Clay Pigeons

A request that was well worth watching.

This was weird. Not to say at all I didn't like it, I just knew nothing about it and was very pleasantly surprised. It's been a hot minute since I've seen a movie cement a tone so solidly and quickly in just the opening scene and it actually is a movie up my alley, weird and funny but dark. So our story goes that an average mechanic named Clay while out with his buddy, doing the most sensible thing imaginable, drinking beers and shooting shit when things go bonkers and his friend offs himself which starts a bad trend as several close people to Clay start dying and in the meantime he meets this delightfully bizzare guy named Lester who he forms an unsual friendship with. Things get so bad the FBI get called in and the stakes rise from there as Clay tries to prove he had nothing to do with the killings and find the real culprit. I probably had the dumbest smile on my face throughout this movie cause it's just such a weird, odd, off center movie but that's genuinely the strong point. Now the actors are pretty solid, Joaquin Phoenix class act as ever, Vince Vaughn who I'm not super keen on might have delivered my favorite performance of his career I mean this guy. Let me tell you about dis guy, he is un-f***ing-believable but he can come off very down to earth and likable. Last but not least we got Janeane Garoffalo, who is undoubtedly the straightfaced normal character but she might have made me laugh the most, she's just so not here to put up with people's bullshit, and shawty I love you for it. In terms of direction, it's not super striking or memorable albeit you get some quite lovely wide shots of the mountain ranges around the town, but neither is it at all bad. The director knows how to make the script leap off the page and delivers a memorable and severely off movie that is fun and very engaging to watch. And of course I gotta bring it up...because it's true, but guys the Hannibal vibes were off the charts here. Like, if you want a cliffnotes version of almost the whole show of Hannibal watch this movie. Possible gay bromance, murder, protagonist gets locked up but soon chases the villain, you got the FBI involved, there's a fair bit of will our hero run off with our villain or apprehend him for the authorities, I mean if Bryan Fuller didn't take some notes off this movie for his show I'll be damned surprised cause that is a coincidence unlike any I've encountered. Tangent over, go watch it. 3.5 stars, 7.5/10!

Top Gun Maverick

Well it had a reason to exist but did it succeed?

I'd say mostly, the story is fairly solid and answers my questions, turns out Maverick only lasted 2 months instructing and after a substantial amount of time is called in to teach a crew of pilots who are tasked with a highly lethal mission. It has your obligatory callbacks, the characters are mostly one dimensional albiet with decent casting who pull it off effortlessly, the action and cinematography of said action is still quite good...however. However it's hard to discern honestly what is real and what is effects, now on one hand that is some very strong compliments to the CG artists at work but at the same time it does take away from the spectacle of such fast flying, hard turning, and overall maneuverability of these pilots and these aircraft. This is so not a plot that delivers the who, when, how, and why when it comes to the mission briefing but honestly the first movie didn't much either. A good chunk of the movie deals with Maverick still getting over the death of Goose and is compounded when he has to instruct his son by the handle of Rooster, which delivers decent drama and strong performances from Cruise and Teller. Best scene in the movie, hands down no competition, we get Val. And motherf*** they got me, it was so damn wonderful seeing that handsome man again and when you see these two guys hug it out, I don't see Maverick and Iceman I see Tom and Val coming in hard for that long hug, they make it brief but with respect and love. Maybe a tear fell, maybe this movie tugged a heartstring, I don't care to admit it. It was goddamn lovely! The romance fell flat for me again though, again no dissing Jennifer Connelly but romance just ain't my thing. I have quality over quantity romance movies, thank you very much. But it was decent, the audience sure seemed to get their money's worth and to hear those jets fire up with a theater sound system was pretty rad, whether or not the wait was worth it must be determined by the fans. I give it 3 stars, 7/10, and I'm going to attempt to get some sleep before another day begins. No rest for the wicked.

Top Gun

I can see the appeal.

Top Gun is easily one of the most iconic movies of the 80s, and forty years later a sequel is incoming so I had to pop this cherry sooner or later, so let's talk about it. I did enjoy it, I felt it ultimately is a piece of escapist fluff but done quite well and if nothing else the soundtrack is awesome. So our story follows a fighter pilot Maverick as he is accepted into the elite air force combat program Top Gun, and more or less focuses on his training and the relationship he has with his instructor. Now this might devolve into mini-tangent after tangent so bear with me if I ramble. Now first and foremost, holy hot damn the footage they got of these jets. When the real special effects amount to maybe 10% of all the high flying action you see, I can't help but be impressed. They strapped a camera on jets flying God knows how high in the sky at very quick speeds, and there is no shakiness, there is no rumble, it's truly amazing the techniques they utilized to get such incredible shots. I will say nothing but good things about that, because they actually had to do it. You get so impressed by practical effects and I hope the sequel continues with such excellent production values. Though...I feel World War 3 could have happened oh so easily at the end, I mean we were still in the Cold War albeit closer to the end, but an american F-14 shot down 5 russian MIG's you think that would have some serious aftershocks in such a climate. But anyway, now onto cast. Again not a die hard Tom Cruise fan, I've really only scratched his filmography but he conveys the emotion necessary and fits that risk taking, gun-ho, chip on his shoulder guy who wants to be the best, and they take the time to show you why that is. It could have been ridiculously one note but has a small dash of personality to it. Of course we love Val on this show, it's great to see him and he does decent work here being a semi-rival for Maverick. Anthony Edwards made me crack up a lot, he was just so likable and down to earth as Goose and when things go south the movie succeeds in pulling emotion from the audience. Kelly McGillis even though she did fine work acting wise, I just wasn't party to the romance at all, it starts out of the blue and deepens super quick but I was severly not feeling the sparks. Which coincidentally leads to my next point, this movie's pretty gay bro. Now I don't mean that in any derogatory sense in the slightest, I kinda honestly loved it. I mean when one of the earlier lines in the movie is one guy saying "This gives me a hard on." to which the guy sitting next to him replies, "Don't tease me." you kinda need to step back and acknowledge it. A volleyball montage of just these big studly dudes sweating it up while Playing With The Boys is the song of choice, hmmmm....and I'll admit when Maverick and Iceman have their first standoff in the bar I did shout quite loudly, KISS! It's second place for most homoerotically charged movie, right below Nightmare On Elm Street 2 for me. And yeah, the quotes were pretty ridiculous in the best way possible, but I attribute that more to how famous they are if anything. I did hear that at the real Top Gun training facility they fine the pilots five bucks if they quote it, which got a pretty strong laugh out of me. The only one that made me groan and shake my head at how bad it was is the big romance line, "And I just don't want anyone to know that I've fallen for you." oh my sweet lord that was written in a script. But like I said the soundtrack is kick ass, Kenny Loggins, Berlin, the main theme by Harold Faltermeyer, Mighty Wings by Cheap Trick, it's a damn solid soundtrack. Buy that shit on cassette and turn it up! It is pretty interesting to hear that Maverick wants to instruct at Top Gun and is granted the position, so it makes me wonder how the hell does the second movie address it? It seems like he's just coming on board to be an instructor by the second movie, but I guess I'll learn tomorrow and get that review up for everybody. 3 stars, 7/10, and until next time.

Midway

I never thought I'd say this but, you did good Roland Emmerich.

I was extremely iffy about reviewing this but truth be told, all in all it was a very good movie. Detailing the events after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. navy counterattack against the japanese forces and decrypt their plan to use the Midway islands as a point of operations to send out more attacks on the west coast. Leading to a highly important battle in the pacific theater that led to U.S. forces making headway to the mainland of Japan. It tells the story concisely and even splits the attention on both american and japanese military operations, which you just truthfully don't see in many a war film. It's often just, urgh japs bad now america go forth and win, but they do take the time to tell history on both sides and don't paint the japanese navy in an unnecessarily antagonistic light. It sure as shit handled the attack on Pearl Harbor far better than a single frame of that f***ing useless hack Michael Bay could ever conjure in that movie. Don't even get me started. And while I admit the effects are not entirely great, they don't truthfully need to be, special effects are just a tool a means of telling a story so it can look like a PS3 game and it doesn't detract heavily. You get a grasp on the characters, the action is prominent and done well with the highlight for me being a brief dogfight up in the clouds. It was just done so dang good, keeping the tension high and delivered extremely well. The fact it sticks by all accounts of the actual soldiers who participated in these battles must be commended, with some slight liberties of course being taken for the sake of film so no foul there. You got a pretty solid cast that does deliver on all bases quite well, I mean Patrick Wilson is always a win, and Ed Skrien is a good lead that settles you in to an air force pilot's mindset during the early days of America stepping into the war. Etsushi Toyokawa has a lot of silent resilience playing Isoroku Yamamoto and I appreciate the fact they kept his quote "I fear all we have done is awaken a sleeping giant, and fill him with a terrible resolve" because he did feel it wasn't true combat, and they struck an unsuspecting enemy who wasn't to be trifled with. Plus it was just great seeing Jun Kunimura again, any actor who I get to see outside of a Godzilla movie is a treat. In the history I have had with Roland Emmerich, I have to say this is his best film. He handled the subject material with respect and it was pretty entertaining and informative. I give it 3 stars, 7.5/10, and I guess I'll finally watch Top Gun for the first time tomorrow.

In Retrospect: Licorice Pizza

Okay, I was on some mad drugs for not giving this an 10/10.

God dang, it's a good day and I just saw a wonderful wonderful movie again. I was waiting for this movie to hit video like you wouldn't believe and needless to say I fell in love all over again. The brief reputation this movie has on this show is remarkable in and of itself, making the #2 spot on my top 10 list of last year before I even got the damn review out, I still have no idea why I gave it a 9/10, and it easily goes up to the top in the romance genre for me. I'm just gonna say it, Cooper Hoffman is the best male lead in a romance movie I have ever seen in my life. This smooth motherf***er charmed the pants off of me within minutes of screentime, fricking Gary Valentine sweet lord that man isn't even human. If I had an ounce of his charisma and personality the world would be mine before the month is out, you want to talk about some alpha male goals? Motherf***ing Gary Valentine. And the strange part is I heard some people bad mouth Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman, saying they looked too plain or "unattractive", yeah because every movie has to have the most positively shocking gorgeous human specimens on the planet. I kinda though that was the point, it is just a strange little average romance with average people, but Alana is very beautiful and Cooper is just a dashing devil. I know without question this is not a movie for everyone, I can practically hear the naysayers off in the distance behind the hills saying nothing happens in this movie and it's all just odd for odd's sake. If you let yourself be swept away in this story, you can have a great time. I'm sure it can be looked at with a flowery critical and intellectual eye and still can have something to say, I may be treading over holy ground when I say this but it reminds me a bit of The Graduate and can be remembered just as strongly I feel. Big words I know, but I as always mean what I say. I got so super invested I thought near the end of the movie they were going to drop a safe on my head and end it really depressingly. If you've seen the movie you know of the character I speak of, and I was just like, you sons of bitches if you screw with me and take this away from me I will take a crowbar to this movie's head for 20 minutes straight. Which if anything goes to show how much I treasured the love story and these characters. It still continued to make me bust with laughter very often, partly because of the script and partly because of the performances. I nearly fell out of my chair laughing when Gary got slapped, it's just highly difficult not to enjoy yourself here. I could spend all night praising this movie but I think you get the point, it's a truly special and lovely film that no doubt will have my heart for a long time. 4 stars, 12/10! I regret nothing. See you next week for some high flying action.

In Retrospect: Ghostbusters Afterlife

I still have a fair bit to say.

First and foremost I did enjoy it more on the second watch and made my peace with some aspects. When I first saw it I felt it was mostly superflous to rely so much on the original Ghostbusters, with so much iconography incorporated into the plot. I still stand by that point and feel it was unnecessary to bring back Gozer, the terror dogs, Ivo Shandor, the Stay Puft marshmallow man, among other things because I was so invested and digging the original story. Oh sure, could I believe Gozer came back at some point to slug it out with the boys in grey? Absolutely, it wouldn't surprise me if during the comics run or in the animated show such a thing did happen, but it really is the crux of my albeit small problem with the movie. Just swap it out for an original villain and I would have next to zero to complain about. I loved the story of Phoebe Spengler learning about her grandpa's past and using her own smarts to carry on his legacy, while meeting these new characters and getting to see the old ones. McKenna Grace is nothing short of perfection in this, and adds one more example of future daughter goals for me, I just cherish her in this. Paul Rudd is such an affable great guy to hang out with, we go out for drinks twice a month he's wonderful, but anyway he's just fun to watch in this although he is 1000% to blame for the events that occured in the movie. Logan Kim, a wonderful addition to the cast and feels like a real kid in these situations. I do still feel Finn Wolfhard's brief portions of the plot were...yeah, pretty much useless and no slam against the actor of course but I hope should he come back for another film gets a lot more attention and stance in the story. Of course I hold no grudges seeing Bill, Dan, and Ernie again to the point where if I was being crystal clear, Ernie's line of "I should have called. I miss you my friend." and the after credits scene with him and Janine were kinda cutting near the heart man. Those bits were handled expertly. Now I must confess, I didn't actually like seeing Egon the first time I saw this. The beginning was fine, just seeing a silhouette or a hand, and it honestly took me an embarassingly long time to figure out he was leading Phoebe to all the important kit and the secret lab. But when he shows up at the end and you fully see him I felt that wasn't needed. That we didn't need a physical manifestation, I let out a heavy sigh when he was essentially a desk lamp, I don't know man I just wasn't for it. But then I saw other people's reviews and how much they loved seeing Egon in the movie, so it softened my opinion on it and I'm mostly okay with it now. I will also admit I had no idea that was Olivia Wilde as Gozer, that blew my mind when I found that out. PS. I would fully fund a short film where the mini-Stay Puft's wreak havoc and continue to be adorable even when they are brutally and graphically killed. It's a tiny bit of a love/hate relationship with this movie, I adore the original stuff and am screaming for more but all the call backs do bog it down just a little bit for me. But a good movie is a good movie, and I do still find it highly entertaining and a worthy succesor to Ghostbusters 2. I move it up to 4 stars, 8/10, and apologies in advance for only getting two reviews out this week and I suspect next week might be the same as well but I'll see what I can do.

The Second Coming

Jesus.

I mean no wonder Russell The Davies and big daddy Christopher collaborated on Doctor Who a few years later, when you have a script like this. I'm not even fully sure where to begin but I will say it is very good first and foremost. So the story concerns a completely average and unimportant human named Steve who imparts to the world that he is the son of God, and more or less we follow the aftershocks of such a revelation. I do thank the movie for getting to the point of the world accepting such a fact, no last 30 minute nonsense or any of that rubbish. It takes a realistic and strong stand on such an event and doesn't shy away from asking a hard question. Leave it to an atheist to write about a spiritual subject matter and it turning out quite well. Russell does admirable work with such a concept, and brings a distinctly human touch to Steve where he doesn't have all the answers and if anything is drip fed the holy plan because of his ultimately subpar human physiology. Now on one hand I can see people decrying that the movie doesn't amount to anything, it has buildup but zero payoff, there's some major handwaving away important aspects of this world. But I didn't see it like that, it's almost set up as a social what if and poses a challenge of faith in a unique way. Christopher, my man, I love you my man, I saw some unadulterated 9th Doctor moments in this performance but he sells everything flawlessly and sums up just how a normal guy would feel with the world almost literally on his shoulders. I promise not to go on Doctor Who tangents because it's actually ridiculously easy with this cast, we got Lesley Sharp, Mark Benton, Ace Bhatti who appeared if not on the show at least on one of the spinoffs. It's so fascinating to see that the working relationship between two very seperate projects could have so much connective tissue. And everybody does very strong work with great love going to Lesley Sharp and Peter Armitage who have the most drama to work with. The direction is really solid as well, effectively using hanheld techniques but can still frame a nice shot, while keeping the pace up for a little over 2 hour film. Props to them for touching on demons and hell, I mean you think that would be a no brainer but look at the last two pieces we checked out. No hell, no damnation, no dukes of hell, no possession, no Lucifer Morningstar. Can't have one without the other and the effect they use to show a demon is incredibly subtle but immensely eerie, bringing to mind the technique they used in Blade Runner for a replicant's eyes. And that ending, the balls on you Russell. I appreciated it, it's going for it's own thing and proposes a fascinating world, and even more so pushes a message that I strongly agree with. You get one shot, one life to live, you gonna complain about woulda' coulda' shoulda', or are you going to take steps to better the world and the people living on it anyway you can? It's a hidden gem that raises good conversation and delivers a pretty decent movie if you ask me. 3.5 stars, 8/10! Another week done, another week awaits. What will we talk about next?