What was the last movie you've seen?

[Ziggy]

Finally saw Oppenheimer last night. After hearing friends and coworkers mention it throughout 2023, it's nice to finally have it checked off my list. I was skeptical going into the movie and wasn't thrilled about the 3 hour run time, but I ended up being pretty impressed and enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.

That movie kept popping up when I was looking up 4K BDs, apparently the transfer is outstanding. The Nolan movies that I have seen I have liked, so I suspect I would like this one too. I'm not too concerned with the 3 hour run time though. A bad movie feels long no matter how short it is. A good movie doesn't feel long no matter how long it really it.

[REPO Man]

Last night I watched Lucio Fulci's The Beyond. Part of the Gates of Hell trilogy, The Beyond follows a young woman who inherits an old motel in Louisiana where 50 years ago a man accused of witchcraft is executed by an angry mob. Now, strange and unusual events are taking place and the dead are walking among the living once more.

If you're familiar with Fulci's work you can expect the gore and disgusting effects he was famous for.

[REPO Man]

Been on a MAJOR Wes Anderson kick lately.

The first was the short film "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar", first in a series of four short films adapted from the works of Roald Dahl, whose written works Netflix acquired the film and television rights to years ago. The story is told primarily via narrations as each narrator (it occasionally changes narrators), and as the character narrates the scene plays out. In it, a wealthy bachelor learns how to see through solid objects and uses it to win at cards, only to see how little fun is left as a result.


Sometime after that I watched my first-ever Wes Anderson feature film:



I bought a used Blu-ray copy ages ago but only recently got around to watching it.

I found my first experience with the films of Wes Anderson more charming that I'd expected. Set in the 1960s on the fictional New England island of New Penzance, an orphan named Sam Shakusky escapes his Khaki Scouts camp to run away with Suzy Bishop, a young girl with a love of fantasy and sci-fi books and a penchant for aggression. They bond over their feelings of isolation from their peers and guardians while hiding from their respective adult figures (her parents and his Scout Leader), while Suzy's parents, the local police officer (who is apparently having a clandestine affair with Suzy's mom), and Sam's scout leader all struggle to find the kids.




In this comedy-drama, four journalists tell stories as seen in the latest, and final, issue of a fictional magazine. In the first story, Herbsaint Sazerac talks briefly on the subject of the town of Ennui-sur-Blasé, where the stories take place. After which we cut to a story called "The Concrete Manifesto", a story for the arts section of The French Dispatch about an incarcerated painter leading up to the creation of his masterpiece. In the next story, "Revisions of a Manifesto", the story of college-age revolutionaries revolting against the old-fashioned ways of their university, the leader of which the narrator, political reporter Lucinda Krementz, has a brief romance with despite the relationship flying in the face of her journalistic neutrality. In the final story, Roebuck Wright's story of a kind of haute cuisine designed with working police officers in mind soon turns into a thrilling story in which a dinner party is interrupted by a criminal plan to kidnap the police commissioner's son and hold the young man for ransom.




The story is set as a documentary about the creation and production of Asteroid City, with the events of the play being shot in widescreen with vibrant colors while the documentary footage is show in black-and-white with the Academy ratio of 1.375:1.

In the in-universe play, a war photographer and his four children break down in the play's namesake, a small town that served as the site of a meteorite crash centuries ago. The eldest of the children, the intelligent yet introverted Woodrow, has come to Asteroid City for a Junior Stargazers convention where he and a few others show off inventions. But soon, the convention goers, which includes a busload of schoolchildren and their teacher, a famous actress whose daughter is one of the Junior Stargazers, Woodrow's grandfather on his mother's side, an astronomer and a cowboy band, are shocked by the arrival of a UFO. Soon, they are quarantined and kept captive in the small town, much to their chagrin.




I watched this last night. In it, the titular Mr. Fox returns to his life of thievery, much to the dismay of his wife and to the three horrible farmers he steals from. Soon, his family and friends are targeted by the farmers and must run for their lives. But when one of their own is captured, they must band together to take down the farmers.

When the Barnes and Noble Criterion sale rolls around in July, I'm DEFINITELY buying this for my niblings. To anyone who's seen this one, would you recommend this to four-year-olds?

[Raging Justice]

I re-watched Dune: Part 1 (2021). I remembered the first time I watched this, I thought it was good but wasn't as impressed by it as some people were. I think one of my issues was sluggish pacing. Watching it a second time and knowing ahead of time that it was a slow burn, I was able to go in prepared and I found myself enjoying it a lot more. The production, the cinematography, and the music are just amazing.

I then watched Part 2 and man, I was feeling a little jealous of people who saw it in theaters as it's pretty obvious this would really shine in that kind of setting instead of watching it on a laptop like I was doing. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Everything feels very BIG, LOUD, and epic whenever the action or big, epic moments kick in.

The story is very good, although some parts felt like they could have been focused on a bit more or fleshed out a bit more. There are so many different characters with different motivations, and the line between good and evil is somewhat blurred as even the good characters seem to have a dark edge to them. Plus, I love how the movie celebrates faith i.e. religion while at the same time being somewhat critical of it and occasionally even mocking it a bit. It kind of shows that type of spirituality from different perspectives. Faith is a powerful thing that can bring out the best in people, but it can also be manipulated and controlled making the truth of what should and shouldn't be believed in a bit murky.



I don't know why Hollywood is so obsessed with Zendaya. She keeps popping up everywhere. Her performance here is solid, but not amazing, which is how I feel in general about her work. Timothée Hal Chalamet definitely outshines her and I don't think they had the most amazing chemistry. If I'm being a bit harsh towards her, it's because it feels like the third movie will have a greater focus on her, and I didn't feel particularly enthused about that. Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, and Austin Butler are amazing. Jason Mamoa is awesome in part 1 by the way, playing a character that suits his strengths as an action hero type of guy. David Bautista also was given a character that suits his strengths. He's not a great actor, but I respect the fact that he knows what characters are best for him and he has far better taste when picking movies to appear in than someone like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson who will appear in any movie that pays him well enough. I can't remember the last thing I watched that had The Rock in it, as his movies never interest me. I have seen at least a handful of movies with Bautista in them though. As former wrestlers turned actors, I'm more impressed with Bautista's career than I am with The Rock and John Cena's careers.

Anyway, Dune Parts 1 and 2 are pretty awesome barring some nitpicking like I did



Kung Fu Panda 4's reception has been mixed in the truest sense of the word. It's been well received critically, but I have seen nothing but hate for it online from the so called fans of the franchise. I fall in between the two extremes. I think it's a solid sequel and a fairly enjoyable, kid friendly movie but falls a bit short of its predecessors, particularly the first and second movies. I feel like the first movie is the best overall, but the second movie has the best final act (which I have re-watched many times). Anyway, KFP 4 has some fun moments including a fun fight in a tavern, where the camera does a great job of following Po's co-star around as she's moving and fighting around the environment, almost like a one take. There's also a fun and completely unexpected use of Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" song at one point in the film.

One of the things I have seen movie fans complain about a lot in recent years is how Hollywood seems to want to keep replacing popular characters in successful franchises with inferior, annoying new characters. I think KFP 4 handles this well. The story gives us a reason for Po needing to give up the title of Dragon Warrior that kind of makes sense and feels like just another step in his ongoing story arc that began in the first movie. He's not so much being replaced as he is "leveling up" so to speak, to a higher calling. Therefore, someone ELSE needs to be the Dragon Warrior so he can attend to his new responsibilities.



Zhen, the obvious candidate to become the new Dragon Warrior, is well handled in this movie. She comes off as a bit obnoxious initially, but we learn the reasons for that. She grows over the course of the movie while also bonding with and learning to both admire, respect, and care about Po. There's even some allusions to Po's relationship with Tigress. Speaking of which, it's nice to see a female Dragon Warrior, something Tigress was never able to be. The allusion to Po and Tigress certainly isn't a coincidence. The movie establishes Zhen's great potential, while also making it clear that she has a ways to go before she can be the master that is Po. Also, like Po, she seems like the most unlikely person to be the Dragon Warrior. There's some nice symmetry there, along with master Shifu disapproving of her EXACTLY like he did Po in the first movie. This is a fairly well done passing of the torch story.

I think the villain is great too, also functioning as something of a mirror to Po. I've heard complaints that she lacks depth. Newsflash people, ALL of the villains in these movies lacked depth. Tai Lung was evil in the first movie for no real good reason beyond a lust for power. People also complained about how Tai Lung is used in this film. I actually LOVE how they used him in this movie. It puts a nice bow on top of his rivalry with Po from the first film. I've also heard complaints about him not being the new Dragon Warrior, which would have been stupid and would have made no sense. It would completely go against the character that he is and the whole story of the first movie. Honestly, much of the criticism I've seen towards this movie is just plain stupid.



Now, on the negative side, The Furious Five are not in this movie (though they make a very welcome appearance in the end credits that plays nicely into the story's epilogue) and there is one very minor plot hole that I've seen furious fans making way too much of a big deal out of. It's very obvious when people want to hate something and are just reaching for reasons to do so

Did we need a fourth Kung Fu Panda movie? Probably not, and I don't know if Zhen can carry these movies like Po's character has if they want to make more of them, but she's a fairly likable character with some cute moments, and KFP 4 is an enjoyable, if perhaps unnecessary sequel. As a fan of this franchise, I enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than I did (prepares for shitstorm of incoming hate) The Super Mario Bros. movie. Part of that is because Zhen is a better character than Princess Peach and I enjoyed her adventure with Po far more than Peach's adventure with Mario. The charm and the humor of the Kung Fu Panda franchise is still there and Po is as loveable as he is in all of his other movies. Also, I love this funny little bit which was featured in all of the commercials

[REPO Man]

Watched this last night before bed. I enjoyed it.