Free Guy - Marcus Rosemount Theater

 I liked it.

I'd thought of this concept several years ago while playing an MMORPG called "City of Heroes". Plenty of NPC's in that game that all do relatively nothing. I liked the idea of thinking they had regular daily lives and routines they did when we players weren't looking.

That's kinda what this movie is about after a fashion. Really though its about two young programmers who sold their work to a bigger company to have it put up as an online game, only to see it get shelved. That company in turn took their work, built on it directly, and marketed it as their own online game. They didn't give credit, didn't provide royalties or acknowledgement of the prior work this was built on.

One of the programmers/creators works for the company now, the other is a paying customer of the game that has been searching through it looking for proof that this is their stolen creation.

In the midst of all this, an NPC in the game (non-playable character) is hoping for more from his life, to meet the girl of his dreams. This desire comes from the artificial intelligence programmed into the basic code of the game from the stolen program.

He eventually meets up with the second programmer in the game and together they search for the proof she needs.

I'm over-simplifying the story a bit, but that's the gist of it. It was a fun movie which I really enjoyed. It didn't take itself too seriously, didn't partake in any of the SJW or 'woke' crap that has been flying around for the last couple years (at least not that I noticed). It was a fun take on an alternate reality, both entertaining and fun. It was also easy to follow for people who aren't fluent in the gaming lingo.

Go see it, in the theater (if you can or feel comfortable doing so) before its gone. It's worth the ticket price.

I have seen it, will likely see it again in the near future, and will absolutely purchase this on disc and digital when its available.

Star Trek: Discovery - a Biased Review

After watching season one of Star Trek: Discovery the year it came out, I gave up on the show.

Lots of crying for a science fiction show, among many other problems.

After seeing several suggested clips on YouTube lately, I decided to give it another chance, so I started watching season two.

Still lots of crying, in every episode. Though there does appear to be a proper story to follow now, though it is slightly inept, pedantic, confused, and very hard to follow in places due to the way its been cut and edited. They also seem to be leaving out key bits of dialogue in places, forcing a viewer to either make certain assumptions to make the story flow or remain somewhat confused while the show moved past a key scene resulting in a lack of understanding for what follows.

It seems to me that the best way to watch this show is to turn off your mind and just let it flow. Don't try to absorb, analyze, understand or comprehend it. Just watch it.

So now it is background noise while I'm working from home.

That said, they take a great many liberties with established cannon and I find it disconcerting in many cases. They're effectively erasing or permanently modifying everything we've come to know about Star Trek since the 60's. I find myself annoyed and put-off by that.

I understand the need for them to create something new to garner and hold an audience, but the wholesale destruction of everything that came before it seems wasteful and short-sighted, and as has been seen over the last couple years has earned the ire of many fans of these shows as a whole. The other new series at least had the fore-site to take place in a future period, after the other shows we've all come to enjoy have ended. Discovery has inserted itself into an early Trek timeline, and introduces inconsistencies and issues into the established timeline as I mentioned earlier.

Also, there is an inordinate amount of crying by multiple characters. Something I find disconcerting actually because they use that so often it becomes meaningless and ineffective.

And of course season two of the show is heavily and repeatedly involved with one of the old Trek crutches: time travel. Whenever the previous Series' wrote themselves into a corner, they invoked time travel or another form of time manipulation to get out of it. Yes there were a couple good stories involving the use of time travel, but it seems Trek in general falls back on that trope again and again. Not saying it is a bad thing, but its been done so often as to become expected. Star Trek has gone from showing us all a possible Universe to showing us the different ways what we already know and have seen could play out.

That said, all of the different and varied changes to the timeline/s that Discovery heaps on us seemingly every week are a bit much to process and keep track of. Watching most the season two episodes, I find myself spending time trying to reconcile the differences between what I've seen or am currently seeing with what I already know as established Trek history. And while I'm trying to reconcile what they are showing me with what I already know from other shows, they're also effectively changing Trek history from what was already established in other previous shows, making it all that much harder to reconcile.

As I said earlier, I find it simpler to just not think about the show while I'm watching it. I treat this show as yet another alternative timeline in the Trek universe, having no effect or consequence on the other shows that I've seen in years past.

That said, I do enjoy some of the leaps in technology they have made since Enterprise and the Original Series, and from what I've seen in some of the YouTube clips i mentioned earlier, they're going to easily surpass any technology that has been seen in any Trek show or movie prior to it.

So now I find that at least for season two I do generally enjoy the show, though I must repeatedly remind myself that there are no consequences to come from it. It doesn't effect or change anything that came before it unless I allow it to in my mind. Much like the newer Star Trek movies are treated as the 'Kelvin Timeline', in my mind Discovery has become its own timeline and is writing its own parallel but separate history in the Star Trek Universe. That's the only way I can get this show to coalesce and co-exist with the other shows and movies that came before it in my mind.

UPDATE: a couple days later... I'm about finished with Season 3, and I must say that there are several parallels and mirrors of the Enterprise series episodes, at least the latter couple seasons seem to be that way. That said, I see the last season as more entertaining than the first two.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

 We never did a review of any Marvel films after Thor 2. So, by way of a correction for that we'll provide a brief entry here for each film to date.

Guardians of the Galaxy overall was pretty good. It was a bit slow in a couple spots plodding through some backstory, but that was required as the GOTG were a relatively unknown quantity when the film came out. That said, good film with nice action and stuff and it built on the Infinity Stone storyline.

Avengers: Age of Ultron was also a pretty good film. It had several issues itself, mostly involving continuity with the previous films, but ended up being a pretty good addition to the MCU. Ultron himself and the way he came about has had some controversy. Personally,  I don't see why all the other characters blame Stark for that as he and Banner had no success themselves. The AI in the Mind Stone didn't come out until after they'd left (most people don't see it that way however, but that's how it looked to several of us when we first viewed the film). It seemed to skim over a few relevant things, and also plodded along in a few spots, but overall was also a good edition to the MCU.

Ant-Man was just a fun change of pace. This didn't do anything for the Infinity Stone storyline, but was a pretty good introduction to a new character and pretty solid story in itself. A few scenes or situations seemed to be forced, put there more for convenience of the plot than anything else, but it was and still is an entertaining film and a nice little cap on the MCU Phase 2.

Captain America: Civil War threw a lot of things at us and left many details to follow and keep track of through the film. A few confrontations seemed very forced, especially at the end between Steve and Tony, but it set the stage for the fall of SHIELD of the Avengers splitting up. I would've tweaked this story just a bit to place Thanos or one of his agents behind that breakup as it serves to further his overall purpose in the end. This is essentially a self contained story as it doesn't affect the Infinity Stone story at all (beyond the fall of Shield and the breakup as mentioned). Good film, entertaining, and serves to introduce some new characters that we'll see again down the road.

Doctor Strange brought us another Infinity Stone, and brought another type of magic into the MCU. It was a mind bending and trippy film, but quite entertaining and something of a small spectacle to see. It too introduces more characters that we'll see again down the road, and served as a good vehicle to introduce them.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: This had nothing to do with the Infinity Stones, but was a fun romp around the galaxy. It brought us Quills' father and much info on his origin story and how he came to be where we see him now. It also gave us more backstory and development on other characters and groups within that area. And everyone loved little baby Groot.

Spider-Man Homecoming was the reboot we needed. It folded Spider-Man into the MCU rather neatly. We didn't get an origin story this time around as that was already covered briefly in Civil War, but to be honest we didn't need it anyway as its already been done to death in recent years. Good film, entertaining, engrossing to a degree. 

Thor: Ragnarok was something of a weird film, and that was attributed mostly to the Director. It brought us to a new world, brought us a new version of the Hulk, brought Loki into the fold somewhat, and was a pretty entertaining film. The ending seemed a bit rushed in my opinion with Thor and friends suddenly needing to get back to Asgard without delay, but then when you realize that the film takes place over only a couple of days (in MCU time) then that sense of haste kinda disappears. Good, fun, brought us loads of new locations and characters to enjoy.

Black Panther: Another introduction to new characters and locations that end up being key in latter films. It felt slow initially, but a rewatch shows it was actually just maintaining a steady pace for the first half. I didn't at all like how Klaw was treated in the film, relegated to a small part of the really big picture after all is said and done. He became more of a plot device than a character, but served his purpose pretty well. Awful waste of a good actor though. Still a good film that brings Wakanda and all it possesses into the MCU.

Infinity War. Geez, lots of things happening here, and it starts early. Everyone of the major characters we've seen in MCU films before this gets involved and stays involved, before many of them end up turning to dust at the end. The group of people we saw it with in the theater talked about it all for hours afterwards. It was a good film, and did very well at setting the stage for the second half.

Ant-Man and the Wasp was another stand-alone film, though at the end it tied itself to Infinity War. A pretty good film by itself, certainly rewatchable, but I found it slightly less entertaining than the first film. We get to find and meet Wasps' mother finally, and potentially make a new friend in the end (though to date we haven't seen her again).

Captain Marvel: I hat to say it, but this is the first film that felt off and weird to me. I'm familiar with the character already before seeing the film, so had some few expectations going in. That wasn't the problem for me though. Our lead actor seemed a bit wooden or one dimensional through the whole thing and it constantly threw me off. She was outpaced by other actors with more engaging scenes in almost every case. That said, and putting that criticism aside, it was also largely an entertaining film. It was fun seeing our favorite Shield agents from an earlier time, and getting to see the Kree at all (including a notable character from an earlier GOTG film). That all being said, the film felt a bit disjointed. It spent a lot of time an character flashbacks in lieu of actual character building, and that was disappointing on the whole. It did however clarify a few things we saw from the Infinity War film (for those people that didn't recognize them initially). 

Avengers: Endgame started quick and ended up in the death of Thanos within just a few minutes. Then it plodded through a 5 year time jump, after which we had to wade through a smelly sea of the characters trying to get the Avengers back together to pull an Ant-Man style robbery throughout time. After that though is what everyone has been waiting years for: The fight to end all fights. It wasn't a disappointment, and brought a bunch of things hinted at in earlier films to blossom, like Steve handling Thor's hammer like a pro. It also brought the ridiculously huge army vs army fight we all were begging to see at the end. We lost a couple key characters after it was over, but the film was well worth it. (if you can, check out the deleted scenes for an extra treat or two)

Spider-Man: Far From Home is almost an epilogue to Endgame in many ways, and we see Spider-Man finally accepting who he is, the responsibility that goes with it, and the consequences of that. Entertaining, though the 'false' plotline with Mysterio seems to drag on for awhile longer than it maybe should have. The reveal at the end was just about pointless as we won't be seeing Spider-Man in the MCU anymore after this (that was the agreement between Marvel and Sony). Still a fun film and I've watched it a couple times since catching it in the theater the first time around. It was also a semi-decent ending or closer to Phase 3.

And that brings us up to today, waiting on the start of Phase 4 with Black Widow coming sometime in 2021. We've also learned there will be a third Spider-Man film in the MCU after all, so we'll get to see the outcome of the ending from SP2. We know a second Doctor Strange film is coming, and Scarlet Witch (Wanda) is a big part of that one. We have Thor 4 coming, along with another Black Panther, Ant-Man, and GOTG as well. There are a couple other films slated in Phase 4, but we honestly don't know much about them at this point so we don't have much by way of excitement or expectation for them. We do know that another Captain Marvel film is coming, and we've heard rumors around that the main character has been recast as the first actress ending up being a problem for Marvel and Disney and they decided they just didn't want to deal with her and her crap any more ('m paraphrasing, but that's the gist of it). We're all-in for Phase 4 and can't wait to get started with it.

Wonder Woman 1984 (a.k.a. WW84)

Overall rating:  Don't Bother

Well then. It's been a long while since we've put up a review. Life has been busy for us, and the COVID Pandemic hasn't helped things at all.

That said, we were able to view WW84 over its opening weekend. As Maryanne put it:  "I'm glad we didn't pay for that." We were able to get a short trial of HBOMAX at no cost, and that allowed us to see this film at no cost to us. We did watch it beginning to end, and had a short discussion afterwards. Below is the general summary of that conversation.

Initially, I was a bit perplexed at some of the content in this film when compared to the previous/first film and other Wonder Woman appearances in things like Justice League. One of the first things that struck me odd is that WW had a job, lived in a nice apartment in town, went out and did things in this film. Previously (Justice League), she had said at one point that she withdrew from the world for about 100 years having lost faith in humanity. So if she withdrew, how is it that she's working at a museum and entertaining dates and relationships, going out and doing the hero thing week after week somewhere in the middle of that 100 years? 

Regardless of that, within this film itself there are issues. Diana wishes for Steve to come back, and he does so (unknown to her initially because of the McGuffin plot device) but is inhabiting some other guys body. I'm pretty sure that isn't what she wished for, and I say that because at other points in the film people make wishes on this oddball crystalline plot device and the wording of the wish is followed very specifically. She wished for Steve, not his soul or essence or whatever in another body. So its not consistent (and stays that way), and we noticed this very early on.

As the film progresses, we find that the Convenient Story is very convenient to the various characters' needs. The big bad guy is in the Oval Office at one point taking power from the President, and it just so happens there are poster boards on display about a satellite system that can take control of any TV or screen across the planet. Just what the big bad guy needs to do what he wants to do with the world, and rather conveniently on display for him at just the right time.

WW learns to fly. WW learns to make thing invisible, so we can easily get the Invisible Jet just when the characters need it. Before WW learns to fly, we see that her magic lasso apparently has enough mass in itself to pull her off the ground when she throws the end of it out into the air. Physics might have something to say about that. She can also apparently lasso lightning to swing around, which I guess maybe could be explained away as possible by her being a daughter of Zeus I guess. 

Steve Trevor, the love interest, is just about wasted in this film. Other than piloting the jet once and helping out in a fight as WW has slowly been loosing her strength, he doesn't do anything else and doesn't actually help the story along.

Our other bad guy, or bad girl really, is also essentially wasted. Minerva does several thing to help Diana and Steve move the story along just like any other background character would, but she is also supposed to be an antagonist in this story and she and WW have a fight at the end. That fight was almost laughable really, and something of a waste of film in our minds. 

The real antagonist, after almost destroying the world ends up suffering no ill consequence for his actions. None. This guy brought the world from a reasonably stable place to a near-holocaust in a matter of hours. And when the McGuffin plot-device is finally destroyed (which I'm also not sure about) everything (things, not people) goes back to normal. The crystal thing which had been abused by the big bad guy, doesn't reappear after he goes back on his wish (and we're pretty sure it should have). 

This movie was very long, and it felt that way. It was tedious, boring in several places, and overall not very engaging. We could go on for several paragraphs or pages about the problems with this film, and knowing that I'm not going to bore you with a the problems that exist in just about every scene of this film. They had a good premise, and with a few tweaks it would've been a good story that could've been turned into a great screenplay. None of that happened though, and instead we got this film. There were a lot of possibilities with this film, and I was hopeful at the beginning that it would actually go places and make sense. I was hoping that the initial online reviews were being overly critical and extremely picky over every single little flaw. Turns out many of those reviews were actually being somewhat gentle to this film.

I think I can sum-up our feelings on this movie in a simple statement:  2020 was a near-complete dumpster fire because of the pandemic, and reviewing this film gives me the same feelings that this year has been giving me. Boring, tedious, lacking any real direction or plan, with everyone hoping that next day (or in this case the next scene) will have some redeeming quality and improve things overall. 

I agree with Maryanne in that I'm glad this ended up not costing us any money to see. The Director (who was also a writer on this) either lost direction during the writing and shooting of this film (which could also be why there were so many callbacks for reshoots) or somehow lost control of the process early on in shooting, resulting a lackluster, boring, waste of time and money.

That's WW84. Not a film that we'll be buying on disc when (if) it comes out. Characters are either poorly fleshed out, poorly explained, or otherwise wasted over the course of the film. The plot itself makes some sense, but the story around that plot is precarious and relies heavily on people not understanding the plot (the whole 'suspension of disbelief' thing) and just going with it for the duration. We found several spots where the story and/or characters contradict themselves (back and forth in a couple cases) and it just destroyed any sliver of believability in the plot or story behind it.

The trailers for the film related the best bits of the this movie, and there weren't really any more good bits. Things happen or can be done in the film because they need to in order for the story to happen. WW discovers new powers and abilities within herself and things she carries. New props/items/things introduced in the film and up being near useless to the film i.e. the amazon armor she's been holding onto that was explained as being impenetrable ends up coming apart during the weak and uninteresting fight between the good girl and the bad girl near the end of the film. If the armor is that strong and capable, then why does the story destroy it? And inversely if the big bad girl is just that powerful, then why spend precious film time earlier explaining about how it was made and how strong it was? Simply confusing, and that is what most of this film breeds: confusion. 

The first WW film wasn't without some issues, but it had a solid story driving a good plot that resulted in an overall good film that served as a good origin story for the character. This film did nothing to service that, and I daresay it detracted from it in no small degree. 

And before folks start attacking me because I'm a guy and fear powerful women, you need to keep in mind that many above words came from Maryanne and I echo them as I feel the same about this film as she does. This review is about the film and story, not that actors or their politics.

Having said the above, I should note that I'm happy to see a mid-credits scene with Lynda Carter. It was a nice nod to the actress herself and the years she put in playing this same character, and I was happy to see it. 

X-Men: Days of Future Past - Marcus Rosemount Theater

I....  Well... I really wanted to like it.... But...


Must See In Theater (if your a big X-Men fan), otherwise rent it.

It wasn't bad really, but it plays a lot with history, even history kinda already established in the other films. I say kinda because apparently they found just the right sized history-hole to put this film in, and then the film in-turn takes that established history and puts it in a blender.


The gist of it:
Way future. Mutants are at war with the Humans mostly. Mutants are losing big-time due to the improved Sentinel robots taking them out. These bots were invented/created back in the very early 1970's during the Nixon era (they said the exact year, but I forget now). These bots have no metal in them (which is impossible in that era of tech). The very future versions are far improved and rather lethal, having gained the ability to adapt to their opponents powers. That ability was taken from an extensive diagnosis of Mystique's transforming ability (via autopsy and experimentation) back in the 1970's again.......   which already destroys the first X-Men movies since that never happened.

Wolverine gets MENTALLY sent back in time (his future brain/mind wakes up in his past body) to prevent the war from ever starting; discredit the Sentinels and their creator, make the President understand that Mutants aren't the enemy, that kind of thing. Kitty Pride sends him back with her newly developed power to do so (convenient that is, eh?).


I honestly don't recall a whole lot about the movie because they broke science and physics to greater and lesser degrees multiple times throughout the story once the time travel thingy got going. I have a hard time accepting, for example, that you can have a 1970's tech giant robot that can fly, detect mutants, and is generally autonomous without it containing any metal (they were built with Magneto in mind). So, well, how does the electricity work? And the computer/electronics? Sensors? Movement of servos for arms and legs? In the 70's that was all metal baby, so this is a ludicrous statement. We also see conflict between Magneto and Mystique in this, to the point that she walks away from him (wants nothing to with him at the end of the film). We know that she almost blindly follows him through the first few films in the franchise, so what the heck happened between then and now to make her so totally obedient to him?

This film feels more like an attempt to reboot the entire X-Men universe so they can get more films out it with younger actors. Much like the Star Trek reboot a few years back.

It was entertaining, and the less science and technical types will get more enjoyment out of it than I did I'm sure. We'll probably end up buying this one just to maintain the movie collection, and for the kids in the future to watch, but no other reason than that.