The World of Lucky

Better than expected when I don't take into account the white washing, although I was still a little disappointed. I would see the sequel because this is one of my genres.

The movie itself really isn't trend setting in this current day and age. I suspect the is a weird result of its original anime being so influential. Twenty plus years ago when it came out it was a relatively unusual, groundbreaking event, influencing such seminal works as The Matrix. The Matrix and other movies then in turn, influenced other movies making the tropes from the original GitS cliche.

The whole concept of exploring what makes you human really had nothing new  in this movie that you couldn't see in a dozen other movies that handled it a bit better.

That being said, Scarlett Johansson did a good job as the Major. I felt she did convey the spirit behind the character, but unfortunately not enough to raise the move above "just ok". I was especially pleased with Bataou and how he was portrayed, but once again they didn't give him a big enough part to do much more than give some interest. The rest of the characters were just blips in the movie.

Now we get to the white washing. This clouded my opinion of the movie the whole time. The movie could have been done with any Japanese actress and I probably would have liked the movie better. Once again not because SJ did bad, but because the knowledge of the white washing left a bad taste in my mouth. I guess as I get older, the harder it is to look past stuff like that.

The movie did try to give a partial explanation of a white actress playing a Japanese character late in the movie, but it was less of any sort of in depth story idea, and rather something pieced in to explain why the major has a white body and not a Japanese body. Basically it was a reason they could use on why they went with SJ rather than it being a real plot point.

The good: Decent sci-fi, nice choreography, and an ok story.

Absolutely, without a doubt, the single best superhero movie I have ever seen. Not only that, it is on the very top of my list of favorite "real movies" as well. I can't really come up with a better movie at this moment.

We went to see Logan in the RPX so we could choose our seat. However, it was a Tuesday and the RPX is double the price of the discounted Tuesday prices for other showings that there wasn't a packed theater. This meant no distractions and we could focus on the movie.

I can't go into too much detail here, I don't want this to have spoilers, but I can say I will post again and break it down. The movie had a huge personal impact.

What I can say is this is not your Avenger's big tent action movie. The focus is on an aging Logan, Professor X and a young Laura (c'mon its not a spoiler if its in the trailer). Laura is being hunted by a group of powerful mercenaries and Logan and Professor X are trying to protect her.

The R rating does allow people to see the brutality of what it would be like to fight Wolverine, limbs and heads amputated, faces clawed open and the absolute monster that Wolverine could be in a fight. That however was not what the rating really made better. The storytelling was much better. It could handle much more adult subjects such as aging, consequences of a life of conflict, and family. This movie is not for someone who is a child or who is only interested in a mutant battle. If that is the limit of a movie you are interested, go see the new Thor, Spider Man or Guardians of the Galaxy movies coming out this summer.

I won't say anything else about the plot of the movie except to say it mirrors Deadpool in a way. Instead of redefining a superhero movie into a darker comedy, Logan transforms this movie into a gritty western as much as a superhero movie. It has a very broad, if very adult, scope for an audience. Some have talked about Oscars. I think it would be justified to receive best actor/supporting actor nominations if not the actual Oscars themselves.

The emotional impact of this movie hit both me and the hubby that night. It was near the anniversary of my father's death (one year) and there were a lot of similarities, the movie was like a gut punch. Those I will talk about in my next post about Logan where I can break out spoilers.

The biggest takeaway I saw another critic say is that the R rating is an excellent injection into the superhero niche. Not for violence, but for the way it can open a story up and allow superhero movies to grow up and become full stories, not just comics.

It has been reported that this is Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart's last movie each for their characters. 20 years of Wolverine and Professor X wrapped up on the best superhero movie made. I am sad they are turning in their characters, but I have to say it was absolutely the best movie they could have chosen to do so.

The good: Absolutely the best acting in any superhero movie, and in the top for conventional movies. The story is tight, not distracted with explosions or too many special effects. It satisfies both the action need and the story need that no other superhero movie can.

Let's just say it, that film rocked what it does hard.

First, let's be clear, John Wick series of movies is a lot of things. It's excellent fighting choreography, brutal deaths, an orgasm of male testosterone wish fulfillment. That isn't bad, I absolutely love it for what it is, a great revenge thriller, Keanu Reeves delivers an excellent badass air to himself. It has a lot of great supporting actors including Ian McShane as the Manager, Common is great as a foil for Keanu and even Ruby Rose, whom I dislike a lot as an actress fits in it.

The best part about it, is it stays in its lane. It doesn't try to be more than what it is and because of that it scratches that itch of an up-powered action flick that has a lot in common with the 80s revenge movies. I will see these as long as they keep coming out.

I was surprised that Keanu, who recently turned 52, can do the part. There is no doubt in his performance that he plays the person perfectly. I was surprised that I didn't want to tear my ears out with Ruby Rose's character. They were smart, they had her play a mute, used her looks as an attractive assassin. The only part about her I didn't like was the portrayal that she is a badass, sorry I didn't buy that for a second... then again I think it was reflected in her last fight scene so maybe the writers had judged correctly as well. The rest of the cast were great too, no complaints.

The thing I liked most about the sequel was its subtle expansion of the world of assassins. I won't go into depth as I don't want to reveal any spoilers, but the movie unwrapped a small slice more of the world, making it feel deeper and more real (well as real as wish fulfillment fiction can be).

Oh, and I really liked that they didn't repeat the same plot devices they used in the first (that is the only semi-spoilerish thing I will say).

The good: great action with lots of choreography, gun porn, and Keanu just rocked it.

Underworld: Blood Wars turns out to be another movie that I consider a general "meh".

I don't consider that bad, after all the entire series just isn't very good. However, it is traditional that we try and watch this in the theater when we can. We saw the original Underworld 13 years ago when it came out, and it wasn't a masterpiece then. However in our geek subculture we thought it was awesome, a vampire versus werewolf action movie.

It turns out that Blood Wars is about the same as the rest of the movies. The plot is full of holes, the acting is poor and not anything really original. It really was a waste of Charles Dance's acting abilities (he was Thomas, the older vampire who died defending his son). You will notice I didn't say Kate Beckinsale because honestly I never found her a good actress and only liked her in the Underworld series.

The movie itself was long, boring but had interspersed some decent action scenes. The travel montage itself was probably the worst part of the movie when Selene and her companion vampire traveled north. It is boring, but the part that caught me the most was when they were on the frozen over fjords of the north and they were walking, the very next moment they are riding huge draft horses across the same ice. Where the hell did those come from. I realize they probably filmed it because it "looked cool" but dear god give us something believable to assume they found horses on the ice, with no villages around.

The Eastern Coven and the total emo/goth dress style did absolutely nothing for me. All Wolsey and I could joke around is that half the budget of the movie (and in the movie world half the cost of the coven) had to be based on the dress style of the coven. Maybe 14 years ago I would have been more impressed (and even more so 25 years ago in the early 90s) but now I just roll my eyes at the all black dress style. That trope just needs to die.

Don't even get me started on the weird Salubri crap of the Nordic Coven (white wolf reference). The mysterious "nice" vampires who can go to the other world. My biggest problem with them was that they were getting destroyed by the vampires in their coven, but were badasses when they went back to the Eastern Coven. I realize they were surprised at their home, but it was their home, they had the advantage of ground, and supposedly being great warriors, except they weren't. Yet another inconsistency in the movie.

I could go on about this, however even with all the inconsistencies I do have to say I still have a fondness for the movies and I will see the next one.

The good: I liked the action scenes, even if a bit overdone. I like the subject matter, although I could use with a little updating of the tropes used.