January, February Movie Roundup
March 28, 2020
I thought I'd be able to include March here, but uh... we know how that turned out.
Weathering with You (January 25)
Your Name with even more supernatural powers.
Visuals were incredible. So many beautiful shots and stills, but it was Shinkai's standard boy-meets-girl story. Several plot points could've been eliminated completely with zero change to the overall story.
I'd only recommend it for diehard anime or Shinkai fans.
Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey (February 9)
Entertaining at times, but nothing makes sense if you think about it for more than two seconds.
Bad Boys for Life (February 13)
Another entertaining popcorn flick. Some of the jokes are very old and tired, like "dad leaves kid with mom after promising to look after them" or "husband needs viagara" (that's it, that's the punchline). Will Smith undermining his superior yet also trying to get in her pants was... yikes.
Sonic the Hedgehog (February 14)
Fun and silly. Some jokes are super dated, but it doesn't take itself too seriously. Jim Carrey is a literal cartoon character and ping pongs between truly hilarious and cringe enlightened atheist. Almost all the action scenes were lifted straight from Quicksilver in "Days of Future Past."
The Gentlemen (February 16)
An interesting take on the gang/mafia genre. I kind of get what Guy Ritchie is going for here: Matthrew McConaughey's character and crew are non-violent and only pedalling weed, and it's another, more harmful drug dealer that forces his hand. But it sends a weird message when a gangster-murderer basically gets everything he wants out of life. Ritchie tried really hard to subvert the damsel-in-distress trope for all of 2 seconds until leaning back into it.
Still, it kept me entertained the entire time.
My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising (February 29)
This movie was so hype. Sure, the villain's motivations were basic af, but I really enjoyed the movie for showcasing cool hero combinations we haven't seen before and giving more heroes a chance to shine besides the usual trifecta of Midoriya, Bakugo, Todoroki (even though they do get plenty of screentime as well). Sero and Ochako in particular were an incredible duo.
The final fight was beautifully animated and got me all choked up multiple times. The fight had some pretty serious implications but was immediately backpedaled on, which is unfortunate. At least one consequence should've stuck.
Final thoughts
Besides Heroes Rising, every movie was pretty mediocre, but worth the price of Regal Unlimited, so I can't complain. I wish I could've seen a few more, but then coronavirus happened. Oh well...
Hi! I'm Jeff Chheng.
This is my blog where I ramble about web dev, video games, and TV.