Tag: mildly recommended

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Blink Twice

Blink Twice

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One theory about crime that I’ve latched onto is how criminal activity is driven by the need to feel in control.  Generally speaking, criminals want to control the things they lack.  For example, a wealthy person controls money.  When a person of limited means steals it, they obtain control over the other person’s money.  (I’m grossly oversimplifying “Control Balance theory”, by the way.  Search on it if you’d like to know more.)  Similarly, a person can effectively control another person through a variety of criminal behaviors, principle among them being physical assault and murder.  The latter examples came to mind while I watched Blink Twice, where the desire to control another person, both mentally and physically, explains what we see, if only superficially.

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Despicable Me 4 Mega Minions

Despicable Me 4

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Has Gru always been a government agent?  I still haven’t seen Despicable Me 1, 2 or 3, so I’m at a disadvantage when it comes to grasping the nuances of this franchise.  I did see Minions: The Rise of Gru, where a grade school-aged Gru helped the Anti Villain League (or AVL) capture bad guys of his own free will.  Given how Despicable Me 4 shows that Gru is still in kahoots with “the man”, describing him as “despicable” is such a misnomer.  He may be irritable and occasionally get into mischief, but his heart is in the right place.  With that in mind, perhaps the time has come to give these movies a more appropriate name, like Disagreeable Me?  Or Dyspeptic Me?  Cranky but Admirable Me?  If anyone at Illumination Studios is reading this, I offer up these suggestions free of charge.  Consider it a public service.

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Twisters

Twisters

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Twisters fits in the same category as Sony’s recent Jumanji movies in that it’s not a remake or reboot of the original, but is clearly inspired by it.  Aside from the title, it has few things in common with the first movie.  Like Bill Paxton’s character in Twister, Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones is a “human barometer”, able to read the weather without the help of instrumentation.  Then there is Dorthy, a suped-up trash can filled with little scientific devices intended to be sucked up into a tornado.  And it goes without saying that the movie has a number of tornadoes and related hijinks.  Otherwise, this entry in the “Twister Universe” is very much its own thing.  So why did the filmmakers decide to call it Twisters?  Studios have had a tough time lately convincing audiences to see original movies, so a touch of nostalgia goes a long way towards increasing awareness.  But another way, if the movie had been named Tornado Alley or The Tornado Wranglers I doubt it would have generated the same level of interest that it has.

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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (or Furiosa for short), is the story of how Furiosa became the fearless driving badass that was introduced in Mad Max: Fury Road nine years ago.  In that movie, she (as portrayed by Charlize Theron) was referred to as Imperator Furiosa and was presented to us in her fully-realized form without a hint of backstory.  With her shaven head, grease-painted face and steampunk mechanical arm, she fearlessly drove across the post-apocalyptic wasteland for her boss, Immortan Joe.  Furiosa’s cool head and savvy driving skills made her highly respected within Joe’s autocratic society, which is great when the rest of the world only wants to kill and eat you.  For reasons she kept to herself, she grew tired of working for The Man and decided to drive off the Australian reservation, as it were, liberating herself and Joe’s wives in the process.  After encountering some speed bumps, she rescues Max and together they overthrow Joe’s noxious patriarchy.  In the end, Furiosa became the Citadel’s new, benevolent leader, while Max fades away.

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The Garfield Movie

The Garfield Movie

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A couple of thoughts crossed my mind while watching The Garfield Movie.  The first one was whether any of the small children in the audience knew who Garfield was before seeing this movie.  I became familiar with the character through the comics section of the Sunday newspaper.  Do ten year-olds today know what a comic strip is, let alone a Sunday newspaper?  I doubt that they do.  Social media, specifically TikTok, appears to be the preferred choice for short-form comedy bits these days.  Why would a child ever read a static, three-panel comic strip for a laugh when they can watch countless live-action videos instead?

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Tarot

Tarot

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Don’t break the rules.  If you do, there will be consequences.  Horrific consequences.  This simple premise is often used by horror movies because it’s so easy to grasp.  Bad judgment is quickly rewarded with a gruesome outcome.  It also builds anticipation in the audience from the get-go.  Those horny kids who engage in premarital sex?  A maniac will kill them for their immoral behavior.  You played with a Ouija board?  Sorry, it wasn’t just a game and an actual demon has plans for you now.  You cheated death?  Death isn’t happy and will be working overtime to correct things.  You played truth or dare with a stranger?  Tough break because playing games with strangers is just wrong, wrong, wrong.

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Kung Fu Panda 4

Kung Fu Panda 4

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In Kung Fu Panda 4, Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) tells Po (Jack Black) that he must relinquish the title of Dragon Warrior and find a replacement so that he can become the Spiritual Leader of the Valley.  (You may recall that in the first movie, Master Oogway held that position and passed away after choosing Po as the Dragon Warrior.)  While Shifu insists Po needs to accept his new role in order to continue growing, Po actively resists the change.  Like anyone who has spent a long time doing things himself, he is uncomfortable with being promoted to “management”.  He loves fighting injustice and hanging with the Furious Five and doesn’t want to give either of them up for a role that he doesn’t understand.  (To its credit, the movie does a decent job explaining just what a manager–or Spiritual Leader–actually does.)

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The Boys in the Boat

The Boys in the Boat

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The Boys in the Boat tells the story of the eight-man junior varsity rowing crew from the University of Washington who, against all odds, made it all the way to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.  As you may recall, this was the same Olympics where Jesse Owens won four gold medals and single-handedly dealt a crushing blow to the Nazi belief in Aryan supremacy.  I wasn’t aware that the American rowing crew also took home the gold at that same event, but since the movie establishes that it’s an inspirational sports movie from the outset, I was certain that they would triumph in the end.  The only questions remaining were who these boys are and how they would get to that point.

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The Marsh King's Daughter

The Marsh King’s Daughter

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There’s a key moment in The Marsh King’s Daughter, when Jacob (Ben Mendelssohn) hands his daughter Helena (Brooklynn Prince) a rifle and tells her to shoot a female wolf.  She takes aim but hesitates because a wolf cub is pawing at the ground.  Both wolves are starving, Jacob explains.  Helena lowers the rifle and asks, “What will become of the cub?”  Jacob says that the cub will starve and die, and tells her again to shoot the wolf.  Helena lowers the rifle once more, and the wolf edges closer.  Jacob grabs the rifle and shoots the wolf and its cub.  “You must always protect your family,” he tells her.  The next morning Helena scratches that message on a piece of wood that we later learn is a punishment pit.  Jacob has thrown her down there so that she will not make that mistake of choosing anything over the family ever again.  What Helena doesn’t know is that her “family” is built upon a monstrous lie, one that her father has spun to rationalize how he treats them.

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