I don’t care, I’m seeing MORBIUS tomorrow anyway.

I know that the critics hate MORBIUS. I mean, really really hate it. But the audience is giving it a much better, and even decent score; and it’s doing all right in previews revenue. It has been a ridiculously long week, and I want to watch a popcorn movie. I don’t need it to be ARRIVAL, just something that will let me turn off my brain for a few hours.

#commissionearned

I was going to put up a trailer…

…but then I made the mistake of watching it. I do not understand why they make bad sequels to bad movies and then send those sequels directly to digital/DVD. I can understand making a bad sequel that you know will make lots of money. They gotta feed their families, you know? But if it’s crap that’s not even going to sell, why not make a sequel to ARRIVAL, instead? Or at least keep the damn team together.

Continue reading I was going to put up a trailer…

Hey, how was Hell or High Water, anyway?

I confess: I skipped it.  No spaceships, no ninja, no slo-mo techno combat scenes… you know the drill.  But Honest Trailers apparently loved Hell or High Water so much they’re practically ready to have its baby, so: worth it?  Keep in mind that I am a man of straightforward tastes in cinema, except when it’s something like Arrival because I’m not a complete Philistine…

Movie of the Week: Arrival.

I’d call this feature something else, except that I’m pretty much locked into it at this point. Anyway: Arrival is coming out on DVD in two weeks, and if you missed it the first time then you should correct that.  This is the kind of science fiction flick that will infuriate you about Hollywood, because they can clearly make movies like this, but won’t. And there’s no excuse. It was a hit. It racked up a bunch of Oscar nominations, including some of the ones that the studios most like to brag about. I am an unrepentant blow-em-up, popcorn-movie guy, and I raved about Arrival.  And now Hollywood will go back to making stupid (in both senses of the word) movies that nobody likes, because God forbid they should challenge their audi… sorry. I’ll stop ranting, now.

Arrival. Awesome flick. Go pre-order it.

And so, adieu to Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Continue reading Movie of the Week: Arrival.

My Quick ‘Arrival’ Review.

Short version: Arrival is smart, in the actually-smart sense of the term. Linguists are going to spontaneously orgasm over this film, if they haven’t already.  No spoilers here, and try to avoid looking them up.  Go see: they actually made a movie about learning a new language that’s in fact watchable.

Slightly longer review: Do you know what bugs me about Hollywood? It’s not the dumb movies. Many people like dumb movies, and they have every right to like dumb movies, and they think that some of the movies that I like are dumb too so who said I get to be the decider? And it’s not the shoddy movies, either. Not everybody has the same level of cinematic skill. Continue reading My Quick ‘Arrival’ Review.

Arrival: Go/No-Go?

I was kind of not going to go see it in theaters, and then people whose judgement I take seriously started raving about how awesome it was. Come, I will conceal nothing from you: I like to see my spaceships blowing up stuff, or else being blown up.  I have absolutely nothing against a film like Arrival, but something in this genre has got to be really good before I’ll watch it in theaters. Was it?