Movies

Rating: ★★★★½ (4.5/5)

I hadn’t thought about this movie in a long time other than to think, “that was a good one.” Then my son was curious about it. I think he saw it in a meme or something and wanted to know what it was all about. He’s ten and loved Winnie the Pooh was really small but has just forgotten a lot of it over time. You definitely don’t have to twist my arm to get me to watch anything with Winnie the Pooh in it. That character holds a dear place deep in my heart. I adore him.

Rating: ★★★½ (3.5/5)

Exposition! In case you forgot what happened over the last thirty years of Mission Impossible movies, Tom Cruise and company are here to tell you all about it in an exposition packed cold open thanks to a tape from IMF.

Speaking of the tape from the IMF. Did anyone else wonder how they got Ethan the tape if he’s on the run and they don’t know where he is? I mean, if they used a dead drop they could stake it out, if they sent it to him then they know where he is, and if they picked someone to take it to him wouldn’t they just follow? I had a lot of issues with that, so let’s just put that in the back of our minds for a minute.

Rating: ★★ (2.0/5)

I don’t even know what to say.

The second one was fine. This one was so dark so much of the time. I was also thrown off by Mads Mikkelson taking over as Grindelwald. Not mad about it, but it was a bit jarring. They didn’t even really keep the bleach blonde hair and blue eye. If you’re not keeping up with movie news and casting decisions, I think it would have taken a minute to get your bearings here.

Rating: ★★★ (3.0/5)

I was way more into this movie than the first one. That being said, I don’t have a clue what it was about and I watched it just a few days ago. Something about finding out who Creedence really was and Grindelwald having secret meetings.

It was pretty cool to see everything happen in Paris. That whole city was a fun setting for some magic stuff.

Rating: ★★★★ (4.0/5)

One of the things I love to ask people who I know are film fans is, “What M. Night Shayamalan movie was the last one you enjoyed?” The reason is that there are people that think Unbreakable was the last good movie he did. Some people give up at Signs. Others make it all the way to The Happening before they throw in the towel. For me, The Village is the last good movie he made. Up until Split of course.

Rating: ★★★½ (3.5/5)

Sinbad in the (brick) house!!

This movie is a staple of my childhood. I went to see this in the theatre with my mom and the scene where Sinbad sees the McDonald’s and runs to it in slow motion nearly broke her down laughing. Her laugh lives rent free in my head.

It’s a simple plot. A guy who owes a bunch of money to some loan sharks runs for cover and ends up faking the identity of a long lost friend of a wealthy family man. The shenanigans that ensure are made all the better thanks to Sinbad and Phil Hartman’s amazing chemistry. They are so much fun on screen together. Phil Hartman was a treasure and seeing him in something like this makes me all the more sad that we were denied more of his work. He was murdered in the late 90s.

Rating: ★★½ (2.5/5)

I watched this movie when it came out and it just didn’t grab me. I didn’t love any of the characters, I didn’t think the American setting was all that great (looking at you no-maj), and the beasts in the movie honestly grossed me out a little.

I came away this time a little more appreciative of it.

The movie follows Newt Scamander, the author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which is an in-universe book that’s used at Hogwarts to teach wizards about, well, fantastic beasts. It’s kind of fun that they would go back in time to the 1920s to see who Newt Scamander was and why he would write a book about beasts. Turns out he’s a fairly awkward guy who really has more interest in animals than people.

Rating: ★★★★ (4.0/5)

I love this movie. It’s pretty much the GOAT of all road trip buddy comedy movies. John Candy is brilliant as Del and Steve Martin plays such an incredible straight man against him. At the time Steve Martin was very known for being a “wild and crazy guy” and this has him playing a very believable businessman curmudgeon.

It also has loads of heart. John Candy’s “I like me” speech stands out as one of the highlights of his whole career and it’s really not that long. Its all carried by the way he’s reacting to Steve Martin’s punishing insults.

Rating: ★★★½ (3.5/5)

I am a huge fan of the movie Greenland. It came out during the pandemic so was largely overlooked but it was actually one of the best disaster movies I’ve ever seen. It kept the scope really small by focusing on one family trying to survive. No view from the top. No flashy rescue plan. You as a viewer didn’t have any information beyond the characters and it made it so much more intense than some other “meteor going to blow up earth” movies are.

Rating: ★★★★ (4.0/5)

When I originally watched Skyfall in the theatre when it came out, it was the first Bond movie that I felt like I could follow from start to finish and the plot was clear. It was also a movie that included so many little baby steps back to being the Bond we know and love from before the Pierce Brosnan era. We got the Astin Marin, we got Q, we got a new M, and we got that M’s office with the padded door. It was kind of a return to form.