Category: Reviews of Movies
Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi: Directed by Richard Marquand. With Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams. After a daring mission to rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt, the Rebels dispatch to Endor to destroy the second Death Star. Meanwhile, Luke struggles to help Darth Vader back from the dark side without falling into the Emperor’s trap. I had some horrible news tonight, so here’s the second movie that I watched to try to make it more better. It sorta helped. Buy On Amazon!
The Villain: Directed by Hal Needham. With Kirk Douglas, Ann-Margret, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Paul Lynde. Facing hanging, a bank robber makes a deal with the corrupt banker to avoid execution in exchange for a dirty assignment. It’s a stupid story with increasingly ridiculous and contrived plot points, but if you knew that it was a parody / love letter to the WB cartoons from the 1930 like I did, I bet you’d enjoy it much more than if you didn’t. The obvious name here to look for is Arnold’s, it’s only his 7th role and he’s obviously still getting his acting...
Aziz Ansari: Nightclub Comedian: Directed by Aziz Ansari. With Aziz Ansari, Phil Hanley. Comedian Aziz Ansari’s fourth comedy special. Turns out that Aziz is still funny, even in a last minute performance at the Comedy Cellar. Buy On Amazon!
Eternals: Directed by Chloé Zhao. With Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek. The saga of the Eternals, a race of immortal beings who lived on Earth and shaped its history and civilizations. I’m standing by my previous review of the film, it’s a mediocre MCU film, but an ok movie by itself. It would have served itself better by trimming about 45 minutes from the total run time, but alas, we got what we got. Buy On Amazon!
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: Directed by Nicholas Meyer. With William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan. With the assistance of the Enterprise crew, Admiral Kirk must stop an old nemesis, Khan Noonien Singh, from using the life-generating Genesis Device as the ultimate weapon. Previously owned this digitally, but now own it on disk! It was part of a set of the first 4 movies that I got for christmas, and it’s still a movie that I feel comfortable going back to time and time again. The soundtrack, the plot, the acting, it hits everything I need...
Hulk: Directed by Ang Lee. With Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott, Josh Lucas. Bruce Banner, a genetics researcher with a tragic past, suffers an accident that causes him to transform into a raging green monster when he gets angry. I forgot it opened with biological testing instead of radiation, but I do remember there being some weird stuff in the comics later in the 90s talking about how his father did all sorts of testing and it was only because of the genetic augmentations that permitted Bruce Banner to survive the gamma bomb. I need to point out that...
Fantastic Four: Directed by Tim Story. With Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis. A group of astronauts gain superpowers after a cosmic radiation exposure and must use them to oppose the plans of their enemy, Doctor Victor Von Doom. Chris Evan’s first marvel movie, but definitely not his last. This is a good film for when it was released, I’ll endlessly defend it and it’s sequels! Buy On Amazon!
Ice Age: Directed by Chris Wedge, Carlos Saldanha. With Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Goran Visnjic. The story revolves around sub-zero heroes: a woolly mammoth, a saber-toothed tiger, a sloth and a prehistoric combination of a squirrel and rat, known as Scrat. I know I watched this in 2021, I know I got it back when MoviesAnywhere was first launching, and I know that I fell asleep while watching because it was so …slow? or maybe I just wasn’t personally invested, I dunno. Buy On Amazon!
Happy Feet: Directed by George Miller, Warren Coleman, Judy Morris. With Carlos Alazraqui, Lombardo Boyar, Jeffrey Garcia, Johnny A. Sanchez. Into the world of the Emperor Penguins, who find their soul mates through song, a penguin is born who cannot sing. But he can tap dance something fierce! I had forgotten how completely amazing this film was. I’m pretty sure I got this for free back in 2018 when MoviesAnywhere had a one year anniversary, but I have no evidence of that in my inbox, they likely didn’t send a receipt. Regardless, here I am three years later, finally watching...
8-Bit Christmas: Directed by Michael Dowse. With Winslow Fegley, Neil Patrick Harris, Steve Zahn, June Diane Raphael. In 1980s Chicago, a 10-year-old sets out on a quest to get the Christmas gift of his generation: the latest and greatest video-game system. A movie about the crass commercialism, family obligations, video game systems and cabbage patch dolls. “8-Bit Christmas” feels like a modern mash up of ‘A Christmas Story’, ‘The Princess Bridge’, and a couple other sappy nostalgic films that you’ll surely recognize. There’s a bunch of personally familiar things here, like losing my sister in a mall, or losing my...
