This was so surprisingly good. The Splinter flashback scenes and the puppetry in general are fantastic.
Sam Rockwell!
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – ★★★★
Theater Camp – ★★★★
The last production pulled this from a 3 to 4 for me. Overall pretty funny and some good songs. Molly Gordon is great. Not sure my theater kid is old enough to get most of the humor but we will see.
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Bloodsport – ★½
The first 10-15 minutes of this may be some of the worst acting I’ve ever seen and they somehow don’t bother to start bloodsporting until like 40 minutes in to a 90 minute movie.
The bit at the end where they claim Frank Dux did all these amazing things just screamed “lol, sure you did dude.” Went to Wikipedia and yep, shady as heck and likely mostly all made up including any military history.
Rating: 1.5 stars
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Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind – ★★★★
Took the kids to watch this in the theater today as part of Studio Ghibli Fest. First time for me to ever see a Miyazaki movie on the big screen.
This was one of my least favorites when I originally was running through my Miyazaki blind spots back in 2020, but giving it my full attention now I really enjoyed it quite a bit. I was pleasantly surprised how much both my girls liked it considering how “old” it is and how relatively few laughs there are. They were probably the only 2 people under 30 in the theater today.
Nausicaä is such a fantastic character as are all the other valley residents, but boy do I hate every single Tolmekian and Pejite moron. And they remain pretty much completely irredeemable for the entire movie. (I know we’re supposed to dislike them but still.)
It is bit depressing how little progress we’ve made as a society in 40 years towards the Nausicaä’s basic themes of environmentalism, empathy, and pacifism.
It’s early so not quite as breathtakingly beautiful as some of the films that followed it, but it sure is imaginative and interesting to look at. It is also remarkable how much imagery from this have influenced (or share influences with) current Japanese video games including Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. TotK’s “depths” areas seem like a mix of Nausicaa’s forest and the gloom from Mononoke.
Buying tickets now to go see Mononoke in a month.
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I wish I had 1/100th of the creativity & imagination of the artists behind the visuals of Across the Spider-Verse. ?
Obi-Wan Kenobi = John Smith?
So is the name “Kenobi” like Smith in their galaxy? Or is Luke just a dolt?
“Obi-Wan Kenobi so weird I know a guy named Ben Kenobi oh well this soup is good.”
Rachael Leigh Cook descending stairs in slow motion
Wife is watching a totally decent just released Netflix rom-com where Rachel Leigh Cook is falling in love in Vietnam and they went to a remote village and she just came down the stairs in a new dress and her hair pulled back and it was kinda great. I am a little bummed they didn’t needle drop a Vietnamese cover of “Kiss Me” though.
Update: Found a Vietnamese cover of “Kiss Me” on YouTube. Ha!
Review: Flight of the Navigator
Watching Flight of the Navigator with the kids, and in the first 10 minutes we see David and his brother ride unbuckled and wrestling in the back of a station wagon, find out he keeps a giant box of fireworks next to his bed, and then that his parents expect his 8 year old brother to walk home in the dark in the woods and across the train tracks.
The 80s man.
First time I’ve seen this since the 80s myself. All I could remember was thinking it was scary, which watching again with my own 7 year old makes me realize I must have been quite the weenie. She really enjoyed the early mystery and then the tiny cute alien, and unlike her dad didn’t find it one bit scary. It was fun watching it with her and I enjoyed the first 2/3rds, but when the alien ship turns into Pee Wee Herman it lost me a bit for a while before picking up again towards the end.
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Alice in Wonderland – ★★★
Overall, to me at least, the illustration and animation in Alice in Wonderland just isn’t as good as some of the older Disney classics and the story is too madcap (pun intended) and silly for me personally.
I don’t know, but this has always been the Disney movie I have least affection and connection with. I’m not 100% sure when/if I’ve really ever sat and watched the whole thing before this rewatch, at least not in the last 30 years. I’m not sure my kids have ever really watched it or been interested in it either.
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The Super Mario Bros. Movie – ★★★½
Fantastic looking and tons of fun references. Adequate storyline that anyone whose ever played a Mario game could predict, but good enough for a fun afternoon at the theater with the kids.
Although it is not a nonstop laugh fest, it got several big laughs from my kids, despite the fact that they are more into Minecraft/The Sims than they are into Mario. It is definitely a kids’ movie with references for us “olds,” but it was made lovingly and shows a real understanding and appreciation of the Mario characters and worlds.
Anya Taylor-Joy’s Peach and especially Jack Black’s Bowser were definitely the highlights, but all of the performances were good. Yes, including Chris Pratt.
Special shoutout to the nihilistic Lumalee the Luma who stole the show in their brief appearances.
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