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Weekly Watchlist: Week 2

Eduardo Orozco
weekly watchlist

Weekly Watchlist. Week 2.

For this week’s “Weekly Watchlist”, I have to give a shoutout to AMC A-List. I worked for AMC for almost 3 years until I moved on to better things; but in my time there, I saw almost every movie that came out. After moving onto a different job, I no longer had access to countless free movies whenever I wanted. Just recently, I purchased AMC A-List and it’s the closest thing to seeing as many movies as I want. (3 movies a week, $24/month). I definitely am getting my money’s worth as I have been attending various showings of movies that never even appealed to me.

Time to list what I watched now.

 

Monday (2.18.19)

Greenbook (2018) – 3.5/5

  • Mixed feelings; hesitant to watch at first but it was pretty nice actually; character development was great and it was interesting to see how 2 complex characters from different backgrounds bonded together. Was originally 4/5 stars, but they won Best Picture at the Oscars over “Roma” and it didn’t really deserve it.

 

(Please mind the week long gap of no movies as my parents were in town visiting me for the first time ever. Note: The next movie has nothing to do with how their vacation went.)

 

Sunday (2.24.19)

Fighting with My Family (2019) – 3/5

  • Looks silly in trailers and advertising, but it’s not as bad as it seems. It’s also not as good as it seems though. The cinematography was bland; the pacing/editing are mediocre; the acting was pretty decent for the most part. The story itself though was very unique and based off a true story; a female wrestler breaking into the WWE; I’m not really a wrestling type guy but it wasn’t terrible.

Monday (2.25.19)

Isn’t It Romantic (2019) – 3/5

  • Thought this was gonna be a dumb musical-esque Rebel Wilson comedy; turned out to have pretty damn nice/funny writing; editing is great and hilarious. It’s incredibly cliche but on purpose. The cinematography is ass though.

Tuesday (2.26.19)

The Usual Suspects (1995) – 4/5

  • I was fortunate enough to watch this in my film classics class but I sadly fell asleep for some part due to slow beginning; pretty cool though and great film I hope to rewatch soon.

Wednesday (2.27.19)

Glass (2019) – 1.5/5

  • The writing was honestly one of the worst I’ve seen in a long while. The cinematography was questionable and the lighting/coloring was probably the only thing this had going for it. It is to my understanding that the guy who played Bruce Willis’ son was the same kid from the 2000 “Unbreakable” movie, but the dude can’t act at all and has got to end his career soon hopefully. It’s cool that M. Night Shyamalan made an attempt to create a superhero-like world, but it just doesn’t work.

Friday (3.1.19)

Greta (2019) – 2.5/5

  • I have some extremely mixed feelings about this movie. Saw it opening weekend, so the audience was pretty full, but the script was so extremely bad that the entire theatre was laughing at some parts; mind you this was supposed to be “Drama/Thriller”. Also saw this with a film friend of mine and it was just funny exchanging banter about the movie afterwards. This is not the worst movie in existence, but it’s not good in any aspect really. I disliked the cinematography, but the lighting was pretty nice though. I only recommend seeing this movie in a crowded theatre so you can know for sure that you are not the only one who finds some scenes hilariously bad.

Monday (3.4.19)

Minding the Gap (2018) – 5/5

  • Kinda pissed they didn’t include a warning in the beginning for emotional viewers that connect too heavily with the story. Thought this was a fun/cool documentary about skateboarding, but it turned out to be a heartfelt look into how skateboarding is an escape for people’s shitty lives. Doesn’t help when the director interviews his foreign mother who has trouble with English about how he was raised; hits the feels. The best documentary I’ve seen in a long time.

Tuesday (3.5.19)

Zombieland (2009) – 3/5

  • This movie is creative and fun for 2009, but it is 10 years later now and it’s just a little too cheesy and fake deep for me to enjoy; cool cast but I didn’t really like it all that much; very hyped up (and there’s another coming out this year oh boy)

Wednesday (3.6.19)

Apollo 11 (2019) – 4/5

  • Grateful to have seen this in IMAX; the visuals are extremely amazing; the score is chilling and so good. The editing is extremely well done but I can only imagine how long it took to sort through the hours and hours of footage they had to work with. As for the space mission itself, the amount of physics that goes into something like this blows my mind and scares the s**t out of me (I was not good at physics in high school).

 

Thank you for reading along for this week; I hope these comments offer insight into your choice of what to watch and what to avoid.

Make sure to check in next week to see what I watch.

Ready Player One: A Nostalgic Trip

Gloria Gomez

Many were excited for the theatrical release of Ready Player One, and for good reason. Ready Player One is not just the action film, that the trailer hinted it to be, and that many awaited, but it was extremely humorous too. It’s combination of action and comedy, made the film thrilling and exciting.

If you’re a movie buff you will fall in love with this movie, and as a gamer you will love it even more. It is hard not to love any of Steven Spielberg’s films, this now including Ready Player One. One of the best things about the film is the nostalgic trip that it takes the audience into. Stanley Kubrick’s film, The Shining (1980), was a big part in this. The introduction of The Shining, into Ready Player One’s storyline was amazing, and a scene to applaud. Its recreation of the set left people in awe, and gave the audience a sample of the VR world by allowing the viewers to immerse in the setting. If you’ve seen The Shining this scene will be your favorite, and if you haven’t seen it, then it will make you want to watch it. This is one the best, or if not the best tribute that I have seen for Kubrick’s film.

Ready Player One is not just popular for gracefully including movie references, but it also did not miss having video game references, or what one may call easter eggs. Throughout the film, viewers can spot various of their favorite video game characters. For example, Halo characters, Minecraft, Joust characters, and many others.

One of the most memorable easter eggs was a flash back to the old tootsie pop owl commercial. If you were born between the years 70s-90s this reference will definitely bring memories.

And we cannot forget the ending, the biggest easter egg of all. A major twist that takes you back to the arcade ages. Without spoiling the movie, one can say that its ending is similar to that of Love, Simon (2018). The most important key factor to the plot of the movie, is obvious, but because we are introduced to it early on we forget about it. Therefore, when this key element is reintroduced into the screen, we get this feeling of thrill and excitement, with the thought of, “I should’ve seen that coming”.

image, image 

 

Black Panther Cultural Impact

Gloria Gomez Leave a Comment

Was “Black Panther” as good as what I expected? Definitely not… it was even better! “Black Panther” may have been out in theaters for months already, but its hype has not deteriorated.

I went to see “Black Panther” the weekend it was released. Theaters were packed and tickets were selling out fast. Even a week after its release, the line to watch Black Panther had not decreased. Releasing the movie during a four day weekend could be the best decision that Marvel has made yet. But even with the nicely timed release, the movie of course would not have been a success without the great actors, and story line. There was never a dull moment in the movie. I was entertained the whole time. It had enough action, and some jokes here and there, elements that helped grasp the audience’s attention.

The one aspect that I loved about the movie was that it did not just touch the hearts of African-Americans, but also of immigrants. As an American, and daughter of immigrants, I could relate to this movie in various ways, but the one that impacted me the most was of the right to speak any language one pleases. In “Black Panther” there is a scene where the Wakanda general, Okoye,  speaks in her tribal language to T’Challa (Black Panther), while a CIA agent is in their presence. This leads the agent to ask T’Challa, instead of Okoye, “Does she speak english?” Okoye quickly responds in English with, “She speaks English when she wants to.” The moment she said that, the inner me was jumping with happiness, because finally someone on the big screen chose to speak up about this issue.

Throughout history, and even today, people in America are being told to ONLY speak English, or to NOT speak another language. Some even having the audacity to tell others that our soldiers aren’t fighting for us to speak other languages, that they are fighting for our “right” to speak “American.” People should not feel bad speaking in a language besides English in public, and most importantly, people should not be obliged to forget their native language in order to make others feel “comfortable.” I am tired of worrying about making others feel “uncomfortable.” I personally have never been afraid to speak Spanish in public, but I know for a fact that there are many others, children and adults, that do need this reassurance of being told that it is okay to speak another language. “Black Panther” encourages people of all ethnicities and ages to love their culture’s language.

Unfortunately, some children didn’t get the same encouragement from the movie. Or at least the young girl I heard talking in the bathroom didn’t. I was washing my hands after the movie and I overheard a young black girl talking to her mom about how she didn’t want to be like the general. The mom asked her why, and the little girl said that she did not want to speak “African.” I was devastated when I heard her say that, because it showed the negative affect society can have on the minds of the young, when it comes to the topic of speaking other languages. In America, any language besides English appears to be ugly, and it’s not okay and it must change.

Enough decades have passed for people to understand that America is a melting pot, and no one language is better than the other. This is why I thank Marvel for including this scene in “Black Panther,” and presenting the people of Wakanda as people who love their culture, and are proud and unafraid of speaking their language.