This started as a review of sorts for Robin Hood and it drifted into ramblings about movie watching…

I saw Robin Hood today. I liked it.

When I initially saw the trailer, I thought I was either going to be bored to tears by an uninteresting action movie OR going to be irritated as shit with the complete lack of attempt at staying true to a time period. Neither one of those things happened.

The modern elements were just a part of that world and were NOT so outlandish  that they absolutely couldn’t have been made by a society at that technological level. The action scenes were actually kinda awesome! (There was only one where the cgi was off, but it was only for a few seconds.) Taron actually did have to learn to shoot multiple arrows (which was neat to see). The villain was fun –not to be confused with “funny.” He was nasty and unrepentant and, even with the little nugget we got about the trauma he experienced (which I appreciated), he was EXCESSIVE and fun to watch.

I really did enjoy the movie.

The current trend of treating movies that aren’t the second coming as if they’re trash makes me want to add a disclaimer ‘it wasn’t perfect by a long shot’ and list flaws and nitpicks. But you know what? NO MOVIE IS PERFECT. And I hate that things feel like we have to ask to be excused for liking movies that aren’t “serious art pieces” or “that don’t rewrite movie making” or that aren’t “original” or whatever bullshit ass gauge is being used these days. (In our era of remakes and bringing stories from other mediums to film what does “original” even mean any more?) I hate it because I like watching movies– dramatic, comedic, arthouse & indie, b-movies, popcorn flicks, etc… 

No, I don’t expect to enjoy all movies and I don’t expect everyone else to either but when did ‘if it doesn’t give me an orgasm, it’s AWFUL’ become the normal way to watch movies? Why does it seem like everything has to be perfect or it’s absolute trash?

When did “popcorn flick” stopped being a phrase we used? You know those movies that are just fun spectacles? That aren’t meant to be anything more than they are? The studio had a fun idea and just hopes that fun idea make some money so they can continue to make stuff?

I usually “rate” movies on a scale that’s like 1)was worth full price 2) was worth matinee price, 3) was worth budget theater price, 4) worth a trip to a Redbox, 5) might be cool on Netflix, 6) welp it happened to be on tv, and 7) Make. It. Stop. So maybe I’m coming from a place that considers most movies to be worth watching on some level and that makes the difference? Maybe I’m easier to please? (*snorts* with my nitpicky ass)

Reading some (non-professional) folks “reviews” I couldn’t figure out what type of experience people were expecting, couldn’t figure out what they thought it was going to be nor they wanted it to be… We knew from the trailer that it wasn’t going to be a traditional take on the story and we knew it wasn’t going to be the fox and bear, sooooo…? ¯_(ツ)_/¯