The Bat Cave

This seems to be a growing trend for me. I get so backed on up movies I haven’t reviewed that I just spew them all out in one lazy, abbreviated post. I have to admit, I don’t feel much like writing in depth reviews for movies anymore – unless I’m really inspired to do so – but I’d like to find a way to streamline the process one movie at a time. Hope to figure it out soon. Until then…

The Irishman (2019) – I’m going to give this another go when it comes to Netflix next week because I was expecting a total masterpiece and what I got was… a very good film. The acting in this movie is pretty high level, especially from Joe Pesci and Al Pacino. De Niro is good also, but I’d be kind of surprised if his performance gets Oscar attention. This movie centers around the mob’s involvement with the Teamsters and the events leading up to Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance (which I don’t know much about) so the story spans many decades and the filmmakers had to use a de-aging process on the actors and I think for the most part it looks pretty great. There was one scene where De Niro’s character is in his 20s or 30s and gives the business to a shop owner and he’s roughing him up with all the ferocity of a, well, 75 year old man. I think The Irishman is technically sound and will probably get plenty of Oscar attention, but the movie didn’t wow me and the story didn’t really move me. Also, at 3.5 hours, the run time isn’t exactly ideal and after one viewing I’m not sure it needed to be that long. I’m hoping to change my mind after watching it again and discover that it’s actually a great film.

7/10 (Highly Enjoyable)

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) – I liked that they took the Halloween approach and ignored the last three movies and made this a direct sequel to Judgment Day. In fact, I watched The Terminator and Judgment Day in the days leading up to seeing Dark Fate and, uh, I’m pretty sure that was a mistake. Those films are just so much better and the drop in quality is impossible to ignore. Also, I absolutely hated the opening sequence of this movie. I was literally like wtf before the title even showed on screen. I didn’t find myself very invested in the new characters, as Arnold and Linda Hamilton provided pretty much all the highlights in this film. If the franchise plan is to move forward with the new group and leave Arnie and co. in the past, they are going to be in trouble. I suppose the action in this movie was pretty decent, but I checked out early on in the film and it only brought me back when Arnold was saying funny things. I thought it was strange that the future would send back a human-cyborg hybrid that had so many, uhm, red flags health-wise – the most excruciating moments of the movie were centered around trying to revive her. Give me a T-800 all day. I thought this movie was pretty middling and continues a nearly 30 year run of mediocre Terminator movies, but a couple of my friends assured me it had “top 5 sound all-time” (in case that’s something anyone cares about).

5/10 (Decent)

The Lighthouse (2019) – Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson are great in this, but… it was too weird for me. I didn’t really get it and had to read about it on Wikipedia to try and figure out what I missed. I felt the same way about director Robert Eggers’ last film The Witch. It kind of bothers me when something is critically lauded and I find myself scratching my head while watching it. I generally find that if something is universally acclaimed, it is usually pretty good, so when I don’t feel the same way, it makes me feel like I don’t get it. That makes me hesitant to say a movie like The Lighthouse is bad because I don’t really think that it is. The acting and cinematography are top notch, and it’s a rather beautiful looking film, but… the story appears to be over my head and I didn’t enjoy it much. I’m going to give this a 5 out of 10, but be warned, many of you out there could very well hate it.

5/10 (Decent)

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie [Netflix] (2019) – Well, that was quite unnecessary. Breaking Bad is a top five show all-time for me (and maybe as high as #1), so I’m eager to dig into any additional content, but Jesse’s character was never the reason I watched the show and if they made a spin off series based on his character, I’m not even sure I’d tune in for that. This movie tells Jesse’s story immediately following the events of the series finale of Breaking Bad and while I guess I found watching this movie to be somewhat enjoyable, it was also a largely forgettable experience. Jesse Plemons reprising his role as Todd was by far the highlight of this movie. Something about that guy is just hilarious. Obviously, if you loved Breaking Bad you should probably watch this, but I can’t say it added much to the lore and for continued Breaking Bad content, Better Call Saul is far more entertaining.

5/10 (Decent) – and that might be generous

The Art of Self-Defense (2019) – This movie was hyped up to me and I had hopes that it would be a surprising dark comedy, but I thought it got pretty ridiculous about halfway through and it totally lost me as a viewer. The first half of the movie is quirky and funny, but it falls off a cliff when Jesse Eisenberg’s character becomes entangled in the seedy operations of the dojo he enlists at. I suppose it’s worth a watch, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

5/10 (Decent)

Batman vs Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2019) – Cowabunga! A 1990s 12 year old’s dream come true! Unfortunately, it’s 2019 and this movie is about 25 years too late for peak impact. Still, even though these aren’t the Turtles of my youth, I was pretty impressed with this mash up. I thought it was funny and entertaining and not nearly as cheesy as I expected. I’ve seen it twice now and enjoyed it both times. My only real gripe is that it seems like seeing Batman’s rogues gallery get infected by the ooze and turn into Manimals would be really cool, but the results are pretty disappointing. Overall though, this was a pleasant surprise, especially considering the poor run Batman’s animated feature length adventures have been on.

6/10 (Recommended)