Movies Seen, April-June 2018
Jul. 15th, 2018 04:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thewayne04/07 Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (v)
04/11 Pacific Rim (v/rw)
04/12 Pacific Rim Uprising
04/15 Ready Player One
04/30 Avengers Infinity War
05/14 Rampage
05/26 Deadpool (vod/v/rw)
05/27 Deadpool 2
06/01 Solo: A Star Wars Story
06/27 Bladerunner 2049 (vod/v)
KEY: v=on video (DVD or Blu-ray), VOD=Video On Demand via Netflix or whatever through AppleTV, rw=rewatch.
This brings my movies viewed for 2018 from January through June to 24, sadly 18 of those on video or video on demand. That rather sucks, and reflects both a pretty sad selection of things being released and my wife wanting to keep me out of the theater while flu was pretty bad in public circulation.
Nevertheless, on with the comments.
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. This movie was the debut film by George Clooney, based on the autobiography of Chuck Barris of the same name. The movie starred Clooney, Drew Barrymore, and Sam Rockwell. Barris was a game show creator who is best known for creating The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and The Gong Show. In the book he also claims to have been an assassin for the CIA. I had heard great things about this movie, and honestly, I was really let down. I found the movie to be very plodding and nodded off frequently during parts of it. In fact, I’ll be selling the video during a future trip to Phoenix. Can’t say that I’d recommend it.
Pacific Rim. When a sequel comes out, I like to watch the predecessor again if I can, and that’s the case with Pacific Rim. As I recalled, I wasn’t blown away by the original, but honestly, I really enjoyed seeing it again. I only saw it once (as far as I recall) in the theater, and I guess I liked it enough to get the DVD. I’d heard from Sources that the DVD wasn’t good because the robots and kaiju looked really bad on the small screen, and I guess they’re a lot more critical on effects than I am because I thought it looked fine. Granted, I don’t have a huge, super hi-def TV. In fact, my TV is massively glitchy and I pretty much can’t watch DVDs and Blu-rays any more, but I thought it looked fine. And the performances by some of the side characters such as Ron Perleman were wonderful. I really enjoyed it.
Pacific Rim Uprising. Really liked the sequel, I wish they hadn’t been so long in making it. Artificial Intelligence RoboGuardians are about to be deployed around the world, making the giant mechs from the first movie superfluous. Then Bad Things Happen, including the return of the kaiju. But how – if the rift was sealed through the self-sacrifice of Idris Elba at the end of the first movie, how did they get back through? It’s an excellent explanation that I was satisfied with, and a great setup for a third movie, I just hope it’s within the next five years.
Ready Player One. The RP1 book is one of my all-time favorite books, it’s such a wonderful paean to ‘80s geek culture. It’s a shame the movie falls flat. It’s still a good movie, it’s a pale implementation of the book. The main thing that’s missing is brand names. If you take a look at the two (or more) trailers for Wreck It Ralph 2, you see brand names galore. Granted, Disney has more money than Dreamworks SKG, but Spielberg ain’t exactly poor. Changing out Pacman for Generic Video Game #5 really weakened the movie. Or, to be more specific, failed to make it as good as it could have been. It stayed close enough to the book to be recognizable, but the lack of brand names really weakened it. At least we (theoretically) don’t have to worry about a sequel.
Avengers Infinity War. Well, this certainly generated a lot of talk! By now everyone has either seen it or knows what happened at the end with Thanos, so I don’t feel particularly bound by the need to warn of spoilers, but I’ll still be a little circumspect. While I didn’t expect what happened, Marvel is not going to let the Marvel Cinematic Universe grind to a halt, there’s to much money being spat out. Next year there is “an untitled Avengers movie” coming out in the spring. My personal expectation is that when Dr. Strange went wandering through the million possible futures and saw only one where the Avengers stopped Thanos, he saw how to unwind what Thanos did, and that’s what we’ll see next year. And I think it’s actually going to be a three-parter: the Captain Marvel movie (Brie Larson) releases March 8, the Avengers movie May 9.
Rampage. I loved Rampage: giant gorilla and giant wolf destroy downtown Chicago. Dwayne Johnson saving the world. I really enjoy Dwayne Johnson as an actor as he’s so good at subtle humor. Excellent ‘turn brain off, chew popcorn’ summer movie. Highly recommended for brainless entertainment. And they recommend actual technology: the CRISPR gene editor. Ignore the inverse square law for how big things can get, but otherwise it’s lots of fun.
Deadpool. Again, rewatch before the sequel.
Deadpool 2. I was kind of ambivalent about the first Deadpool movie. I liked a couple of the running gags, like always forgetting his bag of guns, loved the fight at the end at the not-quite Helicarrier. The second movie had a lot more going on in the plot, and I liked it a lot more. I was backing out of buying Marvel & DC comics when Cable was coming in, so I wasn’t particularly familiar with him, which made him a new reveal for me. Overall, quite enjoyed the movie. Loved Juggernaut appearing! Did not expect him to be the big surprise.
Solo: A Star Wars Story. I’ve said it before, I’m tired of one or two Star Wars movies every year. Solo was OK, story was OK, sadly I missed part of the end battle as I’ve been pretty sick recently and had to make a run for the gents. I’m not going to bother going to see it again as it’s no longer in the theater, nor do I have plans to buy it unless my wife wants it. Very curious why no Wookies wanted off Kessel.
Bladerunner 2049. I have had a long love for the original Bladerunner. I have the first printing of the Cinefex devoted to it. And then Ridley Scott came out with the director’s cut edition and Deckard went from a little bit squicky to what I consider a flat-out rapist. Kinda ruined the movie for me. Well, now we have the sequel. And…. I still don’t really know what to think. I recently re-watched it on video, and I just can’t get that excited about it. I will say one good thing about it: the music is an excellent tribute to the original Vangelis score. Now that I’m past it, I think they would have done better to make two movies, one bridging the time gap between the first and this one, which was partly covered in three (or four?) short films available online, then you’d have a smoother transition between films. But even so, I thought the story just wasn’t that strong, especially when it came to K’s emotional responses. I’m hoping to see a friend of mine in DC in a couple of months who is also a huge fan of the original to get his take on 2049, but I just can’t get past meh.
04/11 Pacific Rim (v/rw)
04/12 Pacific Rim Uprising
04/15 Ready Player One
04/30 Avengers Infinity War
05/14 Rampage
05/26 Deadpool (vod/v/rw)
05/27 Deadpool 2
06/01 Solo: A Star Wars Story
06/27 Bladerunner 2049 (vod/v)
KEY: v=on video (DVD or Blu-ray), VOD=Video On Demand via Netflix or whatever through AppleTV, rw=rewatch.
This brings my movies viewed for 2018 from January through June to 24, sadly 18 of those on video or video on demand. That rather sucks, and reflects both a pretty sad selection of things being released and my wife wanting to keep me out of the theater while flu was pretty bad in public circulation.
Nevertheless, on with the comments.
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. This movie was the debut film by George Clooney, based on the autobiography of Chuck Barris of the same name. The movie starred Clooney, Drew Barrymore, and Sam Rockwell. Barris was a game show creator who is best known for creating The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and The Gong Show. In the book he also claims to have been an assassin for the CIA. I had heard great things about this movie, and honestly, I was really let down. I found the movie to be very plodding and nodded off frequently during parts of it. In fact, I’ll be selling the video during a future trip to Phoenix. Can’t say that I’d recommend it.
Pacific Rim. When a sequel comes out, I like to watch the predecessor again if I can, and that’s the case with Pacific Rim. As I recalled, I wasn’t blown away by the original, but honestly, I really enjoyed seeing it again. I only saw it once (as far as I recall) in the theater, and I guess I liked it enough to get the DVD. I’d heard from Sources that the DVD wasn’t good because the robots and kaiju looked really bad on the small screen, and I guess they’re a lot more critical on effects than I am because I thought it looked fine. Granted, I don’t have a huge, super hi-def TV. In fact, my TV is massively glitchy and I pretty much can’t watch DVDs and Blu-rays any more, but I thought it looked fine. And the performances by some of the side characters such as Ron Perleman were wonderful. I really enjoyed it.
Pacific Rim Uprising. Really liked the sequel, I wish they hadn’t been so long in making it. Artificial Intelligence RoboGuardians are about to be deployed around the world, making the giant mechs from the first movie superfluous. Then Bad Things Happen, including the return of the kaiju. But how – if the rift was sealed through the self-sacrifice of Idris Elba at the end of the first movie, how did they get back through? It’s an excellent explanation that I was satisfied with, and a great setup for a third movie, I just hope it’s within the next five years.
Ready Player One. The RP1 book is one of my all-time favorite books, it’s such a wonderful paean to ‘80s geek culture. It’s a shame the movie falls flat. It’s still a good movie, it’s a pale implementation of the book. The main thing that’s missing is brand names. If you take a look at the two (or more) trailers for Wreck It Ralph 2, you see brand names galore. Granted, Disney has more money than Dreamworks SKG, but Spielberg ain’t exactly poor. Changing out Pacman for Generic Video Game #5 really weakened the movie. Or, to be more specific, failed to make it as good as it could have been. It stayed close enough to the book to be recognizable, but the lack of brand names really weakened it. At least we (theoretically) don’t have to worry about a sequel.
Avengers Infinity War. Well, this certainly generated a lot of talk! By now everyone has either seen it or knows what happened at the end with Thanos, so I don’t feel particularly bound by the need to warn of spoilers, but I’ll still be a little circumspect. While I didn’t expect what happened, Marvel is not going to let the Marvel Cinematic Universe grind to a halt, there’s to much money being spat out. Next year there is “an untitled Avengers movie” coming out in the spring. My personal expectation is that when Dr. Strange went wandering through the million possible futures and saw only one where the Avengers stopped Thanos, he saw how to unwind what Thanos did, and that’s what we’ll see next year. And I think it’s actually going to be a three-parter: the Captain Marvel movie (Brie Larson) releases March 8, the Avengers movie May 9.
Rampage. I loved Rampage: giant gorilla and giant wolf destroy downtown Chicago. Dwayne Johnson saving the world. I really enjoy Dwayne Johnson as an actor as he’s so good at subtle humor. Excellent ‘turn brain off, chew popcorn’ summer movie. Highly recommended for brainless entertainment. And they recommend actual technology: the CRISPR gene editor. Ignore the inverse square law for how big things can get, but otherwise it’s lots of fun.
Deadpool. Again, rewatch before the sequel.
Deadpool 2. I was kind of ambivalent about the first Deadpool movie. I liked a couple of the running gags, like always forgetting his bag of guns, loved the fight at the end at the not-quite Helicarrier. The second movie had a lot more going on in the plot, and I liked it a lot more. I was backing out of buying Marvel & DC comics when Cable was coming in, so I wasn’t particularly familiar with him, which made him a new reveal for me. Overall, quite enjoyed the movie. Loved Juggernaut appearing! Did not expect him to be the big surprise.
Solo: A Star Wars Story. I’ve said it before, I’m tired of one or two Star Wars movies every year. Solo was OK, story was OK, sadly I missed part of the end battle as I’ve been pretty sick recently and had to make a run for the gents. I’m not going to bother going to see it again as it’s no longer in the theater, nor do I have plans to buy it unless my wife wants it. Very curious why no Wookies wanted off Kessel.
Bladerunner 2049. I have had a long love for the original Bladerunner. I have the first printing of the Cinefex devoted to it. And then Ridley Scott came out with the director’s cut edition and Deckard went from a little bit squicky to what I consider a flat-out rapist. Kinda ruined the movie for me. Well, now we have the sequel. And…. I still don’t really know what to think. I recently re-watched it on video, and I just can’t get that excited about it. I will say one good thing about it: the music is an excellent tribute to the original Vangelis score. Now that I’m past it, I think they would have done better to make two movies, one bridging the time gap between the first and this one, which was partly covered in three (or four?) short films available online, then you’d have a smoother transition between films. But even so, I thought the story just wasn’t that strong, especially when it came to K’s emotional responses. I’m hoping to see a friend of mine in DC in a couple of months who is also a huge fan of the original to get his take on 2049, but I just can’t get past meh.
