The Month in Theaters July 2024
Photo by Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
I managed to get to the movie theaters fourteen times in July, with one repeat, with an additional seven otherwise, for a total of twenty reviews. If you saw my last article, movie of the month should be easy to guess, but a pretty good month overall.
Fly Me to the Moon
The first of three $5 Monday mystery preview screenings this month. And a really enjoyable time. A to A+. The majority of the story is complete bovine feces, but the acting and writing are both damn good. ScarJo, Channing Tatum, Ray Ramono, and Woody Harrelson are all really fun. This is the second movie about NASA to feature a CBS sitcom main star in it after Hidden Figures had Sheldon in it for some reason. Dean Pelton and Taub from House were also in this as small bit characters. Marketing the space program and also some light conspiracy theory stuff. It was genuinely funny and endearing. Being a near complete fabrication does hurt the movie a bit.
Despicable Me 4
This movie was lazy and largely pointless. I was leaning towards giving this a C-, but I gotta give it an F. The entire middle of the movie, a vast majority of the runtime, is scene after scene that do not build on each other. The Minions are largely pointless, especially the super-powered Minions that were a big part of the marketing and merch push. The main villain is barely in the film at all and is defeated in like five minutes when the final confrontation happens. There’s a random T2 parody sequence in a grocery store. I was sitting there and went “This feels like a Terminator vignette…” And then the Terminator music kicks in. Completely pointless and leads nowhere. This is probably the worst movie in the franchise, previously held by the first Minions movie. Will Ferrell plays the main villain, by the way. I want to say less than fifteen minutes of screentime. Very annoying.
MaXXXine
X is still the best film in this now three movie franchise, but this was fun enough. The issue is that this isn’t really a horror movie. This is more a thriller than anything. B+. I wanted to like this more, but the identity of the killer at the heart of the thriller is very easy to guess. The reason that this isn’t really a horror movie is we only really see like one murder on screen outside of the final girl confrontation, which has a little too much in common with a cop movie final shootout than it probably should. I feel like they were going for an L.A. Confidential vibe here with a little bit of Heat thrown in. Also, there’s a character that Maxine knows is probably walking into her death, and she does nothing to dissuade said person. That was a very preventable death. Hurts my ability to root for Maxine a bit.
The Sandlot
I went to an outdoor screening of this baseball movie coming-of-age classic. A. I feel like parts of the middle drag on, as well as a major plot hole that bothered me. The main character knows his stepdad is a huge fan of baseball but was never told who Babe Ruth was somehow. His Babe Ruth signed baseball never generated any questions? And he takes the baseball for what amounts to one additional play during the game they’re playing. This entire movie’s inciting incident could have been avoided if they had just tried to scrounge up a few more cents to buy another baseball. I did very much enjoy the “here’s what happened to all these kids as they grew up” thing during the final minutes. That was fun.
Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot
Another Angel Studios release, this time in a partnership with The Daily Wire. Letitia Wright helped produce the movie before either of these players were brought on. And had a snit fit about it when she got heat for The Daily Wire’s involvement, even though she was shown at the premier with The Daily Wire logo prominently featured behind her in the red carpet photos. This was a good film about a wonderful true story of perseverance and love. Demetrius Grosse, who played the pastor, was the standout actor in this. The lead actress is either badly written or badly acted during a scene where she has a crisis of confidence that feels so completely manufactured. This is a B+ to A-.
Blue Lock The Movie – Episode Nagi –
Another movie for an anime I have never watched or even heard of. It follows a character who isn’t the protagonist of the anime. This one is soccer-based. And they found a way to make soccer interesting to me. I would probably have more investment in the story if I knew anything about these characters going in, but I looked into it. This is an adaptation of a spin-off manga of sorts following this character. His extreme level of laziness is funny at first but gets old fast. B+ to A-. Soccer has never been this intense. I am glad this is a canon anime movie. A lot of them aren’t.
Longlegs
This movie was pretty awesome… Until that canine dung ending. We find out who the serial killer, played wonderfully creepily by Nicolas Cage, targets about a third or so into the movie. Knowing this, that finale should never have happened. There is a demonic/magic element to the movie, but also the main character has a level of psychic power that comes up in the beginning but not really again for some reason? There are also a few unexplained elements to the movie. But that ending really hurts the film. It deserves an A-, but it could have been in my top five of the year if it had just nailed that ending. But it was so bad. It defies reason that the characters involved wouldn’t have done something to prevent the tragedy that happens. Just to be safe.
Sing Sing
The second $5 Monday mystery preview screening this month. It follows a group of prisoners at the Sing Sing correctional facility who put on plays as a means of rehabilitation. Most of the actors in the movie are alumni of this real prison program playing themselves. They do a damn good job. Colman Domingo plays the lead and is as phenomenal as he normally is. A to A+. It does drag a bit occasionally, but is otherwise a really good time. The core of the plot is them putting on an original work the presumably volunteer theater director writes after the group brainstorms on elements they would like. A hodgepodge of ideas wrapped around time travel and comedy. And Freddy Krueger for some reason.
Twisters
Stupid fun disaster movie legacy sequel that has virtually zero connection to the movie that came before it. No characters from the first movie, and none of the characters in this movie are related to any of those characters. Very odd, honestly. Glen Powell continues to impress. The special effects are pretty damn good as well. A- to A. That dude who was in the last Transformers movie seems a little pointless to the film after the opening scene, but it is what it is. Glen Powell so completely takes over this movie once he is introduced. So hilarious. Did he get added to the movie like a third of the way into filming? The Transformers dude gets pushed so far into the background after Mister All-American shows up. This is such a popcorn movie. The kind of film a theater experience is built for.
Oddity
A weird horror movie with some obvious Chekhov’s Guns throughout and some lingering questions to things that just don’t make sense. B- to B. The third act is really good. The opening is also really good. The middle is where the movie drags hard. Because the thriller element to the movie is really easy to guess as there exists only one potential culprit. There is not even a whiff of a red herring. The movie is also weird at times for no added benefit. The female lead is the blind twin of a woman who gets murdered at the beginning. Her being blind is almost completely unnecessary. And is seemingly only done to facilitate her death with one of those Chekhov’s Guns I mentioned earlier. Some really good ideas here, but not enough plot for a feature length film.
Kneecap
The final $5 Monday mystery preview screening this month. Probably the weakest since Babes. It follows a real Irish rap group, all of whom play themselves. They keep getting in trouble with the law but don’t seem to face any real consequences for it. Sometimes, I don’t even know why the cops have a problem with them. There is also some nudity, which I appreciated. C to C+. The music is good for what it is, rap music in the Irish language, but the plot needed some work. Also, some real massive coincidences that really don’t justify themselves. Narrative simplicity is one thing, but this ain’t that. The acting is good, which you wouldn’t expect from such amateur actors. Michael Fassbender is also in this as the only major actor. The script really needed some work.
Deadpool & Wolverine
A+ and movie of the month. It is also the movie I saw twice. For my further thoughts, you can read my review here.
Robot Dreams
Heartwarming and sad and touching, accomplished with zero dialogue. A+. Second best animated movie this year. The only words spoken in this entire movie are in the music. “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire is very heavily utilized. This movie takes place in 1980s New York City in a world where robotics are much more advanced and anthropomorphic animals are the dominant species. But virtually everything else is the same. The animation is wonderful, although there seems to be quite a lot of product placement. To a very noticeable degree. Probably paid for a good chunk of the movie’s budget. I almost feel like the movie is running in place, but that is all done for a reason. The kind of sad ending that works so much better than it should. I saw the trailer for this awhile ago and knew I needed to see it. Standout film.
EVERYTHING ELSE
I managed to clear level 16 of the Cruciball, the highest current level, with the remaining three characters in Peglin. I am done with it for the time being, having cleared all achievements and all other current challenges. I could try to fully complete the Encirclepedia, but that seems like a waste of effort. I have over 160 hours into the game. I started playing Hades, but only got a few hours in. Seems fun, but the kind of game I can play for five minutes and move on to something else.
Lots of television in July, especially anime. I finished Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Very good, although I don’t know how they do a second season with the same characters. I guess we’ll find out. The Boys concluded. Very clearly a penultimate season finale. I wish it was better, but it isn’t awful. The writing has a lot of problems. I didn’t realize until recently that The Irrational had not finished its season. The finale it had felt very much like the showrunners did not know if it was going to be renewed. It’s OK. I rewatched a good chunk of the second season of Reacher but did not finish my rewatch. Still awesome. I got two family members into Spy x Family and watched a good chunk of the first season with them. They managed to finish the rest of the first two seasons on their own. One of the best animes of all time, honestly. I had watched about two episodes of One-Punch Man before, but I binged the only two seasons that the show currently has. I don’t know if it ever gets a third season. I hope it does. It’s really fun. And the big one? My Hero Academia. I am into the fourth season. As I am writing this, it appears the manga just finished. I found out about that this morning. Crazy coincidence.
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit was free on YouTube. Haven’t watched this in many years. Fantastically good time. A+. We’re getting a new Wallace & Gromit movie sometime in the near future. I am pumped.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower was also free on YouTube. A lot better than I thought it would be. A to A+. There are a few plot elements that don’t really work, but the story kept me interested.
The Magic Sword is a 1962 Arthurian-style fantasy movie with a lot of weird stuff. It is a movie worth seeing, but not one I would likely rewatch outside of showing to family. I got it for $4.99 at Big Lots. The DVD case clearly indicated it was made a long time ago, as it was very solid plastic. B- to B.
Another free movie on YouTube, Armageddon was fun. I had never seen it before. Is the plot very stupid? Yes. But the acting is really good from everyone involved. It even has the fat cook from Down Periscope. B to B+.
Finally saw Dreamgirls. A somewhat adaptation of The Supremes. Based on the Broadway musical of the same name. I saw the director’s cut. A-. The performances were quite good, but the movie does drag at times. Eddie Murphy was robbed of an Oscar.
Another movie I had wanted to see for a long time, Big Night. The movie is incredibly well-acted and the cooking scenes are top-notch. But the plot is terrible. C+ to B-. The third act surprise that turns the movie from Waiting for Godot with food into a waste of time just pissed me off. On top of that, setting this in the 1950s added basically nothing.
I rewatched The Emperor’s New Groove for the first time in quite a long time. Still holds up. A to A+. I doubt David Spade has ever been in a better movie. Patrick Warburton was fantastic. Eartha Kitt was also a delight.
And that’s everything. August has some interesting movies coming out. Writing this on the second day of the month, I have already seen one movie. All in due time.
