It’s time for me to catch up; tomorrow I’ll post something else which will be the non-movie events I’ve dealt with as of late. The three movies will be mentioned chronologically in the order they were watched.
The Mandalorian and Grogu was checked out not because I saw all of the streaming show-rather, only the first season was watched-but because I have seen all the other theatrical live-action movies in the franchise & it’s been almost 6 ½ years. Well, it wasn’t as rancid as The Last Jedi & The Rise of Skywalker but my opinion is that much of it was mediocre, felt like glorified episodes of the show, and subscribed to some modern movie-making sins, such as “dim picture” and “overly explanatory dialogue.” That said, I wasn’t mad as the film wasn’t bad and there were some fun moments.
Thursday the 4th I saw a pair of movies during a long day that wasn’t great due to no major reasons but rather many little reasons. That did not impact why I really didn’t like Obsession or Masters of the Universe. The former, I watched it despite my aversion to much “modern horror” in the 21st century that’s beloved by the cinephiles. The fact that the mainstream crowds started to see Obsession and the movie still is doing well at movie theaters (on two days, it made more money than The Mandalorian and Grogu & even yesterday made the most money out of any film in American cinemas!) finally made me curious.
I hate to be “that guy” but it’s yet another modern horror that’d beloved in many circles yet in my eyes is in the category of being mediocre or worse. The general idea was great-I hated the execution, the plot, the characters, how it was “scary,” etc. I was quite disappointed. Also, don’t watch the movie if you love cats; more than most examples, gross things happen to a poor little cat. Why people are going bonkers & are obsessed over Obsession, it’s puzzling. I guess my tastes really are that different from most others… I can say that lead girl Inde Navarrette did a swell job.
Even more baffling that it’s received so much praise is the new Masters of the Universe. The trailers gave me pause and I don’t really remember watching the cartoon when I was real little-the only reason I bothered is a fond memory: as a 6-year-old, my late mother took me and my two younger sisters to see the 1987 Masters of the Universe, starring Dolph Lundgren and due to budget issues, much of it took place on Earth. Yeah it’s flawed… I still have fond memories and at least they took the movie serious and Frank Langella as Skeletor did not phone it in and delivered profound dialogue rather well.
This new Masters of the Universe, I HATED the movie. If you love the silliest MCU movies where EVERYTHING is a joke and nothing is serious, you’ll love it. Me, I hated every second as the movie was a “comedy” first except that I literally never laughed once as it’s stupid “modern humor” that’s like fingernails on a chalkboard. They made fun of the franchise, character names & all. I know Masters started as action figures turned cartoon but this direction they went to be “postmodern” and “full of cringe” and “embarrassing” is among the worst of the many sins of modern cinema.
The movie is a flop at the box office yet at least online there’s been many positive opinions. That is incomprehensible to me but I’ll be happy to ignore what’s popular now if it’s of no interest to me no matter if it’s baffling to most others. As for the infamous Jared Leto & his big role in the movie, he wasn’t even bad w/ his performance so that wasn’t the issue. I have no idea why I haven’t seen anyone else mention either the fact that a key fight in the climax had zero resolution or why something so goofy did not have a stronger, more obvious mention of the old HEYYEYAAEYAAAEYAEYAA meme, based on the cartoon & using a cover of the 4 Non Blondes song What’s Up.
What a weird day Thursday was; after Masters, I stopped at a gas station convenience store where the clerk told me that a guy I immediately pegged as creepy (and I’ll never be mainstream in any regards but wow did they guy give off the worst vibes) was actually a creep. After he left, she told me that this was his EIGHTH time in the store during her shift! I hope he was trespassed; he has to be mentally ill but for the store’s sake I hope he was banned. On a lighter note, while in the lobby for Obsession, many people were cosplaying for the finale of a show I only know by name: The Amazing Digital Circus. You can imagine how bewildering it was to see bizarre outfits with zero context as to what they were referencing. Of course, I did at least laugh at those bizarre outfits, including someone I’ll described as “Michael Jackson dressed as Sgt. Pepper!”
Tomorrow, I’ll write something more positive as I have some nice stories to share.
