Nothing else to say
From what I remember, it was a mix of the kids at my church, my little brother Jackson, and (mainly) my cousin Cooper that introduced me to the world of Minecraft.
There was something about the game that just made digging and building so refreshing. Had I stuck with it, I am sure I would have made many a great thing. Then, of course, Cooper poured lava over the movie theater I constructed in the sky that took me an hour and a half. Sigh.
“Don’t die. Copy that.”
This is more than a repeated piece of dialogue that Joaquin Torres’ Falcon says to Sam Wilson’s Captain America. It could also be reflective of the MCU offices these days, making sure their movies (and TV shows, for that matter) are not being sent out without a thought of survival.
There has always been a special place in my heart for Forrest Gump.
It was always that “gateway” movie for me when I realized that movies are more than just kids entertainment (Disney or otherwise): they could also be for grown ups. While many a cynic may have dismissed it at the time (and in the following years), it’s straightforward charm has not diminished on all of us. That makes it all the more clear why marketers are pushing the new movie Here as one by the stars, director, and writers of the 1994 classic.
Regretfully, that is where the similarities end, as Here strives for the cinematic magic, and misses the mark by a fair amount. The idea of how this movie would be presented would have totally sounded like a wonderful idea at the pitch meeting. Based off of a graphic novel of the same name by Richard McGuire, the film is basically one long take from the corner of a living room (or where it would be in moments when we are in the past before the house was built).
Like many a Robert Zemeckis film, it is impressive on a technical level (each scene is interlocked with these blocks on screen connecting the different scenes/time periods). Also like many of his films, it stars Tom Hanks, playing Richard Young. He is married to Margaret (Robin Wright), who he has been with since High School.
The film decides to jump back and forth in time to other families, including time spent with the inventor of the lazy boy chair (David Fynn), a romantic pair of indigenous people (Joel Oulette and Dannie McCallum), a modern day African American family with a teenage son, and the times of Benjamin Franklin himself along with his family. And that is just to name a few of them.
I have no problem with a movie having multiple story lines and characters to follow, yet one of my main issues with the film is that each segment is on screen for no more than a few minutes, each one ending just before we are able to have any connection to the characters. It also does not help when the stories are not in any specific order, jumping both forward in time and backward in time as well.
As I mentioned before, it is impressive at a technical level, but not entirely. This is another film that uses AI to de age certain characters (mainly Hanks and Wright), yet it runs into the same problem seen in movies like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) and The Irishman (2019). While they look younger, they don’t always move as a young person (there are also times when Hanks clearly does not sound young at all when he is supposed to.) The same cannot be said for Paul Bettany as Hanks’ father. Bettany is a good actor of course, but he barely seems to age at all in this film (both physically and in his voice).
Parents, aside from swearing (one F bomb), minor sexual content (no nudity), and thematic elements, there is nothing else to watch out for. Middle Schoolers and up would be fine (if it appeals to them).
Robert Zemeckis is indeed a very talented filmmaker, but his movies since winning Oscars for Forrest Gump three decades ago have not been able to match his earlier work. Since Gump, the only movies of his I’ve actually liked (that I have seen) are Contact (1997), Cast Away (2000), The Polar Express (2004), and Flight (2012). Again, good movies, but since Flight, he has not done much to be proud of (while I have not seen Allied (2016) or Welcome to Marwen (2018), I have heard not the best of reports about them). Mainly, I think I am still recovering from his abomination that was the 2022 Disney Live Action remake of Pinocchio.
I have nothing at all against movies that take place in a single location (who could dislike movies like Rear Window or 12 Angry Men?), but not when the idea of staying in one location (no matter how it is filmed) is the main selling point. I remember in the intro of his first Great Movies book, Roger Ebert talked about the masterful Japenese director, Yasujiro Ozu (who very seldomly moved his camera). Ebert mentioned about how, when a movie lover gets to Ozu (as all eventually do, he says), then one learns that cinema is not about moving, but about when to move.
By the time Here learns this, it is too late.
Overall:
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
As of now, I have seen only thirteen movies involving Godzilla and/or King Kong (about 19 percent of them all according to Letterboxd).
I mention this at the outset because I now only realize how all the movies have one key challenge to face: balance the monster scenes with the human character scenes. Of course, a vast majority (if not all) of audiences will be going to these films for the CGI monster mashing, making most of the human stories somewhat forgettable (unless you are Godzilla Minus One, the film that finally won Godzilla an Oscar).
The increasing gaps between film releases in the MCU is becoming apparent.
This can be due to many factors, including the now (thankfully) ended SAG-Aftra strike. Yet the quality in the films (not to mention most of the TV shows) in the MCU have been dipping in the last year or two. True, the last movie we had, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, had its moments, but that was back in May. Since then, the only true good thing we have gotten was a second season of Loki, which arrived the same time as the newest film, The Marvels. It should be no wonder why the only MCU film to be released next year will be the long awaited Deadpool 3.
When it comes to prior knowledge of the subject matter before seeing a movie, it is all situational.
Case in point, I have yet to play any of the Five Night at Freddy’s games (or “FNAF” as I know it to be called), but I knew just enough about it in a sense going in thanks to the trailer and the expert of the games going with me named Sean, a friend’s son.
Approximately six hours prior to seeing Morbius, I (perhaps prophetically) had a dentist appointment to have a filling replaced.
If you know me, you know the dentist (despite how nice they are to me) are among my least favorite places to go. On the Brightside, there was a slight miscommunication, as I only had a cleaning done. The experience was rather paralleled in that to my going into seeing Morbius, knowing that word of mouth said it was not going to be good. Seeing Morbius is indeed like going to the dentist to get a cavity filled (or a root canal), only to find out it is something as minor as a cleaning: While it is not all that bad, it is not an experience you want to go back on.
I will give Guy Ritchie’s newest film this much: It is the first film I have seen in some time that revolves around the drivers of big bags of cash.
In heist films, the drivers are very much underappreciated (if not by their employers, then certainly the audience), so the Wrath of Man did have me a tad bit hopeful in that we may get a new type of action packed thriller. Sadly, that is not the case.
“It’s the little things that are important, Jimmy.”
Says the veteran cop to the hotshot rookie detective, and is something heard before in other films. Sadly, the reason The Little Things turns out very subpar and forgettable is, to be honest, the little things.
J.D. Vance’s memoir Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis was released in the politically intense year of 2016 (though not nearly as much it would seem as 2020 has been). Admittedly, I knew nothing about that until about half way through the film (which I will take all the blame; I suppose I need to get out more.)
From what I have heard, the book talks more about the tales of a young man who grew up in Middleton, Ohio, under the values of his family’s past when they lived in the Appalachia Mountains of Kentucky. From what I have heard, the book also manages to deal with the political climate of the country at large, which may explain some of why the book was a bestseller. I can say for certain that the film adaptation, Hillbilly Elegy, has nothing in it about the political outlook of any kind. In fact, there was more than political commentary that was lost in translation from page to screen.
Nothing else to say