Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves

broderic on April 7, 2023

Should I start watching movies again? It’s a question I ask myself all the time especially when I am sitting home bored out of my mind. I guess I’ll go check what’s playing at the local cinema on this holiday weekend.

Well lookee here! Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves!

It’s something.

Because I needed to watch something, I ended up watching this. It’s a mindless caper set in the D&D world. It was a classic caper for a small band of adventurers to steal the macguffin in order to do the thing that advances the plot towards the end. Like a game of D&D, there was plenty of random stuff happening — plans made, plans failed. If you need it to happen, role the dice it happened.

Chris Pine was classic smug Chris Pine. Michelle Rodriguez was classic Letty mode but with an axe. The group also had a wizard and a shape-shifting druid. Fun was had and the adventure was completed.

I too had fun. It isn’t the perfect movie per se, but it satisfies the itch to go to the theatre and gobble a bucket of popcorn for about 2 hours.

3 of 5 stars.

Ticket to Paradise

broderic on November 27, 2022

There was a moment during the romantic comedy (?), Ticket to Paradise, where I wondered where have I seen this Julia Roberts, George Clooney pairing before? It hits me that they were the central couple in Ocean’s Eleven. That classic heist flick upon which Clooney was trying to win back his ex-wife Roberts. So they’re the same in this movie except Clooney doesn’t want to reunite with his wife. If anything, he wants never to see her again. Yet, their daughter is getting married to a Tahitian seaweed farmer after a real quick romance.

Clooney and Roberts are there to stop this marriage. In paradise. So they have to get a ticket there. To stop it. But doesn’t the beauty of the place make them decide to get back together? Yup. Or maybe because it was an ambiguous ending? I don’t think I liked the ending.

Anyhow, it’s another movie seen in theaters. Maybe I am getting back to watching films? Maybe not. It’s an ambiguous ending.

2 of 5 stars.

Black Adam

broderic on November 5, 2022

Sometimes you just want to watch a movie. That’s how it came to be that I ended up watching Black Adam.

Black Adam stars the Rock. It’s just one of the many this year he appears in. He’s seemingly in everything. One of the things Hollywood seems to be doing is not making any movies without the Rock and I can’t stand it. There are no more movies. There is just the Rock on screen.

Anyhow, I have no idea who Black Adam is in the DC Universe. I do know he’s sort of Shazam’s enemy. That previous sentence barely makes any sense to me. I go with the flow anyway.

Yadda yadda yadda. Black Adam must save the world. He does. Justice League. Justice Society. Etc.

2 of 5 stars.

“Why is it that everyone’s solution to everything around here is some sort of covert plan?” “That’s a secret.”

broderic on September 9, 2022

Remember when I decried the lack of movies to watch this past Labor Day? Remember that I did say that I did watch a movie that weekend? Well the film we watched was The Invitation, one of those low budget horror movies that always seem to be a staple of the end of summer movie releases.

This one starts with a lady who had just lost the last member of her family, her mother. She conveniently takes a DNA test and is connected with a branch of her family from England. They invite her to their home for a family reunion as well as a wedding. Things start of fine, but then we never meet the bride and groom. Later we find out why.

It turns out that her long lost relatives were a cabal feeding the last vampire. The head vampire has three brides. They had lost one. Guess who is the third?

I didn’t want to watch this one, but I really wanted to watch a movie. I guess it was something. A lot of this was easy to see coming. There were a few jump scares, but overall it wasn’t too frightening.

2 of 5 stars.

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.

What Happened to the Movie Reviews?

broderic on January 22, 2022

I haven’t blogged this year. I don’t know when I will. What used to sustain this blog when I had nothing to write about was my commitment to writing a “review” for any movie I watched in the movie theater. I haven’t been in a movie theater since last year, and I am still afraid to go to one. Therefore, the movie reviews have dried up.

It was fun to go the theaters and watch a movie. Though the films may be good or bad, it was always enjoyable. The darkness. The popcorn. Two hours to be entertained. Or not. I liked watching movies, but nowadays not so.

You would think that since I am trapped in home because of the Corona Virus that I would watch movies from home. You would think, but I don’t. I am really bored with it all. Streaming television. Streaming services. Streaming. It’s just makes me bored, and when I’m bored I am lazy.

Maybe one day we’ll be past this Corona Virus pandemic and I’ll be able to go back to watching movies in the theater. I wonder if I will still be writing this blog.

I don’t have anything else to write about beyond that. For today.