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The Woman King

What I liked: Remember how one of the best parts of Black Panther was the Dora Milaje? And definitely the best thing about Wonder Woman 1984 was the Amazons? This movie focuses on equally awesome women warriors with the added bonus that they actually existed. They are fierce. They are highly skilled. They are strategic and clever. I also liked the emphasis that they earned the respect they enjoyed. At least in the film they led as much with their sound judgement as their bravery and determination. There were many different political groups, ok like 4, and multiple characters with conflicting motivations. they did a good job of presenting the complexity and making it easy to follow. Viola Davis was great of course but I also really liked the actress who played Izogie, her expressions were excellent. I really liked the joy that came through in the dances and the sisterhood the women enjoyed with each other.  What I didn't: I didn't really understand why some of the subplots were ...

Chaos walking

What I liked: The constantly hearing everyone's thoughts thing was cool, and they used it well both to move the story and to make jokes. Space western is an underused genre, always good to have a new addition. Tom Holland, as always makes a pretty delightful dorky teenager. Also the orange overalls, way to subvert my expectations of space fashion. What I didn't: Cool title, but I don't understand what it means. What was even the point of the aliens? What happened to the aliens? Surely, in a massive planet colonization there is some form of judicial system that transcends settlements. It seems like that would have been a very good thing to make use of. It also seems like moving would have been a good idea, given that there were in fact many other available places to move. I refuse to believe that no one noticed a spaceship crashing. That would be really bright and really loud. Someone must have seen something. A third alternative I could suggest is that he could go with her,...

Where the Crawdads Sing

What I liked: I liked that for a feral child she was exceptionally well socialized and educated. Her art really was quite beautiful. I liked that they made it a mystery and a pretty good one. The people I went with were flabbergasted walking out of the theater. I liked the friendly couple in the store, their kindness and involvement made it much more believable that she was able to survive in the swamp/marsh all by herself. In most movies narration does not work it's just boring and a lazy, but efficient, way to tell us a lot of backstory very quickly. It worked ok here since she was talking with her lawyer.  What I didn't: Where were the crawdads? The titular character had exactly 0 screen time and was mentioned only once. What does a crawdad song sound like? Do they have like a little nightclub or something for Karaoke? The most important mystery of this movie went completely unaddressed. Much less important, in a town of 300 if the quarterback was cheating on his fiance with...

The Sea Beast

What I liked: This movie filled a hole I didn't know I had. Sort of a Jonah, how to train your dragon, Mobey Dick crossover sized hole. I want to live in a giant seashell house. I don't think the characters really thought through how great that future could have been because otherwise the movie world have ended there. I liked the crew of the inevitable. Just the right mix of swash buckling with eccentric pirate injuries. We had monster hunters, and monster vs monster fights, a sea witch, ship wrecks, giant storms and an evil conspiracy. What more could you hope for. The water animation was absolutely amazing and I really liked the forest? flock? float? of fluorescent jellyfish.  What I didn't: We need to discuss the security and the accountability of the orphanage. We spent a great deal of time on the kingdom's approach to endangered species, but of equally great, or possibly greater, importance is the lack of any form of childcare standards. I am concerned about the de...

Thor Love and Thunder

What I liked: The goats. The chaotic energy of 12ft tall screaming flying goats exactly encapsulates the energy of this movie. They tie in well with Norse mythology, they tie in with the comics, they make sense to include. But. They make no sense and are completely absurd. There was a lot of anticipation about Lady Thor and I liked her with a few caveats but what no one was expecting as was much more enjoyable was Bunny Thor. Lady Thor's hammer was very cool and did a good job of distinguishing her from Thor. The court of the gods was fun to see, of course the Greek gods were front and center but I enjoyed gods from other mythologies that I recognized. I liked the battle in the Shadow Realm, very cool visuals. And the battle in the court of the gods and the opening battle. Ok, I liked all the battles including the very brief Thor fashion battle. The shadow monsters were ok but could have been much creepier.  What I didn't: The god butcher had very reasonable motivations and see...

Lost City

What I liked: The opening scene was great. If you have ever wondered what watching a movie is like in my head, this is pretty much it. Where did the snakes come from? Are they your snakes? Who feeds them? I liked Harry Potter as the bad guy, the overly enthusiastic, billionaire, charcuterie loving bad guy. I liked the very intentional absurdity from the trainer, to the model's travel accessories, to the sequin jumpsuit, to the very excellent chair chase scene. This is the best chase scene where one of the characters does not leave their chair that you will see, unless Jackie Chan did one. Then that one is almost certainly better. I liked the surprising things that they did, they surprised me which I found impressive, especially in a movie like this that could have been extremely formulaic. I liked that they manage to stay just normal people (well a best selling romance author and her cover model) who are very very out of their depth for most of the movie and don't magically tra...

Top Gun Maverick

What I liked: Never since 1986 have the dudes with the flashlights who direct planes looked so cool. I like the airplanes. There are airplanes that go super duper fast. There are moderately new airplanes. There are old airplanes. There are friendly airplanes and enemy airplanes. Airplanes that land on ships and airplanes that land on land. Even some airplanes that try to land on snow. You see the outside of the airplanes and, most importantly, you seed the inside of the airplanes while they are flying. With those cool air streams coming off the wings. I liked that ejecting in high altitude at extreme speeds is a ok. It seems like NASA should really take note, we could save a lot on an updated reentry plan. I liked that Maverick and Iceman are still friends and I'm glad that at least one of them got a little bit responsible. I also liked that the romance was much better than last time, still not great mind you, but better. The call backs to the original were fun and I'm glad tha...