Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

[the Hulk takes on Surtur]
Thor: Hulk, no! For once in your life, don't smash!
Hulk: But giant monster!

Short:  How is that colourful, if not enchanting storytelling, with capable actors feel so soulless? I really enjoyed Thor: Ragnok, but I can't shake the feeling that something is missing. What that is I can't quite say. (Maybe that's on me.) What I can say, is that Thor: Ragnarok was highly enjoyable return to extremely old styles of telling. It was also very funny.

Musing: I am not generally one to place color and music before emotion and depth, but in this case, my preconceptions were wrong. -Explosive use of color, Framed visual constructs, and a fantastically electro-pop score by Mark Mothersbaugh (of DEVO!!) were essential to the final positive product. On these scales, Thor: Ragnarok is a class above. -Superb. As to Thor representing older storytelling, I've been thinking about why those with one eye, can always see clearer? Odin had one eye. Oedipus lost both his. Urza was the Blind Seer. Zatoichi is unmatched with a sword, and Daredevil. It seemed somehow natural that Thor (spoilers) looses his eye only to fully understand the prophecy of Ragnarok. The destruction one brings will be one's salvation.

3.3 out of 5 -See it. (Listen to it most of all.)

The Big Sick (2017)

Emily: [Whilst using her phone to book an uber] Listen, I had a really nice time, thank you very much. I'm just going to like, call an Uber, go home and I hope
[gets interrupted by Kumail's phone alert]
Emily: Just...
Kumail: [showing Emily the Uber request] Your driver will be ready as soon as he puts on his pants.

Oh what oh what do sad jokes do to turn that corner and generate laughter and empathy? It's like the pain that comes from when one cannot accept that a just world would continue to rain evil spirits on a single individual. -It just gets funnier and funnier. We the viewers demand that the karmic wheels flip over.

That was The Big Sick for me. Yeah it had some levity, but most of the jokes and situations just get worse and worse and worse, and thus long term chuckles ensue. But, if you aren't down for The Office level of cringe worthy pain...this might not be your bag. To me, very understated.

This was my first of two movies, with Adeel Akhtar. IMDB I hope he gets more roles.

3.3 out of 5 -I would encourage viewership.

Their Finest (2016)

"I'll need an Acting Coach credit." -Ambrose Hilliard

Short So, I think Their Finest was meant to be be a comedy and if that was the case, it strayed from its purpose. I didn't really laugh. Yet, I found the drama charming. There was great deal to be proud of in a meta story about the production of a film.

Long: Somewhere around 2013-14 there must have been a rush/buying streak for stories about Dunkirk. There is the film Dunkirk and then Their Finest, which is a film about the making of a movie about Dunkirk. I find it remarkable that there would be such historical credence given to a single WWII story -of an Allied loss, might I add- why is now the time for the film industry to collectively explore how to turn a defeat into a victory? And if so, what do writers, directors, producers think audiences can take away from this process.  Are we subconsciously expecting military/economic defeat in the future? Are we preparing to subvert reality in new and terrifying ways? How can we turn the rise of Nationalists or Anarchists or Birthers into a a heroic tale of defeat with purpose?

3.2 out of 5 -See it if you have the time. 

The Circle (2017)

Eamon Bailey: Circulars, Do you like to share?
Everyone: Sharing is Caring

Eamon Bailey: We're so fucked.

Short: The Circle is an aimless, underdeveloped tech/spy thriller that fails miserably across most if not all measures.  However, if one abandons a historical (or really any) perspective; then The Circle becomes a frighteningly amoral tale of group think futurism run amok. -Chilling.

Long: For some reason, I couldn't help but think that the creators of The Circle were looking to remake 1987's The Running Man. I know you think I am joking, but I am not. Our protagonist commits a crime and suddenly her world is broadcast out 24hrs a day for the entertainment of the masses and as a way to ensure her compliance. Internet masses are the new gameshow crowds. Then later, we/The Circle/the internet find criminals and friends alike through a gamified system. The whole world of the The Circle has become The Running Man.

What's more interesting is that The Circle seems to have been written by a corporate marketing board. And I think that was the intention of the writers. (They buried the point...but brilliantly.) Our future will have been product tested, solutionified, actioned, and branded. The truth will not be entwined with beauty, it will be tied to profits, simplicity, and the death of pain points.

2.78 out of 5: Honestly, this may be the kind of movie that college kids get to watch 20 years from now and talk about our present. I really don't envision anyone every casually coming across The Circle rebroadcast on TBS, so I don't advise making extra effort to see it. -but if you do, listen to everything backwards while on your head looking in a mirror. 

Baywatch (2017)

Summer Quinn: Did you just, uh, look at my boobs?
Matt Brody: I… was not my intention. I didn’t, uh, stare directly at them.
Summer Quinn: You’re looking at them right now.
Matt Brody: Now I did, because you’re talking about them.

Short: Eye candy-slanted towards the ladies, bawdy jokes, and nothing else. Nothing.

Long: I'm glad I was trapped on a plane for this. I would have stopped watching if I had really had a serious choice. Basically, I think Baywatch was destined to be rebooted. The formula is crazy simple. The expectations of the target audience  are low. Quality acting talent is not a prerequisite, and filming is cheap; No CGI. No difficult sequences. Any beach will do. Any back office or standard location will do. Cheap.  Oh and you don't need quality writers.  B+ grad is AOK.  So, in someways Baywatch was a perfect movie. It aspired to very little and met or even exceed expectations. (because they were very low.) Know thyself -An Baywatch clearly did.

Point 1: The Rock was clearly the best actor in this nonsense. Not even close. Give him a little more acting respect please.
Point 2: Zac Efron is too jacked now. It's strange and gross- this is personal opinion.

1.7 out 5 

Wonder Woman (2017)

Diana: This is Ares!

Short: Wonder Woman is leaps and bounds better than its predecessors in the DC Universe. Finally, a DC feature that understands that violence is actually the least interesting part of a story.

Long: I can't say that Wonder Woman was an excellent "Hero pic". It doesn't break the mold. But, it is a serious step forward for Zach Synder-esque sludge and for female led features. I do think that it is a double standard at least in terms of storytelling, casting, writing that a woman hero must be "attractive"; but I attribute this as certain parts, believability (especially given that the story is set in 1918), economic incentives, and social inertia. My own thoughts on progress bend towards radical/structural equality.  Chris Pine was acceptable, a little unbelievable, -but with a fun sacrifice. What didn't make Wonder Woman a home-run for me was the final battle with Ares. It lost all sense of space, time, and meaning in addition to the design of Ares missing the mark. It made me only think of Prof. Lupin as a slag wagon.

2.98 out of 5 stars.  

Sydney White (2007)

Lenny: Did they really make you sing Celine Dion?

Short:  Don't. Just don't. I watched this and this now makes me part of the problem.

Long: So Sydney White (SW) is basically a rebuke to originality and a cliche wrapped in banality and soaked in stock bromide. Yet here it is. It exists. It had producers, actors, musicians who all worked to make something that has so clearly been done before. I cannot exactly say why. The strange thing about having now watched it on Netflix is to consider that SW is just as out of date now as it was to my own college experience 10 years ago. (Go MAC!!) My really only thought was that there was some idea that if they made a Snow White illusion into a 15 year old girl's expectations of what going to college would be like and threw in Revenge of the Nerds for -ya know- its morals. Yup.

2.0 out of 5. 

*oh and I would like to actually praise Jeremy Howard for a shining performance. IMDB