Friday, February 22, 2019
How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
(3rd installment)
PG 1 hour 44 minutes
(seen in regular format in a theater on 02/22/2019)
I enjoyed this film. Due to a huge crowd in the upper/stadium level, I sat in the floor level, the section closer to the screen in the last row. I watched the regular format version, but I still saw details like strands of hair blowing in the wind, dragons weaving, soaring and even a beach scene with sand getting on Toothless. The story held my attention along with the animation that was crystal clear even in the low lit scenes. Best recommendation that I can give this film is a description of the audience. There were no cries, no complaining and no bad behavior...and the children were fine also (insert rim shot at your own discretion).
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Jussie Smollett Situation
Posted on Collider Live#77-----02/21/2019
Initially I was kind of upset regarding the Jussie Smollett situation (at least as it stands at this moment in time) at Mr. Smollett specifically. Obviously he has issues, but news media, celebrities and anyone who ranted about this on social media (yes I did post comments to friends when I first learned about this incident) are complicit in this scam. Many of us share a modicum of the blame. For a start I would tactfully request of news media, rehire those fact checkers. And the rest of us, while still protecting the innocent and helpless, maybe take at least a 24 hour pause to study the situation before judging and commenting.
Posted on Collider Live#77-----02/21/2019
Initially I was kind of upset regarding the Jussie Smollett situation (at least as it stands at this moment in time) at Mr. Smollett specifically. Obviously he has issues, but news media, celebrities and anyone who ranted about this on social media (yes I did post comments to friends when I first learned about this incident) are complicit in this scam. Many of us share a modicum of the blame. For a start I would tactfully request of news media, rehire those fact checkers. And the rest of us, while still protecting the innocent and helpless, maybe take at least a 24 hour pause to study the situation before judging and commenting.
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Alita: Battle Angel (2019)
PG-13 2 hours 2 minutes
(saw in theater in 3D on 02/19/2019)
I did enjoy this movie although some of the romantic subplot needed some editing and smarter dialogue. Alita is supposed to be the last of her kind, so it would make sense that she looks "different". Before I saw this movie, I read book one of the manga. I am glad I did as I could follow the humanity of this story rather than dwell on (well I did for the first few minutes) the bionic limbs and bodies. While there are no credit extras at the end of this movie, the movie's last scene with the character, NOVA made me laugh out loud. As I was the only one in the theater who did so, I guess no one else was impressed with NOVA's appearance.
I liked Alita: Battle Angel, but agree that its weakest part is the teen love story. The dialogue indicated that Alita was actually 300 years old. Most of those 300 years were spent in a coma, so emotionally she was still a teen. The 300 year old Edward Cullen in Twilight kind of creeped me out as those years were spent (emotionally) growing up. Actually the paternal love of Doctor Ido for Alita and a certain (adult) character's change of attitude towards Alita had far more emotion impact than the love story subplot. I did hear many reviewers (Rotten Tomatoes) say that this film was confusing. So I decided to read volume one (free if a member of Amazon Prime). Maybe that information improved my opinion concerning this film. However, at 2 hours some judicious editing probably would have made a vast improvement in reviews.
PG-13 2 hours 2 minutes
(saw in theater in 3D on 02/19/2019)
I did enjoy this movie although some of the romantic subplot needed some editing and smarter dialogue. Alita is supposed to be the last of her kind, so it would make sense that she looks "different". Before I saw this movie, I read book one of the manga. I am glad I did as I could follow the humanity of this story rather than dwell on (well I did for the first few minutes) the bionic limbs and bodies. While there are no credit extras at the end of this movie, the movie's last scene with the character, NOVA made me laugh out loud. As I was the only one in the theater who did so, I guess no one else was impressed with NOVA's appearance.
I liked Alita: Battle Angel, but agree that its weakest part is the teen love story. The dialogue indicated that Alita was actually 300 years old. Most of those 300 years were spent in a coma, so emotionally she was still a teen. The 300 year old Edward Cullen in Twilight kind of creeped me out as those years were spent (emotionally) growing up. Actually the paternal love of Doctor Ido for Alita and a certain (adult) character's change of attitude towards Alita had far more emotion impact than the love story subplot. I did hear many reviewers (Rotten Tomatoes) say that this film was confusing. So I decided to read volume one (free if a member of Amazon Prime). Maybe that information improved my opinion concerning this film. However, at 2 hours some judicious editing probably would have made a vast improvement in reviews.
Friday, February 8, 2019
The Lego Movie 2:The Second Part
PG
1 hour 47 minutes
I also left liking the movie a little less than the first one. Lego 2 did have a more childlike quality to the dialogue. However there were adult (in the pop culture sense) jokes, that I feel I might have missed due to that peaceful (but not sleepy) zen state induced by some of that dialogue. I think that Chris Pratt's imitation of a particular costar from a live action movie was ingenious to use in this film. It kept my attention. There were several other "guest Lego stars" that just having them as extras in the background was very funny. Basically for adults who have not yet seen the film, to keep their attention rapt, count/find the easter eggs (mostly Lego characters, with occasional verbal references).
While I liked Lego Movie 2, it seemed a bit more child-like in the dialogue (although there were numerous Easter Eggs for the above 13 crowd). When General Mayhem was in full costume, I kind of saw it as a funny dig at Captain Phasma. Very interesting in view of Lord and Miller being the writers on THIS film (Hint: Solo).
The Lego Movie 2:The Second Part did kind of dumb down some of the dialogue along with laying out a plot literally in fluorescent colors. But the Easter Eggs made it all worth it for me (as a wannabe adult). General Mayhem (before transformation) reminded me of an infamous character related to a franchise that the writers of Lego 2 (Lord and Miller) were fired from. Having Chris Pratt do an imitation of Kurt Russell made me giggle every time that character spoke. There was even an appearance of a very unlikely Lego character several times once (in the ceiling air vents) that was funny on several levels. There were many Lego "film extras" in the background that were amusing just by being in the scene. I would advise any adults to play find the Easter eggs game if they find themselves becoming overly soothed by the dialogue or thin plot.
PG
1 hour 47 minutes
I also left liking the movie a little less than the first one. Lego 2 did have a more childlike quality to the dialogue. However there were adult (in the pop culture sense) jokes, that I feel I might have missed due to that peaceful (but not sleepy) zen state induced by some of that dialogue. I think that Chris Pratt's imitation of a particular costar from a live action movie was ingenious to use in this film. It kept my attention. There were several other "guest Lego stars" that just having them as extras in the background was very funny. Basically for adults who have not yet seen the film, to keep their attention rapt, count/find the easter eggs (mostly Lego characters, with occasional verbal references).
While I liked Lego Movie 2, it seemed a bit more child-like in the dialogue (although there were numerous Easter Eggs for the above 13 crowd). When General Mayhem was in full costume, I kind of saw it as a funny dig at Captain Phasma. Very interesting in view of Lord and Miller being the writers on THIS film (Hint: Solo).
The Lego Movie 2:The Second Part did kind of dumb down some of the dialogue along with laying out a plot literally in fluorescent colors. But the Easter Eggs made it all worth it for me (as a wannabe adult). General Mayhem (before transformation) reminded me of an infamous character related to a franchise that the writers of Lego 2 (Lord and Miller) were fired from. Having Chris Pratt do an imitation of Kurt Russell made me giggle every time that character spoke. There was even an appearance of a very unlikely Lego character several times once (in the ceiling air vents) that was funny on several levels. There were many Lego "film extras" in the background that were amusing just by being in the scene. I would advise any adults to play find the Easter eggs game if they find themselves becoming overly soothed by the dialogue or thin plot.
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