Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

I loved it.  Maybe I’m a little biased, of course, but yeah, I loved it.

This movie hit all the right notes that Crystal Skull didn’t, IMHO.

From the opening scene which did something I’ve ALWAYS wanted to see in an Indiana Jones film, to the final scene which left me a little teary eyed, there wasn’t anything I disliked about the film.

Seriously.  This is an Indiana Jones film, and I actually have the same feelings that I had when I first saw Last Crusade, a sequel worthy of the original.

And most definitely a fitting finale for the whole franchise.

I rank it 3rd, after Last Crusade and over Temple of Doom.

This was also the best film I’ve seen this year.  Or at least the most entertaining.

4 Chachapoyan Idols out of 5.

Highly recommended.  Go see it!

Jacket

Bowing down to peer pressure, I’m actually getting one of these jackets.

Though I’m going to be making a slight modification to this patch:

 

The Flash

It was okay.

There were 3 cameos that I wanted that actually happened.  A fourth that was kinda unexpected.

That’s all I’ll say.

2.5 stars out of 4.

Recommended only if you’re as much of a DC fanboy as I am.

Across the Spider-Verse

Best Spider-Man movie ever?

Maybe.  I still have a soft spot for 2004’s Spider-Man 2 and Homecoming.

But this is one of the best Marvel films released in a while.

And one of the best comic book films released in a while.

Visually it was better than the first Spider-Verse film.

One hell of a story, too.

And a great cliffhanger.

Recommended.  Go see it!

Roller Coaster

They were right:  this is the best Marvel film since Endgame.

I still like Shang-Chi a little bit more, but I’ll give credit where credit is due.

As my nephew said, the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy is as good as the Captain America trilogy, it holds up as it’s own sub story.

It’s no secret that this subset of the MCU  is my favorite.

This movie was an emotional roller coaster from start to finish, mostly stemming from the story of Rocket.

Just when you think the story is going to throw you into total sadness it comes back to an action or comedy or drama scene, shifting how you feel at that moment.

There were great moments throughout the movie, including the two credits scenes, and even the imagery during the credits themselves.

There’s a couple of great cameos in this one, too.

Highly recommended.  Go see it!

Bard Test

I decided to give Google’s AI a test by giving it the following prompt:

“story outline starring Jake Banner, anti-terrorist operative”

For those keeping score, Jake Banner was a character that I dreamed up in sophomore year in high school, circa 1983.  This was LONG before 24 starring Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer.

I didn’t even realize that I used the ‘J.B.’ spy initials (James Bond/Jason Bourne/Jack Bauer) until so much later (early 2000s?).

Prompt results: Continue reading “Bard Test”

Reason

I didn’t do a halfway point review of Picard because frankly I want to wait and see if they stick the landing.

It’s been fine so far, though today’s episode was a mixed bag of annoyance and nostalgia, which is what most of the episodes have been for me, to be honest.

Reviews

I got to see an early screening of the new Dungeons & Dragons movie, Honor Among Thieves.

It’s a fun movie.  Knowledge of the game isn’t needed, though players will definitely get more out of watching this movie.

That’s not to say the movie can’t/won’t be enjoyed by non-players.  It’s almost structured like a Marvel movie, in the way the movie sets everything up, from the setting, to the characters, to the reveal of/by the big bad.

One particular group cameo made me smile a lot.

Having only seen two movies so far this year, this one was more fun than Quantumania.  This one I actually want to see again.

Recommended!  Two thumbs up!

So far, so good for The Mandalorian Season 3.

Halfway through and we’ve had a lot of stuff happen to Din Djarin and Grogu, not to mention to Bo-Katan and Dr. Pershing.

And we have yet to see Moff Gideon.

Looking forward to the back half of the season.