61 thoughts on “At The Movies: ‘Tis The Season”

  1. Silicon Valley Series Finale SelectShow
  2. The "Get With It" Marvel endeavor continues. Made some great headway with the fam over Thanksgiving break. I neglected my schoolwork and we made it through Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant Man, Captain America: Civil War, Spider-man: Homecoming, and Doctor Strange. Now just need to get through Ant-Man and the Wasp, Captain Marvel, Thor: Ragnarok (which is in part the movie I've been wanting to get to all along), and then whatever's after that, I guess...
    While wife and dancer kids were away, non-dancer daughter and I watched How To Train Your Dragon and How To Train Your Dragon 2, so that she can watch the third one sometime. As we were doing this, we wrapped our heads around all the fun movies that she hasn't seen, or did but doesn't remember because she's only 10. Kung Fu Pandas, Madagascar, probably Finding Nemo, all the Ice Ages, Ratatouille, etc, etc. Basically everything before 2014. So that's cool.
    Also saw Frozen II, which was fine. Wife loves Kristin Bell particularly. Feel like they were reeaally trying on the mainstream artist song crossovers (see: Lost In The Woods done as 80's rock ballad by Weezer). But all well and good and better than having to pay attention to the news.

    1. What Mags said. Taika Waititi is a wizard. Also, as I've said before, make Ragnarok and Infinity War a double feature since the former leads directly into the latter.

      1. Did anybody see Jojo Rabbit? I wanted to see it because it was made by they guy who made the movie I hadn't yet seen, but wanted to...

        Double feature suggestion will be strongly considered. Should it not be a triple-feature, what with the Endgame business?

        1. The Boy was decidedly unimpressed with JoJo Rabbit. Nazis are a hard sell as other than bad guys getting blowed up.

          1. And this is why I ended up going to Parasite instead. I’ll still check out Jojo but I know damn well I made the right decision.

          1. My edit opens with the mid-credit scene of Ragnarok, so its only technically longer than a double feature, if only by about 30 seconds

      2. If you guys like Taika Waititi, you REALLY should watch What We Do in the Shadows (the movie) -- he is an outstanding actor. The TV series is also good in its own way.

            1. It looks like it isn't prime anymore, but it would be 100% worth the rental. One of the funniest movies I've ever seen.

              Hunt for the Wilderpeople is fantastic as well.

    1. I just finished the first book in the series (Leviathan Wakes) and really enjoyed it. I'm excited to start the show.

      I probably won't read any more of the books, just because I don't have the time to sink into 8 more 600 page books.

    2. Whelp, there goes my weekend...

      I've read all the books, and they went in completely unexpected directions, in a good way.
      Very, very intrigued to see how they capture some of this story arc visually, but so far I've been very impressed by what they have done and how it matches up to the books. It's not perfect, but I feel the differences are mostly as director's choices and not because they are limited by "how the hell can we do this in special effects?", which is damn impressive.

      I might go back and rewatch the whole series again.

  3. Knives Out was a lot of fun. I already enjoy a good murder mystery, and when the cast looks like their having this much fun (and such a cast, too, my friend and I were laughing about the fact that basically the entire cast is made up of people we want to see in more movies), it makes it easier to get lost in the story that's being built. I'll happily watch this one again, even knowing the details.

    Frozen II is also quite good. Better than the first, I want to say. It's not afraid to get a little dark and deal in some very grown up emotions, but Newbish loved it, and now refuses to acknowledge that any music exists apart from the soundtrack.

    The wife and I have been watching Shameless over the past month, and we're finally hitting the part that everyone warned us about. Basically, the show has run out of plot points for over half its characters, and the whole thing has become a shambling mess. The first few seasons were pretty solid, though.

    We're going to the new Star Wars on Sunday.

      1. I'm not even sure where the tipping point was for me. We're still a full season and a half behind, so it's sort of concerning to me that it has the potential to get worse.

        At least I can't possibly hate Debbie's character more than I already do.......can I?

  4. I finished The Man in the High Castle this past week. Overall I'd give the series a solid B. Some good stuff, some missed opportunities. Its most compelling characters were murderous enforcers of the German and Japanese control over America. I thought the ending was good, a nice wrap up and everyone got what they ultimately deserved. I'd recommend it for an interesting concept although the first season is a little slow.

  5. RE: Frozen 2

    I have strong opinions on this, after being dragged to the theater. SelectShow
    1. More or less, yes SelectShow
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                1. oh man, phil's been going on about that for yeeeeaaars.

                  my main beef with frozen is

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                    1. If this movie happened in the real world, sure. But we don't know enough about the economics in this world to presume they're similar to ours. Perhaps the Trolls have gotten tired of foraging and are looking to move to a more commercial form of trade, thus offsetting the loss of Weaseltown.

                      Meanwhile my critique of information actually presented is called thin. There's no reason to give a work of fiction the benefit of the doubt when it lies to you. I would suggest that your objection to my critique is that it requires some level of self reflection ("was I duped?"). And now I'll refrain from making certain political comparisons.

                      (This whole LTE being an exercise in jokingly treating too seriously that which is acknowledged to be frivolous).

                    2. an exercise in jokingly treating too seriously...that which is frivolous ...

                      I wouldn’t want to have it any other way.

  6. Has anybody watched the two Netflix movies - Irish Man and Marriage Story?

    I split the Irish Man into half hour chunks. I'm 2.5 hours in. It's a little slow right now but it should be picking up soon.

    I wasn't a big fan of seeing DeNiro playing a 30-year old but otherwise it is good.

    Marriage Story was about Kylo Ren and Black Widow being married. Everlasting happiness ensues.

    I thought the divorce attorneys were the highlight.

    1. I liked The Irishman but it easily could've had 30-40 minutes lopped off. A couple of times I was thinking I was watching a scene from 20 minutes earlier.

  7. Runner daughter picked up Disney+ and we've been working through The Mandelorian. The western/sci-fi mix works really well, and it strikes a "Firefly with just a one (and a half) man crew" feel. I kinda like that

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      I like the low stakes and the "Have Gun Will Travel" feel to it. The non-serialization is a big part of its charm right now.

      1. I've been watching too but mostly due to inertia. Agree about the non-serialization part is nice. Was thinking more like the 70's show Kung Fu

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        1. It's not great television. What's refreshing is that it doesn't seem to be trying to be that. It's just telling a story set in that universe. I was worried that it would be some heavy handed thing, and instead, it's just a low stakes western that is a nice watch whenever I happen to remember to watch it.

          1. I think that's what I meant by inertia. It's not unpleasant or inane. It just is set in an interesting universe. Also the fact that each episode is about 35 minutes or so means its not a huge investment of time. I'll definitely watch to the end of this season for sure.

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        2. I like the Kung Fu comparison.

          I'm going to guess that the pilot and the season ender will be the only coherent story lines, and the rest will be standalone, although I wouldn't be surprised to find a two-parter here or there in the future.

          1. I haven't' seen it yet, but the penultimate episode dropped last night and apparently there is a cliffhanger heading into the last episode.

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  8. Star Wars IX: pretty good. I laughed a lot, though admittedly a couple of times at the movie (heavy layer of cheese in the last half hour). Safe, predictable, fun, very much like Episode III

    1. Saw Star Wars IX today. Didn't love it. Didn't hate it. I would say it was the best of the final trilogy. But then, VII was the laziest writing ever and VIII was full of plotholes. The latest trilogy is like most action or sci-fi moves these days: full of great action and special effects and fun to watch as long as you don't try to think too much about the plot or character development.

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