Ris of the Skiwalker

Yeah, the big Star Wars movie, of course we're all going to see it.

After a Fortnight event we didn't know we had to see, this movie opens with Palpatine back and everyone is up to speed on this as a thing. What? I mean, we knew because of the trailer, but the opening crawl refers to a message that was from that there event that a LOT of theatre goers wouldn't have seen, so would it have been impossible to repeat this? This came off as extreme 'tell don't show' that is not a good way to open the movie, considering how impactful Paply is going to be for this.

Anyway, after that we get some running around and a slow realisation that we are repeated Return of the Jedi. Of course we are, JJ redid the first movie, so why not do it again? Still, JJ does have to respect what happened in the Last Jedi... but damn if he doesn't screw the story around to get back to his Mystery Box ideas of who the characters were supposed to be.

Of course it is a damn shame that Carrie Fisher wasn't around for this movie, but Leia is still around... in some carefully neutral dialogue from cut scenes, body doubles, and her speeches being replaced by other characters. (At one point, I expected one character to go "I know what you would have said, that '', but ". We came close.)

Which isn't to say that I didn't like this movie or anything. There were clear points that took me out of the movie, and, to be honest some actions scenes I was like "do we really need this?", but ultimately... it's fine.

I don't have an indepth fandom with Star Wars, so I don't care about how films ruined my childhood, or that female leads are a thing, so this movie was never going to upset or make me ecstatic, but it was decent enough, and a few 'nice!' moments (which were punctuated by the people beside me hollering at any 'epic' moment).

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Frozone Again

Okay, the creator engagement works. Because creators I follow did videos on this movie, I went to see it.

Watch the backstory of the first few minutes of the time 'my dad (as a kid) went overseas', then make a list of all the obvious revelations you would expect to see having ever seen a movie... and yep, they all happen. There is nothing surprising in this movie. Things happened, and I went "I wonder if that character will interact with that later on" and yeah, I called it. I hope this is just to open up the lore so they can do better movies in the future, 'cos this wasn't anything amazing.

I'm not the first one to jump to the Monomyth, but dear gods, this movie really checks off the moments. Call to Adventure, check, Refusal of the Call, check. Threshold Guardians, check. Mentor and Helper, check. Abyss, check. Transformation, check. Gifts, check. I know a lot of movies fit this arc, but this movie even calls it out with Comedic Sidekick (check), and most of those moments are done in song!

Which isn't to say that I didn't enjoy this. I did. Just that this isn't a deep movie to get into. Hopefully, better to come.

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Knifes Out

Oh, a Rian Johnson movie? I'm in!

So, this is a whodunnit type mystery, so how much of the plot do I give away? The head of the family dies, and the rest of the family gathers around to pick over the corpse. Something suspicious seems to be happening, so we really start with the detective investigation and go from there. What is going on? What do you think is going on? What is actually going on?

Some parts I guessed, some parts I didn't. The story is a fun ride, but there were some points I was like "really? get on with it! this is just spinning out the story for the sake of... spinning out the story?" The ultimate answer was obscure enough that I didn't get there, but not so opaque that it doesn't come out of nowhere.

Good performances all around, although Daniel Craig's accent never fails to not stick out. Chris Evans should be in it more, but we have Jamie Lee Curis, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette and of course Christopher Plummer.

Worth seeing, if only because you can then join in on the conversations with others about this.

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The I Rishman

Martin Scorsese making a movie about mafia peoples? How original!

This one is based on an actual book (which I haven't read, nor know how true to life it is), and is about a henchman that rises high under the rule of Jimmy Hoffa. Yep, that Jimmy Hoffa. There are a lot of killings and family matters and... this really does feel like many of his other mafia movies. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but we now have another one.

And at three and a half hours, it definitely takes its time being one. I watched this on Netflix, and to honour Scorsese I watched it at double speed. (Yeah, I know Netflix doesn't inherently have that ability, but it's an HTML5 player, and that can be any speed!)

Isn't technology wonderful? Certainly Scorsese isn't that against it, because it enabled him to do de/up-aging of various actors to tell the story he wants to tell, even if he derides other movies for using that same technology for creating big block busters that fill up the cinemas so they don't show his movies.

Anyway, another Scorsese mafia flick. If you liked his other ones, you'll probably like this one. And, as it happens, I do want to go back and his other ones now anyway, so yay?

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