The songs in this are so well done. Really believable that they would be written in that time and place. The story’s second to the music, but it’s still alright! Just fun. Makes me want to be in a band!

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Man… there was a lot of good in this. The whole second chapter is fantastic. The scene at the gas station is perfection. There are some genuinely very funny moments. The end credits scene is hypnotic and wonderful. The entire film is shot beautifully. Danny Elfman’s score stole some scenes for me.

But the bad… the stilted dialogue. The poor pacing. The constant philosophizing about every mundane thing. I haven’t read the book, and I don’t have a plan to. I’ve heard it’s good and I trust that. The dialogue here seems like it would work much better in a format where you can stop for a moment and ponder over what someone just said rather than just barreling through to the next thing. It’s like Baumbach tried to fit as many lines from the book in each square millimeter of film as possible. It just didn’t work for me. What could be some interesting tidbits of truth turn into a downpour of pompous pontifications, pounding away at the point, duh, death’s at the door and you’re feeling down. So what? It’s all a distraction from the truest question in life, which of course is: Do sheep have lashes?

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Short and sweet. Really the first 40 minutes or so is a slow, somewhat boring setup for a much more exciting ending. The contrast is actually quite striking. The action scene towards the end where the heroes are chased through the jungle is really quite good, with interesting pacing/lighting/camera movements/etc. The setup in contrast feels so wooden.

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Mission: Unstabilizable: The Bourneification of Ethan Hunt

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This had pretty much all the failings of its predecessor. Which means I still really greatly enjoyed it. Such a weird movie. Stunned by the beauty of the water, of course, but also by how long we just linger in the water with the characters. A lot of times films will have some very impressive shots but keep them short and sweet, or few and far between to stretch the budget. Clearly money was no object and James Cameron was like “screw it, let’s just play in the water for an hour”.

The action and tension is 100% a vehicle for more cool water scenes. And that’s fine! And the movie is clear that that’s the case. The whole engine/catalyst behind the events of the movie is pure popcorn sci-if cinema. Because it all just gets us back to playing in the water with our cool new alien friends. :)

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Didn’t really watch this, just had it on while building a kitchen set for the baby. Just tryin to read confusing instructions while the sound of a hundred motorcycle revs blast my eardrums.

This movie has exactly two good things going for it:
- the Doves
- the Wraparounds

One star for each. And a half star for Luther because he’s just very consistent. Will probably skip the next time I rewatch.

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Got the hankering for an M:I series rewatch in advance of M:I:7. Kittridge is easily one of the best parts of this so I’m really excited for his return.

If I’m being honest I haven’t always been a huge fan of the split diopter shot that De Palma uses so much. It feels really unnatural I guess. But it’s been growing on me a lot lately! And that one of the car explosion going off is 👨‍🍳💋

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Most of the live-action scenes look like they were shot for the SyFy channel. The narration is dumb and schlocky. The villains are tropey and over the top. The main character is more bland than toast without butter.

Somehow this still struck a chord in me despite it’s very clear failings. I think something about Pandora is so magical. And the message is more relevant than ever. Wish I could have seen this in theaters, but it does put a fire under me to get out and see the second in theaters before it leaves.

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Watched on Thursday December 29, 2022.

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The annual Christmas Eve rewatch. :) I think this is probably my favorite Spielberg film so it feels fitting to watch it after The Fabelmans. Which has actually given it some interesting juxtaposition – esp. with the deteriorating family.

Random thoughts:
 - Every time I watch this I think that maybe, just maybe, this time Brenda won’t snitch and she and Frank will run off and be a super con couple together.
- The casting in this is so good. Leo is really believable as Walken’s son. He brings that in his performance as well – aside from the accent, there are some tics that are very subtle but very accurate to Christopher Walken.
- “What‘s she gonna be? A shoe salesman at a centipede farm?”
- “Frank… you’re not a Lutheran?”
- Throughout the year, if Anna and I are talking and someone who’s named Frank comes up in convo, I have like this muscle memory impulse to say “Frahnk. Frahnk. Hahd you pass the bah in Lwisiana Frahnk.”

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This poor reindeer is literally like one minute old when Santa Claus himself shows up and absolutely roasts him. No wonder he has self esteem issues.

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Not a movie for people who get motion sickness. Way funnier than I remembered.

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Felt really good to see this in a theater. Hard to get my thoughts together on it other than that. Hard to judge something that’s so obviously very very personal. It’s also very very funny. There’s a trumpet guy in here that really stole the show for me. Also should add that the kid actors in this are really great.

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Will Ferrel as the Manic Pixie Nightmare Boy.

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Wouldn’t be a present wrapping party without some Rankin/Bass. 🎁🎄

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I like the penguins. They’re basically just modern Looney Tunes. This has a rough ending but overall really hits the mark.

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Jamie Lee Curtis and Dewey from Malcolm in the Middle are pretty much the only good things about this movie.

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Would love to travel back in time to watch this in a packed theater.

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Light 4 / heavy 3.5 maybe. 🤷‍♂️ Fun and well directed! Always appreciate superhero fight scenes that are actually thought out.

There’s a particular shot in this of Harriet Sansom Harris towards the beginning that’s just immaculately lit. Combined with the grainy b&w effect, it just nails the look. I just wish it continued that look throughout. This is an homage to classic horror, but it only really emulates classic horror in very specific moments (the dolly in on Laura Donnelly being another). It really does skew more Marvel than Universal in its DNA.

But it’s still fun! A nice short lil spooky story. Also love love love the trope of the good guy being pals with a misunderstood monster. Just always hits right. 😌

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Horrific. Difficult to understand the target demographic here. If it’s young children, there are some questionable takeaways, such as letting the dogs devour an entire gingerbread house, roast turkey, and a plastic Santa’s face. Actually, come to think of it, it’s a perfect short to watch to dissuade your kids from getting a puppy. So it really does earn that half star. A Christmas miracle 🎄

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Wait… this movie can’t be over… there’s at least three minor characters that haven’t given an impassioned monologue about family and truth and love yet…

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Really surprised how much I enjoyed this. Although I wonder what it would’ve been like with two leads that were actually singers. Not that they didn’t do a good job... but it definitely brought it down a notch. Patrick Page steals the show with one (half of a) song.

Then again, you’d miss out on the really fun winking humor Ferrell and Reynolds bring to it. Sometimes I wonder if I’m getting fatigued by that style of tongue-firmly-buried-in-the-cheek humor. I mean, it’s pretty much Reynolds’ typecast at this point. But this felt fun to me, and genuine in a way that, say, Free Guy wasn’t.

I do want to say... there’s a certain plot point towards the end of Act Two that’s just... 👀. A bit roughly handled.

I’ve immediately forgotten all the music but I didn’t completely hate it in the moment! And I’m a real sucker for that final shot. 💕 Merry Christmas!

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“Nee-uhl!”
-Charlie

A classic for sure… but it’s kind of just holiday fried chicken. It’s tasty, but not as tasty as it is in your memory, leaves you a bit bloated, and gets a bit cold after an hour or so.

To extend the metaphor: the BBQ sauce with a kick is the hot elves with attitude.

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We need the MCU to go smaller(1). This feels like a story torn between two movies: one an emotional drama about losing a loved one and a leader that needs to deliver on a promise to provide solace and introspection to the audience, the other a blockbuster action flick that needs to deliver on a promise to provide spectacle to the audience. Ultimately it underdelivers in both camps. I feel as though Ryan Coogler wanted to make a more intimate Shuri-focused film, evidenced by several scenes that feel integral to her development as a character but maybe not relevant to the development of the primary storyline with Namor. There’s just too much going on that steals that focus away, with Ironheart and Julia-Louis Dreyfuss’s storylines in particular tugging away at the frayed edges. By the time the video-game-action-figure-green-screen-epic-battle rolls around, I knew it was time to finally take that pee break(2) because nothing would happen for the next ten minutes.

(1) Not like Quantumania.
(2) I do not recommend watching a movie about ocean people with liquid bombs and trickling, gurgling sfx when ya gotta go 😕

Absolutely zany, but like the best Aardman films, the zaniness manages to be tasteful. Some of the funniest gags in a Christmas movie for sure. And honestly a pretty touching moment at the end. It's a bit of an information overload at times with hyper visuals and quick-firing dialogue (a similar feeling I had watching The Mitchells vs. The Machines... am I just getting old?) but overall very sweet, very funny, and very much going to be a Christmas staple from here on out.