Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

OK, can we just pause and appreciate the fact that no matter what we think of this particular movie, that we live in a world where we can watch a film called Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Like, honestly, that’s just crazy. If you are a comic book fan, it’s something to be excited about, not because Ant-Man or the Wasp are the best characters ever, but because it means that really maybe any comic character you like could eventually become a movie. Maybe someday I’ll see a live-action feature film called Mister Miracle or The Sword of the Atom or The Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga.

Movies on a Plane: Goofy espionage, light filmmaking fantasy, arctic monsters, and romance everywhere

Hey, guess what? I went on an international flight for the first time in about three years. And that means it’s been the first time in a long time that I’ve watched a bunch of movies on a plane!

One Cut of the Dead

Man, how do you talk about this film?  One Cut of the Dead is a Japanese movie from 2017, which is basically about a film crew doing a zombie movie in an interesting location, who suddenly find themselves under attack from real zombies. An even bigger problem is that this seems to be how the film’s director wants it!

The movie was written and directed by Shin’ichirō Ueda, and was made for an incredibly low budget (around $25,000) and over time ended up making something like a thousand times its budget in revenue.

Spoilers ahead (Sort of, anyway)

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris

We don’t just go see superhero movies in this household, no we do not.

Lately, looking for something that my wife was likely to enjoy, or at least be interested in, off we went to the cinemas for the whimsical Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, which I recently discovered is actually the fourth cinematic adaptation of the 1958 novel by Paul Gallico (although that was called Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris).

Spoilers!

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Recently, the MCU expanded to reach it’s 30th film–Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Though this is the second Black Panther movie in the MCU, a lot has happened in the MCU since the character’s first feature-film starring role back in 2018–both fictionally and in real life. The lead character died for five years of fictional time (along with the half of the rest of the MCU), and then returned to life in time to help defeat the big bad of the day, Thanos. But then, tragically, starring actor Chadwick Boseman died of cancer at the young age of 43, something which took almost everyone outside of the man’s inner circle by surprise.

In response to this, Marvel and Ryan Coogler opted to continue with the Black Panther sequel without recasting the role of King T’Challa or relying on recent CGI technology to re-create the actor’s presence in the film. The result is a movie which deals head on with the emotions related to grief and death, and explores the impact of what it means to have lost a beloved brother, son and king. It’s in this emotional space that the film is the most successful, and we really get a story that is quite unique amongst all the others that the MCU has brought to the big screen, and that is genuinely worth telling.

Spoilers Ahead

Black Adam

Oh, I saw Black Adam, on opening night I think.

Spoilers ahead.

Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes

It was way back in 2006 that I was on an international flight heading toward the United States where I first came across a movie which quickly became one of my favorites–my absolute favorite Japanese slapstick time travel comedy, and one of the most talked about on this blog: Summer Time Machine Blues, directed by Katsuyuki Motohiro and written by Makoto Ueda (see here or here, for example).

Now, thanks to another blog I follow here, I’ve became aware of another project that is also written by Ueda, and is a clear winner for my second favorite Japanese time travel comedy–Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes. It doesn’t have quite the charm of the earlier project, but boy does it come close.

Spoilers ahead!

Batman and Robin (1949) – Old Superhero Movies & TV, but not necessarily the good stuff

I’ve been on a bit of an old superhero TV / movie binge lately. And in doing so, I’ve been a bit of a sucker for punishment. After writing about the 1943 serial Batman here, I pushed on and watched the sequel–Batman and Robin, a 15 episode serial from Columbia Pictures, released in 1949. The serial features Robert Lowery as Batman and Johnny Duncan as Robin.

Spoilers ahead!

Thor: Love and Thunder

In 2017, one of the freshest breaths of fresh air hit the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the form of Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok. It was a treat in terms of visuals, humor, character and story, and easily remains in my Top 5 MCU projects to this day. I know not everyone agrees, obviously, but I really liked it–I’ve loved Taika Waititi as a director for some time now, and this was another winner in my book. Now at the time, all-things Marvel were building to the big mega-event that is now known as Infinity War and Endgame. Now it’s been a couple of years, and the dust from that double-act has settled and reformed, and Marvel is working hard to establish a strong path forward.

Enter Thor: Love and Thunder.

Spoilers Ahead

Top Gun: Maverick

My latest foray into the world of real-life cinemas was Top Gun: Maverick–a movie which I have to admit was not really on my radar at all.