dothetorpedo Reviews

Peter Rabbit (2018)

i liked it. it was irreverent and fun

[7/10 · 24 February 2018]

I loved this movie. i think it wouldve turned out terrible but it had a degree of self awareness that i think made it actually pretty clever

i saw paddington 2 too (a week apart?) and while i think it was the better movie, i liked peter rabbit a lot more, if that makes sense. paddington 2 was just this really delightful british children's animation, peter rabbit was just this weird movie that felt so stitched together but it had the weirdness i needed

if anyone was wondering the plot is basically this: this unhinged toy salesman starts banging beatrix potter. (im not kidding, shes actually beatrix potter. except it takes place in modern day for no real reason, it wouldve been really cute if it were old timey and stuff) except beatrix potter is like the patron saint of rabbits and stuff and the guy and the rabbits really don't like each other, the entire movie is them trying to kill each other in heinous ways. this is either the worst plotline or the best plotline ever depending on how you look at it, i really enjoyed it.

i was mentally doing shit when i saw it in theatres though, i think that kind of compounded the fever dream effect it had. it sucks that all the attention it got (even before it even came out) was so negative, i just wanted to say that it brought me cheer in a shitty time.

ALSO it kind of stinks that rose byrne (she plays beatrix) didnt get to do a lot, its mostly about the rabbits and the dude duking it out. theres a plotline where her "serious" art is supposed to be ass awful, while her drawings of the rabbit family are beautiful. idk if that was some kind of jab at beatrix potter, i guess it was supposed to be like a metaphor for how beatrix potters art wasnt taken seriously or something in society at the time because it wasn't "serious" even though it was beautiful?? later when peter and friends are throwing dynamite and shit its revealed she didnt hear them because of the loud music. shes paint-dancing to this ass awful song (its called "fight song" by idk), and its exactly what a crazy lady who listens to Ted Talks and drinks kombucha to "boost creativity" would do. idk why i found that so funny lmao

but also thomas (the toy salesman guy) is also related to the old mcgregor that was the original antagonist.. nevermind the fact that shes dating her villain OC in this movie.. but he and peter show up at the end of the movie and convince her not to leave the country and give up painting. so i guess its like supposed to be her creations stopping her from giving up on her art? or maybe im looking into it too hard?

as far as adaptation approaches go its a really weird way to pay tribute to beatrix potter, but i like how they did it. its really meta and weird to have the real life author in their own story but i like the surreal ness of it and they made it kinda cute. i know other movies have done it before, but its not really done often (the little prince movie kind of did it before in this reverse framing device but the old guy who tells the story to the girl is never explicitly antoine de saint-exupery)

other note: when it came out people were saying stuff about beatrix potter spinning like the earth in her grave. Supposedly, and i mean i'm not sure, according to james cordon, the beatrix potter estate rejected feature film adaptations by multiple large film studios. countless times over the decades, even offers by the walt disney company. and i shit you not, THIS movie's script, was the only one that got the blessing of the actual beatrix potter estate. maybe an assload of money, maybe they just never took the whole peter rabbit thing as seriously as everyone thought

TL;DR: domhnall gleeson facing off against peter rabbit, beloved british literary icon, while "steal my sunshine" plays

Deadpool (2016)

it was okay

[7/10 · 19 October 2016]

I didn't really find it funny, the humor seemed very gimmicky after a while since a lot of the jokes are 4th wall bending. I didn't find it really that clever. They put Deadpool through a lot in this movie and they like to show his pain because I guess that would make the audience feel sympathetic towards our main character. However it doesn't really feel uncomfortable for the viewer at any point. I would've liked it if they added some actual anguish, and not just Deadpool saying "this is terrible but I joke about it".

Facing losing your life to cancer is hard enough in itself. I felt like the film tried to get it more powerful and effective by piling more and more things on to their character, but it's really how the characters react to a certain situation, not the severity of the situation itself. For the character they built and the amount of tragedy there supposedly is, there is really not that much emotional reaction that they are able to actually get out. It doesn't go very deep into the world that they are in either, I didn't really get a fullness feeling out of it, so fourth wall breaks don't feel very outrageous at all.

Anomalisa (2015)

was not expecting this

[10/10 · 24 July 2016]

EDIT: years later i was reflecting on this movie and i'm sure people have already said it before. basically the ending is this, michael finally sees that lisa also has flaws, and he sees everyone as the same because everyone has flaws, that's what everyone has in common. so he was kind of idealizing her and he put her away once the spark ran out. but for lisa (seeing that we get to see the world from her eyes in the brief ending) she sees that it makes everyone different and unique from each other. i think that there are more deeper things as well but considering how baffling the movie was to begin with to me it was a really satisfying answer to come to.

The trailer made it seem like this was some delightfully quirky indie-comedy romance. It didn't take the direction I expected, but it was an amazing movie and totally worthy of the praise it's gotten. I thought they were going to romanticize Michael cheating with Lisa, of how Lisa's voice is the only one he really hears and how he's finally met her. I thought it would be like a poetic love story, but in the end Lisa's voice also fades into complete obscurity.

it's Michael that is hiding people from himself. Maybe it's to his fault. but maybe it's not.

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir (2015– )

great series

[7/10 · 24 July 2016]

The episodes are a bit repetitive, but still very creative and unpredictable. We know the Lady will win in the end, but it's always a surprise how. The two leads are very well balanced and likable, and the series manages to create enough interest. Marinette herself is a very great role model, but still feels well rounded enough to be sincere, and the audience finds it easy to root for her and Adrien, the secondary lead; and there is enough tension between the two to keep it compelling.

But I really hope the series develops on the premise and on the conflict for the plot, rather than use it to keep propelling a status quo. Even with the series' great premise, anything gets repetitive if done for too long.

Hopefully this great series can become a REALLY great series, and with its large fanbase it'd certainly be so gratifying. Here's to season two!