Painful I suppose the science behind this content is solid, for this and the sequels. Many of our films — primarily romantic comedies — deliberately give us a surrogate with whom to identify. And then they set the situation to be similar to those we’d experience, but simplified and exaggerated so that we can both… Continue reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)
Tag: 2010s
Films made in the 2010s
Captain Underpants (2018-20)
Underawares I actually steer my kids to this area rather than ordinary fare. It has silliness and poor production values. While the stories are vacuous, they are refreshingly free of messages and morals. But the value to me is the incredible fun they have with shifted nesting, what I sometimes call ‘folding’. If you don’t… Continue reading Captain Underpants (2018-20)
Overboard (2018)
Organic Endearment This is formulaic in the basics: two people repel each other, fall in love, have a complicating development, profess love in some public, dramatic way and are reconciled. Such things usually depend on the appeal of the characters and the supporting comedy. But I think this has something else going for it. It… Continue reading Overboard (2018)
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019)
The Last Supper’s Table If you come to this for the much advertised fight choreography or exciting chase scenes, you will be disappointed. We’ve seen more exciting of each many times. There’s no new ground here, no stunts in the Tom Cruise sense to speak of. No risks at all. Fightwise the only novelty we… Continue reading John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019)
Exit Through the Giftshop (2010)
Mister Brainwash A key insight for me is what I amusingly call Ted’s law. In this, when we layer abstractions in art, the “distance” between layers is equal. This is a great example. The idea builds on the notion that humans alone are capable of seeing themselves in the world as they see the world.… Continue reading Exit Through the Giftshop (2010)
Extraordinary Measures (2010)
Dying You can see the pitch: real life, dying children, desperate father, two bankable actors who have made money in action movies but who sputter otherwise. In other words, there is no intent to put anything of value into this: it intends to milk us based on stuff banked by others. Unfortunately, everything — other… Continue reading Extraordinary Measures (2010)
Christopher Robin (2018)
Stuck in the Box The story is conventional Disney, and in the trend of expanding the reach of established properties, with as little actual drama as possible. Three things are notable to me. This was shot on video, with a deliberate nod to cheap TeeVee productions from decades ago. Every visual choice was designed to… Continue reading Christopher Robin (2018)
Blown Away (2019)
Someone Else’s Bubble I don’t know who originated the formula. I’ve seen it on “Legomasters”. You start with 8 teams, here 8 glass artists. You give them an assignment, material and some time. Then their creation is judged, someone eliminated until there is a winner. With Lego it works. The competitors are pairs — friends… Continue reading Blown Away (2019)
David Bull: The Great Wave (2015)
A Hello Now that I am free from posting on IMDB, I can watch films and study alternative film sources that matter. Movies emerged from a context. I understand that context in the West well enough for my purposes. The narrative devices I study are inherited from literary traditions, but I need to spend more… Continue reading David Bull: The Great Wave (2015)
Coherence (2013)
Encounters with Selves The idea behind this is promising: troubled couples escaping their problems and focus on their partner by encountering themselves — other versions of themselves. There is some scientific hocus pocus enlisted to enable this, but that is just incidental. And I have to admit that the execution is good. Yes, the camera… Continue reading Coherence (2013)