John C. Wright's Journal

A note on Encanto: This is not part of my review of the film, but is related.

The film inexcusably leaves unanswered several crucial questions, including what, if anything Alma’s gift might be, and whether Mirabel was granted a gift at the end, and, if so, what it was.

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Encanto (2021) is from Disney studio, not Pixar, and comes very close to being one of their animated masterpieces, but fails due to simple errors any competent editor would have seen and fixed in the first draft of the script.

The error here is that the show tells rather than shows every significant point of character development. Resolutions are presented with insufficient set up, or none,  are followed by insufficient follow-through, or none. This happens not with one character, but all.

It is mildly astonishing that projects of this size, expense, and prestige can be carried to conclusion without anyone involved seeing and correcting so basic a flaw in story-telling.

But, to be fair, even a near miss for a studio with a history of producing legendary and immortal works of animation puts this film way above average, and it still earns my recommendation.

It is a good film. It could have been great, but missed the mark.

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PRIMER is a 2004 science fiction film concerning the accidental discovery of time travel by two overworked and underpaid researchers. It is perhaps the best written and most poorly executed film ever filmed.

The film itself is a puzzle box meant for the viewer to unlock. Aside from the intellectual pleasure of piecing together scattered clues to deduce the true course of events, there is honestly little to recommend this film.

It is film for lovers of logic puzzles only. But it is the best logic puzzle film ever made.

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This is the review of the new Netflix series ARCANE, which is based on the video game LEAGUE OF LEGENDS.

Spoilers below. I discuss the shock surprise ending.

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LEGEND (1985) directed by Ridley Scott, was originally a box-office bomb, and has since become a cult classic. The reason for both failure and success is clear on close inspection: for the box-office audience wants substance for their ticket price, whereas cult fans gazing alone at videotape can be content with flash.

If ever there was a film that was glamor without heart, a fairy food as pleasing to the eye as colored shadows, but as empty to chew as a mouthful of air, then this is the film.

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This is my spoiler free review:
SPIDER-MAN NO WAY HOME picks up at the same moment, the same frame of film, that SPIDER-MAN FAR FROM HOME ended, namely, when Mysterio reveals his secret identity to the world, and frames him for murder.
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I have not written a review for this space of Alex Proyas’ DARK CITY (1998) despite that it is one of my favorite films. However, I was once asked in an interview about my opinions of science fiction films, and my take on this film, and several others, can be found at Mostly Fiction Book Reviews: 

I reprint an excerpt here as a courtesy to my readers. The interviewer’s questions are italicized. 

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I was asked why TILL WE HAVE FACES is my least favorite book by C.S. Lewis.

I agree that it is an extraordinary book. In terms of craftsmanship of writing, and the ambition of the central conceit — telling a myth by the quotidian events which may have spawned it — is unparalleled. I can recommend the book strongly to anyone who does not share my personal taste.

So, while I see no fault in it from a writer’s point of view, as a reader, I was not entertained, not interested, not educated by reading it, which I have done two and half times now.

My objections are to the setting, the descriptive imagery, the characters, and the plot. Read the remainder of this entry »