#1,993: All Hail the King

Movie Monday!

Kick-Ass 2 - ★☆☆☆☆
It's easy to see how the producers tried to take a look at the first one to see what people liked about it, and expand on those elements. This movie is jam-packed with terrible scenes that prove they got the what, but not the why. Unencumbered by any hint of fun or character development, all that's left is a snoozy, repetitive plot.

Her - ★★★½☆☆
The promotional stuff I'd seen for this really looked awful. So, I liked it more than I expected. My favorite things were mostly the implied future. Future technology, future elevator decorating techniques, future public transit in LA. Glad that they eventually addressed questions that the beginning prompted.

I guess the ending was inevitable, but a little unsatisfying. I'm not sure what I would have liked better though. Maybe if Theo made a choice?

Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay - ★★★☆☆
What can you do? If it's a movie full of tricks and demos, then it should be a concert film. If it's a movie full of explanations of the man's past and methods, then it's like being told how the ice cube got on the table, and the answer to that is probably going to be, as Jonathan Creek says, "mind-numbingly banal."

This was interesting, but not TOO interesting...

Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King - ★★★½☆
We had a little marathon of all the MCU shorts, mostly punctuated by wondering why there can't be more, and why Agents of SHIELD can't hold a candle to these.

In particular, I liked how this one both undoes a little continuity damage and maybe sets us up for future flicks.