Final Movie Review of 2022 - PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH...

Earlier today, I marked New Year's Eve by watching the latest Shrek spin-off, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, at AMC theaters.

Just like 2004's Shrek 2, 2007's Shrek the Third and 2010's Shrek Forever After [but not the first Shrek in 2001 or 2011's Puss in Boots, which I didn't see on the big screen (I thought I did with Puss in Boots)], The Last Wish was very entertaining!

Antonio Banderas was once again humorous as the "Stabby Tabby" (a.k.a. "El Macho Gato) himself, Puss in Boots...with other big name celebs such as Salma Hayek, Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman and Ray Winstone lending their voices as Kitty Softpaws, Goldilocks, Mama Bear and Papa Bear, respectively.

Harvey Guillén did a great job voicing the puppy-disguised-as-a-kitty Perrito, John Mulaney was hilarious as the nefarious antagonist Jack Horner, Da'Vine Joy Randolph was great as Mama Luna and Wagner Moura did an intimidating line reading for the canine Grim Reaper himself, Wolf.

The Last Wish had a wondeful morale to its story [and one I can personally, and reluctantly, relate to (overlooking the 'nine lives' part and being granted a magical wish)]...and that's Puss in Boots struggling between using a special wish to reclaim all of his nine glorious lives—which allowed him to live as an obnoxious and arrogant hero who lost his previous lives doing such things as trying to launch out of a cannon, loiter near exploding ovens or trying to bench press with an extremely heavy barbell—or relinquish the wish and live the last life he had left with the friends he cared out. This also applied to other characters like Goldilocks...who wanted a normal family when she already had one in the Three Bears (even though they spent that quality family time stealing things).

The final scene suggests that we might see Puss in Boots reunite with Shrek and the rest of the gang in another sequel, but if The Last Wish is any indication, Stabby Tabby does just well in nicely-crafted animated movies on his own.

Have a Happy New Year, everyone!

Movie Review: BABYLON...

Yesterday, I went to AMC theaters to watch Damien Chazelle's newest film Babylon.

While it wasn't as moving as 2014's Whiplash or 2016's La La Land, Babylon was more enjoyable than Chazelle's previous movie, the 2018 Neil Armstrong biopic First Man.

I commend Chazelle for tackling the glory days of NASA like Ron Howard did with 1995's Apollo 13 (Chazelle also co-wrote the 2016 sci-fi flick 10 Cloverfield Lane), but he was more in his element doing another film with a strong musical theme (even though this theme was mostly featured during a huge orgy scene at the beginning of Babylon), as was the case with Whiplash and La La Land.

In Babylon, the story depicts an incredibly insane (but in a good way) take on Hollywood's silent film era during the late 1920s, and how the 'talkies' (movies with sound) wrought havoc on it the following decade. We see this transition have a huge impact on the four main characters in Chazelle's comedy drama: Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie), Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), Sidney Palmer (Jovan Adepo) and Manny Torres (Diego Calva).

Only two of the four characters above make it through this transition relatively unscathed.

Even though it was hugely exaggerated, the depiction of set life in Babylon made me both dread and appreciate the fact that I experience this as a background actor...which I've been working as since late 2011.

And just like with the final scene in the movie (spoilers ahead), where Manny Torres grows teary-eyed as he watches a couple of 'talkies' at a crowded theater after he visits his old job at Kinoscope Studios (which is actually Paramount Pictures...where I worked between mid-2005 to '06) from years past, I'll probably grow emotional in my hopeful old age thinking about my time in the entertainment industry should I finally leave it for greener pastures.

Babylon is Chazelle's love letter to filmmaking...with a montage showing actual movies like the first Avatar flick, The Matrix and Raiders of the Lost Ark featured at the end of the film. Babylon, with its extremely-long running time of 189 minutes, may not be as simple and impactful as La La Land, but it's still an intriguing flick by Chazelle that should be appreciated by filmgoers who have an extreme passion for cinema.

Merry Christmas!

On This Day in 1997: Remembering TITANIC...

It was 25 years ago today that I watched James Cameron's Oscar-winning epic about the story of Jack Dawson, Rose DeWitt Bukater and a doomed ocean liner on the big screen for the first time.

I originally saw Titanic at the theater to receive extra credit for my British Literature class in high school. I was completing my first semester of senior year when the film was released in cinemas nationwide.

Little did I know, Titanic would become the highest-grossing film ever (after enduring controversy about its whopping $200 million production budget...which was unheard of for movies at the time), win 11 Academy Awards, spawn a hugely popular song in Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On, and become such an enduring flick that I saw it on the big screen almost a dozen times—through the summer of 1998!

I was hoping Titanic would be back in theaters for its 25-year anniversary this month, but it's all good. (Cameron obviously wanted the focus to be on the newly-released Avatar: The Way of Water.) I watched Titanic in IMAX a few times when it celebrated its 20-year anniversary in 2017, so it's nice to know that I was able to re-experience this amazing movie at the multiplex recently.

Only 5 more years till we might see Titanic on the big screen again for its 30-year anniversary! Happy Christmas Eve.

#OTD 25 years ago, I watched #Titanic on the big screen for the first time.

I originally saw this film to get extra credit for my British Literature class in 12th grade; little did I know that it would be the best film of 1997 (the #Oscars and my senior yearbook got it right) 😄 pic.twitter.com/QiA4r4pjyh

— Richard Par (@RichTPar) December 24, 2022

On This Day in 2002: Remembering THE TWO TOWERS...

It was 20 years ago today that I watched the second installment of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy at the movie theater.

The Two Towers was the best film in Jackson's cinematic trifecta, but it was understandable that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would wait another year to hand the trilogy an Oscar trophy for Best Picture...with 2003's The Return of the King.

There were so many cool aspects of The Two Towers, from the Tree Ents and Andy Serkis' initial portrayal of Gollum to the Battle of Helm's Deep. And let's not forget the amazing music score by Howard Shore as well.

I was in my fifth year of college when The Two Towers was released in theaters nationwide. That's probably not a factoid I should be proud of sharing here... Happy Tuesday!

#OTD in 2002, I saw The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers on the big screen for the first time...

This is my favorite film in the #LOTR trilogy!#BackInTheDay pic.twitter.com/gEulW8dltq

— Richard Par (@RichTPar) December 20, 2022

Movie Review - AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER...

Earlier today, I went to AMC theaters to watch James Cameron's latest adventure on the extrasolar moon of Pandora in Avatar: The Way of Water.

Just like 2009's Avatar, The Way of Water was just as visually beautiful and epic on the big screen! But the sequel had a better storyline than the original film...even though villain-wise, it might make certain moviegoers like myself think of recent flicks like last year's The Matrix Resurrections.

[Actually, I'm thinking of all of The Matrix sequels in general—as I'm referring to the evolution of Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) throughout those installments.]

The first Avatar movie was derided for having a plot that was similar to those of Fern Gully, Braveheart and Cameron's own Aliens, but The Way of Water had an entertaining story that was already in high gear from the very first scene of the film.

Like the Fast & Furious movies, The Way of Water placed a huge emphasis on family—with Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) doing everything they could to protect their four children after they were forced to move to a distant seaside village in response to their forest home being ravaged by the "sky people" [led by by General Ardmore (Edie Falco) and Stephen Lang (portraying a new incarnation of Quaritch from the previous film)] once more.

Also back in The Way of Water are Sigourney Weaver (as Dr. Grace Augustine and Kiri) and Giovanni Ribisi (as Parker Selfridge), while Kate Winslet reunited with her Titanic director after 25 years to play the Na'vi warrior Ronal...the tsahìk of the Metkayina clan. (Yes, I looked that up on Google just now.)

What really impressed me about The Way of Water was its music. Composer Simon Franglen did a wonderful job keeping true to the original Avatar score that was conducted by the late and great James Horner.

As mentioned at the start of this review, the visuals in The Way of Water were just absolutely beautiful! Weta and Industrial Light & Magic did a terrific job making Pandora look even more majestic on the big screen than it did 13 years ago.

I saw The Way of Water in the traditional 2-D format today, I look forward to seeing it on IMAX 3-D next!

PS: Those tulkun (Pandora's essentially bulletproof whales who are smarter than humans in The Way of Water) are awesome. Carry on.

Movie Review: VIOLENT NIGHT...

Earlier today, I watched the action crime comedy Violent Night at AMC theaters.

While it's not as memorable as other dark Christmas comedies like 2003's Bad Santa or the 2015 holiday horror fantasy Krampus, Violent Night was nevertheless a fine guilty pleasure to watch on the big screen.

David Harbour—who went from playing Hellboy in 2019 to the Red Guardian in Marvel's 2021 film Black Widow—was perfectly cast as the former Viking-turned-Jolly Old Saint Nick himself, Santa Claus. What I especially liked about Violent Night's depiction of Santa was his magical gift bag; if he did exist (little kids obviously won't stumble upon this movie review, heh), then it would make sense that Santa would employ some type of supernatural ability to give every child around the world the perfect present [and then quickly exit the room via chimney teleportation (you read that correctly) afterwards] on a single night!

Not to be outshone by Harbour's Saint Nick is John Leguizamo as Scrooge...who in this film is a cunning mercenary bent on stealing $300 million from a hilariously dyfunctional family. Leguizamo did such a great job conveying Scrooge's hatred of Christmas that I was actually rooting for him to beat the crud out of Santa in the movie's climax!

(But the way that Santa wins the fight against Scrooge at the end was equally awesome!)

The supporting cast was commendable...with Jason (Alex Hassell, who amusingly reminded me of Thor director Taika Waititi every time he showed up on screen), Linda (Alexis Louder) and Trudy (Leah Brady...who had a very memorable scene in Violent Night where she laid out bloodier versions of the house traps set by Macaulay Culkin's Kevin in 1990's Home Alone) being the other protagonists who helped Santa take on Scrooge's gang.

I will also compliment Beverly D'Angelo (Gertrude), Edi Patterson (Alva), Cam Gigandet (Morgan Steel), André Eriksen (Gingerbread), Brendan Fletcher (Krampus), Mike Dopud (Commander Thorp), Alexander Elliot (Bert), Mitra Suri (Candy Cane), Phong Giang (Tinsel) and Stephanie Sy (Sugarplum) on their performances in this action crime comedy as well.

Though I'll end this review with one question: What happened to Sugarplum at the end of the movie? (Spoilers ahead) After she was able to open the vault in Gertrude's mansion, Sugarplum appeared in the living room with Scrooge and the rest of his goons one last time before she randomly disappeared before the climax.

Apparently, Sugarplum survived. Does this pave the way for Violent Night 2? Probably not.