Watched, Watch, Watching: Pink Bombs

[Veltigar]

I went to see Barbie yesterday. I find it a hard film to judge on its own terms, so I'm immediately drawn to comparison with the blockbuster (MI 7) I saw before it. The film is way more intellectual than I would expect a film about Barbie to be and while it was undoubtedly smarter than MI 7, I do not feel inclined to watch it again, while I wouldn't mind stepping on the MI 7 thrill ride once more.

There is certainly much to love about Barbie. I think the performances are strong across the board, with Ryan Gosling's Ken as the stand-out. He was committed all the way and you really see that. Margot Robbie is of course incredibly attractive as Barbie, but I feel that she weirdly enough ends up playing the less thankful role here in a film that she is supposed to be headlining.

The sets and costuming were great, and while I don't know anything of Barbie, I guess they got the lore right based on the reactions I saw in the theatre. I also loved the musical numbers. It's not something I would associate with Barbie, but I guess that putting Ryan Gosling in the film sort of makes it mandatory to have them.

For me the humour also worked, but I was surprised to learn that it also worked for other people. I would assume that the references to 2001, The Matrix, Proust, etc. flew over the head of the wide majority of people in the theatre I watched it with, but they lapped it up anyways. It's impressive how they made it work on multiple layers, a bit like one of the better Pixar films is able to cater to both children and parents.

It did loose me near the end when the preaching started. I feel like it did in excellent job at first, using low-key humour and jabs to make its points. I loved that because it seems far more effective to me in convincing an audience than grinding the film to a halt and whack the people on the head with a point. This was further aggravated by the fact that the final speeches were pretty muddled. To contrast it with a very effective counterexample, it certainly was not one the level of Chaplin in The Great Dictator. That was a third act preaching moment that was much more urgent and attuned to the film it was embedded in.

That being said, I also have to give the film credit where it is due. Barbie is bringing people to the theatre who clearly don't visit very often. I was amazed by just how full the theatre was in contrast with MI 7 or Indiana Jones, despite the fact that Barbie has been out for a week and is facing a lot of strong competition.

The only comparable films in terms of crowd size are the better superhero event films (think the last Sony film with Garfield, Holland and Maquire, the title of which I am forgetting) and this audience (all dressed in pink, a memo I missed, but a dedication I can definitely appreciate) was very different from the ones I saw there.

I think cinema desperately needs more films like Barbie, that can lure crowds back to the theatre who usually don't go anymore.

Finally, one existential question based on the role of Ken and the film's themes:

Spoiler

Since Ryan Gosling as Ken stole every scene he was in, does that mean that this film ends up promoting the Patriarchy? 

 

Edited July 27, 2023 by Veltigar

[dbunting]

Had another rainy day yesterday so I watched Plane on Prime. It wasn't horrible but was pretty much what you expect it to be. 

Watched Ep 3 of Justified City Primeval...  it's not bad except for that one person. Maybe if that person wasn't there distracting me I'd enjoy it more

Spoiler

She got on a plane so hopefully she is gone for the season and didn't pull an Arnold Schwartzenegger in Commando!

 

[RhaenysBee]

1 hour ago, Relic said:

Did you wear pink? 

I did  well, some anyway, with white and blue. Barbie colors, nails, makeup. 
 

Turns out my mum saw it on the same day, we talked a sold half hour about all the ways the movie failed to work. 

[RhaenysBee]

1 hour ago, Veltigar said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Since Ryan Gosling as Ken stole every scene he was in, does that mean that this film ends up promoting the Patriarchy? 

 

Spoiler

I don’t like Ryan Gosling in general and I preferred Margot Robbie’s Barbie in this movie as well, but the answer to the existential question is: yes, the movie did end up promoting a hierarchy based on inequality. To use an analogy that failed to work the same way Barbie’s themes did, they didn’t even attempt to “break the wheel”. 

 

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

13 hours ago, RhaenysBee said:

I went to see Barbie. I guess I got caught up in the PR way too much, because I went in with positive expectations and looking forward to a fun chick flick. I so desperately wanted to love this movie. I can genuinely tell you, I held out hope up until the very end. When they addressed how things shouldn’t be exactly as they were about 5 minutes before the end, I watched with my fingers crossed and heart rate elevated and waited for the movie to finally be the bigger “person” and fix itself. And it didn’t. I left the theater blue and disappointed. 

  Reveal hidden contents

I loved the props, the costumes, the callbacks to historical barbie releases and models, the set, all the creative details in BarbieLand, I loved Margot Robbie’s performance, I liked the space odyssey Barbie legs (even though the rest of the opening scene was bordering on disturbing), I liked the real Barbara cameo, I liked America Ferrara’s character and Ruth’s character, I kinda liked the cartoon-Esau’s Mattel building chase, I loved Barbie’s malfunctions and I liked the overplayed weird Barbie. I really liked Barbie’s pink Birkenstocks in the end, the actual water in the glass that she spilled on herself, the plastic tie “handcuffs” in the Barbie box, and a ton of fun creative details. sadly that’s just the surface, plastic and fantastic. 

underneath that, the story and themes are a hodgepodge, the dialogue is insufferable and this kind of “humor” just doesn’t do it for me. I don’t find it funny. I laughed like four times. I felt sad and hollow, like all the washing rubbed a hole into my brain. It was a painful disappointment. 

 

Wash your Palette with Oppenheimer 

[Heartofice]

3 hours ago, Veltigar said:

 

  Hide contents

Since Ryan Gosling as Ken stole every scene he was in, does that mean that this film ends up promoting the Patriarchy? 

 

Spoiler

The patriarchy was also incredibly successful at taking over the world as an idea and seemed to make the men pretty happy. You could come away thinking 'hmmm we could use more of that here!'

 

[TheLastWolf]

Trainspotting and Requiem for a dream 

Getting over being a workaholic in 3 hours 

 

[RhaenysBee]

2 hours ago, Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II said:

Wash your Palette with Oppenheimer 

I considered watching Oppenheimer last weekend until I saw it was 3 hours long. Plus it’s new, no telling if I like it, so no, the palette cleaning will happen with… and I want to be fair to Barbie and stay on theme, so Legally Blond or Uptown Girls. 

Oh when I talked with my mom about the movie we moaned about one thing I wanted to mention. 
 

Spoiler

What have horses ever done to Greta Gerwig? 

I never owned the real thing, only dupes as a kid, but I would have killed for the riding lessons Barbie set or the Barbie stables or the Horse Riding Barbie. I loved horses as much as Barbie, I had fake Barbie horses. My barbies rode their fake Barbie horses in hand sewn Amazon (the mythological warrior) outfits. And then this movie comes along and tells me horses are some nasty macho misogynistic thing and ignores the glorious existence of Horse Riding Barbie and Riding Lesson Instructor Barbie? 

 

[Zorral]

6 hours ago, Veltigar said:

I would assume that the references to 2001, The Matrix, Proust, etc. flew over the head of the wide majority of people in the theatre I watched it with,

Why are you assuming that?  

[Quijote Light]

The first three episodes of Harley Quinn season four are live. I love this show. 

[SpaceChampion]

They Cloned Tyrone bloopers

Spoiler

 

 

[IlyaP]

13 hours ago, RhaenysBee said:

I considered watching Oppenheimer last weekend until I saw it was 3 hours long.

Also, as seems to be the case from what people reported here, your ears might either be absolutely fine or blown to hell! 

[Veltigar]

I watched the first three episodes of City Primeval (thanks to the board for reminding me that this was a thing). So far I like it, but for some reason I have a hard time connecting it to Justified. It's partly the location, the visible aging of Timothy Olyphant and the absence of most of the other recurring character from Justified s I suppose, but I find the way that it is shot also strange. It feels very digital and different, but I might be completely off.

That being said, still binged all three episodes. Boyd Holbrook is always entertaining and is quickly moving up in the food chain it seems. I know Adelaide Clemens mostly from her role in Parade's End, so the contrast here is pretty large. Curious to see where it ends up.

Spoiler

As to Raylan's kid. Sure, she's a nepo-baby and her acting isn't blowing me away. I do feel like she's perfectly sufficient though. I guess we have to hold her to a somewhat higher standard due to her connections, but if she was a random unknown, I would neither be impressed nor offended by her presence here.

 

4 hours ago, Quijote Light said:

The first three episodes of Harley Quinn season four are live. I love this show. 

Oh, another stealth drop  Guess I know what to do next

14 hours ago, Zorral said:

Why are you assuming that?  

The crowd size and the fact that it was clearly made off people who don't visit the theatre very often. Plus, the fact that I didn't hear many laughs or comments when the mentioned scenes played out in comparison to other scenes.

[3CityApache]

41 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

I watched the first three episodes of City Primeval  [...] Boyd Holbrook is always entertaining and is quickly moving up in the food chain it seems.

Oh, so we have Boyd in it after all? If only hie name was Crowder...

[Veltigar]

1 minute ago, 3CityApache said:

Oh, so we have Boyd in it after all? If only hie name was Crowder...

I don't think I really want to see Boyd C. again.

Spoiler

He was my favourite character and his interactions with Raylan made the show. That being said, in any scene that isn't a flashback, we would meet Boyd after Raylan and he had their final conversation.

I rewatched that scene yesterday after watching the first three episodes of City Primeval and I can still feel the emotional weight of that scene. I don't want anything diminishing it.

 

[IlyaP]

1 hour ago, Veltigar said:

I don't think I really want to see Boyd C. again.

Is there a reason he's been in so many villainous roles recently? Between Beckett, The Cursed, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and now this...

[Veltigar]

57 minutes ago, IlyaP said:

Is there a reason he's been in so many villainous roles recently? Between Beckett, The Cursed, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and now this...

He was great in Logan. Mangold directed that one and therefore wanted to work with him again for Dial of Destiny. I think the rest just saw him being a great villain in Logan and Sandman and therefore started to typecast him.

[dbunting]

Accidental post

Edited July 28, 2023 by dbunting
Oops

[Luzifer's right hand]

The Atom Eve origin story special episode of Invincible was pretty good.

Hearing the voice of the late Lance Reddick was a bittersweet but not unwelcome surprise.

Edited July 28, 2023 by Luzifer's right hand

[TheLastWolf]

Raavanan 

Those who know the Ramayana, a subversive take to ponder over. Breathtaking visuals and performances. Never fails to amaze. 

Edited July 28, 2023 by TheLastWolf