Moviewatcher122's 2017 Film Diary: June

June 2



"I've heard better singing from a mongoose with throat cancer!"

This is exactly as demented as I was hoping it would be considering it's an early Peter Jackson film, except this one is different. It's like watching a coked up episode of The Muppet Show where anything goes, and I do mean anything. Sure, it has what you'd expect like puppets involved with sex acts and drug use, but it gets even crazier than that. Just to name one, there's this one puppet that has a Vietnam flashback a la Deer Hunter. So many of the crazy stuff in this movie had me dying of laughter and the way all of this is executed was brilliant. It's a masterpiece of bad taste and I loved it.

June 3



"Days get shorter and shorter, nights longer and longer, before you know it, your life is just one long night with a few comatose daylight hours."

This movie is actually somewhat underrated. It's no masterpiece or anything, but it's a charming movie. It was a decent romance story and it has some funny lines. I also liked Tom Cruise's character here and Elizabeth Shue who was in her prime when this came out was also really good. Overall, I really enjoyed this movie and I don't think it's anywhere near as bad as its negative reception would have you believe.

June 5



"Wow. An American that thinks the way that I do. That is someone I have to meet."

I really had no strong feelings for this film either way. The acting is decent, the writing is average and it has an interesting idea, but the execution was lacking. Really the only thing that I really didn't like was the twist ending which felt forced although I probably would've liked it more if I was engaged in what was happening which I wasn't. As it stands, it's an average movie that I don't regret watching, but is something I will easily forget about.

June 6



"Watch out for snakes."

For a film that has a reputation as being one of the worst movies of all time, I wasn't seeing what was so godawful about it. Sure the acting is really bad, the dialogue is poorly-written, but I didn't really think the movie itself was terrible. It did have some charm to it and there's a few unintentionally funny moments, but it's really more bland than anything. It's far from terrible and not even close to being one of the worst movies ever.

As for the MST3K episode, it's not an all time favorite or anything, but it's still hilarious and it's one of those times where the skits are even funnier than the riffing itself. That pig instrument had me dying of laughter.

MST3K Rating: 9/10

June 8-9



"My dad left home when I was eight. You know what he said to me? Have fun, stay single. I was eight."

This was a pretty entertaining movie. It's decently-written, the dialogue is very witty and it had a good soundtrack. It tells a really interesting story and it's one of those movies that defines the 90's.

June 10



"And the truth is they are lovely girls."
"Yes, super nice girls."
"Well, I don't think that they are because we literally saw them robbing your house."
"Oh, thanks for fucking stopping them!"

I was really looking forward to this sequel since the first one was better than I was expecting it to be. It's more of the same stuff, but it's still enjoyable. I did laugh quite a bit through some of it and Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne do a very good job playing the same characters. Even Zac Efron is a lot better in this one in terms of acting and is even more likeable here. Chloe Moretz is also good even if her character does feel like wasted potential at times.

But there's this one elephant in the room I have to address because it's something about this movie that's hard for me to ignore. It's the fact that this movie is trying way too hard to be progressive. I mean, I get why the plot was executed the way it was because it's tackling the issue of sororities not being allowed to party. That I understand, but that just wasn't enough. It felt like it had to be heavy-handed with its message and throw in other things to appeal to the SJW crowd. There's throwaway lines about certain things I'd rather not get into, but they were pretty cringe-worthy. Let's just say that it was kind of off-putting to see a movie with un-PC jokes try to be PC. It's also trying to be feminist, but none of the female characters are particularly well-written. Strong female characters are important for this kind of movie.

There was also the inclusion of Dave Franco's character who is now gay which I was cheering on at first, but when it ended, I realized he wasn't in it that much. It's like they just made that change for the sake of it and not do much else with it. But what I think really fails the most at when it comes to social commentary is the lack of subtly it has. It literally spoon-feeds all of it to its target audience and that's why this movie lost me with whatever message it was trying to tell.

If there's one thing I try not to do when it comes to movies, it would be to let my political beliefs get in the way of enjoying a movie. After all I would be lying if I said I hated this movie because I really didn't. But there's also another thing with me and critiquing film that is more important and that is honesty and I had to say what I said. This movie is not as smart as it thinks it is and I just had to call it out. As a sequel to Neighbors, it's half-decent and does deliver some funny moments, but as a satire it just doesn't work.

June 11



"Some days, you just can't get rid of a bomb."

I couldn't believe it when I heard the news that Adam West passed away. He was one of these actors I knew all my life starting with The Fairly Oddparents and later on with Family Guy. Also, even though I haven't watched much of the original Batman TV show, I've seen some of it and liked what I saw.

This is the first time I've actually seen this movie though and for what it is, it's entertaining. It is overlong at times and it kind of feels more like a mishmash of Batman episodes than an actual movie. That's not entirely a bad thing though because it does add to some of this movie's charm. It's fun camp that doesn't take itself too seriously and there's a few highly memorable scenes. The shark repellent bit and Batman not knowing where to get rid of a bomb in particular is pure gold. As far as Batman movies go it's far from the best, but as a movie based on the show it's good campy fun.

RIP Adam West. Your contributions to pop culture and sense of humor will be greatly remembered.

June 14



"You don't leave because you have somewhere to go, you leave because nothing is keeping you there."

I seen the trailer for this a couple of times and I was really intrigued by it, so when I found out it was playing here I went out of my way to go see it as soon as I could and man, does it ever leave an impact. It tells this amazing story about this girl serving the military who trains this dog to save lives in the war. Kate Mara is amazing as Megan Leavey and the rest of the cast is really solid. Even Common who I wasn't even expecting to be in this movie turned in a great performance. What really won me over though was the emotional journey of this film. It focuses more on the relationship between Megan and Rex, but I think it works to the films advantage and what it does show is more than enough. It's also one of those dramas that's able to pull at the heartstrings without being too overly-dramatic or sentimental. It's a real drama that invokes real emotions. Even though this movie isn't quite perfect as there's minor flaws in the writing, this movie was so powerful that I can overlook it because sometimes the emotional impact matters more than anything else.

June 16-17



"See you in hell."
"If I see you anywhere near Hell, I'll kick your ass out."

This was just as good as the other Punisher movie. It may not be much in terms of story and writing, but what it lacks in that category it makes up for with over the top action. It's really off the rails with the gore and it's even more out there than the previous Punisher. It's a really solid comic book movie and it sucks that The Punisher could never catch a break when it comes to film adaptations.

June 19



"Life is not a movie. Good guys lose, everybody lies, and love... does not conquer all."

This is a decent movie that is mainly enjoyable due to Kevin Spacey's role. His performance is what sold it for me and most of his lines were pretty funny. As for the movie itself, it's decent. The storyline isn't really anything new and there were a few scenes that I didn't really care for. I did really like the ending though and thought it was an interesting way to end it.

June 20



"Even a broken clock is right twice a day."

Honestly, I was hoping for something more with this movie. With a strong cast and Gregory Hoblit directing it, I thought it would be at least decent. While Anthony Hopkins is as great as you'd expect and Ryan Gosling is alright with the material he is given, I just felt like I've seen this particular movie done better so many times before. While I do love a good courtroom drama, this one just felt generic and didn't really have much to offer. The writing is serviceable and there are a few moments that caught my attention. There's nothing really bad about this movie, but there's not much that really stands out either. Wouldn't try to convince people not to watch this one, but at the same time there are many courtroom dramas you could be watching instead.

June 26



"Our people once were warriors. But unlike you, Jake, they were people with mana, pride; people with spirit. If my spirit can survive living with you for eighteen years, then I can survive anything."

This is another one of these kinds of movies that I can't say I was fully prepared for. I didn't even know what it was about going into it, but even if I did, I still think this is one of those films that you can never be fully prepared for. Regardless, this was a really powerful drama with great acting and a really uncompromising storyline. I'm not kidding, this movie tackles some pretty heavy themes. It got really hard to watch near the second half and it disturbed me in a way that not a whole lot of movies are able to do. Even though this is a great movie, it's not one I would recommend to everyone. It's worth seeing if you're interested, but be warned, it's not an easy film to watch.

June 27



"She is pure evil."
"How are we supposed to stop her?"
"It's morphin' time."

I was actually somewhat interested in this one. Even though I never really grew up with Power Rangers, I did think the trailer looked interesting and a part of this movie was filmed where I live. It's not too common for a movie to be filmed here, but most of the time when they are, it's mostly just small parts. This one was interesting though since I did see part of the set when they started filming here.

For someone who was never into Power Rangers, I still thought this movie was decent. The story isn't much different from the typical origin story, but it was still presented well. It was definitely more character driven than I was expecting it to be and I did find myself liking the characters here. However, while I did like most of this movie, the writing was pretty uneven at times. It did get predictable at times and there was this one patch in the middle where this film started to become too serious for it's own good. I found it to be really annoying especially because there was this one part where we are supposed to believe that one of the Power Rangers is dead for good, but even if you've half the amount of movies I've seen, then you'll know that he's going to be brought back to life.

Fortunately it does pick itself up from there and it starts to become entertaining again. There isn't much action in this movie until the end, but I did enjoy that one action scene near the end. Maybe because I'm biased since a good part of that scene was filmed here, but either way I did enjoy that part of the movie. Power Rangers isn't without its faults, but it's still enjoyable. Even though I never watched the original show.

June 30



"Have you and your wife been to Paris before?"
"Yes, on our honeymoon."
"Is it possible she met someone here? Someone she has been thinking about?"
"Since June 15th, 1968?"

Felt like ending the month on a stronger note, so I took a chance on this one and it turned out to be pretty good. It's a really solid thriller with Harrison Ford that was really suspenseful and kept me interested in what was going to happen from the start. There's even some Hitchcock influence in the story as well which was also something I appreciated. It doesn't quite cross the line of greatness, but it's still really good and somewhat overlooked film.