I’ve tried to watch two movies lately. Can you guess what they were?
Clues below the cut.
- Each movie was released in 2015.
- Each movie was directed by a director (a different one in each case) some of whose previous work I loved.
- Each movie managed to break more or less even in terms of production budget vs. world box office, which is to say, each was basically a failure in Hollywood terms.
- Movie #1 was a big-budget sci fi movie. I turned it off after 20 minutes because it wasn’t working for me. It seemed really heavy-handed and explain-y, and kind of aimless in terms of plot. I wanted to like it, but I realized after that 20 minutes that I just didn’t care, and since I didn’t expect it to get any better I gave up.
- I think Movie #1 suffered somewhat because of my love of Mad Max: Fury Road. Both Movie #1 and Fury Road deal thematically with the future, but the dystopian future of Fury Road feels much more hopeful to me than the ostensibly optimistic preachiness I was getting from the first 20 minutes of Movie #1.
- I blame the writing of Movie #1. I don’t think its main writer (or the person I presume was the main writer; the one who shared screenplay credit with the director) actually knows how to write effective drama. He’s a big name, coming more from the world of TV, but neither his big TV shows nor the (quite successful) movies he’s written have done much for me. I don’t know; maybe I’m prejudiced by being an anti-fan of his previous work.
- Movie #2 was a low-to-mid-budget romantic comedy. It had a cast of big stars, most of whom I’ve liked in other films. I watched it all the way to the end, even though it felt wildly unbelievable in places and had some plot elements that made little sense.
- There were moments that were so good, though, with really touching acting. In that sense, Movie #2 reminded me a lot of its writer-director’s previous movie, which also went conceptually off the rails in places, but also had some individual scenes I found emotionally effective. (By which I mean, they made me cry. But I cry at movies pretty easily.)
- I liked Movie #2 enough to look up what Tumblr thought of it after I watched it, which reminded me of something I’d previously heard but then forgotten: An element of Tumblr hated it even before it came out based on a particular piece of casting that was perceived as whitewashing.
First person to correctly identify both movies gets a prize. Hm… A commissioned gifset of the movie/TV show/theme of your choice! Plus honor and glory! Good luck!
Reposted from http://ift.tt/1KXBMio.
