Revenge of the Nerds
I promise the blog isn't becoming a movie blog, but I am starting to rewatch a bunch of ones from my youth through my 20s. ;) This time, the rewatch was for Revenge of the Nerds.
There are quite obviously some problematic scenes in the movie. Lewis tricking Betty by pretending to be her boyfriend was wrong. I know they needed the two to connect for the movie to completely work, but there had to be another way.
Lamar's homsexuality carried a message of inclusion, but at the same time was played as a joke. I suppose that was the only way it could have been played at that point in the 80s, but it doesn't make it right. The jokes surrounding it most definitely fall flat these days. Asshole 14 year-old me probably found it funny. Luckily, people can grow out of stuff like that.
The body-shaming of the women of Omega Mu played for comedy was another problem with the film. I get that 14 year olds weren't meant to be allowed to see the film, but my parents were pretty liberal in some parts of their lives. I saw through that, because 14 year-old me thought most of the girls who were meant to be shown as "ugly" were better looking than most of the cheerleaders. I've never been one to abide by society's concept of "beauty." ;)
There are lots of of other problematic issues which made the film not age very well at all. Those issues were also problems with society at large back then, and many of them are, unfortunately, still a problem. But some of us managed to grow since then.
Now, you might be thinking that I did not enjoy rewatching the movie. You'd be dead wrong. I was a nerd. I am a nerd. I've alway preferred "geek," thank- you-very-much, so I identified with Lewis and Gilbert and the rest. I still do. The underlying story is still good, and not all of the comedy relied on the problematic parts. I still enjoyed the film, because I was able to look past the problems and at the underlying message of acceptance and inclusion, which I think is the real message of the film.
Tags: movies, comedy, revenge-of-the-nerds
Real Genius
Earlier this week, we lost another great actor in Val Kilmer. Most people will always think of Iceman from Top Gun when they think of him, or Batman, but to me he will always be Chris Knight from Real Genius. So to honor him in my own way, I continued my rewatch of my old favorites with this gem.
Even though laser technotogy has come a long way since the mid-80's, this movie played just as well today as it did 40 years ago. I'm guessing people not interested in such technology probably now about the same amount about lasers now as they did back then, and because the laser was just a prop for the character-driven story, the movie aged well.
If you've never seen it, you owe it to yourself to check it out. It's one of my favorite movies of all time, and some of Val Kilmer's best work.
Tags: movies, real-genius
The Matrix: Ressurections
Wrapped my rewatch with The Matrix: Ressurections last night, and I barely made it through it. I kept finding myself distracted and reaching for my phone to play a round of Suduku or something to keep me entertained.
It wasn't bad, per-se, but I think it brings the problems with all the sequels to the foreground. They all focused way too much on the love story between Neo and Trinity, and also went all-in on the action. While I liked the concept, which went back to bending reality and asking what was real and what wasn't, but instead of being subtle about it, it kept hitting us over the head with it. It wasn't taking us on a journey, it was preaching at us. And that was even worse than focusing on the wrong things. ;)
There is another sequel in the works. I hope they drop the love story. I hope they use action well, like in the first one, and don't rely on it too much like they did with all the sequels. I hope they find a good concept and take us on a journey instead of bludgeoning us with it. Time will tell.
The Matrix: Revolutions
We finally made it to Revolutions, that unsatistfying end to the original Matrix trilogy. I no longer feel like Reloaded ruined it, and it's not a bad movie. It just wasn't great. I'm glad I finally rewatched it.
Overall, the entire trilogy holds up fairly well. The original was mind-blowing when it came out and is still a great film. The other two are simultaniously better and worse than I remembered them. The second one was too long and the ending just wasn't very satisfying, which is probably why they eventually made the new one, The Matrix: Cash Grab, errr... Resurrections. I'll be wrapping up with that next, even though it took me several attempts to make it through it the first time.
The Animatrix
The rewatch continues with The Animatrix. It's harder to judge this one, as it's the only animated one in the series, and is also a bunch of different shorts taking place at vaious different times in the chonology. This is why I am doing these in release order instead of chronologically.
Some of the shorts are prequels, some take place between the movies, and some have no specific timeframe and could take place at any time before, during, or after the original trilogy. They are considered canon, though, so I included them in the rewatch.
I amd not a huge anime fan, but I remember enjoying these when they came out, and I still enjoyed them on this rewatch. The styles they're done in varies, and I quite enjoyed the different ways they were animated. The range from more traditional anime to near-realistic, almost uncanny valley, type of animation. And the stories really flesh out the universe a bit, which gives the entire series much more depth.
Tags: movies, the-matrix, matrix, animatrix
The Matrix: Reloaded
I decided to not skip anything in my rewatch of The Matrix, and am watching them in release order, so that meants I did wind up watching Reloaded last night.
I think this is the first time I've rewatched it since it came out. As previously mentioned, I had originally thought that the series was stronger without it, and that it someone ruined Revolutions. While still not my favorite movie, I didn't find it nearly as bad as I did way back when I originally watched it. There are a few scenes which probably should have never made it past the cutting room, but overall it was better than I remembered.
Because I am going in release order, The Animatrix is next.
The Matrix
Continuing on my binge of older movies, I just finished the first of The Matrix trilogy, and I am suprised at how well it holds up.
I remember when this one first came out. My wife an I watched a *lot* of movies back then. We had gone to a packed cinema on a Friday or Saturday evening and took her brother and parents with us. The showing was nearly sold out, and we wound up with crappy seats (way too close and way too off from the center of the screen) for a movie none of us had actually heard of. And then the lights went down and the movie started, and all the complaining about being too crowded and crappy seats suddenly stopped.
As I mentioned, the original held up extremely well. I did not like the second film in the series, and always felt like Revolutions would have been much better if Reloaded had never happened, so I don't know whether to skip Reloaded and go straight to The Animatrix or not.
Airheads
This one is a bit newer than The Blues Brothers, and I'm not a huge fan of Adam Sandler, but Airheads was another great music comedy that I just finished a rewatch of. Definitely going in my rotation for fairly regular rewatch.
Tags: movies, comedy, airheads
The Blues Brothers
Many times, when I watch a movie that I haven't seen in a long time, it triggers a flood of memories. Not so with this one, but I enjoyed every minute of the extended cut of The Blues Brothers. This is such an amazing movie, even 45-ish years after I first saw it, that I didn't even notice that is was 2 1/2 hours.
John Belushi was such an amazing actor who left us way too soon, but this movie is filled with amazing talent, from the comedic actors to the amazing musicians who lend their talent to the movie. There are also a ton of great cameos. Some of them are pretty obvious, but some of them not so much. ;) I won't spoil them for you if you have never noticed some of the actors and musicians (and others) who show up in a scene here or there, but even many of the "extras" were, or later became, famous in their own right. ;)
If it's been awhile since you've seen it, or especially if you've never seen it before, you owe it to yourself to watch it as soon as you have the time.
Tags: movies, classics, the-blues-brothers, comedy
One-word review: Dog Man
Dud
Slightly longer review: I know. It's a movie meant for kids. My 10yo daughter loves the books. She and my 6yo daughter seemed to enjoy it, but I was sitting there feeling like I was in a 5-hour documentary on paperclips. Many kid's movies have plenty of humor aimed at the adults in the audience, but if this movie had any of that I completely missed it. I think I laughed once as something that was slightly humorous. The "Bad Guys" short they showed before the movie was hilarious, though. ;)
Tags: one-word-reviews, movies, reviews
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