Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker

The constant barrage of emotional moments is a bit much, but aside from that, I liked the tone of The Rise of Skywalker. There isn't a whole lot to the plot, but the characters are likeable and it looks good, which is about all I expect from a Star Wars movie.

I wasn't really into the first six movies, so I don't have any allegiance to what "Star Wars" is supposed to be. I did like the two new ones, though.

I can appreciate that it's a closing of the arc, but I didn't like how every 5 seconds they hit you with saying goodbye to another big character. There was also a constant barrage of triumphant moments. Somebody described the movie as being waterboarded. Sure you like water, but that's too much water. I kind of agree.

Leia looked kind of weird. I always like Rey's outfit, though. I liked the new droid, but it's kind of weird that they keep introducing new ones.

Punch-Drunk Love

I liked Punch-Drunk Love when it first came out 17 years ago, and I watched it again to see what I would think of it now. It's not a movie for everybody, but it hits perfectly for me. I can totally identify with Barry. The soundtrack gets a bit obtrusive, and the plot isn't terribly realistic. But I love the humor, and the way his sisters act is a spot-on representation of how people really are.

I generally haven't hated Adam Sandler movies. I liked 50 First Dates. I liked Billy Madison, although I was nine when I saw it, so my opinion might change if I saw it again. I think he eventually went south with the dumb comedies, though, and I haven't seen him in anything for a long time.

I saw Punch-Drunk Love when it came out, but that was 17 years ago, which is insane to think about. I liked it then.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is a fully "okay" movie. I still like the magic and the creatures. It raises some questions about characters I previously thought of as "good," like Dumbledore and Queenie. I'm interested to see where they go with the rest of the series.

I had a lot of problems seeing Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. I wanted to see it in a theater on my birthday. It was only playing into theaters by then, one in Shoreline, and one in Tacoma. The one in Shoreline only had one showing a day. I don't see movies in theaters very often (in fact, it's about once a year, on my birthday). I didn't realize that a lot of the theaters have switched over to having you pick your seat when you buy the ticket.

I didn't get to the theater until about five minutes before the movie started. The only tickets that were left were in the front row. I tried it out, but it was impossible to see anything. I should have just seen a different movie, but I wound up not seeing anything at all, which really sucked.

I wound up waiting until Grindelwald came to the $4 theater to try again. I normally sit in the back row of the theater, but the screen at the Crest was so small that I wanted to sit in the middle. I ended up not being able to do that, even though there were open seats where I wanted to be. So I had to sit all the way in the back. For about the first third of the movie, I felt like I couldn't even see it, and I kept missing a bunch of dialogue because I couldn't hear it, either.

I read a review that said Newt's affect gets really annoying. Maybe my perception was just colored by that, but I definitely agreed. Like, just stand up straight at least.

From Dusk Till Dawn

From Dusk Till Dawn  is fine for what it is, a grindhouse movie. I think I'm starting to be over Tarantino's schtick. It reminded me of Feast, only Feast was way better, so I recommend watching that instead.

I thought I had From Dusk Till Dawn on the list of movies I had seen, but I don't. I'm not sure why I hadn't ever watched it. I tend to like Robert Rodriguez's movies, in general.

It's definitely a grindhouse movie. I don't know if that's really my thing these days. It reminded me of Feast.

The Proposition

The Proposition is one of my favorite movies. Nick Cave's soundtrack is bewitching, and the landscapes are beautiful. All of the actors are great, and there’s so much depth to the characters. Everything about it is meticulous and nuanced. I’d dial back how graphic some of the violence is, but other than that, it's brilliant.

This is at least the third time I've seen The Proposition. I saw it when it came out, and it's one of my favorites. Apparently I don't even have a rating for the previous times I've seen it. I absolutely love it, though. It's great right from the beginning, when you've got everybody there -- Ray Winstone, Guy Pearce, and Mikey. And they start right away cutting to the landscapes, and Charlie on his horse. The visuals are so great the entire time -- the scenery, the composition, everything. It makes you feel like you're really there.

Pacific Rim: Uprising

Pacific Rim was great, but you can stop there. The writing and acting in Uprising are horrible, and it isn't worth your time.

When I saw Pacific Rim, I liked it so much that I wished I had seen it in theaters. But I heard that the sequel wasn't that great, so I wasn't planning to see it. I wound up watching it anyway, except for about 15 minutes in the middle. I don't think I missed anything. In contrast to Gladiator, at least there were women in it. I appreciated that the cadets were split about 50/50. Cailee Spaeny is a terrible actress, though. All of the characters were horribly written. They were like caricatures.

I liked getting to hear John Boyega's British accent. The opening 30 seconds with him as a party boy were the best part of the movie. I want to see a movie about that character. I didn't *like* Charlie Day's character, but there's something about it that was interesting to watch.

A Quiet Place

The concept of A Quiet Place is great, and I'd love to see it executed without the characters constantly making maddeningly thoughtless choices.

I have a lot of problems with A Quiet Place. First, the fact that the family didn't really seem to understand the importance of staying quiet.

The Beaches of Agnes

Beaches of Anges really gives you a feel for who Agnes Varda is. I loved listening to the way she narrates this documentary about her life, and seeing all the fanciful, whimsical images she comes up with.

Beaches of Agnes is basically about Agnes Varda remembering some stuff that happened to her around beaches. I just like Agnes Varda. It's interesting to see the things that she comes up with. They're so fanciful and whimsical. The mirrors at the beach at the beginning are so cool.

Thor: Ragnarok

Thor: Ragnarok isn't as great as the trailer makes it out to be. The humor is different, but it felt too much like it was from a gag reel instead of an actual movie. Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" is basically the best part of the movie.

I haven't seen either of the first two Thor movies, and I don't really feel like I need to. The trailer for Ragnarok looked cool, probably mostly because they used Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song." That song pretty much made the entire movie, too. At least it's apropos, since it's about Vikings. It's also crazy that it came out *50* years ago.

The movie had a weird sense of humor. You could say it's because the director is from New Zealand, but the writers were American. A lot of the jokes seemed like they were from the gag reel, even the opening one with Thor twisting on the chains. And they kind of overdid it when they kept going with that joke.

American Made

American Made is about a selfish guy who doesn't have the sense to quit when he's ahead. The camerawork is atrocious, and as with so many other movies, the point of making or watching it escapes me.

American Made is so forgettable that by the next day, I had completely forgotten that I had even seen it, if that tells you anything. I'm not a fan of Tom Cruise. I can't even think of a movie I've seen him in other than Rain Man, and I had to watch that for a class in college. American Made didn't interest me based on the trailer, or, it turns out, the movie, either.

It's understandable how Seal got roped into everything, but he should have gotten out of it a lot sooner. He was just being greedy. He didn't even have a use for all of that money. He should have taken it and moved his family to another country where the government and the Contras wouldn't find them.

My Neighbor Totoro

My Neighbor Totoro is super simple. It's pleasant enough to watch, but I wouldn't exactly call it a must-see.

I've been wanting to see My Neighbor Totoro for a long time, and I finally did it. Out of the five or so Miyazaki movies I've seen, it's definitely the simplest. Totoro himself is kind of creepy. He roars a lot, and his teeth are disturbing. The scene with him standing in the rain with the leaf on his head, holding an umbrella, is pretty iconic, though. The cat bus was creepy, too. And Mei was really weird-looking. That was hard to get past. I liked how there was a musical cue for everything that happened, though, like even a butterfly flying around.

Science Fiction Volume One: The Osiris Child

The acting and the dialogue in Science Fiction Volume One: The Osiris Child aren't always the greatest, but I enjoyed it anyway.

I didn't know that Science Fiction Volume One: The Osiris Child was a small-budget movie. I just saw a trailer for it and thought it looked interesting. The trailer kind of misrepresents what it is. It basically shows the first 10 minutes of the movie, but there's a lot more to it than that.

The timeline is kind of crazy. It's all over the place. But I liked it. It kept things interesting. And I liked the chapter headings. The only thing that didn't work at all was the slo-mo during the jail fight. That was super weird.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

I've liked all of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and Dead Men Tell No Tales is no different. It's not going to win an Oscar or anything, but Javier is appropriately menacing, the plot holds things together well enough, and overall it's fun and familiar.

I like the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. I used to like Johnny Depp, but that's getting more difficult with all the "personal life" stuff that's been happening with him recently. I like the tone of the movies, though. And they're so familiar, with the music and everything. I like the "pirate adventure" angle, and seeing Jack running around doing crazy stuff.

The witch was super weird. I couldn't get behind her at all, or figure out if we were supposed to remember her from one of the other movies. They kind of overdid it with the makeup on the pirates. They all looked like they had some hardcore sun damage going on, and I felt like it wasn't necessary.

In Order of Disappearance

In Order of Disappearance isn't flashy, but it has a certain novelty factor just by virtue of being Norwegian, and it is interesting to watch how everything plays out.

In Order of Disappearance wasn’t supposed to be very good, but I wanted to see it anyway. I watched it on Netflix, and at first the sound didn’t sync up with the video at all, and it was really confusing. But then we figured out that was the dubbed version, and luckily we were able to change it to “Norwegian audio, English subtitles,” which was a lot better.

Okja

Okja is definitely a touching movie, but the tone was off, and a lot of the characters were like caricatures. I could never quite get into it.

Okja is a weird movie. It’s about a genetically modified “super pig” that looks like a giant hippo. It gets raised by a little girl in the forest for ten years, and then the company that made it wants it back. The characters are super odd. They’re like caricatures. I didn’t particularly enjoy Tilda’s performance as twin sisters – which by the way, is she typecast into only playing twins now? And Jake was super bizarre as the doctor.

Man of Steel

We all know Superman’s story already, so I didn’t really get what the point of watching this was, but it was fine.

I never had any interest in seeing Man of Steel; or in fact, any Superman movies, because I’ve never seen one. And this wound up being another one I was only halfway paying attention to. I like Michael Shannon. He was good in Boardwalk Empire, and he did well playing Zod. Henry Cavill is fun to look at, and that’s pretty much my overall opinion of the movie.

Storks

Storks is mostly insipid and pointless, but it does have a few funny moments.

I had zero interest in seeing Storks. The trailer made it look like Tulip was really annoying. And it turns out, she was. The whole premise of the movie is silly. And it’s just kind of dumb in general. Although for some reason I thought Pigeon Toady was basically the funniest thing ever. Brah. And I just got the joke of his name now that I see how it’s spelled. That makes so much sense.

Dancer

Dancer (aptly titled since that’s all the subject is, having no room in his life for anything additional) is pretty sad, but I guess it’s kind of interesting, and at least it ends on a hopeful note.

I read a review for Dancer and checked out Sergei’s “Take Me to Church” performance, which is pretty amazing, and decided the movie might be interesting to watch. It was kind of interesting. And also kind of boring. And also sad.

Len and Company

Len and Company is kind of interesting, but there's nothing profound about it, and it's one of those movies that leaves you wondering what the point of making or watching it was.

The reviews for Len & Company weren't that great, but I wanted to watch it anyway. There was something weird going on with the audio syncing, and you heard the lines with a significant delay after you saw them being spoken, which was really weird. And this was an especially bad movie for that to happen on since it's almost exclusively people talking. It was probably just a DVD/player issue, but it made it difficult to get a handle on the movie.

Kill Zone 2

Kill Zone 2 had potential, but the plot is pretty atrocious. It looks okay, though, and some of the action is interesting.

The trailer for Kill Zone 2 made it look interesting (I think half of my reviews start this way). IMDb said the plot wasn't good, but the action was, so I went ahead and saw it. IMDb was accurate. The plot is pretty atrocious, but the action is interesting. Tony Jaa is fun to watch, and Jing Wu was good, too. Some of the dialogue probably came across better in the original language.

I'm really starting to hate breaking windows. I haven't seen it done well in so long. Luckily that wasn't a main feature here. There should have been more action. There were some long stretches without it, and they were terrible. I didn't like how it was mostly realistic action, and every now and then someone would do a wire stunt that stood out like a sore thumb.