Category: Movies

  • The Fanboys and Movies

    Fanboys have broken me.

    I was watching the Star Wars Final Trailer, and it was fine, and made me a little excited to see the movie, too. I will be taking my daughter to see it at Christmas time, and for that reason alone, I know I will have a great time with the movie.

    And then the thought of the fanboys came into my head, and the continuous shitting on the movie that will happen the second the movie starts playing. It’s just draining to hear constant nitpicking.

    I am fully aware I can ignore people, but sadly, I am good friends with some fanboys, though they figured out they are fanboys.

    What bothers me is that fanboy culture has changed the way we now think about criticizing movies. I know this is an event movie that lots of stuff will ‘slpode in. But whatever inconstancy or error that some fanboy discovers will then be blown up into the greatest of all transgressions, and thus the movie is shit, and you are shit for liking it.

    The outrage! “How could they do this to us, they most loyal of loyal fans! We deserve better!”

    How did we get here, again?

    Sure, you can blame the internet for creating an arms race of outrage and offense that must be expressed to the highest degree…

    But the other side of it, that some of these movies really are very good, but there is no context for constructive criticism.

    I think this was a part of the point that Scorsese and Coppola were trying to make; Star Wars and Marvel movies right now are just telling the same story repeatedly. With all these two-dimensional characters that are tumbling towards a third act in the movie where everything will explode, and the heroes are protected by plot armor, and in the back of your mind, you know that in six months you are about to do this same thing all over again, just with a different cast and setting.

    This is what the fanboy beast wants to be fed, and the billions of dollars prove that right now, its still a winning formula. And that outrage is also part of that formula now.

  • Trump or the Emmys?

    These are the first two thoughts that popped into my mind when I thought about writing a blog today; do I write about Trump or the Emmys?

    I could say that writing about Trump, again, will do nothing but make me feel defeated and powerless. Yet again, we have another situation where Trump has gone and done something illegal, and then ho goes and gaslights the world into believing that he was doing everyone a favor for doing this thing, which in his opinion, wasn’t illegal at all. I think Bill Maher had the best reaction this past Friday which was that this will follow the same cycle of denial, then admitting to it but it wasn’t wrong, and then starting another scandal to make everyone forget about the first scandal. I also expect this to happen, which is why I feel defeated and powerless.

    Speaking of defeated and powerless, I watched part of the Emmys, and it was a rather dull affair. The only take away I had was the free broadcast television was now officially dead. SNL was the only over the air broadcast show to win, and the rest went to cable or streaming. This is the new entertainment world we live in. It is a little sad that free tv is no more, as what I mourn for are all the great 15 and 30 second commercials we will never see, as no one watches commercials. All of those jingle writers will be out of a job. Sad.

  • You Would Think

    You would think I would know better. I have been trying for some time to get my stupid ass to bed on time. This has turned into a task that I fear I will never accomplish.

    I’m over 40, and I can’t stop watching TV at night. I have been making my way through Rick and Morty, and then last night I found out a friend of mine had a part in Fosse/Verdon, so I had to watch and look for her.

    I’m sure you can see how this goes. I finish and episode, and then I think I can handle one more. And then it’s 2am.

    I should know better…

    But I think I need to start to accept that this is not a life style that I can lead.

    I have always been a night owl, and I love staying up late alone. I like flipping channels, and looking for movies that I haven’t seen before. That’s still fun to me.

    And that’s the problem.

    I’m trying to change a behavior that, logically, I know is in my interest to do, but my heart isn’t into it.

    Being sleep deprived isn’t fun, but in a weird way, I have come to learn to live with that. It sucks, but I somehow know that in the middle of the day I will rally and recover.

    I’m an adult, but man, I have no idea what I’m doing, except finishing Fosse/Verdon tonight.

  • Midlife Thoughts

    I moved 1,000 lbs of clay today. I needed to do it for my job, and I did have help, but still… I moved 1,000 lbs of clay.

    As I was driving the clay across the county in my small SUV, I did have that moment where I had to ask, “How did I get here?”

    That’s what the past two weeks have felt like. Honestly, how did I get to where I am?

    Is that the call of the mid-life crisis? Is “Once in a Lifetime” the unofficial theme song of these moments. “That’s not my beautiful house! That’s not my beautiful car!”

    Does anyone care about mid-life crisis anymore? I read about how people now shit all over “American Beauty” now. Not only because Kevin Spacey is in it, but because it’s about a material successful guy, who buys a sports car, changes jobs, and lusts after a teenager. When you say it that way, does anyone want to see a story about comfortable people who aren’t as comfortable as they would like.

    It’s also like he movie “The Land of Steady Habits,” which played like a John Updike or John Cheever story were updated and retold. I liked the movie, but it also functions off of the male midlife crisis trope.

    The more I think about it, that seems to be a bunch of stories written by men. That, “I have lost my spark and must reclaim it by behaving the way I did in my past.”

    I really hope that’s not what I have to look forward to. I would prefer to regain my spark by moving forward, and not by trying to be that idiot from my past.

  • New Star Wars Trailer

    My kid is crazy into Star Wars right now. I hope it lasts the rest of her life, but I will take the enjoyment that we are both getting out of the movies. And books. And cartoons. And TV shows. And all of the other things that Disney wants to release.

    Just as it happens, last night I was watching a documentary on the making of the original trilogy, so seeing he new trailer this morning just made everything come full circle. And here I am, watching this new trailer that seems to be an attempt to tie all 9 movies together as one giant narrative. Regardless of how the last movie is, and it doesn’t really matter – we will all go and see it – there are now nine movies telling a story that everyone can’t seem to get enough of.

    Why do I keep coming back to Star Wars? Empire Strikes Back was the first movie I ever saw in the theatre at five years old. I can still remember the excitement and fear, and thrill of sitting in a packed theatre with my dad and brothers, sharing that experience of witnessing that movie. What I took away from that movie, and still take away from it, is that you always go to bat for your friends, and you have to face your fears.

    Loyalty and courage.

    And here is the new Star Wars trailer…