45 thoughts on “Third Monday Movie Day: Summer Blockbusters”

  1. Some big show resumed yesterday. We haven't renewed our subscription yet plus with my mom over for the week, I suspect we'll not be able to watch it until next week.

    1. DirectTV gave us, seemingly at random, HBO and Cinemax, as well as a credit on our monthly bill for the price of HBO and Cinemax.

      That is what I call good timing.

  2. Since I don't have HBO, I don't get to watch the episodes on Sundays (I have to wait a few days to find a less than savory method of watching. Don't @ me.)

    I'm almost finished with all the available episodes of Letterkenny. Please, if you have Hulu, watch this. It is completely hilarious. Season 5 has an episode about an adult spelling bee and it made my sides hurt.

    Saw Captain Marvel a couple weeks ago and I liked it quite a bit. If you ask me, most of the critiques of it are off base. It also has me quite excited for Endgame.

    I also watched Into the Spiderverse which was utterly fantastic. Easily the best Spiderman movie anyone has made. It also has maybe the funniest post-credits scene I've ever seen.

    Went and saw Us, which was also terrific. Lupita N'yongo would win best actress if there was any justice in the world. Two movies in and it seems safe to say that Jordan Peele is brilliant.

    I re-watched the LotR movies over the past couple weeks. They are still great.

    1. I am done with the Letterkenny episodes as well. It was a sad, empty feeling to binge through them all and then know I had to wait. It is hilarious.

      I agree with your thoughts on Captain Marvel. I thought it was a strong Marvel movie.

      We are almost done binge watching Into the Badlands on Netflix. If you like martial arts, you may like it. It is a little too much like a soap opera for my tastes, but still pretty good. Not something to watch with the kids, as it is pretty bloody.

      Finally watched Solo. I don't know, maybe I went in with low expectations, but thought it was decent. I kind of like origin stories.

      1. Oh, don't worry, I'm an Into the Badlands stan. I love it so much and I never want it to end. Sonny and Baji for lyfe.

      2. I missed the pre-sale on the Letterkenny Live tickets in Minneapolis on June 22nd. Re-sales sites start out at $125 per seat, which is a bit steep for my liking.

        1. Whoa, I wouldn't have thought they were that popular to fetch prices that high. I know of exactly two other people down here that have even heard of it.

    2. Speaking of Letterkenny. That show is written so well and has so many ongoing bits. I find myself speaking the catch phrases at work and home. As a result, some people look at me like with a knowing grin, and some look really puzzled.

      1. I tell my kids to "figure it out" constantly and finds myselfs adding s's to words where they aren'ts normallys.

    3. And on a whim I found out that my mom had hbo in her directv package. That is fantastic news.

  3. After finally picking up a 4K player a few weeks ago for better video and especially audio from movies (and also after buying a trio of reclining theater chairs that were being retired from my floor), I’ve spent a lot more time down there.

    The End of the F***ing World - eight-episode Netflix original based on a graphic novel. Interest enough to begin, some genuine surprise early, and then kind of a heavy-handed, predictable ending. Extremely well-acted.

    Russian Doll - ditto. This was loads of fun, and weird, and actually kind of scary near the end. Natasha Lyonne is dynamite.

    Polar - Netflix original movie that I watched on the plane to Orlando (while keeping it an an angle away from young eyes). Visceral, semi-dark action movie. Mads Mikkelsen is predictably good. Vanessa Hudgens is great as the female lead, and totally disappears into the role. The cadre of villains are almost all played poorly, surprisingly enough - especially the lead female villain.

    Adventure Time - decided to try to finish it. There’s SO MUCH. I’m a third of the way through season eight of ten. Still fun, though I look forward to finishing.

    Brick - Rian Johnson crime drama that’s been on my Netflix list since Netflix debuted. It’s a high school drug story and murder mystery with its own set of lingo that takes some time to read. Direction is strong. JGL is excellent as the lead that we follow through every scene. I’m not sure it’s a great movie but there’s a lot to remember.

    Tag - ugh, this was super ordinary. Lots of actors wasted in roles that asked nothing of them.

    It’s probably time to get to another season of Better Call Saul.

      1. Eh, I suppose it was good enough for a flight where I only remembered to download a movie at the last minute and therefore had literally no other options. Live and learn!

    1. I need to rewatch Brick, as I haven't seen it since watching it at around 5am during an all-nighter about 15 years ago. I remember liking it a lot, but also remember being deliriously tired, so I couldn't tell you whether it was a good movie or not.

      I watched The Lookout around the same era. I found that one to be the superior JGL movie, though not as flashy or as gimmicky.

        1. Heh, makes sense. Having done both, I would probably recommend not bothering with up-firing. If you can do ceiling speakers, I quite like it. If not, I’d call it a day IMO.

          1. Yeah, that’s the dilemma. The reflective speakers are a fun idea that don’t really work in the real world. If I were to add anything, it would be a center channel (I’m just bi-amping the Motion 60s at the moment).

            1. So I guess I’m saying the center is next, not Atmos. But that is also next. Eh, you know how it is. Everything is always next for an audiophile.

              1. The center does sound like the logical next step.

                Once you have the speakers, then you need to upgrade them. And then you need to upgrade the rest of the equipment. Then repeat. YAY!

  4. Took the boy to Lego #2. It was ok. Predictably worse than the first.

    I've been watching "Killing Eve." I'm not sure I like the direction it's going this season.

    1. I liked Lego 2 a lot and I think it holds up pretty well with the first. There might have been more LOL moments.

      1. I don't think it can touch the first since you know the underlying story going in. That was part of the fun of #1.

  5. Anyone else watching What We Do in the Shadows? It's as delightfully stupid and silly as the movie.

  6. Newbish is starting to get into movies pretty heavily. He's a massive Toy Story fan. I'm pretty confident in ranking them 2 > 3 > 1 at this point, having seen all three at least seven times.

    * Game of Thrones started up again.

    * Shazam was fun. Mark Strong is great, and I always like seeing Zachary Levi, and he's cast pretty much perfectly here.

    * The Peanuts Movie (Newbish is also a huge Snoopy fan) had trailers that made it look pretty terrible , but was actually delightful. I did miss the charm of the old school animation, but the wit was there. Newbish was delighted for the duration.

    * Ralph Breaks the Internet was decent. A step down from the first, though. It sort of felt like Disney just flexing how many freaking properties it owns now.

    * The wife and I finally bit the bullet and caught up on The Walking Dead. It's....better than it has been. It helps that the new enemies are way more interesting than the Saviors (though I'm hoping they don't take that as a reason to spend three seasons spinning their wheels fighting them. The show definitely works better when you can string together several episodes in one sitting while playing Hearthstone or checking baseball sites, though (that's always been true).

    'The Penultimate Episode' SelectShow

    * We've been binging New Girl, and it's pretty much perfect for an evening on the couch. Great cast chemistry, lots and lots of funny lines (at least two or three solid laughs per episode, and often, many more than that), and, in one episode, freaking Prince. The show started off pretty rough, but it grew into something that I could say is a top 5 favorite comedy of mine.


      I liked it, but agree the first was much, much better. The princesses were pretty funny. Also, the giant Ralph made up of Ralphs was...... something.

  7. We watched After Life, a 6-episode show by Ricky Gervais. There's one subplot that sits wrong with me, but overall an entertaining, mostly poignant look at life after for one person after their spouse dies.

    We also started Glee as we were looking for something fluffy with good music. A few episodes in so far, and while I've enjoyed the music, the story has been quite dull and even offensive at times. Has anyone here watched it through?

    1. I considered checking out Glee but the tragedies among the cast have held me at bay somewhat. As you can guess, a lot of my actor friends were into it. The groupthink seemed to be that it was fun but wore thin.

      1. I watched Glee when it first came out. I did not make it through the first season. IIRC, they were constantly changing character loyalties and motivations to suit the plot of the week (most of which were based on song selection), and not the actual story. It was fun, but it wore thin far quicker than most shows.

        1. Friends is my go-to for a show where characters change their entire personalities if it suits a single episode. That, as much as anything, drove me away.

          1. Friends is my go-to for a show where my wife has been re-watching it and every time I am absolutely amazed at how much the hated anyone that wasn't a straight, white male.

  8. I've been watching the final season of Parks and Rec on my lunch breaks the past few weeks. Just finished the final episode now. So many emotions.

    Without any question in my mind, that is the best show there has ever been.

    1. I'm still partial to Breaking Bad, but I'd put Parks and Rec second, without question.

      That final episode is amazing. The culmination to Ron's storyline, in particular, was just perfect.

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