So many stories are horrific if you look at them from 45 degrees off. Most sitcoms are hellscapes if you look at them with too much logic.
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For the most part, I liked The Matrix Resurrections. Hits a lot of the same beats as the original while going in its own direction.
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The Dragonlady hadnāt seen the third one because she was depressed when she heard rumours that everyone dies. Then, she came into the room when Iām watching the most recent one, with about 10 minutes left to go, and asks me to explain what is going on because sheās confused.
Uh, no.
The snow finally went away after keeping us in the house for a week and some change, and we were able to take the kids to see the SpiderMovie. It was very enjoyable, actually.
A major plot point was villains from the earlier Spiderman iterations (i.e. Toby Maguire, Andrew Garfield) being brought into this Spiderman universe and how Spider Tom dealt with it. I had not realized that Spider Toby and Spider Andrew would also make appearancesāand not just cameos, but have significant roles in the story. The interplay between the older ones was terribly entertaining, but I thought the contrast between Spider Tomāstill very much a kidāand the older, worn down Spider Toby and Spider Andrew, was rather poignant. He got to see possibilities about where his path could take him, and it led to making decisions in a very adult way that he couldnāt have done at the beginning of the film. As a bonus, it seemed therapeutic for Spider Toby and Spider Andrew, too. Their portrayal as adults was really good and added a lot, without overshadowing Spider Tom.
We had watched Homecoming while we were waiting and the themes from this film were really clearly established in that one (in retrospect, anyway). The three stand up well as a coherent whole, something I try not to take for granted in a post-Star Wars sequel trilogy world.
Iām not big on movie analysis; I try to just enjoy them. But Iām still thinking about this one a few days later.
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We watched Ghostbusters: Afterlife last night. Very much an homage to the original (not surprising, considering the director & producers) bordering on retread, but still lots of treats for folks who grew up on the original. Donāt watch trailers and donāt look at IMDB before seeing it so you can enjoy the surprises.
Thatās kind of what I expect. For the record, I didnāt hate the last Ghostbusters even if It think it was inferior to the original. I expect the new one when I finally see it to be pleasant if not world-changing.
Iām too old to file everything into āWorst show ever/best show everā most of the time these days.
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We just rewatched it before watching Afterlife, and I didnāt hate it as much the second time. I just hate cringe humour. Thatās the problem I have with Melissa McCarthy: waiting for the 3 times you have to explain a joke during a scene until the rest of the characters either get it or move on. I have the same issue with Ricky Gervais.
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This! So much this! Itās boring, uninventive, and quite often entirely unrealistic even within the confines of the setup of the programme or film.
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Yeah, that was the biggest problem I had with the previous GB - too much Melissa McCarthy and not enough Kate McKinnon. And the abomination that was Chris Hemsworthās character.
I didnāt hate the movie. I thought the maguffin was sort of cool, but too underdeveloped. It seemed sacrificed to the altar of āletās just do endless stupid jokesā.
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Watched Shang-Chi and the legend of the ten rings over the weekend.
Usual run of the mill kung-fu action, but it have its moments.
The bus scene reminded me a lot of Speed.
Overall good story.
This is part of the MCU, at the end it is slotted neatly into the MCU and leave the viewer wanting to see more.
Spider Man : No Way Home (wiki, spoilers) was a really good one. Will not say anything more, lest I spoil it for others.
Spoiler : I enjoyed it as it brought together the three spider man actors (and their villains) into the MCU and it was a really good story. Most of the original actors reprised their original roles, which makes this one so much more successful. It was a successful crossover.
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Charlieās Angels : Full Throttle was meh.
More for teenagers.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
What a godawful abomination. It was just one long action sequence with very little plot to go around. I am sorry that I sat through it.
Honest Trailers just posted their take on it. In the middle of it, Epic Movie Voiceover Guy (I think thatās what heās called) says fans have been asking for a review of Everything Everywhere All at Once.
More like filler or background for future series?
Love their stuff, especially the ones where Michael Bolton shows up to āhelp outā.
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Well, the stinger was the lead-in/ad for the next Strange movie, with nothing else to tie it in to a cohesive brand plot. I think everything is going its own way now. I can give these a miss. The new Thor looks like a huge pile of burning garbage. I may just give up on Marvel for a while. I mean, a lot of it is visually interesting, and some has appeal for me because of childhood memories, but the drek theyāre churning out is just not that interesting. Moon Knight was kind of interesting, but very odd. I liked it. Ms. Marvel is great, but it has a much different feel and I canāt see it as anything outside of itself. I guess I was just getting used to all of the movies being tied to a common goal and am only just now realizing that isnāt the case anymore.
Pre-Infinity War = good
Post-Infinity War = not good
I enjoyed the new Doctor Strange in kind of a generic action movie sense. Some fun scenes, but overall just nothing to make it memorable.
Two thoughts:
The first is that Marvel (And perhaps Star Wars) are both at a place where movies seem to be the spectacles with limited series used for a lot of the deeper character development and actual thoughtful episodes. I was listening to comments about Falcon and Winter Soldier and realized that was the most ānormalā of the MCU series of the last couple years. Iām expecting a MCU movie to be a lot of fight scenes and saving the world, with the discourses into philosophy more for the series that falls between them.
Relatedness, but my second point is that Iāve heard complains about the āAct 3 issuesā of Marvel movies for years. This even extends well beyond to a lot of other Superhero movies and big action sci-fi. The issue is you have a good couple initial acts, but then it falls apart as the last act is either a big fight scene with minimal sense of threat or aa dues ex Machina. This is true even in many of the good movies, much less the poor oneself.
My worry is now that weāre past the origin stories and accessible deeper stories weāre seeing the early acts falter and not be saved by a weak third act. The new Thor (which Iām hearing is good, but note itās definitely picking up the comedic aspects of the earlier film) is using bits and pieces of a recent story that was developed over months and hinged on the new Thorās identity being unknown in a way that works better in comics than real life. (Really, Old-Thor thought New-Thor was his mother for a whole, as well as considering nearly every other womanās in his life.) The movie realized that would be hard to pull off that feat and seems to roll its everyone knowing New-Thorās identity.
Iām starting to I think it may be a good thing that actors are moving on so weāre getting new characters. Iād like to see Moon Knight in a mainstream MCU role, for example.
(A theory of mine is that the MCU is trying to move from āhigh powered
Heroes to more street level to reign in stories a bit. Both Hawkeyes, Moon Knight, and others could definitely be set up to take a stand against less overpowered foes while leaving the cosmic table greats for Strange, Thor, and Partners.
Spoiler for Thor: Love and Thunder since no one in my house will get it.
Heās here, heās there, heās every-fscking-where, heās Heeeer-cules!