Shush! Part One!

John Krasinski was less involved in this, and it kinda shows. But I will give away straight up: the cat survives.

Samira is just trying to survive (I think she has cancer? The movie probably makes this clear, but I didn't pick up on it) although she hasn't got many days left. When aliens arrive she decides to go get pizza, and ain't nothing going to stop her.

This movie... could have been anything really. Some disaster happens, and Samira has to survive the new situation. But it could have been any disaster, random aliens, zombies, whatever the infected from Omega Man were, whatever, and this would have been exactly the same. Even though the schtick of these creatures are they hear everything, that same thing has been done with zombies more than once.

Which isn't to say the core is a bad story. Lupita Nyong'o does a great job as Samira, Joseph Quinn does all right as Eric, but there's nothing here to stand out because the whole story isn't standing out.

There can be a billion of these, but I damn well hope the next one has an actual relevant point!

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!Mac!Gruber!

Another Lonely Island related movie! Wow, these are stacking up! Although this isn't featuring the LI crew as much.

Small confession: I did think this was a made up movie that other people referred to in order to refer to a movie that wouldn't get them in trouble for mentioning. So I was more than a little surprised to actually watch it.

This is very much 80s style "retired action hero is brough back for another mission" and this just leans heavily into that, not trying to be anything else. However... the big problem here is the comedy. The comedy is very much "hey, wouldn't it be weird if he did this? Action heroes don't do that!" and that's about the extent of it. It may have more than one note, but it repeats those notes over and over again.

The lead is Will Forte and ... he is the lead of this movie. I know nothing about him. I barely know more about the other male lead Ryan Phillipe. But hey, I did know Kristen Wiig. And we also get Val Kilmer and Powers Boothe! The action is a lot more than the previous movie, with a lot of explosions and guns and other action, and even celery. But it's all in service of the comedy.

Shame that this is real, really.

Hear the Lonely Island (and Seth Meyers) talk about it here.

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Hottie Roddie

The Lonely Island has a podcast, and during the episodes they talk about the movie they did. Hot Rod. Wait, they did a movie?

Rod has extreme father issues, and deals with it by trying to become a stunt man like his father was. Only, he's just a kid, really, in a small town, so he is barely able to ride into a pool, no chance of over it. But his step-father has a heart problem, so he has to stunt harder than ever to raise money to cure him... so he can kick his step-father's ass!

When your step-father is played by Ian McShane, yeah, he's a hard case that could kick your arse any time. So there are some big names here...

But really, this is the Saturday Night Live cast playing almost every major role. Aside from Andy Sandberg in the main role, with Jorma Taccone as his brother, we have Danny McBride, Bill Hader, Will Arnett, Chris Parnell, and no doubt many others I don't know. At least Isla Fisher is new as the love interest.

While it is a small town movie, it is still a human interest story. Rod is relatable as a stupid kid that is trying to do something in the world, and having a step-father not being evil is a step up in the movie world.

The production is light weight, but then this was put together quite quickly and done very much on the cheap and in between seasons. Still, well done!

You can hear the Lonely Island (with Seth Meyers) talk about it here. Part 1 and Part 2.

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See these Eggs NOW!!!

See something about this?

These are all "easter eggs" videos. Understandable because it's current, so got to get those clicks. (Note: I haven't clicked.)

But... these came out right after the movie launched... so how did they have the time to find and detail all those easter eggs? Sit through several screenings straight away?

And if they have images (I haven't checked, because, as I said, I haven't watched), where did they get images from? Camera pointed at the screen? Some have done that (I saw an "Ending explained!" video). That feels... wrong. Or they got a hold of the actual film file somehow, which is... how? One big channel might, but not all of these.

This is a need for clicks, but I disbelieve all this was done above board. But... they need the clicks!

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Deaderine & Wolvpool

Not the first available screening, but the second day, still, got there.

I went into this without having seen the final trailer that apparently gave away a lot of the stakes, and also deliberately skipped reviews, and I think I am the better for it. Yes, we can have the whole "spoilers don't matter" discussion, but sod it, I went in unknowning, so I'm not going to explain it to you.

This is a fine outing for Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman. Have to say that Hugh does get some more emotional scenes than Ryan does, so be ready for those. There are some amazing camoes I knew nothing about, so I won't say anything other than "damn, they look fine!". Although they clearly wanted Richard E. Grant over Matthew Macfadyen.

And yes, a lot of humour, R-rated so. Indeed, Event Cinema kept saying "This is R16, so have photo id ready!" Didn't see anyone checking for id, but then I can't say I saw anyone suspiciously young. But yeah, lots of laughs to be had, as well as cheers.

Overall, the story is... well, meh, to be honest, but this isn't a movie you are going to for a deep plot. It is Deadpool after all. Definitely enough to keep going, but more something to string everything together.

If you can hold out for the D+ release, that's fine, this isn't something you need to see in the theatre... but this is something that people can give away a lot of the best reveals to.

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Apes of the Kingdom of the Planet

I eventually got around to seeing this... and I have questions... some of which are even answered!

Noa is good ape, he lives with his clan, he has father issues... then Proximus Caeser wipes out his clan and so he goes on a revenge streak. Which sort of happens. He teams up with the human of the movie, and together they deal with the second half of the movie together. (Hmm... two togethers... eh, I'm gonna leave it.)

I have to say, the human manages to have quite good clothing standards, even if clothes are still around that it dubious... but we do get an answer for that. And how she knows so much. And that that background will lead to another movie definitely where humans and apes clash again. So that will be coming.

More impressive, with less explanation, is that a wooden bridge is still standing. Do the apes maintain it? Do they understand bridge setups? 'Cos that bridge should not still be standing after "many generations". Yes, I actually thought about this during the movie.

But all that aside, I did wonder how this was an Apes movie at first. It could have been any story, and yes universal ideas, but this isn't any movie, this is in the Apes franchise! Fortunately, we get there and... I enjoyed it! Yes, even after all the complaining above, I did enjoy this. Well performed, well CGI'd, well done all around.

I don't miss seeing this in the theater, so check it out when you can, and no doubt in a few years we will get another one.

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Axle efF

As threatened, let's watch! No, I'm not going to do a full break down because this movie is not several decades old (yet).

This is following the previous movie, we have a Detriot thing, then out to Beverly Hills. Hey, they even reference the other movies! (I assume, still haven't seen them.) But this is very current day, Axel even has a daughter now! But as this is 2024, it's about dirty cops (and the main bad guy is IMMEDIATELY obvious - but everyone knows it).

The jokes... the jokes just don't work. They did back in '84, but now this is just a sad old man trying to be funny again, and it does not work. On the plus side, they got back a LOT of the actors from the first movie (even Bronson Pinchot!), and it's great to see them again, after having just seen them earlier in the week and 40 years ago! But they have aged a lot (haven't we all). I do welcome Joseph Gordon-Levitt to the cast.

This is better than the Indiana Jones disaster, but... not by much. I was hoping this was going to be a throwback to '80s style, but they updated it and... it doesn't cut any mustard.

Oh, and Theme count: 10. Although they did more different rearrangements than I spotted last time.

Dammit... I'm gonna go watch the intervening movies...

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