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f4f3Took myself off to the IMAX again tonight, to see Men In Black 3. I'm not a huge fan of threequels, but I do like the IMAX, and I had time to make a 7.00 showing, so why not?
Lots of reasons why not. For one thing, it was still 80 degrees. Half way through my 5 minute walk, I thought "How can I dream of going into a dark room on a night like this?" By the time I reached the door of the mall, I was all but screaming "Air Conditioning! Please God, find me some AC!" Yes, I am Scottish.
Again, IMAX is expensive (justifiably so, IMHO. When I rule the world, there will be three cinemas. There will be the Grosvenor, in Ashton Lane, where I can sit on a leather sofa with fake zebra-skin pillows, nibble on a cheese platter and, if I so wish, sip a rather nice white wine. There I will watch mainstream movies and late night showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. There will be the Glasgow Film Theatre, where I will watch foreign films that don't come from America, It's a Wonderful Life, and Casablanca. And there will be the IMAX, where I will watch movies about superheroes. When I rule the world there will be no Showcase Cinemas) last time I went in the UK, IMAX was about £12 a ticket. Except this is Bargain Tuesday, and all seats were $9.
I gave up. I went along.
The trailers were good - Prometheus and Spider Man, both in 3D. Prometheus continues to look interesting, like good hard SF. However, if that was meant to be a Scottish accent, Lassie, you and me are going to have words. Potentially, Made Up Words. The Spider Man trailer was interesting. Very, very long, and it felt like they'd given away most of the movie. That's ok by me - I wouldn't expect to be surprised by any re-writing of the Gwen Stacy/Lizard storyline. I did like the extreme geekiness of the extended encounter with Gwen, though. It was very high school, very "Scott Pilgrim", and I liked it a lot. From time to time it pays to be reminded that Peter Parker was 15 when he got bitten by that spider.
As I said, my expectations for the main feature, MIB3, were fairly low, but, again, I was pleasantly surprised. For one thing, it's fairly well written. The characters play well off each other, and the time-travel plot was handled with confidence, in an appropriately Star Trek 1960s way (I kept expecting to see the Enterprise in the background). For another, it zinged along quite quickly. Oh, there were too many alien-slapping scenes, where some prosthetically outrageous schmuck got roughed up to no real end, but it felt like a short movie. It didn't outlive its welcome. I got the surprise twist fairly early, but even then it was dealt out in a way I didn't expect (I didn't LIKE the way it was dealt out - too schmaltzy for my taste - but it did surprise me). Most of all, it is a movie that has heart. The relationship between K and J feels solid, and I wanted everything to work out for them. And, biggest surprise for me, amongst all the CGI alien gags (and yes, I loved the bagpipes) there is an effective and affecting performance by Michael Stuhlbarg, who brings the closest thing I've seen in an SF movie to a genuine Sense of Wonder since, oh, Rutger in Bladerunner. In a complete different way.
So, all in all, a very nice way to spend two hours and $9.
Lots of reasons why not. For one thing, it was still 80 degrees. Half way through my 5 minute walk, I thought "How can I dream of going into a dark room on a night like this?" By the time I reached the door of the mall, I was all but screaming "Air Conditioning! Please God, find me some AC!" Yes, I am Scottish.
Again, IMAX is expensive (justifiably so, IMHO. When I rule the world, there will be three cinemas. There will be the Grosvenor, in Ashton Lane, where I can sit on a leather sofa with fake zebra-skin pillows, nibble on a cheese platter and, if I so wish, sip a rather nice white wine. There I will watch mainstream movies and late night showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. There will be the Glasgow Film Theatre, where I will watch foreign films that don't come from America, It's a Wonderful Life, and Casablanca. And there will be the IMAX, where I will watch movies about superheroes. When I rule the world there will be no Showcase Cinemas) last time I went in the UK, IMAX was about £12 a ticket. Except this is Bargain Tuesday, and all seats were $9.
I gave up. I went along.
The trailers were good - Prometheus and Spider Man, both in 3D. Prometheus continues to look interesting, like good hard SF. However, if that was meant to be a Scottish accent, Lassie, you and me are going to have words. Potentially, Made Up Words. The Spider Man trailer was interesting. Very, very long, and it felt like they'd given away most of the movie. That's ok by me - I wouldn't expect to be surprised by any re-writing of the Gwen Stacy/Lizard storyline. I did like the extreme geekiness of the extended encounter with Gwen, though. It was very high school, very "Scott Pilgrim", and I liked it a lot. From time to time it pays to be reminded that Peter Parker was 15 when he got bitten by that spider.
As I said, my expectations for the main feature, MIB3, were fairly low, but, again, I was pleasantly surprised. For one thing, it's fairly well written. The characters play well off each other, and the time-travel plot was handled with confidence, in an appropriately Star Trek 1960s way (I kept expecting to see the Enterprise in the background). For another, it zinged along quite quickly. Oh, there were too many alien-slapping scenes, where some prosthetically outrageous schmuck got roughed up to no real end, but it felt like a short movie. It didn't outlive its welcome. I got the surprise twist fairly early, but even then it was dealt out in a way I didn't expect (I didn't LIKE the way it was dealt out - too schmaltzy for my taste - but it did surprise me). Most of all, it is a movie that has heart. The relationship between K and J feels solid, and I wanted everything to work out for them. And, biggest surprise for me, amongst all the CGI alien gags (and yes, I loved the bagpipes) there is an effective and affecting performance by Michael Stuhlbarg, who brings the closest thing I've seen in an SF movie to a genuine Sense of Wonder since, oh, Rutger in Bladerunner. In a complete different way.
So, all in all, a very nice way to spend two hours and $9.
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Date: 2012-05-30 08:11 pm (UTC)I think my favourite part was how all the aliens in MIB central in the 60s were all non-CGI, costumed characters straight out of 60s SciFi television. It was one of the nicest tributes to the early days of the genre in pop culture.
And yes, time travel can be massively problematic - but in this case the paradox pain didn't bite, and the story stayed logical and easy to follow.
I do go for 2D versions, though. 3D just annoys me - and gives me a headache.