I've seen a bunch of movies lately, which isn't really my usual way. I do experience the same feeling though; about halfway through I'm like "wait, this is only halfway?" Before I give my quickly jotted down thoughts, a quick health & insomnia update. The arm is healing. I'm not a superstar of arm-healing or anything; it's not magically ahead of schedule. Just on schedule. I do my exercises at home & it is just about time for me to rejoin a gym, though I'll have a limited range of things I can do there. Insomnia-wise, things have settled down into a pattern where I wake up at 5am, valium or no. Which isn't to say the valium doesn't work, or to say that I still always need or take it; my tentative experiments are inconclusive, but the point is, I like to look on this as a symptom of healing. I wake up at five but I don't wake up freaking out or anything. It's still definitely part of the same spectrum, so I don't want to accept this as the new status quo, so I've chosen to embrace a paradigm where you call this "progress." Jenny & Terra have been really good about helping me through this; one perk of having your top chum across the planet is that if I wake up in the middle of the night, it's the middle of the day for her.
Movies! I saw a bunch. Finally saw Guardians of the Galaxy-- illness got in the way of seeing it sooner-- at a date night with Jenny on Monday. So, that movie was great & awesome & I laughed the whole time. A couple of obligatory notes before I gush more. First, stop calling people "bitch"&"whore." Yes, I know you say "a-hole"&"dick" in the movie a lot too. No, it isn't the same thing. You know how you wouldn't use the n-word or homophobic slurs or something, but calling someone a "dick" is still fine? Yeah, words aren't all equal, MRA warrior. Put down the casual misogynistic slurs & we'll all be a lot happier. Point two: the whole "DC can't even make a Wonder Woman movie but here is a movie with a talking tree & a raccoon who loves guns" meme doesn't hold water until Marvel actually puts up some female fronted movies; until then, they're in the same boat. That said, it is a movie about a talking tree & a raccoon who loves guns. & you know, Footloose& blackrom sisters, which you know I dig. I liked making the Nova Corps a bunch of Stormtroopers rather than a bunch of Green Lanterns, too. Good movie, fun times. I wish Drax had been focused on Thanos from the beginning-- for some reason, that's what I care about?-- but I liked the interpretation of Ronan. Ronan is the best-worst. As for Quill's dad...smart money is on Adam Warlock, but that almost seems too easy, to me.
I saw Spider-Man 2 last night. So I'm not going to even pretend that we don't already know Gwen Stacy dies in this movie. Duh & obviously. That's a real problem though, because Emma Stone was basically the reason to watch these movies. Oh, they are fine, Garfield is funny, which the last Spidey franchise was lacking, but they just...lack...fire. Spirit. I don't know. They make interesting choices, but sometimes that backfires, like...who cares about Peter Parker's magical Harry Potter parents. Not me. Emma Stone is awesome as Gwen Stacy & if they know what's good for them they'll use some MacGuffin or Deus Ex Machina to bring her back. Also, they should pull a Bendis & make a Spider-Woman who is a clone of Peter; if you are going to put all this "my dad's DNA was in the spider, I'm another boring Chosen One cliche instead of the random nerd trying his best which is obviously a better thesis" storyline, at least take advantage of it. Or combine those ideas & have Gwen Stacy as Spider-Woman; wasn't there that one-shot What If? recently where she was? What I'm saying is, I get how you felt you had to kill off Gwen Stacy, but you know what you should do for the third movie, is just make Spider-Man <3s Mary Jane. Or bring back Gwen Stacy. Listen, I'm a Mary Jane guy! I think their relationship eclipses the "first love" of Peter & Gwen. I'm just saying...these movies almost changed my mind. & by these movies, I mean Emma Stone.
Snowpiercer is the other flick I saw. Don't buy the hype, good or bad. This is a fine movie; it won't blow your mind but...if you think it is a dumb, I probably think you are dumb. Yes, the premise is implausible. If there was a new ice age, the only survivors would not live on a train that never stops. Important hint, though: I think it might be a metaphor. I think the train might be about class, & not a hard SF solution to living on an ice world. Do you complain that the lasers in Star Wars make sounds in space? That said, there is plenty in this movie that doesn't make sense. It feels like a Frankenstein of several scripts, or one huge script chopped up & disconnected because all the context has been edited out. Whatever, it is still a fun "class war" story in a train. It is very "East meets West" in the direction; some scenes were just...not tropes you would ever see from a Hollywood movie. What is with all the guys stabbing a fish with their hatchets? I don't....okay. The hatchet scene was probably my favorite; the way the conflict stopped for the "Happy New Year!" made the whole "system" of revolt/crackdown seem like a cultural norm. Also puts the whole "ugh, I'm sick of hearing about police brutality, change the channel" into perspective; selective outrage as a pressure valve to prevent real change?