Moonrise Kingdom

So, here's a confession for you: before this film I had never watched a Wes Anderson movie. I know, I know. I've heard all about why he's amazing and heard plenty of lectures about why I should have picked up The Life Aquatic or The Royal Tennebaums, but to be honest nothing he's done before has really caught my eye and made me go "that, that looks like the kind of movie I'd appreciate spending two hours with." I can't even quite put my finger on why, perhaps because I don't like quirky for the sake of quirky. Is Anderson like that? I don't know, but all the trailers and clips I've seen made his previous films feel that way, and so nothing really was compelling enough to bring me on board.

But the trailers for Moonrise Kingdom had a lot going for them, and I'll admit adding Bruce Willis to anything increases my desire to see it about 300%. Maybe it was that the cast just had too many actors I love, maybe it was that the kid's summer camp story was more interesting. Maybe the jokes were things I found funnier. Maybe the guy cutting the trailer was better at his job than the other guys.

For whatever reason, I decided I wanted to see it. And to be honest, it probably was the best way to get me to watch a movie of this particular subset/genre. While the adult actors whose names I recognized all did amazing jobs, I was actually most impressed by Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as the young couple who decides to run away together. Their performances might be the type to turn off some people, but there was an unnaturalness to their delivery that actually made them more likeable to me, and I think that they stole the show at every opportunity.

It didn't hurt that the characters had a lot of moments that reminded me of myself, or people I've known, or my own weird childhood running around reading fantasy books and pretending the world was different. It just had so many things that seemed to be out of the books I would read about scout camps (my own experiences with camp were quite different) and it was presented in a way that made me feel nostalgia for something I never actually experienced.

The story is weird, that is certainly true. On paper, you could write a synopsis and it actually would sound rather tame. I read the plot summary on Wikipedia just now and sure, everything it says is true. That is the action of what happened.

But Moonrise Kingdom isn't a movie that's about what happens. That's not really what's memorable about it at all. For one, it's one of those pieces that film students love because it's just so artistic. There's a very distinct feeling and theme to all of the visuals, and it's like every small detail was chosen with care. But also there's a slight absurdity to everything, the dialogue and the situations, that really define what the movie is.

I won't say that it's a film for everyone, I imagine it won't appeal to many mainstream audiences at all, because it is a bit odd, but it's a nice odd. People who want the plot to go from A to B to C and for things to be realistic aren't going to like it. But if you're willing to let it just let it be charming and beautiful and enjoy it for what it is, then it's well worth the time spent with it.

Castle Season Five

Previous Castle Reviews: Season One Season Two Season Three Season Four Heat Wave There are going to be some MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD, so if you have not seen at least through the end of Season Four then probably best to steer clear!

So, season five. This is actually a season I watched on television mostly as it aired, which was a different experience than binging on everything all at once. But I still didn't have to wait forever to get to the aftermath of the season four finale and Castle and Beckett finally admitting their feelings for one another.

Overall, I actually think that they handled that particular aspect well, because right off the bat in the opening episode of the season you see that the fact that they're romantically involved is not the most defining factor of their lives. Beckett is still a detective, and Castle is still her partner and their personalities don't change much either. It was a pretty refreshing change from nearly every other time this has played out on television, and I credit the four seasons of strong character development and very capable writers with pulling it off.

Honestly, the season opener was not my favorite. I was starting to get a little tired with how big the conspiracy surrounding Beckett's mother was getting. But at this point it finally reaches it's height, and Beckett comes to terms with it (pretty much) and I was thankful to see the show wrapping it up. It was starting to remind me of the mid-season two parters that always involve an insane plot that is only forgivable because of the acting involved, but those are the only times the writing really stretches past the sweet spot they've found and not always with good results.

Where the writing really DOES work is episodes like "Murder, He Wrote," which is silly as much as it is wonderful and "After Hours" which had a lot of good surprises. They manage to make a clip show have tension and excitement with "Still." And when "The Lives of Others" started, I was inwardly groaning at the intensity of the Rear Window send-up, but the resolution of the episode itself won me over completely, it was by far one of my favorites.

Of course, most people are going to love "The Final Frontier," where they investigate a murder at a science fiction convention and there are multiple Firefly jokes to be had. Jonathan Frakes (no stranger to genre TV himself obviously, but also an accomplished director) deserves quite a bit of praise for his work on the episode, and honestly it's Beckett's episode more than Castle's, and that was a nice change from the expected story. "Reality Star Struck" also impressed me, and not just because Gina Torres is always perfect. The way it brought out new aspects of Gates was especially welcome, I needed a reason to start liking her. The previously mentioned "Still" made me love her completely.

While Beckett and Castle's relationship doesn't really take center stage, the writers do a good job at making sure it's still an important part of their lives. Episodes like "Secret Santa" and "Significant Others" help to advance their story without bogging it down or making it too over the top romantic or really cheesy. I actually am really enjoying having a strong, realistic, and grown up relationship being portrayed on television. It's so much more rare than anybody realizes, but the writers aren't going for the typical tropes here, they're really working at building something that feels real.

Of course, mid season gets bogged down in not just returning to the large conspiracy of Senator Bracken (though "Recoil" ended up having a much better resolution that I ever could have expected, and brought out a lot of great character moments for Beckett) but there was also "Target" and "Hunt." Once again, the mid-season two parter was so over the top that it challenged my ability to deal with the premise of the show and just go along with the story. Usually, even when Castle follows a cliche as a show, I'm on board and cheering them along. But about fifteen times over the course of these two episodes I rolled my eyes and said "OF COURSE they have Alexis, OF COURSE she was the real target, OF COURSE Castle has some wacky kidnap negotiator contact in France..." and the bit reveal of the episode, as much as I found it a little heartwarming, got the biggest "OF COURSE" of them all. Maybe I'm just too worn out from all the convenience of story lines on Doctor Who, I just felt like it made Castle out to be so much less relatable than he was before.

The absolute highlight of the season is actually "The Wild Rover," which is a Ryan-centric episode. I knew Seamus Dever was a good actor, Ryan has been a particular favorite of mine since the beginning, I love the way he's the one that's always willing to buy whatever Castle is selling. But Dever knocks it out of the park in "The Wild Rover," when it's revealed that he previously spent time undercover in the Irish mob, and he has to go back in. I honestly can't come up with the right words to describe just how powerful and well done it is, and it means you'll never look at Ryan quite the same way again. Which is the highest praise I can give it.

Of course, the big story is the cliffhanger at the end, as always. To be honest, the "what will happen between Castle and Beckett" doesn't really concern me too much. It's that the writers put everything on the line, nearly every character we love is going to be affected by Beckett's decision, and I trust them wholeheartedly to do right by the audience, but I don't know what that means. It's the kind of ridiculously complicated situation that is just what life is about, and that everyone faces. Neither choice is completely right or completely wrong, and I cannot wait to see what will happen next season. I'm also more than a little bitter that I have to wait, but that's what I get for catching up to what's airing, huh?

Everybody needs a vacation

In the last week or so, I've seen about a half dozen friends and bloggers that I follow announce that they're stepping back from social media and the internet.

This is actually not long after I also announced that I was cutting back on a lot of my personal social media use. I unfriended and unfollowed a lot of people (especially celebrities and blogs that I don't personally know).

Why? Well, for one thing, the internet is exhausting. For somebody like me, it's especially so. If I follow a blog, I at least want to read the headlines for every post. If I follow somebody on Twitter, I want to see everything they say, not just the last ten posts whenever I open my timeline.

When I'm gone for a few days, I actually do my best to go through my entire tumblr dash. Sometimes it takes days just to do that, more time than I was away.

On top of that the culture and the attitude right now is also not very conducive to enlightening debates or enjoyable discourse. A lot of us came online in the first place to find people like us, people to talk to, hobbies to enjoy, things like that. Instead, the culture is shifting to where the bulk of the talk is either vile anon posting and insults or people being angrily offended about one thing or another. And I'll be clear, most of the time it's stuff that they have every right to be angry and offended about.

But it's still tiring. It's no longer energizing for a lot of people. A lot of the same people who came to the internet to find acceptance and love and a place where their voice would have value are getting shouted down and silenced and going away again. Today, it was Jen from Epbot, one of my favorite bloggers who I've gotten to meet in person at book signings twice. The one thing I can say about her without hesitation is that she is incredibly kind. Before the second book signing I went to, I wrote her an email in response to a post she made that I had found particularly inspiring and helpful. I don't normally do that kind of thing, but I spilled out the story of my life at the moment, not expecting anything in return, just wanting to say thanks.

And her reply was just as kind and heartfelt as the original post, and I was able to tell her thanks for that in person. Her husband is just as nice, and if anybody deserves to always see the best of the internet it's the two of them.

Another friend of mine has been talking today about trying to engage with people in the debate about convention harassment policies, spurred on by John Scalzi's new convention policy about harassment. I've been quite proud of him (my friend, but Scalzi deserves some praise too) for standing up against what has become a huge problem. But this debate has been bringing trolls and jerks out of the woodwork, and it's become again a very disheartening and exhausting situation to try to follow or be involved in.

I don't know what the answer is, or what should be done. I'm just sad that we've somehow managed to cultivate a culture that silences these nice and intelligent people because we're mirroring middle school too clearly or something. I still enjoy being online, I still like my social media sites and I still am reading quite a lot. But I wish that the spaces that people had carved out for themselves had stayed what they needed, instead of becoming the same old junk on a different day. I wish that people would follow the simplest rule of the world, just be nice and don't be a jerk.