Movie reviews from a hospital bed
I’m out of the hospital (thank goodness!) and slowly recovering, but thought it’d be fun to do mini-reviews of the many movies I’ve watched this past week. Enjoy!
Star Trek (the new one) – I’m ashamed, as a geek, to admit that I’d never seen a Star Trek movie or TV episode before watching this. But, having seen it, I want to go back and watch some of the older ones. I really enjoyed it! I wasn’t totally expecting to (and the morphine may have helped) but I thought it was a good mix of action, intrigue (at least enough intrigue for an action movie), and character development. I also thought they did a good job offering nods to past Star Trek characters, and I’m sure I would have gotten tons more references if I hadn’t just been relying on the bits and pieces of Star Trek lore I’ve accumulated over my years. Verdict: Definitely worth watching
Sunshine Cleaning – I started this movie expecting a dark comedy with some drama, and ended up watching a dark drama with some comedy. Which, fortunately, was worth it. But I did not see the movie I was expecting, so be warned if you’re looking for something lighthearted. I was really pleasantly surprised, though, at the lesbian character who shows up midway through the film. She very easily could have been cast as a man, without making any major plot changes, but she just happens to be a woman. Her sexuality was never the focus of a huge, dramatic scene, but simply wove into the rest of the plot. I also really liked the casting of this movie, from the young son up through the grandfather. Verdict: Worth seeing
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs – I originally had no interest in seeing this movie (considering it revisionist blasphemy) but a good write-up on io9 made me want to check it out. It certainly wasn’t amazing – even at their worst, Pixar makes better movies – but it was more enjoyable than I expected. The plot was pretty weak, even for a kids movie, but it was pretty and the cute little romance between the main characters was fun to see. It had some good gags, or at least I thought so while on morphine, but you wouldn’t miss anything amazing if you gave it a pass. Verdict: Worth watching with kids, or on morphine
Up – I’ll be honest, this was the second time I’d seen Up. But it’s worth seeing, and worth seeing again. I’ve read a few valid opinion pieces about how Pixar needs to have a strong female protagonist one of these days, but I still love me some Pixar. Pixar, Pixar, Pixar. Verdict: Why haven’t you watched this already?! They manage to pack more emotion, relationship, and character development in the first 10 minutes of Up than in all of…
The Time Travelers Wife – Full disclosure: I loved this book. A lot. I liked Her Fearful Symetry, too, albeit not as much. The movie was…adequate. The time-traveling was fine, if not mind-blowing, and the casting was solid. (Alba was great!) It was also fun, as a Chicagoan, seeing obligatory Chicago shots, including a Marshal Field’s bag. Oh, dearly departed… But the movie just didn’t have the time (ha!) to do the character and relationship development justice. In the book, there was enough space for some of the time jumps to not be for a specific plot point, but to just be; to establish the universe of the book. In the movie, it felt like the screenwriter sat down with a checklist: OK, we need to show Events A, B, and C, and don’t have time for anything else. So the movie conveyed the framework of the book, but not the book’s depth or subtlety. Verdict: Only see it if, like me, you enjoyed the book and are going to see the movie no matter how bad it is
Across the Universe – I’d heard really mixed reviews of this movie, with some of my friends loving it, but more really disliking it. So I went in expecting something mediocre, and you probably should, too. It’s not a fun, Broadway-ready musical, made out of Beatles music. Which is what I was hoping for. It is a very pretty, very aesthetically pleasing story of a young man’s journey, as explored through Beatles music. Which is fine, but wasn’t what I was hoping for. Verdict: Not worth seeing
The Philadelphia Story – This 1940 black-and-white comedy stars Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, and James Stewart, and is fun for that if nothing else. Fortunately, the plot – about ex-lovers who may (or may not) find their way back into each others’ arms – is also fun. But to someone raised on comedies of the ’90s, the 2-hour Philadelphia Story was slow. And dry. It had some great moments, and was a nifty view of pre-WWII America (very interesting and outdated gender and class politics at play!) but I think I would have enjoyed it more at 90 minutes than 120. Verdict: Worth watching, but know what you’re getting into. Take a drink every time someone casually mentions (or performs!) violence against women, and drink twice if it’s someone in their own family.
Themocracy
I’ve loved The Philadelphia Story since I was a kid, but even then I could tell that bits were wonky. I haven’t seen it lately, but I do remember liking Katherine Hepburn’s character’s outraged reaction to being doubted by her fiancee (after she realizes that his doubts are based on very little indeed). And I was surprised by how open some of the class conflict was.
I can’t believe you haven’t seen more Star Trek! WATCH MORE.
Any other good Hepburn movies I need to see? (And yes, I need to watch some more Star Trek…)