The Last Duel (2021)

First impression sucked. 

The first impression and truly worst, ironically, is the star studded cast: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Adam Driver, playing Jean de Carrouges, Pierre d’Alençon, and Jacques Le Gris respectively.

3 Things I Hate about Without Remorse (2021)

 

Is there possibility of the new John Clark meeting up with the new Jack Ryan?

There was a time when a trip to the mall wasn’t complete without me digging for Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan series at a second hand book shop. I was able to collect many including the spin-off novel Without Remorse. For those not in the know John Clark was Jack Ryan’s top field man since Ryan was more into analysis and policy especially when the books made him the President of the United States.

The Father (2020)

Watches are more reliable than memories

 

The Father takes a brave approach to the question of aging. Florian Zeller, director and co-writer, tells the story from the point of view of Anthony (Anthony Hopkins) who is obviously not in full control of his mental faculties.

Godzilla vs Kong (2021)

Evading Godzilla's blast from underwater. Why did Kong even survive this?

My impression of this universe of Godzilla and King Kong is that they are nature personified. The kaijus are the real lords of earth. Gods. 

3 Reasons Why I liked Into the Forest (2015)

Static

Would you have survived the lockdowns without computers, the internet, and Netflix? Would you have survived without electricity?

While living deep inside the beauty of the forest, like any of the young generation sisters Nell and Eva were looking forward to medical school and a prestigious dance group respectively. Nell was using computers for studying while the dancer Eva a great sound system in full blast when suddenly all electrical power was lost. Into the Forest is the story of their struggle.

These are the 3 things I liked of the movie. There are spoilers.

Incendies (2010)

War is brutally simple. 

It will always be just the one thing: live or die; loss or victory; longing or hatred; joy or sorrow. Incendies doesn’t get with that program. It manages to be beautifully nuanced.

3 Reasons Why I hated the movie Triple Frontier (2019)

Former Special Forces on the run and on mules

I give you three reasons why Triple Frontier sucks and there are spoilers.

Booksmart (2019)

Books are only the beginning.

Booksmart is the misadventures of Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever). They have dedicated all their time to each other and to academics; they always get good grades, teachers love them. Classic overachievers. Now the best friends have one night left to see (high school) life for the very first time.

Io (Netflix) (2019)

To Sam, Io is only an all text email

I really thought Sam Walden (Margaret Qualley) and Micah (Anthony Mackie) would science the shit out of their predicament.

Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)

We're not gonna make it

So Spencer repairs the game and this launched the story into Jumanji: The Next Level?

Little Women (2019)

Letters from Father

Science fiction and an end of the world scenario: Contagion, It Comes at Night, 12 Monkeys, or the Walking Dead - like many others curiosity drove my choices of what to watch at the start of this pandemic. A compelling watch but with days upon days of isolation, I couldn't without flipping out. Laying low from negativity such as news, social media, and in my case certain movie genres is indeed good advice. 

Since then the movies or TV series I’ve seen to name a few are: Money Heist, Star Trek the Next Generation, All the President’s Men, and The Last Dance. Actually I am surprised to be relying more YouTube than the movies I have on file. 

Still cautiously avoiding just the one genre, for this week’s entertainment I traveled to a bygone era via a light hearted period piece from the 2020 Oscar Best Picture nominees.

The March sisters looking at the Laurence house

Little Women, the classic Louisa May Alcott’s tale said to be based on author’s own family, has been made and remade at least 10 times, I was old enough to remember only 2 movies that included this latest one. I never saw or read the story, until now.

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Spoilers

Finally an Avengers movie I enjoyed which is surprising amid subdued expectations.

The Circle (2017)

Spoilers

The Circle is a cautionary tale about tech companies and the ever blurring meaning of privacy.

Going in Style (2017)

Joe (Michael Caine) took a hard look at himself, his friends Willie (Morgan Freeman) and Albert (Alan Arkin) and concluded that they should rob a bank. Age is going up, money is going down, and family that depend on them still around.

There’s a point in life when things are seen more as a countdown, but the point is it doesn’t have to be sad. 

Joe considered the numbers: their age and needs, risk and reward, failure of the system; robbing a bank was just a line in the sand. They’re all going out anyway so why not take a chance to go out in style.

Prisoners (2013)

From certain points of view the clean finality of death is more welcome than an unanswered question of a disappearance. Of course the question always comes down to ‘is my loved one dead?’

These Final Hours (2013)

This is how an extinction level event movie should really be. No oil workers miraculously pulling off a drilling mission on a moving object in space. No prospect of saving a select few on an ark. And no life of adventure fighting off zombies.

These Final Hours is a beautiful movie despite the restrictions of the most definite ending imaginable. Earth dies in 12 hours. What are you going to do?

In the Valley of Elah (2007)

In the Valley of Elah is about a father’s search for his youngest son. On the surface it looks like the typical family drama propelled by a detective story but in truth there is a cleverly hidden antiwar subtext underneath. Too clever that I actually missed it.

Gifted (2017)

Spoilers

Gifted reminds me very much of I am Sam. The same basic elements are there: a father, a young girl, and a third party wanting to break them up. The story also plays with the what-if half of the relationship is an outlier; for Gifted it’s the girl as she is boosted to the level of a math prodigy.

Spider-man Homecoming (2017)

Spoilers

In honor of the 3 Spider-man movie versions in over 15 years, here are my 3 character related observations of the newest one Spider-man Homecoming.

It Comes at Night (2017)

So what if you had all the supplies, the fortified dwelling, when the world all goes to shit.