In the words of Kylo Ren "it's time to let the old things die". And in that spirit I think The Last Jedi might well be the last Star Wars film that I bother to go to the cinema for. Any others will go on my DVD rental list.
Spin-offs might tempt me back - I really enjoyed Rogue One - but the main saga is now just too broken to fix. I was mug enough to stick with it through the prequels, and Force Awakens was kind of fun, but Last Jedi is a giant leap backwards.
On the way out of the showing I went to, I heard a young man say to his friend "it wasn't a bad film, but it wasn't a good Star Wars film."
Perhaps what he meant was that if you don't expect any consistency between this film and any others, then you can enjoy it as a stand-alone movie.
The problem I had, was that I do care about how the saga works overall. And this instalment makes no sense. I read that Mark Hamill was unhappy about how Luke was written in this film and I can see why. That wasn't Luke.
The whole film looks like someone made a big list of Star Wars memes and threw them together to keep all the "fans" happy... Millennium Falcon flying along a narrow passage, turning randomly and just making it as Tie Fighters chase but crash one by one... check... Yoda saying something philosophical... check... next?
The new characters introduced in Force Awakens either hardly get developed at all, or just go off in strange directions.
For example, Captain Phasma. Who the hell was she? Why did she swan around in that dumb shiny suit? And how did she get to be a senior soldier when she can't even fight off one guy? I guess we'll never know.
All of which is trivial compared to the questions around Snoke. Where did he come from, how did he get so powerful so quickly, how did he exert influence over Ben Solo? I was really hoping that the story would start to answer some of those questions and give us some clues about how he might be defeated. But instead we just get to meet him early on and he gets eliminated by a cheap trick. Really? He goes from super powerful to moron in 5 minutes. He can disable Rey at will, but Kylo Ren (who is weaker than Rey) toasts him? Shockingly weak plot mistake.
So now we are supposed to accept Kylo 'Cry Baby' Ren as the new major power in the galaxy? It's a good job that there are only about 9 rebels left, otherwise he would be in trouble.
I was actually bored by the end of this film. I never thought I would say that about a Star Wars film. And where can it go now? There is only Ren and Rey left... maybe they will train up an entire new army each by the next movie... would be as believable as this last effort.
One final thing. I kept expecting Leia to die too. But she didn't. So either Disney are going to have to get permission to CGI her for the next film (which they previously said they would not do) or she is going to have a nasty accident off camera... which would be a shameful way to end a great character.
I used to love Star Wars, but that was before The Last Jedi, before the dark times...
Sunday 24 December 2017
Thursday 21 December 2017
Jessica Jones - season 1 - x2
With a second season of Jessica Jones on the way I decided to watch the first couple of episodes again... and ended up watching the whole series.
I'd remembered roughly what happened, but that didn't detract from a second viewing at all. If anything I probably enjoyed it more, because I wasn't endlessly speculating about what might happen and just enjoyed what was there.
The way that the villain is introduced so slowly is one of the highlights of the writing. The uncertainty of whether the Purple Man has really returned, combined with the general disbelief of the people around Jessica, and Jessica's fearful recollection of the past, all ratchet up the tension.
It's a good job that they got an actor as good as David Tenant to play Killgrave. Because by the time you actually see him he needs to be properly creepy... and he is, bigtime. (even for an Englishman like me, who normally chuckles at the American stereotyping of the English villain ... BTW you know Tenant is Scottish, right?)
Krysten Ritter is perfectly cast as Jones. She is beautiful ... in that gothic way that makes you think she could quite easily punch you in the mouth if you say the wrong thing. Maybe that's just me. I also liked the contrast with her "sister" figure Trish - the more conventionally "pretty" blonde, who turns out to be more violent given half a chance.
Opening doors by breaking the lock never gets old. The only effects that seem cheep are the jumps, which are mercifully rare, because they are a bit unintentionally comical.
Luke Cage is in it more than I remembered. I probably wont watch his season 1 again (the first half was good but it quickly ran out of steam) and definitely wont watch any more Iron Fist (apart from in The Defenders) as he is just annoyingly stupid.
But I digress. Jessica Jones. One thing I got again was the sense of devastation that all the victims of Killgrave felt. Some of them had been made to do terrible things; and even though they wanted to believe that they had no choice, there always seemed to be remorse and doubt that they weren't actually to blame. And a terrible fear that he might control them again.
Many people fear losing control. Losing control and being aware at the same time would be horrific. This show portrays that very well.
A new question that popped up on second viewing was why did Kevin become so nasty? This one is hard to answer, because Killgrave puts on an act for Jessica which is hard to penetrate. While he is trying to win her, you don't know if he genuinely sees the light during the hostage scene, or if he is just saying what he thinks she wants to here.
There is a great example of his wickedness when he is being hassled by a guy selling magazines in the park. Killgrave is looking thru the mags and the guy wants to know if he is going to buy one. Instead of just telling the guy to be quiet he makes him throw a cup of hot coffee into his own face.
The skill of the writers is to just give you enough doubt that Kevin is really bad; then you are all the more horrified when he does something else terrible.
So even though I knew the ending. Taking the journey to it a second time was just as interesting as the first.
I'd remembered roughly what happened, but that didn't detract from a second viewing at all. If anything I probably enjoyed it more, because I wasn't endlessly speculating about what might happen and just enjoyed what was there.
The way that the villain is introduced so slowly is one of the highlights of the writing. The uncertainty of whether the Purple Man has really returned, combined with the general disbelief of the people around Jessica, and Jessica's fearful recollection of the past, all ratchet up the tension.
It's a good job that they got an actor as good as David Tenant to play Killgrave. Because by the time you actually see him he needs to be properly creepy... and he is, bigtime. (even for an Englishman like me, who normally chuckles at the American stereotyping of the English villain ... BTW you know Tenant is Scottish, right?)
Krysten Ritter is perfectly cast as Jones. She is beautiful ... in that gothic way that makes you think she could quite easily punch you in the mouth if you say the wrong thing. Maybe that's just me. I also liked the contrast with her "sister" figure Trish - the more conventionally "pretty" blonde, who turns out to be more violent given half a chance.
Opening doors by breaking the lock never gets old. The only effects that seem cheep are the jumps, which are mercifully rare, because they are a bit unintentionally comical.
Luke Cage is in it more than I remembered. I probably wont watch his season 1 again (the first half was good but it quickly ran out of steam) and definitely wont watch any more Iron Fist (apart from in The Defenders) as he is just annoyingly stupid.
But I digress. Jessica Jones. One thing I got again was the sense of devastation that all the victims of Killgrave felt. Some of them had been made to do terrible things; and even though they wanted to believe that they had no choice, there always seemed to be remorse and doubt that they weren't actually to blame. And a terrible fear that he might control them again.
Many people fear losing control. Losing control and being aware at the same time would be horrific. This show portrays that very well.
A new question that popped up on second viewing was why did Kevin become so nasty? This one is hard to answer, because Killgrave puts on an act for Jessica which is hard to penetrate. While he is trying to win her, you don't know if he genuinely sees the light during the hostage scene, or if he is just saying what he thinks she wants to here.
There is a great example of his wickedness when he is being hassled by a guy selling magazines in the park. Killgrave is looking thru the mags and the guy wants to know if he is going to buy one. Instead of just telling the guy to be quiet he makes him throw a cup of hot coffee into his own face.
The skill of the writers is to just give you enough doubt that Kevin is really bad; then you are all the more horrified when he does something else terrible.
So even though I knew the ending. Taking the journey to it a second time was just as interesting as the first.
Tuesday 19 December 2017
Fantastic Four (2015)
I didn't write about this film when it came out, because there was so much hate for it at the time that I thought I must have seen a different film from everyone else.
I liked it.
I've seen it 4 or 5 times on Blu-ray since; and I still like it.
There are some reasons why I think many people hated it. Any one of these reasons might put some people off... all of them together hit a critical mass (pun intended).
1) It is very dark
All of the main characters start off pretty unhappy. Reed's family don't understand him - so much so that he wishes he were adopted to explain why he doesn't love them. Ben's family is abusive. Sue's family were presumably massacred in Kosovo. Johnny has a bad relationship with his father - and his mother is never mentioned.
If that wasn't enough, Victor is just one big heap of no fun. Clearly he has a thing for Sue, but we don't know any details of their history, if any, just that he is jealous of Reed when he perceives a relationship developing. And it's not surprising that given the power and the means, he decides to destroy the whole of Earth and live by himself on Planet Zero. You can't get much darker than that.
2) The humour is very dry
A dark film needs some humour to give points of respite. There is plenty of humour in Fantastic Four, but it is very dry and plenty of people, or even entire cultures, might well miss it.
I once tried to explain an English joke to someone from Finland. Unsuccessfully. So I am not going to try and analyse the humour of this film here. You are just going to have to accept that at least one person (me) thought that there were funny parts in this film...
3) Another origin story
At the time this movie came out there was a general antipathy for origin stories. Particularly re-booted origin stories. Marvel Studios had moved on to the next level, as had Fox with the X-men, and even Sony had realised that their next Spiderman film couldn't start again with the origin story.
The origin of the Fantastic Four is so well known that you don't need to tell it again. Even with a different slant. Something happened to give them their powers. What happens next is the interesting part. Sadly we will never find out where this arc goes, as the movie sank so badly that sequels are impossible.
4) A smart woman
Now we are getting to the controversial issues. Unlike the 2005 version, Sue Storm is a strong, smart, independent woman. Remember how she had to take off her clothes to escape the bridge; or how she fretted about her wedding arrangements in the sequel? That Sue was a simple, do as you are told, American gal.
The 2015 version is more equal to Reed than any other man (bar Victor). She plays a key part in the story by finding Reed when everyone else has failed for a year. She isn't just a love interest for Reed - in fact they don't even progress beyond friendship in this movie. And she isn't American...
Some people find smart women threatening.
5) A black man
Perhaps the biggest controversy around this movie was the casting of a black man as Johnny Storm. It was a brave move. If the rest of the movie had been exactly what the masses wanted, then you might, just might, have pulled it off.
But anything out of place gives someone who is consciously, or unconsciously, racist a chance to say "It was bad because of XYZ" when they mean "How can Johnny be black?"
Many people are racists.
6) A mean Ben Grimm
It is quite striking how awesome The Thing is in this film. And how angry he is with Reed, not just for the accident, but for the abandonment afterwards. That seemed very realistic to me.
Compare that with the 2005 version where they tried to convey the same thing, but failed by depicting The Thing as a comedy figure for cheap laughs. Even worse, they turned him back into Ben Grimm so that he could nobly choose to turn back into The Thing to save the day - what rubbish.
7) Josh Trank's tweet
A day before the release, director Josh Trank tweeted "A year ago I had a fantastic version of this. And it would've received great reviews. You'll probably never see it. That's reality though."
We will probably never know if the studio interference messed up the movie, or if some sanity was restored to a flawed project. Either way, dissing your own movie the day before it is released seems petulant at best.
So there you have it. Fantastic Four is a good bit of entertainment, I thought, and an interesting treatment of the well known characters. Unfortunately there are too many reasons for people to not like it.
I remember the time when all superhero films were terrible, because CGI did not exist and disbelief can only be suspended so far. Maybe that makes me much more tolerant of the flaws in today's movies.
I liked it.
I've seen it 4 or 5 times on Blu-ray since; and I still like it.
There are some reasons why I think many people hated it. Any one of these reasons might put some people off... all of them together hit a critical mass (pun intended).
1) It is very dark
All of the main characters start off pretty unhappy. Reed's family don't understand him - so much so that he wishes he were adopted to explain why he doesn't love them. Ben's family is abusive. Sue's family were presumably massacred in Kosovo. Johnny has a bad relationship with his father - and his mother is never mentioned.
If that wasn't enough, Victor is just one big heap of no fun. Clearly he has a thing for Sue, but we don't know any details of their history, if any, just that he is jealous of Reed when he perceives a relationship developing. And it's not surprising that given the power and the means, he decides to destroy the whole of Earth and live by himself on Planet Zero. You can't get much darker than that.
2) The humour is very dry
A dark film needs some humour to give points of respite. There is plenty of humour in Fantastic Four, but it is very dry and plenty of people, or even entire cultures, might well miss it.
I once tried to explain an English joke to someone from Finland. Unsuccessfully. So I am not going to try and analyse the humour of this film here. You are just going to have to accept that at least one person (me) thought that there were funny parts in this film...
3) Another origin story
At the time this movie came out there was a general antipathy for origin stories. Particularly re-booted origin stories. Marvel Studios had moved on to the next level, as had Fox with the X-men, and even Sony had realised that their next Spiderman film couldn't start again with the origin story.
The origin of the Fantastic Four is so well known that you don't need to tell it again. Even with a different slant. Something happened to give them their powers. What happens next is the interesting part. Sadly we will never find out where this arc goes, as the movie sank so badly that sequels are impossible.
4) A smart woman
Now we are getting to the controversial issues. Unlike the 2005 version, Sue Storm is a strong, smart, independent woman. Remember how she had to take off her clothes to escape the bridge; or how she fretted about her wedding arrangements in the sequel? That Sue was a simple, do as you are told, American gal.
The 2015 version is more equal to Reed than any other man (bar Victor). She plays a key part in the story by finding Reed when everyone else has failed for a year. She isn't just a love interest for Reed - in fact they don't even progress beyond friendship in this movie. And she isn't American...
Some people find smart women threatening.
5) A black man
Perhaps the biggest controversy around this movie was the casting of a black man as Johnny Storm. It was a brave move. If the rest of the movie had been exactly what the masses wanted, then you might, just might, have pulled it off.
But anything out of place gives someone who is consciously, or unconsciously, racist a chance to say "It was bad because of XYZ" when they mean "How can Johnny be black?"
Many people are racists.
6) A mean Ben Grimm
It is quite striking how awesome The Thing is in this film. And how angry he is with Reed, not just for the accident, but for the abandonment afterwards. That seemed very realistic to me.
Compare that with the 2005 version where they tried to convey the same thing, but failed by depicting The Thing as a comedy figure for cheap laughs. Even worse, they turned him back into Ben Grimm so that he could nobly choose to turn back into The Thing to save the day - what rubbish.
7) Josh Trank's tweet
A day before the release, director Josh Trank tweeted "A year ago I had a fantastic version of this. And it would've received great reviews. You'll probably never see it. That's reality though."
We will probably never know if the studio interference messed up the movie, or if some sanity was restored to a flawed project. Either way, dissing your own movie the day before it is released seems petulant at best.
So there you have it. Fantastic Four is a good bit of entertainment, I thought, and an interesting treatment of the well known characters. Unfortunately there are too many reasons for people to not like it.
I remember the time when all superhero films were terrible, because CGI did not exist and disbelief can only be suspended so far. Maybe that makes me much more tolerant of the flaws in today's movies.
Monday 11 December 2017
Stranger Things - season 1
After I watched Stranger on Netflix (a brilliant Korean thriller, check it out) I googled around to see what other people thought of it. But I couldn't find much because all my searches for Stranger returned results for Stranger Things.
Since the tone of the reviews was almost universally positive, I thought I would give it a go.
It's quite entertaining. Mainly because of the "spot which movie they are copying now" game that you can play while watching. I mean, it starts off as ET and finishes with Carrie vs Alien. With a bunch of others in the middle.
All the same, it's joined together quite well and I enjoyed it for the most part. So as long as no-one tries to acclaim it's originality or hail it as a work of genius... then I'm happy to take it as a nice bit of fluffy entertainment.
Since the tone of the reviews was almost universally positive, I thought I would give it a go.
It's quite entertaining. Mainly because of the "spot which movie they are copying now" game that you can play while watching. I mean, it starts off as ET and finishes with Carrie vs Alien. With a bunch of others in the middle.
All the same, it's joined together quite well and I enjoyed it for the most part. So as long as no-one tries to acclaim it's originality or hail it as a work of genius... then I'm happy to take it as a nice bit of fluffy entertainment.
Wednesday 6 December 2017
The Punisher
I think that The Punisher on Netflix is a pretty good treatment of the character. He's not someone that I am an expert on - he popped up in several Spiderman comics when I was a regular reader in the 1970s and 80s; and of course he appears in the Civil War comics - I tend to think of him as the guy who kills people.
That's a tricky brief. You can't run a whole season on the premise of Frank Castle going round killing people. And you also can't change the character to make him a nice guy who's just been unlucky.
The Punisher isn't a nice guy. He resolves issues by killing people. He makes himself judge, jury and executioner. That is the character.
So I wasn't expecting the series to be that great. Even though he was well done in Daredevil Season 2. I thought that a whole series of his own might be too much.
But I think Marvel have really pulled this off well. The balance between "justified" killings and wanton violence is about right, I think. As is the balance between "pity" for Frank because of his back-story and "fear" of him as a soul that lost itself to violence long before his family were murdered.
The surrounding story weaves nicely between past and present. Episode 10 is a classic example of reshowing a simple scene from several perspectives out-of-order and revealing a little more each time. Something of a microcosm of the whole season.
In terms of plot there aren't many surprises. You can see most of the turns coming, although there are a few "wow" moments which stand out. It is really the quality of the character development that shines, supported by just enough action to keep you on edge.
Perhaps the only thing I didn't like was the ending. I found myself thinking "no, not like that" as the last scenes played out. It felt quite final to me. Of course there is always a way back for a second season... and he may reappear in other Marvel shows... but it seemed like a definite attempt to say "OK, we're done now".
That's a tricky brief. You can't run a whole season on the premise of Frank Castle going round killing people. And you also can't change the character to make him a nice guy who's just been unlucky.
The Punisher isn't a nice guy. He resolves issues by killing people. He makes himself judge, jury and executioner. That is the character.
So I wasn't expecting the series to be that great. Even though he was well done in Daredevil Season 2. I thought that a whole series of his own might be too much.
But I think Marvel have really pulled this off well. The balance between "justified" killings and wanton violence is about right, I think. As is the balance between "pity" for Frank because of his back-story and "fear" of him as a soul that lost itself to violence long before his family were murdered.
The surrounding story weaves nicely between past and present. Episode 10 is a classic example of reshowing a simple scene from several perspectives out-of-order and revealing a little more each time. Something of a microcosm of the whole season.
In terms of plot there aren't many surprises. You can see most of the turns coming, although there are a few "wow" moments which stand out. It is really the quality of the character development that shines, supported by just enough action to keep you on edge.
Perhaps the only thing I didn't like was the ending. I found myself thinking "no, not like that" as the last scenes played out. It felt quite final to me. Of course there is always a way back for a second season... and he may reappear in other Marvel shows... but it seemed like a definite attempt to say "OK, we're done now".
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