Diversions to entertain you
Link of the Day [9.24.23]
You know I’ve been doing News Radio Quote Month for the longest time and I didn’t realize that Phil Hartman was born in this month of September. Well, I need to rectify that.
In honor of the genius and a cast member of News Radio, here are some of Phil Harman’s greatest Saturday Night Live hits. Wait, SNL? Well, it’s something to enjoy and it is News Radio adjacent.
The Haunted Mansion is my favorite Disney ride. Will its movie adaptation, Haunted Mansion, be any good? Well, my friend, it isn’t bad. It is somewhat good in its own way. It definitely is a fun, summer flick worthy of an afternoon out of the hot summer sun. I liked it. I wish we had more movies like this — mid-level films out to entertain us. Popcorn Movies!
With Hollywood being broken and only wanting to produce blockbuster films, the mid-level movies suffer. They get bloated or get more pressure to make money. Haunted Mansion isn’t any indie flick, but it shouldn’t have to have been an blockbuster. I know we needed more CG and more spectacle but Haunted Mansion could’ve worked without it. I guess it’s higher cost meant that it had to make more money, but then it didn’t. It should have.
3 of 5 stars.
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer was loud. The music was the primary culprit. Overall, the sound design was turned up to eleven. I know that if I had watched it on the IMAX theater near me it would’ve blown my eardrums out. That screen seems to believe IMAX is about the volume and not the view.
For me, they had hyped the movie as building the Bomb to drop on Japan. Except that was only for the first hour. The rest of this three hour movie was about the political posturing in the atomic age during confirmation of a cabinet member. I had know I idea that this is what this was going to be about. Certainly, it made for the more intriguing film. The early part focusing on building the Bomb didn’t seem to have much stakes to it, but the latter about the confirmation had the plot to engage me. Strange since going in I would’ve rather seen the science, but in my seat, the politics was intriguing.
Overall, cover your eyes if you watch this in an IMAX theater. While it was a good film, solid, it was not Nolan’s best.
3 of 5 stars.
「おひとりさま天国」, Nogizaka46’s 33rd single, to be released towards the end of the month. Let’s all have fun for the last bit of summer we have left.
I am unsure about this song. At once, it is Nogizaka, it feels Nogizaka, and the members are cute in the MV. The song to my ears sounds like a few of the other Nogizaka songs. It reminds me of スキロク from last summer. I also hear some of the Asuka/Maiyan duet or Maiyan/Ringo, both of which were off of summer releases. All I have to say about the title song is that it really is a summer single.
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One is the beginning of the end. Hopefully. Not that I wouldn’t mind many more Mission Impossible movies, but I think franchise films are a bit empty. Although this series is fantastic so I think it would do some good work and stories in any subsequent film they do.
It was certainly thrilling and the stunts were impressive, but I felt the need for the second part. It can’t get here soon enough.
3 of 5 stars.
Asteroid City feels to me like Wes Anderson’s Barton Fink. Completely baffling upon first watch. Perhaps it needs several in order to understand it. I know if I was to figure out what I watched I need watch it again.
It was a meta-movie. A film about a stage play. And it looked like a stage play but as a movie. It also had the entire cast of every Wes Anderson film in it, too. Except for Bill Murray. It was a family reunion.
I guess I’ll have to watch again, but this one left me cold.
3 of 5 stars.
It’s the middle of the year, summer is in full swing, but what better way to think about the passing of the year with thinking about calendar layouts. Yes, you heard that right. Calendar layouts!
Today’s link is one I found a long time back, maybe earlier this year, but forgot the URL until recently. It’s such a simple idea for calendar layout. I wish I could print one. (My printer is out of ink and obsolete).
Across the Spiderverse made me sad. I thought the implications of what the Spider Corps was doing was plenty dark. I thought the joy of having Spider-Gwen, Peter B Parker, Spider-Noir, Peter Porker, and Penny in the previous installment was washed away with this more serious, high-stakes story. I am still trying to come to grips with it. Most every review I’ve seen or read believe this to be a great film. For me, I’m not sure.
I wanted more of the same — fun adventures with Miles Morales. Instead, this one’s very much got some high stakes. The rejection of Miles from the Spider Corps was a heavy moment. He thought that he had found like minded friends and colleagues. Add to it that the head Spider thought he was an aberration. Imagine what darkness that is. Rejection. Finally, imagine falling into the darkest timeline from which we’ll have to wait for the story to be concluded next year. Multiverses are filled with madness.
It left me sad. Do I need to wait? Why do I feel Mile’s rejection?
Anyhow, they animation in this film continues the previous style even more so. Finally, animators are finding a richer way to tell animated stories. Gone is the cold perfection of CG rendering. It is now getting expressive. I wonder if we are entering the WGA style for CG animation? I like this style as it is something that shows us that animation is art for everyone.
4 of 5 stars.
Within this program of rap
I eradicate the glitches
“Supa Emcees” De la Soul Posdnous
I should’ve posted this soon after I saw it, but better late than never. I’m going to try and get one more post for the month in. I’ll let my review of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 be the last one.
Not bad for the closing of the trilogy. Seemed a fitting way to end. A new team!
I guess that’s really all I have to say. It seems I forgot a lot. Go watch it. It’s not that bad.
3 of 5 stars.
