The Year of the Silver Screen...

So, for two years now, my top ten list has consisted of SOMETHING regarding a desire to see more movies IN the actual theater. 2019 marked the first year that I've been able to do that, partially because I have a kickass movie partner and the other is because of the "AMC Stubs A-List" program. For a little over $40 a month, Megan and I have the option to see up to THREE movies in a single week. The most we've been able to pull off at any given time is two in a night, but even with just ONE in a week... the membership MORE than pays for itself. By the end of 2019, Megan and I saw a total of 42 movies. YEP! You read that right, forty two. That's a LOT of big tubs of popcorn. A LOT of time spent in the theater, but that's what we do. :-)

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - I don't remember much about it. A solid "meh."
Escape Room - I liked it! A cheesy plot, but pretty appealing. I'll see the inevitable sequel.
Glass - A disappointing end to that trilogy. It started out strong, decent plot, shitty ending.
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part - Eh. It lost me at musical. Cute movie, though.
Captain Marvel - A female superhero movie... set in the 90's. What's not to love?
Five Feet Apart - Meh. Typical Nicholas Sparks chick flick. 
Us - YES! I thought it was good. Interesting concept. Jordan Peele does good work.
Dumbo - A cute live action remake. Nothing super spectacular.
Pet Sematary - Remake. Changed it up from the original. I prefer the original. Still good, though.
Shazam! - I love Zachary Levi. I love superhero movies. This had both. 'Nuff said.
Long Shot - HILARIOUS! Charlize Theron can be funny?! Typical Seth Rogen stoner movie.
Pokemon: Detective Pikachu - I love Ryan Reynolds. I love Pikachu. This had both. 'Nuff said.
Aladdin - Cute live action remake. Cool "girl power" plot. I miss Robin Williams.
Booksmart - HILARIOUS! Like "Superbad," but with girls. Much better than Superbad.
Brightburn - What if Superman had crashed to Earth... and been EVIL!? Good plot. Great movie.
The Dead Don't Die - Had such potential! Bill Murray! Zombies! Jim Jarmusch is just too weird...
The Hustle - Eh. Big girl Rebel Wilson plays comedy relief to "hot" Anne Hathaway. Meh. 
Godzilla: King of the Monsters - Godzilla versus all the other monsters! Cool Summer movie.
Men In Black: International - A cute new take on the "MIB" movies. Pawny was the best, though.
Toy Story 4 - Cute. No different than Toy Storys 2-3, really. Could've been like 45 minutes shorter.
Child's Play - Not too bad. An interesting modern take on Chucky.
Yesterday - Cute movie. Great soundtrack.
The Lion King -Eh. Not horrible. Pretty much shot for shot a total remake. Nothing new.
Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood - A Tarantino win! An interesting take on "history." I liked!
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark - I heart Guillermo Del Toro. A good, sorta-scary movie!
Good Boys - HILARIOUS! Like "Superbad," but with fifth grade boys. Good ol' toilet humor lol
It: Chapter Two - A surprisingly deep and awesome ending to the IT movies. Thumbs up!
Joker - Easily wins for my fave of the year...
Gemini Man - It's in a close race with "The Dead Don't Die" for biggest disappointment...
Zombieland: Double Tap - Not as good as the original... but still hilarious!
Terminator: Dark Fate - Take the bad-ass Terminator... and make him a family man!? MEH.
Midway - Typical Roland Emmerich big budget, big explosion war movie. Pretty good, though!
Doctor Sleep - Sequel to "The Shining." Not sure if I liked how it ended, but it was still good.
Jojo Rabbit - A close second for fave of the year...
Ford V. Ferrari - Kinda bleh if you aren't a car person. But it has great character development.
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood - Suuuuuuch a good movie. Not what I expected, but great!
Knives Out - Interesting take on the "Whodunit" movie. I enjoyed it so much, I saw it TWICE! lol
Jumanji: The Next Level - Super cute and funny sequel to the Rock's Jumanji remake.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Good, but not great. A satisfying end to the Skywalker saga.
Bombshell - Great movie, eye-opening look at what it's like to be a woman in the world of media.

Oops, I was wrong. Make that forty ONE movies... but, still! That's a lot of movies! SO many good ones, too. There were a few duds in there, but nothing horrible. I'm excited to see what 2020 brings in the world of movies... The Grudge remake, the new Dr. Dolittle, Bad Boys 3, the new James Bond, the new Harley Quinn movie, so on and so forth... it'll be another good year in the movies :-)

A Movie Review For You! "The Crow"

"The Crow," starring Brandon Lee, was released in theaters nearly 25 years ago!!! Now I TOTALLY feel old. I believe that this movie could totally stand alone based on the acting talent, the amazing storyline and the dark and gritty cinematography. Add in the memories that this movie invokes as well as the rockin' grungy soundtrack, and that EASILY puts The Crow in my top five favorite movies... ever. That's saying a lot! So, when a local movie club known as "VHS and Chill" was doing a special showing at a little independent theater... I KNEW I had to get a ticket. I loved the fact that they didn't show some digitalized HD version. Nope! They showed the original VHS version, complete with super cheesy trailers for movies like "Halloween 6" and "Mother's Boys." They also included the last recorded interview with Brandon Lee, filmed shortly before the accident that took his life. I managed to convince Megan and Michael Massey (BOTH who had never seen the movie before!) to come along with me... I am pretty sure both of them loved it. Well, at least Megan did.

The plot for the Crow is fairly simple, a man and his fiancee are brutally murdered. The weight of the sorrow makes it impossible for Brandon Lee's character, Eric Draven, to move on. He is brought back to life and, using the powers of the crow, seeks out revenge for their deaths. He then goes on to find each person responsible and (brutally) brings them to justice. I'll leave it at that, in case someone decides to read this that HASN'T seen it or isn't sure on how the film ends...

I was probably in the third grade or so when I first saw this movie. One of the perks of my brother Matt dating this girl who worked at the video rental place that was inside the GFF grocery store was that he got free rentals ALL of the time. I remember snooping in their room at various times and finding random cassette tapes that I had never even HEARD of in those big bulky boxes that you would get when you rented them from rental stores like Blockbuster, Hollywood, etc. Sometimes I was lucky (or unlucky... not all of the movies we watched were as awesome as this one) enough to be around when Matt would pop it into our massive VCR. Matt and Adam must've been watching this movie at a point when Mom was on a date or something, because there is NO way that I would've been allowed to watch it. Mom was usually pretty progressive and open and let me watch a lot of stuff, but damn... this would've been a bit much. It gathered the attention of my little third or fourth grade mind because it was the first "dark" film that I had ever seen. The super gritty and mature content matter grabbed my attention, not for the standard reasons (gasp! They said the "F" word!) that it would've gotten an eight year olds attention. It was more of the thoughts along the lines that "there are people out there that live in these dark seedy places and do these incredibly illegal things... and some of these people are little kids just like me. Not EVERYONE lives in a squeaky clean suburban setting." Thoughts like these developed an interest in certain types of films for me, movies like "Requiem For A Dream" that have characters who start off in bad situations and they don't really ever get better. There aren't always necessarily happy endings.

I remember the soundtrack that came along this movie was full of grungy awesome rock from Alice in Chains, The Cure and more. It was definitely one of the first group of CD's I ever bought. If I remember correctly, it actually came as a two-pack and included an "inspired by" CD. This CD, along with the soundtrack from the movie "Hackers" was frequently found in the CD player in my 1997 Honda Accord. I guess I thought I was pretty cool as I was blaring this, windows down and sunroof open going to school or driving to work at Mardel Christian Bookstore (yeah, I know) or Boomerang Grill (mm... chicken tenders). Lots of fun memories.

Needless to say this movie ranks high in my book. Like I said, it is EASILY in my top five. It's not necessarily JUST because it's an awesome movie... but it definitely helps. I totally give it a 10 out of 10.

"A building gets torched. All that is left is ashes. I used to think that was true about everything: family, friends, feelings. But now I know that sometimes, if love proves real and two people are meant to be together, nothing can keep them apart."

A Movie Review For YOU! "Captain Marvel"

So, Megs and I saw "Captain Marvel" last night and after a brief attempt at writing some sort of plot synopsis that could explain this interesting movie, I threw in the towel and decided to steal someone else's description to get this blog entry going...

"Captain Marvel is an extraterrestrial Kree warrior who finds herself caught in the middle of an intergalactic battle between her people and the Skrulls. Living on Earth in 1995, she keeps having recurring memories of another life as US Air Force pilot Carol Danvers. With help from Nick Fury, Captain Marvel tries to uncover the secrets of her past while harnessing her special superpowers to end the war with the evil Skrulls."

Spaceships, Jude Law and bad ass warrior chicks. Combine that with an awesome 90's-centric soundtrack and you get a pretty fantastic movie. The first hour or so really left me scratching my head. I think they spent too much time keeping you confused on the "is she?" or "isn't she?" The way they laid out the story, they left it fairly vague on the possibility of "well, was she actually a pilot at one point or is this some sort of Skrull plot twist?" Without giving too much away, they DO eventually untangle everything and make it into a really cool story and fun movie to follow along with. In the end, you can focus on some intricate fight scenes and not have to sit there and think "wait a minute..."

Things I liked: The soundtrack. LOVED the soundtrack. I loved the various 90's pop culture references. I loved seeing Fury and Coulson as young agents at the (supposed) beginning of SHIELD.  I did enjoy that this was enough of a stand-alone movie that you could see it without seeing a single other Marvel film and you can still enjoy it. But, you definitely get more out of it if you are caught up with the timeline. I, for one, am NOT caught up on the timeline. I haven't seen the last two (I think?) Avengers movies, so I definitely need to watch those. Then maybe I'll go see Captain Marvel again.

Part of me wanted to initially shake my head in confusion/disappointment at the blatant "girl power" or "yeah! Women can do it all" in the plot. I think in an attempt to capture that attention from the female target audience, they potentially gave Captain Marvel TOO much power. Like NO one can beat her. But, after I thought about it, I thought to myself "so what?" It doesn't really matter how obviously they geared this movie towards girls. Instead, I thought... girls deserve bad ass heroes like this too!

Of course, they set it up for a potential "Captain Marvel 2" and they definitely tie it into the "Avengers" series... especially with that post-credits scene.

Other than the fuzzy, somewhat difficult to follow beginning, "Captain Marvel" was thoroughly enjoyable. That perfect mix of awesome action, super funny, fun pop culture references, a bad ass soundtrack, a cool plot and a great super heroine... I give it a 9 out of 10.

A Movie Review For You! "Escape Room"

A group of strangers, who (on the surface) all appear to have nothing in common, are locked in a game (monitored by some unknown source) that winds up having deadly consequences. As they make it (well, most of them) from puzzle to puzzle, you begin to suspect that these people that were chosen to solve them might NOT be so random. Each puzzle is meant to expose and mock some deep dark secret of their personal lives... and then, if they don't solve them in a timely (and correct) manner, people start to die.

No, this is not a movie review for the latest in the "Saw" movie franchise. Instead, this is the basic plot for the new movie "Escape Room." It doesn't really have any "celebrity" stars, just a few people who you stop and think to yourself "hey, I've seen them in _____." One of the girls played a teenage vampire in the HBO show "True Blood," while one of the guys recently played a Canadian Mountie in "Super Troopers 2." Other than that... nothing. Which is ok, you don't necessarily need A-list stars to make a good movie. Sometimes, it actually makes it better. So you have a movie that is riding the wave of popularity for these new "escape rooms" that seem to be popping up everywhere. I've never really had a desire to PAY someone to lock me in a room and see if I'm smart enough to escape...

The movie begins with a young male trying to escape from a room that looks like some sort of library. He falls in through the roof and immediately begins looking for clues to help him escape, as the walls begin to close in on him. Does he escape? Does he survive? I guess we'll find out. The scene ends and it cuts to something like "three days earlier." The story follows three individuals: a young college-aged girl named Zoey (played by Taylor Russell, she played Judy in the recent "Lost in Space" Netflix series), an eager young stockbroker named Jason (played by Jay Ellis, he's apparently had a lot of small TV roles) and a downtrodden grocery store employee named Ben (played by Logan Miller, who actually played the character Ben on "The Walking Dead" as well... I knew I knew him from somewhere) and picks up their lives as they are each given this mysterious box that points them to play this escape room for a chance to win big bucks.

Apparently, they all decided to play the game, as the next scene is them all showing up to this big building and checking in to the lobby before the game starts. They meet up with four other characters (who apparently had less important stories... so you just KNOW that they are going to die) and they soon find out that the lobby isn't actually a lobby. It's the first in the series of rooms that they have to escape if they want to survive.

Although the movie is incredibly close to the plot of the Saw movies, I'd have to say I definitely still enjoyed it. It was as if they took the plot from Saw, but made it a lot less gory... because, there in the end, all those Saw movies became was just "let's find different and more shocking ways to kill people." I was initially bummed, because I thought that they set up the beginning of the movie to where it was REALLY easy to pick out who was going to live or die. They did throw in a nice little twist in there. It was like "HA! You thought you knew what was going to happen!" And.... blam, now we have a setup for a sequel! It will be dubbed "Escape Room 2: An Even Escapier Room."

It wasn't the best... but it definitely wasn't the worst. None of the escape rooms contained battle shrimp... and for that, I'll give it a 7 out of 10.

A Movie Review for YOU! "Aquaman"

So, I'm definitely a sucker for cheesy comic book/action movies. My absolute favorites are any of the movies from the "DC" Extended Universe (Batman, Superman, Flash, Green Arrow, etc). While he is probably one of my LEAST favorite of the DCEU, I figured an Aquaman movie might still have a chance at being pretty good. When I heard that Jason Momoa (from "Game of Thrones" fame) would be pegged to play Arthur Curry's Aquaman, I was like... okay, maybe. When I learned that it was going to be directed by James Wan, who has directed more dark horror story-like films such as the "Saw" franchise as well as "The Conjuring," I was like... okay, so maybe this film might have more of an adult/mature/gritty-like appearance. It is in the same universe as Batman, so okay! I like how this is turning out! Well... not so much.

As previously mentioned, Momoa plays Arthur Curry, a half man/half Atlantean (someone from the underwater Kingdom of Atlantis) who is actually of royal lineage. After spending a lot of time learning his back story, we finally got to the plot. For numerous reasons, we learn that the various underwater kingdoms are about to join together under the evil leadership of Orm, who just so happens to be Arthur's half-brother. All these kingdoms are going to join together in the hopes of starting a war with the land-dwellers and conquer the WHOLE world, not just the oceans. And... of course... the only person who has any chance of stopping this from happening is Arthur Curry, who becomes the superhero known as Aquaman. It's a race for Aquaman, as he must find the long-lost sacred trident that will unite the people in peace before Orm conquers the various kingdoms and unites the people in fear and forces them to fight this battle for him. You know, same old story.



Momoa's portrayal of Aquaman was kind of all over the place. I'd say he was more humorous/silly than not, so it was difficult to take him seriously when he'd be involved in some super-serious battle or intense conversation about how his mother had been sacrificed to the evil crawfish-people of the trench world. Nicole Kidman's portrayal of Queen Atlanna was over the top and campy. Patrick Wilson as Orm left a lot to be desired. I never once believed that here was a guy who was going to be able to stop the super-bulky/muscular/handsome/tattooed Aquaman. Willem Dafoe's character, Vulko, was just this awkward advisor character. I think that's a good way to describe most of the acting in the movie... awkward.

The visuals of the movie were pretty good. The wide-shots of the massive worlds of Atlantis or the various underwater scenery was pretty awesome. The settings as well as the costumes were all bright and captured your attention. The close-ups were a little meh, it was really obvious to see that a lot of the movie were just the actors faces cut-and-pasted onto the digital bodies, with their little hands moving like flippers and their hair flowing in the water. It's hard to take Aquaman seriously as he's doing a doggy-paddle.

The plot/writing of the movie was REALLY simple. The most bothersome part about it was that it seemed to borrow the various parts of the plot from other major movies. Significant chunks of the storyline seemed eerily familiar to movies like Star Wars, Tron, Indiana Jones, Black Panther and the story of King Arthur. Because of that, I found it incredibly easy to pick out parts of the plot waaaaaayyyyy before it happened. "Oh yeah, this is gonna happen..." or "oooooh yeah, I totally saw THAT one comin'."

All of that being said, it'll probably be a surprise to you to hear that I did enjoy the film. For a simple movie to watch, it was entertaining. It just wasn't what I was expecting or hoping for... especially in a movie from the DCEU. I enjoyed the movie, I always enjoy the theater, and (of course) I enjoyed the company. Like I mentioned on Facebook, however, that was definitely a movie that would've been a-ok to watch on Redbox. I tried to keep an open mind and take it at face value. Occasionally, something ridiculous would happen and I'd be like "oh my GOSH! This is lame." Then I would have to stop and re-open my mind back up to it just being a simple, fun movie. Finally, the "big battle" at the end of the movie completely lost me and I was like "nope, that's about it. Not a good one."

With all of that being said, I give the movie a shaky 4 out of 10.

A Movie Review for YOU! "Ben Is Back"

One of the many fun things I was able to do over the holiday break was take my mom to see the new movie "Ben Is Back" starring Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges. Hedges plays Ben, a young addict who struggles with trying to obtain long-term sobriety. Much to the surprise of his family, Ben comes home for Christmas. Ben's mother, played by Roberts, seems to be the only one that is pleasantly surprised. Others, like Ben's sister (played by Kathryn Newton) and Ben's stepfather (played by Courtney Vance), aren't as happy. They aren't buying Ben's story that he was given the approval by his sponsor and obtained a pass from sober living to come home. They believe that this is too soon and he is putting himself at risk to be surrounded by triggers during the holiday. While Ben's mother chooses to believe Ben, a series of unfortunate events begin to happen that cause her to start doubting on whether or not her son is telling the truth. The story ends with a less-than happy ending, but I wouldn't call it a "sad" ending. Translate that however you decide.

Julia Roberts does a PHENOMENAL job of playing Ben's Mother, Holly. She has that perfect combination of heartfelt trust bordering on naiveté, compassion bordering on enabling, strong motherhood but toeing that line of crumbling weakness. Even though his name is in the title, Hedges' performance as Ben takes a backseat to Roberts. This movie is more about her than it is about him. How does a mother handle a struggling addict son who is spiraling towards almost certain death? Don't get me wrong though, Hedges did a fantastic job as well. He had this ability to portray this multi-leveled performance? Is he lying, being deceptive or manipulative? Is he someone who is truly struggling to achieve sobriety? Or is it all just an act? I initially approached his character as lying from the very beginning, but by the end of the movie... I truly believe that he was an addict that was trying his best... he just wasn't listening to what advice other people had to give to him. He was living in his own head.

Although it was difficult to watch, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I found Hedges' portrayal of someone living in addiction to be pretty dang accurate. Mom found Roberts' portrayal of the mother of an addict to be very accurate. The phrases and conversations were spot-on and easy to identify. The events of the movie were incredibly heart-wrenching because I sat there, time after time, and thought to myself "yup, I've totally done these things to my family." The movie would probably have a rough time reaching those who don't have some sort of experience with addiction or a loved one in addiction. As I reflect on the movie, the main thing I'm not satisfied with is the ending. There really isn't a whole lot I want to say, because I don't want to ruin it, but it just wasn't... enough. Talk to me after you've seen it and we can discuss.

I, surprisingly, held it together for most of the film. There were only a few parts during the movie that I felt that lump in my throat, but I managed to keep my composure. After the credits started rolling and the lights came up, Mom looked at me... and then it hit me. I couldn't talk for about a minute, because it just would've exploded I'm afraid. We left the theater and had a sweet hug in the lobby. We realized we had gone through pretty much the same story, but realized that we are some of the lucky ones. I'm that rare exception. One of the few that is making it. I've found the answer and keep working towards it every day.

So, all in all, I give the movie a solid... 7.5 out of 10.