Borderlands: The Movie

 

Cate Blanchett, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Black (voicing Claptrap), Kevin Hart, Florian Munteanu (Krieg), and Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina.

If the core cast list hasn't already sold you on this epic video game inspired anti-heroes journey, I don't know what will. Saw This film today in theaters. See it in a theater. It really benefits from the big screen.

The acting is so good that I forget green screens and CGI were involved. Not gonna lie, the start of the movie is rough. So rough I almost bailed on it. But I paid money so I stuck it out. The final scenes were well worth the struggle to get there.

This movie will most likely appeal to any '90's kid that grew up on video games and comics. the biggest mistake was having Jack Black underutilized. It would have been better to let him be him but robotic.

So to recap: first 1/3 to 1/2 is a slog, final scene worth it, needs big screen.

Bohemian Rhapsody

It took me quite a while and multiple viewings to organize my thoughts on this film. 

First, to address the critics response. Many such individuals called the film tame with regards to Freddie's lifestyle. I personally did not find this to be the case. It depicted *redacted* and *redacted* which were both true to reality. 

One key departure from reality is the conversation about his orientation that occurs with Mary. In reality this conversation went quite differently. 

Now, to address the backlash regarding the director. S*nger was originally attached to this project, he was replaced after much disagreement between himself and Rami Malek and an extreme lack of professionality or work ethic. Dexter Fletcher was then attached to the film. 

Mr. Fletcher had a Herculean effort to complete. He had to go over the entire film and ensure that it was shot to the satisfaction of all involved parties calling for re-editing and re-shooting as needed, as well as directing the final scenes needed. S*nger was only given Directorial credit due to arcane rules.

Now, on to me. I found this movie delightful and gut-wrenching. I have watched twice to date. It hit all the right notes. It also gave me serious nostalgia feels, and serious pangs of envy and not having been alive to be able to see them all together in concert for real. Having watched the real live aid concert footage, I can truly say that Rami Malek was the perfect man for the role. He brought the energy.

May I also say that casting Gwylym Lee as Brian May was so incredibly spot on it was uncanny. I enjoyed this film immensely and encourage everyone to see it and form their own opinions of it. Please don't punish all the people who worked very hard on just because it has S*nger's name on it.