Spring Beaching

I saw "The Beach Bum". It was basically like watching a whole movie about Sam Rockwell's Zaphod Beeblebrox soundtracked by turning on a classic rock station at random. Which is to say . . . It was alright for me.

Directed by the dude who did "Spring Breakers". I don't leave movies early often, but when I realised that it wouldn't stop being a series of disconnected scenes with little salient dialogue, I ran across town to see the G.I. Joe sequel instead. Which was delightful. With The Rock.

Bonus Question!

Best Beach Boy?

In high school, my default answer was Dennis, but I haven't examined that since.

Avengers 4-Ever After

Restlessness lost! I was worried about being able to sit through the running time of "Endgame" despite fervent desire to see it,  which drove me further to see it with company in an extra effort to fight off that discomfort. But I probably would have managed without that. Honestly, the pacing might have suited me more than that of "Infinity War" despite the increased length.

Another mild surprise?

I liked the quantum suits more than I thought I would when the Avengers actually put them on. The colour palette still isn't my favourite, but it lent a bit of a Japanese super squad effect to things. Like Power Rangers or Voltron. That kind of thing. It mitigated the loss of those diverse costumes with more inherent appeal.

And Rob Downey basically felt like Ian Malcolm for the first 15 minutes, which hit me with a bit of desire to see Stark hang with the Grandmaster. Though even when the first "Iron Man" came out, I felt a sort of affinity between Jeff and Downey. Anyway.

Also, isn't this around the 3rd anniversary of that comic  where Cap first hailed Hydra? It was amusing to hear that line cheered in the movie after its harsh decrial in the books.

Ultimately? Ridiculous. But not ridicilulous like the Ultimate universe's analogous chapter ender Ultimatum, which was a whole other kind of ridiculousness. This was far more satisfying, in part because it still left a full world that allows for all sorts of future stories to be told. After Ultimatum, that universe felt slightly like the first bit of "Endgame" where the whole world was depressed after the snap. People say the movie's take a lot from Ultimate Marvel, but regardless of that claim's truth, they're better at wiping the slate clean. For one thing, they actually clean it instead of smashing it to bits.

And hey. The longest paragraph of my "Endgame" post was only tangentially related to the film. Seems on brand.

Also! In being a saga ender with an expressive green giant, a bunch of time travel in sevice of fixing a broken world, and a notably attractive character that got fat and lazy, "Endgame" really reminded me of "Shrek Forever After". And because "Endgame" had a mellow Kinks song in it, I was also reminded of my friend's insistence on listening to his favourite "Waterloo Sunset" in the car as he drove me from the Shrek movie. I was also listening to a lot of Kinks before I went to see "Endgame", but it wasn't the mellow stuff.

Bonus Question!

Best Hawkeye moment?

Jeremy Renner has his own kind of endearing charm, but it's not that of comic book  Clint Barton. That's fine, but Jer's "totally awesome" line felt like the closest thing to the Hawkeye of the page.

With the possible exception of pictures of young Jeremy Renner.

Hella Boys

So. New Hellboy movie.

Here's the thing. Guillermo del Toro has inimitable charm, and the same can be said for Ron Perlman. Though the films they made together largely predated the modern superhero movie landscape and its fairly consistent ability to distill the outlandish glories of its source material into quality cinema, they were well made, well performed, and filled with the eccentric warmth of their director. It's hard not to want more of that.

But if you put that aside, 2019's "Hellboy" is a fun romp too.  Some of the marketing made it seem overly grom, which probably would have made me miss the Guillermo works, but honestly, the actual film didn't feel too different in overall tone from the previous stuff. The biggest difference was probably the preponderance of hard rock in the soundtrack, which seems like something Guill wouldn't do too much, but I don't actually remember. I walked in slightly late, but the first scene I saw was some sort of masked wrestling match, and professional wrestling is probably a good point of comparison for the film's feel. Machismo, hard rock, and a kind of endearing ridiculousness leavened by an implicit absence of self-seriousness.

Bonus Question!

Best boy from Hell?

Daimon Hellstrom, Son of Satan!

Not actually the son of Satan! But still the son of one of many demons who claim that name in the Marvel universe! Also probably has a portal to Hell in his kitchen or something! Also called Hellstorm!

Alien Slaying

I finally saw "Captain Marvel", and I really just want to say that I loved the look of the Skrulls. For real. They reminded me of random villains from "Buffy", which totally feels appropriate for an emotionally oblique blond heroine in the 90s.

Also, these movie versions do a good job of looking distinct from Thanos, who's always basically looked like a Skrull with a purple tan and an Infinity Gauntlet full of protein powder.

Bonus Question!

Best flavour of protein powder?

I've been swearing by maple syrup pancake, but the new Reese's peanut butter cup kind intrigues me. Can anyone attest to it?

Flyndral

So. Pretty excited for "Shazam".

Before this, I was aware of Zach Levi's history in the Thor movies with the character of Fandral. I didn't realise that he was also Flynn in the Tangled franchise. Still doing it in the ongoing series and Kingdom Hearts even. Which means that he's played two fantastical characters inspired by Errol Flynn? That speaks well of the dude to my mind. Now I want to see his Shaz even more.

Bonus Question!

"Tangled" versus "Frozen"?

Both are good, but I was more receptive to "Tangled" at the time. Flynn was probably a big part of that. But I think Elsa's become my favourite princess since. We'll see how I feel when the sequel arrives. Also, hey! Disney cartoon  with a theatrical sequel! Yay!

Cards for Days

I started watching "Yu-Gi-Oh", partially inspired by a friend's passionate remembrance of it. Shortly before that, I finally got around to watching "Fullmetal Alchemist", which surprised me with a very young voice for the character Alphonse. I'd just never thought about that in the years wherein that franchise just existed on my periphery. What surprised me in "Yu-Gi-Oh" was the way in which a Japanese teenager sounded like a stereotypical New York dude in his 30s.

The other thing that surprised me even if it shouldn't have was the focus on the actual gaming. Like . . . I've watched the Pokemon cartoon. I currently do. It's about a kid who engages in Pokemon battles, but those battles don't generally take up the Solgaleo's share of the show. But I'm on the second season of "Yu-Gi-Oh" now, and I'm mildly bemused by the amount of time that an average episode spends on a card game or whatever. And those often stretch across multiple episodes. I thought that there'd be  more about the plot and the ancient mythological stuff by this point? There's a lot, and it's great. But like . . . This is reminiscent of the old "Dragon Ball Z" anime that filled time with egregiously lengthened fight scenes. Maybe more? But whatever. It's a fun show, and it's exquisitely stylish.

Bonus Question!

Yugi hair versus Goku hair!

Personally, I go for Yugi here. Less horizontal deviation and more colour. That's to my taste.

What Mels Want

Kurt Russell. Jeff Bridges. Michael Douglas?

Now I've found another dude I can mistake for one of these 80s icons. Brian Bosworth!

That was my takeaway from "What Men Want".

I think that "What Women Want" was one of those movies I watched repetitiously during a hotel stay when I was a kid. You know how it is. Or was. I don't know how it is now. But you'd rent it once from the hotel's instant video service and put it on again whenever you were getting ready for bed or something because you didn't want to pay for something new. "America's Sweethearts" was another one of those. Less Mel Gibson, more Billy Crystal.

Bonus Question! 

Favourite Mel Gibson role?

The Lethal Weapon guy. The hair probably helped. It was almost like Billy Crystal's.