The Disaster Artist

The interesting thing about this film, if viewed as a prequel to The Room, is that it almost retroactively makes the original film good.  Not in a "so bad it's good" way, but actually admirable.  You understand what Tommy Wiseau wanted to do.  The Room wasn't a pretentious film by a talented director who was patting himself on the back for his talent, which I really hate.  It's a sincere attempt by someone who convey life the way that he sees it.  Granted, Tommy's way of looking at life is incredibly strange, and he's like a Bizarro World character from the Superman comics, but it's sincere.  He funded the film himself, took a giant leap, and although he communicated his outlook on life incompetently, it's still a sincere look into the mind of someone who really wanted to reach out and show the world something about himself.  In that sense, The Room truly is unique among films and truly does deliver on what art really should be, a means for human beings to connect with each other and share our realities.

Wait, am I actually trying to say something sensible and coherent while talking about Tommy Wiseau?  And did I just call that movie good?  I really should double-check that fruit punch they served at the New Year's Eve party.

Going into this film, I wanted either one of two things from it.  The first satisfying option was that this would be a bad film, which would be fitting.  The second would be for it to be good, which would be ironic.  Anything in-between those two extremes wouldn't do.

Now as it happens, I am happy to report that it was good.  As in, really good.  Oscar-worthy good.  It's one of the best movies of the whole year, and is a fitting film to conclude my calendar with.

The specific Oscars that I hope that this gets nominated for are James Franco as Tommy Wiseau, Dave Franco for Best Supporting Actor because I'm honestly surprised at how his presence as Greg Sestero wasn't overshadowed by his brother's titular role, and Best Adapted Screenplay, because this real-life tale is so fascinating and unique in ways that are stranger than fiction — actually, so strange that it can never truly be adapted, but this movie does a heck of a job.

Unfortunately, most theatres aren't showing this masterpiece, and so I'll have recommend that people buy it as soon as it comes out on DVD, and also The Room.  Because how can you not get one without getting the other?  They complement each other so well.  It also doesn't matter which order in which you watch them, so if you don't feel like getting The Room, go ahead and watch this first.

And let me assure you, it is good.  My sister even watched this instead of STAR WARS.  It was a special time, and between her and me, this movie gets high marks.

Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi

Time to review this movie without spoiling it; boy, this ought to be fun!

John Williams produced three memorable themes in the last one, but I can't think of anything that stood out this time, although I'm absolutely going to rewatch this, so we'll see.  But if I re-watch it several times and find nothing new that's iconic, that will honestly be very sad.  I'll be listening to the soundtrack on Spotify in-between now and my next viewing.

It's kind of like Episode V in that  the heroes are definitely up against a huge challenge and you can honestly believe at times that the bad guys are going to win.  On the other hand, in some ways this is the most like Flash Gordon than any other episode (and I'm not saying that this is a bad thing).

Holy cow, they did some things that I wasn't expecting them to do in the middle film of a trilogy.  And by the end, I'm going to be honest, I had absolutely no idea where they were going to go with the next movie.  As in truly, I can't even speculate.

In a lot of ways, the directing and story felt a lot different from a STAR WARS episode, perhaps even comparable to an anthology film like Rogue One.  Rian Johnson does several things with his editing that simply have never been done in any episodes prior.  It was really weird for me.  I think that other people are going to notice it, too, and there's definitely going to be people with passionate opinions on this.  Some will love it, some will hate it.  I'll just  point out that in the original saga, the middle films were where the directors usually got a bit more experimental.  In any case, this actually makes me glad that J.J. Abrams is directing the next one.  Interestingly, though, I will say that the closing shot of this film was far more classically STAR WARS than Episode VII's ending.

Final assessment: I had a really fun time, and I liked it.  I was going to watch it ten times, but now I think that I'll only watch it eight times.  It's not quite the quintessential big screen experience, but that's typical of the middle films, because they've always been my least favorite.  However, we'll see.  These movies have a special place in my sister's heart, since this is for her generation, and if she loves it, I'll probably watch it those extra two times just for her.  At the end of the day, she's what's important.