#63: Crazy Rich Asians

As a huge fan of the 2013 novel, I was happy to see this was being shopped around as a film, and happier still that Kevin Kwan, the author, did not allow them to whitewash it - and Warner Bros. agreed.

I can't touch upon any of the cultural nuances simply because I'm not Asian. I read the series several times, but that's all I did - Read about it.

I'm genuinely proud and happy that this is sweeping the nation. The preview screenings (Which we did not get) were nearly sold out across the country on August 8th! Some theaters had to add another one!

Did I like it? Overall, yes, it's a big improvement over this year's earlier rom-com.

It's astonishingly well made (except for poor sound mixing - Why is this such a trend these days). A lot of the music, score, and camera choices were amazing and really elevated an essentially simple story.

The wedding scene alone was perfection.

Did I like all the changes from the book?

Well.

Spoilers for both the book and the film.

#50: Fahrenheit 451 (2018)

Disclaimer; I have never read this book. So, clearly, this review is a little different.

I suppose this is where a lot of modern YA novels got their initial ideas and since this film doesn't really dig deep onto it's philosophies, it just feels like a bad YA film adaptation.

Complete with different names for common things. So many. Even context clues weren't enough at some points to grasp it.

Out of our three leads, it's kind of same shit different day for Boutella and Shannon, but at least this is somewhat outside of Jordan's wheelhouse.

I hesitate to say that Fahrenheit 451 2018 is bad, but it is really shallow.


So, uh, here's some observations.

#47: Hotel Artemis

This is like Atomic Blonde + Fury Road + John Wick, but if those movies were not as great as they are.

 I'm only assuming John Wick is great. Haven't seen it.

This will be a more spoilery review that you're used to here - mainly because you can predict every damn thing that happens - and you don't feel clever for doing so. Just kind of indifferent. 

The year is 2028 - It's pretty much identical to the present day.

• Corporations own basic needs and let Americans perish.
• There are explosions in the sky above Los Angeles.
• Jeff Goldblum is here.

However! There's a bunch of cool sci-fi shit, like AI that basically makes nurses obsolete - except one.

Welcome to Hotel Artemis - Staffed by two people with fake names and occupying several more people with fake names, it's a hospital for assassins, thieves, and criminals.

It's not Universal Health Care, though, you have to pay a subscription to get cared for. Some things never change.

The characters are all reasonably entertaining with colorful pasts that are only hinted at - except two one of them. And unfortunately, that is the most boring backstory ever.

The problem with Hotel Artemis is that the conflicts are extremely contrived;

Four-Month Summer Showdown

Wow, talk about your change of plans.

Yes you can, Laureline. 

I initially just shoved all the summer ones into the final challenge of the year, until I realized a few things - one, more movies are coming out in September than I realized. Like, two more.

Two, there's quite a lot of movies (read: 2) that don't have release dates but are anticipated to be around Oscar season.

It was just going to be a very clumped challenge already, so we have a mini one! From May to August, just, well, four movies.

And the lucky films include;