Monday, December 8, 2014

Some recent movies, including Interstellar

I really liked the robot in the movie Interstellar. Its locomotion was tremendous. The cinematography, the acting, a lot of the plot were tremendous. The science, as in most Hollywood movies, check that, as in All Hollywood movies, was forehead slapping. My husband had to make me stop laughing in the theater when beautiful scientist's daughter gives an impassioned speech about how love is quantifiable (and what quanta does love come in?) and how love transcends space and time. Uh-huh. Then I suppose hate does too. How about indifference? Still, if you like to feel while bypassing thinking, this is one good movie. Oh, and yes, the parent-teacher conference scene alone was worth the price of admission. And that robot!

I was a kid when Robbie the robot would intone, "Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!", wave his arms around, sparkle in his glass dome head, and have various gizmos twirl. And for some reason, every show and movie thereafter had to have vaguely humanoid robots. This robot was a marvelous slab with sections that pivoted in various places. I would have rounded the corners a little bit, to save wear and tear on both corner and environment, but other than that, I thought the machine was marvelous.

As long as they follow their internal logic, I give a pass on science to cartoons and superhero movies. We took some men with us to watch The Penguins of Madagascar. We laughed a lot. Really a lot. We love those guys. Smile and wave, boys.

Big Hero 6. Despite the hollow feeling of missing a great character throughout the entire movie, I loved the show. Great animation and art. Great plot. Fun Characters. I highly recommend the movie.

Mockingjay. Not a feel-good movie. I thought it was powerful and moving. For a movie, it followed the book amazingly well. If I reread The Hunger Games, the actors are who I will see as the characters. If you can handle lots of violence and emotional turmoil, and aren't offended when the character you love suffers from PTSD, this is a movie I can recommend.