#gmmm does movies

[getmemymicroscope]

You know that feeling when a tweet (or 2) puts your thoughts into words. Yeah, this.

[getmemymicroscope]

A touch of Gone Girl, a bit of cheeky self-awareness humor (that 'Les Diaboliques' shout-out), some highbrow characters (you know the type - those who revel in the 'look at us' culture but you just walk around their house thinking "really, that's the painting you went for?"), and a huge helping of some like Lifetime movie-level suburban mother drama - but with Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively as our fantastic stars. Blake's character is borderline psychotic, as many folks in the movie point out (or, at least a couple do) and a full-on workaholic, and fully embraces that 'Gone Girl' mentality when push comes to shove; Anna's character, meanwhile, is a way-too-energetic single mom whose life revolves around her kid, her semi-successful vlog, and just always keeping herself busy.

Oh, and both of them have major secrets that have, or are threatening to, unravel their lives (morbid secrets too, at that). The movie starts amidst this unraveling, then flashing back slightly to bring us up to speed with the beginning of this very quickly-formed 'best friendship,' before moving on from there.

Gone Girl is missing, presumed and then found-to-be dead (as we eventually learn); grieving husband finds comfort (and parenting help) in/from missing wife's best friend; and best friend finds herself falling in love but, also, like, living a life she didn't have before. And then, almost overnight, things change - in a way that also very much reminds me of the Bollywood movie Raqeeb (or Karar, or Race; or, yes, the story of Les Diaboliques). It never reaches that full scale of outright horror - outside of maybe that one semi-jump scare scene in the closet (though, really - Anna's the one jumping to the scare, we're just reacting to her loud scream) - instead sticking with this sort of high class, pseudo-"let's all be adults about this" approach. At least, until it doesn't. There's some civilized discussions/plans, all of which essentially just go to hell and create a lot of backstabbing and "who's on what side" questions, but lead to things like her returning from 'dead' to meet him at a restaurant, or her returning from dead to have a semi-civil discussion with her in the graveyard - and, with that, some confusion in the end as you try to grasp what is planted/plotted and what is real.

It's fun, in the "evil suburban moms be evil" kind of way. The backstories are a bit convoluted, and Anna's character goes from vlogger to not-so-amateur detective really quickly, but can't complain too much because it does make for an entertaining movie.

I'm not fully sure if Sean was in on the plan or not - but if he was, it makes no real sense that they would include Anna as well (though, if he didn't know about the twin, I'm assuming he wasn't involved; also, he seemed genuinely surprised when Blake showed up in front of him again). If he in fact wasn't, I'm not sure what Blake's plan was, since the insurance payout would've gone to Sean - unless she was gonna somehow steal it out of a bank account, or blackmail them after the fact, or something like that. Maybe not the tidiest bit of planning, but then, I guess she had to make a decision pretty quickly when she got that picture in the mail (leaving it where it would be so easily found, should something happen, also probably wasn't the best, but again, probably wasn't thinking straight at that point).

[getmemymicroscope]

This is one of thoes movies that initially released back in those days of Bollywood's new-found obsession with "erotic" thrillers and probably hasn't been thought about anyone since then. Except, you know, me, because my brain is weird that way. (Though, even for me, it's been a while.)

And then, yesterday, I was going through my old music and I re-found 2 songs that I actually much enjoyed because I found them pretty catchy: Jab Se Hua Hai Mujhe Pyaar and Mujhe Choom Choom. So then I figured I might as well watch the movie, because it's not like 'good songs' has ever steered me wrong before. (More seriously, on the plus side, with so many movies releasing with - there's bound to be a bunch of surprisingly catchy, or good, or both, songs even in bad movies.)

The movie is, unsurprisingly, not good. I also feel very lied to by my brain - because I really felt like I remember a poster of the movie that made this feel like some sort of spy thriller. And, well, it is most defintely NOT a spy thriller. Or really any sort of thriller either. (And, if you're really curious, not even really much of 'erotic,' even by Bollywood standards - that wasn't why I was watching this movie, literally it was just the songs, but aside from a scene or 2, this can't hold even the slightest candle to like Murder or Raaz or Hate Story or any of those entertaining movies that also sorta fall into the 'erotic thriller, Bollywood-style' category.)

There's a random subplot of a blackmailer, who is apparently trying to blackmail a bunch of people, that sorta comes and goes without much of anything actually happening from it - aside from apparently leading her to murdering two people in cold blood, and letting another die of a heart attack. (I mean, it could've led to someone telling someone else the truth; but, of course, it is a movie, so that obviously can't happen.)

The Bollywood trope of someone saying "I need to tell you the truth" and the other person not letting them say anything is alive and well, as it always has been. I think if there's one thing to learn from Bollywood, it's that if someone wants to tell you something ... fucking LET THEM! ... Luckily, in this case, Preeti Jhangiani comes back from a trip and hears everything through the door, and things are able to be fixed by a dramatic monologue. (Also, I know it's this idea of Preeti's father, played by Raj Babbar, finding a girl much younger than him - but it is so weird for the final monologue to hear Preeti repeatedly call Isha Koppikar, who is 4 years older than her, mother.)

Somehow, at the end, she disappears amidst a final sentence of the monologue - and finds another gun, since the one she had was out of bullets! - and shoots herself. Tragic, of course, and a very expected dramatic end to this movie. But also funny, in a sad way, that she just gets this full monologue about how "you are my mother" from a girl who never met her mother and immediately makes it so that that character is now down 2 mothers (and her father). Ultimate "fuck you" move.

Also - those songs are much better when just listening to the audio than if you decide to watch the videos (another very common thing for a lot of Bollywood songs).

Yeah. Definitely not a spy thriller.

[getmemymicroscope]

Welp, I wasn't able to hold-out more than 24 hours before turning on the original Tamil version of Vikram Vedha. The story really is like original and remake, in that the story is the same (same storyline, same twists, etc.), with only a few scenes here and there being changed. Vedha's initial appearance in the same, as is his escape leading to the second story; the changes are minor things, like the interactions between Vikram & Priya, a bit about Chandra's post-theft personality, and some of the locations that the fights happen at (but not the final fight sequence).

The Bollywood version, I think, was much more about style - both with the leads and with the way the story is filmed/portrayed. What this version sorta lacks in style (it, to some aspects, "feels" more like a South Indian movie, which is not a bad thing), it makes up for by I think having a better emotional connection between characters and for us to latch on to.

Vedha's relationship with his brother is the same in the two movies, but the scene where Vedha is telling Priya about his brother whilst they sit in cars just seems to have more emotion here (based on what I was seeing, I mean; the actual words were lost on me, because I had to use subtitles for the Tamil movie). Even the interactions between Vikram & Priya seemed to just show a bit more emotion here than we got in the remake.

I think the fun we saw between our leads here is very similar to what the Bollywood movie gave us - the chemistry, their interactions, etc. Vijay Sethupathi, who I've now seen played the bad guy in 2 movies in relative quick succession (Jawan before this), is I think much better here (maybe because he's better scripted, given that he's essentially lead 1B in this case), and is great. Madhavan is, of course, also great. There just feels to be more of an emotional charge here (I considered watching the Hindi dub, and maybe I should have, because I'm sure I was missing a lot of that by just trying to read the subtitles and grasp their emotions thru music and expressions). I did like the title song/music better in the Bollywood version; I think it seemed a little more refined, though it is the same background music.

In terms of the story, I do really like how they play out this "good v/s evil" thing, even if they spoon-feed it to you multiple times by drawing the line. And while I don't really agree with the idea that 'everyone is a hero if you tell the right story' (I used to believe that, until a couple of years ago; then the world kicked in, and it became clear that no, some people are just evil assholes), but I do like how it is played here with the idea that sometimes, both options are on the same side of the line, which makes the whole 'good v/s evil' kinda moot and makes the decision a lot tougher.

But that's where we sit here now - movie and its remake, one with more emotion throughout, the other with slightly more style. Both fun and well-done and well-acted.

[getmemymicroscope]

Just because I can and want to, bringing in a Bollywood-twist to this (and yes, I know the total number of movies is much less than any of the above).

Emraan Hashmi has thus far appeared in 46 movies (per Wiki, including cameos), and has died i at least 14*.

I say “at least,” because I haven’t seen Harami, in which he plays a villain, so that might be another one (I mean, I haven’t seen many of the 46, but for the rest of those, I could at least find some spoilers). And I include the * because while he dies on screen multiple times in Chocolate, in reality at the end he is alive - so maybe I guess it’s actually just 13 actual deaths (again, pending Harami).

13/46 = 28%, and 14/46 = 30%.

So yes, he may have entered Bollywood and quickly developed reputation as “serial kisser,” but that has also apparently led to all the directors wanting to kill his character off (joking, joking). (And don’t forget Ghanchakkar, which he survives all the violence but has completely lost his memory.) Admittedly, this is also skewed by him being killed off in 5-6 of his first 10 movies…

(Also, this is the type of stuff and analysis I wish I could do, but no, work wants me to publish actual medical stuff…)

i learned that actor Danny Trejo has the most on-screen deaths of anyone in Hollywood history, with 65. Followed by Christopher Lee (60), Lance Henriksen (51), Vincent Price (41), Dennis Hopper (41), Boris Karloff (41), and John Hurt (39). (x)

[getmemymicroscope]

Well, I guess we know what this weekend is going to end up being.

I found something online that said, chronologically, this movie (and the next couple) come before the 3rd movie that was actually released (Tokyo Drift), so I'll be watching that later.

Of course, this one does briefly introduce the character Han, who cheekily mentions Tokyo before disappearing, so that was probably a call back to the last movie (even if, in this movie universe, that movie happens after this one), so I guess I miss that. Which means I also don't have to be super confused about a character that supposedly dies in the 3rd movie showing up in the 4th one. But that's minor.

This movie continues on with the "car race followed by some plot about street racers being needed to bring down a criminal" theme of the 1st and 2nd movies, and really starts going in on the 'family' theme (which isn't a bad thing, mind you, as much as the memes nowadays mock it for being slightly over the top).

Once they are all finally off each other's throats (which takes a while, with occasional relapses) and start truly working together - which, honestly, is probably just the climax bit of the movie - things really start building. That final sequence in the tunnel is pretty epic.

The 'Braga' twist is pretty well done, and you know it is coming - especially when the cop jumps the gun and orders them to go in and grab the guy they think is Braga.

Michelle Rodriguez's character had a pretty epic sequence up at the beginning - before suddenly being killed off. Then Gal Gadot's character shows up, though mostly she just talks a lot and makes it clear she's very into Vin Diesel's character. Oh, and at the end, has to be saved, and then repays the favor by giving up Braga's location. ... Welcome to the family, I guess.

[getmemymicroscope]

Willy Wonka is absolutely bonkers. Johnny Depp was sorta bonkers in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Timothee Chalamet was, dare I say, almost semi-normal in Wonka, but Gene Wilder was absolutely bonkers in this movie - and I say that in the nicest way possible.

This is the Wonka that we expect Wonka to be - which is probably the only negative to the new Wonka movie, in that Chalamet's character is much too sane and human for this role. Something clearly has to happen in that span of time to take him from that - the young man who values relationships and does his darndest to make sure things sort themselves out for Noodle - to this - the man who nonchalantly says "no, stop, don't do that" whenever a kid is about to do something stupid (and pay the price in the process).

Not that you blame him, necessarily - all of these kids might literally be the worst possible kids they could have found. Even our protagonist Charlie partakes in the rule-breaking, but it ends up being the least inflammatory of the decisions, as he's able to recover on his own and rejoin the tour. Even his Grandpa Joe isn't much better, especially at the end when he takes offense to Wonka saying "you broke the rules" and threatens to divulge Wonka's secrets to the enemy. The other kids, meanwhile, are essentially up to par to their book counterparts - very annoying (Veruca, especially) - and end up eventually disappearing into the underbelly of the building.

But this is, undoubtedly, the Gene Wilder show right from the moment he shows up (which is frustratingly late in the runtime, because all the kids you've met by then and you're already annoyed by them). His mannerisms, his actions, his apathy as the kids make bad decisions and refuse to listen to his instructions - and his requesting of them to not do whatever they're about to do, all combine to make Wonka a brilliantly portrayed, well, almost an antihero.

I'm still very interested in knowing what turns Wonka into this from the Wonka we just saw on the theater screen this past weekend. Depp's Wonka had a backstory built in, one that clearly clashes with Chalamet's Wonka, but I think this movie gives us less backstory - aside from 'evil competition' - and while that may be hard to fully correlate, since this evil competition has already been taken care of in Wonka, it seems like that might be easier to work into explaining how our new Wonka becomes so, well, creepy.

I'm not sure how I feel about this Charlie, and his family, running the factory though. Seems like they're set up for disaster.

I do love when Wonka asks if he's heard about the man whose dreams came true and then finishes the thought by saying "he lived happily ever after." As stories continue to warn about the problems of having all your dreams come true (complacency, greed, stagnation, ego, apathy, lack of progress), sometimes it is good to know that there can be a much more positive outcome to your dreams coming true - complete happiness.

[getmemymicroscope]

Okay, now this was very entertaining. Both our leads are excellent, the supporting cast does their jobs ably, and the background theme music is very catchy. And the guy who plays his friend/colleague is excellent, and I'm glad they were able to give him a sort-of action sequence to really redeem himself.

Vedha's entry is very well shot (as are the scene where he escapes from his place, right before the second story and the entire climax), the showdowns between Vikram & Vedha are cleverly filmed to highlight not only the acting but also the story (and, of course, the stories being told within the story).

And, maybe best of all - you can sort of see part of the final twist coming (though, well, the whole thing is just maybe a bit much to have imagined), but then, when you think about it (aka, when Vikram is mentioning it), you realize that almost everything was laid out in front of you from the beginning. It unfolds like a detective/mystery novel - the clues are there, and when you go back, you'll notice them for sure.

I did catch the whole Chekhov's gun bit with the left/right-handedness - as soon as that happens, I was like "this will become important later," though I obviously didn't realize the gravity of the situation that it would create. But yes, this storytelling is masterful, and getting two top actors to portray this stylishly shot movie just makes it wonderful.

The Shatak/Chanda story sort of goes as expected, which is almost heart-breaking. The Vikram/Priya story obviously ends better for them, and while it ends up being sorta just glossed over in the background, at least they sorta make a small attempt to dig into this idea of them working on opposite sides (but, of course, that's a minor part of the movie so it doesn't get the focus it would've if it was the main story plot).

I had avoided this movie to this point because I felt like it would be a lot of unnecessary/excess violence - and while there was quite a bit of violence and a little bit of gore, it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. A lot of the killings we sorta just see the after effects or the blood (Hrithik's killing of the man who ordered the attempt on Shatak and the thing with the sword immediately come to mind), and most of the other stuff is just fighting or shooting (one killing towards the end being the major exception).

I think I may have to give the Tamil movie a shot in the very near future.

[getmemymicroscope]

I have nothing astounding to add, I just really love this movie (and book, and Broadway show - man, they really nailed the entire trifecta).

Matilda (1996) dir. Danny DeVito

[getmemymicroscope]

I don't know, I guess technically, this is a sort of generic Disney movie/plot (but then, it seems all plots nowadays fall into either 'generic/we've seen this before' or 'what drugs were they on?'). That's not a bad thing though - I'm all here for the "MC finds out that person that everyone trusts (in this case, the king, which is just a bad idea to begin with) is sorta lying to them and, aided by some newfound magic (literally), set out to right the wrongs and show everyone the truth."

Having Alan Tudyk voice a 'suddenly able to talk' goat definitely helps, and Chris Pine as our king is fun. And Ariana DeBose as our main character, Asha, absolutely nails it.

I was thoroughly entertained by most of it, and I think it is also worth noting that others in the theater were also laughing (out loud, no less). There were some funny lines, even if we were sort of lacking for deep, inspirational, movie-defining quotes.

The soundtrack though, is brilliant. 'This Wish,' 'At All Costs,' and 'I'm a Star' are good, 'This is the Thanks I Get' really gives the vibes of the King in Hamilton singing 'I'll Be Back' (and that's a good thing, because it's fun and funny), and 'Knowing What I Know Now' is probably my favorite of the lot - it's right up there with 'Surface Pressure' and "What Else Can I Do?' from Encanto in terms of joining my "on repeat" playlist of Disney movie songs. I just really enjoyed the music in this movie, which I think allowed me to be thoroughly entertained even if the plot wasn't really anything new.

Also really good were the visuals throughout the movie - the animation team absolutely killed it. It maybe gets bit weird at bits (the singing animals, the bear, the mushrooms), even if it keeps it sorta fun (the audience loved the mushroom scenes), though it never reaches the levels of Dumbo (thank heavens for that).

It won't be the best animated movie of the year (Spider-Verse, of course; also up there are Ninja Turtles and, slightly less so, Mario; still also have to see Elemental), but it is still a typically uplifting, hopeful Disney journey, peppered with excellent songs.

Wishing, and hope, are such important parts of who we are - the wishes are literally a part of us - and I think the movie does sort of make the argument that if we give them up, we're sort of giving up a part of ourselves. Wishes may change, of course, but even then, a part of us remains, somehow, tied to them. And if someone could remove that wish from you entirely, it may require giving up a part of you with it.

The redux of "I'm a Star" at the end of the movie is pretty epic.

[getmemymicroscope]

For some reason, I had this movie listed on my spreadsheet of "movies I've already seen" (yes, I'm that lame) - which baffled me when I went to go add the movie after watching it today, because I've definitely never seen it before.

Well... I haven't seen it as an entity. But when you consider it as a sort of mash-up of Band Baaja Baaraat (the Anusha/Ranveer dynamic feels almost exactly the same, down to the 'partnership' and the 'love gets in the way') and Bachna Ae Haseeno (though, there, he wasn't conning them so much as just not being in love with them) and the many, many 'con'-based movies - then, yes, I've probably seen it.

But still, this is fun. I like all 3 of our initial heroines (though, towards the end, Parineeti does become a bit too loud) and their motivations and actions are, while maybe not "correct" (whatever that means), understandable. They could possibly have given the other 2 songs as well, though of course that would increase the run time by another 10+ minutes.

Once Anushka enters, though, it really does feel like BBB - admittedly, this time, it is as a con and not a real thing. But still, it's very similar -and feels even more so because it's the same people as in BBB. She has a plan, he's the partner - and then they fall in love, and things fall apart.

That said - Yash Raj Films, so you know how it is going to go and that it'll be 'happy' by the end. Which is fine, but like, I think this could have been equally (more?) fun of a movie if he hadn't reformed and if they'd conned him. Or even if, in the end, he'd conned her and left, but that sort of ending may have been way too against-the-grain given that they are the heroes of the movie.

Instead, the ending feels very much like Bachna Ae Haseeno, a Yash Raj Films movie that released 3 years before this one (and, in my opinion, was more fun). That's not to take away from this movie - which is still pretty entertaining and fun and has a pretty excellent soundtrack.

[getmemymicroscope]

Absolutely on-point video/song.

Irrfan Khan was a freaking gem!

[getmemymicroscope]

There are a couple of very real problems with this movie. First, having Vidya Balan play a role that feels, right from the beginning, very similar to her role in like Kahaani. Not the character itself, which they clearly try and make different, but just the whole thing overall. I mean, I don't mind the 'detective'/'investigating' thing (I mean, she did that in Bobby Jasoos too), but just from the beginnings, I was getting Kahaani vibes. Which is only really problematic because when you're getting that feeling, the twist in the end is very much of a letdown because, well, of course it would end like that. Second, god why does everyone keep saying 'AK' when talking to him? Clearly they're talking to him - this almost feels like when Alia Bhatt's character wouldn't stop saying Ranbir's character's name in Brahmastra. And worse, even, because this 'AK' thing is so tacky.

I think it's very telling that all of these stories/whodunnits feature a bunch of rich people who we come to realize not only have intense secrets, but also absolutely hate each other while pretending to be friends. Also, they all just really suck as people.

The Poirot-like "everyone gathers in the room" bit was interesting - on the one hand, I like how it ended; on the other hand, wow that was a lot of secrets to spill out at once. And that's after we'd already gotten the secret about fatherdom, and before we got the final couple of reveals. I feel like the tagline for this movie should read 'One Murder. Many Secrets' - I'm not so sure about the many "mysteries". Of course, the 'one" is also incorrect, so who knows. Maybe it is all just misleading.

I get why Vidya's character did what she did, and I did enjoy the very brief Shefali Shah cameo. But like, aside from them, I don't think any of these people are even partially likeable. Or, at least, once the motives are all on the table, it is... Well, maybe Gigi you walk away okay with, name aside. And Vidya's character isn't above this either; good motivations, questionable decisions. And heavens, she gets konked out like 3-4 times. In one night. She's gotta be more careful, for sure. I also thought for a brief second that Kay was cool, when she was like "I want to help investigate" - but then she essentially disappears for the rest of the movie. Also, she ends up being as not-cool as the rest of them.

That twist with Rahul Bose's character - the one that is suddenly revealed, not the one that he admits to everyone and they're just like "we already knew this" - feels like a pretty random twist that is just an attempt to Bollywoodize this and be like "yeah, everyone is connected." It's very dumb, and I get what they wanted to do, but I'm not sure using his character instead of just some other random, non-present person was really necessary. It just feels like a unbelievable twist, for many reasons, and then gets immediately dropped as soon as the scene is over too.

But hey, it's a whodunnit, and in a year full of 'meh' or worse Bollywood movies, we have yet another one that is probably firmly a 'meh.'

Too bad they can't make movies like this with, you know, likeable characters - but then, I guess if they were likeable, you wouldn't end up with a story like this anyways.

I know it's a storm outside, but how the fuck is it so cold inside that Vidya's character is perpetually wearing gloves and a winter coat while the other ladies are all fancily dressed in like gowns - and why is she dressed that way. It's never explained. I figured they would reveal some reason later (though, man, that would really have gone all-in on the Kahaani thing), but no, she's just always wearing it.

I would love to see a cat-and-mouse thriller between her character and Shefali Shah's character though. That would be hella exciting!

[getmemymicroscope]

A guilty pleasure of sorts (I mean, lets be honest - many people would argue that any Uday Chopra movie that you don't outright hate - aside from maybe Dhoom - is nothing more than a guilty pleasure). I've enjoyed this movie since the first time I saw it - the reuniting of the Mohabbatein duo (Jimmy Sheirgill/Uday Chopra) plus the guest appearance of another Mohabbatein 'star' (Shamita Shetty), alongside Sanjana (aka Tulip Joshi) and Bipasha Basu ... what a random starcast, looking back at it now.

But, at the time, it resulted in a lot of fun, some entertaining songs, the typical rom/com romantic drama story of man in love with girl who is due to marry someone else - but in this case, both of our mains are complete oafs and don't realize the feelings they have for each other. Or, as we find out later, they maybe have realized - they're just too dense to tell the other person (or anyone else, even - aside from him telling his roommate, who literally hauls her ass over to help him out, only for him to back out of his plan because someone cries) and would therefore rather ruin (okay, maybe not that - Jimmy's character didn't seem like he was a bad person, but he was so awfully close to becoming Love Aaj Kal's - the first one, that is - Rahul Khanna; instead he lucks out and just ends up becoming KKHH's Salman Khan) their lives.

This possibly may have been the start of "Jimmy doesn't get the girl," an overarching theme of many of Jimmy's many movies that seemed to reach it's peak in the Tanu Weds Manu series - where he not only initially gets left behind by Kangna, but then later finds himself again left behind by not only Kangna, but also Kangna's lookalike Kangna.

But yeah, it starts here when he gets engaged to a girl who loves, but ignores said love, her best friend. That's just a recipe for disaster, and as worst case plays out for him, you just wonder if maybe something will work out with him and Sanju's friend/roommate (likely no longer a roommate). Because he's nice enough to deserve something good.

Of course, life doesn't give a shit about that - if anything, it probably means he's just destined to a lifetime of sadness. But that's a story for another never.

I really like this movie, even after repeated rewatches.

[getmemymicroscope]

While the whole 'DCEU' thing continues to be a completely nonsensical disaster (not just most of the movies, but also the decision to 'reboot' while keeping some actors around and replacing others, and the non-DCEU movies that are being released concurrently with other actors playing the same role), there have been some fun times to be had. Not The Flash, maybe (though I guess it did have its moments), but going back to like Wonder Woman and Shazam and Aquaman and Snyder Cut. It has, though, been a while.

And now they bring us Blue Beetle - their first foray outside their main cast of characters (well, maybe second if you want to count Shazam/Black Adam as outside that 'main cast'). I mean, sure, we saw Martian Manhunter, ever so briefly, in the Snyder Cut (also some artistic glimpses at Green Lantern, though he might be more of a 'main cast' in reality), but the DCEU finally decided to go beyond their initial group - much like the MCU did with GotG and Ant-Man after the first Avengers movie - and bring us Blue Beetle. As someone who doesn't know much of anything about the DC comics or superheros in general, I knew absolutely nothing about Blue Beetle outside of the trailers for this movie - but it is a superhero movie, so I was definitely going to watch it.

And, honestly - this movie was a lot of fun. The focus on family, and some of the comments about the reality of the world right now, were great to see, and moving - it almost felt like Black Panther (not as good as that, but similar sort of vibes about culture and family and the world). It is undoubtedly a superhero movie - as seen with the climax battle (I know he is the superhero, but his sister having that glove and yet just standing in the background with a shield for most of that fight seems like a wasted opportunity to get her slightly more involved), and of course his suit, and the baddie that is clearly trying to take over the world (or well, that part of the city, aided by the attempts to create an unstoppable weaponry/force) - but still, a lot of the movie spends its time focusing on family and the relationship between them all. The scene with his dad is super sad. And George Lopez as the uncle is hilarious.

The scientist character finally standing up for himself was pretty cool to see though - even if it didn't last very long.

The scarab - it almost feels a bit like the answer to the Venom sort of character, but with much less of a personality (in the movie, at least), maybe because the focus is on him and the family. Maybe in the sequel, there will be more of the scarab being it's own thing.

It seems that this movie is part of the new DCEU, which is good - because I really enjoyed these characters and would love to see what's next. Especially with that mid-credits scene - I'm not sure if the man is lost in another time or another world or another universe (I hope it is not this one - DC is not ready to be multiverse jumping yet; hell, I'm not even sure, Spider-Man aside, that the MCU is ready to deal with that) - but I would love to see Blue Beetle and team go out and find him.

I adored this cast (and, on top of the hilarious/good acting from everyone, Bruna Marquezine is an absolute stunner!) and absolutely adored the focus on family. As the MCU continues to struggle with every moving seemingly feeling the need to be 'bigger' than the previous, it is nice to see a story that sticks close to home and isn't directly about saving the world from some 'take over the world' villain (I mean, indirectly, that is probably the goal, but at least initially it seems to be just about the city itself).

I think this is one of my favorite movies of the year, though superhero-wise, it's probably still behind Spider-Verse and GotG3 - because both those movies come with a lot of background love/excitement and are just amazingly stunning movies, whilst Blue Beetle is someone I'd never heard of before this movie - but it still tops out over like Quantumania (which I think really flubbed a wonderful opportunity to throw a wrench into things with the ending, given that they've already opened up the whole multiverse), The Flash (which flubbed almost everything, and in typical DCEU fashion, ruined everything by showing us everything in the trailer), and Fury of the Gods (which just felt a bit underwhelming).

I really do hope we see more of this group. And more movies with this focus on family and relationships, even as the superhero themes play in the forefront.

[getmemymicroscope]

Good Burger!

I may have been taken to see DDLJ in theaters while visiting India before that (the ‘may’ in the sentence referring to the “when” - I know I went to see it, I just don’t know when) but I don’t remember the movie at all. I just remember being so bored that I tied both my shoes together so effectively that after the movie ended someone in the staff had to cut the shoelaces with scissors and we had to go buy me new shoes.

what’s the first movie you remember seeing in theaters? don’t try and be all edgy and cool and say like tetsuo: the iron man. be honest.

Go!!