It's Star Wars So Just Watch It, Ok?

So. Rogue One. I have now seen it five times. I have spent a lot of time talking about it. So now we will talk about it here (I'm mostly including no spoilers, but also why are you reading about this movie over a month after it came out if you haven't seen it).

If you totally missed it, here's the plot: the opening crawl for the original Star Wars (that would be Episode IV: A New Hope if you are completely lost). So, a period of civil war. Rebels trying to get the plans to the Empire's big weapon.

I really liked this movie. As evidenced by the five times I saw it (I was actually only gonna see it four times, but then I started being told not to see it again and there was a principle at stake and besides, it was my birthday. You can't tell me not to watch Star Wars on my birthday. That's just not fair).

I love how gritty it was, how seamlessly it led into the original movie. I loved the characters from the original movie they chose to include. I LOVE THAT JIMMY SMITS WAS IN IT BECAUSE I LOVE THAT MAN AND ALSO EVERY TIME I SEE IT AND HE SAYS HE'S GOING HOME TO ALDERAAN I START TELLING HIM NOT TO GO HOME BECAUSE HE'S GONNA DIE.

(Sorry)

I thought the CGI on Tarkin and Leia was really good. I liked the little bit of Threepio and R2 (side bar: I just got an R2D2 Bop It and have never been more excited for anything in my life. Except for the kids Star Wars plate set someone gave me for Christmas. I was probably more thrilled for that. There was shrieking in a public place. But I digress).

My third time watching was the day after Carrie Fisher passed away and that definitely has colored the rest of my viewings. The first two times, I cried at a few specific spots. The other three times I cried at different times, for different reasons. This movie is definitely going to age with everyone remembering her when they watch it, even though she never appears on screen (she may have voiced herself, but she didn't do her own motion capture). Of course we'll do the same with Episode VIII, but having a young image of Carrie Fisher say "hope" to you the day after she died will make you sob. Guarantee.

Basically my feelings on this movie are super rambly but also go watch it 'cause awesome. Mmmkay? Cool.

And if anyone wants to sit down with me and watch the prequels, this, the originals, and then Force Awakens, I'm totally on board. It'll take us a while but it'll be awesome. I'll bring the popcorn.

***obligatory special shout out to absolutely no one because I heard "Wendy you can't see a movie 5 times in theaters" way too many times. JUST WATCH ME***

A Boy and His Pet

No, seriously, Monster Trucks is literally a Boy and His Pet movie. Here’s the deal:

Oil company is drilling. They find a water pocket. The scientists say “ok we should tell someone ‘cause it’s weird to find water so deep and could mean life.” The big money maker guy (played by Rob Lowe) is all “no because $$$.” So they drill. And then their equipment goes kablooey (that’s a technical term).

They realize some things have come out and yes there was life down there. They successfully catch two of them but the audience realizes the third is hiding in a destroyed truck. This truck is sent to our hero’s work where he is supposed to crush it. 

It turns out that our hero really wants a truck and also is kind of lonely. The rest of the movie is him making friends with the thing (who he lovingly names Kreatch. I have no idea how he spells that and I like my spelling so I’m not gonna IMDb it), the creature taking over his shell of a truck, and him getting close to his biology tutor who has the most obvious crush on him ever (and he has literally no idea and it’s the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time). And also the oil people who don’t want to be shut down trying to get Kreatch back.

It’s pretty good. I enjoyed it. It’s a feel good thing. Not super deep and fairly predictable. The acting is fine (ok it turns out all neutral language about acting makes it sound like it’s bad but you’re trying to be nice. That is not the case. I just mean this isn’t a movie you walk out of going “oh my god that person needs a thousand awards.” But those movies tend to be dramas anyway. If the feelings they are eliciting are happy, you’re not gonna be impressed by the acting. I don’t know why but I’m completely sure I’m right). The music was fun.

It didn’t pass the Bechtel test. It literally had two female characters. I’m still deciding how I feel about the girl. The mom was completely flat. I thought the girl had character and developed and had weaknesses and had to learn things. She wasn’t a Mary Sue and had some dimension basically. I would have to watch it again to really talk character development, but honestly the character with the most development would be Kreatch (who kind of reminded me of Toothless from How To Train Your Dragon). None of the bad guys had any dimension or development at all.

But I liked it. It was fun. It was goofy. Kreatch was a little Star Trek-y, but that’s ok. If you need a fun movie to watch for entertainment’s sake or feel like being told very very blatantly that doing things for the sake of money and nothing else (oh yeah, there was definitely a science good, greed bad moral. I wouldn’t call it anti money or anti capitalist. But definitely anti greed), then I definitely recommend this movie. I probably won’t see it again in theaters (although you never know… If anyone tells me not to see it again, I almost certainly will. Which is my way of saying I’ve seen Rogue One five times and stay tuned for a review), but I liked it and will consider buying the DVD when it comes out.

Also this is not actually about the movie but I saw this in a totally empty theater which is one of my favorite ways to watch movies.

***obligatory special shout out TO ME. THE BIRTHDAY GIRL. BECAUSE THIS WAS PART OF MY BIRTHDAY MOVIE DOUBLE FEATURE*** 

Just Go Watch Hidden Figures, Ok?

We're just going to pretend it hasn't been almost a year since my last review. Ok. Cool.

I've seen Hidden Figures twice now, in the hopes of getting my feelings about it in order.

First of all, IT'S AMAZING STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND GO SEE IT. THEN WATCH IT AGAIN. I can't begin to count the ways it's great. I like all things '60s, so the costumes were amazing (wait till I finally write about Jackie....). The cinematography was well done. The incorporation of old television footage with the rest of the movie was really well done and at times I wasn't sure whether we were seeing actual footage from the various launches or something shot for the film (some things were obvious. Actual JFK making speeches was pretty clear for instance).

Then we get into the acting. It was great. I loved the three women. If they don't all wind up with lots of awards or at least nominations I will be very surprised. Also it could just be me (but for the record I haven't watched it since August so it's not just my zone) but the three of them reminded me of the sisters from Charmed. They kind of matched up really well too. Dorothy is Prue, Katherine is Piper, Mary is Phoebe.

So this movie takes place in 1961, so segregation. There's a whole point of Katherine having to run a quarter mile across campus just to find a colored women's bathroom. Mary wants to be an engineer and has to deal with taking classes in a segregated high school. Dorothy wants a book on computer programming but it's in the white section of the library.

And it's pretty obvious so the relevance will be obvious even to the most obtuse and I think people might actually be forced to confront their own privilege after seeing this (note: I *think.* The second time I saw it people applauded the big moments and the theater was primarily white, so that's a good thing). One of the particularly relevant and especially sad moments has to be right at the beginning (there's a shortened version of this scene in the trailer). The women are on the side of the road fixing their car when a police car pulls up. The three of them immediately put on very passive faces and Mary gets warned by the other two that she has to be polite to the cop. The cop asks them for ID. The style of the clothes, cars, and hair is all that's dated about this scene. Not the policeman's attitude or the women's fear or care.

It's not all sad though (at least from my perspective). The big boss man announces there will be no more colored bathrooms and everyone should just use whatever is convenient (with a few great lines by the way). He clearly thinks that Katherine could have told him right from the start that there wasn't a bathroom she could use and when he realizes she doesn't have a restroom, you can see him start to figure out white privilege is a thing, but after that scene with the cop in the beginning, you as the audience actually understand why she doesn't make a fuss and just sprints.

And my final moment of "oh wow that's beautiful." The white woman who gives out the assignments to the women approaches Dorothy and tells her that she doesn't have anything against "ya'll" (in context it's pretty clear she's saying she isn't racist). Dorothy kind of smiles sadly at her and says, "I know. I know you probably believe that." There isn't even anything I can add to that. Because to quote Avenue Q, "everyone's a little bit racist" (although wow that song did not age well...). We can be convinced we're not but privilege is privilege and if you're not thinking about it you're probably not stopping the world from being racist and when the world is this bad, that's kind of the same thing.

Oh and it passed the Bechtel Test right off the bat.

***obligatory special shout out to the bartender who gives me really good drinks with way too many cherries and as of last night with my second viewing of this movie is the official cherry champion, holding the record of 12 cherries please don't ask me how this became a thing I really have no idea***