Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

Short version: Very enjoyable. It had great action, some very funny moments. solid espionage plotting, and surprisingly fine acting. I think that this movie very solidly puts the franchise back on track. And may do the same for Tom Cruise's career.

Feminism in Jurassic World, Redux

Okay, I don't do this often. And I'm feeling ambivalent about it now. I feel the need to circle back to a previous topic, and to respond to another person's blog. Why? Basically because Someone is Wrong on the Internet.

When Jurassic World came out, I did a bit on feminism in the movie. Short version: It technically passes the Bechdel and Mako Mori Tests. It has some moments that suggest that one prior version of the script was pre-feminism. But the movie as a whole, perhaps destroyed by studio intervention, fails spectacularly to be feminist in any way.

Today, I read Lindsay Ellis' blog on the same topic. It is, in a word, wrong. And this despite the fact that it agrees that the movie fails to be feminist. But it does so by thoroughly mis-interpreting and mis-characterizing many aspects of the movie. (At least in my opinion, but it's my blog so that's the only one that counts.)

Prepare for the point by point.

Mr Holmes

Short version: This is a beautiful, superbly acted, bittersweet tale. It is very British, and very indie. It manages to be wonderfully true to the Sherlock Holmes character without simply being another Sherlock Holmes mystery. The big screen is worth it for all the scenery, but if you'd rather wait you won't miss any of the story.

Ant-Man

Short version: Another solid contribution to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ant-Man delivers good action, some great special effects, decent characterization, strong plotting, and few surprises. Paul Rudd was enjoyable and did not warp the movie into an action comedy. The one nice surprise was how very well this one-off movie meshes into the overall MCU.

Max

You might have missed the trailers for Max. I can't tell if it was under-marketed, or just heavily targeted away from me. Given the number of "kids" movies I see, I find it odd that never saw a trailer, and only caught one commercial on TV.

Short version: A fairly typical feel good kids movie, but very well done within that genre. The plot felt mostly realistic, the characters were fairly three-dimensional, and the emotions were surprisingly complex. While it's not a movie that anyone needs to see, it's also a movie that you will likely enjoy watching.

Oh, and the important bit: The dog does NOT die. I was a bit worried when the poster said "From the producer of Marly and Me".

A Feminist Look at Jurassic World

I gave my review of Jurassic World. It wasn't terrible, but it was hugely disappointing. And the most disappointing thing was the script. And, yet, I want to talk in a little more depth about a curious aspect of that script. See, it passes the two major current tests for feminism. And it had a couple other pro-femme moments. But was it a feminist movie?

(Note, I tried to keep it as spoiler-free as I could, but there were some specific scenes that needed to be referenced.)

Jurassic World

Starting with an apology. Sort of. Yes, I know that I'm three weeks late on this one. But, hey, I was out of the country. I seriously contemplated going to see it in Denmark, because how cool would that be. Fortunately, I didn't waste my vacation time on this.

Short version: The effects were spectacular. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard were both really good. The direction and cinematography were both good. But the script was a godawful mess. And that reduced what could have been a really good movie down to something I wouldn't mind having on in the background while I work.