Masterminds [50 New-Old Movies for the 51st Year #19]

A couple of months ago, I turned 50 years old!  And to add to all the real life goals and challenges that that brings, I’ve created at least one as it relates to movies and this blog–watch a film I’ve never seen before which came out in each year of my life (thus the “Old-New” terminology), and then write a bit about it.  This is Post #19.  Spoilers ahead.  

Yesterday (All my troubles seemed so…well, you know)

Yesterday is an interesting little romantic fantasy written by Richard Curtis and directed by Danny Boyle, about a struggling musician Jack Malik (Himish Patel) suddenly becoming the only person on earth to remember the Beatles and their music.  This shift in the status quo is courtesy of some barely explained blah-di-blah-blah-fantasy-blackout-head-injury-thing, but it scarcely matters. The emphasis isn’t on the mechanics of it, but how Jack responds, and what it does to him and his relationships.

Mild spoilers ahead.

Movies on a Plane: Towering Inferno / Die Hard mash-up, funny spies, derivative dystopia, video game adaptation reboot prequel & some serious drama thrown in to boot

As promised last time, there was a flight back from New York to Perth, and thanks again to Qatar Airways top-notch in-flight entertainment system, I watched a whole lot of stuff.

My usual go-to viewing in situations like this is cheap entertaining fluff films that are engaging enough to hold my interest but not so taxing as to require any real focus.  As we’ll see, I stayed true to form for much of this trip, but not all of it…