What was the last movie you watched?

James McAvoy makes any movie he's in worth watching. Still, I admit I don't feel the need to ever rewatch this one. Like you said, it was all right, but that's it.

 

Beauty and the Beast (2017): The 1991 Disney movie is my favorite animated movie, and in general is towards the top of my all time favorite movies list, so I was kind of torn on if I actually wanted to see this or not (why ruin a good thing?). I would say this movie was good, but not WOW. It's not exactly a shot for shot remake of the animated movie, but it's pretty damn close. Enough so that I kind of wonder what the point was in remaking it. That said, since I love the original, I couldn't help but enjoy this one. The music is straight from the animated film, (with a few either original or songs pulled from the Broadway musical, I'm not sure), which is great because that movie has a damn near perfect score. Hearing it again gave me so many feels, I'm not gonna lie. The characters were well acted. I can't stand Josh Gad in this (yeah, his character is supposed to be annoying, but just looking at the expressions on his face made me want to punch him repeatedly) but aside from him, I thought the cast was a good one. I kinda wish they would have got Robby Benson to dub over the Beast's voice, though. Dan Stevens, bless him, did his best, I think, and I enjoy the hell out of him on Legion and was glad to see him in this, but I don't know, his voice just wasn't quite menacing enough. Was stupidly glad they actually cast a hot prince, at least, as the prince in the animated film is sadly lacking; I always wanted him to turn back into the monster. >_<

Hmm, not sure what else to say. The locations (for all that there was probably a lot done in CGI) were beautiful, as were the costumes, and the movie added some humor that I enjoyed. I chuckled a few times out loud.

Apparently there was some controversy over a so-called gay scene in the movie. People are dumb as hell, I swear. While there's some subtext (some a little more blatant to an adult, not something kids would be likely to pay attention to) of a one-sided crush that LeFou has towards Gaston, I think the scene people were whining about is literally 10 seconds at the very end during a partner dance sequence in which partners are switching and two men end up dancing together. That's it.

 

Movies I've seen lately:

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2: A solid film. A little more serious than the first, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, just different. I think I liked the first film better, but I did enjoy this one, too. Got a little teary at the end, which I didn't really expect. It had the usual quality you can expect from a Marvel film. If you like the superhero/comic book genre, I would think you'd like this.

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie: I took my nephew to see this and was expecting it to be horrible, but I was pleasantly surprised. It's not really one of those animated films that resonates well with adult audiences (lots of toilet humor, as you might assume from the title), but it had heart and an interesting enough story. My ten year old nephew really enjoyed it, so if you had a 5-10 year old you needed to entertain, it would probably make a good choice.

Despicable Me 3: I've seen all three of these without really intending to over the years. The first one is great, this one, not quite as good, but it was still decent enough. It kept me watching until the end, anyhow. I liked the villain and the animation was well done. The story wasn't especially original, but what is, anymore? Another good choice for kids.

Spider-Man: Homecoming: I kind of rolled my eyes when I heard they were rebooting the Spider-Man franchise again, but luckily we didn't have to sit through Peter getting bitten by a spider and Uncle Ben dying all over again. Tom Holland was respectable in the role, didn't really wow me, but I bought it. I liked Marisa Tomei's Aunt May- it was a different take on the character. Tony Stark shows up, not enough to take over the movie, but enough for his purpose in the film, and while in the last few films I've not much liked him, I did enjoy his attempts at being a fatherly/mentor figure here. Michael Keaton did well in his role, too. There were some nice action scenes in the film, as you'd probably expect there to be. I don't know what else to say. Like I said above with Guardians, if you're a fan of the other Marvel films, I imagine you'll like this, too.

 

Moana: the kiddos in my family are obsessed with this movie; I think I've seen it a hundred times in the last month alone. But it is good! Probably my favorite recent Disney animated release. It has an especially wonderful soundtrack and voice acting, beautiful animation, and the type of story I always enjoy.

Kidnap: Mostly I went to see this because I had nothing better to do. It's... okay. I was into it while I was watching it, but I don't know that there's any rewatch value. Halle Berry's character is like a goddamn Terminator; it was pretty cool. But she was also sort of dim, like, the movie could have been over in the first few minutes if she'd used her brain a little. And I have a hard time liking Halle Berry because she was so horrible in the X-Men films, so there's that, too. I think if you had kids it would hit pretty close to home, but it's not like there haven't been films made before with this premise. Nothing surprising here.

 

Bump

The Hitman's Bodyguard: I was really looking forward to this after seeing the trailer a few times at the theater. I think it was a decent buddy action movie, but not anything special. The plot is totally predictable- you know everything that will happen after watching the first 20 minutes, pretty much. The movie is really carried by the actors. Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson are honestly pretty much just playing themselves, but they have such good chemistry, it's worth it. Salma Hayek is in it, too, and surprisingly funny. The action had some badass moments, but also some shitty green screen effects. The trailers and marketing were almost funnier than the movie itself, but I still enjoyed myself watching it.

 

Happy Death Day: The plot of this movie is not the most original- hell, it even name drops Groundhog Day at one point, but I'm a sucker for stories about time loops or time travel, so I figured I'd give it a watch anyhow. And I did end up liking it. The lead actress in this is fantastic. Her character goes through a lot as the story progresses, and the actress nails it every single time. The movie rests on her shoulders; every other cast member is at best a supporting character, although there were some good performances out of them, too. I think the movie is hurt a little bit by its rating. As a PG-13, it cuts away from the violence too quickly, and while there's a logical reason why it's shot that way, I felt like it made it less scary. I don't want to watch a torture porn, but I felt like the stakes might have been higher if the shot lingered a little more on death scenes. On the plus side, I loved that the movie didn't take itself too seriously. I think the director clearly knew what sort of movie he was making and played it up. There's quite a bit of humor in a film about a woman repeating the day she's murdered. I don't know that it's worth paying full theater prices unless it's something you're really wanting to see, but for a new horror-ish release around Halloween, you could do worse.

 

Murder on the Orient Express (2017): I was underwhelmed. Because I've read the book many times over the years, this wasn't a whodunnit for me, so maybe that was part of the problem? The acting was fine. Johnny Depp actually didn't annoy me in this or do any of his Jack Sparrow-lite crap. Josh Gad was also surprisingly not annoying. Tom Bateman stole the movie for me as Bouc. His character in the book is nothing like how he was portrayed in the movie, but he was hilarious and I loved him. This kind of leads me into one of my problems with the film, though- unnecessary character changes. I try to have an open mind when I see adaptations, but I had trouble keeping that attitude going through this movie and this is not a fandom I usually have nerd rage over. Some of the changes were with personality- the main character, Poirot, for instance, has a meticulousness throughout Christie's novels, but here it was exaggerated to OCD levels, and they threw in some moping over a lost love that didn't really do anything for me. And then there were changes made in the casting solely for diversity purposes. Which, I get it, there is a lack of quality roles for people of color in Hollywood. If it's not important to the plot, I don't mind if casting directors play loose with the cast if the actor can embody the character. Here, it mostly didn't matter, but in one case, they had to add dialogue to explain how a black man in the early 1930s was able to become a doctor, and then add more dialogue to give the okay to a now interracial love affair that that change created. Why? They could have spent that little bit of time establishing more of the real plot.

Which brings me to my second point. Even with knowing the backstories of the characters and the reason behind the murder, some of the reveals in this felt awkward and seemed to come out of nowhere. I don't want to spoil the story, and this post is already as long as a novel, so I'll just say there were story elements I was unsatisfied with and move on.

Overall, I didn't hate this movie. It had beautiful cinematography, was artfully shot, and had a decent score. The cast was mainly fine- I didn't touch on Kenneth Branagh as the lead earlier, but he was decent. I think someone unfamiliar with the book or other adaptations would probably enjoy this if they like this genre of film. As someone very familiar with the source material, I found it lacking but ultimately ok. I might watch it again when it comes out on streaming services to see if I have the same thoughts, but I wouldn't pay theater prices to see it again.

 

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle: A sequel no one asked for and no one wanted, but apparently that's how they should do sequels, because this movie was awesome. I laughed out loud more than a few times. The story was given a pretty interesting update and kept me engaged throughout, and the actors were wonderful (especially Jack Black, I can't think of anyone more perfect for that role than him). Even Kevin Hart, who's basically playing Kevin Hart, ends up being pretty funny. The villain is very one dimensional- I would have liked to have seen more of him, but it's not necessarily a detriment to the film as the nature of the story excuses some things like that. It has a few nice nods to the original film without it being overbearing about it. The action scenes were good. Don't know what else to say about it- I'd say it's worth a watch.

 

The Maze Runner: The Death Cure: This movie was okay. Your typical dystopian YA film, but with zombies. I couldn't remember who some of the characters were or where we left off after the last film, despite having read the book series years ago, so I would have liked for the film to do a brief recap when it started out, rather than throwing us right into the action. Acting was mostly fine- I was glad to see Will Poulter again. Action and effects seemed fine, too. I wanted to keep watching until the end, but I wasn't super-engrossed in the story, either. So, okay.

 

A Quiet Place: the actors had their work cut out for them in this film with very little dialogue, but they performed admirably. John Krasinski was especially awesome, given that he was also a writer and the director of the film. I liked the way the film was shot (it's use of sound and music in particular). The movie was never really scary, exactly, but it did a great job of keeping the tension building. All said, I really enjoyed the film.

 

Deadpool 2: A sequel that (in my opinion) is actually as good as the first film. I loved this. The story is kinda cliche, but it had heart and made me laugh a lot. Ryan Reynolds was born to play this role, honestly. The new cast members were pretty awesome too. Overall, I thought it was just a well-made movie. I'd see it again, for sure.

 

I've seen a lot of films since my last post. Time for a bump.

Tag: So funny, with a lot of heart, too. If Jeremy Renner got to play Hawkeye half as badass as he plays his character in this film, Hawkeye would be totally awesome. The rest of the cast had pretty great comedic timing- I laughed out loud, more than a few times. Highly recommend this.

Ocean's 8: I'm kind of cynical about genderswap or diversified reboots, because why not create original work with great roles for women, people of color, people with disabilities, etc, but this was actually not bad. I mean, you don't get anything you wouldn't get if you stuck a version of Ocean's 11 in the dvd player, but the acting was well done and I thought the way the heist came together was pretty interesting, if maybe a bit predictable. If you like these sorts of heist films and find it streaming somewhere, you won't hate it, probably.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom: This movie was dumb, let's be honest. I loved the original Jurassic Park when I was a kid. The appeal is in watching dinosaurs go on a rampage eating people. The last film in the series went maybe a little overboard in that area, and this one over-corrected and had woefully little people-crunching, in my opinion. I mostly kept watching for Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt's characters' romance, because I'm lame that way. The ending was dumb as all hell. I didn't have a horrible time watching this; it was enjoyable in its own way, I suppose, but nothing I'd really recommend. I had my 11 year old nephew and 5 year old niece with me- neither of them were especially impressed. The 2 year old girl my friend had with her loved it, though, go figure.

The Hurricane Heist: The dumbest film I've seen in a long while, but it was so stupid, I kind of love it. There's something there in the story, but the execution failed just so hard. Every bad thing that happens in this film that isn't because of weather is the fault of the idiot female protagonist, who is so blindly married to the idea of "doing her job" that she makes the most illogical decisions. For some reason, they chose to set this film in Alabama, despite the fact that they could have set it anywhere in the US, and the southern accents in this are pretty exaggerated and ridiculous (saying this as someone with a southern accent that hopefully isn't too ridiculous, but I honestly can't tell anymore). Toby Kebbell, bless his heart, he tried, but the Brits don't do southern too well, or maybe it's just that I'm used to seeing him in films or tv shows where he speaks with his normal voice, or a generic American accent. The other male protagonist is played by an Aussie, and he's just as bad at it. I don't know, there were so many characters who made mind-numbingly idiotic moves, but combined together, it all made for an awesome trainwreck.

Ant Man and the Wasp: I'm pretty easy when it comes to Marvel films. I really enjoyed this one, as I've enjoyed most of these films. One thing I love about the Ant Man films is that the stakes aren't especially high. These are more personal stories, rather than 'save the world' drama, and I enjoy seeing that. Story, acting, and effects were all a credit to the film. I'd recommend.

The Incredibles 2: A sequel 14 years in the making. Much like The Force Awakens, I felt like this was good, but ultimately the same film as the original. The villain is extremely obvious, but I still thought all of the character designs were pretty cool. The animation and voice acting were top notch. The film kept me engaged throughout, made me laugh, and had heart. I'll watch it again, probably even buy it. I just wish it didn't feel quite so similar to the first one.

 

Fallen Kingdom was just Ok for me compared to other movies in the franchise. Not as good as JP1 or JW by any stretch of the imagination. Still it was better than Lost World... which isn't hard to do in my opinion.
In short, it had potential but was killed by bad writing.
For example:

Spoiler

Why would you need a dinosaur to kill a person in close enough range that you could point at them with a laser. Couldn't you just shoot them?

 

Yeah, exactly. I didn't leave furious after watching the film; it wasn't bad in that regard. The writing was just not where it should have been. Needed more rampaging dinos, less idiot human characters.

Well, then they'd have to take responsibility without having the dinosaur as a scapegoat. Nobody likes doing their own dirty work. But yeah.

The last film I saw was The Spy Who Dumped Me. I've had a crappy, hard last few weeks (well, months, honestly), and I wanted something lighthearted where I could turn my brain off, be entertained, and maybe laugh a little. This pretty much delivered that. The action sequences where pretty decent. The acting was pretty decent. The story was predictable and nothing special, but that's kind of what I was looking for. It wasn't as funny as I would have liked, but I chuckled internally a little and out loud once or so. I wouldn't really recommend paying full theater prices unless you're like me and are looking for this exact sort of thing, but if it's on Netflix or some free streaming website online and you want a dumb movie like this, eh. It won't kill ya.