Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched
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A ★★★★★ review of Modern Times (1936)
“Sing! Never mind the words.” While promoting the film City Lights throughout Europe, Charlie Chaplin was struck by the living conditions under the Great Depression, as well as a chat with Mahatma Gandhi about modern technology. He initially considered making this film his first "talkie"...
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American Sweatshop
Lili Reinhart plays a content moderator on a righteous quest to track down someone IRL (she watches a video at work and it's so scary she faints and wakes up at the hospital). It's not exactly a thriller though. This is less 8MM, more The Assistant - about the psychological toll of a horrible, thankless job that harms you more than it helps anybody. It's an emotionally drained movie, about an emotionally drained character. It's also not very good? It's got that "boomer looking in on the outside" POV so a lot of it rings shallow and merely topical. The ending is one hell of a cop out too.
Lili Reinhart plays a content moderator on a righteous quest to track down someone IRL (she watches a video at work and it's so scary she faints and wakes up at the hospital). It's not exactly a thriller though. This is less 8MM, more The Assistant - about the psychological toll of a horrible, thankless job that harms you more than it helps anybody. It's an emotionally drained movie, about an emotionally drained character. It's also not very good? It's got that "boomer looking in on the outside" POV so a lot of it rings shallow and merely topical. The ending is one hell of a cop out too.
A ★★½ review of Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (1992)
“Little things have a habit of becoming big things, Patti.” This film actually has a bit of an interesting production. At the same time Stuart Gordon was co-writing the original film, two men named Garry Goodrow and Peter Elbling wrote an unrelated movie called Big Baby, about a toddler growing...
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The Switch: Ew / Great
Wally (Jason Bateman) and Kassie (Jennifer Aniston) are long-time "plutonic" friends living the corporate life in New York, and Kassie decides she wants to have a baby via a sperm doner. Wally insists it's a bad idea, but Kassie decides to do it anyway. She throws a weird party when the doner, Roland (Aquaman's brother,) is ready to provide his sample, and in an impaired stupor, Wally switches said sample with his own. Kassie becomes pregnant and moves way. Fast forward a few years, and she moves back to New York with her son Sebastian and reconnects with Wally. It takes some garbled recollecting, but Wally remembers what he did and why Sebastian is so much like him. Meanwhile, Kassie has started a relationship with Roland unawares that he is not the father of her child.
Morally gross movie. It starts out selling itself like a raunchy comedy, but bends into foo-foo romance. The whole time I found myself thinking how reprehensible what Wally did really is. I mean, it's a crime, right? Like a felony? That's not a cute or funny premise to build a whole movie around. The movie resolves exactly as you'd expect because "movie," but the tonal shift from absurd comedy into its actual moral implications make it icky overall.
Wally (Jason Bateman) and Kassie (Jennifer Aniston) are long-time "plutonic" friends living the corporate life in New York, and Kassie decides she wants to have a baby via a sperm doner. Wally insists it's a bad idea, but Kassie decides to do it anyway. She throws a weird party when the doner, Roland (Aquaman's brother,) is ready to provide his sample, and in an impaired stupor, Wally switches said sample with his own. Kassie becomes pregnant and moves way. Fast forward a few years, and she moves back to New York with her son Sebastian and reconnects with Wally. It takes some garbled recollecting, but Wally remembers what he did and why Sebastian is so much like him. Meanwhile, Kassie has started a relationship with Roland unawares that he is not the father of her child.
Morally gross movie. It starts out selling itself like a raunchy comedy, but bends into foo-foo romance. The whole time I found myself thinking how reprehensible what Wally did really is. I mean, it's a crime, right? Like a felony? That's not a cute or funny premise to build a whole movie around. The movie resolves exactly as you'd expect because "movie," but the tonal shift from absurd comedy into its actual moral implications make it icky overall.
A ★★★★★ review of Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)
“I remember the first time I saw a rattler curled up in my path. This one didn't look like a rattler, but I was still thinkin' 'snake'.” This film was technically conceptualized by Jeffrey Katzenberg. However, he hired John Fusco, known for Western films like the Young Guns duology, to make his...
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The Drama, 7/10
This is a very unique mix of drama and incredibly awkward, pitch black comedy. A couple played by Zendaya and Rob Pattinson are about to get married, and while drunk start to play a game with their friends where they tell each other the worst thing they've ever done. It's all fun and games until Zendaya's character reveals her story, and the mood suddenly gets very serious. What then follows is a very emotionally fraught and awkward situation, and the risk of the entire relationship falling apart.
I enjoyed it. It certainly eschews a lot of Hollywood tropes when it comes to films about relationships. The acting's great throughout, and there are many scenes that are so painfully awkward to watch that the only response is incredulous, uncomfortable laughter. It gets a lot of mileage out of people just being out of their depth and not being able to handle such a situation. I didn't find it anything revolutionary, but it's certainly unique, so check it out if you're in the mood for something peculiar, dark and off the beaten path.
This is a very unique mix of drama and incredibly awkward, pitch black comedy. A couple played by Zendaya and Rob Pattinson are about to get married, and while drunk start to play a game with their friends where they tell each other the worst thing they've ever done. It's all fun and games until Zendaya's character reveals her story, and the mood suddenly gets very serious. What then follows is a very emotionally fraught and awkward situation, and the risk of the entire relationship falling apart.
I enjoyed it. It certainly eschews a lot of Hollywood tropes when it comes to films about relationships. The acting's great throughout, and there are many scenes that are so painfully awkward to watch that the only response is incredulous, uncomfortable laughter. It gets a lot of mileage out of people just being out of their depth and not being able to handle such a situation. I didn't find it anything revolutionary, but it's certainly unique, so check it out if you're in the mood for something peculiar, dark and off the beaten path.
Elijo creer
Documentary that basically acts as a summary of Argentina's participation and victory in the Qatar World Cup of 2022. But for a few locker room interviews it's not terribly informative, especially if you were there, Gandalf, 3000 years ago. As with every other successful football story, the big take here is that they got the bad out of the way early (losing to Saudi Arabia during the group stage, Messi fumbling a penalty shot), though our team has a knack for leading handsomely for most of the match before fumbling the last 10-20 minutes, tying, going to overtime, tying again and then having to split hairs with kickoffs. The quarter finals and the final match were insufferable and to this day my stomach turns watching replays even as I know we make it in the end.
Documentary that basically acts as a summary of Argentina's participation and victory in the Qatar World Cup of 2022. But for a few locker room interviews it's not terribly informative, especially if you were there, Gandalf, 3000 years ago. As with every other successful football story, the big take here is that they got the bad out of the way early (losing to Saudi Arabia during the group stage, Messi fumbling a penalty shot), though our team has a knack for leading handsomely for most of the match before fumbling the last 10-20 minutes, tying, going to overtime, tying again and then having to split hairs with kickoffs. The quarter finals and the final match were insufferable and to this day my stomach turns watching replays even as I know we make it in the end.
A ★★ review of Crocodile Dundee II (1988)
“You kill people for a living, don’t you? Not very good at it. You should get into some other kind of business.” This film follows up pretty soon after the events of the first film. Now living in NYC with his girlfriend Sue (Linda Kozlowski), the titular character (Paul Hogan) is slowly...
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A ★★★★½ review of Marty Supreme (2025)
“And what do you plan to do if this whole dream of yours doesn’t work out?” “That doesn’t even enter my consciousness.” Josh Safdie had a life-long interest in table tennis due to his grandparents often having people over with big personalities playing the game at their home. When he was gifted...
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Moonwalker
Anthology musical film starring King of Pop and beloved pederast Michael Jackson, who ranks among JFK, MLK and Gandhi according to the opening montage. He continues to glorify himself throughout the rest of the movie in a series of kitsch music videos that mix in claymation, stop motion and what I can only describe as that Terry Gilliam-esque fever dream technique. In the two most telling ones, he outwits the paparazzi but can't help himself to bait them into a high speed chase when he realizes he needs the attention; next up he sings "Leave Me Alone" while transforming his kaiju-sized body into an amusement park for kids (uh huh). The biggest chunk of the movie is some overly mawkish Spielbergian slop where by the power of exceptionally timed shooting stars MJ transforms himself into a car, a robot and a fighter jet to protect the three children that inexplicably hang out with him from a gang of drug dealers led by Joe Pesci of all people. Cocaine is one hell of a drug.
Anthology musical film starring King of Pop and beloved pederast Michael Jackson, who ranks among JFK, MLK and Gandhi according to the opening montage. He continues to glorify himself throughout the rest of the movie in a series of kitsch music videos that mix in claymation, stop motion and what I can only describe as that Terry Gilliam-esque fever dream technique. In the two most telling ones, he outwits the paparazzi but can't help himself to bait them into a high speed chase when he realizes he needs the attention; next up he sings "Leave Me Alone" while transforming his kaiju-sized body into an amusement park for kids (uh huh). The biggest chunk of the movie is some overly mawkish Spielbergian slop where by the power of exceptionally timed shooting stars MJ transforms himself into a car, a robot and a fighter jet to protect the three children that inexplicably hang out with him from a gang of drug dealers led by Joe Pesci of all people. Cocaine is one hell of a drug.
I'm assuming they gave him that ridiculous Something About Mary thing to make him more silly/less scary to kids, since there's nothing about his performance that's very kid friendly, even by cartoon bad guy standards.
A ★★★★½ review of Addams Family Values (1993)
“Oh, Wednesday’s at that very special age where she has only one thing on her mind.” “Boys?” “Homicide.” The title of this sequel was a shot fired directly at Dan Quayle, who rather tastelessly claimed that the LA Riots were a result of degrading "family values". In addition, due to her...
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The scene with Wednesday’s revolution, and they play the Addams Family theme with one of the claps underlaid to her striking a match is one of the best and funniest things I’ve ever seen.A ★★★★½ review of Addams Family Values (1993)
“Oh, Wednesday’s at that very special age where she has only one thing on her mind.” “Boys?” “Homicide.” The title of this sequel was a shot fired directly at Dan Quayle, who rather tastelessly claimed that the LA Riots were a result of degrading "family values". In addition, due to her...
Serial Mom, 3/10
This is a 1994 John Waters joint. Kathleen Turner plays the mom of your almost cartoonishly typical 1950s-style sitcom family (despite this being set in the 90s), who in secret does obscene prank calls, and one day turns into an on the spot serial killer over the most mundane things she deems unforgivable social infractions. For example, she decides to kill her daughter's sort-of boyfriend over him not picking her up one day, that sort of thing.
It's crap. It's an SNL skit or a 10-minute short film torturously stretched to 90 minutes. Despite the fun-sounding premise (and it is fun at first), the joke already wears thin by the 20-minute mark. After that it's just repeating the same motions over and over with incredibly obvious jokes, sledgehammer-subtle satire, and lacking even the fun type of stuff you'd expect from the premise. For example, despite how much fun you could have with over the top violence and gore in a sitcom setting, the graphic factor is shockingly tame. Kathleen Turner gives a good performance, but the film is so underwritten in every conceivable aspect that even that stops being satisfying after a while. The rest of the film is so undercooked and stretched thin that it's not even worth talking about. In the third act it turns into a satirical court trial where it gets interesting for a while, but the whole time you know exactly where it's going.
Not worth it.
This is a 1994 John Waters joint. Kathleen Turner plays the mom of your almost cartoonishly typical 1950s-style sitcom family (despite this being set in the 90s), who in secret does obscene prank calls, and one day turns into an on the spot serial killer over the most mundane things she deems unforgivable social infractions. For example, she decides to kill her daughter's sort-of boyfriend over him not picking her up one day, that sort of thing.
It's crap. It's an SNL skit or a 10-minute short film torturously stretched to 90 minutes. Despite the fun-sounding premise (and it is fun at first), the joke already wears thin by the 20-minute mark. After that it's just repeating the same motions over and over with incredibly obvious jokes, sledgehammer-subtle satire, and lacking even the fun type of stuff you'd expect from the premise. For example, despite how much fun you could have with over the top violence and gore in a sitcom setting, the graphic factor is shockingly tame. Kathleen Turner gives a good performance, but the film is so underwritten in every conceivable aspect that even that stops being satisfying after a while. The rest of the film is so undercooked and stretched thin that it's not even worth talking about. In the third act it turns into a satirical court trial where it gets interesting for a while, but the whole time you know exactly where it's going.
Not worth it.
Gunslingers
The kind of F-tier garbage you expect to scrape off the filthy belly folds of Paramount +'s bloated corpse. Stephen Dorff is an outlaw hiding in a fabled outlaw town where you get to fake your death and continue living in hiding. They even do fake hangings for absolutely no reason (all the witnesses are just fellow outlaws). Then a bunch of bad guys show up and shoot up the saloon where all the good guys are holed up.
It's hilariously bad. The townsfolk reassure Dorff they believe in him because he would never run away from his problems, even though that's exactly how all this started. Then he leaves the security of the saloon to parlay with the head goon to tell him he doesn't trust him to keep a truce, even though he just did. For the big climax, the big bad holds a child at gunpoint and tells Dorff to shoot himself or he'll kill the kid - instead of, you know, just shooting Dorff, who does not have his gun out.
There's a scene straight out of Hotshots where Heather Graham treats a bullet wound to the leg (disinfect, pull out bullet - she practically fists the bullet hole - then sear the wound shut with fire) and all the while she's holding in the pain and struggling to not wince because her daughter's also in the room, obliviously humming to herself while eating cake, and the movie keeps cutting between them like there's any inherent tension to the scene.
Also, Nicolas Cage is in the movie. I think he sort of wandered in. He plays a comic relief zealot who walks around with in a red shirt (the only color in the movie) and shades that are shaped like crosses. We keep cutting to him for reaction shots but rarely does anything or says anything. When he does, he sounds like a combination of Don Corleone and Lincoln Osiris. It's glorious.
The kind of F-tier garbage you expect to scrape off the filthy belly folds of Paramount +'s bloated corpse. Stephen Dorff is an outlaw hiding in a fabled outlaw town where you get to fake your death and continue living in hiding. They even do fake hangings for absolutely no reason (all the witnesses are just fellow outlaws). Then a bunch of bad guys show up and shoot up the saloon where all the good guys are holed up.
It's hilariously bad. The townsfolk reassure Dorff they believe in him because he would never run away from his problems, even though that's exactly how all this started. Then he leaves the security of the saloon to parlay with the head goon to tell him he doesn't trust him to keep a truce, even though he just did. For the big climax, the big bad holds a child at gunpoint and tells Dorff to shoot himself or he'll kill the kid - instead of, you know, just shooting Dorff, who does not have his gun out.
There's a scene straight out of Hotshots where Heather Graham treats a bullet wound to the leg (disinfect, pull out bullet - she practically fists the bullet hole - then sear the wound shut with fire) and all the while she's holding in the pain and struggling to not wince because her daughter's also in the room, obliviously humming to herself while eating cake, and the movie keeps cutting between them like there's any inherent tension to the scene.
Also, Nicolas Cage is in the movie. I think he sort of wandered in. He plays a comic relief zealot who walks around with in a red shirt (the only color in the movie) and shades that are shaped like crosses. We keep cutting to him for reaction shots but rarely does anything or says anything. When he does, he sounds like a combination of Don Corleone and Lincoln Osiris. It's glorious.
Name: Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die
Where from: Own copy bought from Amazon.
Rating: 9/10
Tagline to get you to read my thoughts more: Old man yells at cloud server, I am old man.
Thoughts (no spoiler version)
So it's rare I feel a film really speaks to me directly and so near spot on. I can appreciate films with deep themes and I'm not a robot with no emotion who unable to connect with a film characters plight unless it's like something I've experienced personally. BUT this film man this film hit differently. It felt like it hit and showcase a core part of just me.
So A little background. It wasn't until maybe 10 years ago or slightly longer I got my first smartphone, I'd had a mobile phone before and I used it but it was grudgingly, I knew it was useful in emergencies and to have and I did upgrade over the year to newer ones but I was never that into it, I used it mostly functionally. I still shock my co-workers because while I'll mess about a bit on my phone during breaks at work I'm barely using social media on it and at most I'm playing some game or reading an article or something, I also use it for audio on my way to work and some ticket stuff but I even somewhat resent having to use it for that. I hate the feeling of always being able to be reached and constantly in contact. I'm the guy who wile everyone else is doing bank transfers will walk over and pay by cash, I pay cash at the supermarket etc too not card or using my phone. I consider myself a Ludite, it's not I can't use technology, I've built some stuff at work to do certain functions quickly and shortcut stuff, I've managed to fix issues for others before people had to go call the IT department to fix it too. I just like to engage more on my own terms. I even grudgingly have used A.I. sometimes to quickly get info on products (normally headphones and what codecs they run). I feel my phone is almost tethering me back to society, a reel where I could just be pulled back to something at any moment. Man that was a lot more background than I thought I'd write.
This film, it felt like it just got me, it's the angrier version of my position on things. It's angry about how things are going. It's a film that posits how modern technology is becoming more prevalent and expected and older stuff just becoming harder. It's an angry rant about how shitty things seem to be getting thanks to technology and sounding the alarm about it. It's telling of the simple joys being lost or missed in life because of it.
It's also a film about parenting and the idea of preventing generational trauma or passing on our own issues to the next generation.
In terms of why not perfect, I'd maybe have like a bit more of a solid less open ended ending and I did see a single instance of editing that honestly seemed like there was a mistake made as I had to re-wind to check my TV box hadn't just glitched but no there was basically a couple of frames of random near blinding white light shown.
Acting is on point and absolute credit to Juno Temple for showing her flexibility in this film going very much far outside of the roles she's normally typecast into of fairly confident sure of themselves character to being in this one probably the most timid of the main cast.
One thing I'll say is this film has more in common with the pacing of the film Bullet Train than actually a straight adventure. It has flashback that almost make the film feel like an anthology series bringing all these smaller stories together under one umbrella overall narrative.
Spoilers:
Where from: Own copy bought from Amazon.
Rating: 9/10
Tagline to get you to read my thoughts more: Old man yells at cloud server, I am old man.
Thoughts (no spoiler version)
So it's rare I feel a film really speaks to me directly and so near spot on. I can appreciate films with deep themes and I'm not a robot with no emotion who unable to connect with a film characters plight unless it's like something I've experienced personally. BUT this film man this film hit differently. It felt like it hit and showcase a core part of just me.
So A little background. It wasn't until maybe 10 years ago or slightly longer I got my first smartphone, I'd had a mobile phone before and I used it but it was grudgingly, I knew it was useful in emergencies and to have and I did upgrade over the year to newer ones but I was never that into it, I used it mostly functionally. I still shock my co-workers because while I'll mess about a bit on my phone during breaks at work I'm barely using social media on it and at most I'm playing some game or reading an article or something, I also use it for audio on my way to work and some ticket stuff but I even somewhat resent having to use it for that. I hate the feeling of always being able to be reached and constantly in contact. I'm the guy who wile everyone else is doing bank transfers will walk over and pay by cash, I pay cash at the supermarket etc too not card or using my phone. I consider myself a Ludite, it's not I can't use technology, I've built some stuff at work to do certain functions quickly and shortcut stuff, I've managed to fix issues for others before people had to go call the IT department to fix it too. I just like to engage more on my own terms. I even grudgingly have used A.I. sometimes to quickly get info on products (normally headphones and what codecs they run). I feel my phone is almost tethering me back to society, a reel where I could just be pulled back to something at any moment. Man that was a lot more background than I thought I'd write.
This film, it felt like it just got me, it's the angrier version of my position on things. It's angry about how things are going. It's a film that posits how modern technology is becoming more prevalent and expected and older stuff just becoming harder. It's an angry rant about how shitty things seem to be getting thanks to technology and sounding the alarm about it. It's telling of the simple joys being lost or missed in life because of it.
It's also a film about parenting and the idea of preventing generational trauma or passing on our own issues to the next generation.
In terms of why not perfect, I'd maybe have like a bit more of a solid less open ended ending and I did see a single instance of editing that honestly seemed like there was a mistake made as I had to re-wind to check my TV box hadn't just glitched but no there was basically a couple of frames of random near blinding white light shown.
Acting is on point and absolute credit to Juno Temple for showing her flexibility in this film going very much far outside of the roles she's normally typecast into of fairly confident sure of themselves character to being in this one probably the most timid of the main cast.
One thing I'll say is this film has more in common with the pacing of the film Bullet Train than actually a straight adventure. It has flashback that almost make the film feel like an anthology series bringing all these smaller stories together under one umbrella overall narrative.
Spoilers:
Man this film. Just oh man the stories it tells.
There's the woman who lost her son in a school shooting and gets a clone replacement who it's implied was potentially educated / trained using A.I.
There's the teacher couple battling students stuck to their phones
There's Ingrid the girl with actual Wi-Fi / mobile phone signal sickness who gets ill seemingly mostly round higher tech always online / always connected to something devices.
There's even side characters who get mysteriously deep added stories like a couple of guys mysteriously hunting the heroes.
Also the story of The Man from the Future and what future he comes from.
It weaves in themes and ideas of A.I. training and programming it's future versions being a problem, something people who are familiar with A.I. research may be aware of as one of the possible tipping points with us reaching the point where either people stop and make sure the safety protocols hold or surge on ahead potentially risking major catastrophise due to the A.I.
It present the idea of how people are getting weirdly desensitised to mass shootings.
It has stories of people losing others to fictional worlds because they find it better than our own.
It even has an ending that has a classic Hollywood style happy ending then does a twist to make it suddenly very much not a happy everything worked out ending. Oh and it works, it feels earned it doesn't feel like it's slapping the audience in the face it feels earned at like it fits with the themes of the film and is making a point.
There's the woman who lost her son in a school shooting and gets a clone replacement who it's implied was potentially educated / trained using A.I.
There's the teacher couple battling students stuck to their phones
There's Ingrid the girl with actual Wi-Fi / mobile phone signal sickness who gets ill seemingly mostly round higher tech always online / always connected to something devices.
There's even side characters who get mysteriously deep added stories like a couple of guys mysteriously hunting the heroes.
Also the story of The Man from the Future and what future he comes from.
It weaves in themes and ideas of A.I. training and programming it's future versions being a problem, something people who are familiar with A.I. research may be aware of as one of the possible tipping points with us reaching the point where either people stop and make sure the safety protocols hold or surge on ahead potentially risking major catastrophise due to the A.I.
It present the idea of how people are getting weirdly desensitised to mass shootings.
It has stories of people losing others to fictional worlds because they find it better than our own.
It even has an ending that has a classic Hollywood style happy ending then does a twist to make it suddenly very much not a happy everything worked out ending. Oh and it works, it feels earned it doesn't feel like it's slapping the audience in the face it feels earned at like it fits with the themes of the film and is making a point.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026)
Okay, what is it with that title? Why "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" and not just "Super Mario Galaxy" or "Super Mario Galaxy: The Movie"? And, yes, I might as well have asked this about the Mario Brothers Movie too, but still. Makes it sound like a Seltzer & Friedberg joint.
Anyway, TSMGM is the sequel to 2023's Mario Brothers movie, which, of course, is an animated adaptation of the Mario Brothers series. How about that. Galaxy starts with Princess Rosalina, ,of the game by the same name, being kidnapped by Bowser's son Bowser Junior, played by Benny Safdie, one half of the Safdie Brothers. Who I like as directors, but honestly, he was a really weird choice for this character. Either way, the Mario Brothers and Peach (and Yoshi) embark on a journey across the galaxy to rescue her.
's alright. I liked it more than the first movie. It had better jokes. It had better visuals. Actually, I'm gonna be honest, I like the world of Mario and I overall like the way these movies portray it. It's s colorful and quirky and has some sense of wonder and whimsy about it, even when the actual writing of the dialogue just falls way too much into that dreamworksy smarmy conversational sarcasm that, frankly, I always found to be the bane of most modern American comedy. But most of the visual humor is alright and, if nothing else, I got the impression the movie understood that that's where its strengths are. It's relentlessly fast paced and never particularly tries for anything particularly emotional and heartfelt which, I gather, seems to be one of the primary criticisms against it but frankly, I never felt that was something it had any capacity for.
What is has in terms of actual character moments is minimal. Mario has a crush on Peach that doesn't really go anywhere. Bowser's at the verge of a redemption arc that doesn't really go anywhere either. Which is a shame, in the games, Bowser's at his best when he's a reluctant ally and they get to play more into the goofy macho angle of the character than the evil overlord one and I feel like that's also what Jack Black's performance would lend itself to. Peach and Rosalina are reframed as sisters and given a vague backstory that... I think Miyamoto has declared to be canon to the games now? I mean, sure, cool with me, as long as I never have to hear Chris Pratt's voice in any of the games.
And that's that, I guess. The Mario Galaxy movie is overall fine. Actually good? Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. What it really feels like, and, according to some interviews with Miyamoto might have been storyboarded like, is a a sequence of 5 - 10 minutes animated shorts that, sure, do add up to a plot that kind of has a beginning, middle and end and doesn't feel disjointed, per say, but does sure feel a bit rudimentary. But a lot of these little vignettes are nice to look at and dynamically animated and occasionally funny. It has a lot of fun sight gags. Actually, you might argue, it mostly consists of sight gags. It prominently features my favourite Mario character, Fox McCloud, in a pretty major supporting role. It kept me entertained and, hey, that's something.
Okay, what is it with that title? Why "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" and not just "Super Mario Galaxy" or "Super Mario Galaxy: The Movie"? And, yes, I might as well have asked this about the Mario Brothers Movie too, but still. Makes it sound like a Seltzer & Friedberg joint.
Anyway, TSMGM is the sequel to 2023's Mario Brothers movie, which, of course, is an animated adaptation of the Mario Brothers series. How about that. Galaxy starts with Princess Rosalina, ,of the game by the same name, being kidnapped by Bowser's son Bowser Junior, played by Benny Safdie, one half of the Safdie Brothers. Who I like as directors, but honestly, he was a really weird choice for this character. Either way, the Mario Brothers and Peach (and Yoshi) embark on a journey across the galaxy to rescue her.
's alright. I liked it more than the first movie. It had better jokes. It had better visuals. Actually, I'm gonna be honest, I like the world of Mario and I overall like the way these movies portray it. It's s colorful and quirky and has some sense of wonder and whimsy about it, even when the actual writing of the dialogue just falls way too much into that dreamworksy smarmy conversational sarcasm that, frankly, I always found to be the bane of most modern American comedy. But most of the visual humor is alright and, if nothing else, I got the impression the movie understood that that's where its strengths are. It's relentlessly fast paced and never particularly tries for anything particularly emotional and heartfelt which, I gather, seems to be one of the primary criticisms against it but frankly, I never felt that was something it had any capacity for.
What is has in terms of actual character moments is minimal. Mario has a crush on Peach that doesn't really go anywhere. Bowser's at the verge of a redemption arc that doesn't really go anywhere either. Which is a shame, in the games, Bowser's at his best when he's a reluctant ally and they get to play more into the goofy macho angle of the character than the evil overlord one and I feel like that's also what Jack Black's performance would lend itself to. Peach and Rosalina are reframed as sisters and given a vague backstory that... I think Miyamoto has declared to be canon to the games now? I mean, sure, cool with me, as long as I never have to hear Chris Pratt's voice in any of the games.
And that's that, I guess. The Mario Galaxy movie is overall fine. Actually good? Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. What it really feels like, and, according to some interviews with Miyamoto might have been storyboarded like, is a a sequence of 5 - 10 minutes animated shorts that, sure, do add up to a plot that kind of has a beginning, middle and end and doesn't feel disjointed, per say, but does sure feel a bit rudimentary. But a lot of these little vignettes are nice to look at and dynamically animated and occasionally funny. It has a lot of fun sight gags. Actually, you might argue, it mostly consists of sight gags. It prominently features my favourite Mario character, Fox McCloud, in a pretty major supporting role. It kept me entertained and, hey, that's something.