This weekend was a busy one. Tons of homework, made myself do some streaming despite not having the time for it, and helping the roommates pull their house together so that we can all have work space and a clean and comfortable place to work on our projects. Granted, we ended up skipping over the D&D session we had planned, but everyone was half asleep and tired as hell from our various activities so it it wasn't a huge let down. That, and as the DM it gives me a little more time to read over the starter adventure I'll be running and doing some small modifications to in order to fit this groups back story and spring board into 5th eds current adventure.
All of that aside I did treat myself to a couple of morning movies this weekend. Starting with Zombieland : Double Tap.
Was it good? That's an interesting question.
What made the first movie lightning in a bottle was that it struck right on the crest of the zombie wave of the late 00's that it's humor and atmosphere rode that wave like a Hawaiian surfer catching the perfect wave.
This second outing doesn't have that momentum, but it does do a decent job of wake boarding in the shallows. Giving just enough throw back humor to cater to the fans of the original while not embedding it's self so much into the lore that those that hadn't seen it won't have a good time with it.
It's a zombie movie after all. Zombies eat people, the survivors shoot them, jokes are told.
There was fun zombie mayhem, and it actually got me to laugh out loud more than once. Which, if you know me and what I'm like when watching movies, is a bit of a rarity.
Arbitrary Rating : B
Zombie fun for fans of the genre, and accessible enough for newcomers to be able to giggle along at the outlandish mayhem. Only lacking an A for failing to find it's own rhythm.
The second outing was Maleficent.
Oh man.
What a beautifully realized movie.
The imagery, the character design, the costumes were all a visual feast. The camera work, to give the sense of flight and scale from the larger birds eye view to the smaller view of a floating flower peddle were all utilized beautifully and gave a sense of depth and immersion that was only broken by problems that have plagued any movie blending CGI and live action. Broken sight lines and not quite convincing physical interactions. Though, arguably, as the art has evolved these things are more nitpicks by the eyes of someone looking for those things rather than something that would likely be noticed by the average movie goer.
When it comes to the story of the film, I am a fan of the "Bad Guy, that's not really that bad" motif. The lead women of the film definitely carried the film and turned in good performances all around. The only real complaint I had from the story telling stand point was the dramatic tone shifts that happened regularly. It would go from a raucous family romp to a dark commentary on war in the blink of an eye. Feeling jarring. Like they took two different movies with the same characters and mashed them together. Or, rather, they looked at this beautifully gothic and dark piece and the suits said; "umm...we need to lighten this up a bit" and injected whimsical music and silly floofery at some awkward moments.
Arbitrary Rating : B-
Beautiful imagery and engaging story. Whiplash tonal switches keeping it from being either a family friendly romp or a dark gothic tale and settling into it's own.
