Ah, but it's worse than that -- I went on my own! (Most of the time I see movies by myself. It's usually an impulse thing.) But all the buzz online had convinced me it might be worth it.
It's awkward, because a lot of the time, all people are doing is saying, "I really loved this!" and I take that as a recommendation. But sometimes they do say, "And you'll love it too!" which is where the problem comes.
For some dumb reason my office blocks your link, but I do intend to follow up tomorrow from home.
Your teaser is intriguing since I run into this issue with most book recommendations. As a result, I'm also reluctant to share my thoughts on most books since people seem to get quite offended if I don't like the same things they do. At most times I feel the only opinion I'm allowed to share is one that agrees with the crowd.
I fully expect people to like different things than I do. My problem is trying to translate what they liked about it to an estimate of whether I'd like it. None of the people that I've seen talking about how great Ragnarok is have said, "I love it because it's wall to wall fight scenes and chases and explosions." That, I could interpret. I'm less skilled in interpreting when they don't mention those aspects at all, as if they really consider them neutral background. Because for me they're not.
I prefer movies that focus *only* on dialogue and character and world-building, but if I went *only* to movies that have those things I'd almost never go to the movies. (Probably only to the annual film festival.) The same for lots of TV and books and so forth (though with different things I'd *like* to avoid). So I have learned to tune things out. When I watch Criminal Minds I tune out the violence; when I read a fanfic I skim over the sex scenes. It's a natural part of consuming any media for me, has been since I was a 10-year-old reading Clan of the Cave Bear.
So when I went to see Thor: Ragnarok I knew there'd be action stuff because that's the nature of Marvel; and I knew there'd be awesome commentary on indigeneity and colonialism and that's what I wanted to go and see. So I... configured my attention to be skimming over the former and watching for the latter.
Which means I hardly even remember the fight scenes except when someone happened to say something cool or do a heel-face-turn in the middle of one. What I remember are the conversations, and the mini character arcs, and "Prisoners with jobs". And how intensely Kiwi (and specifically Māori) the whole movie was.
Which segues to the embarrassment humour you noted. It's interesting because usually I hate that (and slapstick) too, it makes me cringe inside almost physically painfully. But in this movie it was fine for me. Not *hilarious* but not painful and sometimes even mildly amusing. It's possible that it's because it's a subtly different spin on embarrassment humour which I'm familiar with as part of New Zealand culture - this article describes it as typically Māori humour on the theme of "The Joke Is Always On The Person Trying To Be Smart".
I don't entirely understand how such a very Kiwi movie has been so popular in the US. I guess everyone's watching for different things.
"but if I went *only* to movies that have those things I'd almost never go to the movies"
Yeah, exactly. I wish I were part of a more popular target market.
I think one of my problems with "the joke is always on the person trying to be smart" is that I've gotten enough crap in my life for being perceived as "the person trying to be smart" that it just isn't that funny.
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Date: 2017-11-09 01:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-11-09 04:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-11-09 06:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-11-09 07:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-11-09 06:22 pm (UTC)Your teaser is intriguing since I run into this issue with most book recommendations. As a result, I'm also reluctant to share my thoughts on most books since people seem to get quite offended if I don't like the same things they do. At most times I feel the only opinion I'm allowed to share is one that agrees with the crowd.
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Date: 2017-11-09 07:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-11-09 08:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-11-10 12:23 am (UTC)So when I went to see Thor: Ragnarok I knew there'd be action stuff because that's the nature of Marvel; and I knew there'd be awesome commentary on indigeneity and colonialism and that's what I wanted to go and see. So I... configured my attention to be skimming over the former and watching for the latter.
Which means I hardly even remember the fight scenes except when someone happened to say something cool or do a heel-face-turn in the middle of one. What I remember are the conversations, and the mini character arcs, and "Prisoners with jobs". And how intensely Kiwi (and specifically Māori) the whole movie was.
Which segues to the embarrassment humour you noted. It's interesting because usually I hate that (and slapstick) too, it makes me cringe inside almost physically painfully. But in this movie it was fine for me. Not *hilarious* but not painful and sometimes even mildly amusing. It's possible that it's because it's a subtly different spin on embarrassment humour which I'm familiar with as part of New Zealand culture - this article describes it as typically Māori humour on the theme of "The Joke Is Always On The Person Trying To Be Smart".
I don't entirely understand how such a very Kiwi movie has been so popular in the US. I guess everyone's watching for different things.
no subject
Date: 2017-11-10 03:10 pm (UTC)Yeah, exactly. I wish I were part of a more popular target market.
I think one of my problems with "the joke is always on the person trying to be smart" is that I've gotten enough crap in my life for being perceived as "the person trying to be smart" that it just isn't that funny.