The Running Man, Wicked: For Good, and Life Stuff

Well, the bad news is that, after moving into our new place a month and a half ago, our landlords have decided to put the house up for sale. So yay...

There's a very good chance it won't sell, but still, it sucks.

I did put up Christmas lights in my office, though, so that's something good, I guess.

ANYHOO

Went to the movies twice this week and saw Wicked: For Good and The Running Man. Spoiler alert, I thought both were great.

THE RUNNING MAN

So there's been a lot of talk about this movie, and how bad it is, and I want to say that it's obvious a lot of people here don't respect Paul Verhoeven like they should, and it shows. This was 100% Edgar Wright doing a Paul Verhoeven movie, and he did a pretty decent job.

Is it mindblowing? No, it sure isn't. It's silly, over-the-top, and ridiculous, but is it GOOD? Yes, I think so. It's entertaining as hell, and it's got something like social commentary, though I suspect that aspect was only sort of considered. That said, it says a lot about Western culture and our willingness to be manipulated and exploited by the rich to fight each other rather than those at the top. How much of that was intentional and how much was simply the story they were telling as presented in the book, I don't know.

I haven't seen the Arnold version of The Running Man since it came out, and I remember nothing about it. I also read the book, which was dramatically different from the Arnold movie. This movie is much closer to the book, and I thought it distilled Stephen King's story into something easily digestible, if not somewhat uncomfortable to watch.

It hits really close to home in the world it creates. The only major fault I can point out is that Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is never particularly likable. He's a very early King/Richard Bachman kind of character. He's pissed off, talks a lot of shit, and is tough in the kind of "I'm an unpredictable crazy bastard" way an edgelord like 20-something Stephen King would have come up with.

It's impossible not to see this as the other side of the coin to the other big Richard Bachman book to get an adaptation this year, The Long Walk, which was also quite good. Both stories speak to our rampant political and social divides and serve as a significant indictment of class disparity.

They had to change a few major plot points from the book, but they still managed to tell basically the same story. I highly recommend this movie if you're interested in a Paul Verhoeven-light version of a dystopian reality TV show gone mad. And honestly, who doesn't want to see that?

WICKED: FOR GOOD

Listen, I loved the first Wicked, and I really enjoyed this one as well. It's a more involved story regarding the politics and machinations of Oz as a lived-in place, and the various powers at play. What becomes really apparent is how good these two women are at playing these roles. Both Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are phenomenal as Glinda and Elphaba, again. Seeing them perform off each other is something we're lucky to witness, because I'm not sure we could have had a better movie version of this story.

The way they handled the Dorothy/Wizard of Oz storyline happening concurrently to our story was pretty great. I honestly had no problem with any of it.

My only complaint, and this might be simply because I've only seen it the one time, is that the music wasn't quite as memorable in the back half of the story. That said, it did lean a bit into the romantic elements of their relationship, and I appreciated that. It wasn't explicitly stated, but it came close enough.

I'm really happy with how this all turned out, so that's really all I can say about it.

Just another Cinematic Faces drawing. Been doing a couple of these a week.

Alright, that's it for now!