Movies – Full Listing

Doom: Annihilation

DOOM: ANNIHILATION Doom: Annihilation (a 2019 film) is the second Doom movie since the 1990s video game. History: The first Doom movie in 2005 was a money-losing $60 million blockbuster. The 2005 Doom movie starred The Rock, Karl Urban, and Rosamund Pike.  id Software, the developer of the Doom video game, supported the original Doom…

The Last Black Man in San Francisco

THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO The Last Black Man in San Francisco, a drama, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2019.  An ambitious film about a third-generation black man in San Francisco being dispossessed by the city due to gentrification.  Viewing this movie is more of a study of first-timers using…

Bad Times at the El Royale

BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE Bad Times at the El Royale is a horror/thriller, written and directed by Drew Goddard.  Drew wrote Cloverfield, and co-wrote an excellent movie with Joss Whedon, Cabin in the Woods; both are horror films. Bad Times at El Royale is the first film he both wrote and directed, which…

Shazam!

SHAZAM! Tired of watching Oscar-worthy 3 hour movies, so for the first movie of 2020, I watched Shazam! a light action comic book movie. Shazam! is the seventh film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU).  The preceding six DCEU films are: Man of Steel (2013) Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) Wonder Women (2017)…

The Irishman

THE IRISHMAN The Irishman is a very long film about crime, assassinations, and the Mafia. It stars the only Irish guy in the Mafia as the hitman Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro).  On his deathbed, the real Frank Sheeran told a reporter “stories” about his work for the Mafia in Philadelphia during the 1950s. Those…

Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood

ONCE UPON A TIME … IN HOLLYWOOD Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood is a fairy tale. More precisely, the movie is a “what if, fairy tale.” It makes you wonder how the world would differ if the movie’s ending was true. Plot Summary: Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) just wrapped up his 1950’s Western…

Blinded by the Light

BLINDED BY THE LIGHT I always enjoy a movie when the spoken words, or in this case, sung words, are occasionally written on the screen.  I believe it is called supertitles. Flashing the words on the screen allows the viewer to read the dialogue and better appreciate the imagery, meaning, or feeling.  At the same…

Marriage Story

MARRIAGE STORY Marriage Story is a flawlessly written and extraordinarily acted drama about two professional people getting divorced.  After the first ten minutes, you understand the people and the marriage.  Then, during the next two hours, you go through their divorce. Plot: Nicole Barber (Scarlett Johansson) gets a role in a TV show and wants…

Earthquake Bird

EARTHQUAKE BIRD Earthquake Bird is a psychological drama set in Tokyo 1989. Unfortunately, the most interesting part is hearing the birds chirp after an earthquake. Lucy Fly (Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina, The Danish Girl, Tomb Raider) is an American – fluent in Japanese – living and working in Tokyo.  During the open credits, the Police…

The Peanut Butter Falcon

THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON The Peanut Butter Falcon is an endearing, heartwarming road-trip comedy/drama movie set in the U.S. southeast. It introduces Zack Gottsagen, who plays Zak, the co-leading adult male who has Down Syndrome. Zak sets out on the road after escaping from the nursing home where the State placed him. “I am young,…

Ford v Ferrari

FORD v FERRARI In the race to the 2020 Oscar award season, Christian Bale may edge out Matt Damon in this semi-historical Ford v Ferrari car racing drama showing the years leading up to the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans (The Grand Prix). The Grand Prix auto race in France had always been won…

Yesterday

YESTERDAY Yesterday begins as the lights go out throughout the world.  When the lights come on virtually everyone on earth forgets the Beatles. Everyone except the lead in this romantic musical comedy. A world without the Beatles (and a few other things) would be an interesting movie. How is the world different, what type of…

Harriet

HARRIET Harriet Tubman before this movie. The updated view of Harriet Tubman. Harriet is a frank (good word), straightforward biopic movie, slightly entertaining but worth seeing mainly to view the historic update of Harriet Tubman.  Araminta “Minty” Ross (Cynthia Erivo) – is 27 years old and a slave on a Maryland plantation in 1849.  “Minty”…

Bolishopping

BOLISHOPPING I read in the newspaper on October 25, 2019 that Evo Morales declared himself President of Bolivia.  He declared victory even though there were voting irregularities and accusations of fraud. Protests began. Ethics were not practiced in the Bolivian election; good luck with ethics in the 2020 USA election. This got me thinking about…

Avengers: Endgame

AVENGERS: ENDGAME I squandered all my chances to see Avengers: Endgame when it was in the theaters.  But, I still felt obligated to watch this big screen epic film.  Avengers: Endgame is the massive conclusion to the Avengers: Infinity Wars, the war that was so devastating to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).  So, I watched…