Longview
When masturbations lost its fun.
「I see…」
I either need to write more blog posts or stop blogging about that damn virus. I think I’ll break up the horror with some lightness.
From their 25th Single, it’s the 4th Gen’s song, “I see…” It’s getting closer to a 3rd Gen song, but not quite. If it was performed by 3rd Gen, I would put it just outside the top 5. They have 7 including one on this single. I guess I’m saying that 4th Gen is playing catch up, and they’re finally seeing the backs of their senpai.
1917
1917 is not just a year, but a movie that competed for Best Picture at the 2020 Oscars… It didn’t win.
But that shouldn’t stop you from watching this film. It’s not the best and it does have some problems, like the fact that it is trying to be one continuous take which is an artifice that is distracting, but it is rather entertaining.
3 of 5 stars.
Bad Boys for Life
Bad Boys for Life was missing the Micheal Bey. The swirling cameras. The spinning shots. The larger than life poses. I wanted Beyham to remind me, “Bad boys for life!”
This film is trying hard to become like the Fast and the Furious films. It’s trying to pivot to being a franchise. It introduced a back story which was ridiculous. It filled in the past 20 years with stories and characters that look interesting but. And it gave us one of the most outrageous twists I have seen in films since… Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. No not a child of Palpatine, but something equally dumb. It’s also set up for a sequel which I guess continues the franchise, but what a nutty premise to get to the end and to start again.
Hopefully, Beyham returns.
3 of 5 stars.
Weathering With You
Weathering With You is Makoto Shinkai respectable followup to his fantastic, world-wide hit, Your Name. It also follows the template to much of his work: star-crossed lovers, separated by a distance, eager to realize the fate that was meant to be. Sometimes it adheres to it too much as this one really just reminded me of the previous film. His style could be a blessing or a curse. I found it rather pleasant and kind of wish for more.
Weathering With You is about a ‘weather girl,’ a girl that can control the weather. In this instance, rain. In the Japan of the film, it is a rainy season that lasts every season. The people wish for it to stop and only one person can make it pause for a few hours — the ‘weather girl.’
At first, she is a myth pursued by the main protagonist as a reporter for a shlock paper. He had run away from his home in the provinces. He was taken in by the paper’s owner/writer/editor, and he was tasked to debunk that myth. He founds out that it wasn’t. That it was real and he’s all for protecting (and profiting) the girl.
When the citizens take too much from her, the protagonist protests and wishes for her to stop using her powers. Let the rain fall so that he can continue to love her.
I did like the film. I wish it wasn’t too much like his previous. I’m hopeful that the next Makoto Shinkai anime is something different. I’m hopeful that it is also familiar.
3 of 5 stars.
Best Films of 2019
Down to the last few days of 2019. Will I get to see a movie and add it to this list of best films I saw in the theatre? Maybe, there’s still a couple out there that I really want to watch, but I haven’t gotten around to. Also, maybe this list has a few films released the previous year, but once again, for those new to this blog, these are films I saw in the theatre in the year 2019.
Those are all 4 star films. Nothing really knocked me out this year, and there wasn’t really that many good ones I saw.
What’s your list?
Stars Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Episode IX was the fitting end to decade when movies became all about the franchise. A once moribund, but beloved film franchise, restarted in the middle of the decade amongst other franchise films, ending in a somewhat leaden finale. It sums up the breakdown of Hollywood as they chase the movie franchise devil. The entirety of movie making is broken. Maybe the salvation for good story telling is really in the streaming realm. Or has that broke, too.
I did not like what they did with the premise of The Last Jedi. I thought the previous film was brilliant and would give us a different type of Star Wars ending. Of course, because of its controversy the studio decided to give us a conventional ending. It was very much a “Return of the Jedi” ending to the trilogy — same thing as the first but bigger, louder, and more of.
Not to say I didn’t enjoy myself, but the themes presented from the previous installment were abandoned (as was Rose Tico). The sense that the Force is not destiny — abandoned. It was missing. To be a Force user then you have to be born with the midiclorians. Sucks. I wish Rey wasn’t from any family, because it was more interesting.
#FreeRoseTico
3 of 5 stars.
Parasite
Oh, wow. What an egregious mistake. I was making my year end list of best films I saw in the theatre this year (wait for it!), and I see that I missed posting a review of Parasite. It’s one of the best films of the year — well reviewed and well deserved. It was a comedy, then it was a thriller, then it was a tragedy, and it wraps up as hope.
Also, the funniest thing ever. I went to the bathroom in the middle of the film. I was trying to find a spot to go. There was the down time as the protagonist family was getting drunk. I did not step out. I went as the scene finished with the previous housekeeper knocking on the door in the rain. Imagine my surprise as to what happened when I got back in. Alls I can say is, “Who’s that guy?”
I don’t remember too much, but I did like it. Actually, I remember a lot, but I think I’m still trying to process it months later.
4 of 5 stars.