Considering I own such intellectual masterpieces such as Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, The Jerk and at least one Transformers movie, I doubt I'll be able to pass myself off as some sort of sophisticated movie buff anytime soon. There are PLENTY of times that I love laying out and enjoying a movie for face value. It is what it is and nothing more. There is no better way to end a rough day than to escape with some totally unrealistic sci-fi or fantasy, laugh your ass off to some horrible toilet humor or watch as Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson tries to save the world from destruction again. It doesn't have to be some sort of sophisticated cinematic treasure full of depth and meaning to make it into my massive movie collection.
That being said... I DO love a good movie that makes you think, one that I walk away thinking "ya know, I'm not actually SURE if I liked that movie or not..." One that you might have to see two or more times before you decide on whether it was any good. For example, Megan and I went and saw Jordan Peele's new movie Us. It almost immediately was being hailed as one of the best original horror films since the Shining. After his success with his first hit Get Out, Peele is being touted as this generation's Stephen King. Those are DEFINITELY big shoes to fill and I'm not quite sure Peele fills them... yet. But, with that being said, I do think I enjoyed the movie. As we were walking through the parking garage and she asked what I thought. I had to pause. I wasn't sure I agreed with what the initial reviews. It was either amazing... or it was absolute garbage. Almost a week later and I am definitely leaning more towards pretty amazing.
What helped tip me over was reading article after article on what the film actually represented. I suppose you could definitely take the movie at face value. How a family handles the sudden attack from a family of doppelgängers, followed shortly by learning that there were actually thousands of these doppelgängers that were coming from a network of tunnels and underground passages and were going to take over the above world. However, the movie gained a lot more depth and awesome-ness when you started to think about "well, what do these doppelgängers represent?"
There have been plenty of other movies that are like this. It made me think of watching the movie Mother! with Megan several months ago. In this movie, the metaphors were basically necessary. Without figuring out what certain things represented, the movie made ABSOLUTELY no sense whatsoever. One of my FAVORITE examples of metaphors used in movies is the all-important ZOMBIE movie. I actually managed to write a paper about it in one of my college classes! A simple zombie flick is totally fun to watch, but it adds a certain layer of depth and interest when you see that the zombies represent (amongst dozens of other things) the mindless consumerism of the 1980's.
Movies can definitely be used to stir up meaningful and debate-provoking conversations. Or, you can have nights like tonight... where I'm just laying in bed watching Jackass: The Movie. There is absolutely NOTHING metaphorical about watching a man shove a toy car up his ass...
What helped tip me over was reading article after article on what the film actually represented. I suppose you could definitely take the movie at face value. How a family handles the sudden attack from a family of doppelgängers, followed shortly by learning that there were actually thousands of these doppelgängers that were coming from a network of tunnels and underground passages and were going to take over the above world. However, the movie gained a lot more depth and awesome-ness when you started to think about "well, what do these doppelgängers represent?"
There have been plenty of other movies that are like this. It made me think of watching the movie Mother! with Megan several months ago. In this movie, the metaphors were basically necessary. Without figuring out what certain things represented, the movie made ABSOLUTELY no sense whatsoever. One of my FAVORITE examples of metaphors used in movies is the all-important ZOMBIE movie. I actually managed to write a paper about it in one of my college classes! A simple zombie flick is totally fun to watch, but it adds a certain layer of depth and interest when you see that the zombies represent (amongst dozens of other things) the mindless consumerism of the 1980's.
Movies can definitely be used to stir up meaningful and debate-provoking conversations. Or, you can have nights like tonight... where I'm just laying in bed watching Jackass: The Movie. There is absolutely NOTHING metaphorical about watching a man shove a toy car up his ass...
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