Last Movie You Watched

The kind of film that immerses you, time and again.

 

Aladdin and I loved it.

 

Saw that on Friday! I like how this Godzilla movie is a sequel to the 2014 one in the way sequels should be done. It's bigger, and different, but the world feels the same and IS the same.
While I wasn't a fan of the human aspect either outside of Watanabe's performance and Ziyi Zhang's character (it was nothing new and not that good at what it was), I don't think anyone was terrible. It was just bland. That being said, I DO like the idea of each Godzilla movie exploring a different military and civilian character each time, with the through line being Dr. Ishiro. That would help flesh the world out and keep the world grounded instead of these human characters becoming super action stars in movies where they shouldn't even be the focus.

Overall I thought the movie was a good dumb action movie, and there's nothing wrong with that!

Edit: Also, as someone who grew up with the old Godzilla movies (the ones you'd have to find in specialty stores that you'd be LUCKY if they were dubbed, I have enjoyed this take on Godzilla. Different, but the King of the Monsters has lived through dozens of iterations so I look forward to each one and what new thing they bring.

 

"Story? you don't need a story! YOU'VE GOT ME!!!!

 

Always Be My Maybe - A delightful Netflix rom-com staring Ali Wong and Randall Park with a brilliant cameo from Keanu Reeves.

 

The TL;DR - 7.5/10. It's a solid film on its own but rises above as a family film. It honors the original story enough to quell hardcore fans of the cartoons but is different enough to stand as its own version. This is NOT a beat-by-beat remake of the movie, and it's better for it.

The longer version:
In late December, I had two friends I made in Japan come visit me for about a week. That Sunday, we went to church. This was their first time in a church and since they couldn't understand, I did my best to paraphrase the lesson via talking/whispering, Google Translate, the Japanese I did know, and a Japanese translation of the Bible I found online. Needless to say it was an interesting experience and I have so much respect for translators now. What didn't help was the young girl and her mother in front of us that kept looking back at our row, partially annoyed as to why we were making so much noise in our attempt to understand the lesson across languages, and partially why these two Japanese people were at their 70% Black 25% White 5% biracial church. I was ready to defend my friends to these two strangers, but fortunately all we got were stares and glares.

So when I went to see Aladdin tonight with my family, and the group of ladies next to us were talking during the movie in a language I couldn't understand* I tried my best to give them grace and focus on the movie. After all, what if they were trying to explain the movie to a person in their group who didn't speak English? It was hard, given that they spoke through about 60% of the movie, even during quieter scenes, but I tried. What I DIDN'T respect them for was pulling out their phones to check messages. That's just rude!

All of that to say, watching an English-spoken live action remake of a cartoon about an Arabic legend that was added to its book by a French translator, with some foreign language I didn't understand being spoken next to me was an interesting experience. But enough about that.

This movie is both the movie you think it is and not the one you expect. Let's start with the characters.

Many people were worried about Will Smith's Genie. Many people I think still are. Heck, my whole family was! And yes, Will Smith is NOT Robin Williams. But at the same time, he doesn't try to be. Will Smith's Genie is different. He's not as zany but is still super loose. He carries a bit of a burden with him and it occasionally shows. His singing isn't as robust as Robin's was either, but the music accommodates that by having more jazz and hip-hop elements, allowing Will to slip into that instead. And it works! Will's Genie felt like when a new actor takes over the role of a superhero. Like Toby Maguire to Andrew Garfield to Tom Holland for Spider-Man; or the various actors for Batman we've had. This Genie felt like an extension of that.

The actor for Aladdin himself was good, but not great. He did well when he played the awkward Prince Ali, but as Aladdin, meh. Then again, he was acting with Will Smith, and that's not easy feat, so I can't blame him.

Naomi Scott was a GREAT Jasmine. Determined, bold, a good singer, and downright BEAUTIFUL. The woman is gorgeous. This Jasmine is all about female empowerment, wanting to be not just a Queen, but a Sultan, and refusing to have a man be the one to have the power she has studied and prepared for, simply because he married her. This was an awesome change and I liked her the best. The only nitpick I have with her character will be discussed later.

Jaffar's actor was a little too soft-spoken for me. He was evil for the sake of being evil and ambitious. I guess his motives made sense, but his logic didn't, so I was left pretty ambivalent to him. I kinda wanted him to be more...slimy...but alas.

Story:
The story is the same as it was in the movie for the most part. Here we have more...not action beats, but definitely more movement. More motion. And definitely more dances. The dances were beautifully choreographed and had some modern twists involved as well, which helped it stand out from the animation.

The set-up was well done also. It starts with Will Smith telling a story about a kingdom to his two children, letting the audience know that this is a fairytale, so they don't have to strain too hard to believe it and should stretch. But it ends up tying into the main story by the end, with Will Smith not playing two separate characters, but the same character at two different times in his life, and I thought it was a great twist that narratively tied everything together.

The first of my two nitpicks are that everything happens so fast in the story's timeline. The entire story probably took place over a week or two, and that's a little fast for all the romance for me. It's why I don't like rom-coms. Like, I understand love can happen in a really short amount of time, but as a member of the audience that's weirdly where I draw the line! Had they spent more time with Aladdin in his Prince Ali guise, trying to figure out how to trap Jaffar, I think it would've been better for me. But that's a personal nitpick.


The second one has to do with character motivations. Jaffar wants to attack the neighboring kingdom that Agruba(?) is allied with, where Jasmine's mother came from. On one hand this isn't surprising - Jaffar is a war hawk and he always feels like he needs to be the most powerful person. But again and again it's made clear that Jasmine's mother's homeland. But we never see Jasmine really care about that. Stating that it's the home of a character we never met means nothing to us. Had they added a little more background to that, Jasmine could have been so much stronger.
The two ways I would have done it would be: have Jasmine feel a little torn. Maybe the countries had been at war before her parents were married, and their marriage ended the fighting. Jasmine feels of two worlds, since she loves her mother but couldn't fully understand her due to being raised in her father's culture/doesn't see herself as accepted due to her heritage. This also has the affect of making her bond with her father that much stronger, because he accepts Jasmine like he did her mother, as a person regardless of their origin or culture, and loves them fully. This also manifests in Jasmine wanting to protect her mother's homeland, as she feels its one of her last connections she has to the deceased queen. It'd also make sense why Jasmine can't go out (heck, maybe a part of her doesn't want to go out, and that's really what Aladdin changes in her), especially if Jasmine's mother was assassinated (by Jaffar or by a disgruntled citizen).
The other way keeps most of the background info from above, but slightly twists it. Everyone else thinks the above is the case for Jasmine, but in reality she knows attacking an ally - especially one you've made a political marriage with - is just stupid and Jaffar needs to be stopped. Power doesn't mean competence after all.

Again, the movie is fine without those moments and given it's a fairytale, expecting them is foolish. But I would've liked to seen them regardless.

Overall, if you're looking for a fun, family movie, this is definitely the one! My family all gave it thumbs up, and so will I!

* I THINK it might have been Arabic, but I've only had a semester of the subject, focused mostly on learning the alphabet and I would have needed more to hear, which I couldn't with the movie going.

 

AAAAWWWW SHUCKS! YOU GOT MY MOUTH WATERING!!! CAN'T SEE IT UNTIL MONDAY, BUT I GOT THE GODZILLA KOTM ARTBOOK TO HOLD ME UNTIL THEN!!!

 

The Dark Knight (again). Probably the best action/superhero movie ever made. I'm pretty sure first time I saw it my mouth was hanging open the entire time, I don't remember ever being that focused on a movie, I was afraid to blink. The only problem with TDN is that it can only be "experienced" one time. After you see it once, it can't surprise you again. But I wonder how many dates it ruined when it came out. How many people thought...I should take her (him) to a movie, it will be romantic, sitting in the dark bla bla...And then their dates forgot they were even alive lol

 

The artbook is AWESOME! Plenty of artwork, pictures and text! I did not want to be spoiled, so I just scanned it quickly because I happen to notice they actually talk about what happens in the film...duh! Going to see this TOMORROW AND I AM SOOOOO FRIGGIN HYPED!! I CAN'T STAND IT!!!

 

All of this, chatter.... about monsters inspired me to peruse the archives on my slave drive.

Daddee Darkside watched a gem last night.

"Best BBQ of the summer" - lol​

 

Oooo great movie!
"what do we do when we sleep?"

 

We keep one eye on our favorite Skyguy.



Seriously, any movie that features Cloud City Cosplay is film of the year. No vote required.

 

Wow I loved this movie that I watched with my father 200 years ago! I need to rewatch it!

 

When I first created the backup file for my disc purchase, I must've watched it for a month straight.

Best dragons ever created till GoT got made. Check this out from 2002:

https://www.awn.com/animationworld/reign-fire-breathing-life-dragons

EDIT: For those that don't know, Deleeuw was the VES for Captain America, Endgame etc.

 

It has been raining here all week. I'm stuck inside while it's storming outside. Couldn't think of a better movie to watch on a rainy day than Blade Runner. I love Star Wars more, but Blade Runner is just so perfect.

 

All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.

One of my favs movies of all time.