The other day I had this conversation:
Me: "Hey, do you have Skyfall? I want to watch it again."
Friend: "What? You hated Skyfall. I know this because I saw the movie with you in theaters and you wouldn't SHUT UP during it."
Me: "So?"
Actually, I didn't hate Skyfall. But I did see some big, gaping flaws in it, which is precisely why I'll watch it again - and probably more times after that.
Sometimes I'll see a movie and there will be these bright sparks of brilliance in it that captivate me. And then these cracks will spiderweb across it and the whole thing will just implode, never coming even close to reaching the potential I saw. It's endlessly infuriating. But also fascinating.
When I saw The Avengers I wasn't expecting much from it. I was a casual fan of a couple of the comics as a kid, but I'm not hugely into superhero movies as a whole - I think the best this trend has ever gotten was X-Men 1 and 2. Everything else has been pretty mediocre.
But then I saw the cast in action and I totally got it. Captain America was upright but brittle, Tony Stark was endlessly cool but vulnerable, Thor was the epitome of heroic but kind of clueless, Black Widow was running around directing everyone, and Hawkeye was Jeremy Renner (honestly what else did you need). I was holding my breath through the first 45 minutes of the movie waiting for them to finally, finally get into one place and start in earnest.
And then... BOOM! OH LOOK A THING! NO WAIT DON'T TALK, THERE'S ANOTHER THING! LET'S EXPLODE THE HELICARRIER! BOOM! ALIEN INVADERS!
Aaaaargh. You have all these incredibly well-cast, dynamic characters, and barely let them interact. It's a damn travesty.
And at last count, I have watched The Avengers roughly seven times.
Does that mean I actually enjoy these movies? I don't know. They frustrate me, but they fascinate me as well. They're like badly put-together puzzles that I want to take apart and reassemble correctly.
Is there anything that you don't precisely enjoy, but are captivated by anyway?
