On today's featured list:
Cloud Atlas — Marvelous, just marvelous. One of Tom Hanks' best.
The Martian — One of Matt Damon's increasingly good roles.
The Great Wall — Superb special effects, great monsters, seriously hot Chinese chick. What more do you want?
Rogue One — This is the '½' flick. It is, by no means, a 'great' movie, but there's an important point to be made.
As always, you're encouraged to click on the icon on the lower-right of the player's tool bar to open them up to full-screen size. Hit ESC to get back to windows mode when through.
Goodies are below the fold.
Cloud Atlas
This is a tale of six stories, from the distant past, to the near past, to the near future, to the distant future, to the far distant future, and how they impact each other through deeds and time. What makes it intriguing is that you spend about 9/10ths of the movie trying to figure out just how they're all going to tie in at the end.
And then they do.
Here's the description from the IMDb:
Everything is connected: an 1849 diary of an ocean voyage across the Pacific; letters from a composer to his lover; a thriller about a conspiracy at a nuclear power plant; a farce about a publisher in a nursing home; a rebellious clone in futuristic Korea; and the tale of a tribe living on post-apocalyptic Hawaii far in the future.
That sums it up quite nicely.
In a break from protocol, the following clip is from the end of the movie, but it's not a 'spoiler alert' in the sense that we know from the very beginning that she's going to be executed. What we'll note, though, is how the narrative spans the very nature of time. As she says, "I would imagine a door opening', we flash hundreds of years back to when a door opens. As the narrative from long ago notes how people who rebel against the system will, "at worst, be lynched or crucified", exactly that happens in the far distant future.
When she says, "Someone already does" is a superbly crafted piece of both writing and acting. The way her voice quiets as she says "already does" indicates that the person she's talking about... is in the room with her.
There's one other thing of interest to note about the film. With six stories going on at the same time, one would expect some of the major stars, such as Tom Hanks, Susan Sarandon, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving and Hugh Grant, to play more than one role. Maybe two, even three roles.
And, indeed, they do.
Apparently — at least in some cases — Hollywood isn't as hung up on gender, race and ethnicity as we're led to believe.
Rogue One
Okay, let's get this out of the way. From what I've read in reviews and forums, a great number of people dismissed this film because it wasn't an actual 'Star Wars' movie.
But it definitely is.
It's a prequel to the very first movie, in that it shows how the rebel alliance obtained the Death Star's vulnerability in the first place.
No, it doesn't have the big scrolling text intro. No, it doesn't have a Chewbacca, Han Solo, wise-cracking C-3PO or adorable R2D2.
It does, however, have this at the very beginning:
And this at the very end:
So, yes, it is very much a 'Star Wars' movie. If you skipped it the first time around, go rent it and enjoy.
Here's the moment when our heroine finds out about the daunting task before her.
It also differs from the other 'Star Wars' movies in one singular way:
It has a very sad ending.
You've been warned.
The Martian
Matt Damon has really grown as an actor over the years. I really didn't think much of him at first. But I've followed his career over time, and his acting — as well as his choice in movies — has done nothing but get better and better.
In 'The Martian', a group of NASA explorers are on Mars gathering samples and taking measurements. Suddenly, a gigantic dust storm arrives and they've got to flee. A piece of flying debris hits Damon, they can't find him in the few minutes remaining, so he's given up for dead and the group takes off.
But he's alive.
He then has to figure out how to stay alive, with only limited food and oxygen in the habitat. And, the big problem is, even when NASA discovers he's still alive, a rescue mission would take almost two years just to get there, so everyone's got a major dilemma to face.
Here he is trekking around in the rover as he contemplates how to fix a major physical problem he's undergoing at the moment.
An intriguing, enjoyable flick from first moment to last.
The Great Wall
One thing that differentiates the good actor from the pack is his or her ability to dramatically change roles. Some actors tend to remain in character no matter what the flick. Jason Statham springs to mind. Whether he's a good guy or bad guy, he's always a hardass fighting machine.
And then, again, we have Matt Damon. Just a flick or two after the futuristic 'The Martian', he's flung back thousands of years into a warrior fighting in ancient China.
After helping to defend the wall against the first wave of attackers, here he is making a serious impression upon his Chinese captors.
Pretty hot Chinese babe, eh? Her name is Tian Jing. More detailed info on her here.
Movie suggestions are always welcome in the comments.
