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Old reflections on old entertainments
Jan. 18th, 2011 12:52 pmVarious Futurama movies: Wild Green Yonder isn't bad, but the others fall into two traps: using their newfound freedom from network standards to rely too heavily on gross-out humor instead of wit, and devoting their expanded running time to concocting a hydra of a plot where focus and a strong narrative thread are sheer impossibilities. (One movie attempts in 90 minutes to tackle the end of the universe, the universal nature of love, and the human belief in heaven and hell.) They're clever, but not wise, with (save for the last minutes of Yonder) no heart. Stephen Hawking and Al Gore, at least, deserved better.
(Also, once you learn what the creature in the second film is actually doing, it's difficult to find the humor in the situation, despite President Nixon's National Break-up Committee.)
Jabberwocky: I rented this on the name alone, having taken a shine to the monster since the 1985 TV movie implanted in me a false memory of Through the Looking Glass ending with a showdown between the beast and Alice. You might label Jabberwocky a victim of expectations, but if you start your movie with an attack by the beast in question and the king of the realm declaring a bounty on the beast's head and your hero setting off from his humble origins to prove his worth, then your audience has no right to expect anything but an epic quest to defeat the monster. Instead, you get more of a comedy following the hero's scattered misadventures in a European city in the Dark Ages, and while this isn't wrong, exactly, you're waiting and waiting for the meat of the movie to arrive, for the main plot to resurface, and you'll be waiting until ten minutes before the credits. The pacing is so very dreary, with several minutes of staging before a short spurt of jokes - a particular liability considering the film's pedigree as a product of many of the minds behind Monty Python and the Holy Grail and its rapid-fire humor. An unfortunate waste of some convincing set work and a sweetly winning performance by Michael Palin, a sort of continuation of his Galahad role.
Dawn of the Dead: The purported consumerism metaphor didn't strike me as particularly insightful, and I found the biker stuff at the end fairly ridiculous and unconvincing, even in a world where the dead walk and have stomachs large enough to process entire human femurs. What struck me most about the movie was how nice it must've been nice to shop in that mall. Without the living dead, I mean. It seemed very homey and comfortable, particularly that pub-type restaurant upstairs. I have a soft spot for restaurants that have warmly-lit leather booths with heavy wooden tables and open up into a shopping area.
(Also, once you learn what the creature in the second film is actually doing, it's difficult to find the humor in the situation, despite President Nixon's National Break-up Committee.)
Jabberwocky: I rented this on the name alone, having taken a shine to the monster since the 1985 TV movie implanted in me a false memory of Through the Looking Glass ending with a showdown between the beast and Alice. You might label Jabberwocky a victim of expectations, but if you start your movie with an attack by the beast in question and the king of the realm declaring a bounty on the beast's head and your hero setting off from his humble origins to prove his worth, then your audience has no right to expect anything but an epic quest to defeat the monster. Instead, you get more of a comedy following the hero's scattered misadventures in a European city in the Dark Ages, and while this isn't wrong, exactly, you're waiting and waiting for the meat of the movie to arrive, for the main plot to resurface, and you'll be waiting until ten minutes before the credits. The pacing is so very dreary, with several minutes of staging before a short spurt of jokes - a particular liability considering the film's pedigree as a product of many of the minds behind Monty Python and the Holy Grail and its rapid-fire humor. An unfortunate waste of some convincing set work and a sweetly winning performance by Michael Palin, a sort of continuation of his Galahad role.
Dawn of the Dead: The purported consumerism metaphor didn't strike me as particularly insightful, and I found the biker stuff at the end fairly ridiculous and unconvincing, even in a world where the dead walk and have stomachs large enough to process entire human femurs. What struck me most about the movie was how nice it must've been nice to shop in that mall. Without the living dead, I mean. It seemed very homey and comfortable, particularly that pub-type restaurant upstairs. I have a soft spot for restaurants that have warmly-lit leather booths with heavy wooden tables and open up into a shopping area.
