Mickey 17 A Bon Joon Ho film about interstellar colonization with some of Bong’s usual themes of class warfare, sympathetic monsters, and the comedy inherent in dying over and over. At almost 2 1/2 hours, it moves along well and is engaging throughout. Robert Pattinson, as the aforementioned Mickey 17, gets to display acting chops playing sad sack #17 and vengeful #18.
Queen of the Ring A mostly true biopic of one of the pioneers of women’s professional wrestling. It provides an interesting insight into the early days of professional wrestling, the uphill battle women wrestlers faced, and the violence of the “it’s not fake, it’s scripted” world of professional wrestling. In some ways, it serves as a peek into the sport before drugs muddied it.
In the Lost Lands Apparently based on a George R.R. Martin story, it has some very good fantasy action scenes, but is hampered by the complete lack of chemistry between any of the romantic entanglements, particularly Milla Jovovich’s witch with a past pairing with Dave Bautista’s bounty hunter with a past. All in all, its a nice ride and doesn’t feel bloated (only a little over an hour and a half). And by the way, do you believe that the woman below turns fifty this year?
I only knew the basics of the what the film was from the trailer so wasn’t aware what the actual story plot would be, and I was a bit put off by it being so overtly parodying/referencing Trump.
While the main villain is certainly Trump-like, he is also very much a stereotypical opportunistic exploiter. and, from the Wiki on the movie:
He wrote the screenplay in 2021 based on an early draft of the book, and said that none of the characters portrayed were meant to be mirroring active politicians.
Production began at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden on August 2, 2022, and concluded in December 2022. Filming was finished in January 2023, with the director working on the ideal cut after.
He may claim he didn’t originally write the screenplay that way, but that’s how Mark Ruffalo played him. The voice and everything. The red hats were really a bit much. It came across more like an SNL skit from 2016. And come on, in 2021/2022 calling him the “two election losing politician” (a bit optimistic.)
It was panned at release and looked stupid and dreary, so never watched it until now. I will say that while it is not a good movie, I enjoyed watching it. To share that enjoyment you will need a high tolerance for Guy Ritchieisms, and messy fantasy movies.
While watching I was reminded of ‘Immortals’. A well known legendary tale (Theseus rather than King Arthur) aggressively rewritten, a lot of gorgeous set-pieces that made no sense, and action scenes interspersed with fast-forwards and slo-mos.
Arthur is played by the cocky blonde guy from Sons of Anarchy (not the cocky blonde guy from Vikings, I keep confusing those two). Servicable, but Jude Law as the evil king Vortigern out acted him all the way. Littlefinger from GOT is a master longbowman, and the guy who played Roose Bolton shows up in an all to small role as a chief henchman.
Most memorable scene: In a flashback Uther battles Vortigern with Excalibur. On a pier. Somehow the sword flies up in the air, falls down blade first on the kneeling Uther … who turn to stone. Which crash through the pier and into … I think it’s supposed to be the Thames upstream from London.Though later there’s also a Lady in the Lake scene. Arthur falls head first into a poodle … which is much larger on the inside.
I had a very interesting movie experience yesterday.
Two people in the Boston film community have created a compilation called Made in Massachusetts. It’s a collection of scenes from movies and TV shows that were filmed in Massachusetts, from 1922 to the present. It was originally intended just for people in the local movie industry, but there have been a few public screenings.
I like those sorts of pop-culture time capsules, so I went to see it. It was at the Somerville Theater. I decided to sit in the balcony. I haven’t seen a movie from a balcony in ages, so it seemed to fit the nostalgic theme. Most theaters don’t even have balconies, and at the ones that do it’s usuallly closed.
Good movie, although quite long. The really interesting part was near the end. There was a scene that was shot in the balcony of the Somerville Theater. I’ve seen lots of movies filmed in places I’d been, but this was the first time I ever saw the place I currently was. Something about that kinda messed with my head.
Watched Flow because of the Oscar and positive comments. It was … good some of the time, stupid/poor/etc. at other times. It was incredibly unrealistic. Then again so was Dumbo. Yet somehow I was constantly being taken out of the movie.
For me 3 was very tedious and I found it to be rather boring. I did not feel that way at all about Wick 4 though. I thoroughly enjoyed that one, it is in my opinion, much better than 3 (and maybe even 2).
That is very interesting. Thank you for the tip.
I’ll consider renting 4 and finishing the series. The alliance between Wick and Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) could be interesting.
I’ve always enjoyed action movies. Terminator franchise certainly has intense action. But there are quiet moments that gives time to develop narrative.
John Connor was conceived in a quiet moment. While the Terminator searches for them.
I know the current films like Beekeeper and Wick are the norm now.
I would agree and I wasn’t that big a fan of the series overall. I was kind of stunned when it was a hit for Keanu Reeves. I thought the first one was relatively generic, to be honest.
My wife and I watched all 4 of them and there was some enjoyment in the time, but they don’t have the lasting impact of the best action movies like Matrix or Mad Max Fury Road.
Think of a classic Vincent Minelli or Stanley Donen Hollywood musical, like An American in Paris. Sure, there’s a plot of a sort, but really, it’s just an excuse to string together a series of elaborately choreographed set pieces starring amazingly talented physical performers. The John Wick movies are exactly the same, except with killing people instead of dancing, with Keanu Reeves as the Gene Kelly of shooting guys in the head.
I don’t want to say this is my personal mission, but I have a teenager and I’ve been showing him some of the cinema classics over the years including Suburbia, Evil Dead 2, Rock and Roll High School, and Blind Fury. Last week I was telling him about a comment a friend made about something “going up to 11” and realized that my teen knows the context of the joke, had never seen Spinal Tap, and I had told him several times that I have to show him the movie.
The movie holds up, imo, and is still one of the finest examples of the mockumentary format. Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer all do an outstanding job of inhabiting these characters and I think that the trio (plus RJ Parnell and David Kaff) really show that they are talented musicians making bad music. And credit to Rob Reiner for directing and co-writing with the trio.
