#mary comforted her by saying margot is better than saoirse and then they had a fight

[xbubblgm]

the Valkyries were written by Greta Gerwig

Marlene as Ladybird

Lily as Little Women

Mary as Barbie

[mattkeepsrambling]

New Years Weekend Movie Extravaganza

In an effort to use some days off before the new year I took December 28th and December 31st off. Using my five day weekend, I decided to engage in that self-care I keep talking about and watched what I sure was a literal metric ton of movies. 

Aquaman 

First up was "Aquaman." Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) has lived on land his entire life, denying his Atlantian lineage. When his half-brother wants to wage war on the surface world, he is forced to discover who he is-King of Atlantis. 

This movie was insane. It was almost two and a half hours long, and I enjoyed so much of it. There was some terrible dialogue, "Did we hit something?" "No, something hit us," some fantastic action sequences, a story that is secondary to everything else, and tons of fun to be had. 

This was not a good movie, but that has never mattered to me; so long as I am having fun while watching a movie. 

7/10

Mary Poppins Returns 

Set after the first movie, "Mary Poppins Returns" find the titular character returning (obviously) to help the Banks children through a tough time in their lives. 

Emily Blunt is a national treasure. Sure she's British, but she's married to an American, so that makes her a national treasure. She is a fantastic actress and, as co-star Lin Manuel Maranda said on "Late Night With Seth Myers," she is "human sunshine." If she is in it, I will watch it. 

I loved this movie. It dealt with some tough topics; the death of a mother/wife, and didn't shy away from mixing the lightness with a little dark. It can have a song like "Can You Imagine That?" in which Mary Poppins takes the Banks children into a magical world in their bathtub and then, late have her sing "The Place Where The Lost Things Go" as she comforts them in dealing with the loss of their mother. 

I have heard people complain that the music is not as good as the original. The best argument against that has to be from The Empire Podcast. I forget which host said it, but they pointed out that the original songs have had 50 years to work their way into popular culture and become what they are. I liked the songs in this movie a lot; particularly "Trip A Little Light Fantastic" sung by Lin Manuel Maranda's Jack. It's a great song with an impressive dance number in the middle. 

One last thing before I move on to the next movie of the weekend, I feel obligated to mention Dick Van Dyke. He has a small role in this movie, but in that role, he became my new hero. He is 93 years old, and when given three options for a dance number in this movie, he chose the hardest one and refused any help in performing it. I can only hope that when I am 93, I'll still have that same drive. 

9/10

Roma 

Based loosely on the life of director Alfonso Cuarón's housekeeper, "Roma" follows a year in the life of Cleo and her job working for a family in Mexico. 

Hype for a movie can be dangerous. All I heard about this movie was how great it was. It was available on Netflix, and it was a possible Oscar nominee. I enjoyed it, but I did not love it. The movie is over two hours long, and it was not until the last 45 minutes that I found myself even remotely enjoying the movie. That final act of the film was terrific and emotionally riveting. 

7/10

Birdbox 

According to Netflix, this was one of their most watched offerings ever. Now, Netflix has never been too forthcoming with their numbers, and since there are no Nielsen ratings for them, we have to trust them. 

The most natural comparison for this movie is that it is like "A Quiet Place" but with seeing as opposed to hearing. The world is attacked by creatures that, if you see, drive you to homicide/suicide. 

It was a good movie-no where as good as "A Quiet Place"-but it was gratifying. It was not particularly scary, but it was interesting enough to keep me interested for its runtime. 

7/10

Ballad of Buster Scruggs 

Look! Another Netflix movie! 

"The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" is a new movie by the Coen Brothers. It is a western anthology. There are six segments following different characters. 

Some of the segments are better than the others, the title segment "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" is one of the best. There are some that fail to live up to their premises; "The Mortal Remains" ends way too soon and leaves a lot unexplored and then there are some that despite it cast, are just nothing stories; "Meal Ticket" has Liam Neeson and is boring until the ending reveal. 

6/10

Minding the Gap 

Hulu is where I found this one-streaming services are getting into the movie game big time. This is a documentary about three young men growing up in the rust belt and bond over their love of skateboarding as an escape from volatile family lives. 

I watched this because of the Slashfilm Cast. Every summer they do their Summer Movie Wager where they all predict the box office ranking for the top 10 summer movies. The winner gets to pick one thing, under three hours, for them all to watch. "Minding The Gap" was the winner's choice this year. 

"Minding The Gap" was a fascinating look at the lives of three young men who have all experienced domestic violence or abuse in their lives. Two of them are doing their best to escape it (Kiere and Bing), while one seems doomed to repeat the cycle of violence in which he grew up (Zach). 

It can be tough to watch at times, hearing that all the reason Zach's coffee table is broken is that he put his girlfriend through it is heartbreaking to hear. Zach is very opinionated on people who lead a traditional life of office work and all these other things he sees as bad ideas as well as when it is OK to hit a woman. 

8/10

Mary Queen Of Scots 

I don't have too much to say in this look at Mary Stuart and Queen Elizabeth I, so I'll keep it simple. Great performances from Saoirse Ronan, who plays Mary and Margot Robbie, who plays Queen Elizabeth, but other than that this movie is boring and slow. 

5/10

And these are just the new ones I watched. I also rewatched Arrival (still a masterpiece), Atomic Blond (excellent action movie and I would love to see a sequel), Crazy Rich Asians (if you have not seen this, you are missing out) and Iron Man 3 (my friend Mike and I are rewatching the MCU movies before Captain Marvel and Avengers End Game this year).