Sean’s movie thoughts

I heard New Mutants is bad. It is at 33 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. That is a shame (especially after all the delays) but sometimes things don’t work out and this was, according to reviews, one thing that didn’t. Oh well, maybe if the movie is successful enough, some of these characters will be seen again in a future X-men film. Or maybe the characters won’t get another chance on film. That could be okay too. There are still the comics with these characters. This was directed and co-written by Josh Boone. He is best known for the Fault in Our Stars, and that is not a bad film. I wonder if he really just didn’t connect to the material. He left out one character from the team’s early days because her backstory/origin was too fantastic. The idea behind the film, sort of a horror movie with mutants seemed interesting. There are reports/clips showing one of the main characters as racist. Without having seen the film, I cannot be sure if that trait was supposed to something the charact

Chadwick Boseman died Friday. He was 43 and he lost a battle with colon cancer that he had been fighting since 2016. Despite his cancer, he remained active and he never talked about his cancer publicly. People will remember him as T’challa the Black Panther but he also played Jackie Robinson, James Brown, and Thurgood Marshall. I never saw him give a bad performance. Even if the movie might had been a bit uneven, he was always good. (I thought he was good in Get On Up but the movie was not great.) To come in to an established series of films like the Marvel Cinematic Universe must been a little daunting but he was amazing even from his first appearance. I admit I don’t know what meant to the African-American community. From what I have seen online in the day or so since he died, his playing that role meant more to people than I knew or I understood.   I might understand it a little better now. In years to come people will look back and wonder how his career would have progressed.

I like the New Mutants. I know some of the characters fairly well and I remember when the team first appeared. I have seen the original team come back together a few times over the years too. I might not be a huge fan (although I feel more could been done with Sam and Bobby in Hickman's Avengers) but I am interested in seeing their movie. Is it a bummer that I am not going to New Mutants? Yeah but I don't feel safe going to theaters now. I am not sure how much I could enjoy the movie since I don't feel safe going to a theater now.  It is 2 plus hours in a dark place with people not wearing masks for a lot of the time because they're eating or drinking. There is no way the theaters are going to be open and not sell food and drinks. I am not going to go to Tenet either. I think a guy who calls himself Film Brain said it better than anyone else. I don't have the exact quote but he said going to cinemas is nice but a luxury made possible by social stability. (He&#

The City of Violence is great. This is a Korean film from  2006. A cop learns that one of his childhood friends was murdered and returns to his hometown to investigate. One of his other friends is now a loan shark, and a third friend helps the cop investigate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GI-3R1i8Qc This is the trailer. I seem to have lost my DVD but I have a digital copy. If a Blu-ray ever becomes available, which might be unlikely, I will buy it. I really like this movie. I liked the fight sequences with two guys fighting off hordes of attackers. I liked the fight against the bad guys using sports equipment. That was fun. I thought the movie moved at a good pace.  I liked the two heroes and I think I liked them more as the film went on. I liked it at the end where the heroes waved off an attacker because they needed a moment. I even liked the music. I thought the music at the end sequence had a Western (movie about the old west) feel. I am not sure what Western has a the

The latest animated Superman movie, Superman Man of Tomorrow, is good. It features a new voice cast and it is a good cast. I liked the cast overall and I thought Darren Criss and Alexandra Daddario were good as Clark/Superman and Lois Lane.  Maybe in a future film their characters could have more scenes together. This one features Clark in Metropolis before he puts on the costume and becomes Superman. He encounters the Martian Manhunter, Lobo, the Parasite, and Lex Luthor. He works as an intern at the Dailey Planet, so Lois Lane and Perry White are in the movie but Jimmy Olsen isn't. The visuals are fine. I don't think they are trying to match any particular artist’s style.  I liked Clark's pre-Superman outfit. Maybe none of the character designs are amazing but they are all pretty good. I am not a huge fan of Lobo but I thought he worked well here. It was nice to see the Martian Manhunter as sort a mentor to Superman. I liked the new way Parasite's powers worked

I am not sure why Warner Brothers won't let the Fantastic Beasts series end. The 2nd one made significantly less at the box office than the first one (on a higher budget than the first movie). I think the critical response was not good either. There have been articles calling it a doomed franchise or a toxic franchise. J.K. Rowling, writer of the films and creator of Harry Potter, seems to alienate more of her fanbase every month or so on social media. Every time it seems like her last bad social media dustup seems to have faded away, she has another social media dustup. Considering how beloved Harry Potter is, it is amazing how much of her fanbase she is alienating. Some of this has to effect perception of the films to a degree. Also there are concerns or questions about the onscreen talent as well. Johnny Depp's reputation has taken a hit over the last few years and I think his libel lawsuit against Amber Heard might been counterproductive. I am not sure the trial damaged

American Pie Presents Girls Rules has a trailer. This looks to be an updated version of the original movie but focusing on a group of female friends. I guess if the actress play well off each other, it could work. The core four of the original film were all likeable. The trailer is not great but I have seen worse trailers. Maybe a second trailer might come out and be better than this trailer. There is a release date too, October 6.  This is really happening. I really thought this was a joke when I first heard about it.

Maybe I expected too much from Weathering withYou. This is the anime movie about a young woman who seems to control the weather and a young man who meets her. It was good but I expected to like it more. I heard such good things about the movie, so maybe I expected too much. I don’t plan to spend 30 dollars to buy Black Widow but I guess I could change my mind. That is a lot of money. We will see. I don’t blame Disney for trying to recoup its costs for the movie but it does suggest that the company believes theaters won’t be open again for a while, maybe the rest of the year. It seems so long ago since the movie was supposed to come out. I might be less burned out on Star Wars than I thought. I might re-watch the Rise of Skywalker this month or I could at least check out the bonus features.