Category: Media

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Top Gun Maverick

I went to the Early Access screening for Top Gun Maverick Tuesday night.

I had a huge grin under my mask and the occasional teary eyes all throughout the movie.

I didn’t expect The Empire Strikes Back level of a sequel, but this was definitely one of the best sequels I’ve ever seen.

It just hit the right chords at the right times, fan service but not overly so.

And I honestly didn’t know that Jennifer Connelly was playing THAT character in this movie.  She’s still one of my top Hollywood crushes, hands down.

36 years of a wait was worth it.

And I got a pin and a little poster.

If you liked the original, you’ll love this one.

If you loved the original (like me), you’ll really love this one.

Recommended!  Go see it!

 

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Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness

It was good.

Not as good as, say, Shang-Chi or No Way Home, but better, IMHO, than Black Widow and Eternals.

It’s just hard to rank them in a post-Endgame world, what with 28 films on the list as well.

If anything, this felt more like a non-superhero Sam Raimi film.

The cameos were great, especially the one during the surprising mid credits scene.

It certainly felt like a shorter film than many of the other MCU movies.  Which isn’t good or bad, just an observation.

Just make sure you’ve at least seen Wandavision before seeing this film.

Recommended!  Go see it!

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Streaming

I’m running out of things to watch on the various streaming services.

I do have the end of The Legend of Vox Machina to finish up, but with the end of The Book of Boba Fett and Peacemaker, pickings are currently slim.  Though I know stuff is on the way, like Kenobi and Moon Knight.

I finished Reacher, which I thought was good.

I’m not interested in most of the Star Trek series, though I will check out Strange New Worlds.

 

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No Way Home

I left the theatre saying that I liked it.

After sleeping on it, I was wrong.

I loved it.

This movie reminded me of everything that I love about Spider-Man and these movies.

I can’t say much more without spoiling A LOT of the film, I’ll just mention that I need a scene translated by my aunts or uncles.

Recommended.  Go see it!

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Ghostbusters Afterlife

I’m a huge Ghostbusters movie fan.   I love the franchise in general, but mostly the films, even the 2016 one. 

I never watched the cartoon, and I didn’t finish the video game from a few years back.  I did back both Ghostbusters games on Kickstarter, and I still have my copy of the old West End Games RPG.

I liked this movie.

It was a slow build up to an awesome last 30 minutes or so.

The actors were great in their roles, the story kinda meandered a bit here and there.

And I cried.  For reasons.

If this is the start of a new GB franchise, I’m all for it.  The just need to tighten up the story telling, I think.

Recommended, with the caveat that Ghostbusters fans will enjoy it more.

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Eternals

I really liked it.

In the past I’ve described these movies as”[genre/trope] with superheroes”.

This was… indescribable in those terms.

Superhero movie with superheroes, maybe.

But yeah, I really liked it.

On it’s own, one of the best films I’ve seen this year.

In MCU rankings, this one doesn’t crack my top 5, maybe not even my top ten.

What little I know about the Eternals didn’t sway my enjoyment one way or another.

Though the end credits scene has me more intrigued than the mid-credits scene, which was also intriguing.

I kinda wanna see it again already, but I think I can wait for Disney+ to pick it up.

We’ll see.

Oh, and it appears that another trailer scene was absent from the film.

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End of an Era

After a couple of hours to process this roller coaster of emotions after watching this, I gotta say that I loved this movie.

Arguably Craig’s best outing as Bond, in my humble opinion.

Some of the musical cues surprised the hell out of me, but fit in the context of the movie.

There was even a moment that fans of the Bond *novels* will find satisfying.

Not much more I can say, except…

JAMES BOND WILL RETURN

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Shang-Chi

Confession: I didn’t think I was gonna like this film as much as I do.

I remember being genuinely happy when it was announced that Simu Liu was cast in the lead role, having been a big fan of Kim’s Convenience.

That said, I was having a hard time *not* seeing Jung Kim whenever a trailer for Shang-Chi came on.

But once the movie started and he appeared on screen, he was Shang-Chi.

Or Shaun, initially.

The action/comedy/pacing on this film were about as perfect as I expect from a movie.  The only other film I put in that category is Raiders of the Lost Ark.

I daresay it’s my favorite Marvel film not called “Endgame”.

It’s certainly the best origin film that they’ve put out.

And I wonder how many non-Asians understood the line, “I speak ABC!”

Highest recommendation possible for this one.

It’ll be on Disney+ in a month and a half, if you can’t or don’t want to hit your local theatre.

The only thing that bums me out about this film?

I have to clear a spot in my all-time Top Ten Movies for this one.

It’s already taken the #5 spot in my All Time Marvel Movies list, bumping Ant-Man down a spot.

While both take place in my hometown of San Francisco, the inclusion of one of my all time favorite songs puts it over Ant-Man in the list.

As of this post, I’ve seen it 3 times, opening weekend.  Last movie I saw that many times was The Rise of Skywalker.

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What If…?

One of my favorite comics when I was a kid was Marvel’s “What If…?”.

Back in the day I missed picking up the first few issues, so the first one I read was this one:

The Fantastic Four with different powers?  And a full explanation of how the powers manifested differently?  Blew my 10-year old mind.

And then I didn’t get another issue until this one:

NICK FURY IN SPACE!  Holy crap!

And at the time Marvel was publishing Star Wars, so I was hoping for a crossover with Nick Fury and Han Solo teaming up.  Oh well.

I never got more than a couple of issues consecutively, because the one comic shop where I could find it was the one at Pier 39, which I didn’t go to regularly.  I also found an occasional issue at the flea markets around here.

A few years back I eventually read the entire series when it was released in trade paperback form, acquiring the first 2-3 collected volumes, and  then finished it when it became available on comiXology.com.

It always remained as a favorite, even the more recent What If…? series that came out to cover Marvel’s later history and big events.

Flashforward to now, over 40 years later, and about 13 years after the MCU started with Iron Man.

The first episode of Marvel’s “What If…?” animated series premiered on Disney+, and it was good.

Nothing beats the old comics, but this comes close.

I heard that the idea was to produce 1 episode for each film in the MCU, which now totals 24, but this first season will only be 9 episodes long.

And what a first episode!

Peggy Carter becomes the first Super Soldier.

It felt enough like the old comic for nostalgia’s sake, but with the voices of many of the original actors, I’d love to see this in live action with modern effects.

It even had me guessing and speculating on where the MCU would have been changed, like who becomes the Winter Soldier in this universe?  Who was the Red Skull summoning?  Questions that were answered before the end of the episode, thankfully.

I hope they do get to make at least one episode for each MCU film, and then for the 3 and later upcoming Disney+ series.

I’m totally on board for this show, and they just can’t make them fast enough.

And I gotta get my hands on that Hydra Stomper.  It’s awesome.

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Film to Digital

As if I didn’t have enough hobbies/projects in my spare time…

Since a little after my Mom passed away, I had this idea of converting any and all Super 8mm film that I could find into digital video files.

The cost of offsite conversion concerned me, along with the idea of shipping these memories elsewhere.

After Dad passed away, I started looking into getting a home system to do this, but again, the price was a bit high.

Recently I checked pricing on these units again, they had dropped to an affordable price point, and decided to pick one up.

It seems to do the job well, having digitized about a dozen and a half 3-minute reels of film (at a rate of around 30 minutes per reel) and I’m pretty satisfied with the output.

For example: from about 45 years ago, Christmas 75.

Watching these films reminded me of another reason I didn’t convert them right away, it was still painful to see home movies of ones who have moved on, but age has made it a bit… less painful to watch.

It’s also fun to watch my niece, reacting to movies of her mother (my sister) as a baby.

Gotta say that’s it’s oddly satisfying and emotional to do this, seeing memories from over 40 years ago, and preserving them.