By now, Godzilla has appeared in nearly forty films, not counting the countless imitators spawned in his radioactive wake. That’s an astonishing legacy for a monster who first lumbered onto screens in 1954, and it’s easy to forget just how different that original incarnation was from the pop culture icon he later became. My own introduction […]
Read more "Godzilla (1954) – movie review"What year is this? Almost 2024, which means I left my retailing management career about ten years ago now. In turn, this means the story I’m about to tell takes place more than a decade ago. I’m thinking at least twelve years, perhaps more. I can narrow it down further, if you’d like. Somewhere between […]
Read more "This is Spinal Tap (1984) — a movie review"With this movie in my rearview mirror, only Captain Marvel remains as an obstacle to my completion of Phase 3 of the MCU. As of the day I’m typing this post, I’m not sure where we’ve landed with the Sony vs. Marvel negotiations. I thought Spidey was removed from our MCU continuity, but now I’m […]
Read more "Spider-Man: Far from Home — a movie review"I’m a little further along in Phase 3 of the MCU since I wrote my review of Avengers: Infinity War back in April 2019. Since then, I have watched Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, Black Panther, and Ant-Man and the Wasp. And, now, of course, Avengers: Endgame. Since I haven’t watched Captain Marvel or […]
Read more "Avengers: Endgame — a movie review"I can’t remember if I watched True Romance the first time before or after I watched Reservoir Dogs, although I’m certain I watched neither until after I watched Pulp Fiction. If I had to guestimate a date, I’d say I watched it around 1997. This would have been three years after the movie bombed in […]
Read more "True Romance — a movie review"I have a confession. I’ve liked all three of the Thor movies, and for three different reasons. I enjoyed the world-building in Thor (2011). The Jack Kirby version of Asgard was brought to life on film, and director Kenneth Branagh treated the subject matter with a seriousness that it might not have even deserved. […]
Read more "Thor: Ragnarok — a movie review [Here There Be Spoilers]"02:00:01 – 02:13:49 Chapter Nine of the Rogue Edition of the 15-Minute Force isn’t even 15 minutes in length. But, the movie isn’t over yet as the chapter opens. To recap: many of our Rogue One players have already died, including Chirrut Imwe, Baze Malbus, and K-2SO. Imperial Director Orson Krennic is lying, shot, […]
Read more "Rogue One: a Star Wars story (a 15-Minute Force production): Chapter Nine: The Ending Kinda Sucks (or: Here’s the Deal with the Bothans)"At some point, far, far into the future, I’ll write an annotated synopsis of Star Wars: Episode VIII: The Last Jedi in my 15-Minute Force project. That will have to wait until I get past Rogue One, the original Star Wars trilogy, and Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens. At fifteen minutes a […]
Read more "Star Wars: The Last Jedi – a movie review [SPOILER FREE]"Suicide Squad has a 26% rating on RottenTomatoes.com, and it was pretty much universally panned by the professional movie critics. And yet, 61% of the audience seemed to like it. You know, the audience, those people who plunked down nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars to watch this movie. I know that box office […]
Read more "Suicide Squad (2016) – a 100% impartial movie review"I watched this movie yesterday for two reasons: one good, and the other—eh—not so good. First, the good reason. I am a fan of Edgar Wright’s previous work, notably Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, perhaps less so of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, although I thought it was well done. I’m going to […]
Read more "Baby Driver – a movie review"00:15:01 – 00:30:00 As our previous chapter of the 15-Minute Force concluded, Anakin Skywalker had just lopped off Count Dooku’s Christopher Lee head at Chancellor Palpatine’s command. When Anakin paused for a moment to feel a little bad about it, Palpatine reminded him that he was already a bad person who did bad […]
Read more "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (a 15-Minute Force production): Chapter Two: Jedi Balls on the Titanic (Or, A Question of Paternity?)"00:00:00 – 00:15:00 Here I stand, happy to begin the first chapter of the third installment of the prequel trilogy, Revenge of the Sith, and our nineteenth chapter overall. Before I started the 15-Minute Force project, inspired by Alex Robinson and Pete the Retailer’s most excellent Star Wars Minute podcast, I didn’t remember the […]
Read more "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (a 15-Minute Force production): Chapter One: Oh, I Have a Bad Feeling About This, Too"1:45:01 – 2:00:00 As this chapter of the 15-Minute Force opens, Anakin and Padme are being led to giant columns in the Geonosian arena to be chained up for execution alongside Obi-Wan Kenobi. Anakin tells Obi-Wan that they transmitted his message to Coruscant (while we notice Padme removing some sort of lock-picking tool from the […]
Read more "Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones (a 15-Minute Force production): Chapter Eight: We Snatch Defeat From The Jaws of Victory Several Times"1:30:01 – 1:45:00 This chapter of the movie begins with everyone’s favorite pasttime: Political maneuvering. Chancellor Palpatine is meeting with a group that includes Mace Windu, Senator Bail Organa, and Jar Jar Binks. The consensus seems to be that they are in a crisis. It’s obvious that Count Dooku and the Trade Federation, […]
Read more "Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones (a 15-Minute Force production): Chapter Seven: Count Dooku Makes A Few Good Points. Or, Padme Continues to Die a Little Each Day."45:01 – 1:00:00 This 15-Minute Force installment is another quiet one. The first thirty minutes of the movie are balls-out action-packed. The thirty minutes that follow are more sedate, even leisurely, although players are moved to new locations and the plot is pushed incrementally forward. This chapter begins where the other left off, with Anakin […]
Read more "Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones (a 15-Minute Force production): Chapter Four: Senator Amidala is a Lightsaber-Tease"It’s all about perspective, really. If you’ve watched Star Trek: The Motion Picture already, you’ve formed your opinion of the film. This review, penned some 38 years after I watched the movie for the first time, but only a day after I watched it last, won’t change your mind about it. But, I hope it […]
Read more "Star Trek: The Motion Picture: a review"30:01 – 45;00 The brisk opening 30 minutes of this movie have adeptly set up a central story question: Will the Republic establish an army to oppose Count Dooku’s Separatist Movement? It also gave two of our main characters—Obi-Wan Kenobi and his young Padawan Anakin Skywalker—immediate character goals. Obi-Wan will continue the investigation into the […]
Read more "Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones (a 15-Minute Force production): Chapter Three: Kamino Saberdart/Romantic Lake House"00:00 – 15:00 A Star Wars movie definitely wouldn’t be the same without the 20th Century Fox fanfare and logo at the start of it. . . Then the Lucasfilm logo. . .and then. . . A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… I had been disappointed by Phantom Menace when I […]
Read more "Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones (a 15-Minute Force production): Chapter One: An Assassination-Attempt Sandwich"I have a confession to make. I still haven’t watched Batman v. Superman or Suicide Squad. I know those movies have their detractors, and everyone is entitled to their opinion, whether or not I would agree. I did see Man of Steel, and, as I recall, I kind of liked it. Not the way […]
Read more "Wonder Woman: a movie review"1:15:01 – 1:30:00 We begin where we left off. Anakin runs back to his mother, Shmi, hugs her and says, “I just can’t do it.” It would be a more effective scene if Jake Lloyd had been a better actor. Shmi tells him to be brave and not to look back. Anakin vows that he […]
Read more "Star Wars:The Phantom Menace (a 15-Minute Force production): Chapter Six: Face Tattoos and Inconceivable Vergences"1:00:01 – 1:15:00 Anakin starts the race already in the hole. That’s the rule for writers, isn’t it? Get your protagonist up a tree, and then throw rocks at him. We’re making things difficult for Lil’ Anakin at the beginning of the race, because there would be little tension if he led the race the […]
Read more "Star Wars:The Phantom Menace (a 15-Minute Force production): Chapter Five: And the Winner Is…"If you watch the movie Veronica Mars without having previously watched the three seasons of the television show, I don’t think you’ll enjoy it as much. The movie felt, to me, like another episode of the show, with all the familiar characters just a little older. Logan Echolls is the prime suspect in a murder, […]
Read more "Veronica Mars: the movie"Here’s what movie critic Owen Gleiberman had to say about Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie when it came out: It’s hard to tell the droids from the Jedi drones in this robotic animated dud, in which the George Lucas Empire Strikes Back—at the audience. What wears you out is Lucas’ immersion in a Star […]
Read more "Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie (2008)"Nature's nuances in a nutshell
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