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My grand-daughter has been taking me out to the movies. (She recently got her learner’s permit)

So I have some comment and reviews. Only minor spoilers. (I think) I will try to hide them.

I expect she will be taking me to see a few more before she gets her license, so I was going to call this thread "Uncle Klar's Recent Movies Comments & Reviews", but I thought that might dissuade others from commenting. If anyone else has any thoughts on the subject.

Mary Poppins:
It was fun. Fun, interesting take on the Mary Poppins character. Emily Blunt has had some interesting things to say about her interpretation of the character on the chat shows.

I read all the Mary Poppins books as a child. It is probably impossible to get that character on the screen. In the films, Mary makes all those magical things happen, as though she were some kind of sorceress or fairy. In the books, the magical universe just sort of follows her around. (e.g. on her birthday, the zoo animals celebrate by coming out of their cages, locking the human zoo staff in, and having a big party. For her.)

I also recently saw the stage musical Waitress, and I noted an interesting parallel.

Brief history: in old-school romantic comedies, the happily-ever-after ending was a marriage between the two leads. In both Mary Poppins and Waitress, the happily-ever-after is somebody gives the leads a massive pile of money.

In the real world, a great many people get married. A majority, even. Very, very few end up with someone giving them a massive pile of money.

Aquaman:
I find it very intriguing that the characteristics which in other media make Aquaman a mockery are exactly what make him a hero in this film.

(1) His {hideous} orange and green fish-scales-and-seaweed costume.

(2) He talks to fish.

Of course, the real reason he wins out in the end is because:



Into the Spider-Verse:
Very enjoyable film. The artwork is interesting, although sometimes {intentionally} glitchy, and hard to watch for an old man. Each of the various spiderfolk are rendered in their own style, which remains consistent for each of them throughout the film.

Interesting takes on the alternate-universe villains. I haven’t really been following modern-day Marvel, so I don’t know how original or derivative they are.

Loved Lily Tomlin as Aunt May. Who would have thought her career would follow the arc that it has, when we first saw her on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In back in 1969.

The one complaint I had about the film was that Peni Parker, the anime SP//dr-Girl from the Future, never really got a chance to shine. All the other spiderfolk had their bits in the ensemble. Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham, especially had several shining moments. Oddly enough, he fit right in to an pleasantly odd movie.

I really, really want to see Stan and Ollie, but it is in very, very limited release, and the nearest theatre now showing it is 60 miles of rough freeway travel away form here.

Thanks for the summaries Klar. I don't go to the cinema too often, so summaries like these show me what I might be missing.

O Ibis-Headed One:

I have not been out to see a movie myself for years, until just these past two months. I saw 'Infinity War' at home only very recently, (just before Christmas?) on this very desktop upon which I now type. Boy, I could talk about the Thanos-Problem and the Thor-Problem and the Scarlet Witch-Problem (the last two being actually the same problem), and the Why-Are-DC-Movies-So-Bad problem... but I think everyone else had these discussions a year ago.

Now I have an enthusiastic 'date' in my grand-daughter. She is very interested in getting me out of the house. I have to admit that watching movies on a big screen and with VVL surround-sound (Very Very Loud) makes a real difference.

Of course, it is also nice being seen in public in the presence of pretty young girls. It makes people say, "Are these your grand-daughters, Old Man?"

And I am teaching her to drive. In the sense that I get in, sit down, shut up and hold on.

How long before she's up for that 60-mile drive? That Stan & Ollie looks wonderful, but I won't see it in a theatre, even if it were to come to this backwater. It's that VVL surround-sound...and you can't pause the screen.

I've heard that it was good. Admittedly this is from the one person I know who's seen it and mentioned it. Stan and Ollie have a bit of history over here having toured in music halls.

So my granddaughter took me out again, this time to see [u]The Lego Movie-The Second Part[/i].

Just as colorfully random as the original, but somehow, it didn't all come together for me.

The thesis laid out at the beginning was "We are all trapped in a horrible dystopia".

By the end of the film, the message had changed to "We are all trapped in a horrible dystopia, but let's pretend we're not."

"Everything Is Awesome", the central anthem of the first Lego movie, is a much better song than "This Song Is Gonna Get Stuck Inside Your Head", the central anthem of this one.

Over the past week, my granddaughter treated me to (1) Captain Marvel (the Carol Danvers version) and (2) Stan & Ollie (Hurrah!)

CAPTAIN MARVEL review:

This is a perfectly serviceable super-hero movie that hits all the right buttons. As super-hero movies go, it is quite enjoyable. As literature, the script is not as outstanding as Ant-Man 2 (which was objectively a very, very good script.) Like most Marvel movies, it was unsurprising, except that

SPOILER ALERT #1


Incidentally, I have my own pet theory concerning one aspect of the film.


SPOILER ALERT #2


STAN AND OLLIE review:

Some fifteen years after their heyday, comedy legends Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy attempt to reboot their careers with a tour of Great Britain's music halls. They have not worked together in a decade, and there are, in fact, good reasons for they have not worked together which are explored in the film.

Stay for the credits, in which you see the real Laurel and Hardy in some of the settings-- and one of the comedy bits-- which are re-created in the film by actors John C. Reilly and Steve Coogan, who portray the duo. A daring choice, and a tribute to the quality of those performances.

Coogan and Reilly received Best Actor nominations (but no award, which I think is a shame) from the British Academy and the Golden Globes, respectively.

I will admit that Mrs. Laurel and Hardy's characters were not particularly well developed-- pretty one-dimensional. In fact, that is pretty true of everyone except the two central characters.

I enjoyed this film as much as I thought I would. My granddaughter was happy she had Kleenex in her purse.


TIM BURTON'S DUMBO TRAILER review:

We used to enjoy going to the zoo and the circus together. After our kids were born, they found trips to the zoo enjoyable, but the circus was unendurably dull. When our kids grew up and left home, we still enjoyed going to the zoo together, just the two of us. I have spent a lot of time watching animals. Also, my wife had substantial education in Environmental Science and Zoology. (But no degree.)

The upshot of this is, I perceive the Uncanny Valley in the faces of CGI animals, which, I assume, most people don't. (Evidence: the over-use of poor quality animal-CGI, and the virtual absence of attempts at convincing human CGI characters. (Rogue One is the exception, but even that was based on an existing individual)) Disney's new "live-action" Lion King is bad enough, but elephants do not have forward-facing, human-like eyes. This new Dumbo creeps me out. It's like putting sheep's eyes in a human face. I am probably going to skip this movie.

CGI animals creep me out as well. Fur (and feathers) doesn't seem to animate well, and they almost always look terrible. Even on shows where the CGI is otherwise impeccable, like Peter Jackson't Lord of the Rings / Hobbit movies, once the 'worgs' or giant eagles are on-screen, I'm taken right out of it because of how fake they look.

Scaly critters and giant bugs, at least, they seem to be able to handle.

It’s Summer, and I am still “teaching” my grand-daughter to drive by letting her take me to the movies. Over the past two weeks, she and I and her friends have seen six films.

Brief impressions follow

The Crimes of Grindelwald (Dollar Cinema)
I’m afraid I went in with high expectations. I enjoyed Fantastic Beasts, and hoped this one would be better, as J.K. developed her writing chops. It’s a mess. Multiple dangling plot lines, characters introduced who seem important, but then exit never to be seen again, character sacrificed on the altar of moving the plot forward, a host of unfired “Chekhov’s Guns’, and the question “What does Dumbledore see in the Mirror of Erised?” is answered by… something that already happened, and was over a long time ago. So Dumbledore has already achieved his heart’s desire? Nothing else to live for? So many problems.
If this is all going to be wrapped up and explained in the 3rd film, it’s going to be a long, long film.

The House With The Clock In Its Walls (Dollar Cinema)
Jack Black shows up with a thick Southern accent, which quickly fades away. Mr. Black has been shown to be quite a competent actor, as long as the director rides herd on him, and does not allow him to fall back on his default shtick. Unfortunately in this case…
IN A WORLD where magic has no rules, and literally anything is possible, there are really no stakes, and no consequences for anything. So just sit back and enjoy the special effects.
Recurring joke about the Giant Winged Lion not being litter-box trained. I am generally unamused by scatalogical humour, so this fell flat.
Worth exactly one dollar to see it.

Avengers Endgame
Yeah, I know, I am like the last person to see this.
This was an impossible movie to make. Nevertheless, good try. Delivers on giving each character a moment on the screen, lots of action, plenty to look at, several funny moments, e.g.
, good colour palette. Hits you over the head with the pathos, but subtlety has never really been the comic book industry’s forte. Several comedic moments, especially when well-laid plans gang aft agley. I enjoyed myself.
In almost any time-travel story, you lay down the rules, and then eventually break them. In this film at least it is not immediately noticeable… only when you suddenly jolt awake at 2am with a “Wait… what?”.
Oh, and the Spider-Man Far From Home Trailer at the end? That theme song by Paul Webster and Bob Harris is over FIFTY years old, and they’re still using it.

Aladdin 2019
Really much better than I thought it would be, although I am pretty sure Naomi Scott did not do her own singing in “Whole New World”, and whoever did was auto-tuned. And why does that girl look so much like a young Sarah Michelle Gellar?
Guy Ritchie seems uncomfortable directing a musical, and his segues seem heavy-handed-- or non-existent. Action is often “choreographed” to the music by speeding up or slowing down the film, sometimes quite noticeably. The movie might have been better done without the songs. Except…
Will Smith’s rap over the end credits is probably the best piece of music in the movie.

Men In Black 4
Due to poor reviews, I went in with low expectations. I was pleasantly surprised. Not really a great film, but B+ at least. Props for a male and female character working together without generating romantic interest. Props for allowing Chris Hemsworth to use a hammer as a weapon. Pawny was really a great character.
“I will kill him / her / them / myself as painfully as possible” is evidently popular with sentients throughout the Galaxy.

Toy Story Four
The return of Bo Peep! Tin Toy appearance! UP reference! Duke Caboom replaces Luxo Jr.!
Pixar continues to surprise, delight, and wink at the audience. On its face, another TS sequel seemed like a bad idea, but Pixar pulls it off in style.
Much laughter, and my grand-daughter and her friends were glad they brought Kleenex®. My eyes only water because of allergies. Really.
“You’ve got a kid?” frequently repeated by various characters. Pixar is making perfectly clear that they understand it’s not just Toys that children outgrow, but Parents.

Onward, the upcoming Pixar Troll Movie, seen in preview, also looks terrible, but Pixar has dedicated itself to getting the story right, and I expect they will pull it off again. And Toy Story 5 and 6 if it comes to that. I have yet to be disappointed by a Pixar film (and that includes The Good Dinosaur!) and some of their work is pure genius.

My grand-daughter was going to take us to see the live-on-stage, Broadway-Musical version of Big next week, but her mother somehow remembers the original film as soft-core pornographic, and will not allow her to go.

It must have been a very peculiar sight to see four beautiful nineteen-to-twenty-year-old girls accompanying a grizzled old man in a wheelchair into a movie theater, but my grand-daughter (with her friends) has revived an old pre-Covid tradition, and has taken me to see a movie.

Because she knows how much I enjoy super-heroes. And particularly the Justice Society.

So Black Adam is not as bad as I thought it was going to be. It was, in fact, pretty enjoyable. Although my grand-daughter’s reaction to the end-credit scene was “Him again? I am so tired of him. Can’t they use somebody else?”

This afternoon my beautiful, talented and intelligent grand-daughter took me to see Shazam 2: Fury Of The Gods even though it is already streaming on Amazon Prime
She fell asleep an hour into the movie reading her phone
There are several more DC setup scenes in this movie that will never ever pay off because James Gunn and Peter Safran
And one hit-you-over-the-head product placement

Thanks for the reviews Klar. They are always entertaining to read.