Wonder Woman was a disappointment. A bit more generic, sentimental, corny and naive than expected, but it was a fair popcorn film for 2017's low standards. The problem was that on-paper and in reviews, WW mixes the genres of superhero, feminist, war, spy, coming-of-age, mythology... but it doesn't elevate any of these genres. The combination itself is progressive and interesting, but the script is bland, cliche, missing big moments and the directing is just serviceable.
Patty Jenkins as the first woman to direct a popular superhero film got rave reviews but outside of the cute romantic dialogue scenes, she's just another studio director-for-hire basically babysitting an already assembled factory. Zack Snyder's action choreographers, storyboard artists and CG animators make the film what it is: a comic book come to life for 14 year old girls. But I didn't find the feminism to be anything memorable. Wonder Woman is strong yet naive... and thats all. She goes from wide eyed idealistic woman-child to slightly bruised idealistic woman (losing her virginity and seeing people die equals adulthood).
The film was surprisingly conservative. Very few women play a role, its steeped in the boring man-culture of WWI, the script doesn't make any radical observations on anything, WW is the secret weapon of a team of conservative men and ultimately she is a non-character until she finds a strong male hero. And the idea of a happy multiracial team of men and women in this past era is absurd. Not more absurd than a golden lasso of truth, but the film needed emotional realism & historical honesty.
This is the most successful DC film since The Dark Knight because it has the optimistic, screwball nostalgia of the original Superman/Batman films, but it needs more grit, anger and futurism for me to respect it as much as Batman V Superman or even Suicide Squad. It was more watchable than Justice League, so there's that.
Good Time on the other hand was a brisk, exhilerating watch, one of the best new films of 2017. Its as pure an indie effort as we will get, written, directed and produced by brothers who capture their own experience of extreme American poverty in the 21st century.
It starts somewhat unoriginally with a Buffalo 66/Dog Day Afternoon setup of NY ethnic rejects (one mentally challenged) getting involved serious crime and absurd melodrama. But it differs in that its spirals into a different chaotic journey closer to Italian NeoRealism than a dark satire. The film is an almost character study of a man with pure intentions who is forced to sink to lower and lower means to do "what is right" by him. Robert Pattison, like Kristen Stewart, is trying to wash off the Twilight series or a bad romance by taking riskier acting roles. He's fine here, but he's just the centerpiece for much more amazing performances and characters.
Its not the most powerful film but its message is essential and executed beautifully. Few films are attacking our economic and moral structures and very few do it with as much style and street authenticity. Having lived in squalor and met plenty of these people, the film resonated with me. These people are the biggest victims in life and Hollywood for all of its phony liberal posturing does nothing to highlight their struggle. And that struggle is so much more compelling than superheroes or spaceships or ghostly psychopaths because its the reality the other disposable entertainment is escaping from.
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