Tag: movie

Superman Trailer

This came out yesterday. It’s the trailer for the upcoming Superman movie. Word on the street is that it is not a reboot, it is not an origin story (again), it is just assuming we all know who this guy is and it’s giving us a new story.

I am so here for that.

Fingers crossed that James Gunn finally gives us the DC movie-verse that we have been hoping for all of these years. It doesn’t have to out do Marvel. It just has to be good.

I am ready for it. I want the movie now.

Rebel Moon Part II Recap

Okay, I finished the new Rebel Moon movie. As bad as the first half was (see the post from earlier today), the second half is better. Why? Because with about an hour left in the movie it turns into an unending string of action scenes with almost no dialog. Perfect. It has an obnoxious amount of slow motion, but that’s Zack Snyder for you.

There are a whole bunch of Chekov’s Gun moments. Character A picks up weapon B and dies without using it. 15 minutes later character C is about to die but stumbles on weapon B and uses it to blow shit up. That happens a few times. There is also multiple deus ex machina moments. One of the funniest moments in the movie is where the source of a deus ex machina stands regally and watches a different deus ex machina play out. It’s freakin’ absurd.

Is the movie good? Oh, hells no. Is it as bad as the reviews? Yes. The first half is worse, the second half is just one long, unending battle scene and therefore avoids all of the things that are awful about the first half. It’s still not great, but it’s better. Not enough to save the film from this review though: Terrible.

Will there be another one of these movies? From the story point of view, yes… of course there will. From the standpoint of Netflix and money? Who knows. If people are watching it then probably. If that is the case then you can blame me. Sorry about that.

Unrelated musical note. I finally got around to putting volumes five and six of Quarantine Tunes onto my bandcamp account. Not because I expect anyone to buy it… please don’t buy it… please, it is not worth any money… but so I could add them to my music page here on the ol’ bloggie. I am one mix away from finishing volume seven. I’ll probably post that to bandcamp and the music page as soon as it’s finished.

Rebel Moon II: Atrocious?

I said in a post the other day that I was planning on watching the new Rebel Moon movie (part 2) on Netflix. I was thinking about re-watching the first movie because even though I watched it a short time ago I couldn’t remember anything about it (except for the thing about Daario Naharis doing a scene with Daario Naharis). I figured I’d watch part 1 to refresh my memory and then watch part 2.

Last night, that’s what I did. I watched part 1 again. It’s still bad, but probably not quite as bad as the reviews made it out to be. The dialog is worse than I remembered. It’s really bad. I mean… really bad. The complete and total lack of plot was just as I recalled. The movie isn’t so much terrible as it is just boring.

This morning I have started watching part 2. I am about 45 minutes into it and… oh my goodness, is it terrible. I mean. Atrocious. It’s not like we are expecting much out of Zack Snyder these days but sweet christmas this is ridiculous. I still have about an hour and a quarter to go, so it might improve, but I am not what you would call hopeful.

My favorite part so far is the slow motion, action farming scenes. We watch them harvesting grain in slow motion while super intense, dramatic music plays and I gotta be honest with you all, I laughed out loud at how incredibly stupid it was. Just ridiculous like you’ve never known before. That was briefly topped by the scene of the general filling his water bottle in slow motion. Like… wow. Just… wow. I mean, it’s probably Chekhov’s water bottle, right? It’s got to have some meaning at some point further on in the movie, right? He filled a water bottle in slow motion… that has to have meaning, right?

I’m 48 minutes in now… it can’t get worse, can it? Can it?

To Rebel Moon Or Not

To Rebel Moon Part 2 or not to Rebel Moon Part 2? That is the question that vexes me so.

Actually, it doesn’t vex me at all.

I watched the first Rebel Moon movie. I forget what it was called. It was a whole movie where effectively nothing happened. It was the first half of a heist movie. You know, the part where the heist gang leader puts together the heist team? Then in the second half of the movie everything actually happens. That is what I assume is going to happen in Rebel Moon Part 2. In Part 1 they put together the team and didn’t advance the plot even the tiniest of tiny bits. In part 2? All plot, all the time.

But do I want to watch it? Probably. Do I want to watch it tonight? Probably not. The bigger question is this… because nothing happens in Part 1, I have absolutely no memory of anything that transpired in it. Due to that, do I have to watch Part 1 again before I watch Part 2? When I watched Part 1 I told myself that I would watch it again when Part 2 came out. Do I want to put myself through that though? Should I? Should I just go in cold and hope the who’s who just comes back to me?

So many questions. Too many questions. Too many questions for what is likely to be a shitty movie, at least.

I’ll let you know.

Some Thoughts on the X-Files

This post is going to be one for the ages, he said sarcastically.

So last Spring (I think) I started an epic rewatch of both The X-Files and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. At first I spent more time on the X-Files, but then I stopped both shows and embraced the insanity of 60 years worth of Doctor Who. When that ended I went back to Deep Space Nine and kept the X-Files on the side. When DS9 was over I slowly started getting back to Mulder and Scully-land and now I am burning through it once again.

I have seen every episode in the past. The original run of the show (nine seasons and a movie, I think) was completed on DVD and the later stuff (two more seasons and another movie, I think) were watched as they happened. I didn’t start watching the show when it originally aired until (I think) the movie came out. That was in between seasons five and six… again, I think.

As with most of America, before I started watching I was aware of the fan bases desire to see Mulder and Scully hook up. As far as I know the term “shipping” was coined for the two characters and the audiences desire to see them couple up. If I recall correctly, there is a moment in the movie where they almost kiss but are interrupted somehow. I don’t exactly recall.

Now that I am up to my eyeballs in a rewatch I am almost up to the movie. I am on season five episode eight right now. I feel as though there was a conscious decision made by the producers, writers, and show runners at the start of season five to buy in to the shippers. Maybe I am missing something here but I feel like there are oodles of examples of the show hinting at a possible romantic relationship that really kicked off at the start of season five. They are a little more flirty with each other, they are repeatedly getting physically close to each other, and there are instances where other people ask them if they are a couple.

Is it just me? Was there a change in the way they handled the two characters or was there a change (unconsciously) in the way I am watching the show? I don’t know. What I do know, is that when I started rewatching this incredibly long series I forgot about the movies. A quick search tells me that neither of them are available for streaming… which means I have to find another way to watch them. I also need to get cracking on that as I need to have the first one ready for when I finish my current season.

The truth is out there, kiddies, and I want to believe.

Show Episode IX Some Love

After all of the Star Wars Celebration announcements and a couple of killer episodes of The Mandalorian (and one not-so killer episode) I’ve found myself spending a little time on various Star Wars subreddits. I knew that there was a vocal sect of the fandom that doesn’t like episode IX The Rise of Skywalker. I have found the levels of hate pretty staggering though. It goes so far as people who like the movie getting abuse heaped onto them. Verbal attacks… over a friggin’ movie.

In subtle response to such hate, I have decided that I would watch the movie today, and as with all viewings of this particular flick, I am loving every friggin’ second of it. It’s awesome. The movie is awesome, Rey is awesome, Poe is awesome, Fin is awesome, Rose is awesome, Kylo Ren is awesome, hell even Hux is awesome.

All of those folks who spew such hate can kiss my butt. I love this movie.

Our Personal Spider-Man Saga

As of a few minutes ago all four of us have seen the new Spider-Man. Given the current Covid/Omicron state there was no way Jen and I were going to see it in a theater. Sorry, Mickey, it just isn’t going to happen.

How then do we see the movie while still staying ridiculously, hyper vigilant against the plague?

One way is, to borrow a phrase from the Grumpy Old Geeks podcast, to go to Sweden. (Thepiratebay is located in Sweden…. Get it?)

Pirating works but there is the moral aspect of taking something that many people worked terribly hard on without giving them their due. The solution? Before we watched our horrible pirated file, Jen bought two tickets to a showing. There, moral questions answered. There is still the moral question of not spending money on concessions, but I can assure you that we would not be doing that anyway. There is zero chance we would stand in line near other people. Covid, you know? Speaking of Covid, our little work around means there were two open seats that could help with social distance.

So we’ve seen a horrid quality copy of the film, and the studio gets their ticket sales. We will further make it up to everyone by buying it when it gets to iTunes.

As for the movie itself? You’ll get no spoilers from me. You’re welcome.