Magic Mike XXL – I find it very problematic that this film has been celebrated for being ‘feminist’. Cutting straight to the point, this label is wrong for the film. It does nothing to subvert the male gaze, it simply perpetuates it through devolving the supporting women roles into screaming cackles of fangirls. The idea that the film is playing out a fantasy for female pleasure is contradicted by the way females are positioned submissively and often framed dismembered. I applaud the diversity it depicts, but we are still a long way away from a satisfactory mainstream feminist film about male characters.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part One – There is heaps of really interesting aspects of the Hunger Games Saga, including how notions of masculinity are challenged and the gender play going on through the young female protagonist. This film is a bit of a dud however, because those interesting elements take a back seat for what is a rather reductive exploration of propaganda. It’s very simplified and disappointingly teen-angst driven.
Lucy – an absurd concept made watchable with Scarlett Johansson successfully selling every single moment. The problem is though, Besson turns her into the ultimate hero, capable of defeating anything – so given the lack of worth adversaries, you’re left with a pretty bland climax that desperately needed some stakes that were grounded in some sort of reality so the audience could chew on them and spend more time enjoying the madness. Superheroes need villains to be interesting.
Margaret – this is an incredible attempt, if not a completely cohesive vision. Running three hours, there are parts that don’t seem to fit in the puzzle, but then again perhaps a second viewing might make more connections. The interrogation of a teenage after being the key witness in the bus crash is an intriguing premise. Sold on
Anomalisa – I’ll never forget the way that the film crept up on me: entertaining me initially with it’s quirkiness, then baffling me with its strangeness, and finally astounding me with its honesty and the way it commented on humanity.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (trippy); Festen (challenging); They Shoot Horses Don’t They? (exhausting to watch in the best possible way); The Deep Blue Sea (Rachel Weisz take a bow); Beautiful Thing (contrived but beautiful); Jules et Jim (classic); Martha Marcy May Marlene (absorbing); Amy (packs a real punch); Kingsman: The Secret Service (harmless); Hannah and Her Sisters (still prefer Woody Allen movies without him in it); In the Heat of the Night (dated but poignant); Nashville (epic yet intimate); Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (that’s more like it Hollywood); Housebound (so Kiwi in the best possible way); The Great Beauty (inferior La Dolce Vita – pointless); Computer Chess (quirky – but I wasn’t in on the joke); Tootsie (top 80s comedy).
Chicargill's Media Musings 