Economic right meaning I believe in a smaller government with minimal social programs, less regulation, and more privatization.
Socially liberal means I think liberties are important and the government should primarily exist to protect liberty.
Friday, July 19, 2019
My Politicsl Compass Test July 2019
I'm somewhere between (and I'm assuming) our first and third presidents.
Economic right meaning I believe in a smaller government with minimal social programs, less regulation, and more privatization.
Socially liberal means I think liberties are important and the government should primarily exist to protect liberty.
Economic right meaning I believe in a smaller government with minimal social programs, less regulation, and more privatization.
Socially liberal means I think liberties are important and the government should primarily exist to protect liberty.
Friday, June 28, 2019
Men in Black International Review
Pros: a really pretty movie.
Cons: a clear cash grab.
You can tell when a movie was written for the sake of being written versus a movie that was written because someone had a story to tell, and this movie is a good example of the former. The result is a middle of the road movie that is neither good nor bad and leaves you with a sense that the creators didn't try to create art, just a product.
The main character, Molly / Agent M, is plain, sterile, and cute. Everything comes to her without much conflict and by the end nothing feels earned. She doesn't even feel like a protagonist, Agent H does; More on him later. Agent M feels more like a side-kick and is just kind of there. Her role is like a modern, one-dimensional video game protagonist; she has immediate, clear, tangible goals and only a vague and generic long term goal of wanting to know what's out there. The obstacles, if you can call them that, are completely external. She has no weaknesses to overcome and has no change over time. Her character's only learned lesson is that she want's to find love after previously being uninterested which is sort of set up but executed meakly. Bah. There's no tension, no conflict, no suspense. In other words, she's boring. The story isn't even about her anymore once H is introduced. M is plot adjacent.
Agent H is famous among MIB as someone who saved the world. Now he's an arrogant, obnoxious jackass and his story is set up as the come-back story of a has-been if not a redemption story. This redemption story falls apart at the end when he realizes he was actually neuralized and is not actually a jackass. It was a twist you could have seen coming. I admit that I didn't predict it because there was no foreseeable possibility of a satisfactory pay off. It was disappointing to watch this conflict resolve itself so conveniently. "It's Ok H, you're not really a complex flawed character, you were just neuralized and given a crappy memory." Also, the plot about his father figure, Agent T, is handled very unsatisfactory. If T was so important to Agent H, how did H get over his death so fast? This is a missed opportunity to show how human connection is so rare and valuable for MIB agents, which they actually phone in at the end. H skips his stages of grief and goes to acceptance pretty quick. H seemed more upset by the death of the character Fungus.
Fungus was not important in retrospect. He wasn't funny either, but he did have a decent death scene with unnecessarily vague, foreboding last words.
All the villains ranged from sucked to unimpressive. There were some creepy twins who has some kind of cosmic stellar form where they were indestructible and they could manipulate matter like God. It turns out they weren't actually the villains, they were just really bad at asking for help. Their entire conflict should have been resolved if they just asked help from MIB instead of killing people. Then, some other alien crime boss who datedbAgent H in his backstory who seemed interesting at first. She had a lot of build up and a good reveal. The actesss did a damn good job playing the part and I had hopes for the character by now, but her part in the story was over too quick and she really contributed nothing but a momenetary change in tone. The final villain was a monster with an association to some cosmic bad guy like Star Trek's Borg. He had no name, no specific goal, no personality, no presence or threat until the very end, and was defeated spectacularly by the mcguffin of the movie, a gun powered by a star. This gun was so much a mcguffin that it didn't even have a name much less an explanation for being there, who wanted it or why.
There's almost no emotional weight to anything. They introduce an alien in the beginning who meets Molly as a girl. She says bye to it as it escapes her bedroom window and avoids MIB capture. Years later, we meet this alien again and it comically has loyalty to Molly over the crime lord whom he works for, allowing the agents to walk away from a dangerous confrontation with their prize in hand no thanks to their own skill or ability. Job well done. Luck and more luck. They escaped death because of an acquaintance with their killer. If that isn't a trope, it should be. It's like this movie can't decide if it wants to be a comedy or an action movie.
One major complaint I have is the flying alien motorcycle chase scene. H and M fly though a city on alien tech and it's actually not that exciting. The consequences are also ignored by the story: The truth about aliens exposed to hundreds. Exposure should be a big deal to MIB. This is an example of the movie forgetting it's own rules or not caring, or relying on the audience to either not notice or care. This could have been handled any other way. The agents could have found a teleport pod that malfuctioned and stranded them in a desert. They clearly just wanted a chase scene, which was unsatisfactory in and of itself. I think it's indicative of the motives for this movie: we just wanted to make a movie with cool, fun stuff in it. Good job, no tension was added by including a motorcycle in this chase except for the exposure of alien tech to the world that was completely ignored except for two wild flashes from a single nueralizer on just one small crowd. I don't care to see a movie that doesn't take itself seriously enough. Don't leave loose ends like this. I want to see a good, satisfying story with build up, tension, and release, not unnecessary motorcycle chases that cause more problems then they solve.
Also, why do probationary agents not get issued their own Neuralizer? Probationary agents have to flashy thing people too!
There is a supporting character named Pawny. I didn't have a problem with him but I didn't love him. If there is a Pawny spin off, I will pass. Agent C was wasted potential. He filled the role of an antagonist and foil to Agent H. H was an irresponsible, spoiled shit, C was the like his jealous, responsible, underappreciated brother who just wanted be to treated fairly by daddy, Agent T. C could have been more developed. He tried to have H arrested and had a confrontation with a corrupt authority figure. That sounds like important stuff yet I have no emotional investment in this character and neither does the plot.
MIB is now run by High T, formerly Agent T I suppose. I like T because he's played by Liam Nesson. I don't like T because he says the most inane thing ever which gets repeated multiple times and becomes that line you say at the ending when all the pieces of the plot conveniently fall into place. The thing he says is something like "the universe has a way of putting you exactly where you need to be right when you need to be there." I have two complaints. First, T dies. Womp womp. Hell of an ironic thing for a dead man to say. Second, this is an inappropriately pseudo-spiritual mumbo jumbo-y thing to say for a sci-fi movie with no attempted explanation. I found it distracting and lame for both those reasons. If I was offered this role, I would pass just because of this line.
Cons: a clear cash grab.
You can tell when a movie was written for the sake of being written versus a movie that was written because someone had a story to tell, and this movie is a good example of the former. The result is a middle of the road movie that is neither good nor bad and leaves you with a sense that the creators didn't try to create art, just a product.
The main character, Molly / Agent M, is plain, sterile, and cute. Everything comes to her without much conflict and by the end nothing feels earned. She doesn't even feel like a protagonist, Agent H does; More on him later. Agent M feels more like a side-kick and is just kind of there. Her role is like a modern, one-dimensional video game protagonist; she has immediate, clear, tangible goals and only a vague and generic long term goal of wanting to know what's out there. The obstacles, if you can call them that, are completely external. She has no weaknesses to overcome and has no change over time. Her character's only learned lesson is that she want's to find love after previously being uninterested which is sort of set up but executed meakly. Bah. There's no tension, no conflict, no suspense. In other words, she's boring. The story isn't even about her anymore once H is introduced. M is plot adjacent.
Agent H is famous among MIB as someone who saved the world. Now he's an arrogant, obnoxious jackass and his story is set up as the come-back story of a has-been if not a redemption story. This redemption story falls apart at the end when he realizes he was actually neuralized and is not actually a jackass. It was a twist you could have seen coming. I admit that I didn't predict it because there was no foreseeable possibility of a satisfactory pay off. It was disappointing to watch this conflict resolve itself so conveniently. "It's Ok H, you're not really a complex flawed character, you were just neuralized and given a crappy memory." Also, the plot about his father figure, Agent T, is handled very unsatisfactory. If T was so important to Agent H, how did H get over his death so fast? This is a missed opportunity to show how human connection is so rare and valuable for MIB agents, which they actually phone in at the end. H skips his stages of grief and goes to acceptance pretty quick. H seemed more upset by the death of the character Fungus.
Fungus was not important in retrospect. He wasn't funny either, but he did have a decent death scene with unnecessarily vague, foreboding last words.
All the villains ranged from sucked to unimpressive. There were some creepy twins who has some kind of cosmic stellar form where they were indestructible and they could manipulate matter like God. It turns out they weren't actually the villains, they were just really bad at asking for help. Their entire conflict should have been resolved if they just asked help from MIB instead of killing people. Then, some other alien crime boss who datedbAgent H in his backstory who seemed interesting at first. She had a lot of build up and a good reveal. The actesss did a damn good job playing the part and I had hopes for the character by now, but her part in the story was over too quick and she really contributed nothing but a momenetary change in tone. The final villain was a monster with an association to some cosmic bad guy like Star Trek's Borg. He had no name, no specific goal, no personality, no presence or threat until the very end, and was defeated spectacularly by the mcguffin of the movie, a gun powered by a star. This gun was so much a mcguffin that it didn't even have a name much less an explanation for being there, who wanted it or why.
There's almost no emotional weight to anything. They introduce an alien in the beginning who meets Molly as a girl. She says bye to it as it escapes her bedroom window and avoids MIB capture. Years later, we meet this alien again and it comically has loyalty to Molly over the crime lord whom he works for, allowing the agents to walk away from a dangerous confrontation with their prize in hand no thanks to their own skill or ability. Job well done. Luck and more luck. They escaped death because of an acquaintance with their killer. If that isn't a trope, it should be. It's like this movie can't decide if it wants to be a comedy or an action movie.
One major complaint I have is the flying alien motorcycle chase scene. H and M fly though a city on alien tech and it's actually not that exciting. The consequences are also ignored by the story: The truth about aliens exposed to hundreds. Exposure should be a big deal to MIB. This is an example of the movie forgetting it's own rules or not caring, or relying on the audience to either not notice or care. This could have been handled any other way. The agents could have found a teleport pod that malfuctioned and stranded them in a desert. They clearly just wanted a chase scene, which was unsatisfactory in and of itself. I think it's indicative of the motives for this movie: we just wanted to make a movie with cool, fun stuff in it. Good job, no tension was added by including a motorcycle in this chase except for the exposure of alien tech to the world that was completely ignored except for two wild flashes from a single nueralizer on just one small crowd. I don't care to see a movie that doesn't take itself seriously enough. Don't leave loose ends like this. I want to see a good, satisfying story with build up, tension, and release, not unnecessary motorcycle chases that cause more problems then they solve.
Also, why do probationary agents not get issued their own Neuralizer? Probationary agents have to flashy thing people too!
There is a supporting character named Pawny. I didn't have a problem with him but I didn't love him. If there is a Pawny spin off, I will pass. Agent C was wasted potential. He filled the role of an antagonist and foil to Agent H. H was an irresponsible, spoiled shit, C was the like his jealous, responsible, underappreciated brother who just wanted be to treated fairly by daddy, Agent T. C could have been more developed. He tried to have H arrested and had a confrontation with a corrupt authority figure. That sounds like important stuff yet I have no emotional investment in this character and neither does the plot.
MIB is now run by High T, formerly Agent T I suppose. I like T because he's played by Liam Nesson. I don't like T because he says the most inane thing ever which gets repeated multiple times and becomes that line you say at the ending when all the pieces of the plot conveniently fall into place. The thing he says is something like "the universe has a way of putting you exactly where you need to be right when you need to be there." I have two complaints. First, T dies. Womp womp. Hell of an ironic thing for a dead man to say. Second, this is an inappropriately pseudo-spiritual mumbo jumbo-y thing to say for a sci-fi movie with no attempted explanation. I found it distracting and lame for both those reasons. If I was offered this role, I would pass just because of this line.
Thursday, May 9, 2019
FFV: Ghido's Cave Puzzel Solution
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