Tag: Action

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a Fine Conclusion to This Trilogy

The review:

Coming off of Rian Johnson’s excellent The Last Jedi it is now time for J.J. Abrams to wrap up our third trilogy with (the official title is so very long!) Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker. And Abrams does wrap things up in a competent way that shows us the many Star Wars things we’ve come to love.* I think the strength of this trilogy is the Rey-Kylo Ren connection,** and that carries through to this film, which I did liked, but did not love.***

The verdict: Good

Cost: $9.50
Where watched: Baghdad Theater with Matt, Laurie and Burt.

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*Witty banter, dashing adventure, situations that always seem hopeless, plus a fun new droid to add to the canon.
**Their fight scenes added a lot to this film.
*** I am three for three for falling asleep. I missed the “here’s the plan” part.

Questions:

  • What movies that you first watched as a kid still hold up today?
  • Do you want more of the Star Wars world? If so, what would you like more of?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Disney’s sequel trilogy is the first trilogy in the Star Wars saga in which all three movies were released in the same decade.

Other reviews:

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is a Punctuated Film Title

The review:

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw* is ably directed by David Leitch and a worthy addition into the Fast & Furious enterprise.** Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham are a great anti-buddy pair while Idris Elba makes a scene chomping (in a good way) villain. The movie does thing thing where the characters travel all over the globe*** in order to boost its international box office draw, and they end up in “Samoa”**** where a bunch of Samoan men somewhat alleviate the lack of Vin Diesel.*****

The verdict: Good

Cost: $8.35
Where watched: Regal City Center Stadium 12, when I should have been doing other things

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*The double ampersand in the title might be some sort of shark jumping indication for this franchise
**Good lord, is there anything in this world so ridiculously entertaining as a Fast & Furious movie (that is not 2 Fast 2 Furious or The Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift)?
***They seem to appear in these new locations as if by magic or Star Trek transponder; even air travel is too slow for the Fast & Furious bunch.
****Hawaii gets the role of Samoa in this film.
*****Though I like many things about this installment of the franchise, Mr. Diesel is, and has always been, my reason for watching.

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Helen Mirren reprises her role from The Fate of the Furious (2017) as Shaw’s mother. She originally landed the role after she had indicated her desire to be part of the franchise one day, and the producers were happy to accommodate her.

Spider-Man: Far From Home is a Properly Adolescent Superhero Movie

The review:

John Watt’s Spider-Man: Far From Home brims with hard choices for one very reluctant superhero.* Tom Holland continues to prove he’s the best Spider-Man ever as he makes plans to spend a summer getting away from his neighborhood and the big superhero shoes he’s stepped into since the events of Avengers: Endgame.** But that wouldn’t make for a very entertaining movie for us, now would it?***

The Verdict: Recommended

Cost: $10.00
Where watched: Baghdad Theater

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*He is, after all, sixteen.
**He just wants to see Europe with his friends and maybe tell MJ (a delightfully frowny Zendaya) how he feels. The teen romance was totally on point in this film.
***Not to fear. Things go wrong. Spider-Man has to save the day. There are funny and clever parts.

Faviorte IMDB trivia item:

In the film, Spider-Man mentions Captain Marvel, which marks the first time a MCU character referred to Carol Danvers by that name.

Aquaman: a Mishmash of Mush

Aquaman movie review 3SMReviews

The review:

Sometimes the experience of watching a movie is an exercise in picking apart why the film isn’t working and so it was for James Wan’s Aquaman. I came up with a host of reasons: big gaps in the origin story; villains who had already turned evil, leaving me without reasons to “feel” for them;* flimsy story with not-great writing** that leads to too many action scenes; a very fit guy is only part of the reason to watch a movie, the character he creates has to also be compelling; lack of day-to-day stuff about his life.*** Overall, this was a great example of all style, no substance and I just didn’t care.

The verdict: Skip

Cost: $1.50 via Redbox
Where watched: at home

Consider watching instead:

Further sentences:

*Green Goblin from Spider-Man and Doc Ock also from Spider-Man come to mind as good examples of villains I felt for, even while rooting for their defeat. Even Ultron managed to by sympathetic.
**For most of the movie Aquaman is all, “I’m totally not going to be your king!” and then at the end it’s suddenly, “This is gonna be fun!” Why the change Aquaman?
***The movie has placed him firmly as a laid-back surfer, and Aquaman himself says he’s dumb at one point. But he speaks, Russian, Italian, Maori and English? When did he learn all of that? Also, how does he eat? Or drink at the bar? Is he paid for his work? Who pays him?

Aquaman movie review 3SMReviews

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Arthur and Orm are elder and younger brothers, but Patrick Wilson is five years older than Jason Momoa, while Nicole Kidman, who plays their mother, is seven years older than Wilson.

If I had a dollar for every movie with a woman playing a “mom” with this age span, it would add up quickly.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: a Visual Delight

The review:

(L to R) Scott Pilgrim (MICHAEL CERA), Ramona Flowers (MARY ELIZABETH WINSTEAD), Young Neil (JOHNNY SIMMONS), Knives Chau (ELLEN WONG), Kim Pine (ALISON PILL) and Stephen Stills (MARK WEBBER) in the amazing story of one romantic slacker’s quest to power up with love: the action-comedy Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

Not having got enough of some of the Avengers, I re-watched Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World to see Brie Larson and Chris Evans before they were Captains Marvel and America and also because I fell asleep when I watched this in 2010.* While I still did drift off in a few places, I loved the visual styling of this movie and I think what Edgar Wright does well is cast leads whose quirks let them really lean in to their performances.** The quick cuts and fast pace are great, and it’s fun to see so many actors who have gone on to other great roles.

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: Netflix monthly fee ($8.99)
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

More sentences:

*It was the movie that taught me that I can no longer watch movies that start at 10 p.m.
**This movie capitalizes on all the Michael Cera things, and Wright later does the same with Ansel Elgort in Baby Driver.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World movie review 3SMReviews

Avengers: Endgame Has All the Feels

Avengers: Endgame movie review 3SMReviews

The review:

There are 21 reasons I happily sat through a three-hour finale of Anthony and Joe Russo’s Avengers: Endgame; at this point, this endeavor is more of a new-generation serial* than a movie. As my movie-going companion pointed out, this is almost like three separate movies: a drama, a heist, and then an action movie. I loved so much about this movie: the callbacks to the previous films; the assembly of so many characters I know and love;** the amount of gravitas; the humor; and the way everything wrapped up.

The verdict:

Recommended, assuming you’ve seen the majority of the 21 previous movies. If not, might I recommend you begin with 2008’s Iron Man?

Cost: $10.50
Where watched: Baghdad Theater with a crowd who clapped multiple times.

Additional sentences:

*You know like those short films that used to be before the main picture way before my time? That’s what this is, a serial told over a decade and in much bigger chunks.
**That said Marvel, in the future, I’d prefer more movies with female superheroes in starring roles,*** rather than just gathering them together at a(n admittedly tear-inducing) specific point in a big battle.
***I feel cheated out of Black Widow’s full story.

Avengers: Endgame movie review 3SMReviews

Shazam! is Super!

Shazam! movie review 3SMReviews.com

The review:

I think the one-two punch of David F. Sandberg’s Shazam! is Asher Angel’s depiction of an abandoned kid searching for his mother plus Zachary Levi’s grown-man youthful exuberance. Add in Jack Dylan Grazer as the guy who’s super excited to suddenly be friends with a superhero and you have a sweet-natured comedy with more than the usual amount of feels.* While some plot points fall apart upon reflection, it’s an enjoyable and does not feel overly long 132 minutes.

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: $8.00
Where watched: St. Johns Twin Cinema with Matt (who rarely watches films from the DCEU, but who also enjoyed it.)

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*Which is not to say that some Red Shirts (a.k.a. minor characters) don’t die in some ways that might be overly gruesome and/or scary to the under 13 set.

Shazam! movie review 3SMReviews.com

The Great Race: Avoids Many Pitfalls of Aging Movies (and is funny)

The Great Race movie review

The review:

I’d not seen Blake Edwards’s The Great Race since I was a child; it was interesting to see the scenes I remembered in context* and I was happy that this managed to have aged almost 55 years and yet is nearly totally free of cringe-worthy moments.** It’s also hilarious (Jack Lemmon is the main carrier of this torch) and though its nearly three-hour run time means it does eventually drag, it has an overture and intermission included in those 160 minutes.*** Overall, it’s a fun intergenerational film, especially if your generations tilt toward the advanced ages, though kids would probably like parts of it too.

The verdict: Good

Cost: free via White Elephant Gift Exchange
Where watched: at home with the mothers and aunts

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*Tony Curtis’ teeth and eyes sparkling in a “dream boat” way and the best pie fight in the history of cinema were the most prominent, but some of the landscapes felt very familiar, too.
**It’s not overtly racist (though that Indian-chase scene is a bit iffy), Natalie Wood playing a suffragette means that it doesn’t come off as terribly sexist (though I’m sure some of the suffragette stuff was “funnier” in the original) and though there’s a drunken crown price who veers dangerously close to a “light in the loafers” stereotype, most of his behavior can be chalked up to alcohol consumption and not same-sex proclivities.
***Unlike, say, a certain seminal superhero movie released in April, 2019.

The Great Race movie review

T-minus 9 days. Time for a Re-watch of Avengers: Infinity War

Avengers: Infinity War

Though I remembered a lot about this movie, I thought it best to do a quick re-watch* before the sequel appears. It was still very, very good, and as we were watching it at home we could pause for bathroom breaks.**

My original review is here.

Cost: Netflix monthly fee ($8.99)
Where watched: at home with Matt

*Although with a 149-minute movie, there’s no quick re-watch.
**Inadvertently, we paused 10 seconds from halfway through the movie. For those curious, it comes during the scene where Thor, Rocket and Groot visit Eitri.

3SMReviews: Captain Marvel

3SMReviews: Captain Marvel

Brie Larson has played a lot of characters who put their heads down and get through things; her turn in Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Captain Marvel continues that line. The plot of this film is like one of those “scrambler”-type carnival rides* but in a coherent way. You also get origin stories of many things, a woman casting off the mantle that was put on her so she can find her own power and a cat named Goose.**

Verdict: Good

Cost: $11.00
Where watched: McMenamins Baghdad Theater with Matt. (There were multiple points where we clapped. I love the Baghdad.)

*This is where we are—*woosh*— no this is where we are—*woosh*—no really we’re over here—*woosh*—but maybe we’re here?
**And the classic Marvel intro has been restyled as a tribute to Stan Lee. I was not emotionally prepared, and was momentarily overcome. You’ve been warned.

Consider also watching some other great Brie Larson performances: Room, Short Term 12, The Spectacular Now (that’s a tiny role, but I like that movie for its depiction of a teenage alcoholic.)