Sleepy Chris

A while ago, my ex-girlfriend expressed surprise at the fact I hadn’t seen “Christopher Robin”. I told her I remembered seeing it come to theatres and just not making a priority of it before it left. I placed that memory around the second half of 2019, but when we went to watch it, I was it came out in 2018 and got slightly confused until the mid point of the film when I realized the source of my error.

In the second half of 2019, there was indeed a Ewan McGregor vehicle wherein he portrayed an adult version of a famous fictional kid who revisits the fantastical aspects that defined his childhood, but that movie was not “Christopher Robin”. It was in fact “Doctor Sleep”, and those two films with their conceptional overlaps mingled in my mind, where the Winnie the Pooh one, related as it was to a franchise I always had an attachment to, easily achieved dominance.

There. Cleared up. And the movie rocked.

Bonus Question!

Worst doctor of sleep?

Doctor Destiny. Dude did some dire dream dastardliness in that diner.

New Materials

Oh, man! I loved the Dark Materials books. I loved the aborted film adaptation. I knew I had to check out the new series when it got released, but I didn’t really pay attention to what was going on.

Then I came home and realised it had come out. After beginning it posthaste, I soon discovered that it made at least one subjective improvement.

I want to say this. Daniel Craig’s awesome. No question. I think one of the people who came with me to my first viewing of the film was a firm devotee. Maybe in part because people said he looked like a skinny Dan? But anyway. Craig just never hit me that deep for whatever reason, but I liked Lord Asriel. Especially since snow leopards are awesome. But you know the guy who’s endless fun for me to watch in anything? That’s right. James McAavoy. The new Asriel.

Good start, His Dark Materials television show!

Bonus Question!

What would Professor Xavier’s daemon be?

Owl. Wise and almost regal but potentially sinister.

Actually Though

Over the summer, I started watching that new “Four Weddings and a Funeral” series just for the sake of it, but I eventually came to realise that, despite its name, it’s essentially an amalgam of the greatest hits from the guy who did the original film. And that includes “Love Actually”, which introduced me to that director, Richard Curtis, around this time of year a decade ago. I was in hospital at the end of summer vacation, and watching that movie endlessly on the hospital’s DVD player in my room on bed rest did a lot to brighten my spirits. I didn’t know that it was a Christmas movie before I saw it, and now it’s basically in my mind as a summer movie. So yeah. Cheers for releasing this new mishmash of a show at the right time for me. I feel the love, which is, actually, all around us.

Bonus Question!

Favourite “Love Actually” subplot?

Probably the Bill Nighy one. Maybe Hugh Grant though?

Nazi Rabbits

I just saw "Jojo Rabbit". I'd only heard enough about it over the last year to think that it sounded interesting and believe that it was about a kid with a stuffed rabbit that was inhabited by the soul of Adolf Hitler. I don't even remember if I ever knew that Taika Waititi was involved.

Anyway, I was wrong about most of the second part, which wasn't surprising, but I was right about the part where I thought I'd like it. That wasn't a surprise either. In addition to being eminently enjoyable, it also did a good job of showing that the occasional jerk can be taught to stop being one. And hey. Statistically? A lot can't. But some can. And that's one manifestation of the movie's main message of hope.

Also. Neither Taika Waititi nor Adolf Hitler look like Jon Hamm. But when I saw Taika Waititi in Adolf Hitler costume, I couldn’t help thinking that he looked vaguely similar to Jon Hamm.

Bonus Question!

Favourite part?

The whole thing was exquisite, but I took the greatest visceral pleasure from Sam Rockwell's performance. That happens sometimes. Once it even happened with a dude who turned out to not be Sam Rockwell.

Forgetful Detecting

I kept forgetting Bill Nighy was in "Detective Pikachu" before I finally saw it. But he is. And it was.

Awesome. It was awesome.

I'd heard people say that it was weak outside of seeing live Pokemon, but I might tend towards the inverse. It was a fun adventure film outside of the visuals, which are never my main draw to a movie. The Pokemon looked good, but they didn't seem miraculously realistic. They just had an overall design that brought their level of detail up, but I'd still say Jar-Jar and company looked more natural in a real world than anything here. That's no knock against the film. I liked how it maintained a bit of the cartoony feel of the franchise, but my experience was at odds with a lot of what I'd heard about the film.

Anyway, it's a fun time. And the ending was an adorable surprise.

Best Eevee?

Sylveon. Because fairies.

ImpulSilver

I’ve been reading Peter David’s old Young Justice series from the 90s, and one of the things that sticks out is Impulse’s resemblance to the X-Men movie version of Quicksilver, who bears little resemblance to the comics version. Although he was also written to great effect by David in the 90s. Did someone in the production room for “Days of Future Past” just finish reading David’s X-Men stuff and say “You know who we need in this movie? That speedy dude Peter David made so awesome two decades ago!”? And the writers just assumed he was talking about Impulse instead of Quicksilver and wrote the script accordingly. Which actually worked out pretty well.

Bonus Question!

Worst Quicksilver?

If Quickstrike and Silverbolt from “Beast Wars” ever became a celebrity couple.

Batadict Cumberbat

Been hearing about this Batman casting. I don’t need to tell you that Pattinson’ll be fine. Everyone basically knows. Putting aside my personal affection for the Twilight franchise, I can still say he’s a skillful actor beyond the confines of that role he harbours open distaste for. But at least it gives clear precedent for his portrayal of a moody nocturnal rich dude. With bat symbolism.

Anyway, if that doesn’t work out for whatever reason, I’ve got another suggestion inspired by hearing that one of the villains for the film is supposed to be the Penguin.

Benedict Cumberbatch! Another tall dude with dark hair who looks as though he could come from money. Maybe he doesn’t quite have the chin for it? But whatever. Really, I just want to hear him pronounce “penguin” again. That was a highlight of that Madagascar film he was in.

He needs a name though. We just had Batfleck, and people are trying to decide on one for Robert. I’ve heard “Robert Batinson” and “Robat Pattinson” at least. Maybe “Batadict Cumberbatch” or “Benedict Cumberbatman”? We can work on it.

Bonus Question!

Best penguin?

Probably Memphis. He’s an incarnation of Elvis played by Hugh Jackman. That’s a potent mix.