June movie releases

[halfcactus]

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
This was not as tight as the first movie, and the soundtrack not as memorable, but the storytelling continues to be a full audiovisual experience. It's also an excellent sequel! I love how it picks up where we left Miles, emotionally.

The “villains” weren’t that great on their own but they make great foils for the main and supporting characters in a story that isn't about good VS evil. The theme of goodness being an active choice that you make again and again is something I feel extremely strong about, so I felt so seen and fed by it being a huge part of the story. I think I’m in the minority in not being immediately compelled at the beginning, but that made the payoffs even better because they got me to come around. Characters being able to make choices and deal with consequences made them and the story much more dynamic and satisfying, especially with so many different moving pieces finding their place.

My favorite part as an inattentive viewer was when I picked up that the color of something felt vaguely off-shade in ways I couldn’t explain, and that turned out to be one of many significant visual cues for a plot twist. 😂



Elemental (2023)
The racial allegories were shaky as expected (it just doesn't really work...), but the movie's greatest weakness is really just the lack of worldbuilding and interest in building it at all. There wasn't any follow-through on city subplots that I thought should have been treated with more significance than they were—I recognize that a lot of it is symbolic of Ember's storyline, but IMO it shouldn’t be up to individuals to fix the infrastructure??? Everything just becomes less emotionally impactful when the conflict/villain is bad city planning, lol.

The script was kind of lackluster, and the spoken jokes made feel starkly feel that I am not the right age group for this movie HAHAHA. I am also not the target market for the romcom plot since I don't really like romance... but the love interest (Wade) being a soft, supportive, and dedicated himbo whose storyline is only secondary the the FL is a trope that I usually enjoy, on days that I sign up for romance. XD

In spite of all of that, some of the more personal storylines hit very close to home in ways that were emotionally sensible for the main character, and I really enjoyed watching her grow into her feelings!

Overall, neither a great movie nor a bad one. The animation style was interesting, even moving, and I really don't mind that it's not trying to say anything "new". I just wish it had been smaller and less ambitious in its themes.

SIDE NOTE: I'm trying to find the Mandarin dub for this because ZXC plays Wade and from what I've heard of the teaser, his voice is appropriately watery!!!



爱很美味 Delicious Romance (2023)
Streaming on: Netflix PH

Modern-day friendship-focused chick flick with fun dance numbers and great song choices! Direct sequel to the 2021 cdrama. Like the recent Someday or One Day sequel/movie adaptation, it kind of rehashes similar storylines to replicate the experience of the original and make the movie version more friendly to new viewers.

Like the TV series, this movie features extended conflict and questionable but in-character Xia Meng choices (I so badly wanted to introduce her to the drama adaptation of You Are My Glory), but any scene where all three girls were together were great! I just felt that there weren't enough scenes of them being together. XD Wang Shengdi not being in this movie was also a huge loss, since she was a huge reason for why I loved the show.

The storyline I was most pleased with was Liu Jing's storyline because I thought the show really dropped the ball on her, so seeing her reconnect with food made her make sense to me again.

PS. The movie also preserves its cynicism about entertainment industries, including streaming. I liked the little lesson about fantasy cdrama genre distinctions. 😂

Comments

[superborb]

I'm wavering on Delicious Romance now bc I felt like part of the reason I enjoyed the drama was watching with people and I missed this watch party lol

[halfcactus]

What if you just skim the movie for parts you like haha

It’s definitely not a must-watch. I for one just wanted to see them dance lol they got license for music!!!