Thoughts on movies, comic books, life, and other nonsense, by someone who should know better
Hey, I’m no movie snob. I love some independent movies, and I favour character-driven stories over soulless plot-driven crap, but I’m not THAT guy at the party who only talks about that Chechnian 30 minute short about life on a pig farm as if it was the greatest piece of cinema in history. Despite my feeling that both Captain Fantastic and A Ghost Story are going to chart really high on my 2017 Best Of list, I remain a huge fan of populist movies. Pitch Perfect 3 is not one of them.
Back in 2015, when I watched the original Kingsman: The Secret Service, I found a number of things to like, despite finding the story too faintly ludicrious, and, frankly, poorly written. I greatly enjoyed the performances of both Colin Firth and then-newcomer Taron Egerton, and mostly liked Matthew Vaughn’s direction, whose style seems like a cruder version of Guy Ritchie’s. The script, by both Vaughn and Jane Goldman failed to engage me on most of its plot points, though. This time around, Vaughn and Goldman return with a sequel, subtitled The Golden Circle, and I ran out of patience from the first scene. This is one of the worst sequels I’ve ever sat through.
At least once in our lives we’ll be stricken with a certain trepidation about how the present matches up with memories of the past. It can be an old flame that’s been rekindled over years; the reunion of a favourite band, the comeback of a sports idol, an attempt of ours to somehow recapture past glories, to see if we still have it. Sometimes lightning can strike again, but more often than not we’re vaguely unsatisfied by version 2.0, and we begin to doubt ourselves. Was the original time around really that good? Are those memories seen through the rose coloured lenses of nostalgia? There’s only one way to find out, though.
Maybe about the worst thing you could say about a movie back in the day – and especially a successful movie – is that the sequel went straight to video. I always felt that was a slap in the face to the original moviemakers, none of which were generally seen around that kind of production. It still happens: here’s a brief list! Sometimes they go straight to Netflix or some other streaming service too. These are mostly garbage money grabs, cashing in on a popular title after the original creators and cast have moved on. Rarely will you see such a sequel with any of the main stars. Independence Day: Resurgence is an odd duck. While it isn’t a direct-to-blu-ray, it sure as hell feels like it.
Continue reading “Movie Review: INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE”
AT THE FOOTHILLS OF MADNESS 