Movies and TV

[sprocket]

Interstellar: leaving aside the science quibbles, I would like this movie much more if Cooper or whatshisname the old scientist guy were genderflipped. It takes away a bit of my irritation with the scene where Murphy dismisses her honors for a lifetime of hard work on space travel as "only because I had your help, dad!" It didn't feel like Team Science, it felt like misattribution of credit. Also, I dislike Spielberg's the Spielberg-like manipulation of my feelings. IT'S SAD I GET IT OKAY. ANNE HATHAWAY SHOULD BE THE PARENT, NOT MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY. EVEN IF MCCONAUGHEY GIVES ME CONTACT FEELS.

Instead I've been watching The Good Wife, which for many years I avoided because of the title. My mistake! It's political maneuvering, with shades of gray, but unlike House of Cards, I'm invested in the characters.

I love Diane. I LOVE DIANE. I love her unapologetic ambition. I love her wicked cackle, I love that she gets to be smart and ruthless and occasionally fall for A Cause. Diane could be the villain, but it's not that kind of show.

I love Diane and Will. They have the best work marriage. I love their scheming to manage the equity partners. "Is it working?" "Look angrier." Diane and Will fighting in the offices! Diane and Will dancing in the halls! Diane castigating Will for his lousy dating choices! Will bringing Diane booze to sweet-talk her! Will and Diane are each other's peers and have their partner's back, even when (OH DIANE) they should be throwing Will under the bus. Of all the relationships on TGW, Will and Diane have some of the best communication, trust, and mutual respect. AND THERE IS NO UST. Just badass lawyer-ing! Y'alls have no idea how much the judge plotline destroyed me. It was the worst divorce ever. Peter's still not a good person but he created an enemy when he pulled the judgeship and he saved Will and Diane's work marriage. Good work, Peter.

I could take or leave Will Gardner The Romantic Interest, but it's often hilarious when Will and Peter get stuck dealing with each other. Peter is the show in a nutshell. Law and order sound good, but what keeps the wheels moving in the GW!verse is who you know and how you use those connections. Law and winning aren't aligned with justice. Peter is much more interesting when he's being slightly evil, like using his political situation to browbeat the headmistress of a private school For The Children (tm). To circle this around to Will, he's... sort of learned about power and right-ness? If you're going to mess with the law, mess with it for someone else's sake, not for personal gain?

Alicia probably needs a post of her own. She is awesome and complicated and I love complicated characters trying balance their responsibilities. (Getting back to HofC, wow everyone was selfish. There wasn't a sense of selfishness vs responsibilities, or doing things for the greater good, or even doing things for the tribe, except for a tribe of one. And the writing bought into that premise as a compelling way to generate narrative tension. Yuck.)

I like Kalinda... as a character. I like that she's her own person, I A++ approve of putting a queer character front and center. I am dubious about how the show handles, oh, 99% of her sexual relationships. I'm okay with kind of aromantic characters, but I'm not sure the writers are okay with what they've done?

The secondary characters are wonderful schemers: David Lee and Julius Cain, Eli Gold (I hate Eli as a person. As a character he is hilarious)... okay, I'm watching 4x01 and I'm back to screaming LEE YOU OLD GRUMP, which believe me is giving me whiplash. ...okay, I'm getting a soft spot for Mister Trustee, there's something irresistible about competence.

I kind of want to do Five People Alicia Florrick Didn't Sleep With (But Perhaps Should Have), but I also... don't? Because more sex doesn't actually solve any of Alicia's problems. What might solve some of Alicia's problems is a social structure that lets her have her political husband and her handsome if feckless lawyer boyfriend on the side, but it doesn't work that way, does it.

It would also be a lot of fun if there were a West Wing crossover, because CJ and Diane would slay me.

Comments

[wendelah1]

Spielberg? No, no. Interstellar was directed and co-written by Christopher Nolan, the Dark Knight Trilogy guy. Interstellar is the only movie of his I actually love because it is the only movie of his that I've seen that places human feelings and connection at its center. The other movies that I'm familiar with were stone cold techno-fantasies likeInception. Ugh. It's been a long time since I've seen it but while Memento impressed a lot of people, it didn't do much for me. I'd have to see Interstellar again before I could come up with a competing interpretation to yours but yeah, on the face of it, I have to disagree with you on this one. Questionable science--well of course. All of his movies have that in common as far as I can tell.

[sprocket]

You're right. It's Nolan, not Spielberg. Wiki tells me the property started with Spielberg vaguely attached to the project back in the '00s, but he wasn't part of the final production team. The emotional manipulation vividly reminded me of watching some of Spielberg's films. I skipped the Dark Knight movies, but did see Inception. It didn't do much for me, except make me wish I had those hours of my life back.

Interstellar may center on human connection, but also wanted to be science-y and have the action set pieces appropriate to a Hollywood film, and it didn't combine those desires well enough to execute them smoothly and coherently. Someone needed to edit with a machete, either to tighten the narrative slack, or trim the energetic bits, to smooth out the film's pacing. The threads of the movie feel like they're fighting each other, rather than working together.

What I liked most about the movie was the astrophysics and exploration of possible extrasolar worlds. The science seemed slightly less ridiculous than average Hollywood science, or at least differently silly. I wanted to like this movie, but the run time was against it, and the editing and storytelling choices contributed to my very mixed feelings.

[kerithwyn]

I enjoyed Interstellar well enough, but haven't gone back for a rewatch, if that means anything.

I have TGW on my list of "watch someday," mostly due to a magnificently slashy Kalinda vid seen at VividCon. Ah, it was this one by Anoel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f463HuXWq-k&index=4&list=PLn89U5khJaKNUDI12prQhtcqF6tK0k6Fa

[wendelah1]

I can't disagree with you. Pacing is a preference, so is editing, etc. Although I don't remember any of that bothering me, I would bet the professional critics are all on your side.

The way Interstellar hit so many of my narrative buttons overrides any reservations. I'm attracted to stories about humanity trying to survive an apocalypse so that was a point in its favor. I'm attracted to stories about space exploration, ditto. I love stories about time travel. I loved the structure of the story, the way it twisted back on itself. And an uplifting story with a relationship between a father and a daughter at its center? I can't think of another movie like it. I liked watching all of the characters, even the villain. I cared about what happened to Anne Hathaway's character after the movie ended; in fact, this was the first story since Fringe that had me looking for fanfic. Naturally, there isn't much. Sigh. Now I'm wishing I'd nominated it for Yuletide.

[sprocket]

Kalinda has many fuckbuddies, and very few intimate friends. Alicia is one of them... actually, Alicia may be her only friend, in the early seasons.

If you need a nudge to get into TGW, I will shamelessly nudge. It does lovely drama, and remembers its own history. It lets the characters range across shades of gray. The alliances and antagonists change over time, in fairly organic ways... though David Lee will always be, bless you, predictable abrasive David Lee. I like the show best when it's got all the plots in the air - whatever is going on with Peter and the Illinois political scene, the lawyer team tackling the case of the week, Florrick family drama, and whatever schemes are bedeviling the firm's internal politics - because the writing and acting come together very well. The show doesn't forget it's named after a woman, and heavily salts the show with interesting female roles. It's been criticized for its handling of race, and I don't think it's the show to watch for a nuanced embrace of non-vanilla sexuality.

Getting back to the pluses, there are the guest stars. Carrie Preston nets a recurring guest role as a brilliant if slightly scattershot lawyer, and plays it wonderfully. Stockard Channing plays Alicia's mom! Michael J. Fox gets to be one of the fleet of colorful opposing counsel guest stars, like Martha Plimpton. Renée Elise Goldsberry shows up for the state attorney's office. And do not get me started on the judges, who get to have their own quirks.

Short version: it's worth watching.

[sprocket]

I'm glad it hit your buttons. The things you liked are some of the things I liked. I guess I'm more frustrated by other elements. It was a decent movie, but it didn't hit me where I live. It's almost the sort of canon I'd like fanfic for, but I'd have to care about the movie just a bit more than I do. Maybe nominate this for next year's Yuletide, or the midyear Night on Fic Mountain, if they do that exchange again next year.