Two weeks ago on my channel video blogs I reviewed the Ben Affleck film 'The Accountant', but will not really do a review here.
The film is a rather loud and outlandish story about an autistic savant accountant leading a life of super spy and cleaner for the baddest bad guys in the accounting world.
It sounds on the offset like a cute idea, a kind of Jason Born with issues, but those issues appeared to be played for snickers more than a tug at the so called autistic community.
The premise is immediately ridiculous to actual spectrum ASD people as they would make utterly terrible spies! Seriously. Autistic children and adults cannot lie, have a tough time with social cues, and lack the capacity for rapid adaptation to new things.
This means that if you trained one to shoot straight, he would react slowly, contemplating the range, direction and timing, and moral reasons, and likely be killed in reprisal long before actually hitting said target.
Now granted some autistic people make good spy story writers. They can study the workings of people in a world 'they control' and can make for some surprising villains with complex back stories, and some interesting and complex heroes, if they understand the story outline.
But there is a big difference between someone crunching numbers, someone breaking down a story, and someone programmed as a spy in 'real life'. The key is in a story you can control the world building so that your human characters behave in a certain way. In real life, it is not so easy.
The Affleck character tries to play it off as autistic in the movie. He really isn't though. He's much too tactical and closed off.
A common misconception, gleamed from misunderstood books, is that autistic people have no feelings for others. This is because of a delayed reaction, not an absent one. It seems like this is a form of lying, which it is not.
It is true that they could be good at a poker face, but not what the movie shows.
The character in the movie is abused all his life by a jerk parent who is a military madman who thinks might makes right, and boys should fight to solve things, no matter what, and that he should be essentially programmed via over stimulation. This turns him psychotic so that he becomes somehow an assassin, and also a competent accountant, no make that a genius accountant.
Maybe his other parent taught him about accounting. He has god like accounting powers, able yo focus on a single night of red tape and sort out everything by going full Beautiful Mind with a black dry erase pen all over this office room in one scene.
The producers did not really serve justice to the autistic community. The movie is a false narrative and a fiction.
If anything, the character, named Chris, actually is not autistic. He has too many adaptations for that. Although not a medical professional, I can look this kind of thing up and find out what he is. Also because I am autistic, I want to detail that I looked this up.
Anyway, it appears that Chris in the story suffers from a similar but misdiagnosed for of spectrum disorder, but it's not autism.
He has too much ability to shoot and aim, and be laser like, not just in focus but adaptation. Although autistic can focus, this does not translate to adaptation and change at all. The intense focus is OCD in his case. OCD is not autism. Obsessive compulsive tends to be equally focused, but unable to stop that constant repetition, like in the stimulus scene, or the night in the office scene.
He also might be borderline personality, which does show actual apathy, unlike the delay with autism. This would account for his ability to shoot all the bad guys without so much as a flinch. A true 'sociopath', which can be genetically inherited, is sometimes not capable of conscience and would be apathetic. Like that old saying goes, 'he just doesn't care'.
Also he seemed unusually indestructible in battles, which was just Hollywood making him off as Batman or something. Sure he gets a leg wound later, but it is never mentioned after the scene is over, save for a limp.
So in this editorial I make him out to be obsessive compulsive on the spectrum, of that, but also with borderline parts, stemming from abuse, training, and genetic markers.
He is not autistic. Hollywood needs to quit trying to make the autistic out as unfeeling circus attractions, thank you.
Actually on the CSD side, this guy still would be lousy at math and figures. He's not that then. So the girl got it wrong too. The creative end works well, but not math so much.(Ergo his 'apathy' would revert and make him not want to collect art, or anything artistic).
The savant like math side is the other end, and they usually become programmers or accountants.
The other girl in the story who becomes his Sari computer pal is probably not autistic either. Deciding not to speak at all unless through a computer is something else. It is partly on the CS part, as she could then speak through something, but not really as portrayed in the movie. She was also a master hacker. Unlikely if she could not communicate somehow verbally somewhere, and there is no computer that can do what that one did in the movie, at least not in the hands of the autism guy at his house. Come on! Did he work for the secret service? He would be a target for the bad guy then.
If Chris the character was that apathetic to bad guys, he would be to good guys also, and would have accidentally had him taken out.
It is not consistent.
Yeah, if he's that much of a an unfeeling bad ass to the marks, he should be equally unfeeling to those he 'likes', even if he 'wanted to learn', and he could not be able to learn as portrayed in the movie.
Well it was a better portrayal than Rain Man, but that's not saying much. We have not improved much in 30 years.
Friday, October 28, 2016
Monday, October 10, 2016
Forgotten Posting for Movies Late Summer to Early Fall 2016
See the Kal Kat review channels for actual reviews of movies that were done as live blog reviews.
YouTube channel
On Location Kat 2 channel, weirdkitty07
"The Killing Joke"
The movie adaptation of the comic book is about half the fall of Batgirl and half the story of the comic book, which to some fans was annoying. Seen as a loose version and not really the full story, it is comparable to the flawed Watchmen movie, although entertaining and worth seeing. It does have some of the original Batman animated cast from 1990 in it, which is a plus.
"Bad Moms"
A wacky rom com featuring aging but not too old actresses playing moms now, but it works on some levels and actually has some good bits.
"Suicide Squad"
The DC cinematic universe began with the superman reboots, so the 1990s punks of rock "hot topic style" villain comic Suicide Squad is adapted as their next feature. Stealing the show are Will Smith and Margot Robbie. It is about half of a good movie, but the tiresome parts are bad, and the flashbacks are pointless. It could have been so much better. Studio intervention got to it to make is more comical, which kind of made no sense.
"Sausage Party"
One of the most subversive and perverse films of the year, and probably the funniest satire of American food freaks, Sausage Party is a brilliant thing from Rogan and friends. It teeters a bit in the third act, as virtually all of his movies seem to, where the message becomes too obvious and not really all that funny. In the end though, jokes are to be had, and they work. Granted it is not for kids and not for easily offended.
"Kubo and the Two Strings"
A dark animated puppet feature about a boy and a shell shocked and possibly blinded mother, and he has one eye himself, living in a village where he can make magic creatures with paper origami. This cute animated movie should get some sort of technical nod at Oscar time.
"Pete's Dragon"
This sweet adaptation of the children's book updates the theme and carries it to somewhere that's not likely Oregon anymore. The boy and his now CGI dragon friend are rendered as 3 dimensional and visually interesting. The adults have fun hamming it up also, with Karl Urban chewing scenery. This underdog movie didn't make much at the box office, but it was good enough to make the fantasy list and I think good enough for some technical awards at Oscar time.
"Sully"
The story of a man who landed a jet plane on the Hudson river in New York, played by Tom Hanks, is told in sometimes flashbacks, and sometimes during a hearing. Although not a great drama or necessarily Oscar bait, it is certainly worthy of note. It will get a nod in the category of drama.
"Blair Witch"
It should be called Blair Witch the soft reboot, or part 3, as a new director drops the 'it was real' fake line from the original and just goes with the hype. Everyone knows The Woods was going to actually be Blair Witch, even months ago when we all saw the ads. Is it good? Sometimes it actually improves on the original, which was made lackluster on purpose, but the hype sold it because of the 'found footage' and 'it is snuff' junk, which it wasn't either. The forest parts are a bit too crunchy and loud with jump scares, but the haunted old house part is superior to the original and yes, you do see the witch! Or do you? Heh.
"Snowden"
Oliver Stone's Oscar worthy drama of the Ed Snowden story, of a secret stealing character in recent US history who had to exile himself to Russia after uncovering the massive US government spying scandal that happened only a few years ago. Some might argue it still happens. When we reviewed this, folks were surprised I would call Snowden out, but I did, because he did steal secrets and ran off with them. Even so, it's going to get a nod for Oscar and for drama.
"The Magnificent Seven"
Stoned Gremlin, a competitor review site I subscribe to, called it 'Serious Blazing Saddles', and compared the two, with a black lawman leading the charge of 6 outlaws to stop a crooked robber baron from destroying a town. It's not a great movie. The original Seven was classic but not great either. Making another one was probably not necessary. Another subscribed site reviewed it, Red Letter Media, which called it 'Another cowboy movie with a number, but better than Despicable 6, and not as good as Hateful 8.' This is kind of unfair, but it is not nearly as good as Hateful 8. I will give it that. Sure it has some great lines, and some stunts almost look real. It looks like they did have some stuntmen, which is nice. The movie is mostly for Chris Pratt to chew scenery, which is fine. It's just okay.
"Storks"
Usually I complain about the 'baby factor' in a movie, or a TV show, and Marx Cards does even more, but in this film the factor is turned on its head. The story centers on an insane almost Tex Avery world where stork birds used to deliver babies, but it was more profitable to deliver packages. Then one day, scenery chewing Kelsey Grammar tries to make one of them boss, and to fire the gut orphan redhead, but he is not able to fire her, as he has a moral moment, and the stork and the girl accidentally turn the baby machine back on and make one more. Then they must deliver it in secret from the company. It actually was likened to Loony Tunes by Stoned Gremlin, but I thought it more like Tex Avery. It's not quite Warner. It has more an MGM vibe. It's Illumination though, not Pixar. The cute characters and the flashbacks to the boy and his wacky parents who at first are too busy are at times slow points, but it picks up. The hilarious Avery style wolves who become a series of machines using 'wolf pack powers...activate, form of whatever!' is a cute nod to Warner Bros. too. In Super Friends it was 'wonder twin powers...activate...form of whatever!'. Also it is great that in 2016 you can have two clearly bisexual wolves leading the pack. It was better than Secret Life of Pets.
"Mrs. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children"
Tim Burton tries to do Harry Potter meets Mary Poppins in this odd story of demented old characters, the second World War, pictures of old times, and of peculiar circus freak like children living in a time loop where it is always one day, over and over. The story suffers from a strange disjointed plot. Is the lead just insane and just thinks he goes to the past? Likely. Since time travel cannot happen, he is crazy. Or can it? In this universe, they can go back to that one day and see these children. One of them floats. Another reanimates the dead. One of them is dead. A pair of them are like Medusa and can turn you to stone, which they only use once! It misses the charm of Harry Potter, or even Nanny McPhee, which is another clone, but it has moments of cool visuals, like the secret place, the caste like house, and the resurrection of the ship, and the skeleton army battle. It just lacks cohesion. It is all over the place, like Harry Potter met Alice in Wonderland and mated. It's about little over half a good movie. Worth a rental.
"Deepwater Horizon"
Mark Whalberg tries for disaster flick star status as an oil rigger man in this British Petrolium disaster that really happened. Their platform ship rig exploded and blew out some years ago, destroying life in the seacoast of Florida and the gulf of Mexico with oil slicks for 87 days. Eventually acquitted of murder, the company did get jail for negligence. The movie goes into the accident and how the bosses just left them there without much of an inspection. The last 50 minutes are watching things blow up. That becomes insane and hard to follow. The movie could have been Oscar worthy. It will be in some category.
"Queen of Katwe"
Disney turns Ugandan slum story into heartwarming underdog tale about a chess prodigy. It's basically Slumdog Millionaire but cute, well kind of cute, in a sort of dramatic way. The underlying affect of it being in a slum is not cute. The children's ministry underdogs beating the big city kids at chess is cute. The Disney people manage to make it not be about the real cycle of poverty, but also try to express it a bit coated in spice and salt. They sprinkle throughout the film a local rap and rhyme band of the area, which if some of it is set 6 years ago, would not be around yet, but they still do it. Slumdog meets Bobby Fisher, but she's a she, and it's about female empowerment. Unlike the Ghostbusters movie though, nobody is complaining there are too many girls in the movie. It also had almost no audience in the theater I saw it in, but it could be Oscar worthy for acting, and will get a nod.
YouTube channel
On Location Kat 2 channel, weirdkitty07
"The Killing Joke"
The movie adaptation of the comic book is about half the fall of Batgirl and half the story of the comic book, which to some fans was annoying. Seen as a loose version and not really the full story, it is comparable to the flawed Watchmen movie, although entertaining and worth seeing. It does have some of the original Batman animated cast from 1990 in it, which is a plus.
"Bad Moms"
A wacky rom com featuring aging but not too old actresses playing moms now, but it works on some levels and actually has some good bits.
"Suicide Squad"
The DC cinematic universe began with the superman reboots, so the 1990s punks of rock "hot topic style" villain comic Suicide Squad is adapted as their next feature. Stealing the show are Will Smith and Margot Robbie. It is about half of a good movie, but the tiresome parts are bad, and the flashbacks are pointless. It could have been so much better. Studio intervention got to it to make is more comical, which kind of made no sense.
"Sausage Party"
One of the most subversive and perverse films of the year, and probably the funniest satire of American food freaks, Sausage Party is a brilliant thing from Rogan and friends. It teeters a bit in the third act, as virtually all of his movies seem to, where the message becomes too obvious and not really all that funny. In the end though, jokes are to be had, and they work. Granted it is not for kids and not for easily offended.
"Kubo and the Two Strings"
A dark animated puppet feature about a boy and a shell shocked and possibly blinded mother, and he has one eye himself, living in a village where he can make magic creatures with paper origami. This cute animated movie should get some sort of technical nod at Oscar time.
"Pete's Dragon"
This sweet adaptation of the children's book updates the theme and carries it to somewhere that's not likely Oregon anymore. The boy and his now CGI dragon friend are rendered as 3 dimensional and visually interesting. The adults have fun hamming it up also, with Karl Urban chewing scenery. This underdog movie didn't make much at the box office, but it was good enough to make the fantasy list and I think good enough for some technical awards at Oscar time.
"Sully"
The story of a man who landed a jet plane on the Hudson river in New York, played by Tom Hanks, is told in sometimes flashbacks, and sometimes during a hearing. Although not a great drama or necessarily Oscar bait, it is certainly worthy of note. It will get a nod in the category of drama.
"Blair Witch"
It should be called Blair Witch the soft reboot, or part 3, as a new director drops the 'it was real' fake line from the original and just goes with the hype. Everyone knows The Woods was going to actually be Blair Witch, even months ago when we all saw the ads. Is it good? Sometimes it actually improves on the original, which was made lackluster on purpose, but the hype sold it because of the 'found footage' and 'it is snuff' junk, which it wasn't either. The forest parts are a bit too crunchy and loud with jump scares, but the haunted old house part is superior to the original and yes, you do see the witch! Or do you? Heh.
"Snowden"
Oliver Stone's Oscar worthy drama of the Ed Snowden story, of a secret stealing character in recent US history who had to exile himself to Russia after uncovering the massive US government spying scandal that happened only a few years ago. Some might argue it still happens. When we reviewed this, folks were surprised I would call Snowden out, but I did, because he did steal secrets and ran off with them. Even so, it's going to get a nod for Oscar and for drama.
"The Magnificent Seven"
Stoned Gremlin, a competitor review site I subscribe to, called it 'Serious Blazing Saddles', and compared the two, with a black lawman leading the charge of 6 outlaws to stop a crooked robber baron from destroying a town. It's not a great movie. The original Seven was classic but not great either. Making another one was probably not necessary. Another subscribed site reviewed it, Red Letter Media, which called it 'Another cowboy movie with a number, but better than Despicable 6, and not as good as Hateful 8.' This is kind of unfair, but it is not nearly as good as Hateful 8. I will give it that. Sure it has some great lines, and some stunts almost look real. It looks like they did have some stuntmen, which is nice. The movie is mostly for Chris Pratt to chew scenery, which is fine. It's just okay.
"Storks"
Usually I complain about the 'baby factor' in a movie, or a TV show, and Marx Cards does even more, but in this film the factor is turned on its head. The story centers on an insane almost Tex Avery world where stork birds used to deliver babies, but it was more profitable to deliver packages. Then one day, scenery chewing Kelsey Grammar tries to make one of them boss, and to fire the gut orphan redhead, but he is not able to fire her, as he has a moral moment, and the stork and the girl accidentally turn the baby machine back on and make one more. Then they must deliver it in secret from the company. It actually was likened to Loony Tunes by Stoned Gremlin, but I thought it more like Tex Avery. It's not quite Warner. It has more an MGM vibe. It's Illumination though, not Pixar. The cute characters and the flashbacks to the boy and his wacky parents who at first are too busy are at times slow points, but it picks up. The hilarious Avery style wolves who become a series of machines using 'wolf pack powers...activate, form of whatever!' is a cute nod to Warner Bros. too. In Super Friends it was 'wonder twin powers...activate...form of whatever!'. Also it is great that in 2016 you can have two clearly bisexual wolves leading the pack. It was better than Secret Life of Pets.
"Mrs. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children"
Tim Burton tries to do Harry Potter meets Mary Poppins in this odd story of demented old characters, the second World War, pictures of old times, and of peculiar circus freak like children living in a time loop where it is always one day, over and over. The story suffers from a strange disjointed plot. Is the lead just insane and just thinks he goes to the past? Likely. Since time travel cannot happen, he is crazy. Or can it? In this universe, they can go back to that one day and see these children. One of them floats. Another reanimates the dead. One of them is dead. A pair of them are like Medusa and can turn you to stone, which they only use once! It misses the charm of Harry Potter, or even Nanny McPhee, which is another clone, but it has moments of cool visuals, like the secret place, the caste like house, and the resurrection of the ship, and the skeleton army battle. It just lacks cohesion. It is all over the place, like Harry Potter met Alice in Wonderland and mated. It's about little over half a good movie. Worth a rental.
"Deepwater Horizon"
Mark Whalberg tries for disaster flick star status as an oil rigger man in this British Petrolium disaster that really happened. Their platform ship rig exploded and blew out some years ago, destroying life in the seacoast of Florida and the gulf of Mexico with oil slicks for 87 days. Eventually acquitted of murder, the company did get jail for negligence. The movie goes into the accident and how the bosses just left them there without much of an inspection. The last 50 minutes are watching things blow up. That becomes insane and hard to follow. The movie could have been Oscar worthy. It will be in some category.
"Queen of Katwe"
Disney turns Ugandan slum story into heartwarming underdog tale about a chess prodigy. It's basically Slumdog Millionaire but cute, well kind of cute, in a sort of dramatic way. The underlying affect of it being in a slum is not cute. The children's ministry underdogs beating the big city kids at chess is cute. The Disney people manage to make it not be about the real cycle of poverty, but also try to express it a bit coated in spice and salt. They sprinkle throughout the film a local rap and rhyme band of the area, which if some of it is set 6 years ago, would not be around yet, but they still do it. Slumdog meets Bobby Fisher, but she's a she, and it's about female empowerment. Unlike the Ghostbusters movie though, nobody is complaining there are too many girls in the movie. It also had almost no audience in the theater I saw it in, but it could be Oscar worthy for acting, and will get a nod.
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