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Wanderlust (2018)
sexually inhibited English people
Ever watched a show that was so unenjoyable you just had to tell people?
To begin with, the name of the show is a lie. Wanderlust is an instinctive desire to travel and see more of the world. It's an instinct which I lack, but am interested in as a psychologist and a philosopher. So when I came across a British show about this instinct, I was delighted. But there is no trace of wanderlust in this series. A more fitting title would be "wandering lust", but that too would be ironic since there is barely any lust here either. However, the series is focused on sexuality.
What we see is a shockingly sexually repressed and inhibited culture. These people seem to have scooped all sexual instincts out of their brains and replaced them with society. They seem to never ask "what do I want" but always "what would be proper?" Seeing a young man having to ask his best friend after they finally made love whether she's okay with him putting his arm around her as they're lying next to each other in bed was tragic.
The word "Victorian" comes to mind. I feel like these people are barely human. 'Wanderlust' reminded me of 'The Lobster', which is surreal and utterly inhuman. Now that I look at it, Wikipedia says that 'The Lobster' was "a co-production by Ireland, the United Kingdom, Greece, France and the Netherlands". And now that I think of London as portrayed in 'Luther' starring Idris Elba, my heart goes out to British women. If that is indeed England, you need to hop across the pond to New York city. America is far more vibrant.
Undertale (2015)
behold the power of guilt
I didn't read anything about this game before playing it, merely saw that it was an ugly game with overwhelmingly positive reception. I bought it expecting it to have great writing, characters, plot, or gameplay, and was disappointed when all of those things turned out to be sub-par as well. Reading the reviews after playing the game, I couldn't believe them.
The style described by others as cute and quirky comes across to me as annoying and puerile; the author acts as if breaking the fourth wall and being self-deprecating is the height of wit. The characters are clichés and shallow caricatures of people he seems to know in real life. The combat is boring and frustrating. The one interesting idea in the game, "monsters are people", can't single-handedly carry the entire game. Before the end I couldn't wait for this, one of the least enjoyable gaming experiences of my life, to be finally over. The ending was a perfunctory deus ex machina.
The huge disconnect between my opinion of this game and the average opinion has made this a psychological puzzle, more interesting to me than the game itself. I believe I understand the problem. The game's payload is a single emotional experience. The emotion is guilt; it relies on a plot twist, and its effect is increased by making the people in the game cute and familiar. I didn't identify with the guilt trip as much as some--the payload was so underwhelming for me, that it didn't even occur to me that it might move someone enough to like the game.
If you want more about guilt, play Planescape: Torment or Star Control 2 or read Crime and Punishment or an Ayn Rand novel. If you're looking for a cheerful, benevolent RPG (as one might expect this one to be based on its description), play The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky. If you like having the choice between being good and evil, play Planescape: Torment, KOTOR 1 & 2, or Fallout 1 & 2. If you like Undertale's characters, look into Baldur's Gate (I don't like either, but like Jar Jar Binks they're similarly silly and annoying and beloved by people who baffle me).
I believe this game's lesson is: if you treat cutesy things harshly, you will feel guilty. Players consequently find it impossible to criticize the game, and try to make themselves feel like good people by singing its praises. That's why it makes sense for fans to say that people who criticize this game have no soul. The characters in this game died for your sins; you should honor their creator, who made them in his image. Undertale guilt-trips players into giving it positive reviews. Note that the author chose only negative comments from critics to quote on the game's store page, which seems puzzling until you realize that this game's reception relies on emotional manipulation. My favorite thing about Undertale is that when you die, you are told to "stay determined"; I couldn't have finished the game without this encouragement, and I found it surprising that just straight out telling me to stay determined actually helped me do it.
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001)
pointless and annoying
I am baffled by how much people like this pointless and annoying movie. The protagonist is an irritating and uninteresting little girl, and the film has essentially no plot. It presents a series of weird encounters and situations, without ever a sense that it's going anywhere, and without ever showing an interesting way of dealing with them by the little girl. Rather, whatever she does happens for magical reasons to have been the right thing, giving the impression that we're watching her have one of those dreams in which she can do no wrong. For some reason people like this parade of strangeness without a plot or a likable protagonist enough to rate this film higher than Grave of the Fireflies and Princess Mononoke, excellent films that actually have great characters, compelling plots, and in the latter case, also very imaginative encounters and situations.
Munich (2005)
Brief summary of the plot and the message
The Munich terrorist attack is merely the film's setup, resulting in Israel forming a team of assassins to track down and kill the terrorists responsible for planning the attack. The film follows this team as they locate and assassinate their targets, and eventually become targets themselves. The main character is the team's leader, who after the job is done is plagued by doubts about whether his actions were morally justified and by worry for his family's safety. He insists that his boss proves to him that all the men he killed were guilty, which the boss is unable to do, presumably making Spielberg's argument for using the more formal court system in order to determine guilt. He also asks whether his actions actually made a difference in light of the fact that all the men he killed were merely replaced by more violent ones, which his boss is unable to answer but which is implicitly answered by the fact that this conversation is happening in view of the still-standing twin towers.
Serenity (2005)
Entertaining but unexceptional
I'm not familiar with Joss Whedon's other work, but many people have recommended it and I was looking forward to discovering a great writer/director in this movie. However, while Serenity is an enjoyable film, neither the writing nor the directing is of exceptional quality. The plot is simple and reasonably compelling, but does not stand out from others in the genre, and it contains perhaps more than its fair share of unlikely timings, unreasonable decisions, and clichés. I also did not feel that any of the characters were particularly well developed, as uninterrupted flow of conversation seemed to take higher priority than developing character integrity. The most exceptional feature was the good taste displayed in choosing attractive women to play key roles.
Serenity is just another entertaining action flick. I do not believe it will be remembered a decade from now.