Sean’s movie thoughts

Scream 2022 is not terrible but I don’t think I will re-watch it.  A new Ghostface strikes and characters from the original film come back to investigate. It has been at least ten years since the last Ghostface murders.  The cast is decent. I liked Jack Quaid. It was nice to see Neve Campbell again. (Maybe she is doing some smaller films or TV projects but it feels like a while since I have seen her in anything.) I did not recognize some of the new cast. The clever dialogue is okay (it is nice when the dialogue is not so clever). I think the clever dialogue works best in small doses but I don’t think the movie overdid it. Maybe as more movies and TV shows in the last decade have become meta, the Scream series seems less distinctive.  I finished it, so that is something. Maybe if there is another one next year, I might skip it.

I tried the animated Injustice movie. I did not hate it but I am glad I waited for it to be on a streaming service. Oh well, not every animated DC movie is for me. (Most of them seem to be, though.)Maybe this movie needed a bit more time, it was a little short.  I wish there was another TV movie with Mark Harmon as Lucas Davenport, the hero of John Stanford’s Prey novels. I enjoyed that movie but USA network never made another one. There was an earlier Prey novel made into a TV movie in 1999 but I never have never seen it. The Reacher series is on Amazon Prime, maybe it is time to watch one of Tom Cruise’s Jack Reacher movies again. I remember liking the second one with Reacher having no trouble fighting four or five guys but being nervous dealing with a teenage girl who might be his daughter. 

Ghostbusters Afterlife is good.  I said on a previous entry that there were some choices I did not like or agree with.  I mentioned the mini marshmallow men in that article. It seemed overly cute or something. (It felt like the film wanted Minions.)  (I don’t hate the Minions. I just don’t think Ghostbusters needs Minions.) (Spoiler space) Spoiler space Spoiler space Spoiler space Spoiler space There is a CGI Harold Ramis/Eon Spangler in Ghostbusters Afterlife. I am not sure I agree with this.  The filmmakers had permission from his family, so I can understand the filmmakers doing it. However it seems to be a slippery slope.  Maybe I would have been more comfortable if an actor played the role. That might have been awkward though.  https://consequence.net/2021/11/ghostbusters-afterlife-harold-ramis-cameo/2/  This article is worth reading, I think.

This is good. There are a few choices I disagree with but overall this is good. A family moves to a small town Oklahoma and discovers a family legacy. This doesn’t feel like a Ghostbusters movie. This feels like Super 8 or a movie Steven Spielberg would have made. I am not saying that is a bad thing. The cast is good. McKenna Grace is good as Phobe. Paul Rudd is good as the science teacher. Carrie Coon is good in her role, isn’t she always? (The character is a bit grim.)  I liked this but as I said I disagreed with a few choices. One I can mention is that the mini marshmallow men. I did not think the movie needed them and I would not have had them in the movie. I am not saying that the movie was ruined by the mini marshmallow men.

Some good movies seen in 2021 The Tomorrow War Castle Falls In the Heights Rocky IV Rocky vs. Drago This is the Year Snake Eyes No Time to Die Godzilla vs Kong Free Guy I have a few more movies to watch and should have a best films of 2021 list sometime soon. I think.

 This is on Netflix. It is good. There were a few Netflix originals (or exclusives) I saw last year that I didn’t like, so it is nice to enjoy one.  A young girl, Beverly, finds a mixtape her late parents made and goes on a journey to discover more about them. They died when she was 2. The movie is set in late 1999 and people are worried about the Y2K situation. (Remember that?)  Beverly makes new friends on her journey. Those scenes are fun. Beverly lives with her grandmother. Her grandmother really does not talk much about Beverly’s parents.  This movie features a bully in a wheelchair. That was an interesting choice. (I wonder if the movie shot a scene with the boy’s parents hearing about his behavior.) I am not sure if this movie would hold up on a re-watch. Performances were good. Except for the Y2K thing, I did not think the movie overdid the period details.

 No Time to Die is good. This is Daniel Craig’s last time as James Bond. (This time it really is.) It is nice to see his supporting cast Q,Moneypenny, and M, one more time. Jeffrey Wright returns as Felix Leiter, a CIA agent, and it was nice to see him again too. Ana De Armas has a supporting role as a younger agent. She was fun. James Bond is pulled out of retirement. There is a new threat, something that M had ordered created but it is now in the wrong hands. Is a new idea for the series? There is a history of British agents going rogue but this is different. There is a new 007, a woman. She is played by Lashana Lynch. (007 is a code name, so if James is retired, someone else can take it up.) James eventually takes his code name back.  I don’t think Lashana Lynch will return as this character. (Lynch will probably be in some other good things.) I liked this but it is a little long and this is the second time that Craig’s Bond has come out of retirement. With 2 retirements in...