Love Hurts

broderic on March 7, 2025

God damn Love Hurts isn’t good. It’s serviceable, but you’ll immediately see the flaws. It’s a bite on John Wick except people are in love and there is no dog. It opens in a world that the story has already been going for the last few years, and we’re expected to pick up the finale. If it was better, I am sure it would be a franchise just like John Wick.

I’m sad that this is Ke Huy Quan’s first leading man role. He’s deserving of an action film so much better. I want him to do the action In the Mood for Love. Let this man cook.

Anyhow, it wasn’t very good.

2 of 5

Paddington in Peru

broderic on February 28, 2025

I should’ve enjoyed Paddington in Peru more considering the previous entries in the series were solid fare. Unfortunately, Paddington in Peru missed it’s mark with me. Maybe it was the replacement of Sally Hawkins’s mother with Emily Mortimer that felt off. Perhaps it was the weird final act reveal of the true villain that felt out of place. Anyway, I didn’t fall for it as I had for the previous two. I guess I went in with high hopes for another movie to charm my pants off, but came away disappointed.

3 of 5 stars.

Best Films of 2024

broderic on January 22, 2025

Nada.

To be fair, I didn’t watch too many films in the theatre, and none of those were any good.

I should go to the movies more often like I used to. But movies haven’t been engaging in the least. They don’t make them like they used to.

Anyhow, this list is empty. There may have a few I had enjoyed but even now I don’t remember.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

broderic on December 31, 2024

The least I can say of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is that it does follow some story from the appendices to The Lord of the Rings. It’s rough structure is there in the text. Does it necessary follow what Tolkien has written? Well… maybe?

The story comes from the before the events of the War of the Ring in the kingdom of Rohan. When they were fighting off the Dunlendings and establishing the Hornburg AKA Helm’s Deep. It tells of the succession of the throne of the kings of Rohan for the end of the first line and the star of the second line which ends with Theoden at the end of the War of the Ring. A bit of history which wasn’t not known, but was fleshed out a bit well.

Since this isn’t really written by Tolkien, I was suprised at how well it adhered to the structure of Tolkiens story. There was the king. His fallen sons. The daughter. The nephew/successor. It was animated which is great for one of Tolkien’s tales. It was made to look as if from the movies, which made it all too familiar. As a Tolkien fan, I liked it.

3 of 5 stars.

The Wild Robot

broderic on October 31, 2024

Again, I forget to write up a post that I had watched The Wild Robot in theaters sometime this month. Maybe it could’ve been in September? It’s quite late to write it up, and I don’t remember what I wanted to say.

It was okay. I guess.

3 of 5 stars.

“You’ve gotten soft. You’re like one of those police dogs who’s released into the wild and gets eaten by a deer or something.”

broderic on September 22, 2024

Pixar is in trouble with sequelitis and Inside Out 2 is another example of that terribleness. It lacks the emotion of its predecessor. Funny, that, considering that there were additional emotions added to the four from the first film. Every new one was funnier than the new emotional antagonist. Ennui and embarrassment were fun. Anxiety not so much. The additions were not enough to make me like the film.

2 of 5 stars.

“That I haven’t written a word. That my life couldn’t fill a haiku, let alone a whole book.”

broderic on September 13, 2024

Why did they ever make a sequel to Beetlejuice? Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was a mess. It had five or more plot lines. If one or two were focused on, then it would’ve made a better movie. There was the mother-daughter reconciliation plot, the daughter evil boyfriend plot, the father funeral plot, the “Ghost House” plot, the wedding plot, the other wedding plot, and then we get to Beetlejuice. So many things going on. They all made no sense mashed into one film.

I guess nostalgia has kicked in for me is why I watched the movie. It wasn’t good. It was disappointing. Never trust nostalgia.

2 of 5 stars.

Deadpool & Wolverine

broderic on August 16, 2024

Deadpool & Wolverine should be the end of the Deadpool franchise. You can not go more meta than this film, the first serious foray of Fox’s mutants into the MCU. It has tons of cameos and many self-referential bits. If you are comic nerd, this is for you. Yet in order to top it, the fourth will have to be a remake of the first with a decidedly aware Deadpool knowing he’s in a remake/reboot.

Where will the fun be in that?

Actually, I enjoyed it because of all the cameos. Channing Tatum’s Gambit was outlandish and perfect. Wesley Snipe’s back together with Ryan Renolds? Witness! Jennifer Garner? Like that’s nuts that Marvel went and spent money to get these actors to reprise their super hero roles. Well done.

3 of 5 stars.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

broderic on June 14, 2024

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga did not do so well at the box office. It fell short of projections and contributed to the worst Memorial Day weekend box office in a long while. That’s the story you’ve been hearing about the movie, but you never hear about if it was good or not. I’m here to tell you that it was okay. I say that about all movies, so this is how that goes.

I guess if you follow up one of the most exciting movie going experiences in this century with an conceptual film about anger then you’ll definitely fall short. Most likely it wasn’t what we were expecting, but it was also somewhat mediocre in telling its story. Chris Hemsworth and Anna Taylor-Joy certainly gave decent performances. The action was pretty well down too. It was just not as fun this time around. A bit of fun, but not like the last time.

3 of 5 stars.

Fall Guy

broderic on May 24, 2024

It’s getting to be summer movie season, isn’t it? I haven’t been doing movies in quite a while. Nothing is pulling me back into the movie theater, but I am craving buttered movie popcorn. I’ve got to get my fix of buttery oil so I went to watch Ryan Gosling in Fall Guy.

I went in hoping not knowing a thing about it just that it is the film version of the television show from the 80s. It’s a bit tongue in cheek in its retelling. At least by the end, I got that feeling.

Ryan Gosling is the fall guy, a stuntman who experiences an on the job injury. He’s out of commission for a few months, but it scares him that he removes himself from life disappearing from his work and the life with his girlfriend, an ambitious camera operator looking to become an action director. A year passed and Gosling is called back in to do stunt work for his ex on her for directing duty. Sparks rise again.

It seemed as that was where the film was going to spend its time trying to get these two back together. The first half was, but then the film makers lost the script. The back half of the film was solving a murder and avoiding being accused and sent to jail. It was like they didn’t know how to end the film Out of know where everyone became the villain.

Did the popcorn still taste good? Yes. It was fine for such a movie.

3 of 5 stars.