Black Widow

 

Black Widow                                                                    July 19, 2021

If you are a fan of the marvel movies, you would have been waiting in anticipation for this one. The pandemic has pushed all of the big movie releases back and everyone I know has been feeling a little marvel withdraw. I know Disney + has been releasing a lot of teaser shows such as Loki and Wanda Vision to name a couple. Sadly, these just don’t have the power to capture my attention as a movie does.

This movie also features a woman as the lead, which is almost unheard of. Thankfully, times are changing. Brie Larson played as Captain Marvel and although it did well at the box office – it was not that great. I personally had no connection to the character and found it lacking in every way. Black Widow, however, has been in our lives for ten years, we like her, we know her, we root for her. This movie was different. It was interesting, it had a great back story, it was well put together, it had emotion and familiarity. It pulled you in and kept your attention. Some have said it is too dark but I thought it had just the right amount of dark with a mix of dry humor and an interesting family bond. Scarlett Johansson was great, as is expected, the surprisingly wonderful new character was Florence Pugh, who plays the sister in this movie. It is because of her that I am looking forward to the next Marvel movie. I think we can expect great things from her looking forward.

Of all the marvel movies, this is my new favorite. If you loved the Natasha Romanoff character in the previous movies – you are going to love this one as well.

 

Wrath of Man

 

Wrath of Man                                                                  July 19, 2021

This movie was exactly as expected. If you have watched Jason Statham before – this is more of the same. He plays the same character he always plays, the strong silent type, with a strong sense of justice. He goes after the bad guys with a one track mind. This movie is violent with lots of action. No surprises with this one.

The Tomorrow War

 

The Tomorrow War                                                                             July 19, 2021

This movie was surprisingly good. When I saw it on Amazon Prime I had not heard anything about it and did not have high expectations but decided to watch and see what it was all about.

This is a sci fi movie about aliens, war, relationships time travel and of course, saving the world. It features Chris Pratt and Yvonne Strahovski (I remember her from Dexter and Chuck). I really liked the mix of these two actors. There were a handful of complementary sidekicks and an interesting story line that I had not seen before. My least favorite was the actress who played the wife. She looked similar to Chris Pratt’s ex-wife Anna Faris, so that distracted me a bit.

All in all, if you like action movies and want to escape reality for a while – this could be for you.

F9

 

F9                                                                          June 28, 2021

Fast and Furious 9. The making of nine of these movies boggles my mind! I understand that they are making a lot of money and therefore, why mess with a good thing. I even went and saw it, knowing it was going to be eye rollingly bad, but when you have seen all the others, you feel like you need to see the latest installment.

If you don’t know what these movies are all about – imagine Looney Tunes but with real people. Everyone does ridiculous things to get themselves killed but they never die. These movies all have the same three elements, stunts, family and saving the world. All of these concepts are taken to the extreme. No one in the world has a family like this, except of course on screen where they play make believe. These movies are for adolescent boys - cars, explosions, women and high ideals.

I did enjoy myself during this movie, I made fun of all the craziness, I laughed at the ridiculous and rolled my eyes at the sappiness. And there is a lot of sappiness, long drawn out looks at each other and gushing, unrealistic family bonds. My least favorite character is the main character, Dom. He is unbelievably pompous and high on himself. If this was a person in real life, he would have zero friends.

I know, as a female, I should appreciate that they have included competent, self-reliant women. And, I do appreciate this. Sadly, these women are dressed appallingly. I know that doesn’t matter in real life, but in the movies, especially one where everything is complete fantasy, couldn’t they make an effort where these characters are concerned. Apparently they are trying to make the layered tank top a trend. In fact tank tops are a staple in all the characters wardrobes. The one exception, where they made an effort, was in the case of Charlize Theron. She was wearing red leather pants, and you guessed it, layered tank tops throughout the entire movie. This outfit was the only spot of color, sadly the pants were ill fitting and the tank tops – seriously, what is with all the tank tops? Do they have a contract with a tank top maker? Did they spend so much money on unrealistic stunts that they had to use the cheapest clothing possible? Who knows.

Anyway, if you loved the Looney Tunes as a child and you want a good eye rolling laugh or if you love the unbelievable – go see this movie, apparently everyone else has.

 

 

Cruella

 

Cruella                                                                            June 28, 2021

I can’t decide how I feel about this movie. As far as the new Disney remakes go, it was better than most. That said, it did not follow the original storyline at all, but provided us with Cruella’s backstory. I understand why Disney chose to do this, seeing how the population has become obsessed with villains over the past several years.

For myself, being a grown woman, I thoroughly enjoyed the fashion aspect. The two Emmas, Emma Stone and Emma Thompson were riveting and were both transformed into these characters. The mother in me wondered throughout, would I want my child to watch this movie? Good question. Yes they removed Cruella smoking and the fact that she was killing puppies from this movie – but they added so many more negative aspects. Death, murder, drinking and hurting other people are not values I want my child to think are normal or good.

I feel like Disney is trying so hard to hit all the politically correct trends lately that it has been missing the mark.

Would I watch this movie again, possibly, given time. Would I recommend this movie to other parents, probably not. Not unless your children are much older and you plan to use it as a teaching moment, having a long discussion afterwards about right and wrong, mental health issues, the value of all persons and garbage in, garbage out, to name a few.

 

 

The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard

 

The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard                                                            June 25, 2021

Wow! What a ride. This movie has it all, great actors who interact well together, intense non-stop action and humor! This movie is hilarious! Having enjoyed the first movie, I was looking forward to seeing this one as well. I was pleased that it had a complete story line, the action sequences made sense and humorous references were repeated. It was made even more special because it was the first one I was able to see in theatre since the lockdown. This is one you will definitely want to go see on the big screen.

Funny note: After I saw the first movie, I told a friend that I loved it and it was hilarious. He took his girlfriend to see it, telling her it was a comedy. She was livid with him, saying he had lied to get her to an action movie. So yes, full disclosure, this movie has laugh out loud material but it is also an action movie.

Please do not take your children or young teens to this movie. It is full of language, vulgarity and violence and it makes conscious people uncomfortable when there is a child present.