Fantastic. The first 90 minutes are a really good sequel and then the last 30 actually made me act like a kid again. The Val Kilmer scene had me in tears. I saw the original in theaters at age 10. This might actually be the better overall movie. The first Sonic movie is one of the most unexpectedly good, fun movies of the last few years, especially after the initial CGI gaffe. The sequel is a better movie and sets up for a 3rd just about as well as it possibly could have. This was a really good, fun movie week. Nothing that should win an award, but two entertaining franchises that know what they are.
Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) Dir. Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert Evelyn Wang owns and runs a laundromat together with her husband Waymond. Unbeknownst to Evelyn, Waymond is deeply unhappy in a marriage from which most passion and tenderness has long disappeared and he is considering divorce. Evelyn also has to deal with her elderly dad's presence in their lives and his continued disapproval of said life, as he was against both her marriage to Waymond and her moving to America. On top of all that, there is her rebellious daughter Joy, whose girlfriend Evelyn is desperately trying to hide from her conservative father. The laundromat business is in trouble too, with a make or break IRS meeting set for later that day, where a pistol of an IRS agent is going to go through their accounts with a fine comb. On their way into the IRS offices, something weird seems to happen to Waymond and during his seemingly possessed state, he informs Evelyn that a super-powerful being that exists across the multiverse has been destroying many universes and that the Alpha universe - where this version of Waymond is from - has identified Evelyn as the only person who can save them all. Finally got to see this already beloved indie (and A24s most successful release) in theater. Compared a lot to the most recent Dr. Strange film because both movies deal with the idea of multiverses, albeit in very different ways. This film is essentially largely (but not entirely) limited to two sets: the laundromat and the IRS office. Only they are redressed throughout to convey the changes (sometimes small and sometimes more substantial) across the various universes. But the multiverse device is really just a means to portray the movie's real themes: family and the generational weight that family expectations can create. The four principal actors are terrific. In the case of Yeoh, this is hardly surprising. But Ke Huy Quan hadn't acted much at all in the 2000s, due to being disappointed at the opportunities for Asian-American actors. The story goes he decided to give it another try after seeing Crazy Rich Asians. It's kind of a trip to see the child actor from Goonies and Temple of Doom give such a very nuanced, lived in and moving performance. Never more so than during the movie premiere scene. And the final third of the movie hinges entirely upon Yeoh and Stephanie Hsu's interplay, who is equally impressive. Also a shout-out to Jamie Lee Curtis who is hilarious as the IRS agent (and even more so during the hot dog fingers sequence). Warmly recommended, but go in knowing you are going to see a family-centric film, where the multiverse aspect of the film is just a device used to tell their story. *Vin Diesel Voice* It's about family.
X (2022) Dir. Ti West 1979, Texas. Enterprising strip club proprietor Wayne is inspired by the success of Debbie Does Dallas and other porn flicks like it to attempt to shoot his own porno, guerilla style. His female talent consists of his girlfriend Maxine and one of his strippers, Bobby-Lyne. His male performer is Vietnam war vet Jackson, whilst the film itself is going to be shot by the boyfriend-girlfriend duo of R.J. and Lorraine. Their location is a disused building on a farm belonging to an elderly couple, Howard and Pearl. After a tense moment upon their arrival at the location, Howard warns the wannabe skin flick crew to leave his infirm wife Pearl alone and generally not venture too close to his farm house. As the film crew starts working on their film, it is Pearl herself who is attracted by their presence, but none of the young people involved in the film's production realize the danger they are in by having earned the old woman's attention and desire... I have long been a fan of Ti West. The most important 21st century horror auteur in America, other than Mike Flanagan. Both his "House of the Devil" and "The Innkeepers" were instant classics for my money (I also loved his western "In a Valley of Violence"). So I was very excited to see this. The inspirations here are pretty obvious, this is Ti West's blatant homage to Texas Chainsaw Massacre, with several shots copied almost entirely from the Tobe Hooper classic. It's also littered with other references, like the porn flick they are shooting as the film within the film is called "The Farmer's Daughters", a likely reference to an infamous 1970s sex film of the same name that notoriously starred Spalding Gray before he achieved fame in a more mainstream theater and movie career. This isn't elevated horror, where the writer-director uses the horror as a metaphor for something deeper/more meaningful. If it does have a theme, it is the corruption of human desires, but Ti West consciously doesn't beat that drum loud enough to take away from the fact that this is primarily a very good slasher. I loved the cast, especially Mia Goth in an unlikely double role. But we have seen Goth take risks like this before. Brittany Snow is equally impressive, in a film that is as far removed from her rather innocent Pitch Perfect persona as you can imagine. A shame this failed at the box office.
Stranger Things -- Season 4, Volume I OMG. So. Very. Tedious. I felt that the series, which I pretty much enjoyed, had run out of steam after season 3, and I wasn't planning on watching this, but I got COVID. Was as brutally exhausted as anyone has said, but couldn't sleep, was bored out of my skull, and I binged the first three seasons. Like in 3 days. So I decided to gamble on this. I lost. Like a 3-movie version of The Hobbit, this is bloated beyond belief. I think I read that Netflix spent $30 million per episode -- and it's gorgeous cinematically -- but the episodes are clocking in at an hour and a half. And they're boring. I spent much of the time (I was mostly recovered when I watched this season) playing Sudoko. The charm that was so evident in the first three seasons, best revealed in the Dustin - Steve Harrington friendship, is gone. I can see what the producers are trying to do in making the stories more personal, but they broke everybody up. Hopper, surely no spoiler here, is alive and Joyce goes to rescue him. El goes back to Hawkins Lab, metaphorically, to regain her powers and chews up hours of screen time in flashback. The Byers clan upped and moved to California and Jonathon made the most annoying friend ever. And you've the rest of the gang back home in Indiana showing all the closeness of the Scoobies in Season 6. And to make it even worse, my phone's RSS feed has been corrupted by fanboy Stranger Things posts that are about as mature as what you'd get from K-Pop fanboys. I'm really thinking about getting a new phone. Season 4, Volume II is, I think, two episodes, but the final clocks in at 2 and a half hours. I'm going to watch it. But it may take me a week to get through it.
IMO season 3 was already quite average But the show is fine if you just want some dumb fun. Just don't expect iconic Television - it's more a bag of moments.
Casey Affleck won the Oscar for his portrayal of Lee Chandler, a man whose life was shattered by a tragic event that was an accident ...but he feels responsible. The movie rambles from past to present and may be a bit difficult to follow, but it's worth staying on the voyage.
We Own This City - I love me some Jon Bernthal and this was pretty decent. But come on, this ain't The Wire and this ain't The Shield, and this ain't definitely a mix of those two.
Who is saying that? Unlike either of those, this is a depiction of real events and real people, so obviously it's gonna be pretty different.
In preparation for watching The Matrix Resurrections, I rewatched the original trilogy. And I have to say, each time I watch the sequel pair, I like them more and more. The key is not to try to explain the plot holes. That's impossible. Instead only try to realize the truth - there are no plot holes. The power of The One is pure metaphor - Neo has the ability to stop those that stand between him and those with power so that he can go talk to them directly.
The Matrix Resurrections (2021) Video game creator Thomas Anderson is overbudget on his new production, Binary. But the corporation overseeing his studio decides to bin it and make him revisit the video game trilogy that made him famous - The Matrix, Matrix: Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions. Which is a problem for Mr. Anderson because those games brought on an episode of disassociation and a continuing periodic inability to differentiate fantasy and reality. Until now he had been coping well, seeing a therapist and taking his daily blue pill. But now he's seeing people in stylish outfits and fancy sunglasses. I really, really liked this movie. The Thomas Anderson opening act was especially difficult to pull off because other movies and tv shows have done the "character is crazy and we can't tell which of their realities is the real one" thing very well and it's hard to do this in a fresh way - especially as we are pretty sure which way this is going just because of the nature of the movie. But I loved it and it's light self-parody, and the "White Rabbit" montage was particularly spellbinding. Another thing I liked was the shift in politics. The originals were based around a simple them-vs-us, while this one had a mixed factional thing with a very modern take on mechanisms of control. I only wish the movie was longer so they could go into this a bit more. Similarly, I think the whole Agent Smith thing could have done with more explanation. I was also enthralled with the action sequences. They kept a lot of the original Matrix flavor but it felt like it was 3D when the original was 2D. It loses the painter's eye in composition the previous fights had, but it gains in a sort of magical frenzy and sense of fullness.
The Ledge (2022) Dir. Howard J. Ford Kelly and Sophie are two young women, both experienced climbers, who are on a European climbing vacation. They meet four guys, long-time friends, who are also there to climb, though they don't have the girls' skill level. The six of them fraternize over a drunken campfire evening. But when one of the guys makes unwanted advances at Sophie and even attempts sexual assault, she subsequently makes a bad fall during her escape. Kelly witnesses the entire thing. Even though some of the group are reluctant participants, the four guys decide the best way to handle the situation is the kill the only remaining witness: Kelly. Only catching the experienced climber as she escapes by climbing the nearby mountain proves harder than anticipated... A movie with a more interesting premise than execution. Thematically it reminded me both of Revenge (Coralie Fargeat's excellent re-invention of the rape-revenge genre) and Cliffhanger. Only it's not as good as either of those films. Brittany Ashworth is a good lead (and it's clear she has actual climbing experience) but the four villains are instantly forgettable (both the characters and the actors portraying them). A few silly sequences also needlessly drag out the third act. A better movie is probably hiding somewhere in these basic ideas, but this isn't it.
Finally got around to watching this and, much like the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, I cannot explain how these are actually good. The 4 leads do their jobs well, again, and it's two hours well spent. There's just the right level of Rock & Hart doing Devito & Glover hijinks before they settle in and deliver another movie that I'm glad I watched. I'm seriously considering buying the series (including the Robin Williams film from 1995).
I was one of the people who mentioned The Shield. But I have somewhat revised this. It has in common with the Shield that it's essentially about a group of dirty cops. But The Shield kind of relished spending time with Vic and his band of merry bastards. Whereas I don't think Simon and Pelecanos want us to ever truly enjoy spending time with their dirty cops, in spite of how good some of the performances are.
Well, having watched it all now, I think the moments were spread super thin like when you find someone has been at the Nutella before you are you are really scraping the sides of the jar with the knife .... The Nightmare on Elm St vibe worked great in ep1 but then was abandoned? The Steven King Vibes of Ep 4 were awesome ... but then anytime the show got so momentum it was wrecked by the hot mess of a bloated screen play How does such bad writing happen? For example: Amnesia is always a very suckful trope - here for some reason it is also inked to El losing her powers? What? And El is in California so they can ... do some Cali 80s nostalgia ... or do the nerd in high school trope? which they then just forget? Then the ungodly dull exposition which the show even mocks in a self aware way when Dustin explains the plot for the umpteenth time? I mean this always was just dumb fun that works so long as you don't explain it The second it started to have it's own Lost style canon for the upside down etc ... oh boy
Heheh huehehuehhehhuhehhehuhuhuhuhuhu Nachos. It's okay for the first half of the movie, but then the White Privilege and prison scenes happen and it turns into classic Beavis & Butt-head. Great last 45 minutes. Now I'm looking forward to the upcoming new seasons of the show even more.
Blacklight (2022) Dir. Mark Williams Travis Block is an off the books operative who works outside of the system to handle the kind of jobs that a government agency cannot undertake through official channels. His long-time handler is his friend and F.B.I. director Gabriel Robinson. Growing weary with the kind of work he has to do, Block is angling for a retirement that Gabriel isn't really ready to give him yet. When he is tasked with hunting down a rogue agent, he discovers that not all of the ops run through Robinson might be entirely above board. His knowledge of this makes him a target himself, but hunting down the hunter proves more difficult than his enemies might have imagined. Another entry in the Liam Neeson old man action movie genre. Somewhat mid-tier for me, neither the greatest screenplay nor the most engaging Neeson performances. Aidan Quinn is good as the slimy fed. I think it might be better for Neeson's career (or indeed his interest levels as an actor) if he tried some different roles for a while.
I would have bet a lot of money in the 80s and early 90s on Aidan Quinn being a movie star instead of just being another guy in the movies with a good TV career.
Well he did have a good run back then. And he seems to have moved into a decent character actor career following his heyday.
Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness ~ S. Raimi I liked the dabbling with horror in this that gave it a somewhat unique feel to other Marvel movies. That said, I'm not sure anyone other than Elizabeth Olsen brought much to the film acting-wise. Cumberbatch's Dr. Strange is just a more boring version of Ironman, the least interesting Avenger. There's so little emotional depth. Maybe part of that is the expectation that you will be invested in a relationship with Rachel McAdams from the first film (which seems like forever ago) and no one in the film seems to be. The film seemed much more interested in funny cameos and just letting Olsen do the heavy lifting.
Ted Lasso -- Seasons 1 & 2 Since I coach soccer, everyone who knows me tangentially has asked me if I've watched Ted Lasso. Finally after my daughter shared with me her Apple+ password, I got to watch. Really a delightful show. I've watched it twice in the past month and a half. The Christmas episode is as charming as a single episode can be. Only one quibble. They obviously found some actors who'd really played football, except for the keepers, who lunge around like I would out there. Apparently there's more action on the pitch for the upcoming, and final, third season.
In general Rachel McAdams has been poorly served in these films. But that's a microcosm of her entire career!