#first impression reviews

[thebrittanator]

first impression review: Mad Max - Fury Road

why I watched it: someone in the industry described Tom Holkenborg/Junkie XL and his hybrid orchestral/electronic style as where film music is going. this was one of the movies that really made him big. also I’d heard it was good and I wanted to understand the memes

music: for all it was hyped as this super modern style (apparently with little melodic content, per the director’s request), it was way more orchestral and tune-based than I expected. there were themes that functioned as storytelling agents and some epic string writing. the percussion sections were as intense as they should be. the electric guitar was not out of place. it's exactly what action movie music should be.

first impressions:

I now understand the memes

what makes it really stand out the first time you see it is its distinctive visual spectacle. they really did make a unique visual world instead of relying on explosions and gratuitous sex scenes and I can appreciate that. I feel like the artists may have been the biggest reason it became what it is in popular culture

would I watch it again: I can’t see myself seeking it out over all other movies but I understand the appeal

[thebrittanator]

current impression review: E.T.

how many times I’ve seen it: once, a few years ago (as an adult)

why I came back to it: here’s a summary of my reasoning

music: this time I really felt like the whole movie is what it is because Spielberg knows John Williams is a miracle worker. like this is not a criticism of the cinematography, the music just has such a starring role and it was clearly meant to be that way. from what I hear it’s less and less common for directors to build in “music scenes” where the score has free reign to tell the story without relying on dialogue.

and what he did with it was incredible. it’s a story about an alien having misadventures in the 80s, it could have been treated like it was ridiculous, but the music elevates it to be as magical as it would be to the child living the story and that’s beautiful

also I wonder if it was killing them to not put explicit Star Wars music references behind the numerous verbal shoutouts

what I thought of it this time:

cute

so 80s

God bless Lydian mode

would I watch it again: I did not grow up with it myself, probably because it came out in a window of time where my parents didn’t care about kids’ movies, but I’d let my future children grow up with it

[thebrittanator]

first impression review: The Imitation Game

why I watched it: I know and LOVE the soundtrack and the movie has intrigued me ever since I first listened to it

music: slay me in dorian mode

first impressions:

first of all, while I understand that there’s a lot of fair criticism to be made about how the Christian church has treated the gay community, it was refreshing as a Christian to see a story that had so much to do with the character’s sexuality not be equally about representing my religion as that one aspect of its culture at the time. every time there’s a movie with a good gay character I have to brace myself for an evil-because-they’re-religious character to balance them out, so this was a relief. what needed to be highlighted was the tragedy, and they did it well

also I’m very glad there was not a suicide scene

I’m curious to know how Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal of autism comes across to people who actually have it. it’s implied in Sherlock and explicit in this movie, and he seems to have acted this role very well, but I may not be the best one to determine that.

every scene of him attempting to turn up the social skills game was nuanced and human and honestly relatable at some level

Keira Knightley’s character was great and I hope it was a good interpretation of the historical character

it was a fascinating view of a part of WWII history that I had heard very little about except that it happened

the trope of someone realizing exactly what they need to do to make their plan come together from an unrelated casual comment is a trope that never gets old

same with historical movies that put text on the screen at the end to tell you what happened and where the characters are now

would I watch it again: absolutely

[thebrittanator]

first impression review: The Social Network

why I watched it: from what I’ve heard, its soundtrack is iconic of the modern style and it’s a must see if you want to write more electronically oriented music. I am not experienced in that style yet, but I need to know it. it won best original score for 2010 which was apparently a game changer.

music: I liked the recurring piano motif and thought its simplicity was perfect for the film. I remember thinking that it wasn’t a very long score, since most of the soundtrack was source music. so it caught me a little more off guard than I like to admit when I listened to the soundtrack album the next day and discovered that all of the club sounding music in the film was also part of the original score. there are a lot of consistent sounds throughout both the piano cues and the more upbeat cues that I missed because the sound quality wasn’t great when I watched the movie. or maybe I can’t blame it on the laptop speakers, maybe the score just did its job and made me forget it was there while I was caught up in the experience. either way, turns out it makes for decent workout music too.

first impressions:

I have no idea how accurately these people were portrayed, but I appreciate when a movie entirely populated with morally gray characters doesn’t try to excuse them or get you to sympathize more than you naturally would.

this movie surprised me with how much I actually liked it. it was really well done. everything that could have been boring sucks you in, the legal drama, business talks, coding in dark college dorms - all the cinematography contributes to the feeling of watching something revolutionary unfold in the normal of early 2000s culture.

I want to go write something world changing in my room and never go on social media again

has anyone ever been so thoroughly roasted during their lifetime as those jock bros were by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross who scored the rowing scene with a comic muted electronic arrangement of In the Hall of the Mountain King? incredible. absolutely scathing

I remember liking Andrew Garfield’s character. maybe not everyone was slandered.

I may be being captain obvious here, but there’s something so poetic about casting a musician of that era as the man known for popularizing illegally downloaded music

would I watch it again: yes. I have to at some point, now that I know what the score sounds like on its own. also it’s just a good movie

what it made me want to watch:

dude, all I could think of watching after that was The Italian Job. “no, they call it Napster because I was NAPPING when he STOLE IT!”

observation: there’s just nothing more motivational than a movie that’s 1. about someone who will stop at nothing to create something (provided it’s not evil) and 2. makes you think twice about something that wastes your time. I’m keeping my eye out

definitely have to watch more movies by the same composers

[thebrittanator]

first impression review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

why I watched it: I looked at part of the soundtrack at a workshop I went to over the summer and needed more of it in my life

music: fabulous. this is one of my favorite Desplat scores. the subtlety and orchestration is genius and I’m always a sucker for a melody that borrows notes from parallel modes. fantasy where there’s only a little bit of magic in the story is a hard genre to pull off well, but a score that adds just the right amount of fantasy atmosphere helps.

fun fact - the first time you hear the melody in Mr. Gateau, it’s played by an alto flute and euphonium. who would have thought?

first impressions: it totally changed my outlook on this movie when I found out it was (albeit loosely) based on a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, every high schooler’s frame of reference for writing about glamorous but shallow characters and letting the reader draw their own conclusions. Button was a character not always worth emulating who had a lot of interesting adventures, and on watching it for the first time, the movie seemed to be glamorizing everything he did, including some things that were ultimately inexcusable. however, looking back, the story was probably much more self aware than I was tempted to give it credit for. in any case, it was definitely artistic storytelling with an interesting take on the concept of aging.

would I watch it again: I do think I should revisit it someday. I feel like this is one of those movies that could come across entirely differently when I come back to it

what it made me want to watch afterward: you know what wildly different movie popped into my head as I was thinking about it after the credits rolled? you want a movie with an extremely creatively orchestrated score, interesting characters, a nuanced but perhaps less morally ambiguous take on reconciling the knowledge that your parents did terrible things with the value of your relationship with them, AND well written black characters in non-stereotypical roles? Black Panther. I should rewatch my MCU movies next.

[mycreativename]

first impression review: Pirates 5

why I watched it: my sister chose it. we actually watched this and the previous two I wrote about on the same day - the day she found out she had just got a job working an overnight shift and had to flip her sleep schedule. we probably started this movie at 1 AM. this review is not going to be deep.

music: I have such a fascination with seeing how new-to-a-franchise composers follow up the big names that came before them, and this was the first Pirates sequel that was completely Hans-free. Geoff Zanelli, the composer, had also contributed additional music to the previous Pirates movies, so this was not technically his first rodeo, just his first one running the whole pirate ship. the sound was consistent with that of the other Pirates movies, which I’m sure was precisely the goal. I can still remember how the new original theme goes a week later. I’d be interested in seeing what happens when his music doesn’t have to mimic Hans.

first impressions:

they brought back Will AND Elizabeth!!! my babies!

I got distracted by the imdb page before the movie even started and read all about the historical inaccuracies, so all I could think of was how at the time the movie takes place, the British knew very well what astronomy was and had stopped prosecuting people for being witches a long time ago

the new couple is just like a copy of the original one. in the state I was in when I watched it, I thought this was adorable.

you can’t complain about the stupid plot logic of a Pirates sequel if you decided to watch a Pirates sequel. ridiculous plot logic is a genre element, like magic in a fantasy or physically impossible vehicle stunts in an action movie. just embrace it if the movie is already on. pour yourself a rum drink, have fun, and next time choose the original instead.

there had better the heck not be a 6th. it seemed like they had set the ending up so that they could make a sequel if they wanted, but they didn’t have to. I don’t remember how though.

would I watch it again: it was not a negative experience, just pointless. I wouldn’t leave a party that had it playing just to get away from the movie, but there’s never going to be a time in my life where I think, “hmm, I feel like watching Pirates 5.”

what it made me want to watch afterward: all I wanted to do afterward was go to bed, but it did make me fairly curious about Zanelli’s other work, and guys there’s just nothing like the original Pirates of the Caribbean

[mycreativename]

first impression review: Shaun of the Dead

why I watched it: this was another one of my sister’s picks. she had heard about it on tumblr. I have heard very little.

music: the score was underwhelming but the soundtrack was absolutely on point

first impressions:

how have I never heard how good this was

seriously it’s a work of art?

the acting. the character development. the intentionally unsubtle foreshadowing. the incredible British-ness. the dramatic shifts between moods that never felt like whiplash or like it didn’t know what kind of movie it was. it filled a genre hole that I didn’t know existed, and of the few zombie movies I’ve seen, this felt like by far the most believable portrayal of how a zombie apocalypse would actually fit into your everyday life.

would I watch it again: until I can quote good lines before they happen

what it made me want to watch afterward: send me recommendations

[mycreativename]

first impression review: Deadpool 2

why I watched it: my sister and I each got five movies from the rental place. this was one of her picks. we watched the first one after renting it from the same store two years ago so we both felt like this was kind of inevitable

music: mostly regular action movie stuff, except for the choral piece. you know the one. it still gets stuck in my head. bless everyone who let the music contribute to the movie’s very specific type of humor. also I could almost literally hear the choir director giving the speech in rehearsal about how exaggeratedly precise the singers should make their diction.

first impressions:

an overall ok movie, but this one had SIGNIFICANTLY less graphic sex and torture scenes than the first one, so I actually enjoyed it much more.

the end credits scene was veerrryyyy convenient, but I heard the movie didn’t do very well, so I felt like it was actually a fitting way to tie the loose ends up in a series that’s already dying.

the conflict with the villains seemed a little stale, like didn’t we already go through the whole cure thing in an earlier X-Men movie? if, conceivably, the people who ran that home did not know there was a quick way to get rid of someone’s powers, or they had an essential oil mom type distrust of it that the movie never talked about, or the universes don’t actually line up like that, it still felt like the plot had just taken the same overall theme from that movie, dressed it up in edgier clothes and a fake mustache, and presented it to us as something revolutionary.

my favorite part was probably the endless variety of mutant characters that wouldn’t make it into an X-Men movie.

oh! I just remembered! I love that they don’t make him hate kids!

would I watch it again: I would neither actively avoid it nor seek it out. it wasn’t a terrible movie, but there are so many better action/comedy/superhero movies out there that I would pick first.

what it made me want to watch instead: Guardians of the Galaxy 2