April and May Movie Roundup
May 30, 2021
Going through the movies I watched in the last month now that I'm fully vaccinated.
The Fast and the Furious (April 30)
Regal is showing the Fast and the Furious series for free each week leading up to the premiere of F9. It's free, so of course Nicole and I are going.
This movie is such a 2000s movie. Loose-fitting clothes, homophobic slurs, extreme objectification of women, and gaudy af cars.
The plot is all over the place, but that's not why we watch this series. The car stunts and adrenaline still hold up, no matter how many times to zoom in on people shifting gears dramatically.
2 Fast 2 Furious (May 7)
I recall not liking this movie the first time watching it because Roman Pierce was such a buzzkill, but on this latest watch, I've come to appreciate him much more. He has 1000x the personality of cool dood Brian O'Conner.
Again, the plot of this one is extremely dumb, and the writing is very bad. There are so many scenes of them walking places, only for the bad guy to be like, "Alright, follow me." They go to another place, and he's like, "Okay, leave us." The editor really did not give a shit about piecing together a coherent story.
The climax with the massive car scramble is still awesome to see on the big screen.
Wrath of Man (May 9)
It's Guy Ritchie back with another revenge flick. Unfortunately, this one is largely humorless compared to the Gentleman. The dialogue doesn't feel as tight as his other movies, maybe owing the American-based story.
It's a largely by-the-book revenge story, which if that's what you're into, you won't be disappointed.
The music was by far my favorite part, and this is only the composer's second movie. The first being the Gentleman, which also had a banger soundtrack.
Nobody (May 12)
This movie is literally John Wick starring Saul Goodman. And I do mean literally. The characters and set pieces are almost identical.
Bob Odenkirk does not make for a convincing badass like Keanu Reeves. He's a great actor, but he doesn't sell the physicality.
This is one of those movies I would never pay full price for, but with Regal Unlimited, it's a fun time.
Minari (May 13)
Minari is the most relatable movie I've ever seen in my entire life. It's such an American story, in addition to an Asian American one.
The way David treats his grandma kind mirrors my relationship with Asian traditionalism. It's so, so annoying at times, yet a source of pride, if that makes sense.
The struggle of immigrants and outsiders is so relatable. It's sad but inspiring to see a depiction of just a microcosm of what my parents went through coming to America.
Some people might not like the abrupt ending, but I thought it was the perfect ending. It said everything it needed to and left the viewer with the dots to connect and fill in the blanks of what happens next.
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (May 14)
To go from Minari to Tokyo Drift is cinematic whiplash for sure.
Sean's "GUY-JEAN" gets me every time. Who cast this dude?
If Han, DK, and Bow-Wow hard carry this movie and keep it watchable. The choreography of drifting versus traditional drag racing kept things interesting. The camera work is so extra this time around, but it works with drifting being the main focus.
Fast & Furious (May 20)
I liked the focus on Dom and Brian's relationship becoming like a big brother-little brother.
The action continues to be ridiculous, which is what I want. The story is still generic cop movie. The actors are pretty a little more effort into it. This one really marks a turning point in the saga where they movies are actually decent/good now.
Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train (May 22)
Okay, I haven't seen the series yet, but I think some of my criticisms apply regardless.
Why do manga/anime writers just have people monologuing for literally 2 minutes straight? The villain is literally talking to the audience, explaining his plan in the most unnatural way possible. It doesn't help that he has the most annoying voice of all time.
Death Note and Code Geass are examples of doing exposition well. It has to make sense. Sci-fi jargon or magical terminology isn't interesting on its own.
I'm also just really tired of the random grunts and overacting screams in shonen anime.
This movie is hard carried by ufotable's action sequences. Sword trails are my favorite action trope, and this movie goes the extra mile with them. I love seeing the crashing waves or flames; they remind me of "the Great Wave off Kanagawa," and it looks fucking awesome.
Maybe I'll rewatch after I've caught up with the series and see how it stands then. But right now, I thought it was pretty mediocre.
Cruella (May 27)
Emma Stone and Emma Thompson hard carry this movie as fashion icons. Their performances and character ticks are so ridiculous and cartoony, but it works. The story is less Joker and more de Vil Wears Prada plus Ocean's Eight, stylish and fun.
The child actors, however, were horrendous, and maybe 20 minutes of excess could've been shaved off to make a better movie. Some people won't like that she's less evil and more sympathetic, but I enjoyed a more nuanced take on the character. There's no way to make an entire movie about a dog-skinning psychopath.
Final words
I'm so glad to be vaccinated and be able to watch movies in the theater again.
It's good for me to be forced into a situation where I can't whip out my phone when I'm bored, but it's also making me realize how bad the editing is on some of these movies. So many scenes are unnecessary or go on for way too long. Almost every movie on this list except Minari could've been improved with more cut content.
Hi! I'm Jeff Chheng.
This is my blog where I ramble about web dev, video games, and TV.