To say I've been eagerly anticipating IT for a while now would be an understatement. Obsessing is a bit more accurate, I have been looking forward to this for a long time, like since the first trailer dropped, so the fact that my local theater had a Thursday showing was the most exciting thing that's happened to me all year. If I'm being honest I'm not a huge Stephen King fan, I've never found his writing to be scary enough for me - love the concepts and characters, not the execution (I can blow through 300-400 pages in a day when I enjoy the content, it took me two days to get through the first chapter of IT) but I can't deny his stuff makes for incredible cinema . But between the teaser images, the trailers, Bill Skarsgård just being who he is, and the raving reviews from friends and trusted sources I knew that this movie was going to be one helluva terror trip. So, I happily walked into the theater - all by myself like a big girl, in the dark - to go see the premier of IT and settled into my recliner for a good and hopefully scary time. It's been a long time since a movie has scared me, which kind of sucks since I love being scared and I love a good horror story. Needless to say I was uncomfortable, freaked out, and left before the credits ended cause I couldn't stomach the thought of being in the theater by myself in the dark. It was terrifying, and totally worth the wait.
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I don't normally talk a ton about anime much anymore. Which is sad, because anime was such an immensely defining thing for me in my early teens and really shaped a lot of who I am and the things I enjoy media-wise - back in the day anime was about rich-storytelling, beautiful scenery and animation, and characters you could fall in love with. I love anime, I adore it, I'm stoked for Outlaw Star to come back and I about died when I finally got my hands on a Cowboy Bebop box set with original Japanese audio. But that's the thing, I'm more of an old-school anime girl - the long gone days of Toonami - Yu Yu Hakusho, Kenshin, Ronin Warriors, Gundam Wing, and Outlaw Star is where my heart will always lie. I feel like most anime made after 2007 started feeling like copy + paste money machines and straight up fan-service, lacking heart and character development, the things that made OG anime iconic (I can't stand all this Attack on Titan, Dragon-maid, Boruto stuff, it's so boring and typical - the only newer anime I've enjoyed is Assassination Classroom). But even still, all that to say, my love for OG anime is so strong and so interwoven into the make-up of who I am I can't help but get a tad bit excited when I see stuff like *shudders* Netflix releasing the Death Note movie. Anime is why I began to draw and paint, why I took four years of Japanese in high-school and it's what started my love affair with Asian culture. So, naturally, the thought of a live-action Death Note movie was an appealing thing, even if it were going to be a massive, inevitable flop. So, against my better judgement and strong distaste for Netflix as a company and, against what the haters and easily offended fandom was saying I sat down to watch it, if only for Willem Dafoe as Ryuk cause that's awesome. I wanted to give it a fair chance, from the perspective of someone with a ton of respect and admiration for anime, just to see what happened when a big name company, a powerhouse cast, and an American mentality took hold of a legend. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 would be a fantastic film. With an all-star cast, a stellar sound-strack, and an out-of-this-world legacy to follow, Marvel was almost guaranteed to deliver a hysterical follow-up to the surprise 2014 fan-favorite. It had all the makings to be a true successor to the original. I mean, Stallone is in it for crying out loud and Marvel has proven itself with some incredible teasers and promotions leading up to the premier. I pre-ordered my ticket almost a month in advance, I was stoked. Heading into the movie tonight I expected three things; the humor was going to be on point, the story would be a satisfying journey to follow (no matter how ridiculous), and I was going to have a great time. What I didn't expect was the immense heart, strong character development, and over-all emotional roller coaster that had my eyes welling up in its final moments. Powerhouse performances from familiar faces and some very strong introductions from new additions threaded together a bright and colorful narrative about one simple thing (that ends up meaning so much more in its final hoorah) - family. It's a story about finding your place in the galaxy (pun intended) that showcases the mastery of Marvel's ability to take a well-written script and pair it with the right people (in regard to both cast and crew) and deliver on all fronts for fans of both the comics and the Cinematic Universe. And yeah, I cried. It was worth it. As a 90s kid born of a Trekkie and an obsessive Batman fan, it was inevitable that I would grow up to have a love of the galaxies and strong, aloof comic book heroes. Bedtime for me and my brother consisted of The Amazing Spider-Man, Batman: The Animated Series and most importantly, X-Men: The Animated Series. The iconic yellow-clad, gruff voiced Logan became my standard for what a superhero should be from a very young age. To this day he is still the standard. He will always hold my heart-strings tightly in his adamantium clad hands as my hero. So many memories of my childhood consist of being glued to the TV just waiting for X-Men to come on, and as I got older the film franchise (no matter what the haters and critics say) became a regular binge-session guilty pleasure - with the Wolverine spin-offs being my consistent favorites (also contrary to what people say). I love this franchise, it's the reason I have a white stripe in my hair and find comfort in the fact that I am considered weird and that it's okay to feel that way. Naturally, Logan was a big film on my must-see list this year, I had my ticket pre-ordered and I made sure I nabbed the earliest showing I could manage. Last night I settled in for the film, unprepared for (or just unwilling to accept) what was to come. Three hours later the screen went dark, no end credit scene, no jokes or gags, just the iconic "Logan" appearing and disappearing before me. I left the theater ugly crying and sitting in a crumpled heap in my car for fifteen minutes still reeling from the emotional impact this film had on me. As a Marvel fan and as a die-hard lover of all things Wolverine, I could not have been more pleased with how this character went out and after seventeen years of portrayals, this was one of the most powerful performances I've ever seen from Hugh Jackman.
I. Love. CinemasSins. It's one of the most original, downright hilarious, and honest channels on YouTube. It doesn't matter if you're a cinephile or just a casual viewer, it's easy to get wrapped up watching hours of their content. I can (and regularly do) binge watch CinemaSins videos for hours, it's become one of my favorite hobbies to unwind after a long day at work. I've seen them all, (yes all 382 Sins Videos as of this post), and it's near impossible for me to watch any film without calling out the various sins or yelling "roll credits" at the most inappropriate times. I love these guys, they're creative, funny, and just down-right cool people (plus I live next door to Nashville so I feel a special connection to these gents). It's some of the most consistently entertaining and high-quality content on YouTube right now. I have a regular binge-session every weekend. While in the middle of one of these binge-sessions a few weeks ago, I started thinking - what would it take to create a film that the boys at CS couldn't sin? So, I sat down, started the playlist of Sin videos (link up there in the green), and began to create a formula for an un-sinable movie. It took watching countless videos, numerous hours of research and formulating but I think I finally cracked the code. Behold, film junkies, the step-by-step process for a perfect, un-sinable movie.
But seriously, this move is awesome. It's almost impossible to deny that The Lego Movie was a stroke of animated genius; the casting, the humor, the animation, everything about it ensured the film would be an instant classic. And while Lego isn't a stranger to the Batman universe, with countless games, products, and DC Heroes Lego films galore, it was only a matter of time after the success of the 2014 animated hit that we would see Will Arnett don the plastic, pointy eared cowl once again. And man, it was worth the wait. This movie is just downright fun and has a heckuva lot of heart. A perfect balance of humor and serious moments give way for a climactic and entirely unique Batman experience. It's every 90s kid's Batman fan-fiction come true, it's incredibly meta in all the right ways, and Zach Galifianakis will be your new favorite Joker (one you never knew you needed). Sure, it has quirks that makes it more humorous than a typical Dark Knight film, but it's so satisfying. The Lego Batman Movie is the fan-service Batman film we've all been waiting for. Honestly, it could be THE Batman film we've been waiting for. If any part of you is remotely human and knows even the tiniest bit about film, you hear the word "Shyamalan" and you can expect a collective groan to fall over the room. Unless you're a fan of films where the plots make no sense, the characters are easy to hate and have no redeemable factors, and the bad guys are ominous oak trees or aliens that can be defeated with a spray bottle like a bad dog, then you probably shy away from anything to do with the infamous tag of MNS. It's embarrassing letting people know you've just watched a film by the notoriously failing M. Night Shyamalan, humanity has basically given up hope for anything positive to come from a project with his name slapped on it. We see them for the laugh factor after they've tanked at the box office and they're a dollar at the RedBox. He gets a lot of hate and it didn't seem like it was going to let up anytime soon. So, the fact I spent my ONE free Friday night in months going to the premier of Split (instead of seeing La La Land like a sane human) isn't something I had planned on doing. It was on a whim. But I was intrigued. There was an undeniable curiosity that welled up within me whenever I'd see the trailer. I couldn't decide if it was just the fact that it was weird, or if it was the fact there was a lot of James McAvoy's lovely face and sheer, raw talent, or what on earth it was about the teasers that really captivated me. But I was wholly intrigued. So, I decided to give the notoriously bad director one more shot. He deserves at least that much.
It seems as though every other post on Social Media nowadays involves bragging about how great kids had it in the 90s. Now, don’t get me wrong, the 90s were an amazing time to be alive, but I like to think the greatest thing 90s kids ever got to experience was the decade of Disney greatness. You know the one. Disney films were in their prime in the 1990s, introducing full original soundtracks, beautiful hand-drawn animation, and some of the most beloved stories ever told brought to spell-binding life on the big screen. All of them instant classics we still watch today. It brought us masterpieces like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and The Lion King, to only name a few, and it created a generation of wide-eyed dreamers and lovers of classic hand-drawn animation. It's an art form that has gone by the wayside. So many films, especially in animation, just seem to be built around pop-songs, toilet humor, and viral hype instead of the simplistic motives and intentional soundtracks many of us grew to love from classic Disney. So, naturally, when you combine the great minds behind some of these iconic films with the musical genius of Lin-Manuel Miranda and the powerhouse, iconic voice acting of Dwayne Johnson, you can almost guarantee an instant classic. Needless to say, I was instantly in love with the incredibly original and beautifully painted masterpiece of nostalgic Disney magic that is Moana. It strives to prove that you belong, you are significant, you are important, right where you are. |
AuthorJust your average geek chic gamer chick into all things ghostly and geeky (and vice versa) Archives
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