Veronica Mars (Rob Thomas)

[Henry Gale]

IMDb

[Kurosawa Fan]

Nothing but totally biased love for this film. A bit of a clunky plot, but it was so great to have these characters back again.

[eternity]

I liked it fine, but boy did it suffer by not being a whole fourth season. Subplots and scenes that would have easily filled a full episode are given only a few minutes.

It's a lot better than it could have been, that's for sure.

[Thirdmango]

It looks like it got some sort of exclusivity deal with AMC, and there's only one AMC in the state, one that's about 2 hours away. Le sigh.

[Henry Gale]

It's just so much fun, and almost a punishingly brief amount of time to jump back into its world and the ins and outs of everyone's life.

Broadly flung terms some have and were inevitably going to throw at it like "fan service" and "wish fulfillment storytelling" are almost completely redundant and confusing since those things aren't inherently derogatory, especially when they're almost literally the catalyst, basis and financial foundation for how this exists. And it also helps that the movie itself isn't just two hours of distracting in-jokes or awkward exposition to help non-fans understand everyone's relationships. (Though I will say I did have some trouble remembering certain people, especially Bonnie Deville / Carrie Bishop, since I later saw was Leighton Meester in the series but obviously not here.)

Obviously the reunion and acquaintance-contained murder mystery is the perfect framing device and scale for an under two hour re-plunging into this world. It's not a new season, a reboot, or a grand finale, but it's a nice refresher and brand new piece of clout for everything I fondly remember about basking in its colourfully gloomy world and the lives of the sharply drawn and lovable people in it.

The movie, like the show, has a really distinct, sometimes ethereal and diffused look, but oddly this incarnation of that is a lot more sullen and blue. The series had moments of that, but its one-of-a-kind look thrived in popping, bright colours in the sunlight and beautifully saturated nights had an almost '80s high school drama throwback feel. Maybe it's a conscious choice of a palette change to reflect Veronica and everyone's updated emotional outlook, or maybe it's just because the series was shot on 16mm with seven to ten years ago film stock and this modern, 2:35:1 Neptune is done through the lens of Arri Alexas, doing its best visual impression of what it thinks 2014 American cinema should look like rater than trying to match the show, but either way, it threw me a bit seeing familiar locations look so much less warm and soft this time around, which may or may not be the intended point.

But on a less technical, articulate side of my feelings about it all, it's just a joyous 100-minute new lease of life for something I used to watch weekly in my own high school years. Wherever things might find a way of going from here, whether it's another movie or similarly self-contained mini-seasons with long episodes a la Sherlock, then I welcome it with open arms and an unabashedly adolescent heart.

The best thing I can say about it, which has been hard with a lot of similar resuscitations of old favourites in recent years, is how unforced and seamlessly it gets back into itself. Once Veronica leaves New York and goes back home, it really feels like you and the show has too, and there's not much more I could ask for than that.

[Mara]

Did not know I could already rent this through Amazon.

[Henry Gale]

Did not know I could already rent this through Amazon.

Yup, and all sorts of On Demand, iTunes and whatnot have it too. My sister pledged to the Kickstarter but they only have everyone an Ultraviolet/Flixster link (lame, quality ain't great). One weird thing is that I saw screencaps of the On Demand version, and it seems to be the only place where the movie is framed with an un-matted 16x9, making it look even more like the TV series.

And despite all of those options at home, this still managed to sneak into the top ten at the box office (the real one, with the audiences and paper tickets!), with $2 million in 291 theatres. If it wasn't for Grand Budapest Hotel's insane performance ($3.64 million from only 66 theatres), it would've easily had the best per-screen average of the weekend. Veronica sits right at #10, right under Frozen at #9... in its 17th week. So even four months later, despite it already being available to buy online, with the home video release Tuesday, animated Kristen Bell still finds a way to outperform live-action Kristen Bell.

[[ETM]]

My sister pledged to the Kickstarter but they only have everyone an Ultraviolet/Flixster link (lame, quality ain't great).

After Flixster fail, Warner Brothers will refund 'Veronica Mars' backers using iTunes or Amazon

[Kurosawa Fan]

After Flixster fail, Warner Brothers will refund 'Veronica Mars' backers using iTunes or Amazon

I watched it through Flixster on the Vudu app via my PS4 and had no issues with acquiring the movie or with the quality. It was in HD and streamed perfectly. I wonder what issues people were having?

[Mara]

Okay, this was a delight.

It wasn't perfect; some of the expository dialogue was clunky and many of the cameos were unnecessary, but as a fan I was digging it. (Celeste Kane, holy cripes.) I thought the mystery was pretty intriguing, but really we were back to see everyone we loved and spend a little more time with them.

Quick question: when Veronica was texting in the cupboard, was that to her dad?

Logan mellowed very much with age. I guess that's understandable, and I'm glad he's not still the ragey man-child he was in high school, but a little part of me was wondering where my Logan had gone. But then he started throwing punches at the party and I was like, Oh there you are. Doring looks fantastic, by the way. He's gotten much better looking.

Still, V only has to spend three minutes with Leo for me to kind of want that to happen again.

And I will be forever disappointed that Ken and Alicia never reconciled and married. I really wanted Veronica and Wallace to be siblings. It was important to me.

[Mara]

This didn't make me want another film.

It made me want another television series.

[Mara]

Hold up, I have another shallow thought.

Add to the list of people that have gotten oddly attractive: Martin Starr and Tina Majorino. Majorino was always girl-next-door normal looking, but she looked damn cute with her punk hair. And Starr looked weird for, like, twenty years and suddenly he's handsome? What the crap?

[Kurosawa Fan]

Okay, this was a delight.

It wasn't perfect; some of the expository dialogue was clunky and many of the cameos were unnecessary, but as a fan I was digging it. (Celeste Kane, holy cripes.) I thought the mystery was pretty intriguing, but really we were back to see everyone we loved and spend a little more time with them.

Quick question: when Veronica was texting in the cupboard, was that to her dad?

Logan mellowed very much with age. I guess that's understandable, and I'm glad he's not still the ragey man-child he was in high school, but a little part of me was wondering where my Logan had gone. But then he started throwing punches at the party and I was like, Oh there you are. Doring looks fantastic, by the way. He's gotten much better looking.

Yes, the text was to her dad.

As for Logan, I was a little disappointed with the level of his maturation. Aside from the fight, he felt almost like a completely different person, whereas the others felt so familiar. I know the maturation was necessary [

Show Spoiler

to make their reconciliation make sense

], but I feel like they took it too far.

Totally agree about not really wanting another movie, and instead wanting the series to continue, but I will say that I'm kind of looking forward to the first book. I think it gets released in a week or so.

[Mara]

Logan matured a lot in the third season after Veronica dumped him. With a few back-sliding exceptions, he practically grew up overnight. He became more level-headed, thoughtful, and honest person. I think if he kept on that trajectory, what we see here isn't that far off.

However, what I feel like we lost is that wounded-animal quality that Logan had. If there's one thing we learned from the show, it's that Logan is usually coming from a very vulnerable, damaged place. Even all growed up, I was surprised that he didn't have a reaction when the murder of Lilly came up, or his mother's suicide. He's still a traumatized, abused person even if he's had time to heal. I'm not sure we saw that.

[number8]

The Weevil subplot is so sad.

[Mara]

The Weevil subplot is so sad.

It was too thinly-sketched for me. I wanted more Weevil. (This would apply to all three seasons as well as the film.) Riding off with the PCHers at the end whaaaaa? I MUST HAVE MORE.

Late-blooming thought-- we had zero resolution on the truck that took out Deputy Sacks. It was implied to be with the Sheriff's department, but no follow-up.

[Kurosawa Fan]

It was too thinly-sketched for me. I wanted more Weevil. (This would apply to all three seasons as well as the film.) Riding off with the PCHers at the end whaaaaa? I MUST HAVE MORE.

Late-blooming thought-- we had zero resolution on the truck that took out Deputy Sacks. It was implied to be with the Sheriff's department, but no follow-up.

Yep. Those reasons and more are why I called the plot clunky. Everything moved too fast. Eternity put it well by saying it suffered from not being a fourth season. They tried to do waaaaaay too much. Still, it was a lot of fun.

[Qrazy]

Should I watch this show?

[number8]

It was too thinly-sketched for me. I wanted more Weevil. (This would apply to all three seasons as well as the film.) Riding off with the PCHers at the end whaaaaa? I MUST HAVE MORE.

Late-blooming thought-- we had zero resolution on the truck that took out Deputy Sacks. It was implied to be with the Sheriff's department, but no follow-up.

This was intentional, IIRC. Rob Thomas warned fans from the beginning that there are going to be some plot points in the script that will not be resolved, because he's angling for sequels.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Should I watch this show?

I don't think so. I don't think you'd like it.

[Mara]

Yeah, it's a fantastic show overall but I'm not sure it's Qrazy's vibe.

[number8]

I cannot overstate how much I love Keith Mars.

[Mara]

I cannot overstate how much I love Keith Mars.

Best fictional father ever? Possibly. Even when he disagrees with Veronica, I'm almost always on his side. He is always coming from a place of love.

The first time I watched season one and there was the scene where he disclosed the results of the DNA test, I was sobbing. I had to stop the show and collect myself.

[number8]

I literally shed a tear during the movie when he tried to break up the stop-and-frisk. Not even joking.

[Qrazy]

Yeah, it's a fantastic show overall but I'm not sure it's Qrazy's vibe.

I liked Buffy...