My Star Wars Review

Well, I finally (fifth day of release but an eternity in the life of this movie) took the boys to see Star Wars The Force Awakens. Now, I wanted to see it, but I'm not a fan in the root word "fanatic" sense. That ended for me years ago.

Here's what I thought the movie had going for it:

1. George Lucas isn't at the helm. Star Wars 1-3 were really bad movies. Add to that the fact that George Lucas has deemed it necessary to make the original Star Wars, Empire, and Jedi movies unavailable in Blu-Ray. He's more than happy to sell you the version where he replaced all the special effects, but you can't get the original three movies in a decent resolution. That's a really dick thing to do.
2. J. J. Abrams is at the helm. Abrams worked magic when he took on the Star Trek universe.
3. Everyone now hates movies 1-3 (I always hated them) so whoever makes the new movies will stay away from the sins of those movies.

I'm trying to avoid spoilers, but it's hard to talk about some of what I don't like without revealing some plot. Anyway, this is the stuff I didn't like about the movie. Which I guess is a kind of spoiler  in itself since I might be poisoning your well with my attitude if you haven't seen the film yet.

The Pacing Of The Film
Leaving the theatre, one of my sons asked what my favorite part of the movie was. I had to think a minute, but my favorite part was our introduction to Rey as she scavenges the wreckage of a Star Destroyer. This part of the film stood out as a moment where the film didn't seem to rush everything. Except for this moment, the film's story seemed to unfold at breakneck speed for most of the two hour running time.

Take for instance, when Rey flies over a green planet and remarks in amazement, "I didn't know there was this much green in the entire galaxy" or something like that. She's from a desert planet. When she lands she's so amazed with how green everything is that she takes exactly zero minutes to take it all in. She's standing for the first time in her life in a very green forest in front of a very large lake. What could have been a nice moment to slow this movie down for a minute (think Maximus walking through imaginary wheat before a battle) doesn't materialize. The story moves along.

Another example of the film's hectic pacing is the glossing over of Finn's motivation for leaving. We never really explore that. In the beginning, he seems horrified to see a comrade die, but then spends the rest of the movie killing them almost with relish. There is a gold mine of motivation and conflict there to explore, but for the sake of the story moving along, we simplify his story considerably.

Perhaps the most egregious assault on the pacing of this film is evident as Finn and Po are reunited  mid-film and greet each other as old friends. All the hugging and back slapping rings a little hollow when you think back on the fact that this "enduring friendship" is based on three minutes of screen time they spent with their backs to one another in a TIE Fighter. It's also a friendship born from each of them needing the other to do something for them. So their friendship is actually based on fulfilling their own needs. But isn't friendship about putting someone else's needs ahead of yours?

The Force Isn't What It Used To Be
There's a moment in the movie, when our bad guy is interrogating our heroine. He's using his Dark Side powers to enter her head and probe her thoughts, but this seems to also allow her to enter his head. I wanted her to turn the tables on him, take control of the conversation, and enter his mind. What a missed opportunity for her to uncover some of his inner conflict, his story, his desires. For a moment it looked like this is where we were heading, and then the scene abruptly ended.

At another moment, our bad guy basically throws a tantrum. I don't think that needs any explanation as to why that's totally unacceptable for me. I mean, he threw a TANTRUM! After slashing away with his lightsaber at the circuits and computers in front of him, I would have given $100 if the film had cut to an exterior of the Star Destroyer with it's left turn signal stuck with the blinker on.

Thirty Years Isn't That Long
Apparently in thirty years, the defeated Empire has risen from the ashes and has built a new Death Star that's twenty times larger than the old one. All of this was done without anyone noticing I guess.

And everyone speaks of Skywalker and Solo and the rebellion as if it was myth. Do you go from freeing the galaxy from evil to everyone not being sure if it really happened in the very short span of thirty years? Wouldn't there be people around who would say, "Yeah, that happened, I remember seeing it on the news."

J. J. Abrams Traded In His Lens Flares
When J. J. Abrams reinvented the Star Trek universe (a favorite movie of mine,) he had lens flares in just about every shot. Lens flares are that spot or spots that occur when a light shines into the camera lens. It's usually something you avoid, but Abrams added them with computers. I might be reading purpose into something that had none (maybe he did it just because it looked cool,) but I think the lens flares remind you of the camera, thus making you think that what's on screen actually happened and was filmed. This is particularly handy when you are showing things that aren't possible. It adds a realism to the whole movie.

Now, in The Force Awakens, Abrams has replaced lens flares with people running and walking in every direction; like ping pong balls bouncing off of everything and heading in all directions. They're not in every shot like the lens flares in Star Trek, but they're prevalent enough that I noticed it about halfway through the film. I guess it's a side effect of him wanting to have actual people in the movie instead of computer generated ones.

Rey Runs
In almost every scene, Rey is running. She runs this way. She runs that way. Lots of running. Did I mention that she is always running?

I Don't Like Touchdown Dances
Without giving anything away, Finn does a verbal touchdown dance at one point. I respond very negatively to that. It turned me off to him like a cold bucket of water being thrown on me.

Snape Is The Bad Guy
For some reason, the bad guy in this looks exactly like Alan Rickman as Snape. Even my sons noticed. What's the point in that? And was I the only one that thought Leia and her new hairdo gave her head a shape that made her look like the cantina owner Maz Kanata?

A Forty Foot Tall Supreme Leader
If it's a hologram, you can make it any size you want. Why would you make it forty feet tall. Even if he is forty feet tall, you can make it smaller so you don't hurt your neck looking up. Totally impractical.

What I Liked
Now, there was stuff about the film that I liked. I actually liked Daisy Ridley (pictured above.) I thought she did really well. As a matter of fact, she was the only one that I thought did well. Even Harrison Ford seemed to be struggling with his acting, and Carrie Fisher seemed to be destined to stand still and say nothing for the entire film. I guess that was a step up from her role in the original movies where she had to deliver lines like: "The ion cannon will fire several shots to make sure any enemy ships will be out of your flight path." The Po character was too happy, even when being tortured, and the Finn character had the whole touchdown dance thing that I hate.

As I mentioned above, I really liked the sequence in the wrecked Star Destroyer.

When I was younger I loved the original movies. As I grew older, I started to see them a little more objectively, and some of their shine was lost. Like I said in the beginning, I'm not a Star Wars fanatic. Clearly this movie was made with a very keen eye on making the Star Wars fans happy. I can respect that. J. J. Abrams would have been stupid to ignore that need, and that Disney wouldn't have let him ignore it if he had tried.

This movie is a success, and I'm firmly in the minority. $248 million in the first six days. So, I'm clear that I'm the a**hole here.

Insert Joke Here (See What I Did There?)

Someone just won the Internet with the story above. Oh, how I wish I was on the apparatus that responded to this. I've heard some great "what happened was" stories in my years on the job, but this one must have taken the cake. 

Anyway, there's something missing from the story: the kind of cookies. So, I ask you: What kind of cookies were they?

AFI 100 Review: #14 Some Like It Hot

A friend of mine, Jeremy, had previously suggested when I restarted my blog that I continue my reviewing of all 100 of the AFI Greatest Movies of All Time (1998). I got a cd of Christmas music from Jeremy today; something that Jeremy continues to do every year, even though I don't see him but once or twice a year anymore. Since he's committed to that tradition, I figure I can finish what I started with the AFI thing.

Some Like It Hot

1959

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Written By: Billy Wilder, I. A. L. Diamond

Starring: Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe

The Acting: The stories about Marilyn Monroe's behavior on set are legendary. Stories like her needing over 30 takes to deliver lines like, "It's me, Sugar." And she apparently still needed it written down to the side of the camera before she could finally get it right. She was obviously the big star here, and if you can forget the stories about her, her performance is pretty fun. She plays ditzy convincingly and occasionally gets a laugh in. (There's the potential for an entire post devoted to her dresses that make it look like she's exposing her breasts.)

Tony Curtis has never been a real favorite of mine. I don't have any reason not to like him, but I just don't love him. Here, he gets points from me for making fun of Cary Grant; someone I really don't care for. Bonus points for the fact that Cary Grant didn't like Tony Curtis making fun of him. Curtis plays the straight man for most of this movie, but occasionally gets some solid laughs in.

Jack Lemmon is the stand out here. This wasn't his first film by any means. His biggest before this was Mister Roberts with Henry Fonda. But this was a film where he stands out head and shoulders above the other actors.

His delivery, his gestures, and his looks are golden. I find myself backing up and watching the scenes where he really shines over and over. If you want a specific example of what I'm talking about, check him out just after they get on the train, when he comments about "men" and how he does everything to avoid them. His lines are funny enough, but he sneaks a glare in right at the end that makes me cry.

Interesting: What's interesting to me about this story is the fact that it is one of the few films to have been given a "Condemned" rating from the Roman Catholic Church's Legion of Decency; an organization created in 1933 to combat objectionable content in movies. It actually still exists, but has been rolled into other organizations within the Catholic Church and doesn't really wield the power that it did when this film came out. (And before you go down that path, I was raised Catholic and have a friend who reviews movies for a Catholic website that are very much on point.)

The "Condemned" rating no doubt came from the fact that the majority of the movie is spent with two of our stars in drag, one of whom ends up engaged to a man who doesn't realize he's a man in drag. And when on the verge of marriage to Jack Lemmon in drag it is finally revealed to him that Jack Lemmon is a man, he delivers one of the classic lines in all movie history.

Cultural Impact: I'm not sure that this movie has much cultural impact beyond the fact that it ranks #14 on the AFI list of best films of all time, and #1 on AFI's list of best comedies. Screenwriters might watch it as a blueprint. I might be wrong, but I don't think this movie paved the way for cross dressing being accepted. The implied possibility of a homosexual relationship didn't really lead to a flurry of similar films in 1960.

No, the only real cultural impact I can see is the fact that this film is just as funny today as it must have been in 1959. It actually gets funnier for me every time I watch it. I notice things, subtle things, that I didn't notice before each time. For instance, this last viewing I saw that Sweet Sue puts a pill in her mouth, removes it, then puts it back in. It made me laugh at how ridiculous it was, but I also admired it for how it was a very calculated move by the actress. Not done for a huge laugh, but 55 years later it still gets one.

Does This Film Belong On My List: Absolutely. It really is one of the funniest movies of all time. I don't think it belongs at the top of the list of funny films (I reserve that spot for Buster Keaton's The General) but there is no denying it's a funny as hell movie.