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Flash Movie Review: Damsel
I KNEW THE DAY WOULD COME, but I was holding off to make sure we were on the same dating path. It had never been easy for me to meet the family members of someone I was dating. I did not grow up saying Mr. and Mrs. to my friends’ parents, nor did I ever use the words, “ma’am” and “sir.” And I always tried to avoid calling a parent by their first name. Granted, I had to always make sure I was looking directly at the person whenever I was asking them a question, and when times came up to refer to the father or mother I was talking to, I would say “your husband” or “your wife.” Maybe I am weird about it or maybe I never felt comfortable around figureheads; it is hard for me to explain. So, it was after we had been dating for several months, when I was asked to join them for a family holiday get together. My anxiety level rose on the idea of going to a party/dinner where there would be multiple relatives; a parent or child I could manage, but a room full of relatives who want to meet the “’date” overwhelms me. But I felt we were on the same path with our feelings for each other, so I agreed to join them for the holiday dinner. Hopefully, it being a holiday occasion, will lessen the focus on me. AN OLD TRADITION IN MY FAMILY is to bring something sweet when you are invited to someone’s home for the first time. It is meant to offer the household sweetness for all the time they reside there. The matriarch of the family greeted us. I only knew because I had seen a recent photograph of her. I was introduced and handed her the cake I baked as I explained my family’s tradition. She appeared to be touched by the sentiment, so I felt I was off to a good start. We hung our coats up and proceeded into the living room where everyone was seated. Introductions were made and I could see a couple of relatives were watching me intently as I went around shaking hands. The evening was off to a good start; or at least I thought so. Not soon after, I noticed one relative was not participating in conversations. They would simply look at whoever was speaking, but never offer a comment or opinion. Soon after another relative commented on this person’s “silent treatment.” Well, that opened a floodgate of words and within a matter of seconds the decibel level increased dramatically as everyone was talking at once, with several saying awful things to others. I just sat there quietly, not sure what was happening around me. The night only kept getting worse; relatives were vicious with their nasty comments. I felt I was possibly being punked, but some relatives were apologizing to me as well as my date. Still, I would rather be with these folks than the family who were trying to marry their son off in this action, adventure fantasy. TO HELP HER KINGDOM SURVIVE, A dutiful princess agrees to marry the prince of a wealthy, royal kingdom. It turns out she was not the first to marry the prince, nor would she be the last. With Millie Bobby Brown (Enola Holmes franchise, Godzilla: King of the Monsters) as Elodie, Ray Winstone (Black Widow, The Departed) as Lord Bayford, Angela Bassett (Black Panther franchise, Akeelah and the Bee) as Lady Bayford, Brooke Carter (The Peripheral-TV), The Alienist-TV) as Flora and Nick Robinson (The Kings of Summer; Love, Simon) as Prince Henry; this film’s saving grace was Millie Bobby Brown. There is something about her that makes the viewer believe in her. She has great screen presence and was able to handle the weight of being in almost every scene. The story was generic, the script was predictable, and the special effects were just okay. Despite these letdowns, I still enjoyed this escapist picture because of Millie. For those days where one does not want to put too much thought into an endeavor and just wants to be entertained, then this movie would be one to watch.
2 ½ stars
Flash Movie Review: Black Widow
I SHOULD HAVE READ THE FINE print before agreeing to participate. We were on vacation, staying at a hotel. When we checked in, we were handed an invitation to a presentation that was going to be held in one of the hotel’s conference rooms. The topic was about a new property the hotel was going to open. Refreshments would be served, and each guest would receive a gift bag worth $300.00. We agreed to participate, hoping the gift bag would at least contain food and drink coupons. On the day of the presentation, we walked into the conference room where a hotel employee greeted us with the gift bag. Finding seats, I went through the bag. There was an assortment of travel sized items like toothpaste, bagged peanuts and body lotion. Along with the stuff there was a gold cardboard envelope. I opened it and found a coupon towards a one night’s stay at their new property being built in the Bahamas; that was where the $300.00 value came in. Though I understood the whole marketing aspect of it, I was still annoyed that I agreed to sit through a 2 hour presentation; where at the end of it, the employee tried to sell us a time share unit at their new property. The way I saw this was I received a few travel sized things and a coupon, which I found out did not include air fare and was not enough for a one night stay, for using up 2 hours of my time. I REALIZE I HAVE A CHOICE; I do not have to agree to these types of sale pitches. For me it is about my time and effort, and what I am getting in return. Here is an example; remember those old TV dinners in the metal trays with the compartments for each food group? I used to get the turkey and gravy one, despite not really liking it. The reason was I loved the dessert that came with it, a baked apple crisp type of thing. The turkey was not horrible; but I was not a gravy person and did not care for the wetness with pieces of mushy stuffing floating in it. I powered through despite it, just so I could enjoy the dessert. As a little boy, I used to go through a box of cereal I disliked just to pull out the sweetened raisins and add them to a different box of cereal that I really enjoyed. Even today, my friends and family know I rarely order something straight off the restaurant menu without making small adjustments for the things I like and dislike. I wish I could have done that for this action, adventure film I saw at the movie theaters. NATASHA ROMANOFF, PLAYED BY SCARLETT JOHNSON (Jojo Rabbit, Marriage Story), must confront her past if she wants to overcome the sinister forces that are circling around her. With Florence Pugh (Lady Macbeth, Fighting with my Family) as Yelena Belova, David Harbour (No Sudden Move, Suicide Squad) as Alexei, Rachel Weisz (The Favourite, My Cousin Rachel) as Melina and Ray Winstone (The Departed, Cold Mountain) as Dreykov; this science fiction origin story was a mixed bag for me. There were times where the scenes were brilliant, both in content and visually; but other times I was not as impressed. I think the basic issue had to do with the script. In a Marvel film, we get overloaded with excitement, peril, humor and incredible CGI effects. This film came close at times but did not quite make it. The women were incredible together, especially Scarlett and Florence, who I think has a future in the Marvel universe based on her performance here. For the story, the evil aspect just wasn’t as diabolical as it could have been. I enjoyed watching the movie, but I did not love it. Sort of like that TV dinner I used to eat. There was an extra scene after the credits.
3 stars
Flash Movie Review: Point Break
These machines were built for one’s enjoyment but if used in a certain way they would become torturous. I am not sure how many of you even know what a slide projector is but I have one in my possession. There was a time where people took pictures with cameras that used film; some of that film was meant to be developed into slides. A slide projector was used to display these types of photographs up onto a projection screen or a really, really white painted wall. I am a huge fan of photography having minored it in college. For me photos provide a visual history about a person. They have a way of letting us revisit a moment in time to re-experience the emotions we had back then. Whenever someone tells me they took pictures while on vacation I am the first to ask if I could see them. One of the reasons, besides seeing people enjoying themselves, is my being able to see places I have never seen or at least to see it through someone else’s eyes. A different perspective can enhance one’s own memories about a place. Now that I talked about the positive aspects, let me tell you about the unpleasantness one can encounter if the photo taker goes astray. You have been sitting for almost an hour while your host is showing you their photos from a recent trip. When you said you wanted to see them you had no idea there would be that many photos, photos of artificially flavored snow cones to their rental cars to clouds to benign forests to their motel room; you get the picture? If not, then try sitting through this action crime film. UNDERCOVER FBI agent Utah, played by Luke Bracey (The November Man, The Best of Me), needed to infiltrate a group of extreme sports athletes to solve an international crime case. The challenge would be to survive the death defying feats. The story for this crime film spanned the entire globe, offering spectacular outdoor scenes. I felt I was going through a collection of saved postcards from a world traveler. The action was intense, with stunts that were dumbfounding. With Edgar Ramirez (Joy, Deliver Us From Evil) as Bodhi and Ray Winstone (Hugo, The Departed) as Pappas being part of the cast, this movie was all about the visual experience; there was nothing else positive about the film. This remake barely resembled the original film; there was weak and cheesy dialog, bare minimum acting and a story that made little sense. Except for enjoying scenes from the different continents I was bored throughout the majority of this picture. It literally felt like I was being held hostage to sit through someone’s vacation pictures for however long was this movie’s running time. If I had a choice I would have preferred to stay home and wait for the characters to send me a postcard.
1 1/2 stars
moviejoltz 