Morning!
Yep, I fell off the face off the earth for a while again. Being in the accounting field, the months of Dec to late Feb usually mean a ton more work than usual. Year-End catch up and clean up, a more-in-depth audit, more reports. Ugh. It hasn’t helped that we lost a person in our department and that they had a small layoff last week. Chaos as usual! Whee!
Mini Movie Reviews!
Birds of Prey (and the Emancipation of Harley Quinn) – This was a BLAST! The ads were very misleading in several aspects. Since Margot Robbie was the best thing about the Suicide Squad film, I was both excited and reticent about a movie where the character Harley was the lead. I know there’s a lot of stuff out there saying this is a man-bashing film, which isn’t strictly wrong, but it’s about so much more than that. It is about dependent women, becoming independent. My hubby thought this movie was as fun as I did — tons of explosions, fights, comical moments. I’d gone to see it thinking it might be a dud, and came out knowing it was one of the most fun movies I’d seen in a while. They did so many fun things. They even did a super cute, animated origin recap for Harley, which is pretty close to canon. For purists, a lot of the characters portrayed will not be presicely what they should be, but there is enough there to get you through. Ewan McGregor was a blast as Black Mask. Harley’s egg sandwich sequence was a riot.
It’s a popcorn film. It’s not meant to be taken too seriously or looked at too closely – though I felt they covered their bases very well. Not for kids, though. Adult subject matter/violence. But such a ride! (I had not seen rollerskates combat in a long time. Good call!)
Rating: 3.75 out of 4 (Hubby’s Rating: Worth Full Price of Admissions)
Weathering With You – Loved this film. Take some tissues with you! Both hubby and I needed them for this one. Lol. It is a neat mixture of paranormal, ancient legends, and modern times. It has super cool visuals and is quite emotional. The film had a really neat premise. We enjoyed it a lot!
Rating: 3.75 out of 4 (Hubby’s Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission)
1917 – Unfortunately, though I had been desperately wanting to see this movie, I can give no review. We had to leave after twenty minutes. It wasn’t the horror of trench warfare that made us go, but their choice of camera work. I hadn’t realized it during the previews, but this movie got filmed with shakycam. 🙁 So I got motion sick watching it. Once they were out of the trenches, it was more than I could take. Waaaahhh! Curse you, shakycam!
Dolittle – this was a cute film — lots of lovely moments for the kids with the animals. Several of the animals had definite personalities, though not all of them were highlighted or had enough screen time to get to know them. The voice and accent they had Robert Downey Jr. use was grating. It did not sound like him at all. The special effects, especially the animals, were excellent. But for some reason, the movie just went along; it had no real fire to it. So while worth seeing, it is not something you should rush to do.
Rating: 3.25 out of 4 (Hubby’s Rating: Worth Matinee)
Happy viewing!
1977 – Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope – The beginning! Super thrilling, exciting, a look at what Science Fiction could be. Thanks to John Williams, a deep love of background music began for me. It showed music could bring a new dimension to films that were as important as the special effects, the actors, the story. Peter Cushing from the Hammer Films! (Awesome!)
1980 – Star Wars Episode V The Empire Strikes Back – This one is my all time favorite. We learned more about the Force and the Jedi. Leia and Han Solo fight against the attraction they feel for each other despite their very different backgrounds. We discover Luke’s relationship with Darth Vader. (They published the book before the movie release. I still remember sitting at the couch reading the novelization and the utter shock at the revelation that Darth Vader was Luke’s father!) I waited in line for hours on opening day to get to see it! Squee! (Super Awesome!)
1983 – Star Wars Episode VI Return of the Jedi – The culmination of the trilogy (already the news of Lucas’ vision for 9 films, 3 set before and 3 set after had everyone excited – even if the chances of them being made was slim.) Ewoks were introduced (So cute!), more awesome music by John Williams, Han and Leia reunited. The Emperor! Hardship and Victory! (Awesome!)
1999 – Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace – They were back! Yes! More John Williams music, woot! Awesome special effects, but something was lost, the realistic, gritty part so successful in the first three films had disappeared, giving way to CGI. The reinvention of the Force and the introduction of Midiclorians. Trying to turn the mystic into science – even though this is a prequel! What? But who cared, Star Wars was BACK! YAY! Young Obi-Wan – woot! (And the introduction of Jar Jar Binks – I like him in this film, but so many people did not. Oh, the hate. Don’t give in to the Dark Side!) (Pretty Good! Starwars is BACK!!!!!)
2002 – Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones – Build up, setting more things in place to bring us toward the future we learned of in Episodes IV to VI. Anakin and Padme, more Obi-Wan. Christopher Lee – squee! But hold on, who the heck thought putting Jar Jar into politics and have him help mold policy was a good idea? Nice guy, but ‘hello?’ are you all nuts? (Decently Good?)
2015 – Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens – Disney brought the franchise! They went back to having more physical objects, so the feel of the originals was back. Disney has money, Disney will pay someone to make a super awesome script and bring Star Wars back with a BANG! WRONG! 🙁 Instead, someone mushed together pieces of the first three films somehow thinking that was the recipe needed for success. Think again! Luke was back, Leia was back, Han Solo was back – yay! But wait, Han reverted to a five year old. Kylo Ren is godlike in his abilities. He can bend light! Mess with time! What? (Plus, there’s no way Darth Vader’s helmet survived! Not the way that ship blew. Oh the humanity!) Plus the hints about Rey’s parents? Totally ignored in the later films! Sigh. Oh, and a trash worker stormtrooper is part of an elite commando unit? Right… (Mostly garbage, but still better than Episode III!)
2017 – Star Wars Episode VIII The Last Jedi – It was Star Wars so I went, but expectations were low. So in some aspects, I was pleasantly surprised, others not as much. Kylo Ren still way overpowered. Hints from Episode VII were totally discarded as if they’d never been. Disney is still not using their might to find a decent scriptwriter (that or there were too many hands in the pot). (Mostly Decent?)
2019 – Star Wars Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker – Still no decent script, and loads of backpedaling, which made for a bigger mess. Tons of nostalgic moments. Several stupid ones. (If Rey can jump high enough to go over a super tie fighter, she should be able to leap around a shipwreck instead of tedious climbing it.) Rey is now showing godlike powers. Ugh. (How was there even a wreck? The whole facility exploded from the core!) (Oh and Force skills are NOT hereditary! Ugh.) A super secret Sith map – so make a dagger hilt in the shape of the wreck that is only about twenty years old but the map and knife are ancient? And the wreck has power? What? Oh and out of nowhere, let’s make Leia a MASTER JEDI in her youth! Yeah, like she’d have the time to become a MASTER? Some training sure, but a MASTER? So glad I did not have high expectations. Still, I got teary eyed, nostalgic, pumped by the music. I have tried my best not to look at it too closely or who knows what will happen. Heh heh. I will not give in. (Super nostalgic, but not good.)
Knives Out – This film was a lot more fun than I expected. It’s a classic Agatha Christie setup, but then it takes a left turn in an unexpected direction. Secrets, machinations, lies, a ton of details pulling every which way. Even when you think you know what happened, it turns out it wasn’t that way at all. Great performances, good twists and turns. There was something odd on the way close-ups were filmed, which made the actors and actresses look off, but this could have been intentional.
Jumanji: The Next Level – Hubby had been chomping at the bit to see this one. 😛 They did a great job showing some of the reasons Spencer chose to try to fix the game and going back inside. Some new people and characters get introduced as Jumanji gets thrown into a bigger crisis than before. The actors doing the avatars get to reinvent themselves as the people behind them have changed. They did such a great job! Awkwafina did a great Granpa Eddie. ROFL. Some new skills and new weaknesses. The prehistoric ostriches were super cool and scary. Lol. One extra bit ties the end of the film back to giving homage to the original Jumanji as well as a possible leading to another film! Favorite quote: “You are the worst Bravestone ever!” 😛 
Ford vs. Ferrari – Matt Damon and Christian Bale are fab in this film. The rapport between the two men and the difficulties they face came across as natural and with depth. From the quick research I did, this is mostly accurate, with the usual license taken by Hollywood to ramp up the excitement and drama. The one bit I do wish they’d pointed out better is how Ken Miles would have won the European trifecta of racing if he’d not been shafted at Le Mans. He would have been the first man to ever win all three. So sad. Good story, great cinematography, excellent acting, cool racing stunts. Rating: 3.75 out of 4 (Hubby’s Rating: Worth Full Price to See Again)
Terminator: Dark Fate – A lot of James Cameron’s films of late have been not so great, so I went to see this with low expectations. I was very pleasantly surprised – the movie was good!
Gemini Man – Hubby and I had thought this would be Will Smith and his son, but it was all Will Smith. The film was great fun. Impressive stunts and fight scenes with some surprising moves. Gorgeous locals and cinematography. They even play with camera perspectives – enough to make it interesting, but not so much it disturbs the viewer. Rating: 3.5 out of 4 (Hubby’s Rating: Pay Full Price to See Again!)
The Current War: Director’s Cut – I’d never heard of the film until about a week ago. Per IMDB it was initially released in 2017. The title is horrible (If you don’t know what it is, you’d think it was an actual war movie.) The film is about Edison, Tesla, and Westinghouse and the fight/race to light up the US with either DC or Alternating Current. A lot of history gets sanitized for the history books. Here’s a chance to get a taste of what they don’t tell you. Great acting, fascinating history, and you get a feel for how truly revolutionary the concepts being thrown about are to the people of that ear. Rating: 3.75 out of 4 (Hubby’s Rating: Worth Full Price.)
Abominable – This film was super adorable! A gorgeous movie, full of amazing panoramic shots. Like “Ad Astra” this one is also an emotional journey as well as a physical one for Yi. They too do a couple of unexpected twists, just to keep things interesting. 😛 The Whoop snake is a hoot. (So is Dave. Lol.) Tons of adorable and cute moments. Some tear generating ones as well. You must sit through the credits as they are full of snapshots of things that happen after the adventure is over. The last one definitely tried to open the waterworks. 😛 Rating: 3.5 out of 4 (Hubby’s Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission.)
Men In Black: International – They are back! With more attitude, bigger weapons, and the usual chaos! 😛 The original theme music is back, so the film had a nostalgic vibe to it. There’s even a painting in High T’s office of J and K saving the world. 😛 There’s a recurring theme in the film they pound into you hard – the universe always puts you where you need to be when you need to be there. They stretch this out a bit much! And while some explanations on why things have happened are shown, there are others you have to infer from what’s been presented. (For example: Why H changed so much in 3 years. And no, it’s not the girlfriend. Though if you don’t put it together yourself, it’s gone :P) Cool effects, fast pace, overall a good ride! Rating: 3.5 out of 4 (Hubby’s Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission.)
The Secret Life of Pets 2: All our favorite pets are back, and we also meet several new ones. They took an unusual direction on this one, starting you off with a quick catch up to set up the new situations, then going off in three different seemingly unrelated storylines that will eventually come back to merge for the final piece of the tale. 
