Tag Archives: Movie Review

Deja Vu

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The Matrix Resurrections – a no spoiler review

Great to see them together again

I won’t give you spoilers, but the trailers for the movie certainly will. I find that to be one of the most frustrating portions of any movie these days. I used to truly enjoy the excitement and anticipation of upcoming films and would be sure to check out the trailers. These days I want to know a very small amount about the film along with how it’s going to be released – and that’s it. I hate that some of what I think are the coolest parts of the movie are in the trailer. Saw them before the film ever started… and then was underwhelmed when I saw them in the film itself.

Speaking of trailers… it feels like movie houses are attempting to devour themselves in a desperate effort to get our attention. We were early to the film to be sure we got seats that we preferred. The movie was supposed to come in around 2 ½ hours. We had almost a half hour of previews lined up to watch before the movie ever started. I’m not kidding. I timed it at somewhere between 24 and 27 minutes of previews… to the point that we were sitting there doing the “rolling” motion with our hands in the theater. As in, OK – WE GET IT – you want us to be excited about movies… how about the one we just paid for and want to see? It was ridiculous.

I think it’s wonderful that we have so many options for movies these days. I’m glad the theater experience is still out there. More on that later.

The movie itself. It has a lot of the look and feel of the original. The sounds and colors were all familiar. Some of it was a little too familiar. There was a lot of reused footage from the previous movies, tying things together. There were lots of call backs and continuations. It makes sense in the story for the most part, but it’s difficult to talk about it in depth without spoiling things. What I DID NOT like was the way the action sequences were shot. It accentuated and doubled down on the shaky cam and unlit (really dark) action sequences. They were hard to watch and almost impossible to follow. IF you’re a fan of breaking down film things like this, I suggest checking out this short video on how action scenes are shot. Dark and hard to see, and I’m not sure it needed to be.

The characters were good. Keanu and Carrie Anne were great. I really enjoyed Jessica Henwick as Bugs. I hope to see more of her in the future. Then there was Neil Patrick Harris. I’m not going to say anything about his character. No spoilers. NPH was easily my favorite character and I’d LOVE to see more of him in films like this going forward. He made this movie for me.

I’m glad we went to the theater to see the movie. I don’t know how the combo with home screening will change the box office numbers, but it will be interesting. As I said above, I am glad the theater experience is making a comeback. Things still feel different because of the pandemic. The place was only about half full. That’s far more than recent movies, but far less than I’m betting they hoped for. I certainly thought there would be more people there for a 7 o’clock show on opening night. The movie is worth seeing on the big screen if that’s a thing you’re comfortable with. I expect I’ll be watching this movie again on the small screen at home. There were tons of little details to catch that I’m sure weren’t caught while trying to take in the story itself for the first time. It’s a well done film and I hope it does well.

Also – there is a little something at the very end of the credits too, so don’t leave early.

What movie are you looking forward to seeing on the big screen?

Tomorrow What?

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Oh, Tomorrow War. Yes, that was it.

I watched the trailer for this movie as soon as it came out. It reminded me of Independence Day with Will Smith. A big budget blowing up aliens show for the fourth of July holiday. I was down with this plan – in principle. Then I watched the trailer again. From the trailer alone, I started to have doubts. Nevermind I thought, I’ll just wait and see. I put it out of my mind and forged ahead with the other things in my life.

Then, suddenly, it was the July fourth holiday weekend. I was crazy busy doing all sorts of things. I had an odd window of time and started just scrolling the screen to see what was out there and saw the big splashy things for this movie.

“OH! That’s right!” and I dove right in. No hesitation, no selection paralysis for me. Aliens and blowing stuff up. I’m IN! I really wanted to be super into this. I wanted to be excited. I was hoping there’d be this new alien action thing that would be a new go to. I watched. I waited to be moved. I wanted to just get into it and somehow it didn’t happen. This movie was no Independence Day. It wanted to be, but it missed the mark.

I still watch Independence Day from time to time. It actually holds up well enough considering that it’s 25 years old. There’s something to the movie that is just fun to watch. There’s an odd combination of crazy global scale mashed together with these smaller, human scale stories. People just getting together and working toward solving a problem because that’s what we would do ~ at least in a more positive time.

Tomorrow War says it’s a global scale conflict but it doesn’t show us a global scale conflict. The only city we actually see is Miami, or more correctly what is left of Miami. The people in this movie don’t band together for the good of the human race, they’re drafted. Literally forced to fight. No options, here’s a meager selection of gear, no training and GO!

The characters don’t have a chance to gel. There should be relationships, there should be bonding there should be… something. Our protagonist spends part of the movie actively working against one of his relationships. Secondary characters that should be given the chance to rise up and have a greater role are relegated to smaller parts that round out the “we need more people” bit, but don’t develop. I often complain about movie studios feeling like they need to force romance into movies. There is certainly no forced romance in this film. The problem is that the relationship they want us to focus on… just gets weird. I won’t spoil it, but I didn’t get it. When I was supposed to be feeling things I was bored.

I wanted more of something and got very little of anything. I may watch it again, just to try to catch stuff I missed? I don’t know. Maybe if we watch it enough they’ll fund another alien movie? Sigh. It could have been more. Maybe I’ll watch Independence Day again instead.

IF you’re into huge spoilers and want a break down of ALL the things that don’t make sense, check out the Pitch Meeting:

Out Of Genre Experience

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Given the amount I focus on table top gaming, book reviews, writing and art here on The Pretend Blog you might believe that I don’t stray outside my chosen genre. While it’s true that I tend to spend my available time on the things I enjoy the most, I do in fact stretch and get outside the genre from time to time. This particular out of genre experience was brought on when my wife… emphasized to me a non-zero amount of times… that I, in fact, needed to see a movie called Moxie.

For those interested in the visual rather than having me stumble over trying to describe the film in short hand without giving anything away, check out the trailer.

Last night I plopped myself onto the couch with my wife and we flipped the movie on. She had seen it before and insisted that it was worthy of a second viewing. I shrugged and we got on with it.

I didn’t have high expectations going into the film. I had not seen the trailer before the movie. I knew that Clark Gregg was in the movie as he’s a favorite of my wife’s, but beyond that I was unaware of any other things about this movie. I tend not to like ‘slice of life’ films and I didn’t really believe I was somehow going to connect with a teenage girl as a protagonist. I’m also not a fan of punk rock and the movie leans into that musical style. It didn’t add up to a warm, fuzzy feeling for me.

As is often the case, going in not expecting a lot seems to have worked to this films advantage. It had sharp dialog, characters that were real and felt like high school kids that my daughter would hang around with, and moved at a pace that didn’t ever lag. Vivian gets fed up with the toxic nature of things in her school. She digs up a bunch of things from her mother’s box of memories that inspire her to push for changes… and she does. She pushes and spurs others to do the same.

We watched it. No, I still don’t relate to a teenage girl… but my daughter IS one and she really enjoyed this movie too. There was good stuff in there. The circle of friends around Vivian is a diverse bunch. They relate the problems in the system and lay out so many of the reasons that change is needed. The supporting cast is really excellent. Clark Gregg plays a smaller role than I initially thought he might. The shining light deserving of attention is the boyfriend, Seth, played by Nico Hiraga (nope, I never heard of him before this). He digs into the role of ally and makes it work. He’s supportive without being dramatic about anything. He’s sensitive, but not overly so. He’s also not a pushover, standing up for himself when he feels he needs to. One of the best examples of an ally I’ve seen portrayed.

I really enjoyed this movie. Normally I would take something like this and write it up for the “you should be watching” column over at Watch The Skies, but as the subject of this post might have given away, it’s not even distantly related to science fiction. It’s still a great film. If you get the chance, you should check it out too.

Comfort Zone

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I don’t spend a lot of time watching shows or movies that are outside of my comfort zone. I think it’s worth noting that getting outside your own comfort zone is important, but it’s also work. I have declared before that I am a true child of media – the original MTV generation – but over all this time I have really moved away from so many forms of entertainment. I have narrowed my focus and made an effort to get away from the things I just don’t enjoy.

I was drawn to a particular publisher based on the description listed on their submission page:

If it’s a story about a 13 year old girl named Mary coping with the change to womanhood while poignantly reflecting the recent passing of her favorite aunt Gertrude, we DON’T want it! Now, if Mary is the 13 year old daughter of a vampire cowboy who stumbles upon a government conspiracy involving aliens & unicorns while investigating, hard-boiled style, the grizzly murder of her favorite aunt Gertrude, then we’ll take a look at it.

This seemed like a place where I would fit right in. I stick to what I like a lot of the time. It has taken a long while, but I have started to figure out what it is that I like. I can define it. I understand it. Yes, sometimes it’s quite predictable and I’m just fine with that.

So, when I was given a homework assignment for a class I am taking that amounted to reporting on the movie The Peanut Butter Falcon I was… less than enthusiastic. This movie had a lot going against it.

First and easiest, it was assigned homework. I could get past that ~ I am taking the class after all. I’m paying for it, I’m sure as hell going to do the homework.

It’s frequently described as “heartwarming”, “real” and “wholesome” along with a lot of other things that make this story about a man with Down syndrome who goes on a life altering adventure start to sound WAY too close to that description above. Definitely not something I’d consider go-to entertainment.

It also stars Shia LaBeouf. I have never met the man in person. I don’t know him and would genuinely reserve my personal opinions about a person… however he has managed to so thoroughly annoy me that I can’t stand watching him. It doesn’t matter the role, I only see his annoying face. I really can’t stand him. At all. He makes it easy to dislike all things Hollywood.

Normally that’s strike three, that movie would be out. Add to the case against with it’s hard to find. It’s not on any streaming service that I have. I have been told it’s on Hulu, but I wasn’t signing up for an additional service just to dig up this film. Thankfully my Luddite self is still part of the DVD program with Netflix. Yes, you digital natives, I get an actual physical disc in the mail when I request it so that I can play it in my local player. I do not depend on the whims of streaming services nor the speed of the internet when I really want to just sit and watch without interruption. So I added this movie to the que and waited for it to come in.

A couple of Saturdays ago I found myself in possession of said disc and happened to have a couple of hours to deal with it. I treated it like a chore. It was an unpleasant side effect of something I wanted to do, so I sucked it up, sat down and hit play.

I believe your expectations of a film factor heavily in how you feel about the film when you’re done. I had built this up to such a terrible thing in my mind that it would have had to be truly terrible to meet what it had become in my head. Tempered with that in mind, I will tell you that this is a genuinely good movie. It’s not just good, I’d recommend it.

No, I still can’t stand LeBeef. Yes, he was exactly what that part needed. Exactly. I will not hesitate to tell you that Zack Gottsagen’s character hooked me immediately. He’s hilarious and genuine and IS that part. Yes, it was written with him in mind, but I’ve seen films where the script is written with an actor in mind and they still suck. Definitely not the case here. The other characters were dead on. There was no smarmy pandering – Zack is an actor playing a role and he killed it. Yes, it was a little bit predictable, but that does not detract from the story at all. It was real.

I’m glad I watched it.

Art and Technology

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A scientist at work - a fitting subject for this post
The Astronomer by Vermeer

When I put out my mini biography for different publications part of that bio says, “author, artist, fan, usually in that order”. There’s something about knocking together words and attempting to tell a story that really works for me. I love a good story. Thing is, my first love has always been creating art.

Art is by no means easy. Over the course of my life I’ve heard a lot of people talk art down saying things like, “my kid can splash paint around…” or “he just crapped on canvas”. Art is subjective in the purest sense. Things that I love, other people hate. Things I revile have been held up as master works. It’s all still art. Some of it sells, some of it languishes, some of it is created purely for the sake of making art – never meant to be sold or reviewed but simply enjoyed by the creator and those the creator chooses to share with.

I have attempted to create art for many years with varying levels of success. Some digital pieces live here on my web site (and should be updated). Some digital pieces go to the cover art for Watch The Skies (and many should be forgotten). Some pieces live in my sketch books and in my storage area only for me to reference. I am, on a good day, an amateur artist. On a good day. Most days I’m a savagely poor hack, an imitation of what an artist should be. I keep doing it because it was my first love, but for a very long time I have known the frustration of not being able to take the vision in my head and put it forward in a medium that conveys the right look or feel to others. It is frustrating, but I still take a swing at it regularly. You can’t get better if you don’t work at something.

In my professional life I mix the very technical with the artistic on a daily basis. I interpret the designs of napkin sketches and transform them into the reality of the built environment. I use various computer programs to create what does not exist and show it to others. It has taken more than two decades, but I am finally reaching a point where I think the computer programs and the knowledge I have of the built environment have reached a point where I can actually create something truly artistic. I hope, after much more practice to create something memorable.

As it turns out I am not the only person to be interested in this combining of art and technology. I have been meaning to get around to viewing a film called ‘Tim’s Vermeer’ for quite a while. Now that I have had the opportunity to see the film I would highly recommend digging up a copy of this someplace and taking a look if you’re interested in art or technology at all. The subject of the film became obsessed (there is no other word for what he did) with the look and make up of Vermeer‘s paintings. He contended there was some kind of technological aid this most famous of painters used. In order to gather as much proof as he possibly could, he attempted to reconstruct the method for creating a painting he thought was how Vermeer worked. It’s fascinating because when we think of technology we tend to tie the concept specifically with the ultra modern. This experiment is all conducted using methods that would have been available when Vermeer was working – around the year 1650. I was amazed to see the result and the rediscovery of technological innovation after more than 350 years.

If you’re at all interested in seeing what I’m talking about, the trailer for the film is here. As is frequently the case I found inspiration in this study of art. I’m off to attempt to create more art.

Far From Home

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Non spoiler review of the movie right here

The family and I went to see Far From Home on this opening weekend. I’m going to hit potential spoiler stuff in here. I’ll try to avoid it, but if you don’t want spoilers you should see the movie before you read my review.

Going to see this movie felt different than other super hero movies since Endgame did what it did. This movie had a lot of ground to cover that wasn’t about Spiderman at all. In the end, it did exactly what it needed to do in that department. There was an explanation of why after 5 years these kids were still in school. There was (albeit brief) discussion of what happened when people “blipped” and found the world they returned to completely changed. It was a good thing to see these questions addressed.

It was also interesting to see the film makers continue to use “what people will believe” in the story line. It maintains all the crazy that has gone before and uses that to advantage in pushing this story forward.

Not being someone who read the comics or watched a great deal of preview stuff worked to my advantage on this film. I didn’t know Mysterio or anything about that character other than a vague recollection of a cartoon involving him in the distant past. I was able to take what was given and just enjoy the ride. I didn’t think too hard about it, and was able to be surprised at little turns the film took.

The biggest thing I can’t say I enjoyed landed right at the end in the first post credits scene. The bad guy pulls something off that did NOT sit well with me. It’s exactly the sort of thing that shows how well a character is written ~ because I loathed that it happened and wrecked the happy ending. I like heroic movies with happy endings and this dug under my skin. I could have done without it at all and been much happier.

IF you’re invested in the MCU, this movie definitely continues that work. IF you’re not, this is still a decent Spiderman movie, but you’ll miss a huge amount of the emotional impact without some background. I hope they get as many of these movies filmed as they can before Tom Holland moves on. I’m now impatiently waiting for the next one…

Here are two spoiler filled links about things to love and lingering questions.

Endgame

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Fierce

There are a lot of reviews out there for Endgame. There are vast numbers of opinions about the movie. I’m not going to dig into plot holes. I’m not interested in dissecting the merits of this giant movie on the basis of critical storytelling or decry a movie that will clearly crush all records.

This was more than a movie. This was an event. This lands in the same place as Harry Potter premiers. It was more than that even – the last time I genuinely recall people clapping and cheering and openly weeping in a theater like this was WAY back when I went to see Rocky IV in the theater. There were huge lines and nobody was arguing or pushing or being rude – we were all desperate to see the story. Where were we going? Who was going along for the ride? We sat in the aisles and nobody cared, it was just about packing in everyone to see the event.

I WILL PUT SPOILER MATERIAL IN HERE – TURN AWAY NOW IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE IT.

What I am going to talk about is something very specific. During the huge battle between Thanos with all his forces and the Avengers with all the people they “snapped” back into existence – there is one particular scene where a large number (all?) of the female characters on the Avengers side of the battle stepping up into the heroic line up pose – you know the one, where they’re all shoulder to shoulder with the wind blowing their hair while they look fierce – they pose, they say something to the effect of, “she won’t be alone” and then they go and kick ass.

It’s a super contrived moment. It actively pulled me out of the battle scene. I found it startling that they would do something so completely… I want to call it pandering. I do. That’s a strong word, but I’m not feeling too generous right now. That bit stands out to me as a blatant money grubbing, make people happy because we think this is what they want kind of nonsense that turns me off to films.

BUT

You know who that moment wasn’t for? It wasn’t for me. Just like when I talked about Black Panther not being a film that was directed at me. I am not the demographic they’re looking for. The big Jedi mind trick right here. This is not the moment you were looking for… It was NOT for me.

Who was it for? It was for my 14 year old daughter. My amazing, wonderful, fierce daughter who has not spent years being jaded by shabby story telling or dissecting plot lines looking for weakness. Guess what happened when she saw that scene? She clapped and cheered and whooped like I have not seen her do before. THAT was the target demographic. She was the one meant to see that scene, just like thousands and thousands of other amazing young women out there that have somebody on screen that is like them. They have heros now. I believe this will be a film, and a particular scene that will stay with my daughter for a very long time and that alone makes the entire thing worth while. She is going to have so many worlds filled with imagination and stunning stories to take with her as she grows and ventures out into the world.

I hope she keeps that moment. I hope it gets stuck in her head and gives her a place to go when the world becomes its shitty self and I can’t shelter her. I hope she has some joy and tears and fun that was the event of going to see Endgame.

That would make it all worth it.

Just to avoid ending on a completely serious note – there was one other thing about this movie that I am really happy about. One blonde wig, one pair of sunglasses and one bathrobe and I can totally cosplay Thor now.

Captain Marvel

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I wrote a review last year about Black Panther and said that it wasn’t for me. I didn’t mean that I didn’t like it, I meant that the representation of the film and the story was not aimed at me. I was not the demographic that film was intended to hit. Some people didn’t understand what I was saying and thought I didn’t like the movie. I do like it.

Why did I put all this about Black Panther up front?

WOW!


Once again I am NOT the target demographic of a super hero film. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me that my daughter IS the target and that we got to go and see this movie together. I think this kind of hero is exactly what my daughter should be looking for in a film. If you’ve seen the trailers, you see the part where this woman gets knocked down but keeps getting back up. That alone makes it worth while to me. A good story and crazy good special effects AND tying in to the MCU? Bonus.

I have read / heard about some people attempting to bring this movie down because it was featuring / lead by a woman. That is one of the single worst statements on Fandom today. I’ve written about it here before so I won’t digress into all that. You know what? I LOVE that this movie is not aimed at me. It was super. It was fun. It was heroic ~ and exactly the sort of thing that would have fired my imagination for a long, long time as a kid. I am considering taking my daughter to see this movie again. We will own it and likely shelve it right next to Wonder Woman. I hope we rewatch it many times.

If you get the chance, see this film.