“Did I hear someone asking for stories about Ted?” “Yes.” “Then right this way, my friend, for some Ted-bits of fun, some Ted-memberances.”

broderic on September 7, 2018

Perfect Blue

This is the second time seeing the movie.  I liked it then.  I like it now.  Still a really fascinating introduction into the anime world for Satoshi Kon.  Still a very raw film.  You can see the rough edges.  They smooth out over his short career.  Kon was taken from us too early.  He would’ve made more interesting films.

One thing, I’ve gotten deeper into the idol world.  My love for Nogizaka46 knows no end.  Will I be Me-mania-san?  Not really but sometimes this obsession is unhealthy.

4 of 5 stars.

“The coffier where we make coffees? That doesn’t even make sense.”

broderic on September 7, 2018

Crazy Rich Asians

You know if there’s an Asian in the movie I’ll be happy to watch it.  That’s how I ended up watching Crazy Rich Asians.  Also, because I like romantic comedies.  But that’s something that I don’t know how this one is really called one.  

There’s romance, but I’m not too sure about the comedy.  More dramady than comedy. More drama than laughs.  Of course there are a few.  As there are a few of drama.  That mother vs. mother-in-law battle will be interesting  in the next movie.  As is the deal with that girl at the end.

But as you can tell, I’m just filling in words.  I really only saw it when it first came out last month and now I am trying to blog here.  As you know it is NewsRadio Quote Month, the best month of the year.  There’s plenty of quotes still left.  The one above is just a small snippet of a zany conversation.  You should see the show.

But back to the movie.  As a single guy, it wasn’t for me.  But I loved the location, Singapore.  I’ve been there and it’s just as amazing as it looked in the film.  Of course, I didn’t go to the crazy, rich Asian places as I’m sane and poor.  But the place is amazing.  Another country I would love to go back to.  Some day…

3 of 5 stars.

Mission Impossible: Fallout

broderic on August 11, 2018

Mission Impossible: Fallout features Tom Cruise running.

He always runs.

It’s another great MI movie. It neatly wraps up the previous three films in the franchise, Ghost Protocol, Rogue Nation, and MI III. Now is it the best of the bunch? I’m not too sure as I find them all so enjoyable. I can tell you this that they hyped it up too much, and said it was the best action film. It wasn’t, but it was still good.

I was thrilled by Rogue Nation. I was gleeful with Ghost Protocol. MI III was a great restart. This one had me on the edge all the time.

4 of 5 stars.

Ant-Man and the Wasp

broderic on August 11, 2018

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.

Incredibles 2

broderic on August 6, 2018

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.

Isle of Dogs

broderic on May 8, 2018

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.

Blockers

broderic on April 29, 2018

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.

Black Panther

broderic on March 21, 2018

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

broderic on February 4, 2018

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.