Sean’s movie thoughts

Hell Fest is getting bad reviews but I have seen a few positive reviews. The design of the carnival is supposed to be good. Maybe the film will be decent. I will probably see it sometime. Why do movies go to Netflix after I buy them digitally? It happens sometimes. Netflix does drop movies seemingly at random. Night School looks bad. Also I don’t find assualting a person to get him to concentrate funny. I also hear the movie is nearly two hours long, that seems long for this type of movie. I am sure Kevin Hart will have another movie in six months, maybe that will look better.

Michael Moore’s new film Fahrenheit 11/9 is scattershot. It lacks a strong central point and it moves from subject to subject and it uses the Flint Water Crisis as something to return to from time to time.  Maybe a documentary just on the Flint Water Crisis would have been better. Or maybe a documentary about the Parkland students would be interesting. They have tried to change things after the mass shooting at their school. They have not accepted the idea that these mass shootings can’t be prevented.  Or maybe a documentary about being a teacher in America would be interesting. Teachers in some states qualify for food stamps and some teachers have to buy school supplies. There were mass teacher strikes in some states. I am not sure if this is worth re-watching.

This is a movie that is a little odd. The director Gus Van Zant remade the Alfred Hitchcock Pyscho shot for shot but he did not update the story or find a new take on it. It was an experiment. I am not sure what the point was though. The performances are good. It is weird to see someone else as Norman Bates but Vince Vaughn is pretty good in the role. I thought there were hints of danger that came across from him. Vaughn is not as good as Anthony Perkins was or maybe it just feels wrong to see someone else play the role. This film might just be a curoristy at best. It might be interesting to watch to compare it to the original or enjoy some performances including William H. Macy’s. It is not terrible but in hindsight it might be forgettable or a footnote in Van Zant’s or Vaughn’s career.

Why so the Dark Phoniex plot again? I like the X-Men movies as much as anyone I know but why do another variant of the Dark Phoniex plot again? I do not find it that interesting and we have seen it. Okay, X-Men the Last Stand is bad but it did include aspects of the Dark Phoenix storyline. The new trailer is out. I need sometimes to remind myself not to get too excited about a movie’s trailer. This trailer is not exciting. I might need to remind myself not to get too disappointed about a trailer. There are other X-men stories that they could have adapted into a movie. I don’t know why they made this story into a movie again.

Ben Foster stars as Will, a veteran, who is living in a park in Oregon with his daughter Tom. One day someone sees Tom and then the police and social services come to investigate.  A compromise is reached and a living situation is set up. Will wants to live off the land again but Tom starts to want something more. This is a good movie. It is based on a novel that I never heard of, so I cannot say if the movie adapted the novel well. Some things are alluded to instead of outright explained. Tom’s mother is not with them but i was not sure if she left the family or if she died. Also I am not sure if Tom wanted to be found. Foster is good as Will. He doesn’t overact but there is something subtly off about him. Thomasin McKenzie is good as Tom. She has been compared to Jennifer Lawrence and I am not sure I see that. (Sometimes I don’t get the appeal of Jennifer Lawrence.) I thought it was an interesting story with good performances.

The Uncle Drew movie shouldn’t work. This movie is silly but it is nice to see Chris Weber and Reggie Miller on screen. The old man makeup could have been a little better. For a movie produced by Pepsi, the product placement is not overwhelming. Solo is not terrible. I have defiantly seen worse movies in theaters than Solo. The last act is pretty good, so that is something. If there is not a Solo sequel, I think I am okay with that. Maybe after re-watching the movie, I will feel differently. I wonder if the Subspecies movies hold up. I think they might not. I have not seen them in at least 8 years.

The Walking Dead (or a spin-off of it) is reportedly heading to the big screen. I am not sure how that will work but maybe it is worth a shot, it is a popular franchise. If you are getting the Walking Dead on cable, what is the incentive to go to theaters to see a spin-off? Maybe it could be done on a reasonable budget. Michael Moore has a new movie, 11/9. It is supposed to be more than just an anti-Trump movie but it is at least parrially an anti-Trump. Reviews are mixed, of course.  (People have strong reactions to his films.) I hope it is good. A photo from the Men in Black remake have surfaced.