Tag: movie

Review: The Old Guard

I can’t stress how much I enjoyed The Old Guard. A group of immortals who have been around for varying lengths of time (several thousand to a couple hundred years) use their badassery to fight for what they feel is morally right. The level of death these people can unleash is crazy high, and none of them are impacted much at all by the lives they take. Since they only do jobs they feel are right, I guess there’s no reason to be torn up by the people who die.

One of my favorite elements of the movie is the way that the immortality allows fight scenes to be constructed. The good guys can get shot, fall, ‘die’, get back up, and then continue fighting so the fights are really entertaining. But immortality doesn’t mean immune to pain, so there’s still a “let’s not get shot, please” vibe to the whole thing. At one point one of their intestines are on the outside, and it appears to be very uncomfy.

There’s also an epic love story that is quite possibly my favorite movie love story ever. Imagine spending hundreds of years with the love of your life. I’m down. I don’t want to say too much about this, because it’s so dang delightful everyone should go in to it without knowing details. I’ll just say that it’s amazing and I’m a huge fan.

I don’t know if this is due to the director, or the actors, or screenwriter, but The Old Guard is full of little touches that make the relationships in the movie so much more real. There are significant glances, winks, nods, head tilts, touches, and on and on. I think a lot of them could be missed, and I’m sure I’ll catch more next time I watch it, but it’s not something you see in shoot ’em up action movies.

Something else that I love but don’t want spoil for people is the search for the “why” of their immortality.

On top of all the awesomeness above, this movie is super inclusive and diverse. If you’re looking for a movie directed by a woman, or a black woman, Gina Prince-Blythewood is here for you. You want a group of mercenary types headed by a woman? Got it. Would you like to see a bit of queerness in your action movies? Take it. Black characters who aren’t one dimensional and survive to the end of the move? Yep, the movie has that too.

Just watch it. It’s amazing. Ten out of 10.

Sarah

Mini Movie Reviews

Exactly what it says on the tin – I watch movies and then write mini reviews to post here. Groundbreaking.

I love science fiction movies.I watched a bunch this past week, so I thought it’d be good to use those for my first mini movie review post. I’ve added the descriptions from IMDB because I’m not sure how well known any of them are. Except Bird Box. Bird Box is popular.

Occupation

A small group of town residents have to band together after a devastating ground invasion.
Description from IMDB.

This is an Australian alien invasion movie, and it’s pretty okay. The characters are pretty one dimensional, and a few are needlessly antagonistic, but I liked the premise. I also enjoyed the explosions. The story was fine, really, it just tried to do too much. There were too many characters to follow in a single movie and way too many plotlines. Three different romantic relationships, family drama, teen angst, father-hates-girl’s-love-interest, pregnancy and childbirth in the alien invasion, and so forth. And those are just the ones that don’t have anything to do with aliens. I can definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a fun movie that has lots of explosions.

Bird Box

Five years after an ominous unseen presence drives most of society to suicide, a mother and her two children make a desperate bid to reach safety.
Description from IMDB.

I read Bird Box a few years ago and it stuck with me. So I was excited that it was turned into a movie. I really liked it, but I wasn’t as in love with it as I was hoping to be. It’s still a movie I would definitely urge people to watch. The plot is solid, Sandra Bullock is fabulous as usual, and those kids are adorable. I don’t really have any complaints. Other than the end, that is. I really like the dark ending from the book and was kind of bummed it wasn’t in the movie. The ending they went with probably has wider appeal.

The Osiris Child

Set in the future in a time of interplanetary colonization, an unlikely pair race against an impending global crisis and are confronted by the monsters that live inside us all.
Description from IMDB.

I enjoyed this movie more than I probably should have. No ragrets. So, a dad finds out that the military-like corporation he works for is going to blow up the planet they’re orbiting (for reasons I can’t say), but plot twist, his kid who he’s generally estranged from is currently living on that planet. He steals a ship and gets to the surface. All I want to say here is that if you’re building high tech space ships to dogfight with, they should have a mechanism to see behind them. He makes friends with a prison escapee and the adventure is on. I don’t want to say too much more, but it’s an enjoyable movie. Also another Australian science fiction movie. Apparently I like them.

2036: Origin Unknown

After a failed mission to Mars, A.I./ARTI is now used for the 2036 mission with a few human supervisors. A monolith of unknown origin is found there. It will have a big effect on Earth.
Description from IMDB.

This is not a movie I’d recommend to anyone. Usually I can find a use case for any movie, but this one is just….not what I’m into I guess. Which is unfortunate, since I love Katee Sackhoff. To be fair, the first half or so was fine, but then it went downhill fast.

My Christmas Movie Marathon

This past Saturday a good friend of mine came down to celebrate Christmaspalooza – a several years old tradition we have of watching Christmas movies (usually bad ones) and making baked goodies. This is the lineup from this year:

A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding

Aldovia is a tremendously poorly run country who should have democratic elections promptly. The movie rarely has the bride and groom in the same room, which was a super weird choice. I didn’t watch this for Count Simon’s redemption arc or the government’s financial failings.

Christmas Inheritance

This was pretty cute, I won’t lie. It was the perfect amount of Hallmark-like shenanigans. The formula worked well, though I found myself liking her original boyfriend more than you’re supposed to like the original man in her life. I’m reasonably sure she has to move back to New York City to run her company (that she inherited from her dad even though she showed no aptitude for leadership), so that’s a nice change. My friend called it ‘A Trump Family Christmas’, but I feel like that’s an unfair comparison. She’s not nearly as spoiled by the end of the movie as she does in the beginning.

The Christmas Chronicles

This is by far my favorite of the four movies! I actually enjoyed all four, to differing degrees, but this is the best. Kurt Russell is so dang good. His Santa Claus is an excellent twist on the usual one. And Oliver Hudson in the beginning made me happy.

This movie is a kids’ Christmas adventure that reminds me of 1990s Christmas movies. It made me nostalgic, though I don’t know how it would stack up to them.

It’s a really cute movie, y’all, and I would definitely recommend it. The older brother sucks for a good bit of the beginning, just so you know.

The Holiday Calendar

This movie is so dang cute. It’s just a feel-good Christmas movie with questionable judgement on her part until she suddenly ‘sees the light’ at the end.

I love a good Advent calendar in real life, so you know I loved seeing a magical one bring love to someone. I love a good trope, too, so the best-friend-is-your-true-love-you-dummy is also right up my alley. A photographer dealing with her parents asking about her life choices feels pretty legit, but then they’re won over by some art at a school auction which makes me wonder if they ever looked at her work. Still cute, though.

I still have a ton of movies that I want to watch, but haven’t had the chance yet and might not get the chance to before Christmas. I have part of next week off (from work *and* family) so I might just declare one of those days to be another movie marathon. I feel like you can watch Christmas movies through to New Year’s.

~Sarah~