It was on tv, so I watched it! Wall-E

Spoilers for Toy Story 3 and Wall-e

I loved Wall-e on its release in 2008 but watching it recently that effect has diminished. This is the kind of reaction you would expect when you watch a film for the second (or third or fourth) time.  You remember the film, the plot, its characters and its resolution and upon watching it for the second time you view the film on a different level. The first time it’s revealing itself to you moment by moment, you have an idea of where it’s going but you don’t know what’s going to happen for sure.  A second watch leaves you thinking about the film in a different way; at times you’re more expectant, waiting for a particular moment you liked to turn up. As a result the parts you like feel more like highlights leaving you indifferent to scenes you didn’t like. It’s a fight between the moments you love and the moments you can do without.

That’s the feeling I have with Wall-e.

It was on tv, so I watched it! Iron Man

Iron Man is a good film but that’s all it is, a good film. I guess that’s the minimum I should expect and yet the sensation I get after watching it is that it could have attempted more. It seems much of its popularity was in contrast to that other stonking summer blockbuster called The Dark Knight which as its title indicated was rather more solemn compared to the light-hearted frivolity of Iron Man. It depicted a superhero that didn’t need to ‘darkness’ to sell itself to an audience. That isn’t to say that Iron Man is not a good film in its own right but it is certainly not perfect in trying to bring the character to the silver screen.