Review: Bros (2022)
Katie and I finally sat down to watch Bros, and holy shit is it a good movie. I really enjoyed it.
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Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) - 5/5 stars
Katie and I finally got around to watching Everything last night. We had meant to see it in the theater but then life got in the way, and then it just languished in our "eventually" list. So, last night, we finally sat down and turned it on.
To be honest, even with hearing the positive reviews, I had very little idea of what it was before we watched. So, to say it wasn't what I expected, would be unfair as I had no real expectations.
It was, to put it mildly, very good. It was engaging and it carried an important message. It was also quirky and weird as hell, but we really enjoyed it.
As I posted on Mastodon yesterday: I wish I could have been a fly on the wall as Michelle Yeoh saw the script for Everything Everywhere All at Once.
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Moonfall (2022) - 2 of 5 moons
I had an itch for a disaster movie, so I turned to Roland Emmerich. It did its job. And now, I'll treat it like a shameful secret and never mention the movie again.
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Weird: The Al Yankovich Story (2022)
I'm spending some time with family this morning, and rooming with my older brother Adam. We had planned to watch this together during the weekend and last night we made good on those plans.
I cannot recommend watching this movie enough. It might be the pinnacle of absurdist comedies, and I am not sure it will ever be beaten. It is silly and wild and features endless cameos in very unexpected roles.
Do not read or watch anything more about the movie, I urge you to go into it blind beyond the premise and just buckle in for the ride.
To speak to my particular scenario for watching it, which I cannot recommend highly enough. Crash with your brother in a divey hotel, get a bottle of champagne, and put the movie on a projector on the room's wall. Then drink champagne and laugh your ass off together. Highly recommend this experience if you're able to recreate it.
Core memory locked.
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The Gray Man (3.5 out of 5 shades of gray)
I wouldn't call it great. It's a good first step for a new action franchise. It sets up the myserious "Six" and dumps him into action against his handlers. They've already greenlit a sequel and I'm not mad about it. Am I clamoring for it? Not really. But I'm a sucker for action movies.
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Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Disclaimer: I work for Wizards of the Coast, maker of Dungeons & Dragons.
That said - I am so excited for this movie.
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Death on the Nile (2022)
My Rating: 3 out of 5 Belgian Mustaches
Been meaning to watch it and finally sat down with Katie and her mother. Overall it was fine, but it was nothing amazing.
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Memphis Flyer - Elvis
Chris McCoy, a film critic in Memphis, wrote the linked review about the new Baz Luhrmann Elvis movie. But, right at the start of it, he talks about my brother's experimental short film from 2010:
The most insightful film I’ve ever seen about Elvis Presley is “The Singing Canary,” a five-minute experimental short by Memphis director Adam Remsen. It contains neither images of Elvis nor his music, only footage of astronauts and rocket launches. Remsen’s voice-over casts Elvis not as a singer or entertainer or idol, but as an explorer of new psychic spaces.
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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
Saw it last night and overall I enjoyed it but I didn't love it. It was VERY Sam Raimi, and he just is not a director I find really enjoyable.
I think it feels like we're in the middle of transitioning Marvel's story eras and I found this movie as a transition piece to be a bit rough and tumble.
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The Courier (2020)
Benedict Cumberbatch and Rachel Brosnahan in a Cold War era film. My first movie of 2022. Overall quite good though the ending dragged.
3.5/5
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Dune (2021)
I just got home from seeing Dune, and this is my spoiler free review.
TLDR: The movie does a lot to get the book to screen adaptation right, possibly too much. I'm not sure how much people who aren't familiar with the story will enjoy it.
Now my longer thoughts:
First, some very important context: I have read the book probably a dozen times. It was one of the books I'd name as being very formative for me, and has been a mainstay for me as something I regularly would revisit. I have a half-dozen copies of it in various printings. I love the book.
Second, the story itself has its problems as it comes from another era. Sexism, racism, and all sorts of other -isms. Looking at it requires looking through the lens of awareness and time.
Now, I saw the movie in just a regular theater. And, for a solid portion of this movie, I had tears leaking from my eyes at the beauty and story that was on screen in front of me.
There have been a number of previous attempts to tell this story on the big screen. First was the movie that included such names as Patrick Stewart and Sting. Second was the TV miniseries for Syfy.
This one nailed it in so many ways. I don't agree with everything. I don't agree with all of the casting. But... man they got so much right.
That said, to make the movie they did, they had to cut from the story. A lot of what they cut would have made a lot of what they kept make more sense, or in some cases, is completely needed for things to make sense.
For example, there are people in the story called Mentats. You'll know them by a black stripe on their bottom lip. They are essentially human computers. Why are they there? What do they do? You get no context to them in the movie. And there is importance for them to the sides in the story.
The soldiers in the movie all fight with blades, even though you see lasers and projectile weapons? Why? The book gives you a reason, but they skip explaining it in the movie so you are forced to just accept this.
They also barely provide the context that is the intergalactic setting for the defining conflict of the story. You get bits of it, but I am not sure how obvious it is to people who don't have the book in their head to fill in the gaps and it definitely lacks some of the larger context.
Now, I get it. Things had to go otherwise this would be a series of four four-hour epics. But I air these as examples of why I think reading the book before seeing the movie is so beneficial, it lets you appreciate the story at a deeper and more complete level.
The visuals and the way they portrayed the story is largely true to the book. It also hits the tone and epic feel of the story; unfortunately I think that to hit those things, lends to the way that many will find the movie slow and plodding.
I am thrilled to see it getting such good ratings on Rotten Tomatoes; I am just worried we're about to see those ratings dip as others are enticed to see it.
Lastly, I understand why they did it, but it was not advertised that this is not the whole Dune story. It's just "Part 1." No, I don't mean multiple books as the story of Dune. I mean the first book of Frank Herbert's series. My estimate is that they see it being a trilogy, but I have no idea if we'll get more than just this movie.
We'll see.
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