#2,371: Wonder Woman

Alien³ - ★★★☆☆
For years, we called one of our friends "35" because that's how tall he guessed a hundred foot flagpole was. But it was also kind of a reference to '85' in this movie, which had just come out, I think. My point is Alien³(: Director's Cut) was much less bad than I was led to believe. It's a big left turn from the previous entry, but as far as James Cameron followups go, it's way less damaging to the series mythology than Terminator 3.

Plus, three movies in, we had a good time playing 'guess thesynthetic,' which isn't much of a game in the Terminator franchise.

The Big Sick - ★★★½☆
I thought it was an interesting choice for this movie to be set in the past, but not in the year the actual events took place. Like, Kumail is an Uber driver, and his car has the old Uber logo, so you know it's not NOW, but also Uber wouldn't exist until a few years after they got married.

The supporting cast is great, but Kumail kind of makes the same face for 'touched, deep sadness' as he does for 'flirty and aroused' as he does for 'indignant and frustrated.'

Water & Power: A California Heist - ★★½☆☆
Attended a free screening and learned about just how badly California is being screwed over in the name of ubiquitous pistachios. Like a lot of message docs, it wanders a little bit somewhere in the third quarter, but it's still impressive how impassioned the movie is, given how detached the director seemed to be.

Wonder Woman - ★★★☆☆
It feels like it would be very unpopular to not gush over this, but I thought it was kind of average.

I mean, obviously, we're all grateful they didn't do that "I am no man" thing again, and like any good superhero movie there were some terrific moments, but as a story it's pretty unsatisfying. Like Circle, this is a movie where the main character is just correct about everything from the get go, and so she doesn't learn or grow in any appreciable way. I think the story would have been a lot more powerful if there were no Ares, just... men, and the world turns out to be more complicated than it seemed.

However, if we can't have that ending because all DC movies must end in a fantastic show of light and noise, it would have been really nice if Wonder Woman had triumphed through the application of some skill or lesson or something that we'd seen at any point earlier in the movie, instead of random magic. When all the shrapnel takes off in her direction, I was engaged in the action. I didn't know exactly how she would weather the attack– had we seen evidence that her skin was Superman-tough? But if the solution is just going to be 'she uses brand new powers we didn't know about,' why even bother creating the danger?

Certainly, it seems like there was some other ending originally planned, because I can't believe that moment where Diana forgets her sword and has to be like 'oh, uh, wait here a moment, okay?' to the baddie while she goes back for it was anything but a patch, hilarious though it may be.

More generally, it seems like Marvel has had such a lead on DC that DC should be able to easily spot things that happened in a similar Marvel movie ten years ago and then not do those things. Why does Steve Trevor have to have the Steve Rogers ending to the war movie? For that matter, why is Steve Trevor so useless? I guess it's neat that, unlike Diana, he remembered something he saw earlier in the movie when he wants to give her a boost, but honestly? The four foot of height he gives makes that much difference to her 60-foot vertical? (Which probably should have smushed them when she leapt?) I'd like to see Chris Pine become the Sean Bean of his generation, as long as his characters' deaths in each movie always stem from their own clumsiness and ineptitude.

I'm not sure that the idea that all of the men are ineffectual to highlight Wonder Woman's strength really tracks through the whole movie. Maybe if Dr. Poison (!) had been the villain. Or even if she'd been Ares.

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to the Etta Candy and Sameer spin off movies.

#2,367: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Nuts! - ★★½☆☆
So this is the documentary (which was itself based on a book) that was the basis for a podcast that has been optioned for development as a movie. Ultimately, I was a little bit disappointed - in part because I was hoping there was a lot more to the story that I hadn't already heard in other forms, and in part because some of the art styles just aren't my bag.

Aliens - ★★★½☆
This is the one Alien-franchise movie I know I've seen all the way through before, and I was surprised at how much I'd forgotten. The manner of the traditional long, slow build-up. The way everything keeps getting worse. The part where Ridley is crucified for our sins. Wait. No. That's Christianity. I always mix up Christianity and the film Aliens.

Shimmer Lake - ★☆☆☆☆
Points for effort, but this wasn't so great. kind of feels like something you'd stumble over on deep cable. Or a Sci-Fi Channel original if there had been any sci-fi elements. Although the fact that the story is told backwards probably did make me more interested in watching this, the gimmick isn't used very well.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - ★½☆☆☆
Right after viewing, I figured it was probably better than part 1 because it bothered me less, but on reflection the sequel is probably the worse movie. It's pretty long given how little happens, and of course, because it's a comic book sequel, it's the 'what if they lost their powers' plot. In this case, that means we split up the team. You know, the team we spent a whole movie getting together, the one where everyone made the same speech over and over about finding their family? More like the team who all go on separate adventures in the sequel.

I've heard the original described as "Star Wars for a new generation," but Volume 2 feels more like a Trek movie to me. It's slow, it's mostly guys standing around talking instead of exploring space, and the wily and reckless captain has to face off with a weird, cosmic consciousness and its machinations.

#2,364: The Verdict

Diani and Devine Meet the Apocalypse - ★★★★★
I've been to a couple of festival screenings of the movie.  We had one at the San Diego Comic Fest and another at a festival here in LA that doubled as a cast and crew screening.  I still like seeing what parts audiences enjoy.  The LA screening was unusual because there was so many cast and crew in attendance that the audience was a little too hot; their laughs stepped all over jokes the regular audiences enjoy.

Alien - ★★★★★
Watched alongside reading the book of production designer Roger Christian, Cinema Alchemist. The movie remains a classic. The book was badly in need of an editor.

Doctor Strange - ★★★½☆
On a rewatch, I was really pleased with how much more filmic, more cinematic, Dr. Strange is than other, similar movies.

I was wrong when I originally guessed that it would be set in the recent past (in order to make it make sense when he's name dropped in Winter Solider), but I'm going to try again by predicting Strange gets into it with Star Lord about when some song from the 70s charted.

The Verdict - ★★★½☆
Man, Lumet, Mamet, Newman.
You know that ridiculous trailer for House of Games, where "David Mamet writes the way people speak" (even though nobody in that movie sounds anything like a human)? It's movies like this one that got all that praise. Plus, I like the way they slow play a reveal so long that you might start to think it's not coming. I feel like the pacing is more a product of its time, but if you did it today it would seem deft.

#2,362: Avalanche! (And the start of MST3K s11)

MST 1101: Reptilicus
MST 1102: Cry Wilderness
MST 1103: The Time Travelers
MST 1104: Avalanche

I was worried that I was going to be completely weirded out by the new season of MST3K. I've met most of the previous casts of the show, but I knew Jonah and the new bots long before they got this gig. I was worried it was just going to seem like some dudes I know doing a podcast. And while it is a little weird to me to hear these guys making callbacks to jokes made by their predecessors 20 years ago, I think I've been pleasantly surprised by the quality. 

I've also been very surprised to see this incarnation turn everything I know about MST on its head. I used to watch this show for the host segments above all else. And while I appreciate the effort to check the boxes of the original series, so far they're mostly... not good. I can't believe that I like the theater part more, and I can't believe that Crow / Hampton is my favorite. I'm so glad he's doing a character voice. Baron is a terrific comic, but has enormous shoes– or, an enormous hoverskirt to fill. 

Technical production on the show, from what I've heard about it, seems just plain weird. I think part of what made the original, or the early era of Adult Swim so great, was that it was made by creative people with a lot more time than money. While this season is probably constrained by budget as much as anything, it still seems like the mass-produced version of the show. The timing feels weird, and it's because they're not actually in the room together recording the riffs. The characters don't necessarily match what they're saying because they're shot separately. The host segments don't have time for another take. The whole thing feels way more digital. 

In high school, it was my dream job to work on MST3K, and between how many other odd opportunities I've had to work with my heroes of that era, and how many people I knew that were involved in this version, I'm almost surprised I didn't have any involvement aside from donating $1. But at the same time, I'm not sure if this is the version I would have wanted to be a part of.  (Oh, I talk a good game, but I'm sure I'd've jumped at the gig!)

As for the episodes themselves: some of the movies aren't that bad. I'm intrigued by the weird little hints of continuity between them and hope that pays off somehow. The guest stars have been really disappointing. The set is weird in a new aspect ratio (and yet no hexfield!). And I hate TV's Son of TV's Frank. Sure, the name is dumb, but something about casting 'names' into MST3K, no matter how much they may have loved the old show, makes the new one feel like fanfic. 

#2,358: Free Fire

The Circle - ★½☆☆☆
The most millennial thing about this movie is how actions are decoupled from consequences. The main character's actions don't seem to mean anything, good or bad. She's just intuitively correct about everything at the beginning of the movie, and has no need to change or grow. Like any time you start to think 'oh no, I wonder how she'll get out of this one!' the answer turns out to be 'everything's okay, and it always has been!'

The supporting cast makes even less sense. Their behavior from scene to scene is baffling.

Some people would probably say that it's anticlimactic when all of a character's plans work on the first try, but those people will probably suffer a nonsensical death that won't be mourned for more than a scene or two.

I was happy for some people I know that got to be in the movie.

Ant-Man - ★★★☆☆
I think I liked this more with the benefit of time, and Civil War. Despite the cosmic and magical entries, this is still the most nonsensical MCU entry.

Going in Style - ★★★☆☆
Safe, smooth, and destined for a long life on TBS.

Free Fire - ★★★★☆
It seems like a shame that nobody was there to see this on the opening weekend. I think it's got one of those trailers that makes you feel like you've already seen it all. It's fun, it's funny, it's got a good mix of banter and slapstick. I would have liked it to either be a little bit shorter or to have had one more complication enter the fray towards the end, but I liked it. It feels like cinema.