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jennariaThree movies I've watched recently: THE MAN WHO LAUGHS, TOMB RAIDER, and the 2017 MUMMY. ...it's an interesting contrast.
THE MAN WHO LAUGHS showed with Live Music Accompaniment, which meant a band doing a sorta 80s new wave vibe? Which was interesting, but also a little disappointing - there's a few scenes where there's supposed to be live 1700s music, and they could have absolutely leaned into that, but alas, no.
The plot is arguably silly, but you can't expect anything different from a story that starts out with a kid being surgically deformed so he has a Joker grin. No, not a Glasgow grin: they just made Conrad Veidt grin as wide as he could whenever you can see his mouth, and say that it's a fixed feature that's definitely surgically caused. The character covers it up because, in-story, he's ashamed and thinks he's a freak, and out-of-story, probably so Conrad Veidt's face muscles wouldn't cramp.
(The character is apparently one of the visual reference that led to the Joker. To be fair, there's one scene where the main character is standing on stage and just...gesturing at people, and they fall over laughing, that is genuinely somewhat creepy and I can absolutely see the Joker. For the rest, though, he's a fairly standard angsty melodrama hero.)
Otherwise, well, you've got your standard Beautiful Innocent Girl (Blind Edition), Protective Yet Impotent Father, lots of Corrupt Aristocrats (including one who appears absolutely down to be Harley to our hero's Joker, except he doesn't want to be the Joker), a brief sword-fight atop a tower, a loyal dog/wolf who is Best Boy, and a confrontation with the villain of the piece and aforementioned Best Boy that unfortunately looks like the actor doing his best to make a struggle with a stuffed dog look realistic. It's a fun watch, but it's not something where I feel like you'd be missing a lot if you didn't see it.
Next up was 2018's TOMB RAIDER. Which is fun, in a 'please don't think too deeply about this' action movie of its specific sub-genre! A few shots that were absolutely straight from the games, a few puzzles ditto, a few 'whoops, you failed that combo' moments...I have not actually played the game, but it's not necessary to enjoy the film. It was blissfully undemanding.
Finally, we have 2017's THE MUMMY. This contains: several bits which were either an homage to (if you're feeling charitable) or stolen from (if you're not) the 1999 film; absolutely no care paid whatsoever to Actual Egyptian Theology (no seriously, Set is not the god of death) much less Actual Egyptian History; even less care paid to Actual Archaeological Procedure; several bits that I don't think were intended to be funny (but were!), including a heterosexual relationship that is Pastede On Yay (you have known this guy for two days non-contiguous, lady, why are you so invested, the sex can't possibly have been that good); and of course the famous attempt to launch Dark Universe (why not just reboot The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and be done with it). In conclusion, now I desperately want a good Mummy movie with a female mummy. Would settle for a good novel ditto. Suggestions welcomed.
THE MAN WHO LAUGHS showed with Live Music Accompaniment, which meant a band doing a sorta 80s new wave vibe? Which was interesting, but also a little disappointing - there's a few scenes where there's supposed to be live 1700s music, and they could have absolutely leaned into that, but alas, no.
The plot is arguably silly, but you can't expect anything different from a story that starts out with a kid being surgically deformed so he has a Joker grin. No, not a Glasgow grin: they just made Conrad Veidt grin as wide as he could whenever you can see his mouth, and say that it's a fixed feature that's definitely surgically caused. The character covers it up because, in-story, he's ashamed and thinks he's a freak, and out-of-story, probably so Conrad Veidt's face muscles wouldn't cramp.
(The character is apparently one of the visual reference that led to the Joker. To be fair, there's one scene where the main character is standing on stage and just...gesturing at people, and they fall over laughing, that is genuinely somewhat creepy and I can absolutely see the Joker. For the rest, though, he's a fairly standard angsty melodrama hero.)
Otherwise, well, you've got your standard Beautiful Innocent Girl (Blind Edition), Protective Yet Impotent Father, lots of Corrupt Aristocrats (including one who appears absolutely down to be Harley to our hero's Joker, except he doesn't want to be the Joker), a brief sword-fight atop a tower, a loyal dog/wolf who is Best Boy, and a confrontation with the villain of the piece and aforementioned Best Boy that unfortunately looks like the actor doing his best to make a struggle with a stuffed dog look realistic. It's a fun watch, but it's not something where I feel like you'd be missing a lot if you didn't see it.
Next up was 2018's TOMB RAIDER. Which is fun, in a 'please don't think too deeply about this' action movie of its specific sub-genre! A few shots that were absolutely straight from the games, a few puzzles ditto, a few 'whoops, you failed that combo' moments...I have not actually played the game, but it's not necessary to enjoy the film. It was blissfully undemanding.
Finally, we have 2017's THE MUMMY. This contains: several bits which were either an homage to (if you're feeling charitable) or stolen from (if you're not) the 1999 film; absolutely no care paid whatsoever to Actual Egyptian Theology (no seriously, Set is not the god of death) much less Actual Egyptian History; even less care paid to Actual Archaeological Procedure; several bits that I don't think were intended to be funny (but were!), including a heterosexual relationship that is Pastede On Yay (you have known this guy for two days non-contiguous, lady, why are you so invested, the sex can't possibly have been that good); and of course the famous attempt to launch Dark Universe (why not just reboot The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and be done with it). In conclusion, now I desperately want a good Mummy movie with a female mummy. Would settle for a good novel ditto. Suggestions welcomed.