dev_chieftain (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dev_chieftain) wrote2012-06-27 05:40 am
dev_chieftain) wrote2012-06-27 05:40 am
Three good movies, a bad one and a squicky webcomic
So when I picked up Girls with Slingshots recently, I wasn't precisely expecting it to veer so totally into squickstown for me. Not only do I not really like the latest main storyline about how Zach thinks he's a mature mofo and Hazel needs to Grow Up and Marry Him Like He Wants Her To, but I reeeeally don't feel comfortable with how it's being played out. The latest is him withholding further sex while they're in the middle of it with the ultimatum that if she wants him to continue, she has to discuss "their future" together. Which...ew, talk about an inappropriate time. If a girl or guy tried to do something like that to me I'm pretty sure I would forcibly kick them out and leave, because "trying to blackmail someone" instead of actually initiating a conversation about such a topic is pretty high on my list of things that end relationships immediately.
Waiting to see where Hazel goes with this, but the storyline so far has been: a whole lot of Zach calling Hazel immature and acting plenty immature on his own. If he wants to break up, he needs to do it. If he wants to make things work, he fucking ought to apologize for making a bunch of big decisions about 'their future' without her input, and telling her she's immature. Fucked up, is what that is. There's a reason I stay away from my RL friends' romantic drama, thanks.
So we hit up FYE and managed to grab a pretty big selection of super-cheap movies, + Darkwing Duck. Haven't gotten to the latter yet, but we've been making inroads on the movies.
The Cable Guy - the movie is still terrible, but as an adult I can actually appreciate the one or two funny scenes mixed in with the kind of so-so majority of the film. I still think the worst thing about this film is that it was clearly marketed at children, during the height Jim Carrey's fame as a comedian that kids found funny, and it was only rated PG-13. There are sooo many reasons it should not have been, and remembering my nine-year-old brother's stubborn insistence that it would get better and stop being scary makes me grit my teeth every time. The poor kid made my aunt and I stay through the whole movie swearing it would get funny, but it only ever got worse. The "joke" suicide scene + pretentious message at the end? Just-- no. It's not funny; and the 'message' really kills any dark humor you might've gotten out of it, because how preachy is it for a badly marketed movie to tell parents and kids alike "you boob! You're watching TV too much!"?
That's about as much thought as that ever deserves. Just...it's a disappointment as a film, and still is even on rewatching. Ah well.
On the upside, we discovered some excellence in the form of Ice Pirates, a 1984 movie that was pretty blatantly a partial Star Wars ripoff. Unlike Spaceballs, they went the route of sorta-serious parody. Their plotline makes NO sense-- in a distant future, somehow water (despite being composed of some of the most common elements in the universe) is so scarce that the titular Ice Pirates have to steal ice to make a living, using it both to survive and as currency.
Despite the silliness of the premise itself, the movie was pretty good just as a movie on its own, and while it included some hilarious misunderstandings of the current theory of near-light-speed travel, there was a lot of awesome old-school sci-fi in there that I really enjoyed. Also, the movie has Ron Perlman, which is rad.
Next were Madagascar and Rock-a-Doodle. The latter is a bit more meandering than my favorite Don Bluth films, but it was fun enough; and Madagascar was honestly pretty good. We decided to pick that one up since several friends had told us it was decent, and they didn't steer us wrong-- it was fun. I could live without Sasha Baron Cohen's character, but by contrast was pleasantly surprised by the monkeys and the penguins. Fun watches all.
Coming up will be the original HairSpray and Casino Royale; those should be interesting!
Also, been playing Pokemon Soulsilver for the last couple of days. I don't know why, but I just suddenly had the urge to play it. It has been pretty cute and lived up to my expectations so far!
Waiting to see where Hazel goes with this, but the storyline so far has been: a whole lot of Zach calling Hazel immature and acting plenty immature on his own. If he wants to break up, he needs to do it. If he wants to make things work, he fucking ought to apologize for making a bunch of big decisions about 'their future' without her input, and telling her she's immature. Fucked up, is what that is. There's a reason I stay away from my RL friends' romantic drama, thanks.
So we hit up FYE and managed to grab a pretty big selection of super-cheap movies, + Darkwing Duck. Haven't gotten to the latter yet, but we've been making inroads on the movies.
The Cable Guy - the movie is still terrible, but as an adult I can actually appreciate the one or two funny scenes mixed in with the kind of so-so majority of the film. I still think the worst thing about this film is that it was clearly marketed at children, during the height Jim Carrey's fame as a comedian that kids found funny, and it was only rated PG-13. There are sooo many reasons it should not have been, and remembering my nine-year-old brother's stubborn insistence that it would get better and stop being scary makes me grit my teeth every time. The poor kid made my aunt and I stay through the whole movie swearing it would get funny, but it only ever got worse. The "joke" suicide scene + pretentious message at the end? Just-- no. It's not funny; and the 'message' really kills any dark humor you might've gotten out of it, because how preachy is it for a badly marketed movie to tell parents and kids alike "you boob! You're watching TV too much!"?
That's about as much thought as that ever deserves. Just...it's a disappointment as a film, and still is even on rewatching. Ah well.
On the upside, we discovered some excellence in the form of Ice Pirates, a 1984 movie that was pretty blatantly a partial Star Wars ripoff. Unlike Spaceballs, they went the route of sorta-serious parody. Their plotline makes NO sense-- in a distant future, somehow water (despite being composed of some of the most common elements in the universe) is so scarce that the titular Ice Pirates have to steal ice to make a living, using it both to survive and as currency.
Despite the silliness of the premise itself, the movie was pretty good just as a movie on its own, and while it included some hilarious misunderstandings of the current theory of near-light-speed travel, there was a lot of awesome old-school sci-fi in there that I really enjoyed. Also, the movie has Ron Perlman, which is rad.
Next were Madagascar and Rock-a-Doodle. The latter is a bit more meandering than my favorite Don Bluth films, but it was fun enough; and Madagascar was honestly pretty good. We decided to pick that one up since several friends had told us it was decent, and they didn't steer us wrong-- it was fun. I could live without Sasha Baron Cohen's character, but by contrast was pleasantly surprised by the monkeys and the penguins. Fun watches all.
Coming up will be the original HairSpray and Casino Royale; those should be interesting!
Also, been playing Pokemon Soulsilver for the last couple of days. I don't know why, but I just suddenly had the urge to play it. It has been pretty cute and lived up to my expectations so far!
no subject
You might want to look into the sequel, if you enjoyed Madagascar. it's basically the same but more so, and I enjoyed it. I actually, in hindsight, prefer it to the original. There is more Julien, obviously, and it all starts out pretty gimmicky, but the whole volcano scene is beautiful and well-scored, and the major plot focuses around - well, around a bunch of things, but Alex and Marty being buds is a strong element, and unlike Shao Kahn, I'm a sucker for a good friendship.
That said, don't expect anything revelatory. If you basically go in expecting the same that you expected from Madagascar, that'd probably steer you right.
(The last time I saw Ron Perlman was as the Lich, whose episodes I will not be showing to Siobhan any time soon. I also saw comments on Goliad suggesting that Bubblegum's occasional evil is due to her Lich possession. Which is a problem partially because it denies her agency, and mostly because come on, guys, Bubblegum has evil tendencies because Bubblegum has evil tendencies, it's part of what she is. Even Finn, who's mostly pretty pure, has slight evil tendencies because of his Blood Knight nature. If we can accept this, surely we can accept a princess who might, just a little, kind of want to conquer the world with mad science and see ethics as holding her back in that regard.
I think the reason I like Bubblegum being a little bit evil is precisely because it gives her agency. There's the old story cliche that Bruce Willis sort of harked to when talking about Die Hard: villains act, heroes react. I like the idea of the pretty pink princess having the elan to walk on the dark side every so often.)
I need to get back to Pokemon SoulSilver. And Pokemon Diamond. I really enjoy playing Pokemon games!
no subject
(Oh man! Those comments are nonsensical, says I. The thing is, Bubblegum was already evil in Slumber Party Panic, the episode about making the Ice King howl, and the one about the Duke of Nuts long before the lich showed up. That's just people being stupidheads. And it's got about as much weight as saying that Finn is evil because he was possessed by absolute evil by Marceline's dad. Obviously, he's not; ergo, that's not so for PB either. The really big thing that makes me roll my eyes about such comments is the obvious fact that not every episode can connect to every other episode. Finn and Jake have died multiple times; it's the same principle as the Aeon Flux cartoon. The characters may die in this short, but reality has reset for the next one, in most cases! So yeah, I'm with you on that.
Plus, hells yeah! Pretty pink evil mad scientist is awesome!)
Yes! I'm having stupid amounts of fun with SoulSilver so far.