Month: June 2018

Upgrade

In New ReleasesTags Black Mirror, fake Tom Hardy, sci-fi, the future is scary

I’m going to spoil the hell out of this movie, but you’re probably not going to watch it anyway. So, don’t worry.

Upgrade tells the story of simple everyman Grey Trace (Tom Hardy’s body double) from the near SCARY future who just wants to restore old cars and listen to Skynyrd. Cars are now fully automated, police drones monitor from overhead, and houses are fully Jetsonized. With his wife in tow, he delivers a Firebird to an eccentric, reclusive tech genius weirdo (shocking) who shows them the FUTURE of technology: STEM. STEM is a computer chip that can control the human body, and also can connect to your Wi-Fi without needing your password.

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Hereditary

In New ReleasesTags a24, horror, modern classics

Lazy Film Critic

Finally.

I’ll need to be light on details because major plot points early on are very important to the story, and it would be unfair to give them away when you watch this movie. And you SHOULD watch this movie. Every conversation and observation made by characters from the very opening funeral scene are important to understanding what happens at the end. People are struggling with the end because it shifts in what seems like a very abrupt way. The opening funeral is for Ellen, matriarch of the Graham family. Her daughter Annie (Toni Collette) gives a eulogy noting her mother’s reclusive nature, how difficult she was, and how she’s surprised how many people are actually attending the funeral.

What follows is a story of how a family deals with loss, and how that loss brings anger, resentment, and pain that’s been smoldering up the surface for the living and the dead in this case.

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Solo: A Star Wars Story

In New ReleasesTags boring couples, Han Solo, Harrison Ford, Star Wars, Zombieland

Lazy Film Critic

Solo serves as a mix of fan service fill in the story blanks from the original trilogy, and well, little else.

If someone asked you to describe the plot to a Han Solo stand alone film I don’t think it would be much different than what eventually is seen on screen. On one hand it’s paint by numbers because we know pieces and results of the story. We know about the Kessel Run; we know he gets the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian through gambling. We know pieces. The problem is Disney plays it super safe. One: they want to make a ton of money. (You can’t win them all!) Two: Star Wars has a pretty toxic, unrelenting fan base. (Not you, of course.) There’s little room for creativity when someone is ready to yell “Canon! But the canon! But!” at any whiff of something outside of a character’s preconceived traits. I suspect this is one reason the original director was fired during production and replaced by a much safer choice in Ron Howard.

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Deadpool 2

In New ReleasesTags comic book movies, marvel, ryan reynolds, x-men

Lazy Film Critic

I think I may need to take a break from comic book movies.

I went in ready to like Deadpool 2 a lot. I really liked the first one. I think I did. I remember liking it, anyway. Everyone keeps saying this one is as good as the first one or even better. So, maybe that one really wasn’t good either. I do think that Deadpool had the advantage of being the first R-Rated Marvel movie since Blade in the 90s. (I think. I’m not going to look it up.) It was definitely a fresh twist on the modern comic formula, and it worked really well.

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