Forgot password?  |  Register  |    
User Name:     Password:    
Blog - General Entry   

Winter Movies


On 12/26/2017 at 09:20 AM by Cary Woodham

See More From This User »

Usually at the end of the summer, I’ll have watched enough movies to write a blog about them.  And sometimes, that happens in the winter, too.  This is one of those winters!  So here’s a blog about the movies I’ve seen in the past couple of months.  There might be some slight spoilers here and there.  Nothing too significant, but you’ve been warned anyway.

Thor: Ragnarok

Even though I don’t do much with comic books, there have been a few Thor movies already so I know enough about it.  Plus there was a movie back in the 80’s called Adventures in Babysitting, and there’s where I first heard about the Thor comic book character.  I like how this movie implements a bit of humor into it.  My favorite character was the Valkyrie lady.  I don’t really know why, though.  Maybe because she was kinda pretty and strong looking, I guess.  OK I’m going to end this review with one of my favorite dumb Thor jokes:  So one day, Thor leapt upon his mighty steed and bellowed out, “I’m Thor!”  And then his horse turned to him and said, “Well thit on the thaddle, thilly!”

Justice League

I don’t have a lot of expectations with comic book movies, so I enjoyed this one anyway.  Wonder Woman was still the best character in it, but all of them were fun.  One thing I did question was in one part of the movie, they were trying to guard these cube things from the bad guy (what is it with comic books and cubes?).  But when they went to go do something else, the bad guy just came in and swiped the cube!  I bet they felt pretty stupid not to put somebody on guard duty.  Granted, what they were doing was also pretty important, but still.  Also, in one of the post credit scenes, Superman and The Flash have a race.  But they don’t tell who won!  I think it would’ve been funny to have another post credit scene where they’re running, but then the Road Runner, Speedy Gonzales, and Sonic the Hedgehog run along beside them and pass them!  In the last post credit scene, Lex Luthor wants to have a league of his own.  What’s he going to call it?  The Injustice League?

Coco

This was Pixar’s latest, so of course I had to see it.  I was hoping they’d have a Pixar animated short before the feature like they always do, but instead they had a Frozen Christmas special.  I’d like Frozen a lot more if it were 2-D animated, then it would really feel like a classic Disney cartoon.  But all the kids in the audience were oo-ing and aahh-ing over it, so I guess that’s OK.  Coco actually ended up being a lot better than what I thought it would be.  From the previews, it looked like it would be a rehash of Ratatouille.  Just replace a rat following his dreams of cooking with a Mexican boy dreaming of becoming a musician.  But the movie is a lot more than that. I would say the Day of the Dead theme has been done to, well, death.  I know Coco has been in production for a long time, but even back then there were a lot of things about it.  Now there’s already been a Day of the Dead animated movie called The Book of Life (Coco is WAY better, though).  And heck, even video games have gotten into the act with Grim Fandango and even the Super Mario Odyssey desert Tostarena level has Day of the Dead themes in it.  The movie has some very sad scenes toward the end, but I kind of expected it would with the whole Day of the Dead theme.  When I go to see Pixar movies, I stay for the end credits to find a name of a friend that I know that works at Pixar (1up.com friends may know who I’m talking about).  But I couldn’t find him this time because the font they used was so hard to read (and maybe my eyes were a bit misty from the ending).  Coco may not be one of my favorite Pixar films, but it’s not one of my least favorite either.

The Star

This was another computer animated movie, but it was about the animals around the stables during the birth of Jesus and how they helped save the day.  The animation wasn’t super groundbreaking and looked like something you could see on television, but I’m a Christian so I enjoyed the Christmas story anyway.  There are so many Bible stories that would make great cartoons, but you don’t see too many of them made.  At least not very good ones.  The Star may have been very low budget and flopped in theaters, but I still enjoyed it just as much as the other movies on my list here and I’ll definitely get it on DVD.  Sometimes you don’t need stellar animation, spectacular effects, and an all-star cast to make an enjoyable movie anyway.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

I saw the new Star Wars movie with my family.  Here is my take on the new Star Wars. Spoiler free, of course. The movie was fun with lots of action. Some parts were hokey, but that's what Star Wars has always been. I liked that they put a bit of humor in places, too. It's a good thing I didn't see this movie as a kid, because all the new spaceships and critters would've made cool toys that I would've wanted like when I was little. And many of the scenes in the movie would make for a good LEGO Star Wars game, which I'm sure they're working on right now.  Also, Kylo Ren ate his spinach.

And that’s all for now!  Let me know what movies you’ve seen recently and ones you want to see that are coming up.  Me, I may go see the Early Man movie, since it’s done by Aardman, the Wallace and Gromit people.  And even though it’ll probably be really dumb, I’ll probably go see the new Rampage movie.  My brother and I have a history with that game.  Thanks for reading!  Later!  --Cary


 

Comments

Ranger1

12/26/2017 at 10:58 AM

I've only been to the movies a couple of times in the last year. Jason and I went to see both Thor and The Last Jedi. I liked both of them a lot, Jason had some issues with The Last Jedi. For her birthday, I took my mom to see a musical that had been filmed and then released for a one night only showing. It was George Takei's Allegiance. It was really good, it was actually the second time Ive seen it, Jason and I went last year.

Cary Woodham

12/26/2017 at 01:53 PM

That musical sounds like a Fathom Events thing.  I use Fathom Events to see classy stuff like Rifftrax. :)

Ranger1

12/26/2017 at 05:32 PM

It might be. I can't remember. All I know is we saw it at a local Regal Cinema.

Cary Woodham

12/27/2017 at 12:47 AM

Yeah, Fathom Events is just in regular theaters.  Of course, the theaters around where I live are Cinemark and AMC.

KnightDriver

12/26/2017 at 11:30 AM

I'm definitely seeing Early Man. I saw the trailer at the Star Wars movie. Also saw the Rampage trailer there. Weird that they're doing that one. I loved Rampage the game.

Some others I've got marked for 2018 I'm definitely seeing: Dog Island (Wes Anderson), Pacific Rim 2, and Ready Player One.

Cary Woodham

12/26/2017 at 01:54 PM

I forgot about Pacific Rim 2.  I'll have to see that one as well.  The first was a lot of fun.  The lady who does the voice of GlaDOS was in it.

KnightDriver

12/26/2017 at 11:02 PM

So much fun. I can't wait. CHARLIE DAY!

Cary Woodham

12/27/2017 at 12:48 AM

Charlie Day?  I guess I don't remember much about the first movie.  I remember it was like a live action anime movie.

KnightDriver

12/27/2017 at 08:13 AM

He's the crazy kaiju-loving scientist on the right in the picture. He has that strange high pitched voice too. He's just so perfect.

cd

Cary Woodham

12/27/2017 at 12:58 PM

Oh okay.  I know that guy, I just couldn't remember his name.  Actually I can't remember anyone's name in that movie.  There's the Main Guy, Dude with a Dog, Blue Hair Lady, etc.

KnightDriver

12/27/2017 at 10:59 PM

I mainly knew him because my friend, who I saw the movie with, was a huge Always Sunny in Philadephia fan. I had seen a few episodes of it and Charlie Day's character stood out to me. So it was a common thing between us, cheering on Charlie Day. 

Cary Woodham

12/28/2017 at 12:37 AM

I'm horrible with names.  Also I don't watch much TV.  At least not TV that normal people watch. :)

KnightDriver

12/28/2017 at 10:40 PM

I'm not watching any tv either. My friend though was a huge tv watcher and sometimes I'd see something with him. You have to drag me to those shows now. I'd rather be doing something interactive. 

Cary Woodham

12/29/2017 at 12:27 AM

Yeah people keep telling me, 'oh you should watch Stranger Things' and stuff like that.  With all the games I need to play, I don't have time for that.

KnightDriver

12/29/2017 at 10:47 PM

That's my experience exactly. 

Super Step Contributing Writer

12/26/2017 at 11:37 AM

I hadn't heard of Early Man. I am going to see Disaster Artist tomorrow and maybe Jumanji at some point, cause it's getting surprisingly good reviews for being a funny video game movie! Did not see that coming.

I saw pretty much everything you did except The Star, and I liked but didn't love all of those. Well ok, I still can't get past the way those Snyder DC movies are edited, so I didn't like Justice League all that much.

Last Jedi had some hokey stuff and some of the jokes fell flat, but it had really cool action scenes, which is honestly why I see Star Wars.

Thor I would say is the best of those, cause it had the best humor and some cool action set pieces. 

Coco got me misty-eyed as well.

Cary Woodham

12/26/2017 at 01:55 PM

Yeah I'm probably not going to see Jumanji.  The trailer didn't grab me.

Halochief90

12/26/2017 at 11:07 PM

I'm in agreement that with almost everyone else here that The Last Jedi was a good film. I haven't seen any other movies recently since Blade Runner 2049. All in all, it was a good year for blockbusters though. I will have to wait for the Oscars to see if other movies this year catch my interest.

Cary Woodham

12/27/2017 at 12:49 AM

I have poor taste in movies (I watch Mystery Science Theater 3000 after all), so most of the Oscar winners are movies I've never seen or have heard of.

Casey Curran Staff Writer

12/27/2017 at 12:46 PM

Thor was fun, reminded me a bit of Guardians of the Galaxy. Didn't see Justice League, but Lex has made an Injustice League before, along with the Legion of Doom so either of those could be his name. Coco was my favorite movie this year, maybe my favorite Pixar movie ever. It hit really close to home for me since my grandma is pretty much in the same state Mama Coco was.

Star Wars was my favorite since Empire. I understand completely why some people hate it, but I love that this one did something different, especially since what it did that was different was exactly what I wanted personally. 

Cary Woodham

12/27/2017 at 01:01 PM

Speaking of Lex Luthor, do you remember Superman Returns?  It came out in the early to mid 2000's or so?  Lex had a sidekick in that movie and she was hilarious!  If I were an evil villian, I would want her as my sidekick.  Although I'd probably be a horrible evil villian.

Casey Curran Staff Writer

12/27/2017 at 02:08 PM

Yeah, that one was okay. Kind of dull at parts. Think they made her up for the movie, don't remember her from any of the comics or cartoons.

Cary Woodham

12/28/2017 at 12:38 AM

Yeah I remember when the movie was dull.  When Superman was doing stuff, i would always wonder what Lex Luthor and his awesome sidekick were doing right then.  They were more interesting.

Log in to your PixlBit account in the bar above or join the site to leave a comment.