Double Feature

In which we shall see: Well, not much of anything, frankly, because at my age sitting through two movies in a row leaves you a bit fuzzy (*gets cane to hobble to front door and yell at neighbor kids to get off the lawn*). You all get two movie reviews, plus bonus-type stuff! Lucky you.

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Right next door to the theatre where I'm currently working (how sad is it that I am super excited to be upholstering a prop carriage tomorrow? It's been too long, staple gun! If only there were a dead body in the carriage, life would be complete) is a movie theater, and I decided to catch a matinee show right after work. Big feature, just opened, lots of hype - and I always love getting in to see a film right as it opens. Halfway through the movie I caught myself thinking, "Huh. I wish I'd gone to see The Proposal instead."

So - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. *sigh* I wanted to like it, I really did. I'm as big a fan of the summer "popcorn" movie as the next person, and I have no beef with action/adventure. (Except for that Indiana Jones Goes Geriatric and His Son Gets Weepy Because of the Stupid Props fiasco, but we're not talking about that.) I was even OK with the first Transformers film, having been a big fan of the cartoon (see the original disclaimer about my age, all right?). This one, though - well, pardon my language, but it sucked. Yes, I know it's Michael Bay and one should expect only big explosions and long action sequences with very little plot or character development. Got it. Unfortunately, he also got fairly decent actors who were doing their best with the material they were given, and every time there was a slower scene involving dialogue or an attempt to develop relationships they made glaring and joltingly obvious shifts in the pace of the movie, and actually demonstrated the deficiencies in the plot rather than moving it forward. MB's editor should probably be fired, and his scriptwriters sent back to third grade (with an apology to all you third-graders out there). Yes, lots of things went BOOM - the problem with this franchise, though, is that the robots are so complex that it's actually difficult to tell if anything's happened to them in the course of a fight. Plus the whole "shaky cam for reality" thing definitely did NOT help clear any of that up. I remember when my parents went to see The Bourne Ultimatum and they ended up on the front row and Mom came home with motion sickness - that's how I felt with T:RotF, and I was back in the middle of the theater. It was a relief to watch the driving scenes, because when I was looking at the various vehicles I could tell what they were and had some idea which side they were working for. This movie was too long, the CGI was too complex and not clean enough, and it was just uninvolving - much of it was in freaking EGYPT, for pity's sake, and I couldn't even enjoy the visuals. I'm all about the travelogue! (Shia LaBeouf was cute and fine, and Megan Fox did a good job - she's a little, oh, "much", just being herself - and the costumer definitely played that up - but I have a suspicion that there is a decent actress lurking inside that disgustingly gorgeous exterior. The only time you got to like Josh Duhamel was when he was throwing a governmental advisor out of a plane - and again, the humor was off-putting because it was so forced. Funny, but ill-fitting.)

Naturally, when someone leaves one movie slightly queasy, the remedy is to immediately move on to the next! If I hadn't been queasy I might have just checked the times for the next movie I wanted to see at the theater where I was already parked, but no, I got in my car and drove to another one that was a little closer to home. Bonus: I got my ticket about 10 minutes after movie #2 started, and it was awesome - I only had to sit through about 8 more minutes of previews before the actual show started! Score!) Movie #2 was, in fact, The Proposal. And let me just say - I liked it! I have also been known to enjoy a chick flick or twenty, but I do not immediately give a movie a "+" just because it has shopping and sappyness. (I'm a little nervous, actually - we're having a Girl's Day on Friday and watching Confessions of a Shopaholic. I'm considering bringing chicken fingers, (root) beer, and doses of testosterone to combat all the rumored estrogen in that one.) I enjoyed Sandra Bullock, and while Ryan Reynolds hasn't been given much to do besides play a Ken doll, he's been growing on me and I thought he did some good stuff in this show. They played off each other well, and had a terrific supporting cast - and Alaska! It's beautiful! The movie settled my queasy stomach and left me with a much better taste in my mouth. And yes, I'm perfectly OK with a movie that has an older woman (though age is not mentioned) get together with a very cute younger man. So sue me.

I won't be recommending Transformers to anyone, and won't be bothered to see it again, even on DVD. I don't think I'll see The Proposal again in the theater, but will be happy to talk about it with friends and will have no issue with seeing it sometime in the comfort of my own home.

Mini-Reviews: In contrast, I saw Star Trek twice in the theater, and am starting to feel like I may want to catch it again while it's still on the big screen. FANTASTIC show, for many reasons, and definitely destined for my home library.

I also very much enjoyed Up, which made me cry, and laugh, and cry, and laugh again - not bad for an animated flick. The gal at the counter was probably right, though - this was one where the 3-D probably didn't make much difference, and it would have been fine to see in the regular format (and a couple of dollars cheaper). I'll certainly look for this on DVD as well.

And... I'm now officially tapped out. Happy movie-going, people!

Watch out for falling robots (literally) and murky plotting that may or may not involve turtles,

Cyd

P.S. I DO have a couple of tickets for the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and it is entirely possible I will dress up in full costume. I am frantically re-reading the HP books 1-6, just to be ready for the film. I am a nerd. I am also a nerd with an extra ticket.

ETA: So, The Proposal wasn't actually shot in Alaska - it was Massachusetts ACTING like Alaska. 1) Way to go, MA - that was a better performance than many so-called "professionals" I could name, and 2) I still want to visit Alaska thanks to this movie. Works for me.