Blog 50: Movie Monday On Saturday?

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Movie Monday would’ve been a cool title for this, but it’s Saturday. Cinema Saturday? Nah, it just doesn’t have the same magic. Ah well, Hey I was sick last week and if you know me you know that when I’m sick I watch movies. Also when I feel well I watch movies. So here’s some flicks I have thoughts on.

The image of three bodies floating in the clouds near the sky needle caught my interest, and then the trailer was equally intriguing, so I put on this flick that I’d never even heard of and I was riveted throughout. A dark, very un-superhero story of normal people gaining powers, Chronicle is a found footage style film, with the aforementioned powers playing a clever role in the footage becoming less shaky and even gaining some more cinematic angles as the film progresses. While the general shape of the story was predictable early on, they had some good twists and turns along the way and in the end they went big and then bigger with scenes that made me say, “Oh Damn!” more than once. The three leads did a great job. On scale of Meh, to Hella, I Hella recommend this one.

Found this one for free on Youtube. From the dumb title you know it’s going to be an AC love fest. I usually don’t mind a fan service documentary IF I am a fan, and when it comes to Alice Cooper, I am a fan! We do not get a deep look at the man as we speed through his life. He started a band with his best friends in High School, eventually kind of screwed them all over, along the way worked with Frank Zappa, which we hear very little about, crashed and burned in the LA scene, and eventually found a home back in Detroit where little Vincent Furnier, the man who would become Alice Cooper, started his life. It’s a lot of ground to cover and they did so while not sharing any more of his bad behavior than he seemed to want to share as part of his redemption story (Mr. Cooper is a preachers son, and still a devoted Christian). If you love Alice Cooper, this isn’t a bad way to spend an hour and a half. I give it a solid Hecka.

And I just can’t help myself, if you’re not already an Alice Cooper fan, of course I have recommendations for you. Love It To Death, the band’s third album (yes, they were originally a band called Alice Cooper) is a great place to start and is still my favorite album of theirs, or his. Billion Dollars is another great one. This was their biggest seller and its easy to see why, theatrical, over the top, and full of hooks, really shows how much they were the dark side of glam rock and forefathers of hair metal. I give both of these album an enthusiastic HELLA.

Crazy Rich Asians suffered from being overhyped. I finally got around to watching it and feels like a pretty boring Cinderella love story was brought to a bunch of comedians who were allowed to add their input and the end result is disjointed, inconsistent, often creepy, and mostly pretty boring. Also, I have trouble with any movie that expects me to sympathize with the ultra-wealthy, even if their being wealthy pisses off racists. There were bright spots. The male lead was a boring Prince Charming, but the female lead, Constance Wu was great, and Michelle Yeoh was perfect, as always. I also really enjoyed Nico Santos, who I used to see regularly killing it at the Sunday Night Showcase at San Francisco Punch Line. He made the gay best friend helping with glam-over trope believable and even enjoyable just being the charming and hilarious man that he is. Unfortunately, I gotta give this one a Meh, with moments of Yeah, okay.

I really don’t understand why this one is getting panned. It’s a John Wick style violence fest, with fun, silly romantic themes woven in as it takes place on Valentines Day. The fight choreography is fantastic, and Ke Huy Quan is Ke Huy Quan which is all I ever need Ke Huy Quan to be. He’s lovable and badass all rolled up in one as he fights assorted baddies and pursues love. Seeing him and Sean Astin on screen together was fun. Maybe (spoiler alert) killing off Sean Astin is what doomed it. I mean, just because Stranger Things got away with it doesn’t mean you can take killing Mikey/Rudy/Samwise too lightly. We love this dude! I’m very surprised to say, I give this one a Hecka +, bordering on a Hella! Give it a stream.