Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)

I don’t imagine it’s easy to maintain a franchise that knocks it out of the park every time.  Star Trek and Star Wars each had entries that fans didn’t like.  Of course, both of those span countless entries.  Godzilla vs. Kong is only the fourth entry in Legendary’s MonsterVerse and it already seems like it’s just going through the motions.

The movie picks up five years after the previous entry where Kong is being monitored by Monarch.  He has this massive habitat that looks like his home island, but he knows it’s not real.  Meanwhile, Godzilla attacks an Apex facility for reasons not entirely clear.  And Apex’s CEO gets a former Monarch scientist to lead an expedition into the Hollow Earth.   Add to this podcaster Bernie, who suspects some sort of nefarious plot, which wouldn’t be out of line.

As the title of the movie implies, everything builds up to an epic battle where Godzilla and Kong throw each other around in an attempt to level Hong Kong.  (Seriously, though.  I feel bad for the people who have to come home only to realize that their building was leveled.  Most of the inhabitants of the city seem apathetic to the battle.)

A lot of the movie, you can see coming.  Apex’s representative on the Hollow Earth expedition is after a power source and basically goes the evil-corporate-selfish route at the first opportunity.  Kong and Godzilla seem to do battle in the middle of the movie, mostly as a way to show how clever Kong’s handlers are by having him play dead.

There were a few things I didn’t understand.  First, why did they need Kong to lead them into Hollow Earth?  It seemed more like a way to put everyone in danger by having them transport Kong in the first place.

The movie also has Bernie break into Apex with Madison and Josh.  You may remember Madison from Godzilla: King of the Monsters.  Josh is the annoying friend who seem to exist for the sole purpose of making me want to slap Josh.  They could have left him out and it would have been a much better movie.  Even having Bernie as the conspiracy-spewing inside man was a bit much.  He seemed to be in all the right places to keep the story moving along.

The movie seems like it’s a bridge between the previous movies and another movie, but I’m not sure what another movie would look like.  Would they be introducing new monsters?  Would it be another battle between Godzilla and Kong?  IMDb doesn’t list any future titles, but it could be a possibility.  I will say that the CGI was good, but I don’t hold out much hope for the next installment’s plot.

 

IMDb page

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

It occurs to me that Godzilla is like The Incredible Hulk minus Bruce Banner.  You have this giant creature that goes around smashing things without remorse.  If you like to see cities leveled, this is your character.  Motivations and origins may change, but the underlying narrative seems to be the same.

When I first saw coming attractions for Godzilla: King of the Monsters, I was all set to see it.  I mean, who doesn’t love seeing a major city left uninhabitable?  Then, I took a look at the IMDb page and realized that it was a sequel.  I was worried that I might need to see Godzilla to understand this incarnation.  It turns out I was worried for no reason.  Very little of this movie’s continuity relies on the previous movie.

In fact, had I not just told you, you could have watched this movie without knowing that any other movies came before this one.  You might have had some inclination that something was off, but not felt motivated to check.  (I have the DVD for Kong: Skull Island, which also exists in-universe.)  In fact, the two movies have exactly four actors in common.  That should tell you something.

In this outing, Godzilla is going up against several other monsters.  An organization called Monarch is all set to awaken all of these ancient creatures, including Mothra.  Why?  Well, this is the Earth’s way of taking care of itself.  We’ve become an infestation and Godzilla is the cure.  Working for Monarch is Dr. Emma Russell, who has a device that can control the monsters.

Then, there are those, such as Mark Russell, who say kill all the monsters.  He never trusted them, and he never will. He could never forgive them for the death of his boy.  (Wait…Maybe that was Kirk from Star Trek VI talking about Klingons.)  At any rate, they are a threat.  And yes, he was married to Emma.  They even have a daughter, Madison.

So, yeah.  It turns out that maybe Godzilla is a good thing.  Like in the first movie, he can keep the other monsters in line.  The main difference is that we now have 17 different monsters running around.  (It was Monarch’s plan to release one at a time, but things got out of hand.) 

One thing I like about having AMC’s A-List is that the premium movies are included in the plan.  So, whatever else, I got to see this movie in 3D.  I would tell you to do so if you can upgrade at no additional cost, since it would seem to be a vehicle for the effects.  Other than that, it wasn’t a particularly memorable movie.

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First Man (2018)

There were 17 missions named Apollo.  In addition to these, there were 12 Gemini missions, all in low-Earth orbit, all as a way of testing what would be needed for the lunar missions.  There have been all sorts of movies made, like Apollo 13.  Other motion pictures, such as Hidden Figures, have brought the support staff to our attention.   This isn’t even getting into miniseries and books.

It occurred to me while watching First Man that it‘s impossible to capture all of it in one movie.  In fact, the movie left a lot of it out, focusing on Neil Armstrong.  It caught me off guard.  Then, I remembered what the name of the movie was.  A movie called First Man should focus on Neil Armstrong.

The movie starts in 1961 with Armstrong testing an X-15.  Upon attempting reentry, he bounces off the atmosphere, but is able to get everything under control and return safely to the ground.  Regardless, he finds himself grounded.  He’s distracted, and with good reason.  His 2-year-old daughter is being treated for a brain tumor.  No one can do anything and it’s weighing on him.

The movie moves forward to major events, starting with his applying for the Gemini project.  Throughout, there are major historical events, like the Soviets beating America to several milestones.  Several fellow astronauts die, which doesn’t sit well with his wife, Janet.  (It’s not easy to see her husband and father of their two children go into space, knowing how many unknowns there are.)

Being that this is based on historical events, I’m not going to worry about spoilers so much.  The movie doesn’t rely on any sort of shock value, nor does it play up any sense of tension.  Plus, Armstrong lived until 2012.  Saying that he makes it back to Earth isn’t ruining any part of the experience.

It’s somewhat difficult to get my head around the scope of it all.  The movie does convey that people didn’t make it home safely.  Apollo 1 didn’t launch due to an electrical fire, killing all three occupants of the craft.  Wives have to deal with the reality of their husbands not coming home.  Even when everything goes right, it’s not over until they walk through the door.

There is also a muted feel to the movie.  There are arguments, but it’s not uncomfortable.  There is excitement, but it’s not overdone.  There’s a very even pace and tone throughout.  I’m not sure that it’s necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not good, either.  It seemed like the movie was stripped down to just the facts.  I will say that there was a decent flow to the movie.  It seemed long, but it didn’t seem boring or jerky.

I’m not sure that any one project could do all the space missions justice.  Even to focus on one mission, like Apollo 11, would have to cover a lot of ground, including all the research that went into it and all of the people that were involved.  Even a miniseries would be hard pressed.

There is a value in watching it, though.  I could see people of high-school and college age watching it.  It would be interesting to see the opinion of those that lived though the 1960s and know more about it.  As I’ve indicated, I’m sure that there’s a lot that was left out.

IMDb page

The Last Man on the Moon (2014)

Game Night (2018)

Some people long for adventure while others seem content to fall into a rut.  Max and Annie both have a love of games.  They met while competing.  Eventually, they married and now host game night for their friends.   Kevin and Michelle are also husband and wife.  Then, there’s Ryan, who’s a little on the slow side.  He seems to have a revolving door in terms of his dates.  For the duration of the movie, Ryan’s date is Sarah, a woman way better than he deserves.

The main story begins when Max’s brother, Books, comes back to town for a while .  Brooks has always been more successful than Max at pretty much everything.  Max tries not to let it show, but Brooks knows which buttons to push.  For instance, Brooks comes through the front door when Max and Annie had specifically asked everyone to come in more discretely.  The idea was to not attract the attention of their neighbor, Gary.  You see, Gary’s the annoying neighbor everyone else is trying to avoid.

One week, Brooks decides to put on a special game night.  He’s hired a company that specializes in faking a kidnapping and having the group of friends follow clues to find the faux victim.  If you’ve seen the coming attractions, you may remember that Brooks is actually kidnapped while the would-be players watch in amusement.  When the actual actors show up, the hunt is on to get Brooks back.

I once heard a good definition for what separates a comedy from a drama:  In a comedy, no one dies.  While this isn’t always true, it does serve as a good rule of thumb.  When Max gets shot, it doesn’t seem to slow him down much.  He and Amy stop to tend to it, but it would ultimately seem to be a minor inconvenience.  I would imagine that most people would have died in that situation, or at least have been lightheaded.

The movie is somewhere between The Game and Clue.  On the one hand, it has several layers of what might be real or fake.  The audience knows that Brooks is actually being kidnapped, but we don’t know why or by whom.  There are several reveals along the way, such as what Brooks did that might warrant such attention.  (Minor spoiler alert:  Not everyone is what they seem.)

This is one case where I’d say that the trailer was pretty accurate in terms of giving a good impression of what the movie is about.  It’s not a question of if something will go wrong.  It’s a question of when and how.  This can be difficult to pull off, but it works here.  The situations aren’t over the top.  Well, maybe the scene where they steal the Faberge egg was over the top.  But most of the scenes are more moderate.

IMDb page

Argo (2012)

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions page.

The movie starts in November of 1979.  Protesters are outside the American embassy’s compound and those inside are worried.  The former Iranian shah is in America for medical reasons and the Iranians want him back.  Six of the embassy workers manage to escape, but everyone else is taken hostage.  Those six manage to find refuge at the home of the Canadian ambassador.  The U. S. State Department wants to get them out, but there’s no really plausible way to do that.  Tony Mendez, played by Ben Affleck, finds reasons that each proposal might fail.

One night, while watching one of the Planet of the Apes movies, he realizes that movies will occasionally need to film on location.  This gives him the idea of posing as a studio employee meeting some ‘Canadian’ counterparts in Iran.  After a few days of ‘scouting’ for a location, they’ll all catch a flight back to North America.  Not only does Mendez have to train six people to learn their cover stories, but they’re operating under a deadline.  (It won’t take long for the hostage takers to realize that they’re short six hostages.)

There are also a lot of technical details to worry about.  Mendez brings in some Hollywood people to help sell the cover story.  They buy an actual script to use, hire real actors and go through the process of pretending to make a movie.  The even set up an office for Iranian officials to call when the need arises.  There are also bureaucratic problems that they just have to hope will resolve themselves.

Part of the problem with movies based in history is that you may have some sense of how it ends.  Argo tells part of what went on with the Iranian Hostage Crisis, which took place when I was only a few years old.  I saw the movie with my brother, who was only a few months old at the time.  There were a few references that he missed, like to Rock Hudson.  I’m sure that I missed one or two, myself.  (I have no memory of Carter as president.)

Most of the movie focuses on the rescue attempt.  We get to see the hostages a little before they meet Mendez, but it’s mostly to show that they’re getting cabin fever.  They can’t leave the ambassador’s residence for fear of someone recognizing them.  Once they’re out ‘scouting’ for a location, they have to stay in character the whole time.  (On that note, I’m not sure how much of the film was done for dramatic effect.  There were a few tense scenes where the six ‘houseguests’ were out and almost caught.)

One thing I thought about was the screenwriter whose film was purchased to use for the project.  I felt a little bad that it was purchased with the intent of not really making it.  My brother pointed out that it did help to save lives, but the mission was classified.  Mendez, who came up with the idea, was awarded the Intelligence Star, but couldn’t actually take it home.  This is how classified it was.  I don’t imagine that the State Department was going to let some screenwriter in on their little secret.  I’m sure projects fall through all the time, but it must be so weird to find something like that out years later.

I do recommend seeing the movie.  I liked seeing it in theaters.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to posting it until after it came out on DVD.  Another thing I noticed is that the Canadian government did a lot to help us, even jyst by letting the six Americans stay there.  I’m not sure how much that affected their relationship with the Iranians.  Definitely rent this movie if you get the chance.