Already linked this prob, but this is imo a good critique of Wonder Woman and most superhero movies that takes politics into account and started to change my mind about WW (which I may have given a tepid thumb up at first?):
https://soundcloud.com/chapo-trap-ho...or-gadot-62517
Pee Wee's Big Adventure - Third year in a row I've seen it in a theater. Still recommend as one of the best comedies OAT. "Classic Disney cartoons could entertain both the parents and the children and the punk teenagers!" Nah, but PWBA can.
Does every type of humor well, from the stuff that 5 year olds like, to the more "mature" but still dumb and obvious teenage style, to subtle stuff, to super dry stuff for a-holes like me.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off - This is interesting to watch if you're as analytical and potentially critical as I am. I've seen it before of course as a kid, plus many chunks many times on cable.
Up until Twist & Shout it's looking to be not a great movie; I could certainly understand the appeal for kids and teens, but was ready to write it off as another mediocre film that just resonates with certain age groups.
Ferris is a punk. He manipulates his best friend (this later gets recontextualized), and let's think about the restaurant scene for a moment. We're meant to love that these 3 rich white kids go into a restaurant and terrorize the host, a service worker.
We know that the auto garage workers are shady because they're a Hispanic with an accent and a black man.
The story has no momentum in the city, just going from episode to episode. Rooney (the school dean) briefly enters the city for the sole purpose of a silly gag or two before returning to FB's house where he should have been all along, and a lot of the city stuff in general is things that make no sense to set up gags (like Ferris's dad outside the restaurant; the 3 of them could go back inside for 30 seconds to solve the problem).
ANYWAY
- Twist & Shout - also makes no sense, but it's fun (probably should have cut Danke Schoen).
- Story gains momentum; they need to get home, they need to return things as they were before, we understand the sister's motivations.
- Charlie Sheen scene is excellent.
- Actual emotional impact with Cameron and the car.
- Blanks get filled in and earlier trangressions of the film get forgiven; in retrospect, motivations make more sense. The episodic nature of the city trip can be forgiven. Even the terrible museum scene works in retrospect (not, imo, when you're first watching it).
- Script could have used a month to improve the first half. You could literally put two lines in at the restaurant where the host offers them complimentary baseball tickets, and this would start to connect episodes better. You cut the Rooney city scene or give it a quick reason to take place (like he asks the secretary where the kids hang out). You shift around the monologues about characters and their motivations. Etc.
- Should they make a mid-life crisis (getting later than that actually) sequel? Of course.