Normally, this time of year, there are a handful of movies I've seen that I truly enjoyed. Last year was strange, because everything got shut down in March. But this year the movies are back. Unfortunately, most of them aren't any good. At this point I would say:
No Time to Die - solid B, if that. Plot made no sense. Villain made no sense. The "secret" Bond's girl was hiding was never told (or if it was, made no sense). Lots of deaths made no sense. Shame.
Black Widow - Johanson got lucky Disney settled with her. It wasn't a Box Office disappointment because of HBO plus. It was just a bad movie. Easily in the bottom half of comic book movies. Down there with Iron Man 3 with Marvel flicks.
F9 - bad. Just bad.
Godzilla v. Kong. Other than the fights was laughable.
The Card Counter - terrible
Maglignent - so laughably bad I can't believe any reviewer didn't pan it.
Many Saints of Newark - bitterly disappointing.
If I had to rank my top 10 at the moment...I'm not sure I could.
Raya and the Last Dragon was OK
Suicide Squad was OK
The Ten Rings was OK (might be #1, but barely)
Free Guy was OK
Venom was OK
A Quiet Place II was OK (but I still can't believe that humans wouldn't just blast loud music everywhere to create traps for the creatures and/or live by waterfalls.
Cruella was much better than I thought, but still 30 minutes too long.
Nobody was OK, but a blatant knock off of John Wick (and not nearly as good, plus completely unbelievable, whereas somehow Keanu made Wick seem believable)
The Courier, I liked. But it had a "been there/done that" feel to it the entire movie.
That's kind of all I got. Nothing that I would give an A- or better to.
Hopefully Dune is good. Also excited for The Eternals. Will see The Last Duel next week (but man it looks super long at 2 hours 33 minutes). Thanksgiving movies look decent, so there's still time, but what a disappointing year thus far.
Just went to the Bond movie--my 1st movie in a theater since Feb 2020.
The ending was poignant, but, about the narrative, why oh why? Almost nothing felt driven by necessity.
I went to see "The Rescue" in a theater last weekend. It was a remarkable experience. I was the only person in the theater which was a little strange - but once I got engaged in the story I completely forgot that I was sitting all by myself. There were just so many barriers that seemed to be all but impossible to overcome - getting these kids out of the cave in Thailand was a complete miracle.
The directors did an amazing job of conveying the bravery and compassion of the individuals involved in retrieving the soccer team from the cave. Pulling this off was just an amazing accomplishment. And even though it seems a little paradoxical for an event which largely took place in extremely cramped and limited spaces, I think it's worth it to experience the events on a large screen.
The Last Duel was good. Probably at the top of my 2021 list at the moment. Great acting. Compelling story. Parts are really difficult to watch. Crazy that it’s basically all true.