Time Keeps on Slippin', Slippin', Slippin'

Today I celebrate the second anniversary of starting this blog.  Two years ago after seeing the Jackie Robinson biopic '42' I sat down at my desk in my dorm room at Ball State and started this up.  What's changed in the two years since I've started this?

Well...not a lot really.

TWO YEARS AGO:  I was a broken hearted, single college student who saw way too many movies.  I worked at a dining hall, I had a car, I spent way too much money on things I didn't really need, I procrastinated every now and then, had occasional writer's block when it came to certain movies, ate too much, drank too much soda, insert other college student stereotypes here.  After seeing a movie I'd come back to my dorm room, sit at my desk, fire up my laptop and start churning out a review.

TWO YEARS LATER (CURRENT):  Still single but I am a college graduate, complete with all the student loan debt that that entails.  I work at a high school, I have a different car, I try to control my money spending, I don't procrastinate as much as I used to, I have writer's block more often than I'd care to admit to, still eat a little too much, still drink a little bit too much soda...and I'm living with my parents.  After seeing a movie lately I've let my thoughts gather in my head for awhile...and a little while longer...then eventually I lay on my bed, fire up my laptop, and start typing away at a review.  Sometimes I let the viewing numbers for certain posts get to me, other times I don't.

Okay so a fair amount has changed in this two year time period.  Who knows what will change a year from now?  Two years?  Five?  Ten?  Who knows.  Will I still be doing this that long?  I don't know.  I will keep doing this as long as I'm having fun and as long as people still keep on reading my thoughts on movies or whatever else I decide to write about. 

If you've been a loyal reader, thanks.  So far it's been a fun ride and I hope to still ride a little bit longer.  Year 3 will be interesting indeed.

REVIEWS - 'Selma', 'Inherent Vice', 'SpongeBob'

I saw these several months ago...better late than never I suppose.  Had I written these shortly after watching them as originally intended I would have had more to say about them.  Just trying to remember my thoughts about them at this point in time...several months later...

'Selma' (PG-13) ***
Nominated for 2 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Original Song (winning the latter of the two), 'Selma' follows Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelowo) as he peacefully fights for equal voting rights for African Americans by embarking on a march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama.  Overall this is a pretty good movie bolstered by a great performance by David Oyelowo as MLK. 


'Inherent Vice' (R) ***
Nominated for 2 Academy Awards including Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Costume Design, 'Inherent Vice' has such a meandering plot it's almost impossible to put it all here.  But I'm gonna try.  The basic story follows hippie private investigator Larry 'Doc' Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix), as he is recruited by his ex girlfriend Shasta (Katherine Waterston) to investigate the disappearance of her current boyfriend (Eric Roberts) who may have been committed to an insane asylum by his wife (Serena Scott Thomas) and her lover.  This is interweaved with subplots concerning a police detective (Josh Brolin) who hates hippies, a clean cut district attorney (Reese Witherspoon) who Doc is currently seeing, a missing musician (Owen Wilson) and his wife (Jena Malone) and a drug crazed dentist (Martin Short).  There's a lot going on in this movie that's based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Pynchon.  The latest from Paul Thomas Anderson, the director of 'The Master', 'There Will Be Blood', 'Punch-Drunk Love', 'Magnolia', 'Boogie Nights' and 'Hard Eight'. 

Yes it is two and a half hours long and it certainly feels two and a half hours long with it's meandering plot.  But the quirky characters, the occasional one liners, the period detail and the great soundtrack all made it watchable.  I don't think I'll be seeing it again, but while watching it I did overall enjoy it.




'The SpongeBob Movie:  Sponge Out of Water' (PG) ***1/4
The second theatrical 'SpongeBob' movie and the first in eleven years, 'Sponge Out of Water' follows SpongeBob and his friends as they are forced to team up with Plankton after a pirate (Antonio Banderas) steals the Krabby Patty secret formula. 

I've liked 'SpongeBob' ever since I was a kid when it first debuted on Nickelodeon in 1999.  Today as an adult it is one of the few current children's shows that I can actually tolerate.  If you never got on the 'SpongeBob' bandwagon then you definitely will not like this movie.  It's bright and colorful and had me laughing pretty consistently throughout.  I liked it way better than the previous 'SpongeBob' movie from 2004.  

REVIEW - 'Furious 7'

'Furious 7' (PG-13) ***1/2

The seventh installment in this seemingly never ending franchise has Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) seeking revenge against Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and company (Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson) for the death of his brother Owen (Luke Evans) in the events of the previous movie.  In addition to the main revenge plot Kurt Russell shows up as a mysterious government agent known only as Mr. Nobody, who recruits Dom & co.  to rescue a kidnapped hacker named Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel).  Ramsey has developed a program called "God's Eye" which can hack into any electronic device on the planet.  Others in the cast include Lucas Black briefly reprising his character from 'Tokyo Drift', Ronda Rousey as a security guard in Abu Dhabi, Djimon Hounsou as another shady character who wants the "God's Eye" program and Asian action star Tony Jaa making his American film debut as a henchman.

But who really cares about the intricacies of plot, logic, and the laws of physics when we have cars parachuting onto mountains, expensive sports cars crashing through skyscrapers, Paul Walker jumping off of a vehicle that's falling off of a cliff and being able to perfectly grab ahold of the spoiler on a speeding car, and many other completely ludicrous action scenes that are just so much fun to watch.

And indeed this movie as a whole is AWESOME and I had a blast watching it at an IMAX theater.  Ever since 'Fast Five' this series has strayed from street racing drama and shifted more towards over-the-top action, a change that has greatly benefited this series.  Not just in terms of entertainment value in my opinion, but also critically and commercially.  They've found the right formula and they've stuck with it.  Now having said that this entry does feature more street racing than in the last few 'Fast & Furious' movies combined with plenty of callbacks to the 2001 original movie.  As I've said, the action scenes are a lot of fun.  A few are a bit more choppily edited than I would have liked but it never got to the point where I couldn't tell what was going on (cough cough 'Quantum of Solace').  And Jason Statham as Deckard Shaw is by far the best villain out of this entire series.  A rogue agent who knows how to disappear and always appears out of the blue and leaves a trail of destruction behind him.  His opening scene alone pretty much sums up everything about this character...and it's awesome. 


Usually for franchises I'll list out the previous entries and my thoughts on them and then finally compare the entry I just saw to those.  But I'll just say this right now:  Out of the sequels, 'Furious 7' is the best one.  Each movie surprisingly ups the ante and still keeps things fresh and interesting  Sure we don't really need SEVEN of these movies but who cares when it's just so much fun?

James Wan takes over the directorial reins from Justin Lin, who had helmed the previous four 'Fast & Furious' movies.  This is a step outside the box for Wan who made his name on horror movies like 'The Conjuring', the first two 'Insidious' movies, the first 'Saw' movie, and 'Dead Silence'.  Sure some of the fight scenes are a little choppily edited but for the most part he doesn't miss a beat from where Lin left off.  It'll be interesting to see who they inevitably hire to make the inevitable 'Fast & Furious 8'.

Now for Paul Walker's scenes that he hadn't filmed yet his brothers Caleb and Cody were used as stand-ins with his face being superimposed digitally on theirs.  Is it noticeable when it's clearly a double or when it's clearly a CGI face?  Yes it is, but those moments are brief and they don't take anything away from the movie.  

Overall 'Furious 7' is a fun time at the movies with a great villain and plenty of awesome over the top action sequences, along with an ending that has a perfect send-off for Paul Walker.   




TRAILERS

• 'Straight Outta Compton' - the N.W.A. biopic.  I'm not really the biggest fan of rap but this actually looks decent.   

• 'Spectre' - SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!!!!!!  Then again the last time I really looked forward to a Bond movie we ended up with 'Quantum of Solace'...

• 'Mission:  Impossible - Rogue Nation' - I somehow never really got into the 'Mission:  Impossible' series.  Sometimes I liked the action scenes but for the most part I didn't really care about anything happening.  I'll watch this at some point since I've seen the others, but I won't be going in with high hopes.

• 'Jurassic World' - Why do I have to wait until June 12 for the park to be open??

• 'Avengers:  Age of Ultron' - I've been eagerly awaiting this ever since the ending of the previous 'Avengers' movie.

• 'Terminator:  Genisys' - ...this just looks like a rehash of almost everyone of the previous movies.  And none of it makes any sense.

I Finally Watched...Fifty Shades of Grey

Well...here goes nothing...

Based on E.L. James' international best-selling 'Twilight' fan fiction of the same name, 'Fifty Shades of Grey' follows college student Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) as her life changes following an interview with the handsome, tormented, eccentric, perverted billionaire Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan).

Now that I have your attention, it has indeed been awhile since I last posted anything on here.  What gives?  Truth be told I haven't had a lot of motivation to write much, which has become my rather frequent excuse for whenever there has been a rather lengthy period of time between posts.  But it's time to quit making excuses and to just get back into the swing of things...for real this time.  I have lots of movies to talk about and I don't want to continue getting further and further behind.  Reviews will start back up with 'Furious 7' this Friday.  And from there, I will be writing brief reviews for movies I've seen since my last review back in January.  And I'm talking EVERY movie, even if it didn't come out this year and more belongs in an actual 'I Finally Watched...' post.  So stay tuned.   

And don't worry....I haven't actually seen 'Fifty Shades of Grey' #AprilFools