movie thoughts: Inside Llewyn Davis, Jurassic World, Love & Mercy

[orangerful]

I really enjoyed "Inside Llewyn Davis"! I checked it out because of Oscar Isaac and I had seen the clips of him singing floating around YouTube after the release of Star Wars. I really like him as an actor and I think he picks some very interesting roles.

"Inside Llewyn Davis" was definitely a Coen Brothers movie, with quirky characters and a story that was more than what it seems. I really liked how the story unfolded, with bits and pieces of Llewyn's past being revealed as the movie went on. We never get the full story about what happened before we met Llewyn, but we know he has had opportunities to go forward yet seems to be stuck in a loop. He is a man that lives in the moment, unable to think about the future. And the movie is about the pros and cons of being that kind of person (and I have a feeling that a lot of artists have that issue, maybe because thinking about the future is equated with thinking about money and Llewyn clearly associates that with selling out). I liked this movie a LOT more than I expected to, and Oscar Isaac did NOT disappoint.

"Jurassic World" on the other hand. Maybe I wanted too much from this movie? I wanted the magic and wonder of the original back and this doesn't really come close. It had some fun moments, but the direction it ended up going in didn't satisfy me. I wish they had ditched the storyline with the kids, which was clearly supposed to parallel that of Tim and Lex in the original, but fell short for me in the emotional department. And I really did not like the Claire, and I never believed for a moment that she really cared about anything. Blah, and then the whole thing with her and Owen, just...I just wanted dinosaurs dammit, not this force romance and whiny kids. DINOSAURS! It took too long to get going and the payoff just wasn't that great. It actually made me respect "Force Awakens" even more - both movies were blatant redos of their originals but TFA left me feeling happy and JW left me feeling ... meh. I just wanted to watch Owen and the raptors - the rest of that movie was just meh.

"Love & Mercy" was a TOTAL surprise for me. I had put myself on the list for it after seeing its high score on Rotten Tomatoes. I just knew it was about the Beach Boys, it had John Cusack, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti and Elizabeth Banks - all actors I LOVE!
But I was not prepared for how fantastic this movie was. I don't know why, but it hit me in a way I didn't expect. The film is about Brian Wilson and how mental illness took over his life. How the abuse he received from his father as a child bled into the rest of his life and ate away at him. How he became a man trapped by someone just as manipulative as his father. BUT it is also about Melinda Ledbetter, the woman he fell in love with and who eventually saves him.

It was just so well done, beautifully filmed, the sounds of the music and the voices in Wilson's head...the performances were all top-notch.

This one surprised me. This is the one I am telling everyone about because it really is worth watching.

Comments

[twissie.livejournal.com]

I've been watching a lot of musically themed biopics lately, so maybe I should add Love & Mercy to my list? I hadn't heard of it before, but it sounds really good. Thanks for the rec!

Hah! Your comment about Jurassic World vs. The Force Awakens is spot on. I did enjoy Jurassic World to a certain extent, but it was because of the little details and theme park porn, not because of the characters or "plot". While The Force Awakens didn't really blow me away, it rekindled my interest in the Star Wars universe and made me excited about what's going to happen next. It also felt lacking and I enjoyed the atmosphere more than the characters and familiar storyline, but it was a better film experience than Jurassic World.

You're making me want to rewatch Inside Llewyn Davis! I watched it randomly on Netflix ages ago, but I don't really remember much. I remember it was beige and brown, there was singing and a cat. ..... xD;;;

[qwentoozla]

I was underwhelmed by Jurassic World too, and I don't even have any attachment to the original, so I wasn't comparing it. I agree that Claire wasn't that great a character, and I thought the romance between her and Owen was really stereotypical. I always say that it would have been a much better movie if all the human characters were replaced with more velociraptors!

[ragnarok-08.livejournal.com]

I did enjoy The Force Awakens and now I do want to watch Inside Llewelyn Davis :D

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

The thing that gets me is that Jurassic World was how it was the complete opposite of what Jurassic Park was, mostly due to the lack of magic and wonder about dinosaurs, but especially with their writing and treatment of women characters. Like, how can you go from the feminist messages from the first film to this? I don't get it. I feel like most didn't like or care about the human characters so much as the dinosaurs (because that petting area with the bby dinos? omg yes pls I want to go there immediately).

The movie is only entertaining if you want to see the dinosaurs. Everything else just fell flat.

And I absolutely agree with your observations regarding the difference between how Jurassic World and Star Wars: The Force Awakens was done in terms of rebooting a franchise. TFA truly felt like they were rebooting the series, which was a perfect blend of the familiar with something new and fresh for the next chapter; it had heart and soul with these characters and the plot, and it just worked. Whereas with JW, they relied too heavily on bringing in the dinosaur element and not so much with the human element, which is why Jurassic Park was wonderful to begin with. It had the human characters that you cared about along with the beauty and wonder of dinosaurs. As entertaining as parts of the film were, JW just missed the mark on that.

[dreamchaser.livejournal.com]

I loved Love and Mercy, too!

I have Inside Llewyn Davis on my PVR - I just need to get around to watching it.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/]

I love how everybody's watching Oscar Isaac movies right now. I don't catch up on an actor's filmography like some people do, but if one or two movies appeal to me, I go for it. That's why I ended up watching Ex Machina, since I was already thinking of seeing it for Alicia Vikander but hadn't taken the time to do it.

Jurassic World was just so heterosexual. It was such a contrast to all the current blockbusters, which often tend to hint at m/m and then have quick m/f for #nohomo reasons. Here, it was het over het over het. You just couldn't escape it, even though we were all there for the dinos.

[kael1030.livejournal.com]

I still want to try Jurassic World... More out of curiosity then anything else. I'm not expecting anything mind blowing so I think I should be safe. lol Though I'm sure there will be things that make me roll my eyes from the sound of it. XD

[kaaelyn.livejournal.com]

I've been meaning to watch Inside Llewyn Davis! Maybe this will give me the kick in the butt I need. Plus, I mean, Oscar Isaac! I need to watch more things with him in it.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Total agreement on Jurassic World. I wanted the magic of the first one, but it had nothing of that. First movie I had seen in theaters in four or five years (they're really and seriously expensive around here) and likely the last one for a long, long time.

[elizalavelle.livejournal.com]

For me Jurassic World was what I wanted from a dinosaur movie but not what I wanted from a movie. I especially hated that the ten year old kid somehow comes up with the idea for how to save the day and the woman who runs the freaking park needs a ten year old boy to tell her what to do. So messy.

I'll have to look into Love and Mercy and Inside Llewyn Davis. More for the list!