Sean’s movie thoughts

Ghostbusters 2 is not that bad. It is not as good as the first one and it is a little long. I am not sure that splitting up the team after the first movie and bringing them back together was the best idea. Or maybe it was not executed well. I thought the movie got better after the first twenty minutes. Billy Murray was funny. I liked his scenes with Sigourney Weaver and I thought the rest of the cast did well. I have seen comedies much worse than this. I might not watch this again anytime soon. If you haven’t seen it in a while maybe it is worth re-watching. The original was more inspired. This is an average or below average sequel to a classic film. I am starting to wonder if I have seen more really bad movies than the average person. Sometimes when people talk (or write) about how bad this is or how bad the Star Wars prequels are, I wonder if they have seen Star Trek V. That was a bad movie.

The X-men movies are from another age or era of film making and in a way remained there. I am just talking about the main films here. The X-men series started in 2000 and preceded the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The first X-men film revolves around the relationship between Charles Xavier and Magneto and their philosophical differences. The first three films are about that to a large extent with Magneto either fighting the X-men or working with them against a greater threat. The next three films also revolve around that relationship, some to a greater extent than others. Mystique was added to this dynamic in the second series of films. I am not saying the Magneto and Xavier dynamic is a bad dynamic but maybe it should not be used for every film. Maybe when the series was revived with First Class, a new dynamic should have been found or maybe at least one film could have excluded Magneto. (The X-men fight other people.) There was also no long term planing in this franchise. It seems

Dark Phoenix has problems. I think it is better than Men in Black International. We barely know this version of Jean, so a story about her losing control or going to the dark side can only have so much impact. I think we needed more of her in the last movie or we needed a full movie with the new cast after Apocalypse before doing the Dark Phoenix story. I thought Sophie Turner was pretty good. I think this movie needed more Quicksilver. Maybe he is a one trick pony but it is a good trick. I think the movie lost something after he got hurt. Maybe Charles Xavier is too much at fault in this movie.  I think this movie should have centered more on Jean. Now the movie is as much about his failings as Jean’s struggles. Maybe that was not the best choice. The death of Mystique might have had more impact if I had not known about it before the movie opened. I know Jennifer Lawrence’s performance as Mystique has detractors (I might be included in that group at times) but maybe revealing

The original Shaft is worth seeing. (The new one in theaters is not apparently. People might have figured out that is it is not worth seeing because the box office results have been bad.) John Shaft is a private eye in 1971’s New York. He might be a hero but he cannot get a cab in some parts of New York. Shaft is hired by a gangster to find his kidnapped daughter and Shaft contends with cops, including some who are not friendly towards him. They threaten his private eye license. I guess is Richard Roundtree’s best known role. He played the role in 2 sequels to this and had cameo roles in the 2000 Shaft and 2019 Shaft. (This is not a series with creative titles.) He has a strong presence.

Micheal Jai White and Adrianne Palicki star in this movie. White is a man of mystery called Scorpion and Palicki is the commander of the S.W.A.T. team. An actor named Sam Jaeger plays the team’s filed leader. The team finds Scorpion caged in a  shipping crate/boxcar and bring him back to their headquarters. Mercenaries come to get him. This was good. It is about 90 minutes long and moves at a good clip. There was a 2005 movie based off the old tv show S.W.A.T., this might be a sequel but in name only.  The action was well staged, there was some nice hand to hand combat. I liked the team being trapped in their headquarters without hope of rescue after the villains disable communications. I thought the acting was good. The main villain and his henchwoman were good I thought.  I think it is worth checking out if you have not seen it. 

There is an article in the  Hollywood Reporter  about Men in Black International and it seems to largely blame producer Walter Parkes. The article says that Parkes rewrote the script and implied that he watered it down. Parkes clashed with director F. Gary Gray and it got so bad that Gray nearly left the film. I don’t understand Hollywood. The studio had a script that they liked and Gray was coming off hit films the Fate of the Furious, and Straight Out of Compton. Gray’s star was on the rise. It seems like the wise thing to do as producer would be to support Gray and let him do his job. Parkes did not take that action, he re-wrote the script (or he had the script re-written) and continued updating it during filming. Parkes has been involved in the franchise from the first film, maybe he felt he understood it better than anyone else working on the new film. The article is a bit vague on some points but the article suggests Parkes resisted “modernizing” the franchise. It is an i

I put a few links to film articles I liked. I also described what I liked about the articles. https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/men-in-black-international-and-the-zombie-franchises-that-wont-die I like this article by film critic Tim Grierson. I like the phrase Zombie Franchises. I am bit surprised he did not mention Terminator. I like his podcast with Will Leitch, Grierson and Leitch. https://www.avclub.com/will-smith-s-lone-rom-com-muddled-its-message-about-pic-1826123776 This is a regular feature about romantic comedies. I enjoy the series and this entry is about Hitch, a movie that almost works. https://www.slashfilm.com/unpopular-opinion-street-kings-defense/ I like the idea of this column, defending unpopular movies or explain why some movies are not as good as their reputations suggest. I have not seen Street Kings in years (if I have seen it) but the article was interesting.

The new Shaft is reportedly really bad. I guess I am glad that I did not go to see it. Is it really as bad as reviews suggest? I have only seen one positive review so far and that critic might be a bit generous from my previous experience reading his reviews. Samuel L. Jackson returns as John Shaft from 2000’s Shaft and Jessie Usher as John Shaft Jr aka JJ. John is worried/afraid that JJ is not macho enough and possibly gay.  (That sounds homophobic for a movie made in 2018.) Richard Roundtree returns, briefly, as the original John Shaft. This new movie reportedly remixed the Shaft theme. Someone needs to go to movie jail for that and never get out. I considered going to this movie but after the really average Men in Black International, I was not up for another movie in theaters so soon.

This is average. It is not terrible but it is not inspired. At the end of the year when I am trying to make my best films of the year list, I might need to remind myself that I saw this film.  (I am not trying to make a neuralyzer joke, a movie this average is kind of forgettable.) The movie is watchable, which seems like faint praise. Tessa Thompson stars as a woman who wants to join the Men in Black. She had an encounter with an alien as a child. She becomes Agent M and gets assigned to the London Branch, which seems pretty much the same as the New York Branch. She starts to work with Agent H (Chris Hemsworth). Liam Neeson is on hand as the head of the London Branch. Thompson and Hemsworth are okay. They are not a screen team for the ages on the basis of this film but maybe a large part of that is the writing. Hemsworth is fine, he displays decent comedy timing. I guess Thompson is fine too but if the filmmakers expected them to recreate their chemistry from Thor Ragnarok, that d

Dark Phoenix bombed. Predictions have it losing close to $100 million. Wow. It is also getting mostly bad reviews. Jennifer Lawrence seems to be getting hammered in several reviews. I think New Mutants is doomed, I don’t see Disney wanting to spend money on a spin-off to a finished franchise after what happened to Dark Phoenix. The Hellboy reboot died. It was out of theaters in five weeks, that was quick, and the reviews were bad. The makers of this movie though maybe they could strike gold if they made it on a reasonable budget. They didn’t. Godzilla King of the Monsters won’t make even 2/3rds of the money that 2014 Godzilla did unless there is an unexpected surge overseas or domestically. I liked the film but it is not getting the audience that the 2014 Godzilla did for some reason. Even the opening box office of the Secret Life of Pets 2 is down 50 percent or more from the original.  I guess this won’t be a long running franchise. I hear the film is bad and it plays more like

Dark Phoenix bombed. Reviews are mostly negative. Jennifer Lawrence in particular has been singled out for her performance. (Sophie Turner is the film’s female lead.) There seems to be a feeling that Lawrence has really checked out of this franchise and might have checked out at least one film earlier. A review on Polygon  said that saying Lawrence phoned in her performance implies a level of energy that she never reaches. (I might have gotten the quote wrong but that is the meaning,) That is harsh. Other critics might not have been that direct but similar sentiments have been expressed. I don’t watch celebrity interviews or talk shows like the Tonight Show and haven’t for a while. I don’t know what Jennifer Lawrence has said about her role as Mystique. However I am not sure I need to, I can decide by watching the films. She made X-men First Class before the Hunger Games hit and in each X-men movie after First Class, she seems to spend less time in the Mystique makeup and the mak

I liked John Wick 3 but I could see the gears working. There was one scene that became a fight because the movie would have gone too long without a fight otherwise. Also John at one point makes a decision but later reverses it and that change seems motivated by the need to have a stronger action sequence closing the movie. Men in Black International is getting mostly bad reviews. We will see how it does. I might go. I am considering it. Matt Singer on Screen Crush was more interested in Chris Hemsworth’s hair than anything else in the film. The new Shaft is getting reviews. Maybe I will skip it. I am not sure why there is a Shaft sequel in 2019. Why wasn’t there one earlier?

Where do the X-men go from here? I think it might be nice if Marvel does not use them for a while. Maybe the characters need to rest for a time. Maybe five years would be a good resting time. I think none of the current actors will come back. That might be for the best. I don’t think the young cast from Apocalypse really came into their own yet but that is partially the writing’s fault.  I don’t think the young cast got enough focus in Apocalypse. (I like Wolverine as much as much as most people but maybe he did not need to appear in the film.) Evan Peters has been fun as Quicksilver. Jennifer Lawrence is over the franchise and has been for awhile (I am not sure I blame her for that). When the X-men make their first appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe I think the whole franchise will be rebuilt. I could be wrong but that seems the easiest way to go. Just find some good actors, some good writers and directors without history working in the franchise.

I trying a podcast. It will be about movies. It will be a one man podcast, for now, but maybe I could get a friend or two to record segments. (I have friends who like arty films more than I do.) Or maybe I could get a friend to cohost. I don’t expect anyone I don’t know to hear it and I am not expecting it to become massively popular. Maybe I will enjoy it. I thinking of doing short episodes, under thirty minutes, and maybe doing two or three episodes a week. https://anchor.fm/sean-wrinkle

I am not happy that Dark Phoenix is apparently a train wreck from all the reviews I have seen so far. I had a feeling this was coming or I feared this was coming but possibly being right does not make me happy. I might skip this movie in theaters but I won’t make a video about skipping the film with sad music in the background. The movie Booksmart did not make a lot of money. It is supposed to be good but couldn’t get an audience in theaters. Ticket prices vary but in some parts of the country ticket prices are almost 15 dollars and maybe for that kind of money people want to see spectacular things. The movie might see well on home video or get a good deal from a cable network. I felt nostalgic and bought the Tim Burton Batman movies on 4K. I have not seen these in years, I wonder if they hold up. Maybe I did not need them. Oh well maybe I will put them next to my copy of Maximum Overdrive.

Escape Room is decent. The cast is pretty good and it moves at a good pace. I think I only recognized one actor in the film. The concept is kind of implausible but the rooms/puzzles are interesting. (The cost of making the rooms must be immense.) I think the opening could have been better but otherwise I liked it. Dark Phoenix is getting bad reviews. So so far I have seen a few reviews and the most positive one gives the movie a C (which seemed generous after watching the review, the review sounded more like a D).  That is a shame. Oh well, the X-men will probably be in the MCU someday with new people running the franchise. That might be for the best. I am not sure I want Thor in the next Guardians of the Galaxy movie. I heard Chris Hemsworth is interested. I think it could be fun but I would like to see new characters in the next Guardians movie.

This was good. It was a nice touch that the movie used some music from the Japanese films. I am not saying the new music is bad, it was not, but using some of the old music is a nice touch. I think they used the Godzilla March and Mortha’s theme. It has been five years since Godzilla has been seen but suddenly the monsters are coming out of hiding. I don’t like the plot that put the monsters in motion, so I won’t talk about it. It would not be a giant monster movie without someone making a terrible decision apparently which is all I will say about that. Godzilla and his fellow monsters need to contend with King Ghidorah, the three headed dragon. (King Ghidorah is from outer space.) The movie has Godzilla, who still looks a bit wrong, Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah. The monsters look good (even Godzilla, he does look better than he did in the last film). The battles are good and it was nice to see the monsters on the big screen. Millie Bobby Brown is on hand and she did not turn

Late Night looks interesting. It is about a female late night talk show host and a new female writer on her show. It stars Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling, and Kaling wrote it. It opens Friday. It seems a bit like an updated Larry Sanders Show from the trailers and that is not a bad thing. This could be fun. Trailers look good and Emma Thompson being funny could work. Kaling is talented, so it nice to see her get a leading role. She was last seen in Ocean’s 8. The film has one credited writer, with Kaling, and that seems like a good sign (that the film has not been revised or rewritten to the point that the script becomes bland). Also it looks like the movie is going to be under two hours, so maybe it won’t run some jokes into the ground. I have not seen any reviews yet.

Melissa McCarthy has a new movie coming out in August called the Kitchen. It is a crime thriller and Tiffany Haddish co-stars. Unless the trailer I saw is really misleading, it is not a spoof or a parody of crime thrillers. (If the movie is a spoof, then this is the most misleading trailer since the trailer for Adventureland that made it look much more zany and madcap than it was.) Maybe the movie will be really good and successful, so McCarthy and Haddish will get more dramatic roles. That could be nice. Apparently this movie is based on a Vertigo comic. (Vertigo is an imprint of DC comics that includes more crime comics and more non-superhero comics.) If McCarthy moves into more dramatic roles, perhaps she will make fewer comedies like Life of the Party or the Boss or the Happytime Murders. That might be a good thing.

Life of the Party is not a terrible movie. It is bad though. I am going to try to explain why it is bad without comparing it to Back to School. (I might love Back to School, so those comparisons are unfair even if those films have certain plot similarities.) Melissa McCarthy plays a divorced woman who goes back to college, the same college her daughter is attending. I think Life of the Party could benefit from a stronger central plot. Or perhaps the movie needs larger stakes. The movie does not feel urgent or compelling. It is low key. It is very much a showcase for Melissa McCarthy and there is nothing wrong with that. It does mean that the rest of the cast is there to support her. Sort of like the rest of the cast is there to support Jim Carrey in some of his movies. This film is bad but not terrible. There are some nice moments here and there. It is long (maybe if it were a bit shorter it might be a little better), there is not a strong plot, and I think McCarthy can make bett