Summer-Fall 2018 Movie Preview - Part 1

It's good that we enter June, so I can use my failsafe = going over what's announced for summer-fall 2018, otherwise again I wouldn't have had much of a subject... So, let's see...

Let's start with something more mainstream - there's a new part/episode of "Jurassic Park/World" coming out - "The Fallen Kingdom". Despite the critics, I enjoyed the previous one. The screenwriters are the same, so there's some hope...

Leigh Whannell is probably mostly known for "Saw" and some other horrors. Now we have a SciFi (although it might get to horror in the end...): "Upgrade". The subject - AI controlled implants - is not really 100%, but definitely not the most used one.

"Under the Silver Lake" seems a sort of David Lynch movie in a light/comedy version. Nothing more to say...

In July we're moving back to mainstream with "Ant-Man and the Wasp", the sequel of "Ant-Man" without the Wasp (well, sort of...). Otherwise said: yet another Marvel movie.

The "Skyscraper" trailer reminded me a bit of "Die Hard" - the first. I'm still not getting my hopes so high on something to compare with that.

I always found "Mission Impossible" to be more clever than the "James Bond" secret agent version known by everybody. I hope I won't change my opinion after "Fallout".

In August SciFi rules. Well... SciFi or "SciFi". Guess what kind "The Meg" is?...

"A-X-L" generated a "Chappie" deja vu, although not much on the "vu" part because it was so bashed by critics that I skipped it. Maybe is not the case here.

I left the best to the end. "Kin" seems to me by far the most interesting movie in all this enumeration. Honestly is not the brightest summer in terms of new releases. Either that or I'm way too busy and getting too picky with allocating time for a movie... Let's see next time what the fall brings.

Afro Samurai (2007) and his Resurrection (2009)

As probably noticeable I still lack the time for new material so I decided to stop at something that I don't remember when or if I had on my blog = an anime. The difference to the usual anime range is that "Afro Samurai" is not an exclusive Japanese production, all the acting and most of the sound design being made in Hollywood. Probably that's why 10 years ago this mini-series had quite some success, having Samuel L. Jackson as lead on the poster. All the action is centered around a pretty straight-forward revenge story. The context is where the original part comes from: Somewhere in a dystopian future, there are two samurai head-bands - No. 1 and No. 2. The toughest samurai holds the number 1 + something like a "god status" = untouchable = he cannot be challenged by anybody else except number 2. Number 2, however, can be challenged by anybody who would like to become number 2, meaning that his life is mostly about fight, more fight and even more fight until he manages to get to number 1, if he lasts that long (because obviously neither number 1 nor number 2 are really the persons to find in a phone book). Well... the story starts with losing the No. 1 head-band along his own head by the father of the main character. The little Afro wants revenge, and from here a series of flashbacks tell us where he did grow up, where he learned to wield a katana, how he got the number 2 head-band and how many dead bodies he left behind in the process. All these come packed with lots & lots & lots of blood... (too much actually...). Anyway, as I said, the context plus some very original built characters (I didn't mention much about an imaginary alter-ego of Afro who's as talkative as silent the main character is) made "Afro Samurai" a decent anime, which is at least interesting. About his resurrection...

In a typical Hollywood fashion, considering the success the first part in the series had, two years after another anime was released basically repeating the whole story. Meaning that (spoiler alert) Afro also loses the No. 1 head-band (but keeps his head), that being taken by a person showing up from nowhere. The sister of one of his former victims, comes up with a diabolical revenge plan = cloning Afro senior as a sort of mindless cyborg and placing Afro junior in the place of killing his own father to get the number 1 head-band and to put him finally to rest. The bad part in all this story is that's a sort of reheated soup, which starts to get boring immediately after another series of endless fights starts... Either that, or I got old and I don't have the patience I had a while ago (I've watched this relatively recent). Therefore...

Rating: AS - 3 out of 5 ; ASR - 2 out of 5

Butter (2011)

My second try to find a decently good comedy worked better than my first, but still partially confirms me why I normally avoid the genre... We're moving from the shady world of trailers voice-over jobs in the shady world of... butter carving. Well, yes, apparently I managed to find a movie with an even more exotic subject than the previous. Still, "Butter" doesn't escape completely of cliches, although surprisingly we don't really have the "classic" light romance here. A little black girl, moved from a foster home to another discovers a talent - butter carving, despite being told by all her tutors that she's not really good at anything. Fortunately, the last couple assigned to take care of her doesn't share the same opinion and decided to encourage the child up to supporting her enrollment in the regional competition (apparently there is a thing like this in Iowa, USA). The problem is, well... it's a shady world :) = undisputed champion, for 15 years = the same amount of titles is Mr. Pickler. Who decides though to step back and leave some room for somebody else. That's not really on Ms. Pickler liking, who doesn't accept the idea of having another name written on the trophy. So... the butter war starts. And with that also a satire of the nationalism/conservative excessiveness & the typical associated US redneckish stuff. Overall, an enjoyable movie, but really light (not that I would expect too much food for thought from a comedy, but anyway...)

Rating: 3 out of 5

In a World... (2013)

This is a short one... Not the movie, the review. "In a World..." is way too long. I was in the mood for a comedy around two weeks ago (rare occasion) and from what I had on my list seemed to be the most exotic/interesting option (= one out of the standard genre of light romances). The synopsis would be something like: a "voice coach" stumbles on some significant difficulties in her career when she decides to enter the shady business of... trailer voice-overs. Unfortunately, as "original" the subject might sound, the movie is not very different from a bland Woody Allen clone. The first part is so boring that gets you tired. It gets a bit better towards the ending, ironically... mostly due to some light romances. Probably would actually work as a sleeping pill if it wouldn't be for the better ending... Like this, again, ironically, it also loses this "quality".

Rating: 2 out of 5