Oceans Eight (2018)

Poor Planning So the overarching narrative here is that our scam artist planned this to the last detail while in the slammer. With the main trilogy, we never know, but the impression is that Danny and co agily adjust as difficulties and exceptions appear. The fun is partly in discovering the plan after it has… Continue reading Oceans Eight (2018)

Holmes & Watson (2018)

Deductions This did not make me laugh. Apparently it had the same effect on almost everyone. But I credit these folks with taking risks. Humour is an evolving quality, and some brands of humour demand being on an edge between the unexpectedly awkward and the emotionally obese. The uncomfortable thing for me is that I… Continue reading Holmes & Watson (2018)

Free Solo (2018)

Needy Films are stories. When the story is in the real world, a different set of narrative engineering principles come in to play. A default is that somehow the filmmaker and crew present their own story of the quest for what we separately see. But there is a problem in this case; the crew has… Continue reading Free Solo (2018)

Overboard (2018)

Organic Endearment This is formulaic in the basics: two people repel each other, fall in love, have a complicating development, profess love in some public, dramatic way and are reconciled. Such things usually depend on the appeal of the characters and the supporting comedy. But I think this has something else going for it. It… Continue reading Overboard (2018)

Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018)

Head Space I really disliked the first one. The world building, in retrospect, was very impressive, building on a number of strong cinematic conventions that were ripe for evolution. But all the backstory and parallel plots, all the character development was within a single testosterone paradigm. I thought it a one-note elaboration on something dumb.… Continue reading Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018)