Movies I Saw in 2019

I meant to post this weeks ago, but I've really upped my procrastinator game in recent years.

I didn't get to a theater much last year, just twice. I saw Avengers: Endgame and Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker and loved them both.

Seen on TV:

• Crazy Rich Asians: I haven't watched rom-coms in years, but this was so well-reviewed, I gave it a try and loved it.
• One Upon a Deadpool: I ended up watching the PG version, with all the f-bombs bleeped. It was actually funny that way, including interludes/explanations of things they couldn't show.
• The Wife: Glenn Close is mesmerizing in this.
• First Man: Fictional account of Neil Armstrong becoming the first man to set foot on the moon. Riveting. 
• Solo: A Star Wars Story: A lot of people didn't like this movie about Han Solo's early years, but I thought it was fun. Plus, Alden Ehrenreich was delightful as Han and Donald Glover was great as Lando.
• On the Basis of Sex: Felicity Jones is masterful playing Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
• Fantastic Beasts 2: The Crimes of Gindelwald: A nice follow-up to the first one, a bit more suspenseful, as middle-of-trilogy movies should be.
• Ugly Dolls: A totally charming, animated movie about the Ugly Doll toys.
• Can You Ever Forgive Me: Based on a true story, this starred Melissa McCarthy as a writer-turned-forger. She proves she's not just funny, but a talented actress.

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Movie Time

I meant to post this sooner: the movies I saw in 2018. Some were seen in the movie theater, others on TV. Here they are in no particular order:

• Ocean's 8: A delightful, all-female caper movie
• Black Panther: One of Marvel Studio's best superhero films
• Blade Runner 2049: I hesitate to admit I never saw "Blade Runner." I did find this enjoyable and easy enough to follow.
• Dunkirk: A well done fictionalized account of the evacuation of British soldiers from the beach at Dunkirk during WWII.
• Ant-Man and the Wasp: A fun sequel to Ant-Man
• Thor: Ragnorak: Nice blend of serious and fun. Perhaps the best of the three Thor movies
• Avengers: Infinity War: Quite the cliffhanger to end this one. Things are getting dark in the Marvel movie-verse.
• Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle: Four teens get sucked into an old video game as their adult avatars. Fun movie.

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End of Year Movie Post

I've been posting about the movies I've seen in a calendar year at the end of December for a few years now. This year, I saw a lot of them On Demand at home and thought about making separate lists for On Demand and In Theater viewings, then figured it doesn't matter since these are all recent movies. So, here's the list, with brief commentary.

• Spider-Man -- This was loads of fun, everything a Spider-Man movie should be. Plus, Tom Holland was a perfect Peter Parker.
• Guardians of the Galaxy 2 -- Not as awesome as the first, but just as satisfying, as Peter finds his father. It's hard to capture the freshness of the first one, but this works on a more emotional level.
• Florence Foster Jenkins -- Saw this at home and am glad I got to see it. A charming, bittersweet story.
• The Girl on the Train -- I figured out some of it, but was surprised by other bits, then kicked myself for missing the cues and clues. Well done suspense/thriller and though I haven't read the book, it felt like a good adaptation.
• Loving -- Based on the true story of the Lovings, a mixed race couple who challenged their right to marry and took it to the Supreme Court. Quiet, understated, powerful, and beautifully acted.
• Zootopia -- Had to wait for this to hit Amazon Prime. A pure delight. 
• Moonlight -- An award-winning, gay coming-of-age story that deserved the awards.
• Manchester by the Sea -- Well told story about loss.
• Moana -- A lovely animated movie with girl power at its heart.
• Fences -- a tour de force acting showcase for Viola Davis and Denzel Washington.
• Sing -- A fun animated movie. The show must go on!
• Hidden Figures -- Another based-on-a-true story, as well as a book adaptation that tells the stories of the black women mathematicians in NASA, focusing on John Glenn's historic flight. A must-see movie.
• The Queen of Katwe -- It was my year for "based-on-a-true-story" movies. This lovely movie is about a young girl in an impoverished African village who becomes a chess champion.
• LaLaLand -- A delightful musical, but I wasn't as bowled over by it as some people were. I'm glad I saw it, though, and was happy to see it wasn't cheesy or sappy.
• Beauty and the Beast --A nice job of turning an animated Disney movie into a live-action Disney movie.
• Wonder Woman -- I could write an essay about this. Suffice it to say, it's about time. Directed by a woman, Patty Jenkins, and acted to perfection by Gal Gadot, this was the Wonder Woman movie we needed, full of humor, love, determination, heroics, bravery, and inspiration. The plot is simple, but more isn't needed. Wonder Woman soars and I cried. A lot.
• Lego Batman Movie -- Fun.
• Lion -- Another based-on-a-true story, this time about a lost boy in India who is adopted by white Australians, then goes on a search to find his past. Beautifully told.
• A United Kingdom -- Yup, another based-on-a-true-story film, focusing on the heir to an African throne who falls in love with a white woman in England mid-20th Century. Heart-warming and well acted.
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them -- First in a series of Harry Potter prequels. Eddie Redmayne delights as Newt Scamander and the movie is fun.
• The Big Sick -- Would you believe this is another based-on-a-true story? It is! Kumail Nanjiani and his wife wrote this movie about how they met and fell in love, and how it took her illness and induced coma to get him to realize that he couldn't live without her. Given the severity of her illness, this is a funny and charming movie, with comic Nanjiani starring as himself.
• Wind River -- Murder on a Native American reservation. Stark scenery in winter enhance this mystery tale.
• Atomic Blonde -- Based on a graphic novel with a kick-ass female spy working for the Brits at the end of the Cold War just before the Berlin Wall comes down. The requisite comic book action is raised to an artform and the plot twists elevate this from just an average story to one that keeps you guessing. I want a sequel.
• Logan Lucky -- Fun heist caper with humor and heart.
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi -- Everything I hoped for and more. Not quite the formulaic movie Star Wars movies often are, this had a nice mix of realistic emotions, doubts and fears as well as hope. I can't wait for the next one.

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Wonder Woman

This is a bit late as I saw the movie last week. I don't normally post full reviews here, but this movie is so important and so wonderful, I have to share my thoughts as widely as possible.

My non-spoilery review of "Wonder Woman." First, just to get it out there, while I started reading Wonder Woman comics in my teens, she wasn't the female character I idolized or identified with. That was Supergirl. The original Supergirl and I were of an age. We overlapped in life experiences at various times, or at least shared them at different times: high school, college, first jobs, back to college/grad school, trying to figure out what we wanted as a career. When DC killed her off in Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985, I was devastated and pretty much stopped reading nearly all comics for a decade. I never had that kind of relationship with Wonder Woman. I cared more for Donna Troy/Wonder Girl, actually, because she was in the Teen Titans, which I loved. So I was completely unprepared for how deeply and emotionally the Wonder Woman movie hit me. It got me in the feels, to use current vernacular. I started tearing up fairly early on with Diana's training scenes and pretty much had to force myself to not cry so I wouldn't miss seeing anything due to too much moisture in my eyes. More on this at the end of this review.

Second, this was the most fun DC movie since the first Christopher Reeve Superman movie and the best DC movie since the Nolan Batman trilogy. Disclaimer: I passed on Man of Steel, Batman vs Superman, and Suicide Squad.

Third, the inevitable comparison with Marvel movies, mainly those from Marvel Studios. I love the Marvel movies. My favorites are Captain America: Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, and both Guardians of the Galaxy, with Ant-Man and Captain America: First Avenger, The Avengers, and the first Iron Man as runners-up. Deadpool was awesome, too. But even at their very best, they felt like comic book movies. Wonder Woman felt real, just an ordinary adventure movie set in WWI that just happened to focus on a mythical woman with superpowers. And that's due to the tight, focused script and the brilliant direction of Patty Jenkins. The story felt intimate in the middle of a war. It was a coming-of-age tale, a good vs evil story that wasn't quite about good or evil but more about love and human nature and how those two are often in conflict but not always. At its hard, it was about real people. Very believable people, and for all my love for Bucky Barnes, Scott Lang, Steve Rogers, and every member of the Guardians of the Galaxy, I don't believe I could meet them in real life the way I felt I could meet Diana and Steve Trevor and Etta Candy and all the rest. The humor in the film doesn't come from intentional quipping but from normal human interactions, including Diana's encounters with things in man's world she'd never encountered while growing up. The human interactions didn't feel added on or like interludes they way they do in some superhero movies. Every moment felt earned and justified.

This was a perfect origin story for Wonder Woman, a good reworking of the various versions in the comics that felt right. The casting was amazing, and the two young actresses playing younger versions of Diana were great.

The movie not only met but exceeded my high expectations. When I got teary-eyed, it wasn't just because of the emotion on screen, but more due to the iconic comic book shots Jenkins gave us. Just seeing Wonder Woman leap, shield in hand, sword held high put a lump in my throat and moisture in my eyes. The DC TV-verse has become the epitome of a filmed DCU, something the movie-'verse couldn't compete with. That will change if DC keeps giving us movies like this one.

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Year in Movies

Since I feel confident I won't see another movie this year, here is my end-of-year movies post.

I'm splitting the list between In-Theater and On-Demand-on-TV.

Seen in the theater:

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens...An excellent return to the Star Wars universe, washing away the horrible taste of the "Clone Wars" trilogy. Rey is a wonderful character. A bittersweet ending, made more bittersweet in light of Carrie Fisher's recent death.
2. Hail Caesar... Not much story here, but a fun rolic, with excellent musical numbers and a wonderful cast, about a studio fixer in old Hollywood.
3. Room... I loved the book and the movie did justice to this story about a kidnapped young woman who gives birth to a child while in captivity and plots her escape with her son. Jacob Tremblay is amazing as the young boy, and Brie Larson is excellent as his mother.
4. Spotlight... Based on the true story about the reporters who doggedly pursued the story of child abuse in the Catholic Church in Boston. Understated and moving, an all-around excellent job.
5. Deadpool.... Marvel's "Merc with a Mouth" come to life. Ryan Reynolds was born to play the foul-mouthed superhero. Not for everyone, but I loved it.
6. Captain America: Civil War... Marvel's Captain America movies are among their best. This one pits Iron Man against Captain America, with the Winter Soldier caught in the middle. I loved it.
7. Star Trek Beyond.... Once again, the Enterprise is destroyed, but they get that out of the way early so they can focus on the story, and it was thrilling and fun and ties into the past. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
8. Doctor Strange... A movie that's best seen on the big screen due to the amazing effects. Not my favorite Marvel movie, but an enjoyable one.
9. Arrival... Science fiction at its most thoughtful, as a team of researchers attempts to communicate with aliens who have shown up on Earth in the not-too-distant future. Excellent.
10. Rogue One... A standalone Star Wars story that tells how the Alliance got the plans for the Death Star just prior to Star Wars: A New Hope. I started the year with Star Wars and ended it with Star Wars. Most fitting.

Seen at Home, On TV, On Demand:

1. Carol... A moving story about a young woman mid-20th century coming to terms with her gayness.
2. Ricki and the Flash... Not as good as I'd hoped, but a watchable movie about an aging rock singer and the family from which she's estranged.
3. Big Eyes... An entertaining look at the woman behind the paintings of the big-eyed people that were once enormously popular.
4. Anomalisa... An unusual animated film.
5. Concussion... Will Smith gives a fine, understated performance as the medical practitioner who uncovers the dangers of concussions in football players.
6. Suffragette... The fight for women's rights in England makes for a good and timely historical movie.
7. Brooklyn... I'm not a big romance fan, but this story about an immigrant in the previous century who has to choose between her new life in Brooklyn and her old one in Ireland is a good one.
8. The Danish Girl... Eddie Redmayne is amazing as probably the first transgender man to undergo surgery to become a woman. A lovely movie.
9. Captain Fantastic... A moving story well performed about an unorthodox family living outside civilization and forced back to it after the mother dies.
10. The Big Short... Any movie that can make questionable financial practices so entertaining is a good movie.
11. Paddington... Utterly charming. I'm happy there will be a sequel.

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Rogue One

Saw "Rogue One" today and really enjoyed it, though it was bittersweet given Carrie Fisher's death. The movie was definitely darker than the rest of the Star Wars movies, which gave it more gravitas than them.

I loved the original trilogy, especially the first one, now known as "A New Hope." It was fun, it was different, and it was good enough to earn the sequels that made Star Wars a franchise. But it wasn't as good as "The Empire Strikes Back." Despite the cliffhanger ending, ESB was a better, deeper, richer movie, darker in many ways. The third movie we got to see, "Return of the Jedi" restored the lighter feel to the franchise, too light, even silly in parts. But the trilogy is solid entertainment, something "The Clone Wars" never managed to be. Having recently seen parts of the first and third of those -- and I never did ever see the second -- on cable, I was reminded that they're unwatchable, worse than I'd remembered. Nostalgia had elevated them in my mind; rewatching lowered them again.

"The Force Awakens" was wonderful, if not all that fresh and unpredictable. But it gave us some amazing new characters, and that made me happy. The franchise is alive and well.

And now we have "Rogue One," a standalone that fills in the details of how the rebels got the plans to the Death Star prior to "A New Hope." We know, going in, that the rebels succeed in getting those plans to the Rebel Alliance. Telling a story when the ultimate outcome is known and maintaining suspense is a hard job, and I realized early on how things would end. And it didn't matter. The story had real suspense, real things at stake, and a very appealing cast.

Star Wars will never be to me what Star Trek has been -- Star Trek being part of my formative years and Star Wars coming into my life when I was already an adult, not to mention being more space opera than the more complex science fiction of the Trek TV series and many of its movies -- but it remains an entertaining franchise having shaken off the doldrums of the 3-part "Clone Wars." How I wish those movies could be redone so they could be raised to this level. "Rogue One might not be the best Star Wars movie, but I'm really glad to have seen it.

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2015 in Movies

Last year (Hard to believe I'm saying that now for 2015) started as a good movie year for me, but some annoying health issues kept me from seeing much at a theater over the last two months of the year. Of what I did see, I mostly loved. Here are the 15 in '15.

• The Imitation Game: A movie from 2014, and most excellent. Made me come home and read up about the history it was based on.
• Top Five: A pleasantly funny Chris Rock movie with real intelligence about men and women and dating.
• Avengers: Age of Ultron: Not as good as the first Avengers movie, but entertaining.
• Ex Machina: A very well done near-future science fiction tale, brilliantly acted.
• Spy: This Melissa McCarthy spy genre sendup was much fun, with laugh-out-loud moments.
• Jurassic World: Loads of fun, a perfect summer movie.
• Mad Max: Fury Road: I never saw any of the Mad Max movies, but thanks to Cherlize Theron, I made this a must-see movie and I was not disappointed. A brilliantly realized story and reality. Furiosa (Theron) kicked major butt.
• Infinitely Polar Bear: Mark Ruffalo's amazing performance as a bipolar husband and father trying to prove he can take care of his kids while his wife pursued her career made this movie rise above what could have been an ordinary movie into something extraordinary.
• Ant-Man: This pretty much followed Marvel's typical movie origin of a superhero formula, but was fun none the less.
• Far From the Madding Crowd: I love the Thomas Hardy book from which this was adapted, and it was close to a perfect adaptation. Carey Mulligan was perfect as Bathsheba Everdene.
• The Man from UNCLE: Adapting my favorite TV show from the 1960s was no easy job, but this excelled in capturing the fun of the show while being its own thing. I wish it had been more successful; I want a sequel.
• The End of the Tour: Based on a true story, this is a tour de force bit of acting as Jason Segel as enigmatic author David Foster Wallace went head-to-head with Jesse Eisenberg as journalist David Lipsky.
• The Martian: I didn't read the book, but I did love the movie, an ultimate survival tale about an astronaut trapped on Mars.
• Bridge of Spies: Another bit of history, this focused on a Soviet spy in the US and the attempt to use him in a prisoner exchange for downed American spy pilot Gary Powers. I remember, though barely, Powers, but I was too young to remember when the spy was arrested. Another enthralling movie that had me researching the story behind it. 
• Mockingjay, Part 2: The Hunger Games saga concluded in this thrilling movie that followed closely with the book.

Movie Ticket Stubs

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Three Observations

I went to the movies and finally saw "The Imitation Game." Just brilliant, and so sad. Every time I think about Alan Turing, I get angry and sad about how he was treated because of his homosexuality, and his suicide, but I also am angry and saddened to think of all the decades the world was deprived of his genius. I'm typing this on a personal computer and that's because of him probably more than anyone. And my curiosity about the rest of the codebreaking team led me to this article.

Before the movie, though, I saw a preview for a new movie starring Sean Bean: "Jupiter Ascending." And I couldn't help wondering if his character dies and how soon into the movie it happens. I don't know if he's the record holder for most movie and TV deaths, but he must be right up there.

While reading articles shared on Facebook yesterday, articles I'd first seen a week ago, I realized Facebook and the rest of social media is a weird time machine where it constantly feels as if you've gone back a week or a month or even a year or more as things keep cycling through as other people discover them. I wonder sometimes, if the same people keep posting and reposting the same things because they forgot they posted or shared them before, or are they really first discovering something days, weeks, even months after everyone else. Facebook is a place where you get stuck in a weird time loop.


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My Year at the Movies

This was a good year for me, movie-wise. I used to see a lot of movies over a year, but the last 5 or 6 years I worked, I was lucky to see 3 or 4 in the theater, and even the first couple of years of my retirement were slow for movie viewing.

The list, in order seen:

1. "Inside Llewyn Davis" -- So enjoyable, I saw it twice. A wonderful look at New York City's folk music scene back in its heyday, just before rock 'n' roll. Oscar Isaac is marvelous as the singer/musician who won't grow up.
2. "12 Years a Slave" -- Deserving of every accolade it received. A powerfully acted movie based on the true story of a free black man kidnapped and sold into slavery. Chiwetel Ejiofor brings quiet dignity to the role.
3. "The Dallas Buyers Club" -- Based on a true story from the early years of the AIDS epidemic, that focused on a homophobe drug addict who falls ill with full blown AIDs and what he does to get the experimental drugs that could extend his life. Another powerful, brilliantly acted movie. One of Matthew McConaughey's best performances.
4. "Her" -- A man falls in love with his phone's AI. A sweet and unusual love story. Joaquin Phoenix is great, and Scarlett Johansson is better as the disembodied voice of the AI.
5. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" -- Wes Anderson's movies aren't for everyone, but I love them and this is a charming, funny movie about an elegant hotel, with a murder and Nazis, a prissy concierge (perfectly underplayed by Ralph Fiennes), and his lobby boy.
6. "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" -- One of the best movies from Marvel Studios, a sequel to "Captain America: First Avenger" and even better than that one.
7. "Belle" -- Another fact-base movie, this time about a mixed race woman in England of whom little is known, other than she was raised in luxury and influenced her uncle, the chief magistrate whose decisions helped end slavery there. A well-done period movie, beautifully acted, especially Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Belle.
8. "X-Men: Days of Future Past" -- A mind-blowing time travel piece featuring Wolverine. Loads of fun.
9. "Maleficent" -- An utterly charming origin story of the so-called evil fairy from the Sleeping Beauty tale, with a layer of edginess that feels just right. Angelina Jolie brings depth to the title role.
10. "Edge of Tomorrow" -- A surprisingly good science fiction movie that uses the plot device of "Groundhog Day," where the hero keeps reliving one day until he gets it right, and what he needs to get right will save humanity from an alien invasion. I might not like Tom Cruise, but he's still a damn good actor.
11. "Snowpiercer" -- A thought-provoking, gritty story about a new Ice Age and the remains of humanity living out their lives on a never-stopping train that circumnavigates the world. Chris Evans, as the main character, reminds us he's more than Captain America.
12. "Boyhood" -- A tour de Force piece of filmmaking about a boy coming of age, filmed over a 12-year-span. An amazing movie that makes the mundane important, and finds emotion in everyday life.
13. "Guardians of the Galaxy" -- My favorite movie of the year, if not the best movie. How can I not love a movie with a talking tree and a foul-mouthed raccoon? That's a rhetorical question.
14. "Get On Up" -- This has been my year for biopics and based-on-true-stories. This is an excellent movie about James Brown, and you can't beat the music. Chadwick Boseman transforms himself into Brown.
15. "Love is Strange" -- A bittersweet tale of an aging gay couple, beautifully acted.
16. "Pride" -- Based on the true story of a group of gay activists in England who came to the aid of striking coal miners during the Margaret Thatcher era and the bond that formed between the two very different groups of people. Endearing.
17. "The Judge" -- Not as good as it could have been, but worth it for the acting, with Robert Duvall as the Judge and father, and Robert Downey, Jr. as the lawyer and son.
18. "Gone Girl" -- Well-acted, but not as plot-twisty as I expected because I'd figured it out about a third of the way through. But a good movie. Since I didn't read the book, I can't comment on how good an adaptation it is.
19. "Whiplash" -- Stunning. An acting gem, with aspiring drummer Miles Teller pitted against cruel music professor J.K. Simmons. The jazz will get into your soul, and the acting will keep it there.
20. "The Book of Life" -- A charming animated movie based on Mexican folktales. Gorgeous graphics.
21. "Birdman" -- Another acting gem, as Michael Keaton proves he's still one of the best around, playing an actor, who once played a superhero, slowly losing his mind while trying to resurrect his career via a Broadway play. The movie was filmed to look like it was done in one long take and it works brilliantly.
22. "Big Hero 6" -- An animated movie based on an old Marvel comic. This origin story is about a boy genius who avenges his brother's murder with the aid of his brother's friends and his brother's invention: a medical AI named Baymax. There's also a post-credits scene a lot of people missed.
23. "Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1" -- A good adaptation of the first half of the book, but bittersweet due to Philip Seymour Hoffman's final performance (I believe he'll be seen somewhat in the second half, due out next year).
24. "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" -- Disclaimer: I never read Tolkien. I loved the "Lord of the Rings" movies. I didn't enjoy the three Hobbit movies as much. They seemed somewhat lifeless to me, emotionless. I enjoyed seeing them, but they didn't linger with me, as good movies usually do.
25. "Nightcrawler" -- Jake Gyllenhaal lost weight for this role as a sleazy guy with a violent streak who discovers he he's perfectly suited to cruise the nights of Los Angeles to film graphic footage for local news broadcasts. He's scary, creepy good in what is at its core a morality play about the media and how far the newscasters will go to feed an audience that craves violence.
26. "Into the Woods" -- I didn't see the stage musical, but I loved the movie. Sondheim has long been one of my favorite composers and lyricists, so I, of course, loved his score. All the actors were topnotch and this dark fairy tale mash-up made for the perfect "last seen movie of the year."

I always have trouble picking favorites, especially one favorite, but I'm going to force myself to choose this time.

My favorite of all the movies I saw this year is "Guardians of the Galaxy." It was pure fun, had a lot of heart, and included sufficient heart-in-throat, edge-of-seat moments, making it the perfect superhero movie.

Best movie, though, that I saw was "Boyhood," with "Birdman" a very close second. Both attempted something different. "Boyhood" was filmed a bit at a time, over 12 years, and "Birdman" was filmed to look like one long shot, and both succeeded beyond expectations, showing that experimenting with form still exists and can still be more than a gimmick.


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Simon Pegg on a Stick

I went to see the new movie "Pride" a couple of days ago. It's a marvelous movie based on a true story about a group of gay and lesbian activists in London who raised money in support of striking Welsh miners in the 1980s. And as I was leaving, one of the theater staff members was handing out these promo items for the movie "Hector and the Search for Happiness." So now I have a photo of Simon Pegg on a stick. :) But I'm not sure I'm going to go see it. The reviews have been rather mixed.

Photo of Simon Pegg's Face on a Stick

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Movie Poetry

The marquee of this multiplex movie theater made me smile. All it needs is proper punctuation, maybe an added article and/or preposition.

Into the Storm Lucy Step Up All in Get on Up Planet of the Apes

In other news, I had a great chocolate shake from Bareburger and bought a pair of gray jeans from Eddie Bauer. The yumminess of the shake was expected; finding a pair of gray jeans was not. I haven't had a pair of gray jeans in ages, not since my last pair fell apart from wear and tear years ago. It's so hard to find them, let alone to find a pair that color that fits me. I'm excited.


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Link Post

These Toaster Selfies could become the next big thing!

The 19 Truest Tweets About Life in New York City. I don't agree with every one of them, but they're all entertaining.

In China, Peaches Wear Panties.

I managed to see "Guardians of the Galaxy" this week. I love these interviews with cast members, especially this from Jimmy Kimmel's show. Also, Chris Pratt shows off Star Lord's space ship. This is quite possibly the perfect comic book movie. The cast is great, the action and humor and serious moments are well mixed, and it's hard to not like a movie with a talking tree and an intelligent yet surly raccoon. Most fun I've had in a movie theater this year.

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Sleeping Beauty and Maleficent

Saw "Maleficent" today. Angelina Jolie was perfect in the starring role and Elle Fanning is a delight as Aurora; her smile lit up the theater. This isn't the simplistic fairy tale but a character driven story of love, betrayal, revenge, and redemption.

It also inspired me to pull out the two bits of "Sleeping Beauty" memorabilia I own: the Little Golden Book version of the Disney animated movie and a large format brochure, with a foldout centerfold, from Disneyland, copyright 1957, that my parents brought home for me during a trip they made to California in either 1959 or 1961 or maybe sometime in-between. The brochure is in very worn shape, torn where it was opened and closed too many times over the decades as I read and reread it endlessly, especially opening it to admire the centerfold. The book is marred by my outlining one illustration, something I tended to do when I was a kid.

Sleeping Beauty Castle Brochure

Sleeping Beauty Castle Brochure

Sleeping Beauty Castle Brochure

Sleeping Beauty Castle Brochure

Sleeping Beauty Castle Brochure

Sleeping Beauty Castle Brochure

Sleeping Beauty Castle Brochure Centerfold

Little Golden Book

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Monday Monday

Monday is finally not the annoying day it was back when I was working. Although, unless I have specific plans for something fun to do, it still has annoyances as it's cleaning day, so I can get the bulk of cleaning done and can get on with the week.

Watched the season finale of The Good Wife. Excellent episode, perfect way to end the season with hints of storylines to come.

Saw the movie Belle. Really excellent and educational as it's based on the life of a mixed race woman in England in the late-1700s. I highly recommend it.

In honor of Rubik Cube's 40th anniversary.


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Pop Culturally Speaking

Saw "Captain America: Winter Soldier" today, and it was awesome. One of the best superhero movies. Even Marvel Agents of SHIELD this week, which tied into the movie, was better than usual.

Sunday's "Game of Thrones" was amazing. So good to have the show back. So, here's a roundup of some links I found.

• Game of Thrones: 1995 Style.
• Jimmy Kimmel with a fun spoof of season 4's first episode.

A few other fun links:

• Some amazing sculptures.
• Jimmy Fallon's Top 10 Reasons David Letterman is retiring.
• And a new Monty Python song!

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Same Old Same Old

So far, this year has been rather boring. The weather has pretty much sucked, so I've hunkered down and when I hunker down, I don't get out to find new chocolate to buy, eat, and write about. I could spend the time looking for tasty links to share, but to be honest, I've been lazy, too.

Looking back to 2013, I didn't see as many movies as I'd wanted, but I did see more than I thought. To review, I saw the following last year:

• Silver Linings Playbook (Loved it!)
• Les Miserables (Somewhat disappointing, and whoever thought Russell Crowe could sing was wrong. Very wrong.)
• 42 -- Excellent fictionalized version of how Jackie Robinson integrated major league baseball.
• Iron Man 3 (Much fun. Robert Downey, Jr. can still bring it!)
• Star Trek Into Darkness (Saw it twice. Loved it both times.)
• Much Ado About Nothing (A little something Joss Whedon whipped up in his home with some friends. Very enjoyable, with a delightful cast. And it was nice seeing Whedon's house.)
• Blue Jasmine (Quite good. A solid character study of a woman falling apart.)
• Thor: The Dark World (I enjoyed the first one, but this was better now that we're past the origin aspect of the first film. And Tom Hiddleston as Loki is worth the admission price alone.)
• Catching Fire (The sequel to The Hunger Games. Nicely done, a good adaptation of the book.)
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (I never read the book, so I've been enjoying these without reservation.)
• American Hustle (Great movie. Great cast. Nuff said.)

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Death of the Fridge

Our fridge is dying. The freezer is pretty much unreliable right now, with things melting, then refreezing, which means I don't trust the refrigerator section of it, either. Repair guy says it's the compressor. RIP, Whirlpool Compressor. New fridge on order. I've mostly been eating non-perishables, or in restaurants. Fortunately, chocolate, while best chilled, is a non-perishable.

I have seen Thor: The Dark World. I enjoyed it immensely. I highly recommend it, even if you haven't seen the first Thor movie. Which I did, and enjoyed, but the sequel is better. Yeah, a sequel better than the movie it follows. A rare treat, indeed.

Favorite new show of the TV season remains Sleepy Hollow. Sorry, Marvel Agents of SHIELD, but despite being entertaining, you just seem to be lacking something, maybe the polish, audacity, and sheer fun that is Sleepy Hollow. And favorite new show of last season, Arrow, continues to entertain, kicking it up a few notches in its sophomore year.


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Snack and a Movie

A friend and I saw the movie "Blue Jasmine" yesterday and enjoyed it muchly. Cate Blanchett gives a brilliant performance as a woman uhinged after her perfect marriage and perfect upper crust life fall apart. With no income, no job, and just out of a sanitarium after a breakdown, she moves in temporarily with her working class sister while she attempts to put her life back together. But life and her own inability to cope work against her. This is one of Woody Allen's best films in a while.

After, we went for a snack at the Doughnut Plant. I'd been wanting to try their donuts but hadn't gotten around to visiting their downtown location, but they added a second location on West 23rd St. in Manhattan, conveniently located a block or so from a movie theater, thus making it an excellent place for a post-movie snack. The variety was impressive, and there were a number of choices for confirmed chocoholics. I selected a triple chocolate and was not disappointed. This chocolicious confection was moist and rich with chocolate goodness. I need to go back and try the other chocolate options, and perhaps some of the non-chocolate donuts, too.

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My Year at the Movies

Retirement has improved my movie-going experience. I think I saw more movies in the theater this year than the last 3 years combined. I did miss a few I wanted to see and will have to catch them on DVD. Book reading, however, suffered for some reason.

Here's a movie look back on my first year of retirement at the movies.

Movie Theater Ticket Stubs

I'm missing at least one movie, and I can't recall if there were others.

• Hunger Games: Based on the first book of a Young Adult science fiction/dystopian trilogy, this was a fine adaptation, with a great cast and a solid script.
• The Artist: An excellent movie about the early days of movie-making, focusing on the transition from silent films to talkies.
• Avengers: One of the best, if not the best, comic book adaptation ever. Nuff said.
• Dark Shadows: Seemed mostly to be played for laughs, this reworking of the classic horror soap opera starred Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins. I don't think it did well at the box office, but, as a longtime fan of the TV show, I enjoyed it and thought it was a lot of fun.
• Men in Black 3: I'm missing the stub. A fun movie that makes up for the awfulness of the second movie in the series. Josh Brolin did an excellent job channeling a young version of Tommy Lee Jones.
• Rock of Ages: I don't have the stub, and I saw it twice, with different relatives each time. We all enjoyed it, but it also didn't do well at the box office.
• Magic Mike: A fun look at male strippers, and such sexy guys they are! A good movie that managed to not be exploitive while still delivering plenty of male eye candy.
• The Campaign: A funny, cynical look at the election process that had some real bite.
• Looper: I wasn't sure about this, but the reviews were good, so I gave this science fiction/time travel movie a try, and I'm glad I did. There was a good story here, well told and well acted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis.
• Argo: A solid thriller based on an actual event, the rescue of six Americans given shelter by the Canadian ambassador after the American embassy was taken by Iranian rebels.
• Skyfall: The latest James Bond adventure was excellent.
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: This wonderful adaptation of the first part of JRR Tolkien's book has me eager for the two sequels.

There was at least one other, maybe two, that I didn't enjoy as much as I'd hoped. I've also forgotten the titles. I also watched The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the American version with Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara) and thought it was a fine adaptation. The other major movie I saw on DVD was Casino Royale, starring Daniel Craig, so it was kinda a bit Daniel Craig year for me. And he sure makes a great Bond.

Edited to add: I also saw Arbitrage with Richard Gere. It was well acted and a solid story of a basically good though weak-willed married man who digs a deeper and deeper hole for himself after his girlfriend is killed in a car accident when he was driving.

Feeling: tired

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Skyfall

It took me a while, but I finally saw Skyfall. I became a Bond fan back when I first started reading the books when I was 11, my first being From Russia, With Love. I haven't seen many of the movies after Sean Connery's, but I enjoyed Daniel Craig in Casino Royale. Skyfall takes things to a whole 'nother level. It's the perfect Bond film, with the requisite action, gadgets, and all the little touches, like the return of the Aston-Martin. It was emotional and personal, too, getting to the heart of Bond's relationship with M, and a peek into Bond's past. Javier Bardem made a great villain, Naomie Harris was wonderful as a fellow agent, and Ben Whishaw made a great Q. The opening credits were eye-popping, the title song by Adele was excellent and  very Bondian. And best of all, the concessions counter had Sno-Caps, my favorite movie snack!

Feeling: content


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