Divergent

The Plot: Sometime in the future, humanity decides that the world will be a better place if there are only five types of people in it:

• cerebral, brainy types
• flower-power hippie gardeners
• out of control, extreme sport loving hooligans…with guns
• self-denying do-gooders

and

• people who think it’s their job to say whatever they want to people, no matter how annoying.

Amazing Spider-Man 2: Rise of Electro

I finally saw Amazing Spider-Man 2!  (Thanks to all that recent air travel that I’ve done).

I wish I could say it was a great movie, but I can’t.

Of course, I almost always wish the movie I am watching is great (I mean, who wants to see a bad movie?), but in this case, it’s a particular shame because parts of the movie were great.

Not just good…they were great.  They were outstanding!

Edge of Tomorrow

How weird is it that the last post I put up was about the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, Cause and Effect, and that this one is about the recent movie, Edge of Tomorrow?  Not planned at all.  In fact, until this morning, I didn’t even think I was going to the movies at all today.  Bizarre coincidence.  Or statistical node, I guess.

Real Steel

When I was watching the original advanced press for Real Steel in 2011, it was impossible not to think thoughts like, “This has got to be the worst movie ever made.”  Of course, this was before I’d seen either Battleship or Step Up Revolution, and found out what a bad movie really was.  Still, one does not go into a feel-good movie about robots boxing without a certain amount of disdain.  As the film got closer, though, I began to get that sinking feeling you get when you realize that something you’ve been very publicly dismissive of might turn out to be not that bad after all.

Yamato!

Space Battleship Yamato is a popular Japanese franchise that has had as about a complex history / continuity as one could imagine.  First an animated TV series, followed by an animated TV movie which killed off just about the entire cast, followed by a remake of that movie in animated series form minus the killing off of everyone, followed by various other TV movies, TV series, theatrically released re-edits of episodes, a live action science fiction spectacular which adapted the original series and included elements of the second one, and now a new animated series (which again retells the original story).   All that is not to mention the English-language dub / re-edit of the series which played in America when I was a kid under the name Star Blazers.

“Waaallleeee!” (said in a high pitched, funny voice)

“Eeeeeva?” (said in a different high pitched funny voice)

And repeat.

Looper

I’ve found “Looper” a challenging film to write about.  The log-line looks exactly like something I’d really get into with it’s high concept time travel (criminals from the future send people they want to be killed into the past to be gunned down by “loopers” – hit men who then dispose of the body where future technology cannot find it.  One day looper Joe Simmons recognizes his latest victim as…himself.  What will he/they do?)  Unfortunately, the actual viewing proved less satisfying. 

Romulus, My Father

We checked out Romulus, My Father the other night.  When we first turned it on, we were a bit hesitant. I remember hearing from my brother that he hated the movie, and also from him that my mother thought it was beautiful. My wife was confused at first because she assumed the movie was taking place in ancient Rome.  Turns out instead it all takes place in country Australia, and deals with European immigrants in the 1960’s.