Actually made it through all three movies I had from Netflix this weekend, which is remarkable. Three quick reviews:
- Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog — This was irresistible on several levels. First, it had “blog” in the title. Second, it was a Joss Whedon creation. Third, the clip I had seen on YouTube had a really catchy song, “Freeze Ray,” which I haven’t been able to get out of my head. And you know, I have to say that in a way the piece captured the virtual world we bloggers inhabit with a weird kind of accuracy: I dream of UnParty glory, Dr. Horrible dreamed of being admitted into the Evil League of Evil. Very reminiscent. But unfortunately, I felt super-cheated at the end for two reasons: It was only 40 minutes long, and the ending was hard to take. Burl says he liked the ending, I guess because he enjoyed the way Whedon had pulled people in and then twisted their expectations. Me, I didn’t enjoy it. Needless to say, “Firefly” is safe in its place as my favorite Whedon vehicle.
- Surrogates — This one seemed to have possibilities, as a Bruce Willis action vehicle. But my advice? See “Live Free or Die Hard,” and skip this one. Interesting premise — a world in which people lie on couches vegging out while their lives are lived for them by mechanical surrogates. Trouble is, it didn’t bother to answer the question: Why go to the trouble of buying a lifelike robot (which I sense was sort of a person’s biggest capital expense, possibly exceeding buying a home) to live your life through, rather than living it on the Web via an avatar? I mean, aren’t we already a step BEYOND this sci-fi premise, with our social media and constant ignoring of real life for keeping up with Twitter? Why send out robots to act out these things you can just handle online? Is the audience not supposed to think of this? Because of that consideration, this was like an attempt to imagine the world we actually live in today, through the technological imagination of the 1950s. Disappointing.
- Adam — This was a quiet little offbeat romance about a girl who falls for a guy with Asperger’s. My expectations were low from my point of view; I had mainly gotten this because I thought my wife might like it. But I have to say that it was the least disappointing movie of the weekend. We both enjoyed it, and I recommend it. Spoiler alert: This one actually had a similar ending to “(500) Days of Summer,” but lacked the unbelievability flaw of the one I wrote about last week.
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No comments, huh?
Sigh.
Oh, well. As you know I experiment with different kind of content, checking to see what interests my readers and what doesn’t.
I love movies, but my success in engaging my readers on the subject has been mixed. I’ll put some thought into a Top Five list, and fall flat (five comments). Then I’ll wonder about some theme music I can’t place, and we get a great chat going (38 comments).
Last week we had a modestly active discussion (14 comments, which is respectable) about a couple of movies, and it made me think, “Why not make this a weekly feature?” But this effort fell flatter than my Top Five list.
So help me understand — is it that the idea was bad, or was it that these three weren’t particularly interesting movies (nothing like, say, “The Graduate“)?
Should I keep trying, or drop this feature?