Category: Movies
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Movie Review – Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
The first Jurassic Park is a classic. Plenty of tension, action, humor. When we have fond memories of this franchise, that’s the movie we’re all thinking of. As you move forward, they decline rapidly in quality. Most of the good feelings you have for The Lost World and Jurassic Park 3 are due to Jeff Goldblum…
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Movie Review – Black Panther
Not to spoil too much, at it’s core Black Panther is also filled with family drama, but also powerful political statements. From the drop this movie has something to say to you about the inequality that drives our modern world.
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Movie Review – Death Note (Netflix)
Oof, where to begin? Â I come to Netflix’s adaptation of the Death Note manga not from any sort of fandom. Â It’s one I was dimly aware of, but haven’t read or watched any of the anime. Â I was interested mostly because of the “Willem Dafoe voicing a death god” angle. Â Having watched it now, I…
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Movie Review – Spider-Man: Homecoming
I really loved Spider-Man: Homecoming, though I can see why there were a few people who didn’t. Â It’s not what you expect from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, not exactly. Â Sure, it’s a superhero story, there’s Iron Man flying around, supervillains with crazy weapons, the usual. Â But it is counter-balanced by teen drama (and comedy) which…
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Movie Review – Wonder Woman
We saw an early screening, and I’m happy to report director Patty Jenkins’Â Wonder Woman is everything DC should be doing in all of their movies. Â It’s epic in scope, as befitting one of DC’s trinity of heroes. Â It’s does something interesting with Diana’s origin, managing to homage both her classic origin and the more recent…
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Movie Review – Sing
Illumination’s latest movie, Sing, is a song and dance you’ve seen before. Â Heck, the Muppets have done it twice at least. Â Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey as a Koala) grew up loving the theater, and eventually (with financial help from his blue-collar dad) he buys a theater. Â Buster’s not very good at running it, though, so…
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Movie Review – Doctor Strange
I saw the Scott Derrickson-directed Doctor Strange over the weekend, and enjoyed it a lot. Â It’s not going to unseat any of my favorite MCU movies (currently Iron Man, Winter Soldier, Guardians and Civil War) but it was a fun if familiar tale. Â I’ll get all the non-spoiler notes out of the way first: Â the…
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Movie Review – Kubo and the Two Strings
We saw Kubo and the Two Strings a while ago, but I’m just gathering my thoughts on it now. Â It’s quite possibly my favorite Laika movie, and that’s saying something as Coraline gets a ton of play, especially this time of year. Â Kubo deals with complex feelings with mind-numbingly gorgeous visuals. Â It’s the sort of…
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Happy Birthday Star Trek
50 years ago today yesterday, the first episode of Star Trek (now known as ‘The Original Series’) aired.  Sci-fi fandom hasn’t been the same since.  Hundreds of episodes of TV across five decades, scores of books and comics, big budget movies, video games, copycats and parodies, Trek holds a special place in our pop culture.  Star…
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Movie Review – Storks
We saw Storks at a preview screening, and it had some really cute parts and fun actiony bits. Â However, I think they just had no idea how to start the movie to get to those bits and just decided to use the “I’m giving you the company as long as you don’t screw up this…
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Movie Review – Pete’s Dragon (2016)
Full disclosure: Â if I saw the original movie as a kid, I don’t remember it. Â This version of Pete’s Dragon starts out in the most Disney manner ever, with Pete (Oakes Fegley) losing his parents but being rescued by Elliott. Â Pete lives in the forest for several years with Elliott, until he’s found by Grace…
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Movie Review – Star Trek Beyond
I’ve got a bit of a love/hate relationship with the “Kelvin-verse” Star Trek movies. Â I really like the cast, and have come to grips with the fact that, since it’s not a TV show, the movies need to shade a bit more to the action side of things than the more cerebral Trek episodes. Â Still,…