Brian's Thoughts on Movies

 The first post I put in this blog was for Avatar in late 2009.  I had been toying with the idea for a couple of years and when I saw that film I had enough thoughts about James Cameron's long awaited film that I even named the blog after the thoughts.  After finishing the post I felt that my main feelings with the film were expressed and I never sat down to re-watch it.   As the years went by I read stories about the Avatar sequels.  Initially two more films turned into four and the release dates kept getting pushed further back.  My response to the idea of four more Avatar films was initially disappointment because Cameron is one of the great directors and at age 68 I would rather see him explore other ideas than spend years making sequels to a film whose premise I did not feel could sustain four more stories.  In the meantime while Cameron assembled writing teams for each film he also kept himself busy with other projects.  He visited the...

 I am starting to get behind on the MCU because I do not watch all the shows.  I have not made the time to watch Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel or She-Hulk.  Nor have I seen the older shows like Agents of Shield or Agent Carter.  While I enjoy the films and some of the shows it does make for a lot of superheroes and my interests are varied.  So I will likely continue to watch the films and some of the shows if they grab my attention but not all of them. Spoilers for the three films below Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) Writer-Director Ryan Coogler had a monster of a job to rework the story he had developed when Chadwick Boseman tragically passed away in 2020 of colon cancer.  I thought Black Panther was the best film by far of the MCU and while I was excited to see where it could go, I also felt that a follow-up had little chance of holding the same power.  When Boseman died, Marvel faced a difficult choice.  They could have recast T'Challa (as the...

The original producers of the James Bond series, Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman made some interesting decisions with the early films.  One of them was not only to film the books out of order but to film some of the later books first.  You Only Live Twice was the eleventh Ian Fleming novel but was the fifth film.  Dr No was first film but came in the middle of the series.  From Russia With Love was the second film but the fourth book and Goldfinger, Thunderball, and On Her Majesty's Secret Service were all later books but were the third, fourth, and sixth films.  The logic might be to capitalize on a recent successful title but it is interesting that although the books follow a through-line the films were largely designed to be independent experiences with only loose connections so an audience member could watch one without having seen prior entries. The first four film adaptations are pretty similar to the novels but You Only Live Twice takes the Jap...

Life imitates art as Creed actor Michael B. Jordan follows original series star Sylvester Stallone into the director's chair.  Jordan has put together a thoughtful career path and proves to be a natural storyteller in this next chapter of Adonnis Creed's story, scripted by Keenan Coogler (brother of original Creed director Ryan, who has co-written several of his brother projects including Black Panther) and Zach Baylin writer of the excellent film King Richard), that plumbs into Donnie's past to find his next challenge. Spoilers below: I expected the film to start as Rocky III did, with Creed as champion and on top of the world.  Jordan and the writers instead start the film with a flashback to Donnie's youth where we meet Damian who is a Golden Glove boxer.  Interestingly Donnie is already living with his father's widow Mary Anne at this stage but sneaks out to watch Damian fight.  As I still think of the stern Clair Huxtable every time I first see Phylicia Rashad ...

Stephen King's books have a mixed appeal for me as I think as I have mentioned before.  I believe he is a superb writer and I savor the detail in which he probes into his characters' heads and builds his plots.  As a reader I can feel the joy he gets from the process of writing.  However I have little interest in the big supernatural elements of most of his stories as I find them difficult to relate to.  As such I have never read or seen a lot of his most famous works like The Stand, Pet Cemetary or IT.  I have read a lot of his short stories (Different Seasons and Just After Sunset collection), and also really like some of King's more grounded books like Cujo and Misery.  I also liked the Green Mile and 11.22.63 for their anthology structure and time travel respectively.  In early 1993 I read the recently released Gerald's Game on the recommendation of a friend who  devoured King's books as they came out.  I thought it was an intriguing stor...

Adam Sandler has the most successful film career of any Saturday Night Live performer.  Adam Sandler comedies are often savagely attacked by critics who can be a little high-minded and dismissive of them.  I think it is important to look a little deeper as to why something works or does not.  Sandler created a production company called "Happy Madison" which is named after his first two films "Billy Madison" and "Happy Gilmore", neither of which I have seen yet.  Happy Maidson produces most of Sandler's comedies (and some which star other SNL veterans like David Spade) and it has allowed him to give a lot of opportunities to friends both in front of and behind the camera.  This can be both an asset and a hindrance.  For example, Sandler has made several films with director Dennis Dugan who often does broad comedy well but whose films struggle balancing those with the more dramatic scenes, which can make the films seem like a collection of gags.  But it ...

"We're all put to the test, but it never comes in the form or at the point we might prefer, does it?"  Charles Morse in The Edge On New Years' morning this year I opened my phone and saw a headline that said "Anthony Hopkins' Life in Photos.  I momentarily felt a sense of grief.  Had Anthony Hopkins passed away and more selfishly, would there be no more Anthony Hopkins' performances? I have not seen all of his work but a Hopkins performance can make a great film even better (Remains of the Day, Shadowlands), a good film great (Nixon, Mask of Zorro), and a bad film watchable (Human Stain, Instinct).  The Welsh voice which can be powerful yet soft and, the blue eyes which can indicate deep thought or an intimidating stare, and the stature which is short but imposing, all make Hopkins (who has an obvious adoration of the craft) one of my favorite actors of all time and I believe the best living male actor.  For all of his success Anthony Hopkins will probabl...