Movie thoughts 6-1-2018

I think there should be no more Star Wars prequel movies, at least for the next few years. I like Rogue One but have mixed feelings on Solo. I liked some of the performances but I didnt think the movie was that good overall and I am not sure if I want to re-watch it. Maybe it is time to look to the future. I am not sure if Lucasfilms will do it though.

Upgrade looks like it could be good. It is a movie set in the near future and a man after being paralyzed in an attack gets a computer chip put into his spine that allows him to movie again. It does more and he goes looking for revenge. Previews have looked good and the reviews are positive.

Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom is coming out this month. It looks okay, nothing more. I think there is only so much you can do with the Jurassic World franchise. (I could be wrong.) Maybe I will be more excited about the movie if there are some good reviews.

 

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More thoughts on Solo

Solo is not terrible.

I wonder if I was too harsh with my review. I might want to see it again, I am still not sure. The acting is good and I would not mind seeing the lead actor in another movie but not one by the Cohen brothers.

The movie is not special. Maybe the new Star Wars movies are coming out too often for the movies to feel special. This is the fourth one in four years.  Is Star Wars fatigue a real thing?

I am not sure I want another Solo movie, which the movie hints at. Although the box office results suggest that there might not be one. (The re-shoots made the movie the most expensive Star Wars movie to date.)

Top 5 movies of 2018 so far

• Avengers Infinity War
• Black Panther
• Deadpool 2
• Tomb Raider
• Blockers

Thar’s the list. Solo is not on it but neither is Game Night. I hated, or at least really did not like, the ending of Game Night.

 

 

Thoughts on Solo

Solo is a good film but it feels uninspired at times. I am not going to talk about the behind the scenes drama or how much of the film was re-shot. There might be a good Variety article about the making of the film.

Did we need a young Han Solo movie? Maybe not. I joked once that I am as interested in a young Han Solo as I am interested in an old Tom Sawyer. I think might still be true.

Alden Ehrenreich is good as the lead. He is not doing an Harrison Ford impression. Woody Harrelson stars as a criminal/mentor to Han. Donald Glover stars as Lando Calrissian, and he’s funny. Emilia Clarke is on hand as Han’s love interest and she has a good chemistry with Ehrenreich.

This movie just feels uninspired or unconvinced that it needs to exist. I don’t blame the actors or the director. (Coming in to take over a movie after the original directors left must be difficult.) It is enjoyable enough and the performances are good. There was one plot twist that maybe was supposed to be a bigger surprise than it turned out to be.

Deadpool 2 is better. Avengers Infinity War is better. Solo doesn’t feel special. We had a Star Wars heist movie with Rogue One and maybe this movie might have felt more unique if Rogue One did not exist.

I might need to think about the film some more and maybe I am being overly harsh right now. I am making it sound terrible but it is not.

 

 

Movie thoughts 5-26-2018

It is odd watching a Dirty Harry movie in 2018. The rogue cop character is a bit less appealing these days. Not to get very political but real life rogue cops have been in the news in the last few years and now maybe the rogue cop idea is less appealing than it used to be.

One of the podcasts I listen to is 80s All Over hosted by two film critics and recently they talked about the film Stroker Ace. The hero of the film played by Burt Reynolds gives a female character, who doesn’t drink, champagne but says it is nonalcoholic.  That is creepy and we’re supposed to still like the guy. It gets worse. It was a different era but that was creepy.

 

 

 

 

Thoughts on re-watching Time Cop

Jean Claude  Van Damme probably doesn’t have a classic movie on his resume but this is a good one. He plays a cop who tries to prevent people from time traveling and changing the past. Ron Silver stars as the evil Senator(his party affiliation is not mentioned).

Van Damme is likeable and Mia Sia was good as his wife. She doesn’t get a lot to do. Silver is good as the evil Senator and there are a few nice time paradoxes along the way.

As I said Van Damme doesn’t have a classic film on his resume but he has made some good films. This might not be in his top five but it might be in his top ten. It is worth seeing again if you haven’t seen it in a while.

 

 

Movie thoughts 5-21-2018

I watched a Dirty Harry movie recently and it is funny how short the closing credits are. I didn’t time them but they seemed to be under 2 minutes. Some movies today have five or six minutes of closing credits even without mid-credit scenes. It was a different era.

I am not sure why the Baywatch movie doesn’t work. Maybe it is the tone. Maybe it is the writing but I tried to watch it twice and lost interest both times. Maybe it is not worth figuring it out. Does this reveal the limits of Dwayne Johnson’s talents, that he can’t redeem any movie he is in?

Solo opens this week. Finally. Some reviews are already out and there are some good reviews. There are some bad reviews too and at least one that suggests the movie is dreadful and making it was a waste of time. I might not go see it. I have no idea yet.