Barbie

Amusing, except when it isn’t. This movie stands as a glaring example of the power of visuals. If viewers were to watch this film by not watching it—by closing one’s eyes and just listening to the dialogue—I suspect you’d get a radically different perspective on it from audiences. As it is, the movie’s political “screed as script,” which displays a very hard-edged “us vs. them” mentality, goes over much better by being wrapped in candy-coated visuals and a substantial amount of pretty. That’s ironic, since one of the very things that the filmmakers wish to reject—superficiality—is the very thing that makes their presentation and its philosophical underpinnings palatable. I suspect this movie is very much of its current moment; take this work out of the present day—mid-2023 and into ‘24—when identity and grouping and rigid structures of right-think are welcomed and lauded (at least among the believers), and you probably won’t get nearly as much positive reaction to it as it received upon release (and continues to garner on secondary distribution). Indeed, I suspect in the future many will find this movie’s contemporary success somewhat baffling. It may be truly aligned with the zeitgeist, but that likely will come to be seen as less a positive about this film, and more a negative about said zeitgeist. Frankly, this flick nearly put me to sleep, and that’s hard to imagine when most of watching it involves staring at the stereotypically apt Margot Robbie. I acknowledge that there is a certain amount of bemusement to be had here, in some of the show’s aspects, but not nearly enough to validate the reception this picture received. Disappointing and disheartening, and hardly welcome in any serious person’s dream world.

The LEGO Movie

There's no way that this movie would have been given nearly the high appreciation it received upon release had it not been for the fact that the animation involved all those billions of blocks. Everything in the film is formulaic. We've seen it all before--the misfit hero, the vaguely inaccessible love interest, the odd mentor(s), the cliches about belief and everyone's intrinsic value--all set in a fantasy world. If the visuals were not as impressive as they are, this brick flick would have passed by without nearly as much praise. But the blocks have a following, to be sure, and that almost guaranteed success regardless of the script. I guess it's not awful, but this one never really grabbed me at any deep level. Chances are you could entertain yourself more with a few buckets of bricks and a free afternoon.

Melinda and Melinda

Two divergent and competing story lines feature smug, pretentious, rich New Yorkers vs....smug, pretentious, rich New Yorkers. Perhaps that wasn't the wisest choice. But this one has problems from the ground up. The movie presents a concept story, one that may have merit in its own right, but all concepts take place within a context, here that context really works against the tale(s). The Architectural Digest interiors, the profoundly elite lives and professions of the cast, the insular feel of the presented milieu--all are distracting and work to hamper the viewer's appreciation of the philosophical puzzle being put on display. Worse still, the stories have their own share of weaknesses: the dramatic events seems shallow and unimportant, the comedic turn comes across as bland, unfunny and lacking in true wit. Both threads suffer from weak, stilted writing, and feel artificial, flat, and too "inside" to appeal to most viewers. Top it all off with the violently unfunny Will Ferrell pretending to be Woody Allen--a tired act we've seen before, and done better by better actors--and the movie comes up short in every facet. This film would have been an inferior effort from a first timer; from writer/director Allen, it's a disaster.

Dick

Mostly pointless farce about Watergate. Occasional nice moments, but it suffers from the presence of the odious and unfunny Will Ferrell. It does have a pretty good soundtrack, though.