Star Wars 8: The Last Jedi

I think this movie is better than Episode 7. I have read interpretations that the message to Star Wars fans is: time moves on, and we don't have to be slavishly attached to your heroes in order to thrive in the future. Luke is given an honorable, loving end to his arc as a flawed hero, and the story moves on with new heroes doing new things. The movie ends up being a respectful farewell to our Princess Leia. And both of these are good. At some point you have to accept that the universe goes on, and as a film maker your choices are to reboot everything (ie: Star Trek) or crumble under the weight of your own canon (something I suspect Marvel is in very real danger of with the next Avengers movie).

The most powerful moment for me was the Rebel cruiser's jump to hyperspace. The brutality of what happens coupled with the choices in sound design work together to amplify that experience.

Overall, though Episode 7 is exhausting. The tension device of "oh noes all our heroes are doomed and evil will take the day oh wait nevermind" cycles which is constantly repeated through the movie is clearly concealing something, but I'm not movie-savvy enough to see what it is.

I do have doubts about the way the franchise is going. With Skywalker's death, Snopes' betrayal, and Ren's turn back towards the dark side, and the blatant illustration at the end that there are still force-sensitives being born -- Jedi or no Jedi -- the message seems to be the same as Battlestar Galactica's reboot's message: that all this has happened before, and all this will happen again...

and again...

and again...

Review: Justice League

Justice League shows that while DC is learning from the Marvel MCU what makes a good ensemble movie, they still don't have it. Unlike Suicide Squad, which I liked, I couldn't decide if Justice League was more bad than good. It is mixed -- definitely better than the Batman vs Superman which was just bad -- but it sure isn't great. There are good touches of humor, and the use of The Flash as comic relief is well done. But over all Batman, Wonder Woman, and Cyborg's brooding over their own mini arcs trip over each other and get in the way. Marvel manages to have more characters in their ensemble movies and manages to give more of them better story arcs than this DC offering.

So was it bad? No.

But was it good?....

Review: Thor Ragnarok

Didn't like the villain much. A bit too much cartoony violence in the way that characters get beaten up, hit, smashed, and then brush off. And I think I'm tired of Loki. But overall it was definitely the best of the three Thor movies. Fun ride in places, as Marvell is capable of delivering.

The Hitman's Bodyguard

Fun in a mindlessly implausible way. Maybe a bit more in "character development" than I usually like to see in movies like this.

Spiderman: Homecoming

So totally not for me it isn't funny. I'm too old to sit through teenagers making dumb decisions and acting painfully lame. Yes, I was just as lame when I was that age -- but I'm not any more. Didn't make me want another Iron Man movie, this had just the right amount of Tony Stark in it. No desire to see it again.

Wonder Woman

Campy '60s source material aside, this shows that A) DC can make a good movie, and B) a good movie can have a strong female lead.

The Fate Of The Furious

A finale. Part one of... oh, let's say three.

It is the fate of the furious to be poorly acted, cliche-written, and ridiculously choreographed. I am disappointed that the trailers effectively showed us all the "action porn" from the movie. Story wise, much was concealed, which is... ok, I guess. Probably the best option currently out; but I'm probably not going to remember it or want to see it again.

...oh yeah, the triple-X we saw in February was both better and more memorable, if only for the triple-X opening sequence.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 2

As derivative as you'd expect. The music was better in the first one. I also wonder if special effects are getting worse -- many of the blatantly computer-generated objects in the movie looked blatantly computer generated, like some shader or texture pass had been skipped -- for example, the Milano ploughing through the forest. Maybe my meds are wearing off but I'm not enjoying these the way I used to.

The Ghost In The Shell (2017)

So one can't talk about The Ghost In The Shell without touching on cultural appropriation. Personally I have a hard time with that, what with being a principal member of the White Male Hegemony (but more on that another time). Actually we'll talk about the whole cultural appropriation thing another time.

For this movie, I thought for the most part it was gorgeous environment, many of the effects lovingly done. I didn't like the vocabulary -- the way they used "ghost" would be better in english as "spirit" or "soul" -- but that's probably a legacy thing from the original transations. Story wise it kind of avoided what it was trying to talk about, and it wasn't uneven in the way that North American audiences like. So I understand why it wasn't a "success". I'd like to watch it again, maybe.

John Wick Chapter 2

Well, I still don't see why this movie needed to be made. It was more than a bit hung up on the fact that there is very obviously a Chapter 3 coming. The first one was focused, sincere, and knew exactly what it was. This one tries to be more, and fails. I mean -- it's clearly more, but it isn't more, if you follow me. I'm not sure I need to see this one again.

xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage

Not terrible. The opening sequence is the best because you have no idea what the stakes are; after that, once you know what the stakes are, the action seems somewhat contrived. And frankly that's the only really nice thing I can say about it; however it isn't worth saying anything bad about.

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them

I'll be honest -- I never read any of the original books and I bailed on the movies after number two or three. So maybe I missed a lot. But even without all that history (or maybe because I don't have that history) I thought this was a pretty good movie. Set up for the inevitable sequel(s), but stands on its own well enough. Good creature design, reasonable story. The effects fell down in a few places where they over-reached themselves a bit, but overall I'm glad I saw it in the theater.