Things we watch in the cinema or on tape, DVD, and streaming
Ant-Man and the Wasp is a fun summer movie from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s a good one to wash the dark taste of The Avengers: Infinity War from your mouth. This is a romp with very light stakes. A fun time. A rip-roaring fun time. Then if you stay until the end credits, the MCU darkness creeps back in. But overall, so fun.
4 of 5 stars.
I believe that the first Incredibles movie was one of the best films of the 2000s. It’s Pixar’s best movie. It is one of the only few movies that had me exiting the theatre feeling exhilarated. So the bar is high for Incredibles 2. Sadly, judged against its predecessor, it falls short. It is still a good movie, but…
3 of 5 stars.
I watched a Solo: A Star Wars Story a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. That was the night it came out last month. And here we are with my movie review and thoughts which I am trying to dredge up since I can’t remember too much.
It was alright. Not spectacular. Just so-so. The problem with delving into the origins of characters that are already great as they are is that the mystery becomes common. Han was ‘solo’ in escaping from his hard knock life as a street urchin thief. He was like a Oliver Twist in space. Does that sound interesting? It is until it isn’t.
Revealing his back story makes the extraordinary ordinary. Han for as long as I’ve been a Star Wars fan was a swashbuckling character. Yet, as a youngster he was in it for the girl. Dude, lighten up.
The story seemed to have taken just months before episode IV. But I would’ve thought it would’ve taken place years before. Like he would take a few years to become the scoundrel he was in episode IV. Compression of time made me worried.
Beyond that, it was a nice to remember that Han shot first.
I was intrigued for the sequel, but we are not getting it. Too much Star Wars.
3 of 5 stars.
I only saw the first one on cable. Deadpool 2 had Cable. I’m not enamored of the guy. Both of them.
It could’ve been better.
3 of 5 stars.
I have been lame. I haven’t even kept my blog updated of the movies that I have seen. So to remedy that I will now share a few thoughts on Avengers: Infinity War
I liked it. Was not as good as Black Panther or Thor: Ragnarok. Could’ve been better. It left me wanting to see the next chapter. Luckily, it isn’t going take a few years to get that; it’s coming out next year.
4 of 5 stars.
Finally, I get to Ready Player One, the last movie from March/the beginning of April I saw.
I’m not a gamer. I don’t care about games. I saw a better smarter film in the anime, Summer Wars.
2 of 5 stars.
Isle of Dogs is fine at first. Then you think about the yellow washing. More in particular, you think about the grandparent who brought their little grandchildren to a puppet movie who end up laughing at the strange stuff Japanese people do. “Let’s all point and laugh at this wacky society.”
Don’t. It wasn’t a movie for kids and none of it was funny because of the funny stuff Japanese people do.
And that could be the problem with the film. It’s like a minstrel show. Without any context, the audience points and laughs.
Damn. I just knocked a star off of this because of that.
2 of 5 stars.
Yo! My Blockers review and several others (you’ll know when I complete them) have been sitting in draft for the longest time. Like three weeks when I saw them in early April. Now, here we are and it’s just about may and I’m gonna fill them out. Each post was just the title. Now I have to put a review or talk about the movie but it has been so long. I’m not sure what I want to say.
Of course, it’ll get a star count. They’ll each be the same. And if you’ve been following me for a long time, then you’ll know what the star count is.
For Blockers, I was hoping for mayhem like Project X, Neighbors, or even Beerfest. What I got was a sweet movie about parenting. I wanted for a sex movie from the female perspective. I got parents worrying about parenting and noticing that they did an alright job if their children turned up a-ok.
Mayhem! No, sweet parenting. It wasn’t bad, but I didn’t pay for this. Of course I did like it fine.
3 of 5 stars.
This review of Black Panther is several weeks old, but since it is still doing boffo business at the box office, then this review is still relevant.
I still liked Thor better, but this MCU movie is good too. I teared up at the death of Killmonger. Why’d he have to die. He should’ve been rehabilitated and put to use in the MCU.
Watch it.
4 of 5 stars.
Mary and the Witch’s Flower is the first film from some of the animators from Studio Ghibli after the chief anime director Hayao Miyazaki stopped making films. They had to do something. They did this.
The film is very similar to many of the Ghibli films you have watched. I’m not sure if that’s on purpose. It is based on an English children’s book which many of Ghibli films were: Arrietty, Howl’s, Marnie. This one’s based on a book called, “The Little Broomstick.” A story of a young girl finding herself in a magical world. Sounds familiar right? There is flying, too! And a broomstick and cat familiar! Studio Ghibli is alive!
Now if you think that it was a good idea to follow the Ghibli template, you will like this movie. Many Ghibli fans will be pleased. I was a little. But I wish to see more from my anime. I think Studio Ponoc, the film makers, have a bright future. They can stick with the tried and true, but I know that they have something in them to make an anime masterpiece.
Overall, I’ll watch most anime flicks that come to the States just because I want more of them to come to the States. You should, too. If this comes to a theatre near you, please watch it.
3 of 5 stars.
