MOVIES Posts
The 2nd movie in The Hobbit trilogy, The Desolation of Smaug picks up where An Unexpected Journey leaves off. This one is more or less the group getting bailed out repeatedly by Bilbo until they finally make it to the Lonely Mountain. Even though I do think this is one of the better trilogies, as far as each movie being good, this one still ends on a cliff hanger. It's not quite as bad as the typical trilogy filler 2nd movie, but I feel like Bard should have got his big scene in this movie, instead of the next one. It is nice to pick up some new characters along the way and the changes of scenery in this one keep it from getting as boring as I felt The Two Towers felt in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. We see Sauron for the first time, but it's on one of Gandalf's side quests, which kind of feels forced, just a little, to have it in the movie. This movie is slightly shorter than the first movie and that helps a little. Overall, it's a must watch if you want to watch the trilogy ;)
Stargate (1994) is one of those movies that I just have to watch once in a while. Growing up in the 90's, it was something so new and different. I remember hoping they would make a new Stargate movie every year. This movie had a lot going for it. A new concept that could be expanded upon, great visual effects, a good story, good actors, it just had it all. On top of that, there was a big shift in franchises at the time. We had just had the last season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was building up, but didn't hit the same. The Star Trek movies were winding down. Star Wars was getting old and dated, with nothing new in sight. Stargate was a fresh idea and a new direction.
Stargate is about a team of soldiers (technically, airmen, because they were Air Force!), accompanied by a scientist, that travels through a stargate to another planet. The stargate was discovered in Egypt and people had spent their entire lives trying to unlock its secrets. A scientist is brought onto the team to help decipher the language and discovers it is a portal to another place. The team travels there and learns the secrets of Ra, ancient Egypt, and finds themselves facing a far more advanced foe, with only a primitive native people to aid them.
It's been years since I watched all of the Stargate franchise, but I think I'll revisit and write about them. Something funny...I actually had a flat top haircut, inspired by this movie and, when I look back, was probably one of the things that made me want to join the Air Force. I did join the Air Force, and served 20 years, but I never got to see a stargate :)
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) is the first of The Hobbit trilogy, which is a prequel to The Lord of the Rings (LofR) and based on the book titled The Hobbit (1937) by J.R.R Tolkien. The trilogy is about a group of dwarves, Bilbo Baggins, and Gandalf traveling to Erebor, or the Lonely Mountain, to recapture the home of the dwarves from Smaug, the dragon. This movie is the first leg of their journey and introduces several prominent characters from the LotR's. It mostly focuses on Bilbo's character development, from a home loving hobbit to a selfless adventurer. We learn how Bilbo comes to possess the One Ring and how darkness has already began descending upon middle earth. I feel like this trilogy is actually broken up properly, so all 3 movies are good on their own, unlike pretty much any other trilogy ever made. This movie is good enough to make you want to watch the 2nd one, but also good enough if you don't have time to watch a trilogy all at the same time. Overall, I'll watch it again I'm sure.
Springsteen - Deliver Me From Nowhere (2025) is a movie about a young Bruce Springsteen, creating his album Nebraska (1982) after his first widely successful album and tour. I recently watched this movie, it's on Disney+, so it's fresh on my mind. It's not what I was expecting, but I think a lot of people should watch a movie like this and take it to heart. Just because someone is successful, doesn't mean they have everything figured out. It normally just means they figured one thing out, really well. Nebraska was Springsteen's way of figuring himself out. Everyone around him questioned what he was doing, but he had to take a journey from where he came from, to where he was, or he wasn't going anywhere. That's how he felt about it.
Nebraska was the first DIY album, recorded in Springsteen's home on a tape recording system. It went platinum. The movie is really good, but it's not like most movies about artists. Springsteen also isn't like most artists. He doesn't see himself as larger than life. He's never been checked into rehab, but he's had a therapist most of his life. The movie does a good job of portraying this darker side of the man known for electric performances. Most people can probably relate and if not, it wouldn't hurt to see that you never know what someone else is going through. To me, Nebraska just shows that you can't always give people what they want, sometimes you just have to do something for yourself. Sometimes you just have to deliver yourself from nowhere, to get where you are going.
A Complete Unknown (2024) is a movie about the life of a young Bob Dylan, played by Timothee Chalamet. It begins just before Dylan rises to stardom and his transition from folk singer to rock & roll. Chalamet is a good actor anyway, but he transforms into Dylan nicely. I've always been a Dylan fan, so I was skeptical, but I have a hard time thinking of anyone who could have played him better. Overall, this was a good movie, maybe not great, but a good biographical. I'd watch it again, it just wouldn't be my first choice when picking between movies about famous singer/song writers, but it would be in contention.
Brightburn (2019) is a Sci-Fi / Horror movie set in Brightburn, Kansas. The story is about a couple, who struggled to have children, then finds a baby after a spacecraft crashes. Being in the horror genre, you can probably imagine this is pretty much an inverse of Super Man. Elizabeth Banks (the mother) and Jackson A. Dunn (the boy) are great casting, but the casting overall is probably above average and isn't held back by the acting so much as the story. Unfortunately, the story develops slowly and becomes increasingly predictable as it goes on. The writers likely thought they had a sequel to build upon with, but instead we are just stuck with what should have been a small piece of a story covering many more years with an actual conclusion. It's not the worst Sci-Fi / Horror movie I've ever seen, but not one I'm really looking forward to watching again (unless it's the sequel).
I watched The Bad Batch (2016) on Netflix, just on a whim. It has a good cast: Keanu Reeves, Jason Momoa, Jim Carrey, Suki Waterhouse. The setting is a Texas wasteland, where outcasts are thrown out of society. Unfortunately, the story was, more or less, also a wasteland. It's more of a shocker than a horror and would have probably been unwatchable with a lesser cast. It's not something I'd likely watch again, but it wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen. Visually, it has some cult classic opportunities, it just doesn't deliver in any other way.
Darkest Hour is a movie set at the onset of World War II. The story follows Winston Churchill, played by Gary Oldman, as he is thrust into power as Prime Minister of Great Britain. I really enjoyed this one, being a history buff, and a lover of old war stories. The movie does a good job of demonstrating the turmoil within Britain and the world around it, as Churchill has to prepare his nation for a war, while it's leaders are in denial. Gary Oldman is one of my favorite actors and he transforms into Churchill like I never thought possible. I appreciated how the movie showed the many sides of Churchill and how an unlikely, even inconvenient, leader can sometimes rise to be the leader you need in that moment, against all odds. It's a movie I could watch again, I've seen it twice now.