I’ll preface this by saying that last week was among the busiest I’ve had this year when it came to seeing movies. I was scrambling to get to see a couple before they leave the theater, particularly as the show times were often inconvenient as one who works a day job.
I’ve mentioned before that I’m an A-List member with AMC Theaters, and this allows me to see three movies per week (Friday-Thursday). I maxed out my membership last week, and I might be able to do the same this week…
I started off by driving to the other side of town to see Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1. This is part of Kevin Costner’s epic drama covering a 15-year span of history in the American West around the time of the Civil War. Costner directed and stars in this film along with some other faces I recognized (Sam Worthington, yum) as well as some actors who are new to me. As the word “epic” suggests, it’s a grand scale story. The scenery is outstanding. Parts of the plot dragged on, and some elements were difficult to follow. But overall I really enjoyed it.
This “part 1” ended with a montage of scenes that appeared to be a trailer for part 2, though that wasn’t stated anywhere. An older couple behind me made me chuckle when she turned to him as the credits rolled and just asked, “Is that it?”
The acting was stellar as was the cinematography. Perhaps I’ll watch it again when it’s streaming and I’ll be able to better understand the plot points (or locations) that confused me this time.
Next on my list was Daddio, an unusual film starring Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn. It reminded me of Tom Hardy’s movie Locke in which the entire plot takes place inside a car. Our leads spend most of the film in a taxi cab; Penn plays the cab driver and Johnson is his passenger. There’s some foul language which really doesn’t seem necessary, but the characters ARE New Yorkers, so, whatever. Again, the acting was outstanding. I had no trouble following the story here, and there were some interesting twists and turns in the dialogue. But it’s not a movie I need to see again.
I am, however, interested in looking for other movies with Sean Penn. My introduction to him was as Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and while there are parts of that movie I have no interest in rewatching, his scenes were always stand-outs, particularly when he shared scenes with Ray Walston. I’ve seen a couple other movies he’s done, and I’ve always appreciated his work. I’d like more of that, please.
Also, in certain lulls in the dialogue, I found myself comparing Dakota’s facial features with her parents’. It was only fairly recently that I realized she’s the daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, both beautiful people. But she’s not the spitting image of either, so I often forget this tidbit. 😆😆
Alright, moving on…Thursday night I had the ticket that I reserved back in May! Deadpool & Wolverine in Real3D(TM)! This #MarvelGirl enjoyed 98% of this movie. Again, foul language…but this time we add in gratuitous violence. Of course, that’s to be expected because it’s Deadpool. The story arc was delightful to me, and the massive number of cameos…we had whoops, hollers, cheers and applause along with the laughter through it all. I won’t spoil anything, but I was very glad that I hadn’t been spoiled going in. I really haven’t read anything among the rumors, so that just made it even more enjoyable.
I’m glad to hear that this movie took in more than its estimated budget on opening weekend in the United States and Canada, and the worldwide gross figures are more than double that. With this being a major highlight of the merging of the Fox library of Marvel films to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, hopefully this does kick off an upswing in the movies to come. Having San Diego Comic Con reveal some juicy details about the upcoming slate on the same weekend was a nice touch.
I had a busy weekend but managed to get out one last time on Sunday evening to see Twisters, the not-a-sequel follow up to Twister from 1996, which did a nice job of paying some homage to the original movie while putting a new twist (see what I did there?) on the story. I’ve been a fan of Glen Powell since he played John Glenn in Hidden Figures, so I’m certainly game to see him on the big screen again. And Anthony Ramos is another favorite.
The story kept me engaged throughout, though there was a moment where I thought one of the characters was more than a little insensitive towards his friend. It called for the suspension of disbelief, and there were a couple other points in the plot that required the same. My guess (hope) is that these were the result of some editing choices that made the resulting plot a little jolting.
This is a movie I’d watch again, maybe even as part of a double feature with the original.
That’s it for the week. And after looking at what’s still in theaters now, along with the showtimes, I don’t know that I’ll get up there much this week. I have my ticket to see Kneecap on Sunday (Michael Fassbender, yes, please, along with a group of Irish kids, apparently speaking Gaelic a lot…). But other than that, it may be a stay-at-home and knit with the TV week for me.
Oh, one last update. At the start of the year, I set a goal to see fifty (50) movies in the theater. I’m currently at 44, so my chances of exceeding that goal look pretty good, lol.
Knit on. 🧶
Kninja Knitter 
Leave a comment