Barbie (2023)

On the Simu Liu thing, there is really very little there - especially not enough to be vilified for it to the extent you seem to have done.

Nearly all of the questionable posts are taken out of context for the purpose of making him look bad and causing controversy - coincidentally just when Marvel casted their first Asian hero. There are one or two that are just bad but I'd argue few actors and people in general don't say or think 'bad' things at different points in their life - we just don't have the receipts.

Gosling thing on the red carpet seemed like an inside joke to me, in line with Gosling sticking 'in character' like the other things he's been saying and doing. If he had such an issue with him Gosling could have easily gotten him booted off the project or refused to do the event with him. The number of photos and videos of them looking like they like each other far outnumber that one incident.

Captain Marvel isn't a real movie

the only think that annoyed me about the Barbie film was that it made me 15 minutes late for Oppenheimer, looking at you Point cinema, dont schedule the start of 2 popular movies so close together

As a guy, I went into it and loved it. There's some jokes that are so specific to children raised with barbie that were lost on me. But overall, it was a smart and very funny summer blockbuster. Also rather refreshing to have a summer blockbuster that isn't simply focused on explosions.

I'll also confess that I'm delighted that a film with this kind of message has succeeded. Eg we're so used to hearing people say that including feminist politics in a movie will put audiences off or guarantee its failure.(eg Disney gone woke nonsense)

Margot Robbie and Emma Mackey look alike

Just back from the cinema and I found it a tough slog tbh. I put all the hype and everything else aside and judged the film on its own merits, and I thought it was just a poor film. It felt like they were making it up as they went along, like a lot of it was improvised. Now maybe I'm wrong about that and everyone stuck to the script but for me it felt like improv night at the ha'penny inn and a lot of the scenes fell flat. I think Margot Robbie is great, she was off the scale in Babylon and she does well here too. Ryan gosling steals the film and his power ballad number at the end saves the film from being a complete write off. A female friend went aswell and afterwards she made an interesting comment.....she thought the film overall was a bit meh but she said that if a bloke was to make the opposite film, one that lampoon's feminism, there would be absolute war. There would be people getting cancelled, their would be studios being boycotted until heads roll, there would be crying, there would be outrage. And I suspect she's 100% spot on.

It did drag a bit. I'd say they could have cut ninety minutes and still maintained the overall fun and message, just with a faster pace.

Still, a good movie, with lots of great visual gags that will stand the test of time. Definitely not for kids, and probably not for most teens.

I was somewhat surprised that my 12 year old niece loved it but I think she has my cynical sense of humour. 🤣