My very good friend and co-watcher (let’s call him «Valser-Boy») and I agreed even before the iTunes trailer ended: «High Rise» would be the chosen film of the evening. I think we both hoped it would be something in the likes of «Fight Club»*: Stylish, somewhat eery, visual stunning, hyperrealistic, violent and… good, maybe even outstanding.
Which it pretty much was,… until it wasn’t and became an awful, shallow but convuluted, and most important, boring comment on class war, with one hour runtime still to suffer through.
It felt as if its makers tried too hard to begin with, even succeeded, but then lost interest and just let it slide once they realized how thin their material was. (I guess – I haven’t read the book beforehand and I sure won’t do it now.)
If you should choose to watch «High Rise», do yourself a favour and quit in the middle, before you know what the whole thing really might be about. Because once you do, you’ll probably won’t care anymore and you’ll be just counting the minutes until this torture ends.
I guess «Valser-Boy» and I should’ve gone with the first movie we watched the (very uninspired) trailer of: «The Neon Demon».
I’ll keep you informed. Don’t call me, we’ll call you…
*) So you haven’t seen «Fight Club»? Oh, it’s nothing special, just one of the best f*cking movies ever made.
…not even mad that «Doctor Strange’s» script is a bit shallow and the characters are not as rich as I’d hoped them to be.
I’m not even disappointed that this time, Marvel can’t quite pull it off: At least not as masterfully as they’ve done before in «Thor» and «Guardians of the Galaxy», when they obliterated any doubt that without any question, a norse god or a talking, dancing tree weren’t just a good idea, but just belonged on that screen, in that movie, in that story, at that time.
So yes, compared to other movies in the MCU, «Doctor Strange» might be on the weaker side, but it sure looks pretty. And sometimes, (given a solid, but not great structure) that’s enough. Yeah, I know, form follows function, blablabla… but just look at it, it’s so shiny!
This is the moment where I have to admit that my brain’s probably still numbed by the film’s orgasmic kaleidoscopic visual bombardment:
While I may have gotten used to Marvel’s almost perfect, nearly unperceivable visual effects (e.g. «Civil War’s» airport battle), in «Doctor Strange» you really SEE the visuals at work, doing the heavy lifting – in a good way, even artful. There were hints of this kind of imagery in «Ant-Man» but never before where they used to create such an abstract, rich and layered world as in «Doctor Strange». We were promised a psychedelic trip – the Doctor’s universe sure delivers. The magic realm just looks fantastic, and for once, even the 3D almost seems justified.
Although the movie is by far neither as funny nor as clever as «Civil War» and kinda feels like the introvert cousin of «Iron Man», it’s still a most entertaining, highly recommendable and enjoyable ride.
And not to forget: The Cumberbatch is strong in this one! He’s all the Doctor Strange I could wish for… and more: As I remember reading the comics back in the day, Strange was quite the earnest, even stiff dandy. But Cumberbatch does his magic and nails it: He makes the character his own while staying true to the source material. Grounded, but surreal. Tragic (a bit), but funny (very).
Seeing the glass half full, maybe I’m even grateful that this time, Marvel did themselves a favour by lowering their own high bar a tiny little bit, bringing the audience’s expectations back to a reasonable level for the coming last bits of Marvel’s phase three, especially the unfathomable «Infinity War».
How can a movie feel so classic (almost basic) as this one, and at the same time, get to be so ingenious, clever and funny?
I don’t know, but with «The Nice Guys» Shane Black surely gets the job done. After «Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang» and «Iron Man 3» he proofs that his witty but concise no-bullshit writing (and directing) still works and is more than welcome in a cinematic «climate» defined by prequels, sequels and paint-by-numbers productions.
Russel Crowe’s and Ryan Gosling’s superb portrayal of their hilarious bromance completes this blissful watching experience and makes «The Nice Guys» feel like an instant must-see classic.
If anything, «X-Men: Apocalypse» is a mixed bag. Let’s call it a roller coaster: An exciting, but extremely uneven experience. Some really great moments carry on for just a little bit too long, some cringeworthy creative decisions lead into funny scenes. On one hand we get some gripping sequences stolen by the new characters, on the other hand I was left speechless by some unused, even wasted talent of the veterans (and villains). Especially Magneto (Michael Fassbender) seemed to be stuck in a much darker, more serious, and in the end, probably better movie. I liked Raven though, who didn’t seem to care too much in a natural way, which both fit her character and her real life counterpart (Jennifer Lawrence).
The X-Movies where always the ones I expected the least of; not including the first one, when the genre was still fresh and exciting. For a long time, this lack of expectation protected me against some serious disappointment – up until «Origins: Wolverine», which barely qualified as a movie.
On the bright side, compared to, let’s say «BvS», «Apocalypse» never felt like a mess. All the parts fit together somehow and I even got more than a few satisfying fan serving moments and references to past and future plot points,… it all just felt somewhat clunky.
The problem at hand may be that I didn’t feel much of anything, like in most Bryan Singer pictures – I’m often impressed but rarely moved. In contrast, the movies of the «real» MCU may be as constructed and schematic as they come, but I always feel at home, and I keep caring for the characters in the midst of spectacular action and gripping storytelling.
While watching «X-Men: Apocalypse», I think I spotted a solid movie shining through the cracks, but this film wasn’t it. Apocalypse’s design sadly doesn’t look much more convincing than in the first trailer, the character motivations where all over the place, and Olivia Munn didn’t seem to be enjoying her part as much as I thought she would be.
Was I not entertained?! Oh, who am I kidding? I surely was!
Sadly, I never recognized the quality and coherence I thought I saw in «First Class». Not in «Days of Future Past», which was a small step in the wrong direction, and surely not in this one. But I still kind of liked them all. Not like a «real» Marvel flick, but you now, it’s still my childhood heroes,… on the fracking big screen, with costumes, powers and all.
I may be giving this one some extra slack because it’ll hopefully be the last one in the current installment, and it did a surprisingly solid job in tying it all together, bringing the story to a satisfying end.
Marvel did it again! They once more delivered a solid, action-packed, and most important: FUN comic book movie. One could argue that Civil War and Batman v Superman follow basically the same plot. <spoiler>The superheroes in both universes seem to share one trait: they’re all mamma’s boys. Not that that’s a bad thing. Love you mom!</spoiler>.
But the folks at Marvel just know how to nail it almost every goddam time!
Most importantly, as always, this newest Marvel flick knows how to have a good time. Paul Rudd, I love you, man!
And they even managed to establish a reeeeallly cool Spidey in just a couple of minutes,… something Sony wasn’t able to do in two whole movies.
On the negative side, Marvel still has it’s problems with the bad guys. <spoiler>Zemo reminded me too much of the latest Blofeld. All build-up, no real pay-off (in this movie, that is.).</spoiler>
Captain America 3 may be not the best Marvel movie, but it’s a keeper. Go see it! Like in: NOW!
And as always: Good luck DC, you gonna need it.
<nitpicking>What really bugged me was his new cowl. Of course they really nailed its design compared to the model of season one, but in a show so gritty and «realistic» compared to similar presentations, I was somewhat surprised about a certain use of movie-magic revolving around the devil’s mask. When you spot it, you’ll know what I’m talking about and after that it’s really hard to unsee.</nitpicking>
But that’s it. Other than that, once more Daredevil is almost perfect television. Interesting characters well executed (please excuse the PUNisher), gripping story, stunning action, very easy on the eyes. And I loved his new toy and how they introduced it.
After the trainwreck I saw yesterday that was «Batman v Superman» I’m so glad at least one Studio knows what to do with its Superhero properties. I wonder what it would look like if Marvel could manage to take their spectacle to the big screen… oh wait, they did, and they do. Almost forgot there still lies a civil war ahead…
BTW: What I really liked about «Batman v Superman» was, surprisingly enough, the Batfleck. Not just his cowl, not just his whole costume, but his take on the character. Didn’t see that one coming. I wonder how Ben Affleck would do as Matt Murdock on the big screen… oh wait, he did. But let’s forget about that.
Once again I realize that the best sign to recognize a really outstanding movie is the moment when you watch it for the nth time and you’re still surprised of how good it truly is.
