Brian's Thoughts on Movies

"You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger darling"  Eames from Inception. Inception, released during the summer of 2010, is director Christopher Nolan’s first mega-budgeted non Batman film, funded by a presumably ecstatic Warner Brothers after the overwhelming success of The Dark Knight which came out two years earlier.   Nolan’s second Caped Crusader film grossed so more than expected that Warner Brother delayed the planned November 2008 release of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince to July 2009.   Harry Potter fans were angered though as an only casual watcher of the Harry Potter series I was indifferent.   Spoilers for Inception below: From both a visual and structural standpoint Inception seems influenced by The Matrix.   I always felt the latter film’s attempts to be cool worked against the confusing plot dynamics.   Nolan and his editor, Lee Smith are much more successful in telling their stories using multiple and sometimes narratives, where time itse

 "That's a Smith and Wesson, and you've had your six".  James Bond in Dr No. With the upcoming release of the film No Time to Die there is a lot of speculation that it may connect to the first James Bond film Dr No.  There is a clear link with the title and part of the new film is set in Jamaica, where most of Dr No is set.  Images from the trailers show similar sets and one of the taglines is “The 25 th Bond film will change everything.”  I decided it would be a good idea to revisit Dr No for the first time in many years. so that perhaps when I see No Time to Die I will be able to spot some of the references.  I watched it with my kids who like the more recent Bond films to see if it held their attention. Some people believe that Rami Malek’s villainous character is called Dr No.   I feel if the character is compelling it does not really matter who he is.   It is risky to rework a classic villain as it can open filmmakers up to criticism but if they have an approa

 “The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success.”  Elliot Carver in Tomorrow Never Dies Be warned, spoilers of the film are discussed. These stark words, uttered by Tomorrow Never Dies’ villain, media mogul Elliot Carver could be a philosophy of any successful person who might operate outside social norm.   I’ll withhold a Trump comment just this once but the words invite a deeper examination.   Carver owns a newspaper called “Tomorrow” and he so determined to come in ahead of his rivals (who seem to think little of him) that he actually wants to create the news.   Carver’s plot in the film is start a war between Great Britain and China which will both boost his own ratings since he will have a front door look at it, in much the way the Gulf War helped establish CNN, and give him an opportunity to set up a new Chinese Prime Minister which will give him broadcasting rights in that big market.   The quote indicates that once a person is willing to abandon oral

 "You are a good man with a good heart, and it is hard for a good man to be king"  King T'Chaka to King T'Challa in Black Panther. I have been writing about the Marvel films in groups though a couple of weeks ago I decided to do Black Panther as a solo entry film because I was so impressed with it that I felt it was worthy of a deeper look.   The tragic and unexpected passing of star Chadwick Boseman pushed me to finish it and get it out to all of you. I had an odd journey to this film.   When I first saw Civil War I was impressed by T’Challa’s debut and admired the journey the character went through from seeking revenge to showing empathy to his father’s killer.   However Black Panther was released a few months after Thor Ragnarok.  While I made an effort to see Ragnorak in the theatre feeling afterwards that I could have waited for that film to come to Redbox, which is what I had been doing for the most part since Civil War.   When the trailer for Black Panther wa

 “Just what do you think you’re doing Dave?” As always, spoilers abound. I just showed Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey to my kids who lately have been into Star Wars and Marvel films.   I was curious how they would respond since they are growing up nowadays in which kids have shorter attention spans.   2001 was released in 1968 a time in which a film with slow scenes was more accepted (think Lawrence of Arabia, The Sound of Music, West Side Story).   Avengers Endgame is about half an hour longer than 2001 but is also quickly paced so the time is not felt.   2001 begins with a 20 minute sequence with apes to with no dialogue followed by a 10 minute space docking scene.   I’ve seen it twice before and recorded it a couple of years ago but it has sat on my DVR until I felt in the mood to try it out.   I was truly curious to see how the young generation would react to it. Finally I just put the film on in front of my kids and did not make them stay but just watched and they

Here is are my reviews for the third group of Marvel films.  Note there are third act spoilers here: Captain America: Civil War (2016) The third Captain America solo film is anything but.   The Avengers team up films generally offer the greatest spectacle with smaller arcs for the main characters.   The solo films usually focus on one hero’s exploits and any other players are within that hero’s group.   Winter Solider directors Anthony and Joe Russo return to tell a compelling story about Steve Rogers that tests his values but in a way that impacts nearly the entire Avengers unit.   Civil War retroactively makes Age of Ultron a better film by focusing on the aftermath of the damage of the third of that film.   Tony, already in an unhappy state due to a temporary separation from Pepper Potts (who has not been seen since Iron Man 3), perhaps in part due to the guilt from creating Ultron, is confronted by a mother of a young man who had been killed in Segovia in the climax o