Seen quite a few movies and haven't posted about any of them, so...
The Menu
Really great thriller that I didn't know what to expect going into it. It's more reserved than your average thriller, because it holds back on big jump scares. Instead, it relies on holding that tension as the intensity rises throughout the film. It gets a little hokey at points. I think I saw it was listed as a horror or thriller comedy rather than straight horror or thriller. I didn't find it particularly funny, but I can kind of see where it might have earned that label.
Still, I had a good time with it. The presentation in the movie was interesting, as it cuts up the scenes as a menu, with each dish serving as a new act or scene in the movie. Definitely worth a watch.
Black Panther Wakanda Forever
Ehhhhhh, I don't know. I wanted to like this, but there's a lot more I didn't like than I liked. They were clearly struggling to find a solid narrative after losing Chadwick Boseman. Angela Bassett is a heck of a force in this, earning that Best Supporting Actress nomination. Tecnoch Huerta is a phenomenal Namor and I can't wait to see what he does next. I especially love the reworking of the character to include more Aztec or South American dressing.
Shuri takes center stage in this. And maybe I'm just bitter that Letitia Wright wasn't given the boot after her anti-vax stances, among other things, but I didn't find she really added anything to the movie. She was stilted and it often felt like she didn't even want to be there. Her character arc was interesting enough, given the fallout of losing Wakanda's king, but the actress was the worst part of all of it.
Plus, a LOT of the film was horribly lit to the point that it was too dark to see what was going on half the time. I tried playing with the settings on my TV to fix it, but to no avail. It was especially bad in the underwater scenes. But maybe I was spoiled by Avatar Way of the Water, because James Cameron KNOWS how to film underwater. There were also some REALLY awful green screen effects like a point where M'Baku and his men were clearly just standing in front of a green screen reacting to things around them.
So yeah, I wanted to like this, but it was a definite step down from the first one.
Marlowe
I stumbled across this existing at all when I was checking out the movies playing at my local theater. And I'm glad I did because it was awesome. It's an old school detective movie with Liam Neeson. His character, Phillip Marlowe, was the main character in many of Raymond Chandler's novels like Playback and The Big Sleep. This movie, in particular, is apparently based on John Banville's novel, The Black-Eyed Blonde.
But it really does feel like a Raymond Chandler story from beginning to end. The highpoint is Marlowe interviewing or interrogating suspects or bouncing off with the femme fatale in the movie. There is some phenomenal cinematography, too, including many seemingly long takes where the camera follows along with the character as they interview or stalk someone.
The acting isn't anything particular to write home about, but it's clear almost everyone had a good time filming it. I found the snappy dialogue a little too fast to follow at points. Having subtitles would have helped me.
But for the set design, cinematography, music, and story, I dug the hell out of this. Definitely going to buy a physical copy when I can.
Before Sunrise
I've always been curious about the "Before Trilogy," but never got around to it. Recently, my girlfriend and I watched it together and we loved it. It's very much an indie film, with little flair, but it has some excellent writing and even better chemistry between the two main actors. They really make you believe that they've slowly fallen in love with each other over the course of a night. I was impressed by how often the camera would just stay on them for a long take as they just chatted. And yet, I was never bored by the lack of camera changes.
We're probably going to watch the two sequels at some point. I look forward to them because I really enjoyed this one.
Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania
Maybe I went into this with lowered expectations due to the reviews and reactions, but I had a lot of fun with this one. It's firmly a middle-of-the-road MCU film in terms of quality, but it's a fun ride. There's not a lot in the sense of character development for anyone, but it's nice to see Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfieffer have more to do than previous films. It feels like Hope/Wasp is barely in the movie, for as little as they give her to work with (and she's another anti-vaxxer, so I'm not too disappointed in that). Paul Rudd does his usual thing and he's fun enough.
But by far, the stand out was Jonathan Majors, bringing the big acting guns with Kang. He has so many little acting ticks that show you there's more behind the character's stoic façade. I can't wait to see what else they have in store for him because I just want to see him in more now. That said, the movie felt a little heavy on not just establishing him but explaining him. It really felt like a movie created solely to establish him. Which is fine, he's a great villain in this. But it's clearly a movie designed purely to set him up. There's a lot of exposition around him that drags the movie down at times. But then he's on screen and you think "Oh shit, put this guy in everything."
Much like the other Ant-Man movies, I wouldn't rank it high on my MCU list, but I don't think it's the worst one of the bunch.
The Menu
Really great thriller that I didn't know what to expect going into it. It's more reserved than your average thriller, because it holds back on big jump scares. Instead, it relies on holding that tension as the intensity rises throughout the film. It gets a little hokey at points. I think I saw it was listed as a horror or thriller comedy rather than straight horror or thriller. I didn't find it particularly funny, but I can kind of see where it might have earned that label.
Still, I had a good time with it. The presentation in the movie was interesting, as it cuts up the scenes as a menu, with each dish serving as a new act or scene in the movie. Definitely worth a watch.
Black Panther Wakanda Forever
Ehhhhhh, I don't know. I wanted to like this, but there's a lot more I didn't like than I liked. They were clearly struggling to find a solid narrative after losing Chadwick Boseman. Angela Bassett is a heck of a force in this, earning that Best Supporting Actress nomination. Tecnoch Huerta is a phenomenal Namor and I can't wait to see what he does next. I especially love the reworking of the character to include more Aztec or South American dressing.
Shuri takes center stage in this. And maybe I'm just bitter that Letitia Wright wasn't given the boot after her anti-vax stances, among other things, but I didn't find she really added anything to the movie. She was stilted and it often felt like she didn't even want to be there. Her character arc was interesting enough, given the fallout of losing Wakanda's king, but the actress was the worst part of all of it.
Plus, a LOT of the film was horribly lit to the point that it was too dark to see what was going on half the time. I tried playing with the settings on my TV to fix it, but to no avail. It was especially bad in the underwater scenes. But maybe I was spoiled by Avatar Way of the Water, because James Cameron KNOWS how to film underwater. There were also some REALLY awful green screen effects like a point where M'Baku and his men were clearly just standing in front of a green screen reacting to things around them.
So yeah, I wanted to like this, but it was a definite step down from the first one.
Marlowe
I stumbled across this existing at all when I was checking out the movies playing at my local theater. And I'm glad I did because it was awesome. It's an old school detective movie with Liam Neeson. His character, Phillip Marlowe, was the main character in many of Raymond Chandler's novels like Playback and The Big Sleep. This movie, in particular, is apparently based on John Banville's novel, The Black-Eyed Blonde.
But it really does feel like a Raymond Chandler story from beginning to end. The highpoint is Marlowe interviewing or interrogating suspects or bouncing off with the femme fatale in the movie. There is some phenomenal cinematography, too, including many seemingly long takes where the camera follows along with the character as they interview or stalk someone.
The acting isn't anything particular to write home about, but it's clear almost everyone had a good time filming it. I found the snappy dialogue a little too fast to follow at points. Having subtitles would have helped me.
But for the set design, cinematography, music, and story, I dug the hell out of this. Definitely going to buy a physical copy when I can.
Before Sunrise
I've always been curious about the "Before Trilogy," but never got around to it. Recently, my girlfriend and I watched it together and we loved it. It's very much an indie film, with little flair, but it has some excellent writing and even better chemistry between the two main actors. They really make you believe that they've slowly fallen in love with each other over the course of a night. I was impressed by how often the camera would just stay on them for a long take as they just chatted. And yet, I was never bored by the lack of camera changes.
We're probably going to watch the two sequels at some point. I look forward to them because I really enjoyed this one.
Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania
Maybe I went into this with lowered expectations due to the reviews and reactions, but I had a lot of fun with this one. It's firmly a middle-of-the-road MCU film in terms of quality, but it's a fun ride. There's not a lot in the sense of character development for anyone, but it's nice to see Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfieffer have more to do than previous films. It feels like Hope/Wasp is barely in the movie, for as little as they give her to work with (and she's another anti-vaxxer, so I'm not too disappointed in that). Paul Rudd does his usual thing and he's fun enough.
But by far, the stand out was Jonathan Majors, bringing the big acting guns with Kang. He has so many little acting ticks that show you there's more behind the character's stoic façade. I can't wait to see what else they have in store for him because I just want to see him in more now. That said, the movie felt a little heavy on not just establishing him but explaining him. It really felt like a movie created solely to establish him. Which is fine, he's a great villain in this. But it's clearly a movie designed purely to set him up. There's a lot of exposition around him that drags the movie down at times. But then he's on screen and you think "Oh shit, put this guy in everything."
Much like the other Ant-Man movies, I wouldn't rank it high on my MCU list, but I don't think it's the worst one of the bunch.
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