Q Planes

The writing in Q Planes is exceptional (Brock Williams, Jack Whittingham, Arthur Wimperis, Ian Dalrymple) and it's so much fun to watch, the cast revelling in the opportunity to deliver fast-paced vigorous dialogue.

Brought to life by Laurence Olivier (Tony McVane) and Ralph Richardson (Charles Hammond), it freely showcases animate brilliance, without fretting about miscommunication, or pretentious elevations of the monosyllabic.

I think there was a time when films had to compete with books more strenuously, in Britain anyways, in order to justify the aesthetic integrity of the medium, and screenwriters were therefore more willing to prove their genius as it applied to sundry films.

It's just a theory, crafted from watching multiple Criterions during the pandemic, and perhaps books are still as popular today, even if film seems to no longer be competing with them, but if there was a time when British screenwriters freely shared their ingenious commentaries, to generate literary merit for an art form oft dismissed, and film eventually became more popular than books and left literary ambitions behind, I'm worried that as Twitter becomes more popular along with Facebook and Instagram etc., that the quality of language as it applies to future films will be even less cerebrally compelling.

If film stopped competing with books after establishing itself as a respected art form, will the resultant dull conformity be devalued further by the rise of social media?

It's not that contemporary film writing is particularly bad, it's just so rare when you see a film whose writing is exceptionally good (Wes Anderson), they still have to give out awards every year, but I certainly haven't seen a Q Planes in recent memory.

I do remember emerging from University to be critiqued in the working world, for possessing an advanced vocabulary and writing with alternative flair.

I also remember being critiqued as a child for possessing an advanced vocabulary, which didn't seem that impressive at the time, but words just came naturally to me in my own little way and I found it offputting to have to search for generalized vocabularies, rather than speaking freely, it's so much less work to simply state what you're thinking.

I adapted, but it still made much more sense to move away from the English world, and try to learn a new language, even if I was starting much too late, and had moved past chilling out and about.

The constant thrill of unfamiliar communication is a wondrous motivating factor, that enlivens so many situations that would otherwise seem dull.

General comprehension is certainly laudable but there's so much rudimentary expression these days.

A democracy should also cater to literary flair.

As it once did.

In sundry films.

Ford v Ferrari

I could never get into car racing.

No matter what the track.

I watched a car race once one afternoon when I was 10 years old or so, while two brothers started brawling for some reason, and after 5 minutes or so it generally lost its appeal, I'm afraid I never had the desire to watch one again, cold storage, dusted away.

I like films however, so if a film about car racing is nominated for best picture at the Oscars I figured there must be something to it, something that transcends the actual racing itself, and perhaps highlights a point or two I never would have taken into account if I hadn't seen it, although I did respect car racing meanwhile, it's just something I could never get into.

Into watching.

It sounds fun, like it'd be something fun to do, not watch.

The film does a great job of demonstrating how much thought goes into winning such races, the coveted expertise possessed by precious few aficionados, who take the time to actively pursue their passion without thinking much about reward, the love of the game drives them, and it's impressive how much they know.

Honestly, seeing a company that was as big as Ford at the time take on a much smaller company that was going out of business (Ferrari) didn't appeal to me much, it's like the company that already has everything backed up by unlimited resources competing against a devout artist, who's passionately spent everything in the pursuit of something breathtaking and unique.

It's super American.

I didn't care for that aspect of the story much, but since Ford had the reputation for making less specialized cars and wanted to prove they could do something unique, I appreciated the improbability of the challenge, which would have seemed more profound without the wealth.

The incredible wealth.

But the team Ford assembles isn't rich, it's composed of hands on struggling independent artists who thoroughly understand their craft, and the film excels as they bat heads with bland executives, whose knowledge is much more concerned with spectacle (they think more about what to do if they've won as opposed to how to actually go about winning).

For some domains, a large bureaucracy functions well, ensuring the delivery of various services for vastly different markets, the inherent intricacies and size of which require multiple levels of thought, positions occupied by workers familiar with the terrain, and the flexibility to calmly deal with manifold contingencies.

If you're trying to win a race, however, if you're doing something highly specific for an individualistic set of circumstances, and there aren't multiple levels of thought, there are just a couple of highly skilled professionals who have the knowledge to get the job done, who in fact know what they're doing, and are making the most relevant observations, like Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and Ken Miles (Christian Bale) in Ford v Ferrari, then, as Carroll and Ken mention in the film, the bureaucracy can get in the way, and make simple decisions that need to be made absurdly complex, the absurd complexities making the practical goal unachievable, keep it simple, keep it practical and hands on.

If you want to do something bureaucracy can be frustrating because you have to wait so long for approval to do the simplest things.

Not so much in politics where it's important to think about the impacts of what you're doing.

But if you like the bureaucratic ebb and flow, I suppose the argument itself is somewhat compelling.

The film is somewhat direct and easy to follow, no nonsense is the phrase writers employ in writing such a narrative I imagine, everything has a traditional relevant point, and it presents a thoughtful situation full of risk, trial, error, reward.

It's the kind of light film pretending to be tough that makes a positive impact, if you don't think about it too much, if you just sit back and take it in.

It would have been cool if the impact the experimental nature of race car driving makes on domestic automobile manufacture had been briefly explored.

And it hadn't been so massive, so Goliath.

A generalized examination of a complex phenomenon.

Nice to see Jon Bernthal (Lee Iacocca) with a larger role.

Captain Marvel

Spoiler Alert.

There was another time, dynamically transisting not long after the synthesized age, during which new technologies arose and alternative art forms flourished, perhaps lacking the clarity of its legendary progenitor, it still effortlessly distinguished itself in unsung awestruck parallel, and racism wasn't tolerated, and collectives were still ontologically featured, working people still telling their tales, which were told with honour and integrity.

Captain Marvel unreels in such a frame, and its characters find sanctuary within.

Although conflict and peril do bellicosely present themselves, and the keys to the past lie dormant in shielded oblivion.

Representatives of a colonialist empire come covetously calling after a pocket of resistance fighters escapes with one of their soldiers.

As resourceful as she is unyielding, Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) sets out upon Earth to discover truths dissimulated.

She is aided in her pursuits by feisty Agent Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), who is still somewhat green, and unaware of extraterrestrial life.

Thus, even though Captain Marvel excels at cultivating the new, it's also an origins story, the tantalizing mélange simultaneously revelatory on at least two distinct temporal levels.

Spatially pontooned.

It starts out slow, not that the action isn't constant, but it takes awhile to find its footing, as Danvers gradually learns more about her former self.

Or at least how to go about learning more about that self.

But it gets better as it proceeds, its overt focus on identity transformation skilfully worked into its cinematic ecology.

It uses comedy but isn't flip, takes things seriously to break them down, works in some Indiana Jones, and creatively plays with cyberspatial time difference.

Time differentials.

It may be my favourite Marvel film, inasmuch as it vigorously stands out on its own.

Great acting all around, but Lashana Lynch (Maria Rambeau) steals several scenes, she totally makes the most of her role, and perhaps delivers the best Marvel supporting performance to date.

Cool soundtrack too.

There's a surprising twist you don't often find in these films as well.

Oddly, even though I don't believe that aliens taught the ancient Egyptians anything, but rather that their geniuses created pyramids etc. while ours built hydrogen fuel cells, and the internet, the genius of a particular time, any given time, even caveperson time, making the most of the materials at her or his disposal, crafting ingenious artifacts/theories/structures/. . .  accordingly, while modifying them at times as he or she sees fit, I still entertained the notion that cats had been brought here by aliens one day, because the ancient Egyptians worshipped them, so I've heard, and, so far, it hasn't been possible to domesticate large raccoon populations, and I was discussing this with a friend one day, and I turned to look and saw his cat staring at me intently, with an otherworldly look on his face.

It's utterly ridiculous of course, but I still appreciate the mystery, and unless Robert E. Kahn and Vint Cerf (the internet guys according to wikipedia) turn out to have really come from space, or to have taken orders from alien rulers, I'll lean heavily towards the terrestrial origins of cats, until substantially proven otherwise.

Those little cuties.

😜

Clara

Vigorous contemplation astronomically acclimated objectively focused on enigmatic night skies.

The loss of a loved one, the end of a marriage, caught up in one's work, cold obsession wears thin.

Pedagogically anyway, those are the kinds of unimaginative questions purposeless fools think up in bland appeals to flippant provocation, having nothing that drives them themselves they seek recognition in blasé slander, as they rigidly capsize then flounder away.

No matter.

Perhaps Dr. Isaac Bruno (Patrick J. Adams) did need a break, but his uninterrupted logical obsession does lead to prosperous discoveries.

With Clara (Troian Bellisario), an independent spirit emboldening itinerant fascination, having travelled the globe she applies to work with Dr. Bruno, bringing passion and impulse and style to their studies, cooly adopting romantic methods, warmly embracing emotions age old.

Imaginary numbers.

Heart.

Spawn of the universe interdimensionally abstracting to practically envision passage, spiritual transference incorporeally transmitting commensurate extraterrestrial caches, juxtaposed entities interpreting as one coyly generating crinkly bifrost, the bond of the inexplicable reciting interplanetary sun drenched dawns.

Sci-fi love, intergalactically conceptualized, resoundingly researched, indiscriminately developed.

This Clara, Akash Sherman's Clara, true synthesis of art and science, like a seashell or desert haze.

Posing questions with no reasonable response, intercessions padded feasible parlance, cool realistic bonsai that values stoic discipline, charmed cogent romance which denotes with precision.

With academically inclined composed characters well suited to dreamy wild cards, Clara contrasts teaching with research, the lab with the world at large, objective analysis with inspired intuition, and dismal grief with resilient hope.

Dr. Durant (Ennis Esmer) and Dr. Bruno's approaches to higher education complement each other well, and even though misfortune has ended Dr. Jenkins (Kristen Hager) and Dr. Bruno's marriage, they still maintain a professional relationship as time slowly goes by.

Alternative thinking and experimental readings lead to rational conclusions which reclassify ontological taxonomies.

I have no idea how to find them, or contact them, but there must be other lifeforms out there.

I don't know how much should be spent trying to find them.

But hopefully some's spent on dolphins, improbability.

The sea.

First Man

I don't know what to make of space travel.

Would I like to travel to space?

Yes.

Would I like to explore space?

Yes.

Would I like to meet alien lifeforms?

Yes.

Do I wish extraterrestrial animals were featured more prominently on Star Trek?

Definitely yes.

It seems like an awfully expensive trip though, and since money hasn't been replaced as it has on Star Trek, in the Federation anyway, I would rather see trillions of dollars used to clean up the oceans, and feed the world's poor, and promote birth control worldwide, and proactively fight climate change.

Given the current state of the geopolitical scene, I unfortunately can't see any of those things happening soon, or at least until a cataclysmic environmental disaster dismally shakes things up.

I imagine if there was a God, and he or she did return, her or his first act would be to force us to clean up the planet.

While spending most of his or her time chillin' with dolphins.

However, I suppose if that happened the religious right would try to kill God.

Instead of just recycling things, consuming less, embracing flex-time, and marketing disposable containers.

I think I got that idea from South Park.

The science of space travel, the practical theoretical brilliance of the mathematicians, engineers, scientists, and technicians who managed to land a space craft on the moon, is still compelling nevertheless, perhaps the most risky unparalleled ingenious voyage ever hypothesized, even more important than whatever Donald Trump had for breakfast today, which I'm sure will intrigue historians and political scientists for upcoming untold millennia.

First Man doesn't focus on the math though, choosing rather to intently examine the brave astronauts who risked their lives to pioneer space travel, and they really did risk their lives when you consider how experimental the space program was, and rushed, incredibly brilliant no doubt, but still experimental and rushed, would you like to fly this ship we just made and aren't really sure about, not across the ocean, but into the stars themselves, and courageously embrace eternity with the fleeting awe of starstruck munificence?

True daring.

Yes.

It's a sure and steady meaningful account of the Armstrongs, beginning with the tragic death of their first daughter, and ending after Neil (Ryan Gosling) lands on the moon.

Mr. Armstrong is presented as an introverted somewhat cold yet loving man who lost a lot after Karen (Lucy Stafford) passed, but still remained a hard-working devoted husband.

Janet Armstrong (Claire Foy) struggles with the realities of being an astronaut's wife, when so many husbands aren't coming home, and the film reasonably showcases her frustrations at the rare moments when she presents them, her logical suggestions embraced by her husband, as the two practically exemplify self-sacrificing commitment and understanding.

First Man covers a long period of time but its snapshots are well chosen.

It's not overflowing with emotion or exclamation or patriotism, it's a much more sombre illustration of achievement that depicts determination objectively.

The events showcased within patiently generate their own significance while crafting a brave narrative that's much more familial than national.

I wouldn't have included only one black character as a voice of protest though, especially considering the resilient African Americans who worked on the space program, some of whom were poetically illuminated by Theodore Melfi's Hidden Figures, brilliant minds given deserved respect.

Nonetheless, First Man's temperate, generally formal calculus still makes you feel like you're really there, landing on the moon, taking steps in the most otherworldly of environments.

That we've visited this side of the galaxy.

I've heard Madagascar's pretty wild too.

I really felt like I was there, checking things out, wandering around, collecting samples.

I think we should clean up this planet first before heading to Mars or beyond.

I have the utmost respect for the people who risk their lives travelling to space though.

And the math that makes it all possible.

Imagine your team thought all that up and was right.

Too bad space travel's so expensive.

Although I've heard hemp can be used for just about anything.

Even to make fuel.

And it grows like a weed.

So it likely doesn't require pesticides.

Damn.

*Okay, I suppose there's room for ambiguity by writing, "rivetingly so, 😏", so I took it out, to avoid confusion. In my head I thought, "wait, use the word 'rivetingly,' you rarely use that word because you think it's used too often and people will obviously understand that and know that you're being facetious, because everyone knows that's the reason why you rarely use that word." After heading out for a bit, I realized no one could possibly understand that besides me, and rushed home after my appointment to correct my error.

The Meg

Deep within the fabled Mariana Trench lies a chilling thermocline, beneath which dwells a vast undiscovered ecosystem aquatically flourishing in nocturnal isolation.

Unaware of the limitless ocean above and possessing no knowledge of the research scientists strategically planning upon its surface, it has existed unclassified and uncatalogued for millions of years, endemic beasts prehistorically assembled confined.

Until that team of international scientists, brilliantly driven by innate information hunger, breaks through to observe within, attacked by an unknown shortly thereafter, and left helpless and motionless on the unforgiving ocean floor.

The depths of which are superlative indeed.

One of the ensuing versatile rescuers has previously operated under comparable conditions.

But this time while ascending a vent is ruptured by his craft upon that ocean floor which clears a warm path through said impassable thermocline, an insatiable giant freely emerging thereafter, to instinctually wreak havoc on the postmodern oceanic imagination.

Bombastically so.

For it truly will not stop preying.

The Meg's megalodon functions like Jurassic World's indominus rex, constantly ending unsuspecting marine lives without ever stopping to consume them.

Its illogic should be nautically fathomed.

Don't predators usually eat the animals they incapacitate, and wouldn't a giant squid or two whales (😢) feed a massive shark for three weeks or more?

If the megalodon attacks and kills with unrelenting ferocity, wouldn't everything existing beneath the thermocline have perished millions of years ago?

Additional peculiarities: investigating profound oceanic depths appeals to me, but would lights used to illuminate their environments not cause serious damage to their cloistered inhabitants who have never been lit up before?

Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) is amazing, and I loved how he instantaneously took absurd risks throughout without question, but hadn't he been drunk for several years beforehand? He certainly gets it together quickly and resiliently never seems to want any more alcohol.

He was wisely sticking to beer and must have been secreting insane amounts of adrenaline but such a rapid turn around remains a fishy point of contention.

And wouldn't all the characters who had descended to the bottom of the Trench have suffered from the bends for some time after failing to adequately decompress after rapidly returning to the surface?

Quizzical.

The Meg's fast-paced implausibility is funny and endearingly ridiculous, and it sticks it to the shark fin soup industry and celebrates the majesty of whales, along with scientific and athletic heroics, childhood, friendship, teamwork, and new love in bloom, while criticizing ill-considered commercial endeavours, but several plot developments are somewhat too convenient nonetheless, and there are so many of them that the ridiculousness seems absurd (😉).

Not that I was searching for rational discourse from The Meg, I was looking for a ludicrous Summer blockbuster that doesn't make much sense and brings together a cool eclectic team to randomly deal with starboard chaos, perhaps making a criterion out of Jaws après ça.

From this angle it doesn't disappoint.

But it still keeps one foot too firmly lodged in the realistic to get away with its entertaining shenanigans scot-free.

Statham does a fantastic job.

And works really well with Bingbing Li (Suyin) and Shuya Sophia Cai (Meiying).

I was hoping the meg would pass after consuming twice its weight in ocean plastic.

That's not true, I just thought of that now.

Seriously though, ocean plastic is a huge problem.

And the situation can be rectified simply by properly disposing of your garbage and recyclables, and creating way more much cheaper biodegradable bottles, food wraps, and containers.

It's that easy.

*Is Rainn Wilson (Morris) the new Rick Ducommun?

Ant-Man & the Wasp

The underground trade in highly specialized technological essentials leads unscrupulous entrepreneurs to discriminately rank indiscretions.

Their desperate contacts require the unique components to commence a maternal examination of the uncharted Quantum Realm.

To catalyze their investigation, the assistance of a frowned upon former colleague is required, even if at the moment he's structurally immured.

He's kept busy throughout his exile, however, taking care of his inquisitive daughter at times, while strategically assisting in the creation of a legitimate business.

His partners rely on his insights as deadlines frenetically approach, yet are still there to assist should the world invoke his diminutive fury.

Law enforcement agents lie ready to pounce as well.

As a dying paracorporeal phenomenon furtively monitors the proceedings, in/substantially hoping to acquire life preserving experimental medicine.

Writers Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Paul Rudd, Andrew Barrer, and Gabriel Ferrari keep these 7 threads tightly knit, thought provokingly interweaving them with nimble effective cause.

The result is one of the coolest Marvel films I've seen, a multidimensional triumph, haphazardly exceeding as egos prank and clash, resolutely imbibing as the minuscule basks macroscopic.

Difficult to meticulously seem so unconcerned.

To stitch together such a frenzied family friendly tableau.

To create such a thrilling clever memorable Summertime fusion, a huge varied cast is assembled, the film directly benefitting from the talents of Laurence Fishburne (Dr. Bill Foster), Bobby Cannavale (Paxton), Judy Greer (Maggie), Michael Peña (Luis), Walton Goggins (Sonny Burch), and Randall Park (Jimmy Woo), not to mention Hannah John-Kamen (Ava/Ghost) and Abby Ryder Fortson (Cassie), and mainstays Michael Douglas (dad), Evangeline Lily (the Wasp) and Ant-Man himself, Paul Rudd.

That's some solid diversity.

The film thinks globally through the use of microscopic illumination, its multiple well-developed characters (also including T.I. as Dave and David Dastmalchian as Kurt) clearly defining themselves at large, while cohesively electrifying piquant age old paradigms.

It's Trump's worst nightmare.

A family friendly film that everyone will see that has strong Latino, Black, Asian, ambiguously gay, and female characters, not to mention a Southern man foiled, and a traditional patriarch critiqued throughout, convincingly held together by humanistic self-sacrifice, even going so far as to metaphorically pull a feminine genius out of the clutches of extreme computational dismissal.

After having learned so much during her travels.

So many different walks of life narrativized.

The research scientists who critique the creation of commercial enterprise.

The professor who critiques their egos.

The criminal business that makes huge amounts of cash.

The small business created by ex-cons to legally scrape by.

In the beginning.

The new dad's always part of the picture.

The difficulties of making new friends outside work during one's professional life.

The ways in which online obsessions can lead to people missing extraordinarily realistic events taking place nearby (brilliant) (editing by Dan Lebental and Craig Wood).

The supernatural im/materialized.

Ontological office space.

Wings and blasters.

It's also really funny, I couldn't control my laughter at points, an expert blend of the serious and the comedic thoughtfully delivered like you're heading out to the ballgame.

Too adult focused?

I don't think so.

There's still enough action to keep the young ones focused I'd wager.

I might see this in theatres again.

First rate adventurous comedic romantic sci-fi action.

I can't think of an equally enrapturing comparison.

So well done.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

The Highlander spirit invades the filmic realm of DC Comics as Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck) jealousy covets Clark Kent/Superman's (Henry Cavill) illustrious fame.

Politicians fear Superman as well due to his pseudo-invincibility and total lack of accountability.

The unlikely possibility exists that this polite self-sacrificing all-powerful lightning rod may one day grow tired of protecting the innocent, and instead choose to subject them to the whims of his desire.

Thus, both Batman and leaders from the United States decide to chip away at his impeccability, in attempts to achieve superiority over that which cannot be subjugated.

Lex Luthor (Jessie Eisenberg) is also involved, diabolically ensuring the three battle judiciously.

Superman, who doesn't understand the point (he's committed to do-gooding), infuriates Batman with his lack of concern, his foolish disinterested dismissals driving Batman into a bigoted raged-fuelled arms race (Batman doesn't like that he's an alien) which eventually constructs überBatman.

While conducting his research, he also discovers the existence of other potential superheroes, eternally co-existing with humanity incognito, like Star Trek's Requiem for Methuselah, one showing up at his darkest hour.

When it becomes clear that there can be more than one, teamwork transcends, and vision radiates.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice passes, but slips-up from time to time.

How many times can Superman save Lois Lane (Amy Adams)?

It takes awhile for the new Lex Luthor to gather steam (his introductory scenes lack character).

Would have liked to have seen him learning more from the archives on Zod's (Michael Shannon) ship as well.

You can tell Batman's fighting in a computer generated filmscape during one of his sort-of-cool dream sequences, and it's kind of lame.

The batmobile chase which Superman abruptly halts is also kind of lame; some of the action is precise yet slow in its frenzied variation.

Love Jeremy Irons (Alfred) but Michael Caine's Alfred is tough to beat.  Irons looks too young.

I watched The Dark Knight a couple of times recently and I'm convinced it's the best superhero film ever made. It rationalizes the sensational with polished grit and streetwise poignancy while making the highly dubious seem plausible through expertly timed captivating motivations.

Not easy to follow Christopher Nolan.

Still, Dawn of Justice has merit. Batman's introduction is startlingly clever.

Wonder Woman's (Gal Gadot) introduction is epic.

Politicizing Superman works while highlighting petty indignities that often pervade political realms.

I liked how Clark Kent fights with Perry White (Laurence Fishburne) to bring back the American consciousness, and how Lois then fights with Superman to remind him of this insight.

Solid Kevin Costner cameo (Jonathan Kent).

Batman's descent into villainy functions as a warning to activists on the left, as does Superman's dismissal of Batman, the activists who want to be the best activist out there and proceed to alienate all kinds of fellow activists in the process, potentially turning them into bitter cynics, making peaceful activism seem like olympic gymnastic tryouts, it's supposed to be the right that believes there can be only one, pre-emptive strikes are most recently the product of the George W. Bush Administration.

Liked how they set up the expansion of the DC film world.

With Marvel, Star Wars, and DC creating film after film after film, I don't know how the world/galaxy/universe will ever survive the constant bombardment of heroism.

I like it though.

It's kind of fun.

Most of the time.

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Cut-off from the IMF after the CIA critically rejects its equations, and the powers-that-be decide it needs an additional layer of oversight, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) sets out on his own, relying solely on the immutable ingenuity that has reflexively guaranteed his elusive agility, his multidimensional brawn, to seek and destroy a terrorist organization, making the most of the tools at his disposal, while slowly falling in love.

His team gradually catches up with him.

It sounds standard, now that I think about it, but Rogue Nation's execution overcomes its contusions to put together an entertaining brain tease, an exciting extension of the franchise, somewhat weathered but still worldly, holding its own amongst the incredible number of sequels and the like being released these days.

Or being released always.

Perhaps I shouldn't write standard, I've just seen so many action/thriller/superhero films in recent decades that they're all starting to seem kind of standard, which shouldn't really be a point of critique, it's more like it's up to me to swim with the saturation.

And applaud Mad Max: Fury Road once again.

Whereas Ant-Man struggled to impressively mature, Rogue Nation acrobatically fascinates, minor characters given room to briefly grow, accept for Benjy (Simon Pegg) who's present for most of the action, "exabytes of encoded excrement," nice, more of a battle of wits than a provoked hyperaccelerated impossibility, it reacts to the facts and holds back on the cracks (sometimes the comedic dimension in such films can ruin them [not in this case]), while creatively diversifying intergovernmental collusions.

All prim and proper.

A British spy agency even foolishly creates a network of terrorists intent on dealing in death and destruction.

Aren't the roles governments play in the creation of terrorists forbidden subjects these days?

End transmission.

Jurassic World

The miraculous theme park envisioned by John Hammond has become a reality, and profits are steady, but their future is theoretically in jeopardy, or they at least may not continue to increase, hence, a new carnivorous force of immaculate magnetism is required, the product, the indominus rex, a creature so malevolent it makes the fearsome tyrannosaurus look like a fluffy pillow, bred to dominate, severely shackled.

But it's highly intelligent and soon tricks its creators into setting it free, proceeding to rampage thereafter, as hundreds of tourists unsuspectingly stride.

Enter one Owen (Chris Pratt), adventurous pulsar, intimately aware of danger, his knowledge essential, his strategies, ignored.

His relationship with the velociraptors he trains forges the film's ethos in relation to the ways in which it examines the phenomenon of control.

He maintains a respectful attitude, looking at their relationship symbiotically, he controls aspects of their dynamic but only because he respects the team, and treats it with corresponding assertive humility.

He's indirectly compared with Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan), who also finds freedom in letting go, a constructive truth in my opinion, variations on a theme, but he made the mistake of authorizing the indominus's creation without applying either oversight or foresight, for which he pays an incendiary penalty.

Too much progress.

You see a number of the park's features throughout and wonder how its profits could ever be called into question.

It looks mind-blowingly amazing.

How driving a spherical vehicle through a field of dinosaurs could ever become boring doesn't make sense to me.

Even the petting zoo could never become boring.

But future profits are called into question and the aforementioned apex predator is the solution, treated with foolhardy disrespect, and then hunted as it threatens their very existence.

Bad decision.

Small aggressive dogs can be difficult to control.

But aside from the appealing critique of the poor decisions that can be made when obsessing about profits that are already stable, and team leaders who apply too much or too little oversight to their vitalities without taking into consideration the agencies of their networks, found in Jurassic World, it's generally a chaotic enough blockbuster, romance blooming amidst the carnage, reckless youth suddenly coming of age.

B.D. Wong (Dr. Henry Wu) makes a welcome reappearance in the franchise; I always wondered what happened to him in the original.

My favourite character was Lowery (Jake Johnson), who likes to think of his working space "as a living system, with just enough stability to keep it from collapsing into anarchy." 

Nice line.

There are some other nice lines.

Too much oversight is provided by Hoskins (Vincent D'Onofrio), who wants to turn Owen's velociraptor team into a militaristic fighting force. 

His ideas are fast-tracked. 

Menacing progressions are critiqued, although their devastations develop character.

Those that survive anyway. 

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Avengers: Age of Ultron starts off slowly, even if it begins with a battle between the legendary conscience and HYDRA.

It was too immediate, like there's an unbroken link between every Marvel film, and rather than redefining and reasserting their image to once again furiously combat evil, that image is taken for granted, melodramatically spliced to relax the inchoate tensions I generally look forward to.

Not much of a problem, I just wasn't assuming the harmonious links uniting the Avengers were still intact, and introductory preparations for the battle may have been tedious and unnecessary.

In fact, what I was looking for comes to pass as the film progresses and distrust infiltrates their cohesive chummy ranks.

A crack in the crystal, a disintegrating view.

Throughout the film, however, I never really felt unsafe, like Ultron (James Spader) could possibly defeat them, even if his artificial intelligence did fittingly mimic a hydra.

But the film's much more than just another superhero extravaganza.

It adds a lot of depth to its multiple characters as they continue to comfortably revel in their traditional larger-than-life roles.

Weakness and doubt cripple them for a time, as spells are cast which complicate their pursuit of victory, and they change and grow as the horror affects their fortitude.

Love's intricately interwoven as well, and unlike some of the other aspects of the film, its subplot never seems cheesy.

Not too cheesy, bit of cheese though.

I don't see how you can pull off an Avengers film without being cheesy, you'd have to instil a pervading sense of helplessness and dread and keep the confident team of global/universal law enforcers off balance for more than two hours, limited pats on the back, underdogged bold castration.

Like The Hunger Games films.

Ultron sets up a devious duality early on, claiming the Avengers seeks to maintain the status quo, like Feyd-Rautha railing against the righteous in David Lynch's Dune, through their acts of heroism, and that he represents those who seek change, evolution, providing a social democratic aura to the Avengers, a hypercapitalist dimension to Ultron, the Avengers acting like an elite group of intellectual warriors safeguarding the interests of the unconcerned, whom they physically take care of at the end of the film through battlefield evacuation initiatives, a battlefield which Ultron turns into a terrestrial warship meandering through the sky, but, note that one mistake the left occasionally makes is to recruit brilliant thinkers to its ranks who take it upon themselves to solve the world's problems without actually consulting the people they intend to shepherd, their methods often becoming so abstract and celestial that they're difficult to follow, and they punish people who choose not to follow, thereby nullifying the affects of their intentions, which plays into the right's hands as they present themselves as practically as possible.

Include the people in conversations about governing the people and actually listen to what they have to say even if they don't possess advanced University degrees.

It leads to better results.

Hawkeye's (Jeremy Renner) the key to the film.

It takes a chill break from the action as the Avengers hide out at Hawkeye's pad, and we meet his hidden family, the unacknowledged crest that keeps him alert and active.

Nick Fury's (Samuel L. Jackson) there too.

I guess these aren't dramatic films, but still, look at what Robert Downey Jr.'s (Iron Man) doing, it's impressive.

Expansive discussions of familial longing then diversify the Avenger's dynamic, domestically explaining why they care so deeply about those whom they protect (they sacrifice such comforts to ensure others can enjoy them).

Hawkeye has the best line too, his sudden betrayal of the absurdity of it all, with a clear reference to his bow and arrow, reminding me why I love these films.

There's a cool scene where Vision (Paul Bettany) just hangs there checking things out for a while, plus his "born yesterday" line is hilarious.

Wanted to try Thor's thousand-year-old Asgardian fuel.

Love how Captain America (Chris Evans) holds things together.

The first film's stronger, but Avengers: Age of Ultron has a lot going for it that isn't present in the original, including plenty of Hulk (Mark Ruffalo); looking forward to part 3.

And the intervening films.

Kaze tachinu (The Wind Rises)

The dreams of a modest principled hard working youth patiently materialize in Hayao Miyazaki's Kaze tachinu (The Wind Rises), an animated account of a brilliant Japanese aeronautical engineer whose poetical mathematics helped remodel Japan's aviation industry.

The frame insulates a wise psychological stratagem for growing and changing during tumultuous times, within Jirȏ Horikoshi's (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) mind, and provides him with the strength to go-with-the-flow as hardships, sicknesses, and political aggressions challenge his strong sense of self.

He grew up in the years leading up to World War II and had to helplessly sit back while his designs were co-opted by the military.

The film doesn't shy away from exploring technological testaments to militaristic miscues.

Horikoshi has to hide for a time as jingoistic agents grow suspicious of his activities.

This aspect of the film fades without receiving enough attention.

I'm supposing the pre-war years were quite oppressive as indicated by Horikoshi's attempts to converse with less fortunate citizens who are frightened by his humble offering of sponge cake.

Research and development processes and workplace pastimes are a recurring feature as his dreams become a reality through the application of diligent trials and errors.

Love fills-out the creative cure, as a respectful romance energizes his designs.

Kaze tachinu offers innocent industrious insights into a dedicated upright life of work and study whose successes and failures are stoically articulated.

Romance, rewards and retinues refine his tragic pursuit of innovation, his revered reveries, seek, search, discover; apply; install.

Underworld: Awakening

Vampires and werewolves are at in again in Awakening, the latest instalment in the Underworld series.

Fan favourite Selene (Kate Beckinsale) is set free from her chamber after having been preserved on ice for a dozen years at a medical corporation known as Antigen. Instantaneously regaining her combative flexibility, she terrorizes the surrounding security forces in order to acrobatically escape the premises.

In search of lover and vampire/lycan hybrid Michael Corvin.

Little does she know that during her cryogenic slumber she gave birth to a hybrid child known as Subject 2/Eve (India Eisley) whom the lycans now viciously seek.

She rescues her daughter from their clutches and is then fortunately provided with sanctuary at a secretive coven by the curious and friendly David (Theo James).

But the lycans soon come calling and successfully recapture little Eve before taking her back to home base.

Serene must now break into Antigen and rescue her daughter before the diabolical Dr. Jacob Lane (Stephen Rea) can cut her to pieces.

And proliferate his cure.

Oh, and humans caught on to the existence of vampires and lycans and killed most of them during The Purge which took place at the time Antigen acquired Serene.

If you really like the Underworld series and don't mind that its lore isn't significantly internally diversified or particularized, and are only seeking an hour-and-a-half of fast paced tormented action, Awakening will work for you, as it contains that which you desire.

If you are seeking the historical element that made some of its predecessors more noteworthy steer clear as there's little of tangential yet critical value within besides a brute examination of different generational attitudes concerning survival, a regenerative super-lycan (whose presence goes nowhere) (Kris Holden-Ried as Quint Lane), and a visionary cop (Michael Ealy as Detective Sebastian) who doesn't want to recondition The Purge's hysteria.

Headstrong, stunted and brief.

Could have used less hyperactivity.