I will attempt to criticize something
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I have to manually do it that way. Why?
Why isn’t that a feature of WordPress to set comments off by default? Nowadays, it’s just spammers. No one comments. At least not here. I am not pleading for comments nor readers. I am just trying to figure out if there is a way to turn off the button by default.
With his return from retirement and with retirement seemingly forever suspended, Hayao Miyazaki brings about his latest film, The Boy and the Heron, ten years from his last. It is with a lot of anticipation that I went to the theater to watch. Is he still as great as story teller? Is he still one of the best anime directors, even film directors? Yes and yes. But.
The film is okay. It rehashes a lot of Miyazaki tropes. It felt like a mash up of Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Castle in the Sky. It was just fine. Glad he’s doing films, but sometimes I wonder if maybe he should retire for good. Let’s hope his next film, if there is one, may not be in another ten years.
3 of 5 stars.
It is deserving of the praise its been getting. Godzilla Minus One is a rare movie pulling off earth shattering spectacle with a dramatic, intimate story involving characters that you really feel for. It’s something that American movies can’t seem to get right — making the human element believable as the CG FX.
This Godzilla movie opens at the end of WWII in the dying embers of the Japanese empire. The main character is a kamikaze pilot who chickened out and finds himself face to face with Godzilla. He chickens out again and Godzilla ends up slaughtering his fellow soldiers. The main character is a survivor with PTSD from the war as a well as survivor’s guilt.
With a return to Japan post war, this film reminds us on the malevolent force that is Godzilla. Cribbing a few notes from the previous Godzilla film, Shin Godzilla, it makes the big one an unstoppable, dangerous monster. He just washes up on the shore and demolishes Tokyo like the first film. In the end, they have to stop Godzilla. They do via some plan, but he’ll be back.
Surprisingly, this film really hit you in the feels. I think it’s because we’re rooting for the humans and not the kaiju. You feel for them and hope they survive. It’s a good film and probably will be the best I’ve seen this year. We’ll see.
4 of 5 stars.
There is only one movie on this list. I think it was my favorite time in the theaters, but to tell you the truth I didn’t see that many movies this year. It’s a combination of not really wanting to watch what’s being exhibited, not much being released in theaters, and just not wanting to go to the movies anymore.
Funnily enough, as I reviewed the movies I did see, I noticed that I gave out a lot of low ratings many 2 stars and even a few 1 stars. Some readers had complained that I always gave a 3 star rating for good and bad movies. I think I broke that habit considering that I have no compunction to now give out low ratings.
That’s the list. That’s it. Was there anything good that had come to your theater?
Movies are never going to be good again are they?
There was a moment during the romantic comedy (?), Ticket to Paradise, where I wondered where have I seen this Julia Roberts, George Clooney pairing before? It hits me that they were the central couple in Ocean’s Eleven. That classic heist flick upon which Clooney was trying to win back his ex-wife Roberts. So they’re the same in this movie except Clooney doesn’t want to reunite with his wife. If anything, he wants never to see her again. Yet, their daughter is getting married to a Tahitian seaweed farmer after a real quick romance.
Clooney and Roberts are there to stop this marriage. In paradise. So they have to get a ticket there. To stop it. But doesn’t the beauty of the place make them decide to get back together? Yup. Or maybe because it was an ambiguous ending? I don’t think I liked the ending.
Anyhow, it’s another movie seen in theaters. Maybe I am getting back to watching films? Maybe not. It’s an ambiguous ending.
2 of 5 stars.
Sometimes you just want to watch a movie. That’s how it came to be that I ended up watching Black Adam.
Black Adam stars the Rock. It’s just one of the many this year he appears in. He’s seemingly in everything. One of the things Hollywood seems to be doing is not making any movies without the Rock and I can’t stand it. There are no more movies. There is just the Rock on screen.
Anyhow, I have no idea who Black Adam is in the DC Universe. I do know he’s sort of Shazam’s enemy. That previous sentence barely makes any sense to me. I go with the flow anyway.
Yadda yadda yadda. Black Adam must save the world. He does. Justice League. Justice Society. Etc.
2 of 5 stars.
Link of the Day [9.2922]
Damn. It’s late in the day for a post of the day. I should wait until tomorrow, but I read this and found it really a great take that I want to share it with you.
Brexit. My favorite topic. It is where Conservatives got what they wanted, and they still don’t know what they want. They also don’t know the harm it will do.
The worst is still upcoming considering that when it becomes apparent that Brexit and the wellspring of stupidity that is the Conservatism from which it sprang is going to wreck Britain, they will double down. More of the worst from some of the worst people in the world.
All I know is that to be a Conservative in this day and age is toxic and dangerous to your country.
I am looking forward to more of this collapse. My popcorn is ready. The flames of Brexit will warm our hearths over the winter.
https://eand.co/why-britain-is-collapsing-and-what-happens-next-13a5fe7d48f4
Easter Sunday is the Pinoy Friday. It supposed to happen on one Easter Sunday amongst the Filipino community in the SF Bay area. It stars comedian Jo Koy and a bunch of other Filipino actors. Did you know Lou Diamon Philips is partially Filipino? Also Tia Carrera?
Back to the Friday’s analogy. The movie had it all. It was meant as a Filipino family film — look at the funniness that is Filipino family life. Then there was a subplot involving gangsters. What?
I guess they didn’t think a film about Filipino family life would’ve been enough. What a missed opportunity. I wonder what happened in the writers room? Did the studio step in? Jo Koy made his name as an observer of Filipino life. He should’ve stuck with what he knew. It is such a disappointment.
2 of 5 stars.
Taikiki Waititi returns to direct the fourth movie starring the Norse god of thunder, Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder. In his previous Norse god movie the really, really good, Thor Ragnarok, he revived the character and the Thor films. In the fourth installment, he went a bridge too far. It sort of reminds me of the third Spiderman film — ambitious.
Doesn’t it feel like the MCU is spinning its wheels? Like where is the Big Bad who will make these films and movie shows worth it? What is the point of it all?
Anyhow, Thor the character is still great. The return of Natalie Portman and her character is welcome addition. Valkyrie is still very cool. But even then it fell short of being a fine superhero film. It is what is is.
3 of 5 stars.
If you need to watch one multiverse movie this year make it Everything Everywhere All at Once. But if you need one from the Marvel Cinematic Universe then I guess Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness fits the bill. The former is the better movie. The latter is just okay.
To be honest, I should’ve written this review a while ago, so I don’t really know what to say as my memory of it is hazy. I guess I should’ve also watched the Scarlet Witch series to get how much her grief has done to her. It’s really so long ago that Everything Everywhere All at Once is just about to be released on video and streaming services.
Anyhow. Be a completionist and watch this film to piece together the next phase of the MCU. And go watch Everything Everywhere All at once because it is that damn good.
3 of 5 stars.
