Pop Culture December
Jan. 1st, 2016 09:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sdelmonteFirst off, Happy New Year!
So there’s been a good deal of pop culture content in my life this month. Here is a lot of it:
That movie. You know the one. With the wars and the stars. Well, sad to say, I was quite disappointed with it. Not merely for being a “more of the same” plot but also for how utterly simplistic and ill-formed that plot is. And for doing so very little world-building. And for how dull the villains are. It’s a shame, since I really like Rey and Finn and BB8. Yeah, I am still going to see Episode VIII: The Force Gets Dressed. And Rogue One. And Han Solo, Boy Smuggler. But this particular iteration has left me less than encouraged for the future. (And yes, while the acting and the use of practical effects and the lack of Jar Jar puts this one ahead of the prequels to a large degree, the prequels really did an amazing job of world-building, and Lucas really did have some great ideas about what to do that weren’t “more of the same.” Even if the execution was sorely lacking.)
Mission: Impossible 3. Two days before seeing JJ Abrams’s newest film, I saw his first. It was entertaining in a “the camera loves Tom Cruise and Tom Cruise loves to do stunts” way. Like the first one – haven’t seen the second one yet – the film values amazing action set pieces and good actors in weak roles over a coherent plot. As such, it’s fun from start to finish without ever being that good. And if the late Philip Seymour Hoffman had not being playing the bad guy, things might have been worse. As part of the Abrams collection, it slides in nicely. He’s good with set pieces, and knows how to generate a bit of emotional connection for his characters. But of the four films from him I’ve seen – skipped NuTrek 2 – the only one that crosses the line from competent to great is Super 8. Which was a very different sort of thing than the big budgets of the rest. And while he is a good visual storyteller, he remains unable to – or uninterested in – the other aspects of making a story work. Really, the only truly great film he’s done besides Super 8 is the unforgettable pilot for Lost.
Amazing Spider-Man 2 – So I am one of those oddballs who thought that the first Spidey film with Andrew Garfield was better than the Raimi/McGuire films. Because at long last, we had a Spidey who wisecracked, and whose motions fit the surreal art that long ago defined how a spider-man would move. I looked forward to seeing this one, and figured that all the bad reviews were from the same people who didn’t like the first Garfield/Marc Webb film.
Nope. It REALLY is that terrible. There are something like five plotlines thrown against the wall – part of a terrible screenplay co-written by the ever-incapable team of Orci and Kurtzman – and the only one that Webb really seems to care about is the troubled romance of Peter and Gwen. The villains are ill-defined, too much time is spent trying to make us care about the conspiracy that killed Peter’s parents, and it all careens out of control. Plus, there is a plot lifted from the comics that I really wish had been forgotten. Only one thing comes close to redeeming the film: Garfield as Spidey yet again. He moves like Spidey. He acts like Spidey, all mouthy and cheerful and weird. And he even dresses like Spidey more than in any film till now, complete with the white eyes. It’s a crying shame that Garfield lost the gig after this tanked. I get why Sony finally gave in to Marvel’s offers, though. A whole series of films spun off from this one would have been painful.
Big Hero 6 – Second viewing. Not as stunningly gorgeous on a TV, but still so much fun, and so full of heart. It’s still a shame that Marvel didn’t embrace the film. And it’s odd that Disney isn’t in a hurry to make a sequel for this. And seriously, why isn’t Baymax everywhere?
Moon – Took a while to catch up with this one, the 2011 low-budget SF film with Sam Rockwell that won the Hugo. But it was worth the wait. Don’t want to spoil any of it, but suffice it to say, despite a couple of hiccups, it’s a very smart and very well acted film that gets back to basics with its 70s aesthetic and that has a plot I can’t entirely predict. Which, after not being at all surprised by anything in Force Awakens, MI3, or ASM2, is very welcome.
The Man in the High Castle – It’s not the greatest show ever, but it is definitely worth sticking with. Just don’t binge watch it, because it’s pretty disturbing. As a show about a world ruled by the Nazis and the fascist Japanese should be. There are a fair number of flaws, mainly an ill-defined lead character and three episodes that are important for the plot but otherwise feel like a dead end. But as the show goes along, the focus improves, and most of the characters, even the bad guys, become a lot more interesting. The cast, with the strange exception of the three leads, is uniformly excellent. The world-building, using some ideas from the novel and some new ones, is strong. And while the story is not really that of the book, it does follow the broader contours of PKD’s vision. Up to and including a stunning final scene. If you can tolerate visiting so dark a world as this one, I recommend watching, and sticking around till at least the sixth episode. (If that one doesn’t convince you, you might as well quit.)
PDQ Bach – Not a movie, not a TV show, but a concert. In case you don’t know, PDQ Bach, the brainchild of composer/educator Peter Schickele, is the least and least-known of JS Bach’s children, as inept as his father was brilliant. Schickele has “discovered” a plethora of lost works by PDQ for the past 60 years, and performed them for an unsuspecting public for the last 50. To mark the anniversary of that first performance, Schickele mounted his first concert of PDQ in NYC in a decade, which given his age means it’s possibly the last. So I had to go, as I was first introduced to PDQ as a kid – the concerts my mom took me to were my first trips to Avery Fisher Hall and Carnegie Hall, and given my life in filk they were clearly a formative influence. Happily, even though Schickele had to work from a wheelchair and lacked the manic energy of years gone by, the music – three quasi-original works; Danny Boy sung over Swing Low Sweet Chariot, and the first act of Beethoven’s Fifth performed as a sporting event – retains its charm. Oh, PDQ, how I have missed you.
So there’s been a good deal of pop culture content in my life this month. Here is a lot of it:
That movie. You know the one. With the wars and the stars. Well, sad to say, I was quite disappointed with it. Not merely for being a “more of the same” plot but also for how utterly simplistic and ill-formed that plot is. And for doing so very little world-building. And for how dull the villains are. It’s a shame, since I really like Rey and Finn and BB8. Yeah, I am still going to see Episode VIII: The Force Gets Dressed. And Rogue One. And Han Solo, Boy Smuggler. But this particular iteration has left me less than encouraged for the future. (And yes, while the acting and the use of practical effects and the lack of Jar Jar puts this one ahead of the prequels to a large degree, the prequels really did an amazing job of world-building, and Lucas really did have some great ideas about what to do that weren’t “more of the same.” Even if the execution was sorely lacking.)
Mission: Impossible 3. Two days before seeing JJ Abrams’s newest film, I saw his first. It was entertaining in a “the camera loves Tom Cruise and Tom Cruise loves to do stunts” way. Like the first one – haven’t seen the second one yet – the film values amazing action set pieces and good actors in weak roles over a coherent plot. As such, it’s fun from start to finish without ever being that good. And if the late Philip Seymour Hoffman had not being playing the bad guy, things might have been worse. As part of the Abrams collection, it slides in nicely. He’s good with set pieces, and knows how to generate a bit of emotional connection for his characters. But of the four films from him I’ve seen – skipped NuTrek 2 – the only one that crosses the line from competent to great is Super 8. Which was a very different sort of thing than the big budgets of the rest. And while he is a good visual storyteller, he remains unable to – or uninterested in – the other aspects of making a story work. Really, the only truly great film he’s done besides Super 8 is the unforgettable pilot for Lost.
Amazing Spider-Man 2 – So I am one of those oddballs who thought that the first Spidey film with Andrew Garfield was better than the Raimi/McGuire films. Because at long last, we had a Spidey who wisecracked, and whose motions fit the surreal art that long ago defined how a spider-man would move. I looked forward to seeing this one, and figured that all the bad reviews were from the same people who didn’t like the first Garfield/Marc Webb film.
Nope. It REALLY is that terrible. There are something like five plotlines thrown against the wall – part of a terrible screenplay co-written by the ever-incapable team of Orci and Kurtzman – and the only one that Webb really seems to care about is the troubled romance of Peter and Gwen. The villains are ill-defined, too much time is spent trying to make us care about the conspiracy that killed Peter’s parents, and it all careens out of control. Plus, there is a plot lifted from the comics that I really wish had been forgotten. Only one thing comes close to redeeming the film: Garfield as Spidey yet again. He moves like Spidey. He acts like Spidey, all mouthy and cheerful and weird. And he even dresses like Spidey more than in any film till now, complete with the white eyes. It’s a crying shame that Garfield lost the gig after this tanked. I get why Sony finally gave in to Marvel’s offers, though. A whole series of films spun off from this one would have been painful.
Big Hero 6 – Second viewing. Not as stunningly gorgeous on a TV, but still so much fun, and so full of heart. It’s still a shame that Marvel didn’t embrace the film. And it’s odd that Disney isn’t in a hurry to make a sequel for this. And seriously, why isn’t Baymax everywhere?
Moon – Took a while to catch up with this one, the 2011 low-budget SF film with Sam Rockwell that won the Hugo. But it was worth the wait. Don’t want to spoil any of it, but suffice it to say, despite a couple of hiccups, it’s a very smart and very well acted film that gets back to basics with its 70s aesthetic and that has a plot I can’t entirely predict. Which, after not being at all surprised by anything in Force Awakens, MI3, or ASM2, is very welcome.
The Man in the High Castle – It’s not the greatest show ever, but it is definitely worth sticking with. Just don’t binge watch it, because it’s pretty disturbing. As a show about a world ruled by the Nazis and the fascist Japanese should be. There are a fair number of flaws, mainly an ill-defined lead character and three episodes that are important for the plot but otherwise feel like a dead end. But as the show goes along, the focus improves, and most of the characters, even the bad guys, become a lot more interesting. The cast, with the strange exception of the three leads, is uniformly excellent. The world-building, using some ideas from the novel and some new ones, is strong. And while the story is not really that of the book, it does follow the broader contours of PKD’s vision. Up to and including a stunning final scene. If you can tolerate visiting so dark a world as this one, I recommend watching, and sticking around till at least the sixth episode. (If that one doesn’t convince you, you might as well quit.)
PDQ Bach – Not a movie, not a TV show, but a concert. In case you don’t know, PDQ Bach, the brainchild of composer/educator Peter Schickele, is the least and least-known of JS Bach’s children, as inept as his father was brilliant. Schickele has “discovered” a plethora of lost works by PDQ for the past 60 years, and performed them for an unsuspecting public for the last 50. To mark the anniversary of that first performance, Schickele mounted his first concert of PDQ in NYC in a decade, which given his age means it’s possibly the last. So I had to go, as I was first introduced to PDQ as a kid – the concerts my mom took me to were my first trips to Avery Fisher Hall and Carnegie Hall, and given my life in filk they were clearly a formative influence. Happily, even though Schickele had to work from a wheelchair and lacked the manic energy of years gone by, the music – three quasi-original works; Danny Boy sung over Swing Low Sweet Chariot, and the first act of Beethoven’s Fifth performed as a sporting event – retains its charm. Oh, PDQ, how I have missed you.
(no subject)
Date: Jan. 8th, 2016 04:55 am (UTC)I liked a lot of things about the prequels, and the world building was one of them. I actually liked Naboo as a planet with two distinct, alien-to-each-other cultures. Eh, I actually liked the prequels, although I should probably rewatch them. But it's not something you can really say on the internet.
Also, you're review is one of the few I would trust about The Man in the High Castle. It's at least...more on the list than it used to be.
(I haven't seen Big Hero 6. I know, I know! One day!)
(no subject)
Date: Jan. 10th, 2016 04:52 pm (UTC)But it's impossible to defend them and not be insulted.