"Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi" PG 13
(Plot related spoilers): Jedi are like romanticized samurai and Sith are like dark evil villainous overlords. They all have powers that can enable them to have powers, like mutants, and to float things, or people, and to have telepathy and to cross vast distances. They also weild light sabres, which are like plasma laser swords.
The eighth movie is here. It was not long in coming! Rogue One was an excellent stand alone last year, but this is the eighth film. Fans a divided among Sith and Jedi. Heh. Find the balance, they must.
Seemingly taking off moments after the last movie, the First Order is chasing the rebel fleet from the doomed Star Killer planet out into the galaxy. The rebellion forms up a new resistance, and sends out their best to stop the First Order. Kylo Ren meanwhile squares off his his master, Snoke, and his underling, Hux.
On the planet of the ancient Jedi, Rey confronts a bitter and grumpy Luke Skywalker, who has self exiled after his Jedi class was destroyed at least 20 years before, and he is bitter about Ben Solo, and does not wish to train Rey. She continues to try and get him to change his mind.
Finn awakens from his cryo tube hospital suit and spends a good deal of time trying to flee from the rebel ship, but Rose catches him, and they go off on an adventure to help Poe and Rey also by going to a casino planet to find the code breaker.
Using Sith like mind powers, Kylo or Ben is able to mind connect with Rey on the Jedi planet, and in turn, she is. Luke senses this and is worried she has gone too far. She later confronts the Soth pit on the planet, where she sees herself in a mirror going into infinity. That is her fear, to be merely the only one there, and nobody else is. Once she leaves the pit, she goes on a quest to try and get Luke to train her in both sides, the balance, but he is fearful she might turn.
The resistance almost loses General Leia during the battle, but as she recovers, the Admiral and Poe square off.
Rey gets mad and leaves the Jedi planet to turn Kylo back into Ben, and she meets up with the fleet, and the fortress ship of Snoke, where there is a decisive battle on the ship. She and her adversary seem to decide, after much fighting, that Snoke needs to be killed. Then she flees.
Luke meets with Yoda's spirit and he convinces him to leave the planet and return to the resistance, but he has another way.
The rebels make it to the salt planet, where Finn and Rose later catch up, and then there is a battle there, where Luke appears and faces Ben, or Kylo, in battle.
The movie is not what many fans speculated and expected. That said, they should not have. Disney is coy about sequels, and often drops points given in other movies. This seems more of a follow up than a true sequel. The guesses that many fans had were all wrong, and this is because the writers either didn't think of them, or had read about them and decided to change things. It is likely the former.
The film is on a par with New Hope and just below Empire Strikes Back itself, and is a strong and solid action set piece. It has terrific visuals and that scene pass pacing expected in the films.
Posthumous honorable Oscar mention for Carrie Fisher. Hands down. Princess Leia will be missed.
The movie incidentally does not address her death at all. It hints at it, but that part was in the script, and she wasn't supposed to die.
The Snoke scene was surprising, but a nice way of shattering fan expectations. But who is running the First Order if not him? Will we find out it's Jar Jar? Oh, I hope so!
The self discover of Rey and of Ben is very interesting, and it makes the movie.
I didn't mind the weaker casino planet part. It was fine. It was Marvel like going there.
Review by Adam Browne
Sunday, December 17, 2017
Thursday, December 7, 2017
It is December 2017 Oscar Watch That Is Not?
Out of all the movies we saw in 2017, are any of them contenders for the big show in early February 2018?
Oscar will likely do like last year and pull out seven movies from out of obscurity and give them the Oscar, such as Manchester something last year.
Then by months later, all Oscar films will be bargain discounted at Wal Mart.
Action films will not be included, but save for Clara Awards:
Logan
Wonder Woman
Baby Driver
Dunkirk
Thor Rangarok
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Blade Runner 2049
Coco
War of the Planet of the Apes
Lego Batman Movie
Spider Man Homecoming
Seems we've seen a lot more than this, but no dramas really even stood out.
Dunkirk?
Blade Runner 2049?
Disappointing but not crap movies?
Alien Covenant?
Atomic Blonde
Baby Driver
Valerian
Justice League
Ghost in the Shell 2017
Fate and the Furious
Lego Ninjago
Power Rangers 2017
Horror films?
Split, (late honorable mention 2016)
It (Chapter One) 2017
Alien Covenant
Blade Runner 2049
Bad Movies
Transformers The Last Knight
The Dark Tower
Rock Dog
The Great Wall
Internet Film
Jesus, Bro!
Anticipated Good Films
Lady Bird
Wonder
Star Wars The Last Jedi
Oscar will likely do like last year and pull out seven movies from out of obscurity and give them the Oscar, such as Manchester something last year.
Then by months later, all Oscar films will be bargain discounted at Wal Mart.
Action films will not be included, but save for Clara Awards:
Logan
Wonder Woman
Baby Driver
Dunkirk
Thor Rangarok
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Blade Runner 2049
Coco
War of the Planet of the Apes
Lego Batman Movie
Spider Man Homecoming
Seems we've seen a lot more than this, but no dramas really even stood out.
Dunkirk?
Blade Runner 2049?
Disappointing but not crap movies?
Alien Covenant?
Atomic Blonde
Baby Driver
Valerian
Justice League
Ghost in the Shell 2017
Fate and the Furious
Lego Ninjago
Power Rangers 2017
Horror films?
Split, (late honorable mention 2016)
It (Chapter One) 2017
Alien Covenant
Blade Runner 2049
Bad Movies
Transformers The Last Knight
The Dark Tower
Rock Dog
The Great Wall
Internet Film
Jesus, Bro!
Anticipated Good Films
Lady Bird
Wonder
Star Wars The Last Jedi
Monday, November 27, 2017
Movie Reviews Through November 2017
"Geostorm"
A cheesy weather gone awry movie about a future where weather control is a thing, and there is a vast Dyson swarm in orbit, and someone has sabotaged it, because reasons. It's a knock off of Emmerich films, but not done as ham fisted. It plays kind of like a GI Joe sequel that never got made, with a Cobra Commander and Destro like villain, a Duke or Flint like hero sent back into action, and a teen girl ala Transformers 5, is not like GI Joe, who is sassy, and all the women are sassy too. They had an inept government, ha, but at the same time, they set into motion the takeover that least to the crisis. The payoff is kind of pedantic, and common for 'disaster porn' films of the genre. Looks like they reshot most of the ground chase separate after seeing some Bourne films. Yawn. Kind of worth a rental.
"Thor Ragnarok"
Thor 3 comes off far more interesting than Dark World from years back, because certain characters are simply ignored and not in it. It also makes the relationship between Thor and Hulk made a tad more sense than Hulk's last tam up with Widow, which was ultimately the weakest part of Avengers Age of Ultron, that and 15 minutes with Hakweye's family. Thor must roust Loki from being Puck like ruler of his kingdom, only to have them both find his Father, Odin, on his deathbed, and watch him die. This leads to the release of their stepsister, Hera, the Goddess of Death, who vows to obliterate Asgard. Thor and Loki get banished to the world of the Grandmaster, or Game Master, where they run into Hulk, who has been there for 2 years. They must figure out a way back, and there happens to be a quirky girl there (ala Star Wars like references), to return with them to fight Hera. Although derivative and at times over melodramatic, it works, and everyone in it enjoys chewing scenery. It is fun to watch, a contender come Oscar time, and a fun ride.
"Murder on the Orient Express"
This 2017 remake of the classic 1970s film, based on the loose retelling of the murder of the Linberg baby, is an odd case where all of the culpriots are on a train together, which in real life didn't happen, and it was never solved. The novel changes some names as does the film, and the remake changes some characters around, and includes very unnecessary racial and geopolitical undertones. They were not present in the novel, of the story, and if they were, were just there. The heavy handed displays of some of these undertones to the story are not necessary. (It is 1930s Europe, and there is no way they are going to be up in arms about disrespecting the Mexican guy or the black guy, or the Jewish guy. They just wouldn't care. Well they would care about the Jewish guy, I guess). It would have been fine to just cut out those parts. No need to shoehorn in stuff that doesn't fit. It's just a classic murder mystery. Periot, the greatest detective in the 1930s, is on vacation on a train crossing the old Orient, most of eastern Europe to Asian Major. A murder happens involving a cad who is on the train, a scoundrel none of the passengers like, which in the remake makes it obvious, but in the original he was somewhat likeable. The murderer then covers his tracks and continues to elude Periot. (Spoilers).
"Justice League"
Snyder had finished most of the movie, of a gray and dark work where after Superman died, Batman and the rest had to team up. Rushed into production to restore the integrity of the DCEU, the former Marvel icon, Whedon stepped in to add humor and some lighter moments, and to redo literally all of the final backdrops, and the musical score comes from lighter Elfman. The story was cut down to 2 hours, missing most of Resurrected Superman running around acting as an even bigger menace than Doom, possibly a Dark Superman. Then he just gives up because Lois is in it, asnd desces to be good again. Meanwhile, Steppenwulf from the Fourth World comics comes to Earth and beasts up some Isle of Man women, and wants to find some Mother Boxes to use to destroy the world with Para Demons. That's in the movie. It makes no darned sense, but it's in the movie! Introducing the New Gods was probably as odd a choice as Doomsday in the last one. You get Batman and Robin confusion when you include too many villains. The studio really wanted to rush to Justice League and not earn it. That said, it is not a bad film. It is entertaining and it is never boring. Fans of Snyder will wish to see hims darker, grim print, when it's on blueray later. Maybe as an extra bonus. The breakout character was corny overacting Flash, although Cyborg said some great lines too, like when he shouted Buyah. Teen Titan! Yay. Classic 1990s Titans, not the later show. Cavill sporting a GCI upper lip because they couldn't just shave off his mustache was evidence they simply had no intention of using real Supes in the movies, so the guess here is in the original story he never comes back! Wow, that is dark. But this has some oddly placed humor moments, and an after credits sequence that is more 'what the heck?' than oh, cool, it's that guy from Teen Titans, also. Why Steppenwulf as your main baddie and why such horrid CGI on him? And yet you removed that mustache? So many unanswerable questions came out. Supes is better, but still not his old self. He plays it more like a messianic god creature than a boy scout who happens to have super powers. Why not let them do Trigon as the villain? Better choice. Maybe that's next. And really, Lex? Really, you switched places? Ha. Still it is little over 60 percent a good film.
"Olaf's Frozen Christmas"
In this cute short prior to Coco, the Frozen cast returns for a holiday special where they sing songs and do some weepy moments, as they struggle to find the tradition. Olaf misreads this and goes out looking for things that represent the tradition. It's cute. (Too much hate over this short, but tone wise it didn't need to be there).
"Coco"
At first, this appears to be a rip off of 'Book of Life', but it turns out to be much more, perhaps more of a follow up with another family. A little boy in Mexico is forbidden to sing and play guitar, because three generations ago, his great grandfather ran off to be a musician. Naturally, our hero wants to play music, and mistakenly assumes the town's world famous, and now dead, greatest singer, is related to him. On the Day of the Dead, (Aztec Halloween, Catholic Thanksgiving, and a little of Harvest Festival), he is able to pass to the spirit world to find his ancestors and go on a rollicking adventure, to learn the true meaning of family. Pixar (and Disney studios) never seems to disappoint. Even though it is kind of Book of Life, the other group, it is still completely different enough as it is just 'their version' and works well. The visuals are fantastic and the afterlife, netherworld is a three-dee painting that apparently took hyge amounts of man hours. The message and songs are great too. It's a love letter to Mexico. First of the Oscar worthy movies arrives.(Coco is more about Halloween and redemption than it is Christmas tradition, so the short at the beginning seems only 'traditions' bears some similarity).
A cheesy weather gone awry movie about a future where weather control is a thing, and there is a vast Dyson swarm in orbit, and someone has sabotaged it, because reasons. It's a knock off of Emmerich films, but not done as ham fisted. It plays kind of like a GI Joe sequel that never got made, with a Cobra Commander and Destro like villain, a Duke or Flint like hero sent back into action, and a teen girl ala Transformers 5, is not like GI Joe, who is sassy, and all the women are sassy too. They had an inept government, ha, but at the same time, they set into motion the takeover that least to the crisis. The payoff is kind of pedantic, and common for 'disaster porn' films of the genre. Looks like they reshot most of the ground chase separate after seeing some Bourne films. Yawn. Kind of worth a rental.
"Thor Ragnarok"
Thor 3 comes off far more interesting than Dark World from years back, because certain characters are simply ignored and not in it. It also makes the relationship between Thor and Hulk made a tad more sense than Hulk's last tam up with Widow, which was ultimately the weakest part of Avengers Age of Ultron, that and 15 minutes with Hakweye's family. Thor must roust Loki from being Puck like ruler of his kingdom, only to have them both find his Father, Odin, on his deathbed, and watch him die. This leads to the release of their stepsister, Hera, the Goddess of Death, who vows to obliterate Asgard. Thor and Loki get banished to the world of the Grandmaster, or Game Master, where they run into Hulk, who has been there for 2 years. They must figure out a way back, and there happens to be a quirky girl there (ala Star Wars like references), to return with them to fight Hera. Although derivative and at times over melodramatic, it works, and everyone in it enjoys chewing scenery. It is fun to watch, a contender come Oscar time, and a fun ride.
"Murder on the Orient Express"
This 2017 remake of the classic 1970s film, based on the loose retelling of the murder of the Linberg baby, is an odd case where all of the culpriots are on a train together, which in real life didn't happen, and it was never solved. The novel changes some names as does the film, and the remake changes some characters around, and includes very unnecessary racial and geopolitical undertones. They were not present in the novel, of the story, and if they were, were just there. The heavy handed displays of some of these undertones to the story are not necessary. (It is 1930s Europe, and there is no way they are going to be up in arms about disrespecting the Mexican guy or the black guy, or the Jewish guy. They just wouldn't care. Well they would care about the Jewish guy, I guess). It would have been fine to just cut out those parts. No need to shoehorn in stuff that doesn't fit. It's just a classic murder mystery. Periot, the greatest detective in the 1930s, is on vacation on a train crossing the old Orient, most of eastern Europe to Asian Major. A murder happens involving a cad who is on the train, a scoundrel none of the passengers like, which in the remake makes it obvious, but in the original he was somewhat likeable. The murderer then covers his tracks and continues to elude Periot. (Spoilers).
"Justice League"
Snyder had finished most of the movie, of a gray and dark work where after Superman died, Batman and the rest had to team up. Rushed into production to restore the integrity of the DCEU, the former Marvel icon, Whedon stepped in to add humor and some lighter moments, and to redo literally all of the final backdrops, and the musical score comes from lighter Elfman. The story was cut down to 2 hours, missing most of Resurrected Superman running around acting as an even bigger menace than Doom, possibly a Dark Superman. Then he just gives up because Lois is in it, asnd desces to be good again. Meanwhile, Steppenwulf from the Fourth World comics comes to Earth and beasts up some Isle of Man women, and wants to find some Mother Boxes to use to destroy the world with Para Demons. That's in the movie. It makes no darned sense, but it's in the movie! Introducing the New Gods was probably as odd a choice as Doomsday in the last one. You get Batman and Robin confusion when you include too many villains. The studio really wanted to rush to Justice League and not earn it. That said, it is not a bad film. It is entertaining and it is never boring. Fans of Snyder will wish to see hims darker, grim print, when it's on blueray later. Maybe as an extra bonus. The breakout character was corny overacting Flash, although Cyborg said some great lines too, like when he shouted Buyah. Teen Titan! Yay. Classic 1990s Titans, not the later show. Cavill sporting a GCI upper lip because they couldn't just shave off his mustache was evidence they simply had no intention of using real Supes in the movies, so the guess here is in the original story he never comes back! Wow, that is dark. But this has some oddly placed humor moments, and an after credits sequence that is more 'what the heck?' than oh, cool, it's that guy from Teen Titans, also. Why Steppenwulf as your main baddie and why such horrid CGI on him? And yet you removed that mustache? So many unanswerable questions came out. Supes is better, but still not his old self. He plays it more like a messianic god creature than a boy scout who happens to have super powers. Why not let them do Trigon as the villain? Better choice. Maybe that's next. And really, Lex? Really, you switched places? Ha. Still it is little over 60 percent a good film.
"Olaf's Frozen Christmas"
In this cute short prior to Coco, the Frozen cast returns for a holiday special where they sing songs and do some weepy moments, as they struggle to find the tradition. Olaf misreads this and goes out looking for things that represent the tradition. It's cute. (Too much hate over this short, but tone wise it didn't need to be there).
"Coco"
At first, this appears to be a rip off of 'Book of Life', but it turns out to be much more, perhaps more of a follow up with another family. A little boy in Mexico is forbidden to sing and play guitar, because three generations ago, his great grandfather ran off to be a musician. Naturally, our hero wants to play music, and mistakenly assumes the town's world famous, and now dead, greatest singer, is related to him. On the Day of the Dead, (Aztec Halloween, Catholic Thanksgiving, and a little of Harvest Festival), he is able to pass to the spirit world to find his ancestors and go on a rollicking adventure, to learn the true meaning of family. Pixar (and Disney studios) never seems to disappoint. Even though it is kind of Book of Life, the other group, it is still completely different enough as it is just 'their version' and works well. The visuals are fantastic and the afterlife, netherworld is a three-dee painting that apparently took hyge amounts of man hours. The message and songs are great too. It's a love letter to Mexico. First of the Oscar worthy movies arrives.(Coco is more about Halloween and redemption than it is Christmas tradition, so the short at the beginning seems only 'traditions' bears some similarity).
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
My Little Pony, Franchise Reboots are Magic
"My Little Pony"
The 1986 movie that started it all, a series and toyline, and made Hasbro big for not only their other boy lines, but then for girls also. The movie is at times ridiculously cute. The little creature horses have developed a society where everything is great and cheery, run by girls, but villains from a volcano threaten to destroy it all. Ha. They are also all boys. This movie is not subtle. At times the villainy is actually too intense, like the villains in equally odd Care Bears from the same time period. But they have magic, so they also are like He Man, and later She Ra. The ponies must defeat the witch lady of the mountain and return peace and harmony to the village. This is also a little like the Smurfs. Kind of.
It came out the same year as Transformers 1986.
It spurred two sequel series in the 2000s, one of which survives today as My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic.
The cleverly rebranded update features a sassy cast that includes voice talent from Cartoon Network alumni and is on point, althoug never fully released onto DVD, not all complete seasons, but their spin off is out.
I am not a brony. I just know. I am not the target audience.
"My Little Pony: Equestria Girls"
Well, they have this show called Friendship is Magic, but the fan base of adult males is annoying, so the studio decided to really force the issue that it is for girls, so they made a show that appealed to nobody. They set the film in an alternate universe where the pony girls were Monster High uncanny looking horse faced girls in high school, because sure! Girls love that right?
Well it wasn't the Brony's, 20 to 40 year old males into a TV show meant for 8 to 14 year old girls, that did it, it was marketing mismanagement, that thought what girls want his post scarcity High School Musical and Glee rip off stuff with girls in school and angst. Yeah. No.
A toy line and some episodes proved to not sell too well, and they rebranded it a parallel story, and not really a change in the story. Uhu. Admit it Hasbro. That idea was stupid. It sits on shelves while the Friendship is Magic brand, a sassy reboot of the 1980s original, does not have any complete series DVD box sets.
Note that I am not a brony, but that one of the producers is.
Now comes the studio system deciding to actually do a follow up movie.
"My Little Pony: FIS"
The film starts off in the Pony version of the land from the show, where a similar concert or festival is happening, but this time the party crashers are in a storm ship, a floating blimp vessel like an evil Teddy Ruxpin ship. The pony girls, all of them are save for the guards, who are with the rock star horse, all must go on a quest to find the special ponies of another land and save them from the storm lady, who works for the male antagonist, the storm King.
Also the odd inclusion of the parrot pirates is clearly meant as some sort of copycat spin off series coming soon, with a matching toyline of shelf warming action figures, and a playset pirate ship. The ship was cool. Wouldn't mind having one. Ha.
It appears they are saying the stormy guys as\re like Bronys and thus suck and will ruin the movie because they will become dark and stormy, and emos are out too. Nice. It is an ironic plot point that the storm lady pony has a broken horn, and that is why she is mad, so all she needs are friends to help her over her disability. Als that she is clearly a G1 character you will get at the end.
The bait and switch of two groups of these fantasy horses changing into the other form is kind of silly, but it is aimed for children.
The storm lords are like something out of the same cloth as the volcano lords in the first, and could be intense for small children.
The sequel or update does immediately suffer from the cliche of, we don't trust our voice talent to carry this, so chuck in five or six actual names so it will sell. This is marketing madness. The reason equestria girls didn't sell wasn't the talent, but the story was stupid.
That said, a packed opening weekend with adults and children present made for a curious and well liked follow up, unlike the one about high school.
Some of the pejorative groupof bronys in one camp do actually like Equestria Girls, but it still sucks.
The 1986 movie that started it all, a series and toyline, and made Hasbro big for not only their other boy lines, but then for girls also. The movie is at times ridiculously cute. The little creature horses have developed a society where everything is great and cheery, run by girls, but villains from a volcano threaten to destroy it all. Ha. They are also all boys. This movie is not subtle. At times the villainy is actually too intense, like the villains in equally odd Care Bears from the same time period. But they have magic, so they also are like He Man, and later She Ra. The ponies must defeat the witch lady of the mountain and return peace and harmony to the village. This is also a little like the Smurfs. Kind of.
It came out the same year as Transformers 1986.
It spurred two sequel series in the 2000s, one of which survives today as My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic.
The cleverly rebranded update features a sassy cast that includes voice talent from Cartoon Network alumni and is on point, althoug never fully released onto DVD, not all complete seasons, but their spin off is out.
I am not a brony. I just know. I am not the target audience.
"My Little Pony: Equestria Girls"
Well, they have this show called Friendship is Magic, but the fan base of adult males is annoying, so the studio decided to really force the issue that it is for girls, so they made a show that appealed to nobody. They set the film in an alternate universe where the pony girls were Monster High uncanny looking horse faced girls in high school, because sure! Girls love that right?
Well it wasn't the Brony's, 20 to 40 year old males into a TV show meant for 8 to 14 year old girls, that did it, it was marketing mismanagement, that thought what girls want his post scarcity High School Musical and Glee rip off stuff with girls in school and angst. Yeah. No.
A toy line and some episodes proved to not sell too well, and they rebranded it a parallel story, and not really a change in the story. Uhu. Admit it Hasbro. That idea was stupid. It sits on shelves while the Friendship is Magic brand, a sassy reboot of the 1980s original, does not have any complete series DVD box sets.
Note that I am not a brony, but that one of the producers is.
Now comes the studio system deciding to actually do a follow up movie.
"My Little Pony: FIS"
The film starts off in the Pony version of the land from the show, where a similar concert or festival is happening, but this time the party crashers are in a storm ship, a floating blimp vessel like an evil Teddy Ruxpin ship. The pony girls, all of them are save for the guards, who are with the rock star horse, all must go on a quest to find the special ponies of another land and save them from the storm lady, who works for the male antagonist, the storm King.
Also the odd inclusion of the parrot pirates is clearly meant as some sort of copycat spin off series coming soon, with a matching toyline of shelf warming action figures, and a playset pirate ship. The ship was cool. Wouldn't mind having one. Ha.
It appears they are saying the stormy guys as\re like Bronys and thus suck and will ruin the movie because they will become dark and stormy, and emos are out too. Nice. It is an ironic plot point that the storm lady pony has a broken horn, and that is why she is mad, so all she needs are friends to help her over her disability. Als that she is clearly a G1 character you will get at the end.
The bait and switch of two groups of these fantasy horses changing into the other form is kind of silly, but it is aimed for children.
The storm lords are like something out of the same cloth as the volcano lords in the first, and could be intense for small children.
The sequel or update does immediately suffer from the cliche of, we don't trust our voice talent to carry this, so chuck in five or six actual names so it will sell. This is marketing madness. The reason equestria girls didn't sell wasn't the talent, but the story was stupid.
That said, a packed opening weekend with adults and children present made for a curious and well liked follow up, unlike the one about high school.
Some of the pejorative groupof bronys in one camp do actually like Equestria Girls, but it still sucks.
Blade Runner, Two Films, One Destiny
The classic 1982 original film Blade Runner is the pivotal neo noir, detective story meets cyber punk dramatic adventure film. Set in a dingy grey future of constant rain and grime, where a Los Angeles walled from the sea boils in some sort of post apocalypse, Deckard the blade runner cop, is tracking replicants, robotic androids that look human, but have gone rogue. The premise of the first film is a detective story, similar to the film noir genre, dark film, where the society has turned dingy and dark, and the lines between morality and destruction are blurred. The nature of humanity is explored a little, from the vantage of the search for the criminals, and their gang proves to be a match for the hero. The complexity of the main villain is a scene chewing great actor, who is really enjoying his voice. Deckard falls for one of the andorids, Rachel, but the villain is still out there. Once stopped, he returns to his apartment and they have sex, but it seems kind of forced. The movie ends with the chief leaving them a present to let them know he was there, but let them go.
Later versions made him a replicant also, but this was not canon.
The updated 2017 version takes place in the same universe, 35 years later, where some of the replicants have become citizens, and even one called Kay is a blade runner. He discovers that there is a burial box of bones after a hit at a dusty site, but when he brings it back, they look at it and discover it is a woman who died in childbirth, and a replicant, which was siad to be impossible. Then the chief lady doesn't want him following the case. He does anyway. He has a virutal girlfriend but gives her a mobile emitter. He goes on a quest to the new android plant and meets a scene chewing blind master who had a Jesus complex, and is even sadistically killing his replicants. Then he visits a girl who is encased in a virtual room, who leads him to the orphanage where he might have been raised. The story is more complex than the first, but has long stretches of searching, actual detective work, and future spy stuff. It is an improvement on the first, and expands the world. Spoilers. The body is that of Rachel, leading the detective to Deckard hiding in bombed out Las Vegas.
Deckhard could still be a replicant, or not.
He could still be related, or not.
It doesn't matter that there are 9 off world colonies and where they are.
The wall in both films refers to the wall blocking out the rising sea levels, not to some political riff on a current administration.
The story seems not to answer about environmental collapse, but doesn't have to.
Both are important films.
Later versions made him a replicant also, but this was not canon.
The updated 2017 version takes place in the same universe, 35 years later, where some of the replicants have become citizens, and even one called Kay is a blade runner. He discovers that there is a burial box of bones after a hit at a dusty site, but when he brings it back, they look at it and discover it is a woman who died in childbirth, and a replicant, which was siad to be impossible. Then the chief lady doesn't want him following the case. He does anyway. He has a virutal girlfriend but gives her a mobile emitter. He goes on a quest to the new android plant and meets a scene chewing blind master who had a Jesus complex, and is even sadistically killing his replicants. Then he visits a girl who is encased in a virtual room, who leads him to the orphanage where he might have been raised. The story is more complex than the first, but has long stretches of searching, actual detective work, and future spy stuff. It is an improvement on the first, and expands the world. Spoilers. The body is that of Rachel, leading the detective to Deckard hiding in bombed out Las Vegas.
Deckhard could still be a replicant, or not.
He could still be related, or not.
It doesn't matter that there are 9 off world colonies and where they are.
The wall in both films refers to the wall blocking out the rising sea levels, not to some political riff on a current administration.
The story seems not to answer about environmental collapse, but doesn't have to.
Both are important films.
Movie Recaps: August to early October 2017 Kal Kat
"Leap!"
French film Ballerina gets dubbed into English in awkward girl goes to the city fantasy. Cartoon take is uncanny, but some of it seems to work. Forget about the animation mixing the Eiffel Tower construction wit the State of Libery's, separated by actually 5 years. The story of two orphans in Paris where one somehow befriends Eiffel, but you never seem him, and the other becomes another person in disguise to be the dancer in the Nutcracker, but is caught. Forget that the Nutcracker would not exist for another 8 years. Anyway it's an okay children's movie. May contain some intense action.
"Close Encounters of the Third Kind"
The reissue of the classic movie that inspired so many more, including ET and the miniseries Taken, is the dramatic Spielberg family story of a man who seems to be going insane after an alien encounter on a dark road. The story is more a drama than a contact movie. It is slow paced until the end. Many new generation people will be utterly bored. It is a classic though and pointed the way to more upbeat and action packed copycat films. Last year's The Arrival was a cousin to this, but a generation and more later.The theatrical redo aired in a faux imax showing where the ship models looked crisp and fantastic, but the puppets looked unconvincing as aliens. It wasn't their fault. This is best on bluray. It should be shown in film schools. See it's not really about aliens on the devil's mesa, it's about people discovering they don't belong together, and seems to be a divorce parable.
"Stephen Kin's It"
The 2017 version of, spoiler, one part of the saga of It returns to the screen but now in theaters. It was a miniseries in 1990. It works better as a miniseries. The first film deals with the kids of Derry, Maine, where children are being sucked into a labyrinth like sewer system where an evil clown alien demon is apparently harvesting them. Friends team together as archetypes of King's friends, and go off on a Mary Sue type adventure to find one of their friends' little brother, who disappeared a year prior. What they find isn't him, but trickery from the alien clown demon. Also there are creepy parents, the one girl who might be some sort of vamp, but turns out she is just abused, and also some jump scares. The film was not wholly scary. It had moments, and it seems an onkay horror movie, and it does earn the R rating.
"American Assassin"
This is a movie copying a dozen others, as yet another movie about a rogue maverich agent out for revenge against the cartel that killed his fiance, and yet another coming of age story of young hotshot spy and aged master. It caught interest because of the leads, who were in the film chewing scenery, but story wise is was kind of lame. The spies seem to get out of every bind, and only bad guys get shot. The one messed up fun scene was a simulated town gag where the trainee accidentally shoots through the other trainee because she was annoying, but still, it was staged. It still didn't quitew work.
"Kingsman The Golden Circle"
This is not The Circle, but another movie about a cult. The drug cult is run by a famous star chewing scenery, and she is out to destroy the Kingsman mansion itself, and render them out of the way so she can win the war on drugs, market her own supply, and cure those she deliberately infected. It seems like a fun enough premise, as it is so batty insane, but it's missing something. The lead spy from the first one is now engaged to the girl from the gag at the end of the last one, for no reason. The spies discover their agent man from the church episode last time was in fact rescued by the Statesman, a group that rescues them to Amnerica where we're all living in a faux western, but he's now nuts. For some reason, evil cult lady likes melting little golden circles on people. She has also captured Elton John, as himself. Honestly, what were they on when they came up with this script? It's supposed to be a James Bond spoof, but this is ridiculous. She even dispatches enemies ala a giant industrial meat grinder. Lovely. It should have worked, but it didn't because it was all over the place.
"Lego Ninjao The Movie"
This story was actually in production before the Lego Movie, and looks it, as the effects aren't wuite polished as much as the Lego movie, or the Lego Batman movie. So this was actually first, named for the popular feudal fusion ninja cartoon of the same name. In this wrap around though, an aged Jackie Chan plays his rode from Kung Fu Kid (Karate Kid 5). He doesn't need to be there. The bumpers do not fit. You can tell they were added later to be more like 'The Lego Movie'. For the initiated, the story takes place in the third season after they go to the current century via the time travel episode. It is okay. The crowning achievement is a striped kitty cat secret weapon that does like Godzilla and is summoned into town to trash the hero mechs, because as batty as that sounds, in that universe a Purr Beast works! A similar gag is featured in the 2014 out take footage of Starship Chimera, our fan film, which has been online since then, where a cat disrupts the set filming and is referred to as The Purr Beast out to 'Decimate your enemies with his adorable cuteness!"
French film Ballerina gets dubbed into English in awkward girl goes to the city fantasy. Cartoon take is uncanny, but some of it seems to work. Forget about the animation mixing the Eiffel Tower construction wit the State of Libery's, separated by actually 5 years. The story of two orphans in Paris where one somehow befriends Eiffel, but you never seem him, and the other becomes another person in disguise to be the dancer in the Nutcracker, but is caught. Forget that the Nutcracker would not exist for another 8 years. Anyway it's an okay children's movie. May contain some intense action.
"Close Encounters of the Third Kind"
The reissue of the classic movie that inspired so many more, including ET and the miniseries Taken, is the dramatic Spielberg family story of a man who seems to be going insane after an alien encounter on a dark road. The story is more a drama than a contact movie. It is slow paced until the end. Many new generation people will be utterly bored. It is a classic though and pointed the way to more upbeat and action packed copycat films. Last year's The Arrival was a cousin to this, but a generation and more later.The theatrical redo aired in a faux imax showing where the ship models looked crisp and fantastic, but the puppets looked unconvincing as aliens. It wasn't their fault. This is best on bluray. It should be shown in film schools. See it's not really about aliens on the devil's mesa, it's about people discovering they don't belong together, and seems to be a divorce parable.
"Stephen Kin's It"
The 2017 version of, spoiler, one part of the saga of It returns to the screen but now in theaters. It was a miniseries in 1990. It works better as a miniseries. The first film deals with the kids of Derry, Maine, where children are being sucked into a labyrinth like sewer system where an evil clown alien demon is apparently harvesting them. Friends team together as archetypes of King's friends, and go off on a Mary Sue type adventure to find one of their friends' little brother, who disappeared a year prior. What they find isn't him, but trickery from the alien clown demon. Also there are creepy parents, the one girl who might be some sort of vamp, but turns out she is just abused, and also some jump scares. The film was not wholly scary. It had moments, and it seems an onkay horror movie, and it does earn the R rating.
"American Assassin"
This is a movie copying a dozen others, as yet another movie about a rogue maverich agent out for revenge against the cartel that killed his fiance, and yet another coming of age story of young hotshot spy and aged master. It caught interest because of the leads, who were in the film chewing scenery, but story wise is was kind of lame. The spies seem to get out of every bind, and only bad guys get shot. The one messed up fun scene was a simulated town gag where the trainee accidentally shoots through the other trainee because she was annoying, but still, it was staged. It still didn't quitew work.
"Kingsman The Golden Circle"
This is not The Circle, but another movie about a cult. The drug cult is run by a famous star chewing scenery, and she is out to destroy the Kingsman mansion itself, and render them out of the way so she can win the war on drugs, market her own supply, and cure those she deliberately infected. It seems like a fun enough premise, as it is so batty insane, but it's missing something. The lead spy from the first one is now engaged to the girl from the gag at the end of the last one, for no reason. The spies discover their agent man from the church episode last time was in fact rescued by the Statesman, a group that rescues them to Amnerica where we're all living in a faux western, but he's now nuts. For some reason, evil cult lady likes melting little golden circles on people. She has also captured Elton John, as himself. Honestly, what were they on when they came up with this script? It's supposed to be a James Bond spoof, but this is ridiculous. She even dispatches enemies ala a giant industrial meat grinder. Lovely. It should have worked, but it didn't because it was all over the place.
"Lego Ninjao The Movie"
This story was actually in production before the Lego Movie, and looks it, as the effects aren't wuite polished as much as the Lego movie, or the Lego Batman movie. So this was actually first, named for the popular feudal fusion ninja cartoon of the same name. In this wrap around though, an aged Jackie Chan plays his rode from Kung Fu Kid (Karate Kid 5). He doesn't need to be there. The bumpers do not fit. You can tell they were added later to be more like 'The Lego Movie'. For the initiated, the story takes place in the third season after they go to the current century via the time travel episode. It is okay. The crowning achievement is a striped kitty cat secret weapon that does like Godzilla and is summoned into town to trash the hero mechs, because as batty as that sounds, in that universe a Purr Beast works! A similar gag is featured in the 2014 out take footage of Starship Chimera, our fan film, which has been online since then, where a cat disrupts the set filming and is referred to as The Purr Beast out to 'Decimate your enemies with his adorable cuteness!"
Thursday, August 10, 2017
Movie Recaps June through Early Aug 2017 Kal Kat
"Alien Covenant"
Slipshod sequel to Prometheus is also a kind of reboot of Alien and retcons some of Promethues Another colony ship crash lands on a planet with Aliens but this time the android David from Prometheus is doing like Dr. Moreau and acting crazy, and none of the contact team bothers even wearing helmets on a hostile planet. It's sure to end badly, and it kind of does. Not nearly as poor as the previous, but reminds you more of a slasher film than an alien movie, or a scifi version of Heart of Darkness.
"Wonder Woman"
The 2017 addition to the DC universe is a WW1 era set Wonder Woman film with the lady from Batman V Superman as she appeared a century ago. Casting several upcoming stars from HBO shows, and other bigger stars, seems to elevate the otherwise standard three act superhero flick beyond a mere Marvel clone. The director and script are tight and work well. The slightly lacking third act though brings it down a peg from being a complete master work. It's like a very good movie is almost there, but not quite. Hammy villain lady and strange villain man do not help.
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales"
Way too long a title, a first act that goes on too long, and a strange combination of zombie irates out for vengeance and Jack getting his mojo back make for a sequel by the numbers. It seems like we've already seen this before a few times. Using some of the previous cast, putting the now grown boy from part 3 in it, and having the coming of age seems kind of fishy could have worked, but it flounders in places. It's like a family reunion where the relatives are kind of ickly and you're annoyed by them.
"The Mummy"
The 2017 entry in Universal's Dark Universe series kicks off with this odd freaky Egyptian Mummy lady flick with Tom Cruise chewing scenery for over 2 hours. It makes you want to watch the Brandon Frasier ones again, even the spin off. This reboot sets it in modern day, makes the villainous Mummy lady look like Enchantress from Suicide Squad, and gives her a similar plan to attack a city, shoot stuff everywhere, and capture the hero. Well, her motivation though is to make him an undead survivor, ala the X Men series film villain Apocalypse, but here her plan is kind of silly. It's probably worth a rental on Halloween.
"Rough Night"
Saturday Night Live gals return to go on a night of Hangover and Weekend at Bernie's high jinx in this sometimes funny buddy girl comedy. It is a dark comedy though, taking from gross out elements, mobster and male stripper death, lots of pratfalls, silly and violent gun play, and jet ski play, and some kink. It does have some fun with 'girl power' and all that, and is not a bad film, just not old school and not laugh out loud funny. Most of the laughs come from shocks. Spy was funnier. This is on a par with the first Hangover.
"Transformers The Last Knight"
Ditching the premise of it being time travel to ancient England early on, the Knights of Cybertron are shown but quickly abandoned to jump to the present day of an alternate 2017 where Cade Yeager must find Optimus Prime and save him, and to get there the Autobots must enlist an accentric lady, another even more bizarre British old man, and have lots of one liners and robot pratfalls and explosions! It's not as bad as part 2, although it's not really any better than most fan films. (That said, my fan films are better than this script, even ones that aren't about Transformers). If they were going to 'A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court' then commit! That was one of the more interesting classic episodes. They did not, instead choosing to pick from Transformers Prime (which they also helped write) and the comics, and some of the fan films, as though they had fifty ideas and none of them were connected. At least they sort of got Megatron right. It will be in my collection on BluRay, but it's not one of their best outings. It wasn't dull, but didn't make much sense.
"Baby Driver"
Now we can discuss the film from a preview of at Comic Con 2017, and also because it came out in theaters. The flick is a road movie action thriller called Baby Driver, about a race driver, GTA5 style, who works for this mob group out to rob high profile places, like banks, but things go wrong, so it goes back to an arms deal gone south, and a post office. The kid who drives the car has a girl, and she's in danger too. The kid has a tick in his ear, so he listens to music and it's like giving him super powers. Okay, tinnitus does not do that! Still, it makes for a fun ride, even though the ending threw me a little. Worth a rental, or to own on bargain.
"Spider Man Homecoming"
Marvel has another hit with the web crawler, in cooperation with Sony, to bring yet another reboot to the screen. This time it's connected to Captain America Civil War and to othewr Marvel movies, and Tony Stark, the Iron Man, is involved, but a new enemy called the Vulture is threatening the city using alien tech stolen from the Avengers battles. New actors are better than the past incarnations, even if some are confusing, like MJ, but the Vulture's lines are awesome, and his connection to the homecoming dance is awesome, so no spoilers. Own it to add to your Marvel collection.
"War of the Planet of the Apes"
The third installment in the Apes reboot is at times long, and heavy on words, and is the opposite of the action spectacle it looks from the trailers. The actual war is more psychological than combat, and the awesome combat is there, but most of that is in the trailers. It really worked if you dig the reading subtitles and the road trip parts. It also worked if you like the two battle set pieces, which are amazing, and the prison escape, similar to that of old war movies. Chewing scenery is also great in the flick, including the awesome villain, and the heroic ape leader, Caesar.
"Valerian"
This amazing looking follow up to The Fifth Element is jaw dropping pretty and zany, and should be every bit as bizarre and fun, but something is severely lacking, the chemistry. The shopping mall virtual planet was cute, and the weird nightclub was fun, but most of the talking is boring! The two leads are clearly not enjoying each other. The cameo by a pop star seems forced and unnecessary, except she helps the hero escape. The heroes are assigned to a mission by some stuffy actor politician military types chewing scenery, while they have no on screen mojo, and they lose each other, and must be found again, in a city space ship the size of a planet. It's not a thousand planets. Anywaty, all of these aliens are colorful and some are deadly. Then there is this weird race of tall greys that have some kind of nuclear pearl pooping pets that this base thing is keeping on ice. It could be amazing if it weren't for a pair of disinterested leads, or at least the most so, the male lead, who clearly phones it in. It so could have been awesome. That said, it is far better than Jupiter Ascending.
"Dunkirk"
An ex pop star and a dapper old guy on a boat save a film about WW2 and the rescue of Dunkirk from obscurity in Chris Nolan's epic bid for Oscar. Too bad it came out in July. Really it is a fine movie, if one avoided the timeline oddities, a very long over 2 hour movie, an hour long final push, and interspersed through that, a 15 minute dogfight. It is not supposed to be a documentary, and it doesn't really try to be. Characters are often left with no intro, but thrust into the combat with little or no reason, and then have to survive with little chance of hope, but some of them get out. It does play with the gritty reality of war. Some people are killed immediately after you think they will be a main person. Others stay over long and you don't care for them at all. It really is a fine film and worthy of the year's best reviews so far. The flaws are not so consequential. Own it.
"The Dark Tower"
Based on the longest running Stephen King book series ever, the film adaptation of The Dark Tower really cannot be worked out. The film is plodding and takes weird liberties with events, cramming the New York scenes of a later book with the tower scenes of the last two, and the second book villain. It is a mess. If they had just stuck to the first book, it would have made sense. Maybe if they made a TV series out of it instead, it would be better. They planned on it, but now reviews indicate it might not be made. The movie just seemed like a dozen other similar fantasy films, from those ones where they run out of money and have to use a city in modern times, or the ones where not much is happening, so they film a lot of pretty backdrops. Also there are the odd hacker mind power elements of children being forced into shooting their cosmic shine energy to destroy a tower. That is not in the book like that! Also, those wormhole doorway machines aren't in the book. They're just doors into the other world.
"Atomic Blonde"
Butt kicking spy lady in 1989 Berlin fights a series of enemy bosses to get a list of names back from a guy they're supposed to protect, and get the list back, but all hell breaks loose. Now she must call in and report the incidents and give it to the British or to the US intelligence. The movie is filmed wrap around like flashbacks to the episodes leading up to the various agents, bad guys, strongmen, and a French spy lady she beds, to get to the list, or to a man who has copied the list into his memory. She doesn't actually explode. Not a spoiler. With a name like that, you would think she would explode, somewhere. Oh well. It;s a fun film and is similar to Le Femme Nikita and to James Bond and the Bourne films.
Slipshod sequel to Prometheus is also a kind of reboot of Alien and retcons some of Promethues Another colony ship crash lands on a planet with Aliens but this time the android David from Prometheus is doing like Dr. Moreau and acting crazy, and none of the contact team bothers even wearing helmets on a hostile planet. It's sure to end badly, and it kind of does. Not nearly as poor as the previous, but reminds you more of a slasher film than an alien movie, or a scifi version of Heart of Darkness.
"Wonder Woman"
The 2017 addition to the DC universe is a WW1 era set Wonder Woman film with the lady from Batman V Superman as she appeared a century ago. Casting several upcoming stars from HBO shows, and other bigger stars, seems to elevate the otherwise standard three act superhero flick beyond a mere Marvel clone. The director and script are tight and work well. The slightly lacking third act though brings it down a peg from being a complete master work. It's like a very good movie is almost there, but not quite. Hammy villain lady and strange villain man do not help.
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales"
Way too long a title, a first act that goes on too long, and a strange combination of zombie irates out for vengeance and Jack getting his mojo back make for a sequel by the numbers. It seems like we've already seen this before a few times. Using some of the previous cast, putting the now grown boy from part 3 in it, and having the coming of age seems kind of fishy could have worked, but it flounders in places. It's like a family reunion where the relatives are kind of ickly and you're annoyed by them.
"The Mummy"
The 2017 entry in Universal's Dark Universe series kicks off with this odd freaky Egyptian Mummy lady flick with Tom Cruise chewing scenery for over 2 hours. It makes you want to watch the Brandon Frasier ones again, even the spin off. This reboot sets it in modern day, makes the villainous Mummy lady look like Enchantress from Suicide Squad, and gives her a similar plan to attack a city, shoot stuff everywhere, and capture the hero. Well, her motivation though is to make him an undead survivor, ala the X Men series film villain Apocalypse, but here her plan is kind of silly. It's probably worth a rental on Halloween.
"Rough Night"
Saturday Night Live gals return to go on a night of Hangover and Weekend at Bernie's high jinx in this sometimes funny buddy girl comedy. It is a dark comedy though, taking from gross out elements, mobster and male stripper death, lots of pratfalls, silly and violent gun play, and jet ski play, and some kink. It does have some fun with 'girl power' and all that, and is not a bad film, just not old school and not laugh out loud funny. Most of the laughs come from shocks. Spy was funnier. This is on a par with the first Hangover.
"Transformers The Last Knight"
Ditching the premise of it being time travel to ancient England early on, the Knights of Cybertron are shown but quickly abandoned to jump to the present day of an alternate 2017 where Cade Yeager must find Optimus Prime and save him, and to get there the Autobots must enlist an accentric lady, another even more bizarre British old man, and have lots of one liners and robot pratfalls and explosions! It's not as bad as part 2, although it's not really any better than most fan films. (That said, my fan films are better than this script, even ones that aren't about Transformers). If they were going to 'A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court' then commit! That was one of the more interesting classic episodes. They did not, instead choosing to pick from Transformers Prime (which they also helped write) and the comics, and some of the fan films, as though they had fifty ideas and none of them were connected. At least they sort of got Megatron right. It will be in my collection on BluRay, but it's not one of their best outings. It wasn't dull, but didn't make much sense.
"Baby Driver"
Now we can discuss the film from a preview of at Comic Con 2017, and also because it came out in theaters. The flick is a road movie action thriller called Baby Driver, about a race driver, GTA5 style, who works for this mob group out to rob high profile places, like banks, but things go wrong, so it goes back to an arms deal gone south, and a post office. The kid who drives the car has a girl, and she's in danger too. The kid has a tick in his ear, so he listens to music and it's like giving him super powers. Okay, tinnitus does not do that! Still, it makes for a fun ride, even though the ending threw me a little. Worth a rental, or to own on bargain.
"Spider Man Homecoming"
Marvel has another hit with the web crawler, in cooperation with Sony, to bring yet another reboot to the screen. This time it's connected to Captain America Civil War and to othewr Marvel movies, and Tony Stark, the Iron Man, is involved, but a new enemy called the Vulture is threatening the city using alien tech stolen from the Avengers battles. New actors are better than the past incarnations, even if some are confusing, like MJ, but the Vulture's lines are awesome, and his connection to the homecoming dance is awesome, so no spoilers. Own it to add to your Marvel collection.
"War of the Planet of the Apes"
The third installment in the Apes reboot is at times long, and heavy on words, and is the opposite of the action spectacle it looks from the trailers. The actual war is more psychological than combat, and the awesome combat is there, but most of that is in the trailers. It really worked if you dig the reading subtitles and the road trip parts. It also worked if you like the two battle set pieces, which are amazing, and the prison escape, similar to that of old war movies. Chewing scenery is also great in the flick, including the awesome villain, and the heroic ape leader, Caesar.
"Valerian"
This amazing looking follow up to The Fifth Element is jaw dropping pretty and zany, and should be every bit as bizarre and fun, but something is severely lacking, the chemistry. The shopping mall virtual planet was cute, and the weird nightclub was fun, but most of the talking is boring! The two leads are clearly not enjoying each other. The cameo by a pop star seems forced and unnecessary, except she helps the hero escape. The heroes are assigned to a mission by some stuffy actor politician military types chewing scenery, while they have no on screen mojo, and they lose each other, and must be found again, in a city space ship the size of a planet. It's not a thousand planets. Anywaty, all of these aliens are colorful and some are deadly. Then there is this weird race of tall greys that have some kind of nuclear pearl pooping pets that this base thing is keeping on ice. It could be amazing if it weren't for a pair of disinterested leads, or at least the most so, the male lead, who clearly phones it in. It so could have been awesome. That said, it is far better than Jupiter Ascending.
"Dunkirk"
An ex pop star and a dapper old guy on a boat save a film about WW2 and the rescue of Dunkirk from obscurity in Chris Nolan's epic bid for Oscar. Too bad it came out in July. Really it is a fine movie, if one avoided the timeline oddities, a very long over 2 hour movie, an hour long final push, and interspersed through that, a 15 minute dogfight. It is not supposed to be a documentary, and it doesn't really try to be. Characters are often left with no intro, but thrust into the combat with little or no reason, and then have to survive with little chance of hope, but some of them get out. It does play with the gritty reality of war. Some people are killed immediately after you think they will be a main person. Others stay over long and you don't care for them at all. It really is a fine film and worthy of the year's best reviews so far. The flaws are not so consequential. Own it.
"The Dark Tower"
Based on the longest running Stephen King book series ever, the film adaptation of The Dark Tower really cannot be worked out. The film is plodding and takes weird liberties with events, cramming the New York scenes of a later book with the tower scenes of the last two, and the second book villain. It is a mess. If they had just stuck to the first book, it would have made sense. Maybe if they made a TV series out of it instead, it would be better. They planned on it, but now reviews indicate it might not be made. The movie just seemed like a dozen other similar fantasy films, from those ones where they run out of money and have to use a city in modern times, or the ones where not much is happening, so they film a lot of pretty backdrops. Also there are the odd hacker mind power elements of children being forced into shooting their cosmic shine energy to destroy a tower. That is not in the book like that! Also, those wormhole doorway machines aren't in the book. They're just doors into the other world.
"Atomic Blonde"
Butt kicking spy lady in 1989 Berlin fights a series of enemy bosses to get a list of names back from a guy they're supposed to protect, and get the list back, but all hell breaks loose. Now she must call in and report the incidents and give it to the British or to the US intelligence. The movie is filmed wrap around like flashbacks to the episodes leading up to the various agents, bad guys, strongmen, and a French spy lady she beds, to get to the list, or to a man who has copied the list into his memory. She doesn't actually explode. Not a spoiler. With a name like that, you would think she would explode, somewhere. Oh well. It;s a fun film and is similar to Le Femme Nikita and to James Bond and the Bourne films.
Sunday, May 14, 2017
January to May Movies Recapped in 2017 Kal Kat
The full review vlogs can be seen on YouTube at weirdkitty07, Kal Kat Reviews Channel 2.
"Hidden Figures"
Oscar bait feel good movie about 1960s NASA space program electing to hire black women as engineers to do the math to fly the rockets. A cute movie that doesn't offend and tells a message about tolerance, even if the fog of decades has made it seem like civil rights drama was littrle more than handing hammer to a guy to break a washroom sign and everything was cool. Still there were some decent acting performances and one Oscar worthy one. It is worth owning.
"Monster Trucks"
This review was a double. Kal Kat reviewed it with James Kurtz of the church group. A movie perfect for preteen boys into monsters and trucks, with a cast of all too aged alleged teenager adults. The lead is a guy who finds that a monster that eats oil has become the engine of his truck through some gear head logic, and will make him a hero. The monster though wants to rescue his family from the evil oil men who want to destroy their habitat. It's a fine movie, if nota little silly, and is worth a rental.
"Split"
M Night Shalayaman returns to form in this follow up to Unbreakable where a manic multiple personality man kidnaps young women to invoke his inner Beast, and a head shrink attempts to find out what he's hiding. The first truly scary movie of 2017 and recommended to own, as it is actually worth it. The review on the web site is also quite hilariously dark.
"Resident Evil The Series"
Based on the zombie fighting game Bioshock and Resident Evil, it's the whole series in a review. With the completion of the Alice series, the action zombie fighting series comes to an end with Alice fighting the final boss, which is about time, in the main lair. She is aided by the queen, who for some reason is retconned into someone else. They are all pretty silly, but not boring, and are worth renting The final one is kind of confusing, but okay.
"La La Land"
A review also seen with others, La La Land is an Oscar bait movie that by accident nearly won best picture. It is about old Hollywood in the time of the great films, but done in modern times for Millennial couples, with a pretty pair of leads. They are not Astaire and Rogers, but they do okay. Gosling is no Kelly either. Stone is no Gracie. At least she hands in an Oscar worthy performance playing a misanthrope. It is worth owning, but if you prefer, a rental now and then. It had great set pieces though. Oddly, a white guy explaining Jazz is like a while guy explaining Soul, but okay, whatever. Just go with it.
"The Lego Batman Movie"
This is one of the most fun Batman adaptations ever, and a terrific nod to a genre, and dc love letter. It is the move DC should make as a live action flick. They won't though. This is a must buy. It stars a cast of Batman heroes and villains threatening to use Superman's back story phantom zone to destroy Gotham, which sounds scary, but it's a kids movie, so it's not. It's just a lot of fun.
"The Great Wall"
Reverse white washing happens when a white hero lead is cast in a mythical story of China where they use the Wall to stop dinosaur like Mongol things from destroying the city. The story has no right to make sense, but tends to be fun and entertaining even though it is so bizarre. It is like an old Kung Fu movie meets an old WW1 movie with a little Godzilla.
"Rock Dog"
This bizarre roadie movie about a male dog guard who fails at guarding his village and discovers his true calling might be music via a guitar and a radio, is one of the oddest ideas for a movie. It isn't a good movie, but isn't horrible. it does have an evil corporate wolf mob led by a comedian, and a stuck up jerky Ozzy like dog singer down on his luck, who exploits the new dog in town. It should really not be that much fun, but there are some scenes that work. The problem is a lot of it fails. It's like a string is out of tune on this one, or two.
"Logan"
The Old Man Wolverine story is put to film as a western redemption tale, done with an R rating, and is one of the finest X Men movies every made. Thus far, this movie is Oscar worthy for 2017. Stewart and Jackman are spot on perfect. This movie is dark, brooding, cowboys and bad guys, action packed fun. It is dark though. The future Wolverine must get Professor X out of town when a band of bad guys comes looking for a lost girl, who turns out can handle herself because she is also a mutant, who happens to be a 'daughter' of Wolverine. They go on the run and wreck some stuff, but it's deeper than the usual fare, and as good as Deadpool from last year. Own in.
"Beauty and the Beast"
This 2017 live action remake of the 1991 Disney movie strikes all the right notes, even if lead Watson is not the original actress, and the person they have singing the main song is no Celine Dion, but that's okay. The other characters are all better and elevate Belle's just okay performance by being in the mood and having so much fun. Gaston and LaFou are perfect. The Beast is good too. Watson is not usually stale in acting roles. This was odd. It likely was not necessary to do this live action remake.
"Kong Skull Island"
In this 1970s set story, a prequel to the Godzilla film from a few years back, in a way, a Vietnam era group is sent to Skull Island to find Kong, and oh do they! Well it's one heck of an action film, and the story wavers from your typical Vietnam war movie to your bizarre fantasy with giant monsters, giant ape, and crazy humans, and a lot of gunfire. It is a lot of fun as an action picture with some surprise stars cast in it.
"Saban's Power Rangers"
It is Morphin Time again, as the third theatrical Power Rangers film is back, with a kind of origin reboot. After a dozen seasons spread out over most of the 1990s and 2000s, with Saban and Disney, and now Saban again, this one seems more of a nod to the later darker ones. Five teens discoverey = the super powered space vessel of Zordon as the evil Rite Repulsa is pulled from the sea, and threatens Angel Grove once more. The five must work together to learn to be Power Rangers, if their attitudes don't derail that The buildup is actually decent and doesn't become boring. The final boss fight is kind of silly, and the Megazord is ugly, but the story works. It is odd that product placement is so obvious in the film though. Krispy Kreme must have paid them a lot.
"Life"
In the future, a Mars probe is brought aboard the space station in Earth orbit, but an alien life form begins to grow and to take out the crew. It's a decent horror movie nod, and a space movie.
"Ghost in the Shell"
This overdone 2017 live action remake of a classic anime from the 1990s white washes the lead but makes everyone else properly Japanese. Still it is not a bad adaptation, tends to copy the dubbed cartoon, and is true to some of the source material. The Major is a cyborg in a future Kong Kong sent to stop a syndicate of evil guys, and a hacker puppet master who seems to be playing both sides.It seems socially relevant today at the adolescence of the information age. Worth a rental.
"Fate and the Furious"
The Fast and Furious is the Grand Theft Auto of movies. In this installment it is number 8, they battle the Cypher, a super hacker. This flick seems like they did this plot before, as one of the fast talking gear-heads turns rogue and the gang has to take him down and bring him in. It might be worth owning if you have the other seven. It does have some interesting stars, and a guest star villain chewing scenery. It also has plenty of things blowing up.
"Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2"
Kat reviewed the sequel to Guardiands of the Galaxy just recently. It is still in theaters. Cards saw it later. They both liked it a lot, and it is as good as the first. Star Lord finds his Father, but he is not what hae seems. The antics continue as the MCU leads toward an epic showdown, but first, the Guardians must battle a stuck up band of golden people, and a living planet!
"Jesus, Bro!"
Walkaway, Stoned Gremlins and Chnnel Awesome created a fun and snark filled spoof of bad Christian films in this online fan film also for DVD. The film is included here because it was a film. In the story, an atheist vlogger has a near death experience after a drink, and imagines he has met Santa Christ, and later, the Devil. He must turn people to Jesus orlose his vlog, or his girlfriend. This is a high satire and a lowbrow nod to bad videos. It is well done, well acted, and is suprisingly on point.
"Hidden Figures"
Oscar bait feel good movie about 1960s NASA space program electing to hire black women as engineers to do the math to fly the rockets. A cute movie that doesn't offend and tells a message about tolerance, even if the fog of decades has made it seem like civil rights drama was littrle more than handing hammer to a guy to break a washroom sign and everything was cool. Still there were some decent acting performances and one Oscar worthy one. It is worth owning.
"Monster Trucks"
This review was a double. Kal Kat reviewed it with James Kurtz of the church group. A movie perfect for preteen boys into monsters and trucks, with a cast of all too aged alleged teenager adults. The lead is a guy who finds that a monster that eats oil has become the engine of his truck through some gear head logic, and will make him a hero. The monster though wants to rescue his family from the evil oil men who want to destroy their habitat. It's a fine movie, if nota little silly, and is worth a rental.
"Split"
M Night Shalayaman returns to form in this follow up to Unbreakable where a manic multiple personality man kidnaps young women to invoke his inner Beast, and a head shrink attempts to find out what he's hiding. The first truly scary movie of 2017 and recommended to own, as it is actually worth it. The review on the web site is also quite hilariously dark.
"Resident Evil The Series"
Based on the zombie fighting game Bioshock and Resident Evil, it's the whole series in a review. With the completion of the Alice series, the action zombie fighting series comes to an end with Alice fighting the final boss, which is about time, in the main lair. She is aided by the queen, who for some reason is retconned into someone else. They are all pretty silly, but not boring, and are worth renting The final one is kind of confusing, but okay.
"La La Land"
A review also seen with others, La La Land is an Oscar bait movie that by accident nearly won best picture. It is about old Hollywood in the time of the great films, but done in modern times for Millennial couples, with a pretty pair of leads. They are not Astaire and Rogers, but they do okay. Gosling is no Kelly either. Stone is no Gracie. At least she hands in an Oscar worthy performance playing a misanthrope. It is worth owning, but if you prefer, a rental now and then. It had great set pieces though. Oddly, a white guy explaining Jazz is like a while guy explaining Soul, but okay, whatever. Just go with it.
"The Lego Batman Movie"
This is one of the most fun Batman adaptations ever, and a terrific nod to a genre, and dc love letter. It is the move DC should make as a live action flick. They won't though. This is a must buy. It stars a cast of Batman heroes and villains threatening to use Superman's back story phantom zone to destroy Gotham, which sounds scary, but it's a kids movie, so it's not. It's just a lot of fun.
"The Great Wall"
Reverse white washing happens when a white hero lead is cast in a mythical story of China where they use the Wall to stop dinosaur like Mongol things from destroying the city. The story has no right to make sense, but tends to be fun and entertaining even though it is so bizarre. It is like an old Kung Fu movie meets an old WW1 movie with a little Godzilla.
"Rock Dog"
This bizarre roadie movie about a male dog guard who fails at guarding his village and discovers his true calling might be music via a guitar and a radio, is one of the oddest ideas for a movie. It isn't a good movie, but isn't horrible. it does have an evil corporate wolf mob led by a comedian, and a stuck up jerky Ozzy like dog singer down on his luck, who exploits the new dog in town. It should really not be that much fun, but there are some scenes that work. The problem is a lot of it fails. It's like a string is out of tune on this one, or two.
"Logan"
The Old Man Wolverine story is put to film as a western redemption tale, done with an R rating, and is one of the finest X Men movies every made. Thus far, this movie is Oscar worthy for 2017. Stewart and Jackman are spot on perfect. This movie is dark, brooding, cowboys and bad guys, action packed fun. It is dark though. The future Wolverine must get Professor X out of town when a band of bad guys comes looking for a lost girl, who turns out can handle herself because she is also a mutant, who happens to be a 'daughter' of Wolverine. They go on the run and wreck some stuff, but it's deeper than the usual fare, and as good as Deadpool from last year. Own in.
"Beauty and the Beast"
This 2017 live action remake of the 1991 Disney movie strikes all the right notes, even if lead Watson is not the original actress, and the person they have singing the main song is no Celine Dion, but that's okay. The other characters are all better and elevate Belle's just okay performance by being in the mood and having so much fun. Gaston and LaFou are perfect. The Beast is good too. Watson is not usually stale in acting roles. This was odd. It likely was not necessary to do this live action remake.
"Kong Skull Island"
In this 1970s set story, a prequel to the Godzilla film from a few years back, in a way, a Vietnam era group is sent to Skull Island to find Kong, and oh do they! Well it's one heck of an action film, and the story wavers from your typical Vietnam war movie to your bizarre fantasy with giant monsters, giant ape, and crazy humans, and a lot of gunfire. It is a lot of fun as an action picture with some surprise stars cast in it.
"Saban's Power Rangers"
It is Morphin Time again, as the third theatrical Power Rangers film is back, with a kind of origin reboot. After a dozen seasons spread out over most of the 1990s and 2000s, with Saban and Disney, and now Saban again, this one seems more of a nod to the later darker ones. Five teens discoverey = the super powered space vessel of Zordon as the evil Rite Repulsa is pulled from the sea, and threatens Angel Grove once more. The five must work together to learn to be Power Rangers, if their attitudes don't derail that The buildup is actually decent and doesn't become boring. The final boss fight is kind of silly, and the Megazord is ugly, but the story works. It is odd that product placement is so obvious in the film though. Krispy Kreme must have paid them a lot.
"Life"
In the future, a Mars probe is brought aboard the space station in Earth orbit, but an alien life form begins to grow and to take out the crew. It's a decent horror movie nod, and a space movie.
"Ghost in the Shell"
This overdone 2017 live action remake of a classic anime from the 1990s white washes the lead but makes everyone else properly Japanese. Still it is not a bad adaptation, tends to copy the dubbed cartoon, and is true to some of the source material. The Major is a cyborg in a future Kong Kong sent to stop a syndicate of evil guys, and a hacker puppet master who seems to be playing both sides.It seems socially relevant today at the adolescence of the information age. Worth a rental.
"Fate and the Furious"
The Fast and Furious is the Grand Theft Auto of movies. In this installment it is number 8, they battle the Cypher, a super hacker. This flick seems like they did this plot before, as one of the fast talking gear-heads turns rogue and the gang has to take him down and bring him in. It might be worth owning if you have the other seven. It does have some interesting stars, and a guest star villain chewing scenery. It also has plenty of things blowing up.
"Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2"
Kat reviewed the sequel to Guardiands of the Galaxy just recently. It is still in theaters. Cards saw it later. They both liked it a lot, and it is as good as the first. Star Lord finds his Father, but he is not what hae seems. The antics continue as the MCU leads toward an epic showdown, but first, the Guardians must battle a stuck up band of golden people, and a living planet!
"Jesus, Bro!"
Walkaway, Stoned Gremlins and Chnnel Awesome created a fun and snark filled spoof of bad Christian films in this online fan film also for DVD. The film is included here because it was a film. In the story, an atheist vlogger has a near death experience after a drink, and imagines he has met Santa Christ, and later, the Devil. He must turn people to Jesus orlose his vlog, or his girlfriend. This is a high satire and a lowbrow nod to bad videos. It is well done, well acted, and is suprisingly on point.
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