Battle of the Sexes

A rebel and a rogue, in a different kind of star war. Given the tide of history, we all know going in not only who won the match, but whom we are supposed to root for. And, by just about any measure, that notion is correct on its face. But watching this movie, one must recognize--assuming an honest and intelligent assessment--that the victory won and the progress made necessitated both players; there could not have been the rebel without the rogue. That's something interesting to ponder. So too is the notion that this film actually seems to undermine its own point, in a way; maybe he lost simply because he didn't take it seriously enough. All in all, it's a good sign that such a movie makes you think that much about its premise and conclusions, and it definitely helps that it's wildly entertaining and expertly performed. A victory for sure.

Oblivion

This one seems to be a near miss. There’s a lot to like here: Cruise is good (he never isn’t, really), the look of the thing is wonderful, the twist is pretty good as movie twists go, and there’s even some good science that’s important to the movie’s reality (i.e., the presumed effects on Earth if our Moon were destroyed). But there’s one bit of dumbness that cancels out that good science: the story relies on the by-now well-worn clone fallacy (that clones would somehow share memories with the original organism). Probably not a bad rental, now that it’s out of theaters, certainly worth watching for free. But no surprise this wasn’t a big hit at the googolplex.