie implies, if your convictions are based on an underlying contempt for and a desire to control your fellow fallen human beings, they are evil. Whedon is not a Christian, yet it's astonishing how much his development of the Operative cleaves to the Church's ethical teaching. The Church tells us that any act can be judged based on two elements: its intent and its execution. The Church further stresses that both elements matter; thus, Christianity teaches that the best acts are those that combine good intent with good results and that no evil should be performed so that good can come from it. Of course, the Church also takes into consideration a variety of subjective circumstances that influence every ethical decision, but the fact remains that Whedon's Operative perfectly embodies the Church's point that the particulars of an action matter just as much as the ideals that drive it. The Operative is willing to die for his own cause, but he is villainous because he has chosen an earth-bound "utopia" that seeks to "perfect" man by any means necessary - means that include engineering human weapons (River) and essentially murdering millions of innocent people in an attempt to scientifically quell their baser impulses.
And hell yes, my co-author is right below - the evil we see in the Operative and in the operation on Miranda is profoundly and immediately relevant to our post-modern world in which a variety of ideologies have embraced a consciousness of man's sin while losing sight of the love of God. Current-day forms of Marxism - or the now very powerful environmental movement - seek to impose the Cross on mankind while neglecting the hope of the Resurrection. These movements punish while pretending to be compassionate.
SABR Matt: There are three themes that are of deep importance to me that make this movie one of the best sci-fi presentations I've had the pleasure of viewing.
First and foremost - the (highlighted) line that makes my blood boil over with passionate acclamation that serves as the most well-known theme of this canon:
Sure as I know anything I know this: they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, they'll swing back to the belief that they can make people... better. And I do not hold to that.
This desire to engineer God's greatest creation...to make us in the image of an anointed elite...to control what that group fears most - the sometimes chaotic and always freedom-loving voice of the people - is currently destroying the science to which I've dedicated my life (atmospheric science - now run amok with a multinational green movement more interested in culling the global population and creating world government than in actually pursuing real science). It has made mockery of well-meaning religions, torn apart Europe on several occasions, and led to the greatest evils of any generation. Whenever we try to play God...unspeakable horrors follow.
Second, the cure for this evil is made known at the end of the story - love. Love makes us do impossible things. Love for one's brothers in arms, or for the families back home who need their protection, allows men to face terror on a daily basis in the service of the military. Love for our soul mate allows us to overcome our petty personal desires and dedicate ourselves to the propagation of the species (and to a more perfect relationship with God). Love for our country brings us to the streets when protest is required and allows us to sacrifice for a cause greater than ourselves. And above it all...love comes from God. His love is stronger than any evil. No matter what happens on this, our flawed planet (filled with men and women who have the desire to control our every thought and action), we can face it and overcome evil if we look to that love. Mal is not speaking only about his ship when he talks about love as they prepare to take off at the end. Any great Captain does form a relationship with the ship that bears him home...but we all know to what he is referring. Even if he, himself, cannot admit it.
And finally, there are the more subtle undertones about the intrinsic value of human life. No matter how River Tam might threaten Serenity, her life still has value. She cannot be cast aside simply to make things easier for all who dwell within. Her life, the lives of those turned mad by the Pax (yes...even those Reavers...though they must be exterminated for the good of the rest...we mourn for the loss of those peoples' souls), the lives of those who simply stopped caring about their own lives...all of those lives have value and treating that life like a commodity on which experiments can be done for the "greater good"...is never an acceptable morality. The same reason Communism does not work (and inevitably leads to corruption and the violation of the inalienable rights of the people) applies. Government should not treat its' population like beans in a jar...there is an INFINITE value to each life. It cannot be measured and compared...there is no cost-benefit analysis when dealing with human lives.
When you put such POTENT messages on top of a brilliantly written, engaging story and add in some fabulous acting performances and a dash of much-needed humor throughout...you get a thoroughly satisfying experience.
Writing: 10.0 / 10.0
Whedon pens an action-packed and morally grounded story that gives every character in the ensemble his or her moment in the sun. In the process, he manages to sprinkle in those Whedonesque touches of humor - from the characterization of Mr. Universe to River's child-like report that she swallowed a bug during the first great escape from the Reavers - that attracted us to this author's oeuvre to begin with. In short, this script is a true tour de force - a magnificent contribution to the genre of science fiction.
SABR Matt Chimes In: I can't find a single hole in this script. The full range of emotions are perfectly choreographed to tug on the heart strings. The words choices are magnificent and pleasing to the ear and the mind. The direction and staging of each scene is creative and effective. I challenge anyone to find one reason to complain.
Acting: 9.0 / 9.5
Performance-wise, I noticed moments of awkwardness here and there, but those moments were few and far between. For the most part, the ensemble makes the transition to the big screen with consummate skill. I was particularly impressed with Summer Glau, whose dance background really comes to the fore in River's action sequences.
SABR Matt Chimes In: Nathan Fillion, Summer Glau and Jewel Staite were the top performers, if you ask me, though Chiwetel Ejofor (The Operative) had many top moments as well - as did Ron Glass and Gina Torres. Forget about finding anything majorly off-putting about the acting and just enjoy the show.
Message: 10.0 / 10.0 +++++++++
What grabbed me in this movie on first viewing five years ago was its uncompromising attack on social engineering. As I implied above, Serenity is a cautionary tale that should encourage our elites to think twice before foisting their idea of utopia upon the rest of us.
SABR Matt Chimes In: I've said my fill in my main comments. I wish I could scream this message directly into the minds of people like Michael Mann and James Hansen (climate change opportunists of the worst kind). Of course, I'll simply be characterized as a denier or as an irrational angry man by folks like them (and by the media), but for now, I'll settle for believing that, eventually, reality will reach these people. If this seems like a tangent to the readers...go back and reread my comments in the Skinny section above...I assure you...it's directly relevant.
Highlights:
TEACHER: It's true that there are dangers on the outer planets. So with so many social and medical advancements we can bring to the Independents why would they fight so hard against us?
YOUNG RIVER: We meddle.
TEACHER: River?
YOUNG RIVER: People don't like to be meddled with. We tell them what to do, what to think. Don't run, don't walk. We're in their homes and in their heads and we haven't the right. We're meddlesome.
TEACHER: River, we're not telling people what to think. We're just trying to show them how.
OPERATIVE: You know, in certain older civilized cultures when men failed as entirely as you have, they would throw themselves on their swords.
MATHIAS: Well, unfortunately, I forgot to bring a sword. (Ah, but the Operative has one handy. Indeed, he whips it out right at this moment, and a light of fear is kindled in Mathias' eyes.) I would put that down right now, if I were you.
OPERATIVE: Would you be killed in your sleep like an ailing pet?
MAL: Did the primary buffer panel just fall off my gorram ship for no apparent reason?
WASH: Looks like.
MAL: I thought Kaylee checked the entry couplings.
WASH: I've a clear memory of it. If she doesn't get us extra flow from the engine room to offset the burn-through, this landing is gonna get pretty interesting.
MAL: Define "interesting."
WASH: Oh God, oh God, we're all gonna die?
(Mal gets on the horn.)
MAL: This is the captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence,
so we may experience some slight turbulence... and then explode.
JAYNE: We're gonna explode? I don't wanna explode.
MAL: (noting what Jayne is packing) Jayne, how many weapons you plan on taking? You only got two arms.
JAYNE: I just get excitable as to choice. Like to have my options open.
MAL: I don't plan on any shooting taking place during this job.
JAYNE: What you plan and what takes place ain't ever exactly been similar
MAL: Listen up! We're coming down to empty that vault!
GUARD: (calling up from within said vault) You have to give me your authorization password!
(Jayne fires a few rounds down into the hatch. A beat.)
GUARD: Okay!
MAL: The leg is good. It'll bleed plenty, and we avoid any necessary organs.
GUARD: I was thinking more of a graze.
MAL: No, you don't want it to look like you gave up.
(After the early flight from the Reavers.)
SIMON: River?
RIVER: (dazed) I swallowed a bug.
MAL: Man has to cut loose, learn to stand on his own.
ZOE: Like that man back in town?
MAL: I had to shoot him. What Reavers would've done before they killed him...
ZOE: I know. That was a piece of mercy. But before that, him begging us to bring him along...
MAL: We couldn't take the weight. Would've slowed us down.
ZOE: You know that for certain?
MAL: Mule won't run with five. I should've dumped the girl? Or you? Or Jayne? Oh, Jayne...
ZOE: You could've tossed the payload.
MAL: (scoffing) Tossed the... Zoe, I got bits falling off my ship, I got a crew ain't been paid, and, oh, yeah, a powerful need to eat sometime this month. We tell Fanty and Mingo we skunked the job what do you think they'll do to us? (A beat.) We're close to gone out here. We get a job, we got to make good.
ZOE: Sir, I don't disagree on any particular point. It's just... in a time of war, we would've never left a man stranded.
MAL: Maybe that's why we lost.
KAYLEE: When I carried such a torch, when we could've... We're going on a year now I ain't had nothing twixt my nethers that weren't run on batteries!
MAL: Oh, God! I can't know that!
JAYNE: I could stand to hear a little more.
MAL: (to Simon) I believe you've got some storytelling to do. What the hell happened back there?
WASH: Can you start with the part where Jayne gets knocked out by a ninety-pound girl? 'Cause I don't think that's ever getting old.
MAL: I could have left her there. I had an out. Hell, I had every reason in the 'verse to leave her lay and haul anchor.
BOOK: It's not your way, Mal.
MAL: I have a way? That better than a plan?
BOOK: Only one thing is gonna walk you through this, Mal: belief.
MAL: You know I always look to you for counsel, but sermons make me sleepy, Shepherd. I ain't looking for help from on high. That's a long wait for a train that don't come.
BOOK: When I talk about belief, why do you always assume I'm talking about God? (A beat.) They'll come at you sideways. It's how they think. It's how they move. Sidle up and smile. Hit you where you're weak. Sort of man they're like to send believes hard. Kills and never asks why.
MAL: It's of interest to me how much you seem to know about that world.
BOOK: I wasn't born a Shepherd, Mal.
MAL: Have to tell me about that sometime.
BOOK: No, I don't.
KAYLEE: But how can you be sure Inara don't just wanna see you? Sometimes people
have feelings. And I'm referring here to people.
MAL: You all were watching, I take it?
KAYLEE: Yes.
MAL: Did you see us fight?
KAYLEE: No.
MAL: Trap.
MAL: Zoe, ship is yours. And remember, if anything happens to me or if you don't hear from me within the hour, you take this ship and you come and you rescue me.
ZOE: What? Risk my ship?
MAL: I mean it. It's cold out there. And I don't wanna get left.
MAL: Dear Buddha, please bring me a pony, and a plastic rocket, and...
INARA: Mal! What are you doing here?
MAL: Well, you invited me.
INARA: I never thought for a second you'd be stupid enough to come!
MAL: Well, that makes you kind of a tease, doesn't it?
OPERATIVE: I think you're beginning to understand how dangerous River Tam is.
MAL: She is a mite unpredictable. Mood swings, of a sort.
OPERATIVE: It's worse than you know.
MAL: It usually is.
OPERATIVE: That girl will rain destruction down on you and your ship. She is an albatross, Captain.
MAL: Way I remember it, albatross was a ship's good luck, till some idiot killed it. (to Inara) Yes, I've read a poem. Try not to faint.
MAL: Advice from an old tracker: you want to find someone, use your eyes.
OPERATIVE: How long do you think you can really run from us?
MAL: I never credited the Alliance with an overabundance of brains. And if you're the best they got...
OPERATIVE: Captain Reynolds... I should tell you, so that you don't waste your time... you can't make me angry.
INARA: Please, spend an hour with him.
OPERATIVE: Nothing here is what it seems. He isn't the plucky hero. The Alliance isn't some evil empire. This is not the grand arena.
INARA: And that's not incense. (BOOM! Good for Inara.)
INARA: We've every reason to be afraid.
JAYNE: Why, 'cause this guy beat up Mal? That ain't so hard.
MAL: He didn't beat me up. Nobody said that.
MAL: Look, we get back to Haven in a few hours' time...
JAYNE: Oh, yeah. Hiding under the Shepherd's skirts... that's a manful scheme.
MAL: You wanna run this ship?
JAYNE: (bluntly) Yes.
MAL: (surprised by Jayne's directness) Well... you can't!
JAYNE: Do a damn sight better job than you. Getting us lashed over a couple of strays. No offense, Doc. I think it's noble as a grape the way you look to River. But she ain't my sister and she ain't your crew. Oh, and neither is she exactly helpless. So, where's it writ that we got to lay down our lives for her? Which is what you've steered us toward.
MAL: I didn't start this.
JAYNE: No, that's right. Alliance starts the war, and then you volunteer. Battle of Serenity, Mal. Besides Zoe here, how many... (Mal starts to walk away.) Hey, I'm talking at you! How many men in your platoon came out of there alive?
MAL: I got no answers for you, Inara. I got no rudder. Wind blows northerly, I go north. That's who I am. Now, maybe that ain't a man to lead, but they have to follow. So you wanna tear me down, do it inside your own mind.
INARA: I'm not trying to tear you down.
MAL: But you fog things up! You always have. You spin me about. (A beat.) I wish like hell you was elsewhere. (He leaves.)
INARA: I was.
MAL: (to River) The government's man, he says you're a danger to us. Not worth helping. Is he right? Are you anything but a weapon? I've staked my crew's life on the theory you're a person, actual and whole, and if I'm wrong, you'd best shoot me now. (River cocks her gun.) Or we could talk more.
ZOE: This is us, at Haven, and here's Miranda. All along here - that empty space in between? That's Reaver territory. They just float out there, sending out raiding parties. You go through that, you're signing up to be a banquet.
WASH: I'm on board with our standard run-and-hide scenario.
MAL: Don't move.
BOOK: Won't go far.
MAL: Shouldn't have been you. Alliance should've hit us. Should've hit me.
BOOK: That crossed my mind. (A beat.) I shot him down.
MAL: Yeah. I see.
BOOK: I killed the ship... that killed us. Not very Christian of me.
MAL: You did what's right.
BOOK: Coming from you, that means almost nothing. (Another beat.) I'm long gone.
MAL: No, Doc will bring you around. I look to be bored by many more sermons before you slip. Just don't move.
BOOK: Can't order me around, boy. I'm not one of your crew.
MAL: Yes... you are.
OPERATIVE: I'm sorry. If your quarry goes to ground, leave no ground to go to. You should have taken my offer. Or did you think none of this was your fault?
MAL: I don't murder children.
OPERATIVE: I do. If I have to.
MAL: Why? Do you even know why they sent you?
OPERATIVE: It's not my place to ask. I believe in something greater than myself. A better world. A world without sin.
MAL: So me and mine gotta lay down and die so you can live in your better world?
OPERATIVE: I'm not going to live there. There's no place for me there any more than there is for you. Malcolm... I'm a monster. What I do is evil. I have no illusions about it, but it must be done.
MAL: Keep talking. You're not getting a location trace off this wave.
OPERATIVE: And every minute you keep River Tam from me, more people will die.
MAL: You think I care?
OPERATIVE: Of course you care. You're not a Reaver, Mal. You're a human man.
ZOE: Sir... do you really mean to turn our home into an abomination so that we can make a suicidal attempt at passing through Reaver space?
MAL: I mean to live.
KAYLEE: What are they doing? What's everybody doing?
SIMON: There's no unusual discoloration. Nobody's doubled over or showing signs of pain.
MAL: There's gasses that kill painless, right?
INARA: They didn't fall. None of them. They just... lay down.
RIVER: (Chinese muttering, then:) Make them stop! They're everywhere! Every city, every... every house, every room! They're all inside me. I can hear them all, and they're saying nothing! Get up. Please get up. (More Chinese.) Please, God, make me a stone...
JAYNE: (freaked out) She is starting to damage my calm.
ZOE: Jayne...
JAYNE: She's right! Everybody's dead. This whole world is dead for no reason!
RECORDING: ... these are just a few of the few images we've recorded. And you can see it isn't what we thought. There's been no war here... and no terraforming event. The environment is stable. It's the Pax. The G-Paxilon Hydroclorate that we added to the air processors. It was supposed to calm the population - weed out aggression. Well, it works. The people here stopped fighting. And then they stopped everything else. They stopped going to work... they stopped breeding, talking, eating. There's thirty million people here, and they all just let themselves die. (We hear a commotion in the background.) I have to be quick. About a tenth of a percent of the population had the opposite reaction to the Pax. Their aggressor response increased beyond madness. They have become... (We hear more noise in the background.) Well, they've killed most of us. And not just killed. They've done things...
WASH: (realization dawning) Reavers. They made them!
MAL: This report is maybe twelve years old. Parliament buried it, and it stayed buried till River dug it up. This is what they feared she knew. And they were right to fear... because there's a whole universe of folk who are gonna know it, too. They're gonna see it. Somebody has to speak for these people. (A beat.) You all got on this boat for different reasons... but you all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything I know this: they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, they'll swing back to the belief that they can make people... better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running. I aim to misbehave.
ZOE: (to Mal) We need to draw them till it's done. This is the place. We'll buy you the time.
JAYNE: All right, let's move those crates back there for cover. Make sure they ain't filled with nothing goes boom.
KAYLEE: Wait, Wash! Where's Wash?
ZOE: He ain't coming. (And the long moment of silence that follows is devastating - as is the look on Kaylee's face.)
JAYNE: Captain's right. Can't be thinking on revenge if we're gonna get through this.
ZOE: Do you really think any of us are gonna get through this?
JAYNE: Well, I might!
SIMON: I never planned... anything. I just wanted to keep River safe. Spent so much time on Serenity ignoring anything that I wanted for myself. My one regret in all of this... is never being with you.
KAYLEE: With me? You mean to say, as... sex?
SIMON: I mean to say.
(Kaylee gathers her resolve.)
KAYLEE: The hell with this! I'm gonna live!
MAL: You shot me in the back! I haven't made you angry, have I?
OPERATIVE: There are a lot of innocent people in the air being killed right now.
MAL: You have no idea how true that is. I know the secret. The truth that burned up
River Tam's brain. Rest of the 'verse is going to know it, too. 'Cause they need to.
OPERATIVE: Do you really believe that?
MAL: I do.
OPERATIVE: You willing to die for that belief?
MAL: I am. (Then he fires his gun at the Operative several times.) Of course, that ain't exactly Plan A.
OPERATIVE: Do you know what your sin is, Mal?
MAL: Ah, hell. I'm a fan of all seven. (They continue to struggle.) But right now... I'm gonna have to go with wrath.
OPERATIVE: You should know there's no shame in this. You've done remarkable things. But you're fighting a war you've already lost.
MAL: Yeah, well I'm known for that.
MAL: (to the Operative) Sorry about the throat. Expect you'd want to say your famous last words right now. Just one trouble: I ain't gonna kill you. Hell, I'm gonna grant your greatest wish. I'm gonna show you a world without sin.
OPERATIVE: It's not over, you know. I can't guarantee that they won't come after you. The Parliament. Your broadwave about Miranda has weakened their regime. But they are not gone, and they are not... forgiving.
MAL: That don't bode especially well for you... giving the order to let us go, patching up our hurt...
OPERATIVE: I told them the Tams were no longer a threat. Damage done. They might listen... but I think they know I'm no longer their man.
MAL: They take you down, I don't expect to grieve over much. Like to kill you myself, I see you again.
OPERATIVE: You won't. There is nothing left to see.
ZOE: Sir, we have a green light. Inspection's pos, and we're clear for up-thrust.
MAL: (talking about more than one thing) Think she'll hold together?
ZOE: (also talking about more than one thing) She's tore up plenty. But she'll fly true.
MAL: You know what the first rule of flying is? Well, I suppose you do, since you already know what I'm about to say.
RIVER: I do. But I like to hear you say it.
MAL: Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse... but you take a boat in the air that you don't love... she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down... tells you she's hurting before she keels. Makes her a home.
RIVER: Storm's getting worse.
MAL: We'll pass through it soon enough.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Link of Interest: Evil Corporations in Movies (With Terrible Business Plans)
6 Evil Corporations in Movies (With Terrible Business Plans)
By Rohan Ramakrishnan @ CRACKED.COM
Indeed!
(Hat tip to a friend on Live Journal.)
By Rohan Ramakrishnan @ CRACKED.COM
The unethical, profit-hungry megacorporation is a pretty standard movie villain; they sacrifice morality for money, giving the hero something to fight against while also demonstrating the evils of capitalism in perhaps the most ham-handed way possible.
But when you think about it, despite all their supposed greed, they're pretty terrible at making money.
Indeed!
(Hat tip to a friend on Live Journal.)
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Links of Interest: More Pixar Love
Our ideological compatriots over at Big Hollywood have been writing a whole series of blog posts that heap much love upon Pixar. Their thoughts don't always reflect our own, but these posts are worth reading anyway:
Thanks for the Memories, Woody, Buzz, and Co.
by Christian Toto
A Monument to Creativity and Free Enterprise
by Brad Schaeffer
The Pixar Rules
by Leo Grin
Top Five Greatest Pixar Films of All Time!
by Cam Cannon
Thanks for the Memories, Woody, Buzz, and Co.
by Christian Toto
A Monument to Creativity and Free Enterprise
by Brad Schaeffer
The Pixar Rules
by Leo Grin
Top Five Greatest Pixar Films of All Time!
by Cam Cannon
At the Movies: Toy Story 3
Overall Rating: 9.9
In the first (and therefore most creative) Toy Story, the animators at Pixar asked simply...what if our childhood things were alive...what if, when we weren't there to notice, they came to life and fought for our affections? The theme then was the replacement of simpler (younger) toys with modern flashy ones (and finding room in one's heart for both). In the second installment, they deal with the inhumanity of collection for the sake of greed, rather than love. And now, finally, they deal with a moment in life that we can all relate to...the end of childhood and the passing of that part of ourselves that is truly innocent enough to play with the same wonder and unbridled joy we once carried.
I'm going to break format a bit here and give my own review as a critical counter to this review by cynical Armond White of the New York Press and NPR fame. White has a long history of annoyingly pseudo-intellectual and arrogant condemnations of Hollywood's most popular works and this one has to be considered one of his least insightful reviews to date. We open our own review with a stern wag of the finger to this stuffy, self-congratulatory little man. We can tell he's very intelligent from some of his other reviews, but don't believe he honestly gave this movie a chance...or even watched it with an appropriately critical eye.
Plot Synopsis:
Woody and the gang are still with their best buddy (Andy), but he hasn't touched his toy chest in years. They try desperately to get his attention, but he's got other things on his mind. He's heading off to college in a week and his room is being cleared...the toys all fear the worst - they may soon be headed to the dump or stuffed away in the attic where they'll fall into disuse and disrepair. Andy must choose what to do with his old things (he even calls them junk in a moment of frustration!), and he decides to put them in storage with the exception of his long-time friend Woody, which will come with him to college as a sort of security blanket. Unfortunately, in a moment of miscommunication, the toys wind up on the street corner and are about to be thrown away when they engineer their own escape and try to get back into the house, winding up in a box of toys donated by Andy's sister. That box (which includes a Barbie doll amongst other more female toys to add to the cast) winds up at Sunnyside Day Care.
At first, most of Andy's toys believe this to be a miracle. They meet the facility's head toy - a bear named Lotso Hugs who seems friendly and helpful at first glance - and are made to realize that they'll be played with for as long as they stay in one piece. As children grow up, they are simply replaced, unlike their near-demise at the hands of the aging Andy. Woody, however, is unwilling to accept this loveless (albeit never-ending) arrangement. He wants to go back to his one owner, but none of the rest believe him when he claims that Andy meant for them to go into the attic. He engineers a daring escape, but is inadvertently claimed by a sweet little girl named Bonnie before he can return home.
Meanwhile, the toys discover that they've been placed in the toddler's room at day care. Toddlers are too young to play with these kinds of toys correctly - they run screaming inside and beat the hell out of every toy in the room in their exuberance. When Buzz decides to speak with Lotso and try to get reassigned to a more age-appropriate room, he is met by a gang of jading veterans of the facility who, when they sense that Buzz will not cooperate with their bully-master's tyrannical rules, return him to his factory demo mode and use him to imprison his friends in the Butterfly room.
Woody's fate is much kinder - Bonnie is very good to her toys and he has a fun time being played with amongst Bonnie's friendly possessions, but he still belongs to Andy and yearns to go home. Believing the rest of Andy's toys are happy where they are, he looks up Andy's address online, but when he mentions Sunnyside to the others, they warn him that Sunnyside is a place of despair run by a despot. One of Bonnie's toys tells the story of Lotso's fall from beloved childhood possession to lost toy (who discovers he's been replaced by his owner) to bitter, world-weary dictator. Hearing that his friends are in trouble, Andy sneaks back into Sunnyside and helps his friends engineer what has to be one of the most intricate and fascinating escapes I've ever seen in film. They break their bonds, tackle Sunnyside's guard-toys, try to reach the dumpster and escape to the street below...but are stopped at the last minute by Lotso and his chief thug Big Baby (amongst others).
Woody tries to bargain for their freedom, but Lotso's rage can't be stopped...that is...until Woody tells Big Baby and the rest of Lotso's thugs about Lotso's past and Big Baby turns on Lotso and throws him into the dumpster. The rest of the toys, along with Lotso, wind up in the dumpster and on their way to the dump! Once there, they are swept up by the dump's trash masher and incinerator and nearly destroyed (until the little green men from the Pizza Planet commandeer "The Claw!" and rescue the group.
Lotso gets what he deserves...a life as a hood ornament on an 18-wheeler! The rest of Andy's toys make their way back to Andy's just in time for his departure and Woody, in a final act of kindness, rescues them all from a life in the attic by writing a note suggesting that Andy donate his toys to Bonnie. When he takes them to her, he has a sweet little story about all of them in the fond hope that she will treat them as well as he did. He intends to keep Woody, but when he sees how much Bonnie loves him, he tells her to take really good care of his best friend. Meanwhile, the toys at Sunnyside (including Andy's army men, who deserted at the beginning of the movie) report that life is much better now that Lotso's gang has been broken and we see them tag-teaming the toddlers' playroom.
Writing: 10.0
I have to wonder just what on Earth movie Mr. White was watching when his chief criticism (that the film was "so besotted with brand names and product placements that the message about childhood innocence is lost") makes no sense? Yes, there were toys with a recognizable brand name attached to them. It's a movie about toys...there are going to be toys that modern Americans will recognize (in fact, one of the things that makes the writing so enjoyable in this movie is the game every audience member can play - "Oh, I had that toy!")...but of the main characters (not the bit parts that surround Andy's family of toys like Ken and Barbie - inserted into this story to light-heartedly MAKE FUN OF that franchise, Arnold...not to celebrate it)...there are but TWO with a brand name. Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. That's it. The rest don't even exist in the real world (well OK, there probably are slinky dogs and of course there are toy dinosaurs, but the toy dinosaur didn't have a brand name!). Woody the Cowboy is from what toy maker, precisely? How about Buzz Lightyear...the non-existent action figure? In fact, we saw exactly one brand name logo in the entire film...the Fisher Price phone.
My own take on the writing in this show - once again, the folks at Pixar managed to blend family-appropriate human themes (like the loss of innocence and wonder we experience as we leave our childhood behind for college and the real pain we feel when our usefulness is over or replaced) with plenty of adult-pleasing humor (like Buzz Lightyear's "Spanish Mode" and "The Claw!" to the rescue) to produce a movie that is deeply satisfying to all ages. Mr. White should try having FUN when he watches a film rather than getting into a competition with himself over how elite he can sound and how he can find a way to be unique from his fellow critics. I know, somewhere in his chest, beats the heart of the child he used to be. He should try to find that child.
One other final writing comment...everyone I know who has seen Toy Story 3 walks away saying they found the movie genuinely suspenseful. There are many moments where the audience is absolutely certain that some main character (or many) are going to be destroyed. The fact that we have such an emotional connection with these toys ought to tell Mr. White how strong Pixar is with human characterization. The fact that this script is able to defeat our usual movie-going assumption that no beloved character can really die unless it's "that kind of movie" and make us believe Slinky Dog or Mr. Potato Head or even Buzz Lightyear is about to die is a testament to the skill with which the plot of this movie was crafted.
Acting: 9.5
The all-star voice cast is largely back (minus a couple of unfortunate deaths since Toy Story 2 aired in 1999) and new characters like Lotso and Ken are cast with equal brilliance. There is only so much an actor can do with his voice, and a lot of the credit for the emotional resonance this film strikes has to go to the animators and the script writers, but Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, et. al., really do exemplify the character traits embodied by their toy characters. Woody (the deeply loyal companion for which Tom Hanks' voice is ideally suited), Buzz (the overpowered macho toy that represents modern boyhood so perfectly...who better than Tim the Tool Man Taylor! for that role?), Rex (one of the great comic relief characters around, played by Wallace Shawn of "The Princess Pride" fame), Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head...I mean c'mon...it's the perfect cast for these films!
Message: 10.0
No, Mr. White...the message is NOT consumerism. If you actually watched the film, then you'd know that Lotso turned evil when his owner showed that character trait and had him replaced! If anything, this movie and many other Pixar films including the first two Toy Story pictures wags its finger at greed as a character trait. Instead, the message is to take care of the things that brought us so much joy as children rather than discarding them when we're too old. Or...more to the point...the message is that there is something uniquely wonderful about this world through the imaginative and spirited eyes of a child...something lost when that child matures...something worth holding onto and remembering even when we've long outgrown out childhood things. Hint, Mr. White...half of the grown men among your colleagues in the business of film criticism say they left the movie thankful that there were some comic moments during the credits so they could dry their eyes and not look like womanly nincompoops on their way out. In the final scene where Andy hands his toys over to a good new home with a loving story for each of them, not one of my friends had dry eyes. There's a reason. And no...we're not just ignorant sheep buying into Pixar's formulaic film factory as you've said in other Pixar reviews. I wonder if you realize that you're burning bridges with your colleagues when you say things like that. I wonder if anyone you know truly appreciates you attitude toward your profession...or toward people in general.
Production Values: 10.0
Pixar's animation techniques have drastically improved since Toy Story hit the box office in 1995...but the team decided not to change the look of things in the third Toy Story installment, and I think that was a very wise choice. They kept the old look and feel of the original movies...had they gone with a spiffier modern look, I think the magic would have been lost. Whether it was intentional or not, the first two Toy Stories had a sort of childish look to them...as though we were transported into the eyes of our younger selves. Keeping that look alive for the third movie turns out to be more important to me than I realized.
In the first (and therefore most creative) Toy Story, the animators at Pixar asked simply...what if our childhood things were alive...what if, when we weren't there to notice, they came to life and fought for our affections? The theme then was the replacement of simpler (younger) toys with modern flashy ones (and finding room in one's heart for both). In the second installment, they deal with the inhumanity of collection for the sake of greed, rather than love. And now, finally, they deal with a moment in life that we can all relate to...the end of childhood and the passing of that part of ourselves that is truly innocent enough to play with the same wonder and unbridled joy we once carried.
I'm going to break format a bit here and give my own review as a critical counter to this review by cynical Armond White of the New York Press and NPR fame. White has a long history of annoyingly pseudo-intellectual and arrogant condemnations of Hollywood's most popular works and this one has to be considered one of his least insightful reviews to date. We open our own review with a stern wag of the finger to this stuffy, self-congratulatory little man. We can tell he's very intelligent from some of his other reviews, but don't believe he honestly gave this movie a chance...or even watched it with an appropriately critical eye.
Plot Synopsis:
Woody and the gang are still with their best buddy (Andy), but he hasn't touched his toy chest in years. They try desperately to get his attention, but he's got other things on his mind. He's heading off to college in a week and his room is being cleared...the toys all fear the worst - they may soon be headed to the dump or stuffed away in the attic where they'll fall into disuse and disrepair. Andy must choose what to do with his old things (he even calls them junk in a moment of frustration!), and he decides to put them in storage with the exception of his long-time friend Woody, which will come with him to college as a sort of security blanket. Unfortunately, in a moment of miscommunication, the toys wind up on the street corner and are about to be thrown away when they engineer their own escape and try to get back into the house, winding up in a box of toys donated by Andy's sister. That box (which includes a Barbie doll amongst other more female toys to add to the cast) winds up at Sunnyside Day Care.
At first, most of Andy's toys believe this to be a miracle. They meet the facility's head toy - a bear named Lotso Hugs who seems friendly and helpful at first glance - and are made to realize that they'll be played with for as long as they stay in one piece. As children grow up, they are simply replaced, unlike their near-demise at the hands of the aging Andy. Woody, however, is unwilling to accept this loveless (albeit never-ending) arrangement. He wants to go back to his one owner, but none of the rest believe him when he claims that Andy meant for them to go into the attic. He engineers a daring escape, but is inadvertently claimed by a sweet little girl named Bonnie before he can return home.
Meanwhile, the toys discover that they've been placed in the toddler's room at day care. Toddlers are too young to play with these kinds of toys correctly - they run screaming inside and beat the hell out of every toy in the room in their exuberance. When Buzz decides to speak with Lotso and try to get reassigned to a more age-appropriate room, he is met by a gang of jading veterans of the facility who, when they sense that Buzz will not cooperate with their bully-master's tyrannical rules, return him to his factory demo mode and use him to imprison his friends in the Butterfly room.
Woody's fate is much kinder - Bonnie is very good to her toys and he has a fun time being played with amongst Bonnie's friendly possessions, but he still belongs to Andy and yearns to go home. Believing the rest of Andy's toys are happy where they are, he looks up Andy's address online, but when he mentions Sunnyside to the others, they warn him that Sunnyside is a place of despair run by a despot. One of Bonnie's toys tells the story of Lotso's fall from beloved childhood possession to lost toy (who discovers he's been replaced by his owner) to bitter, world-weary dictator. Hearing that his friends are in trouble, Andy sneaks back into Sunnyside and helps his friends engineer what has to be one of the most intricate and fascinating escapes I've ever seen in film. They break their bonds, tackle Sunnyside's guard-toys, try to reach the dumpster and escape to the street below...but are stopped at the last minute by Lotso and his chief thug Big Baby (amongst others).
Woody tries to bargain for their freedom, but Lotso's rage can't be stopped...that is...until Woody tells Big Baby and the rest of Lotso's thugs about Lotso's past and Big Baby turns on Lotso and throws him into the dumpster. The rest of the toys, along with Lotso, wind up in the dumpster and on their way to the dump! Once there, they are swept up by the dump's trash masher and incinerator and nearly destroyed (until the little green men from the Pizza Planet commandeer "The Claw!" and rescue the group.
Lotso gets what he deserves...a life as a hood ornament on an 18-wheeler! The rest of Andy's toys make their way back to Andy's just in time for his departure and Woody, in a final act of kindness, rescues them all from a life in the attic by writing a note suggesting that Andy donate his toys to Bonnie. When he takes them to her, he has a sweet little story about all of them in the fond hope that she will treat them as well as he did. He intends to keep Woody, but when he sees how much Bonnie loves him, he tells her to take really good care of his best friend. Meanwhile, the toys at Sunnyside (including Andy's army men, who deserted at the beginning of the movie) report that life is much better now that Lotso's gang has been broken and we see them tag-teaming the toddlers' playroom.
Writing: 10.0
I have to wonder just what on Earth movie Mr. White was watching when his chief criticism (that the film was "so besotted with brand names and product placements that the message about childhood innocence is lost") makes no sense? Yes, there were toys with a recognizable brand name attached to them. It's a movie about toys...there are going to be toys that modern Americans will recognize (in fact, one of the things that makes the writing so enjoyable in this movie is the game every audience member can play - "Oh, I had that toy!")...but of the main characters (not the bit parts that surround Andy's family of toys like Ken and Barbie - inserted into this story to light-heartedly MAKE FUN OF that franchise, Arnold...not to celebrate it)...there are but TWO with a brand name. Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. That's it. The rest don't even exist in the real world (well OK, there probably are slinky dogs and of course there are toy dinosaurs, but the toy dinosaur didn't have a brand name!). Woody the Cowboy is from what toy maker, precisely? How about Buzz Lightyear...the non-existent action figure? In fact, we saw exactly one brand name logo in the entire film...the Fisher Price phone.
My own take on the writing in this show - once again, the folks at Pixar managed to blend family-appropriate human themes (like the loss of innocence and wonder we experience as we leave our childhood behind for college and the real pain we feel when our usefulness is over or replaced) with plenty of adult-pleasing humor (like Buzz Lightyear's "Spanish Mode" and "The Claw!" to the rescue) to produce a movie that is deeply satisfying to all ages. Mr. White should try having FUN when he watches a film rather than getting into a competition with himself over how elite he can sound and how he can find a way to be unique from his fellow critics. I know, somewhere in his chest, beats the heart of the child he used to be. He should try to find that child.
One other final writing comment...everyone I know who has seen Toy Story 3 walks away saying they found the movie genuinely suspenseful. There are many moments where the audience is absolutely certain that some main character (or many) are going to be destroyed. The fact that we have such an emotional connection with these toys ought to tell Mr. White how strong Pixar is with human characterization. The fact that this script is able to defeat our usual movie-going assumption that no beloved character can really die unless it's "that kind of movie" and make us believe Slinky Dog or Mr. Potato Head or even Buzz Lightyear is about to die is a testament to the skill with which the plot of this movie was crafted.
Acting: 9.5
The all-star voice cast is largely back (minus a couple of unfortunate deaths since Toy Story 2 aired in 1999) and new characters like Lotso and Ken are cast with equal brilliance. There is only so much an actor can do with his voice, and a lot of the credit for the emotional resonance this film strikes has to go to the animators and the script writers, but Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, et. al., really do exemplify the character traits embodied by their toy characters. Woody (the deeply loyal companion for which Tom Hanks' voice is ideally suited), Buzz (the overpowered macho toy that represents modern boyhood so perfectly...who better than Tim the Tool Man Taylor! for that role?), Rex (one of the great comic relief characters around, played by Wallace Shawn of "The Princess Pride" fame), Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head...I mean c'mon...it's the perfect cast for these films!
Message: 10.0
No, Mr. White...the message is NOT consumerism. If you actually watched the film, then you'd know that Lotso turned evil when his owner showed that character trait and had him replaced! If anything, this movie and many other Pixar films including the first two Toy Story pictures wags its finger at greed as a character trait. Instead, the message is to take care of the things that brought us so much joy as children rather than discarding them when we're too old. Or...more to the point...the message is that there is something uniquely wonderful about this world through the imaginative and spirited eyes of a child...something lost when that child matures...something worth holding onto and remembering even when we've long outgrown out childhood things. Hint, Mr. White...half of the grown men among your colleagues in the business of film criticism say they left the movie thankful that there were some comic moments during the credits so they could dry their eyes and not look like womanly nincompoops on their way out. In the final scene where Andy hands his toys over to a good new home with a loving story for each of them, not one of my friends had dry eyes. There's a reason. And no...we're not just ignorant sheep buying into Pixar's formulaic film factory as you've said in other Pixar reviews. I wonder if you realize that you're burning bridges with your colleagues when you say things like that. I wonder if anyone you know truly appreciates you attitude toward your profession...or toward people in general.
Production Values: 10.0
Pixar's animation techniques have drastically improved since Toy Story hit the box office in 1995...but the team decided not to change the look of things in the third Toy Story installment, and I think that was a very wise choice. They kept the old look and feel of the original movies...had they gone with a spiffier modern look, I think the magic would have been lost. Whether it was intentional or not, the first two Toy Stories had a sort of childish look to them...as though we were transported into the eyes of our younger selves. Keeping that look alive for the third movie turns out to be more important to me than I realized.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Pardon the Interruption: Pixar? Best. Studio. Ever.
I'm going to get around to my regularly scheduled Early Edition review in a bit, but first, I just have share a few words of squee regarding Pixar. You see, I have just come home from watching Toy Story 3, and I am once again marveling at how Pixar can consistently blend honest and poignant emotion with imaginative (and often goofy) concepts (What if there was this whole family of superheroes who had to hide their gifts and live normal, suburban lives? What do you suppose our toys do when we're not watching them? What if one robot was left all alone on an abandoned Earth? Do you think, if we had enough balloons, we could make a house fly? Etc.). Who would've thought that a bunch of animators making movies for kids would reveal so much more about the human condition than any other studio in the business?
Consider, for example, these four minutes from Up:
That is four minutes of concentrated brilliance. Without a single word of dialogue, they manage to cover all of the joys and vicissitudes of married life. Can you think of any recent live action film that has portrayed marriage in such a realistic and touching fashion? At the moment, I certainly can't. And what's amazing is that all of Pixar's best movies are like that. There is more romance in Wall-E than there is in most supposedly "romantic" comedies - and the families in Finding Nemo and The Incredibles are more relatable than most of the families conjured up in today's Tinseltown. Pixar can make fish, robots, and toys more recognizably human than a lot of the actual humans who "grace" our silver screen. That takes a first class creative team, and it is my dear and fervent hope that said team can continue to make magic happen for years to come.
Consider, for example, these four minutes from Up:
That is four minutes of concentrated brilliance. Without a single word of dialogue, they manage to cover all of the joys and vicissitudes of married life. Can you think of any recent live action film that has portrayed marriage in such a realistic and touching fashion? At the moment, I certainly can't. And what's amazing is that all of Pixar's best movies are like that. There is more romance in Wall-E than there is in most supposedly "romantic" comedies - and the families in Finding Nemo and The Incredibles are more relatable than most of the families conjured up in today's Tinseltown. Pixar can make fish, robots, and toys more recognizably human than a lot of the actual humans who "grace" our silver screen. That takes a first class creative team, and it is my dear and fervent hope that said team can continue to make magic happen for years to come.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Links of Interest: Iron Man & V
Why V Is Awesome: A Pic Spam
by LJ User Darkeyedwolf
This post really amused me when I came across it. I couldn't care less about the "delicious manflesh" or the shipping (as a faithful Catholic, I categorically don't want Jack/Erica to become a reality), and I actually like the rightwing subtext. I'm also not particularly impressed with Erica; in fact, I think she's a joke as a television mother. But there are still some things on which Darkeyedwolf and I agree. I'm completely loving the whole "Two Queens Battle for Supremacy" aspect of the show - and Father Jack is indeed the epitome of preciousness.
Tony Stark Is the New Chuck Norris. Pass It On.
@ Fark.com
It's funny because it's true.
by LJ User Darkeyedwolf
This post really amused me when I came across it. I couldn't care less about the "delicious manflesh" or the shipping (as a faithful Catholic, I categorically don't want Jack/Erica to become a reality), and I actually like the rightwing subtext. I'm also not particularly impressed with Erica; in fact, I think she's a joke as a television mother. But there are still some things on which Darkeyedwolf and I agree. I'm completely loving the whole "Two Queens Battle for Supremacy" aspect of the show - and Father Jack is indeed the epitome of preciousness.
Tony Stark Is the New Chuck Norris. Pass It On.
@ Fark.com
It's funny because it's true.
Monday, May 10, 2010
At the Movies: Iron Man 2
Overall: 8.5
I had an extremely good time watching this movie. Perhaps it's not quite as good as the first (which I feel might've been a feature if we'd been keeping this blog back then), but it's pretty darned close - and certainly worth the ten bucks.
I had an extremely good time watching this movie. Perhaps it's not quite as good as the first (which I feel might've been a feature if we'd been keeping this blog back then), but it's pretty darned close - and certainly worth the ten bucks.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Links of Interest: On The Book of Eli & Avatar
How The Book of Eli Got Into the Wrong Hands
by Yervand Kochar @ Big Hollywood
To be honest, this didn't occur to me when I saw The Book of Eli on opening day and subsequently wrote my own review, but Kochar is right. Putting the Bible in a San Francisco museum (next to the Koran, no less!) is just about the last thing we should do with the Sacred Scripture.
When Will People Stop Making Movies Like Avatar?
The above article is written from a left-wing perspective, so I imagine the author of this piece and our readers here will violently disagree over the question of the true nature and extent of European guilt, but I do find myself agreeing with at least one thing: the white guilt fantasy is a tired story. As soon as it became apparent to me that Avatar was written along those lines, I immediately lost interest.
by Yervand Kochar @ Big Hollywood
As with most current American artistic expression, The Book of Eli blindly follows the established academic elites’ anachronistic view of a cultural value as something belonging to a museum, library, archive, university and solely validated by peer views, professional commentators, Al Gore, and accepted intellectuals—basically, anyone but the people by whom and for whom those values are created.
Ironically and particularly with the Bible, it was a different story. The Word of God was delivered directly to the people who needed it, who in their despair and ignorance depended on it not as a cultural value but as a living breath of divinity upon which depended their very existence. It was given to the likes of people who inhabit Carnegie’s wild settlement and it was given to people like Carnegie, willful and often times evil kings, who nevertheless had the ability to deliver the Word to the people who needed it, because the Word had the power to cut directly to the people, bypassing those who tried to use It for their selfish purposes. It was given to ruthless emperors like Constantine and mass executioners like Paul and it transformed them.
To be honest, this didn't occur to me when I saw The Book of Eli on opening day and subsequently wrote my own review, but Kochar is right. Putting the Bible in a San Francisco museum (next to the Koran, no less!) is just about the last thing we should do with the Sacred Scripture.
When Will People Stop Making Movies Like Avatar?
In both Avatar and District 9, humans are the cause of alien oppression and distress. Then, a white man who was one of the oppressors switches sides at the last minute, assimilating into the alien culture and becoming its savior. This is also the basic story of Dune, where a member of the white royalty flees his posh palace on the planet Dune to become leader of the worm-riding native Fremen (the worm-riding rite of passage has an analog in Avatar, where Jake proves his manhood by riding a giant bird)...
These are movies about white guilt. Our main white characters realize that they are complicit in a system which is destroying aliens, AKA people of color - their cultures, their habitats, and their populations. The whites realize this when they begin to assimilate into the "alien" cultures and see things from a new perspective. To purge their overwhelming sense of guilt, they switch sides, become "race traitors," and fight against their old comrades. But then they go beyond assimilation and become leaders of the people they once oppressed. This is the essence of the white guilt fantasy, laid bare. It's not just a wish to be absolved of the crimes whites have committed against people of color; it's not just a wish to join the side of moral justice in battle. It's a wish to lead people of color from the inside rather than from the (oppressive, white) outside.
The above article is written from a left-wing perspective, so I imagine the author of this piece and our readers here will violently disagree over the question of the true nature and extent of European guilt, but I do find myself agreeing with at least one thing: the white guilt fantasy is a tired story. As soon as it became apparent to me that Avatar was written along those lines, I immediately lost interest.
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