aka Blog v4.0
What a month.
This was a good movie, though I did like Superman a little bit more.
So many little things made me smile, the chemistry between the cast in particular.
Galactus was done right this time around, and I liked the Silver Surfer character.
And that mid credits scene. Whoa.
Nice nods to existing FF lore, too, both during the movie and during the… end credits scene.
Recommended. Two thumbs up. Go see it!
Spoilers follow.
I have one issue with James Gunn’s Superman, and after letting it stew for a bit, I understand why they made this decision to change a major fundamental aspect of his origin.
Growing up I always saw DC Comics as fun and Marvel Comics as serious.
DC characters seemed to have no problems back then while Marvel’s characters thrived on personal drama (The Parker Luck, for example).
While I love both equally now, when I was a kid I was very much a DC Comics fan, with stories both in comics and on TV where the heroes always won, villains went to jail, and everything was black and white.
James Gunn’s Superman captures that feeling, the feeling of the invincibility of heroes through and through, almost as if the pages of a comic have come to life on screen.
This movie felt more like a comic book than any comic book movie ever has. And it very much feels like the comics that I read when I was still in single digits, age-wise.
While some reviews call Mr. Terrific the MVP of the movie, my vote goes to Krypto, the goodest boy in the universe. He stole every scene he was in, and it made me smile every time.
The cast is phenomenal, every character is pretty much a modern version, yet felling very classic in execution.
The plot is so much comic booky that somewhere, Julius Schwartz and Mort Weisinger are smiling.
There was so much I loved about this movie, it’s possibly my favorite Superman film, as much as I love the original 1978 film and Man of Steel.
Highly recommended. Two thumbs up. GO SEE IT!
Also, there’s 2 credits scenes.
I first heard the term ‘cyberdeck’ or ‘deck’ in William Gibson’s “Neuromancer”, back in college.
I always pictured it as something not quite a laptop or a tablet, a fully featured PC in a not so standard design.
The closest thing that I’d ever seen that came close to how I envisioned it was something like the Sony PSP or Nintendo Switch, as far as the form factor.
But now I’ve seen something that totally matches my headcanon as what a cyberdeck is supposed to look like.
Valve’s Steam Deck, which might get me back into gaming.
We’ll find out soon enough, I suppose.
I gotta say I enjoyed this movie more than I expected to.
It’s actually bumped Days of Thunder down one on my list of favorite racing films. Of course that could also be due to my waning interest in NASCAR in general.
I’ve become more of an F1 fan lately, mainly because I’m more familiar with the drivers and teams than in NASCAR, which I stopped watching after Jeff Gordon retired in 2015, and didn’t really pay too much attention after they made changes like the playoffs, the green-white-checkers finish, and the race ‘segments’.
F1 in general still holds a mystique that NASCAR used to have, prior to 2000, there was a line in the film about Brad Pitt’s character that gave me chills:
“If he raced with Ruben, then he raced with Schumacher, with Senna.”
But I digress.
This is basically a ‘listen to the old [white] guy because he knows all’ plot, but it’s done well, and is entertaining enough to carry through the movie.
Heck, I didn’t know one of the stars was the voice of Friday in the MCU films.
The race scenes were fun, as was seeing so many real F1 drivers and personalities. I silently clapped when I saw some of my favorites, like Alonso and LeClerc, and just seeing the Ferrari logo bigger than life during one race made my heart soar. #forzaferrari #tifosi
Some of the casting surprised me, as in I didn’t know this actor was going to be playing this character and have a significant part of the story. Y’all will know who I mean when you see it.
And by all means, see this film, in the theatre, because it deserves to be seen in the biggest, loudest theatre you can see it in, even though I didn’t see it in IMAX.
F1 fans, Brad Pitt fans, other cast (Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem) fans, will enjoy this one.
Thumbs up! Go see it!
Welp.
Yeah, we had a regeneration.
Yeah, Billie Piper is (possibly?) the 16th Doctor.
The bigger surprise to me, and one of my favorite moments of the Doctor Who finale, was the return of Jodie Whittaker as the 13th Doctor.
The biggest problem I’ve had with this series as a whole is the writing.
Every actor who’s played the Doctor in nuWho have been brilliant IMHO, as have most of the companions.
Eccleston, Tennant and most of Smith’s runs had, for the most part, overall better written stories than Capaldi, Whittaker and Gatwa’s runs.
Bringing back Jodie actually made me smile and tear up, she was wonderful in this short appearance. That one exchange:
Thirteen: I should say that to Yaz.
Fifteen: You never do. But she knows.
Wow.
As for the Billie Piper thing, the credits simply said:
Not ‘as The Doctor’ as they usually do. Is this a fake out? Will she go by another name, like… Bad Wolf?
Of course the other question is how long until the next series, or if we’re even getting another series?
In any case, this finale, to me, was the perfect end to Gatwa’s short run as the Doctor.
It’s been some time since I last watched the original animated film, which is hands down my favorite modern Disney animated film, with Sleeping Beauty my favorite classic.
I’ve only seen Aladdin as far as Disney’s live adaptations.
I really enjoyed the new Lilo & Stitch movie. It hit all the right notes that I expected, with the most unexpected thing is the concert t-shirt that Nani was wearing (Prince – Purple Rain Tour).
I was surprised at one of the voice actors (Hannah Waddingham) and had no idea that Tia Carrere was in the film, she who originally voiced Nani in 2002.
I was most impressed with the kid who played Lilo, Maia Kealoha. She really brought that character to life in live action in both her look and her portrayal.
And of course I absolutely loved Stitch, who I’ve called my true spirit animal since those original pre-release trailers, wreaking havoc in various Disney movies to AC/DC’s ‘Back in Black’. The live-action version made me smile whenever he appeared and did… stuff.
And I almost cried when he gave the Ohana speech at the end.
While the theatre was maybe half full, it was mostly families and kids, and the group of moms sitting near me laughed along with me during parts that were callbacks to the original.
I think I enjoyed this one more than I did Mission: Impossible 8 the night before.
I love the Mission: Impossible franchise.
Ever since the first one in 1996, and particularly the 4th, 5th , and 6th films, these have been a helluva ride at the movies.
That said, this last film in the franchise was… not great.
It reminded me of most of the 2-part episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation when the first part was really good, and then the second part… isn’t.
Many of the action sequences were unnecessarily looooong, even for an M:I film. It was more over the top than any other film in the franchise.
There was a character reveal that served no purpose, though if I had paid attention to the character’s name I would have expected it.
There was the return of a character that elicited a large laugh from me and maybe one other person when they first appeared, just because. If you’re a long time fan of this series, you’ll know.
And I didn’t know Rebecca Walton could pull off an American accent, which was a little jarring to be honest.
But overall I felt it was disappointing conclusion to this franchise. I didn’t hate it, it wasn’t as bad as the last season or so of Game of Thrones, it was just… okay, as action movies go.
At least I get to see Lilo and Stitch on Friday. Plenty of families at the theatre for that film, and maybe I should have seen that tonight as well.
I almost want to put Andor ahead of Rogue One on my list of favorite Star Wars projects, but as I still leave the original 1977 film at the top because everything afterwards came from it, we don’t get the Andor show without Rogue One.
That said, Andor‘s two seasons was an amazing piece of Star Wars storytelling.
And as awesome as the third arc (Episodes 7-9) was, this fourth arc was quieter but told as good a story.
The backstory of Luthen, the rescue of Kleya, the final chapter all hold up to the rest of the series. And while I expected some bittersweet endings, there were some moments of satisfaction with the fate of certain characters we’ve followed since Season 1.
As for that final shot, that was probably the most satisfying of them all, as a couple of characters who I was most concerned about were shown to be at peace and safe.
When the series ended, Disney+ popped up ‘You may also like: Rogue One‘ and I immediately pressed play to start watching what’s jokingly referred to as the 2 hour 13 minute post credits scene to Andor.
I got about a third of the way through before it was about bedtime for me, but I also decided that instead of finishing the film soon, I’m going to watch the entire Andor Saga from Season 1 to Rogue One, probably over the rest of the month, and then celebrate the anniversary of Star Wars on the 25th with a viewing of the first film.
As for my overall review of Andor Season 2, I’ll just say that it joins Season 1 as the best Star Wars content since The Empire Strikes Back.