“There’s nothing like the sound of 1500 people not laughing.”

broderic on September 6, 2022

This past weekend was Labor Day here in the States. Usually, there’s a move good enough to watch being released in theaters. This year that was not the case. I really wanted to watch a movie this weekend, but there wasn’t one worth to see. Eventually, I did, but it wasn’t a choice I made — you’ll have to wait for that one later.

What happened? Where have all the movie releases gone? Is it over for movies in the theaters? Are we no longer going to go to a dimly lit public space and watch a movie on the silver screen with many people in the audience? Do we just like it at home? Is streaming movies worth it?

Sometimes I just want to get out of the house. Spend some time away from my computing devices. In darkness would be fine tucked away watching a movie. But there must be something to watch.

What was playing this weekend was movies from earlier in the year. If there was a new release, I did not notice it. I was expecting a somewhat recognizable cast and a particular genre. It wasn’t there. It was gone.

The cinema experience in the theaters is dying. Maybe. It’s not really doing well.

Easter Sunday

broderic on August 21, 2022

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.

Thor: Love and Thunder

broderic on July 22, 2022

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.

Macross Frontier: The False Songstress

broderic on July 2, 2022

Macross Frontier is my favorite Macross, because the legs of the love triangle have two of my favorite idol singers in the Macross saga, Sheryl Nome and Ranka Lee. Throughout the series, these two had really great songs to sing. Is there anything better than Diamond Crevasse?

Macross Frontier: The False Songstress is the film that came out just after the anime series. It was released way back in 2008 and was part one to a two part series to wrap up the Macross F saga. This was the film that sort of summed up the series. It did not do a great job at it. In fact, if you never saw the series, then you would be lost. It took all the story points of the series and condensed them. It took a few minutes from every episode, sliced them to form an incoherent movie, and let it run for about two hours.

I was really looking forward to this, but I was sorely disappointed. It wasn’t helped that the showing started with 10 minutes of a blank screen. Seriously, it was a mess.

1 of 5 stars.

Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

broderic on June 4, 2022

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.

Everything Everywhere All at Once

broderic on April 10, 2022

With a title like Everything Everywhere All at Once, the movie better be epic. Yes, it certainly was, but also quite strange that it was at once intimate in scope. It went from multi-verse spanning to personal and family dynamics. All of it big and all of it small.

The movie stars Michelle Yeoh as a Chinese immigrant owner of a laundry mat. She’s got business trouble — the IRS is auditing her business records. She’s also got family trouble — a disappointed father, a weak husband, a daughter she barely understands. Worlds collide with lots of fun, weird, thrilling moments occuring. It turns out she is the One who can bring about peace among the multi-verse. Her husband is at turns suave, strong, engaging, besides his passive self, and wants to activate her power. Her daughter she still can’t figure out. They are all there to either save or destroy all universes and to either save or destroy their family.

The movie wants to reckon with the current situation of the world. Lots of disagreement. Lots of misunderstandings. It wants to reckon with a family’s disfunction. Much disagreement. Much misunderstandings. This movie is about both big and small things.

The way it all comes together is amazing. Kung fu action pieces. Hilarious alternate universes — hot dog hands and a raccoon version of Ratatouille. It’s the multiverse movie to watch.

Too be honest I teared up. It was really that good. Also, the return of Shortround, Ke Huy Quan, moved me. Where has he been? He was really good in this. Went from being Jackie Chan to being Tony Leung. For this 80’s kid, it was great seeing his face on the silver screen once again.

I am glad I went to see this film. I went in not really knowing much, which only increased my surprise to how good it was. It’s been a couple years since really wanting to see a film in the theater. I’m happy to have seen this one.

5 of 5 stars.

“You drank too much of Max’s Spookadelic punch, and wound up makin’ out with that girl from accounting that smells like garbage.”

broderic on September 17, 2021

Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings is just one of the upcoming movies to kick off the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s a kung-fu flick and also a superhero movie as well. It’s got an all Asian cast, which is a first for an MCU film. It is also a film that starts out good, but then falls down upon itself as it fits into a Marvel film with a big bang of an ending.

I thought the action wasn’t bad. I wish we would get more kung-fu flicks in the west. I found it lame that we had to get the big crazy fight at the end — like it had to justify its existence as an MCU movie. I would’ve loved to have seen Tony Leung be more badass. I found that he was somewhat wasted with a disappointing arc. I want to see more and we are going to get a sequel. I guess I’ll watch.

3 of 5 stars.

Godzilla vs. Kong

broderic on April 7, 2021

It has been a year since I’ve seen a movie in the theaters. Only something big can get me to risk it in an enclosed space with people even while the rona is still romping around. Big as in kaiju big! Godzilla vs. Kong.

I was watching the theater’s site for how many people will show up for the opening Friday. The cheaper tickets in the cheaper auditorium was filling up, so I took a chance and bought a seat in a slightly more expensive auditorium, the one I don’t really like, but it had not many people watching. Plus, they close out the seat next to you. I didn’t have to worry as there maybe was about a dozen people watching in the auditorium that could’ve seated eighty.

I was completely worried. I did not feel comfortable all the while I watched the film. I wonder if I am infected in anyway. But it was fine to be back. I really went for the popcorn. That is all different as I couldn’t pour my own butter so it wasn’t as great as I was hoping it to be.

The movie was fine. Lots of action. No idea why they needed people. Kind of copped out in the end. Meh for the first film to watch in the theaters. Maybe I won’t worry too much for whatever’s coming, and maybe it will be a much better film.

3 of 5 stars.

Best Films of 2020

broderic on December 17, 2020

Nothing. I may have only seen a handful of films in theaters before the Rona hit. I haven’t been back. I’m too scared.

Going to movie theaters was a fun thing for me. The fact that I haven’t been back in a while, that I don’t know if I’ll ever go back, and that they may all disappear is just another of those things that 2020 has robbed us of.

The best film of 2020? I don’t think I have the heart to muster up such a sad, sad list.

“I’m an air traffic controller. It gets very stressful, so once a year I flip out and punch my fist through a radar screen, and I get sent here.”

broderic on September 9, 2020

Bill & Ted Face the Music is the first movie that I have seen in a long while. I did not see it at the movie theater. I paid to watch it at home.

Paying for first run movies this way is going to be the wave of the future. We’ll never go back to sitting in the dark with a couple dozen strangers staring at the large silver screen. Who wants to laugh and then inhale someone else’s COVID-19? Sadly, I would as I think the experience of watching it at home on my television diminished the awe. It was literally watching television and not a film.

So the third installment finds Bill and Ted needing to write that hit song that would unite the world. They had spent 20 years not writing it. They thought they had, but it wasn’t it, so we got the sequel to the sequel. Again some time traveling hi-jinks ensue. Add in their daughters and more historical dudes and the phone booth, which is very anachronistic nowadays, and you have a righteous romp back to simpler days.

The film very much would like to make these troubling times better. It wants us to feel that we can overcome these roadblocks. It was written for us to have fun in the days of Trump, but now after it was delayed, it was written for us to smile in the Covid-19 Days. That’s what I felt. Some happiness to spend time with some characters that I sort of been attached to for most of my life. I need it. We need it. Bill and Ted make it happen.

3 of 5 stars.