Vacation: Movies
Jan. 22nd, 2017 12:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoutfellowI am not, as yet, moved to comment on the early days of the new administration. Instead, further on my late vacation:
I rarely go to movies in the theater; by far most of my theater visits occur during the holidays - D and I see them together. This year, I nominated two movies and D one, which we saw on three successive days.
D's nominee was Rogue One. I thought it was a decent actioner, but it abruptly gained points with me when I realized how things were going to end - and I'm not talking about the very last scene.
My first choice was Arrival. I had not, and have not, read the short story it was based on (and I do, now, feel the need to buy a Chiang collection or two). I enjoyed it quite a bit, as an amateur linguist (the handling of the "kangaroo" story tickled me), but the kick in the gut that came when I realized what the scenes with the young girl were about - that made the movie for me. The political denouement seemed a bit weak to me, but the scene in which the protagonist made her choice, what to do with the knowledge she had gained, made for a strong ending.
My second choice was Moana, and I loved it. Among Disney movies, I'll put it about on a par with Mulan - maybe a bit higher, since the "comic relief" was considerably less annoying. The climax was a poor man's Patricia McKillip - not as boggling as some of PMcK's endings, but clearly of the same ilk. Good flick; I'll have to buy a copy.
I rarely go to movies in the theater; by far most of my theater visits occur during the holidays - D and I see them together. This year, I nominated two movies and D one, which we saw on three successive days.
D's nominee was Rogue One. I thought it was a decent actioner, but it abruptly gained points with me when I realized how things were going to end - and I'm not talking about the very last scene.
My first choice was Arrival. I had not, and have not, read the short story it was based on (and I do, now, feel the need to buy a Chiang collection or two). I enjoyed it quite a bit, as an amateur linguist (the handling of the "kangaroo" story tickled me), but the kick in the gut that came when I realized what the scenes with the young girl were about - that made the movie for me. The political denouement seemed a bit weak to me, but the scene in which the protagonist made her choice, what to do with the knowledge she had gained, made for a strong ending.
My second choice was Moana, and I loved it. Among Disney movies, I'll put it about on a par with Mulan - maybe a bit higher, since the "comic relief" was considerably less annoying. The climax was a poor man's Patricia McKillip - not as boggling as some of PMcK's endings, but clearly of the same ilk. Good flick; I'll have to buy a copy.
