yellow sun in the blue sky
Updates:
- Movies-wise, I've watched Going With Style, which was fun and cute. It was very sweet seeing Morgan Freeman, Alan Arkin and Michael Caine plot a heist movie, and be adorable grumpy and cantankerous about it, especially since none of their characters had any experience with robbing a bank. Also seeing Christopher Lloyd in a film was a lovely and pleasant surprise.
- Last night, I watched A Street Cat Named Bob, which was mostly adorable and feel-good, with wonderful performances from Luke Treadway and Antony Head and Joanne Froggart. It took a little while to get going, but once Bob the street cat appeared, he definitely stole the show by being completely adorable.
- I've been bingewatching The Fast and the Furious franchise, whose only crime is that the first four movies are impossible to tell what order they are chronologically, in preparation for the eighth movie, because that trailer looked awesome. And it was completely delightful and ramping up the zaniness with each installment. It's got a fun cast of characters, and I'm excited to see what the next two installments are going to be like. I do think that it shares the same problems with the Transformers movies in terms of franchise, and not treating it's female characters well (especially in the case of the eighth movie) but that's not going to stop me from mostly enjoying them.
- I've been stupidly hyped up for Boss Baby ever since I've seen the trailers for it and hoped that it was somehow a sequel to Storks. It's not, but I still found it very entertaining. I'd say that Storks was a funnier and tropier film, but Boss Baby was weirder because of the main characters imagination (and thus ability to misremember and make things not know far more fantastical than the reality of them). I really enjoyed the movie because I'm a softie for 'two people who can't stand each other have to work together for reasons, and eventually grow genuinely fond of each other'.
- I also saw Smurfs: The Lost Village, which honestly had me a little bit worried because the initial premise seemed to be: 'everyone has a trait -- one thing that defines them, except for Smurfette' (bar of course mentioning, 'welp, she's the sole female', which is not a trait, just sexism) -- and then went on to celebrate the fact that Smurfette has many traits and aspects to her, instead of limiting her to one defining feature, which was great. It was also great to see that the Lost Village had a completely different system to Smurf village -- being multitaskers and different naming principles.
- Doctor Who has started again! I love both Bill Potts and Twelfth's dynamic a lot! I thought the first episode was kind of awful, partly because of the use of flashbacks, and I didn't think the in media res mystery of why Twelve has spent the last fifty years in a university was very interesting. But the second episode was better and cute and fluffy, and I enjoyed seeing an emoji robot future.
- I watched Yuri!!! On Ice, which I didn't like as much as I hoped I would. I think part of the issue was I'd have preferred it being double the length that it was, because I didn't quite see the romance grow that well? I mean, I could see Victor falling for Yuri several times before the kiss happened, but for most part, it seemed to me that Yuri only saw Victor as an overclingy mentor who liked getting naked a lot -- until they exchanged rings, which was very sweet, but, IDK, I never quite became convinced of Yuri's feelings for Victor. It could be the teacher-student aspect to it, I'm not sure -- I might have been more comfortable if they were just fellow rivals instead of mentors. But on the otherhand, I thought that supporting characters like Yuri P, JJ and Minami were adorable. I think -- my main complaint with the show is that I thought there'd be greater focus on the rivalry between the two Yuris, which happened until episode 3 or so.
- I started watching Iron Fist, which is not a great show, but necessary before watching the Defenders show. I find the main character mostly infuriating, which -- really, why could they not cast someone who is actually a trained martial arts and not a white man. But, I'm curious to see how he'll fit in with the other Defenders -- or if he'll even be Luke's BFF -- which, I honestly find doubtful based on this personality, but we'll see. I really love that Claire Temple gets an even greater role, and Colleen Wing is so incredible! Other highlights are David Wenham as Harold Meachum, who is a horrible person but fascinating to watch, and the Meachum siblings -- both Joy and Ward are so interesting to watch and develop.
- I started reading Noragami, I really enjoyed the anime, and though I found the art a little off putting in the manga at first -- it's not as polished like it gets in later chapters, it's still delightful and I enjoy reading it and want to know what happens next.