Movies

Movies I watched in 2021

/ Movies /
Image of a bowl of popcorn and a remote control on a table. Text in a blue banner says "Movies I watched in 2021"

Here’s the list of movies I watched this year. Titles with an asterisk (*) are ones I recommend.

My top 5, in no particular order

High Fidelity*
Superman: Red Son*
Matchstick Men*
Grosse Pointe Blank*
The Founder*

Superheroes

Wonder Woman 1984
Black Widow
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings*

Sci-fi

(All of these are very strange movies. FYI. 😂)
Johnny Mnemonic
The Fifth Element
Gemini Man
Colossal
Vanilla Sky
The Old Guard

Watched it again

Thor: Ragnarok*
Tron: Legacy
The Prestige*
Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword*
The Truman Show

Grab bag

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Meet the Robinsons
Taxi Driver
Tesla (2020)
30 Minutes or Less
To All the Boys: Always and Forever
War Dogs
Die Hard*
Wonder Boys
The Constant Gardener
Nobody
Message From the King
American Ultra
Yes Day
Raya and the Last Dragon
The Birdcage
Neighbors*
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou*
Yes Man
Fools Rush In
Training Day*
What About Bob?
A Knight’s Tale
Red Notice
Election
Love & Mercy*
The Matrix Resurrections*
Encanto*

What movies did you watch in 2021? I’d love to hear about your favorites either through the contact page or on Twitter.

Movies I watched in 2020

/ Movies /

These are movies I watched watched this year. Titles with an asterisk (*) are ones I recommend watching.

My top 5, in no particular order

Aladdin (live action)*
Knives Out*
Palm Springs*
The Whole Nine Yards*
The Current War*

Superheroes

Birds of Prey*
Ghost Rider

Disney franchises

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Lion King (2019)
Frozen II*
Mulan (live action)
Saving Mr. Banks
Onward
Soul
Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Watched it again

Back to the Future*
Inception*
Doctor Strange*
Captain America: Civil War*
Halloweentown*

Documentaries

Fyre
Fyre Fraud
13th*
Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers

Grab bag

The Peanut Butter Falcon
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You
American Assassin*
Parasite
Point Break*
Code 8
Bad Boys*
Steve Jobs
Sonic the Hedgehog
Bumblebee
Hot Rod
When Harry Met Sally*
Project Power
Enola Holmes
Sneakers
Snowden
Stranger Than Fiction

What movies did you watch in 2020? I’d love to hear about your favorites either through the contact page or on Twitter.

Movies I watched in 2019

/ Movies /
image of a film projector with text that says movies I watched in 2019

These are movies I watched in theaters, on DVD, and on streaming services in 2019.

My top 5, in no particular order:

  • The Greatest Showman
  • Race
  • Before Sunrise
  • Spider-Man: Far From Home
  • Terminator: Dark Fate

Here are the rest, organized into categories. Titles with an asterisk (*) are ones I recommend watching.

Superheroes:

  • Aquaman*
  • Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
  • Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse* (rewatch)
  • Captain Marvel
  • Shazam!
  • Avengers: End Game
  • Dark Phoenix

Watch it for the franchise:

  • Solo: A Star Wars Story
  • Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
  • John Wick: Chapter 3*
  • The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
  • How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World*
  • Pokémon Detective Pikachu
  • Toy Story 4

Comedies:

  • Always Be My Maybe*
  • Logan Lucky
  • Baywatch*
  • The Hangover*
  • The Nice Guys (rewatch)
  • Superbad*
  • Booksmart
  • The Spy Who Dumped Me
  • This Is Spinal Tap*

Grab bag:

  • Bohemian Rhapsody* (rewatch)
  • The Kid Who Would Be King
  • Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist
  • Before Sunset
  • Before Midnight
  • The Perfect Date
  • Replicas
  • About Time
  • Jupiter Ascending
  • Mary Poppins Returns
  • Blade Runner 2049*
  • Yesterday*
  • Kim Possible (live-action)
  • Tangled (rewatch)
  • Coco*
  • Peter Pan (Disney)
  • Noelle

Rack focus in comics: Astonishing X-Men

/ Books, Movies, Superheroes

One of my favorite things in comic books is seeing film techniques translated to still images.

Here’s an example from Astonishing X-Men #17 (Joss Whedon’s run).

These two panels show rack focus, where the focus shifts between foreground and background to direct the audience’s attention.

Wolverine rack focus
Wolverine in Astonishing X-Men #17

In the top panel, the beer can is in focus in the foreground. Wolverine’s face, in the background, is out of focus.

In the bottom panel, the focus shifts so that the beer can is out of focus and Wolverine’s face comes into focus.

Changing the focus like this tells the audience what to pay attention to: first the beer can and then Wolverine.

If this were in a movie, and not on a page, it would be one continuous shot with the focus changing. But you can’t have a continuous shot like that on paper, so it translates to two sequential panels.

Five things I love about Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

/ Movies, Superheroes /
spider web

1. The animation is stunning.

The movie uses different animation styles to represent different universes, but it all fits together. Peter B.’s animation is a bit more fluid than the 90s Spider-Man cartoon. Spider-Ham looks like he walked out of Looney Tunes. Peni Parker’s style is anime.

All of it is colorful and detailed without being overwhelming.

2. Kingpin’s motivation is simple and understandable.

We know that Kingpin is a bad guy, but we understand what he’s doing. He wants to get his family back, no matter what the cost is. I like when the villain’s goal is straightforward, so that the story can focus on the characters.

3. Miles is unsure of himself.

Miles wants to stop Kingpin but he isn’t sure he can learn how to use his superpowers in time to save the other Spider-People. I like that Miles can’t immediately use his abilities — he has to learn and it takes time. It’s something I really liked about Spider-Man: Homecoming. Homecoming‘s Peter Parker was scared and unsure of himself, but he was a hero anyway. Miles is like that, too.

4. The essence of Peter Parker is the same, no matter the universe.

Each Spider-Person feels like Spider-Man, even though they are different people with different experiences. They all suffered a loss. They juggle normal lives with superpowers. They have easy-going personalities but they’re serious about stopping bad things from happening. They want to do the right thing, even if it isn’t safe for them. Afraid but also brave. No version is glamorous, but every one is a hero.

5. The movie opens endless possibilities.

Introducing the multi-verse sets the stage for additional movies. We could have sequels about Miles. We could have spin-offs with each Spider-Person. Villains that we’ve met before and new threats from other universes. I want to see all of them.

Photo by Nicolas Picard on Unsplash

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