Movie Reviews

I went to see The Heat, and I loved it. I laughed so hard I cried more than once. I missed lines of dialogue because the whole audience was laughing so loudly so often. I had planned to go see the movie in the theater because it looked funny and I wanted to support a women-centered film with money because that's apparently the only way to get more made. And then I was going to write a review. But delagar beat me too it, and since I agree with everything that she said, except for the bit where she lives in Arkansas and I don't, go read her review. I'll wait.

Good, huh? Go watch the movie.

So instead I'll tell you what I thought of Star Trek Into Darkness. I watched it in 3D with family. I love ST, and it's kind of a family tradition to see ST movies with my dad, and since he's gone, I still try to go with family when one comes out. I did not really like the first movie. I loved the actors and thought they were all wonderful, and I loved the verbal and characterization nods to the original series. I thought the plot and the writing otherwise was horrible and I was devastated by the new Uhura. Zoe Saldana was fine. She did the best with what they gave her. What they gave her was an underutilized and sexy shell. If they left her underutilized the same as Sulu and Chekhov, I would have been less angry, but the added sex object scenes and the girlfriend plot were less important than her Communications Officer plot, and that sucks.

So this time in, I had very low expectations. I was going to see it because ST. And it would probably be a fun movie, if not a good movie. I expected it to be like the first movie only worse: bad writing, plot that doesn't make sense, gratuitous underwear scene for women only, Uhura utilized inappropriately, etc. I was thinking, expect wish fulfillment fanfic* written by someone who wants to be Captain Kirk, but a young hot Kirk or who wants to Spock, but a Spock who has sex. Expect a movie where the dialogue and the characterizations are what matter in terms of writing, and explosions and shiny special effects are what matter in terms of plot. Connecting bits and logic don't matter. So with this mindset, I really enjoyed the movie. I was expecting a bad movie that was fun. What I got was an okay and fun movie that had moments of really good (mostly Simon Pegg). But since I was expecting the weaknesses, they didn't bother me as much and I was able to enjoy the parts of the film that were actually good. So I guess the lesson here is, lower your exceptions and movies become better.

I think JJ Abrams will be better at Star Wars. But he really should negotiate to get writers that know how to write women as real people. Although to be fair, Uhura had a bigger role and did more as an officer this time. She was often motivated by the girlfriend plot though, which is a problem, but at least she got to do stuff. I get that it's hard to write real parts for everyone in an ensemble cast, but it can be done. But for the third one, I'm expecting Marcus to get the girlfriend plot (plot twist: McCoy not Kirk), and a third women to get a gratuitous underwear scene. Perhaps Sulu and Checkov will argue about something.

*I don't mean this as in fanfic is poorly written or bad, because that's not the case.