'Serenity'
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
We saw Don't Think Twice last night. The cast is really good, and it's gotten good reviews, and I think if you like that type of film, you'll really like it. (As it turns out, that type of film isn't really my cup of tea, but I did like the cast a lot.)
It's really an odd film. Not nearly as "funny" as I thought it would be and lots of "real talk" that I found interesting but, while I thought it was very good, I can't say I loved it.
I think I have exactly the wrong amount of exposure to the improv scene to love Don't Think Twice. Like, I'm not steeped in it to the point where the movie feels like it was made for me, but I'm familiar enough that the movie didn't show me much that was new. I did think the performances were great, though.
I'm not super fond of the "real talk"/almost-could-be-a-documentary-but-isn't type of film, though I'm sure I've seen some that I really enjoyed. I guess there has to be something that really endears me to the characters, and there wasn't in Don't Think Twice, though, again, I still thought the performances were quite good. And Gillian Jacobs has big anime eyes.
We saw it because the improv group that the teacher of my improv class belongs to was doing an improv jam before the film and a bunch of people from my class were going.
And that is the story of how I ended up in front of a theater (which was not very full, thankfully) in a skit about what tea Mr. T likes best -- Earl Grey, chai tea, yerba mate, or sweet tea. (Earl Grey.) (And I tried to set up a "pity the fool" joke TWICE and no one bit. I am disappoint.)
Actually, by "real talk" I meant the adultness of it all--moving on, changing relationships, dealing with success (or failure). I just didn't realize there would be so much of that in the movie. Food for thought, but not what I expected going in.
Ah, I see. I guess I don't know how to articulate what it is about movies similar to Don't Think Twice that I don't care for. Too much...awkwardness, maybe? I'm not sure that's what I mean, either.
We saw the new Star Trek movie tonight, and my only real complaint is -- if you're going to cast Idris Elba, why would you not show his face as much as possible??? (Yes, I'm looking at you, too, Thor.)
Oh, also, I'm amused as hell that the Beastie Boys saved the day.
I don't know how much longer it's going to be in theaters, so I'm urging everyone to run as fast as possible to see Kubo and the Two Strings. This is an amazing beautiful heartbreaking piece of art, and because life is cruel and unfair it is failing utterly at the box office.
I don't want to say too much about the plot, but it's similar to Coraline thematically (and produced by the same studio), and the stop-motion is gorgeous. I've heard it's fantastic in 3D but the showtimes didn't work out for us to see it that way.
> Kubo and the Two Strings
Saw it today, liked it a lot. The origami was a bonus. I may go back to try it in 3-D next weekend.
I had not heard that it was doing poorly at the box office, but the showing I was at (mid-day on a Sunday) only had 10 people in the theater, seven of them children.
Everyone seemed to like it, though.
The only 3D movies in my entire life that were worth it: