#2,326: Passengers
The Handmaiden - ★★★★☆
I saw this under perfect conditions– in a nice theater, and with no idea of what the movie was about. It's interesting, it's twisty, it goes on and on... and on... Maybe a little bit too far, in fact.
I'm torn between watching the BBC version to get more and never watching the BBC version so that I don't ruin something nice.
Hidden Figures - ★★★½☆
"What was that Kevin Costner movie with Octavia Spencer?"
"Hidden Figures?"
"No. Well... yes. But..."
"Oh, no no, Hidden Figures was the Octavia Spencer movie with Kevin Costner."
"Right."
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - ★★½☆☆
I've seen this twice and I still didn't catch the names of all of the main characters. That doesn't feel very Star Wars to me. With Episode 7, it was exciting to know that there are new people and new places and new things and we don't know what they all are yet, but we know who the main characters are. The audience around me seemed to care a lot more about the droid than any of the people. I think I'm less angry about it than I sound, but it still seems like such a wasted opportunity to go back to prequeling.
On a second watch, I did feel that mid-movie slow down. I like the ending though! (The ending, particularly, and distinctly from the epilogue.) Even if it takes all movie to get there, it does feel good to have the movie finally make a bold choice.
Also on the rewatch, everything involving Saw Guerrera is completely frustrating. None of it makes a lick of sense. So much of his sequence could be lifted out and nothing would be any different. He doesn't do anything that helps anyone, and then he dies because what? He's bored? He's like the Into The Wild of Star Wars.
Passengers - ★★★★★
I liked this one very much. I felt like the vision of the future resembled the cheerfully unhelpful future I like writing about. I hope this gets the production design Oscar™.
All of the think pieces getting written about Chris Pratt's 'problematic' behavior are like the open mic comic doing his bit about how weird it is that Garfield hates Mondays. Yes. That's not your joke, that's Jim Davis' joke. Also, that behavior is the point of this movie. It's the interesting thing! You were hoping for a movie where two beautiful people randomly pair off and just relax in luxury until they die of old age?
I don't want to see the first half re-edited into a rom-com, but I would like to see a more thoughtful third act that forces them to really get a grip on the situation.