OT: The Suicide Squad/Jungle Cruise
So I'm trying to participate in whatever this 2021 movie year is devolving down to.
A couple of weeks ago, I spent the afternoon watching The Suicide Squad (aka Suicide Squad 2) on HBO Max at home on TV, and then travelled over to the movie theater to see Jungle Cruise.
Here was the weirdest part: at the theater where Jungle Cruise was playing, so was The Suicide Squad. I had about 30 minutes to kill before Jungle Cruise started, so...I went into the theater playing The Suicide Squad....and watched...on the big screen..about 20 minutes of a movie I had JUST SEEN on my TV at home.
Welcome to the 21st Century.
I mean consider: North by Northwest came out in 1959 but needed EIGHT YEARS to come to television on CBS in 1967.
And here I am, watching a movie on TV and driving over to watch it in a theater a half hour laer.
Hey, it clearly looked and sounded better on the big screen with the big digital sound. No contest.
But it wasn't that bad on TV, either.
My big decision comes in October: The Sopranos prequel "The Many Saints of Newark" will be on HBO Max AND at the movie theater same day. Do I watch this at the movie theater(as David Chase originally intended) or just on TV? -- which will make it like The Sopranos used to be (an HBO TV show.)
I think it will be the theater. Because HBO Max never "holds" on my TV set with streaming. Of all the streaming services I take, HBO Max is most likely to crash, freeze, disconnect. I guess it is my internet connection but...Hulu and Netflix don't do that.
"In between," in September, the HBO Max/theater thing will be used for Clint Eastwood's new movie -- "Cry Macho" in which he becomes a "historic leading man at 91." It think this movie works better on paper than in reality -- I've seen a trailer and Old Clint really can't sell a lot of his persona anymore (his character throws a punch and...meh.)
I'm reminded yet again that the makers of The Suicide Squad and Jungle Cruise really don't want MY business(that age thing) but...I'm young at heart. AND The Suicide Squad was actually "hard R" for gruesome violence -- not kid stuff.
And here's the Psycho crossover in The Suicide Squad: a character is stabbed in the heart with a big giant knife, and the camera goes INSIDE the victims chest cavity(CGI) to show the blade puncturing a huge beating red heart. Ecch. I'm glad we were spared that shot when Marion and Arbogast got it.
Yes, The Suicide Squad rather goes for the gore and that gives it a bit more gravitas than the more kid-friendly Jungle Cruise. I have memories of the Jungle Cruise ride going back decades, so the movie held some nostalgia for me. The first half is a rather charming mix of The African Queen and Indiana Jones but...then the whole thing devolves into a massive CGI fest with "zombie jungle warriors" clearly modelled after the skeleton pirates in the Pirates of the C arribean franchise. Plus, this is one of those movies where the Dead Don't Really Die, good or bad. No personal stake in the action.
Jungle Cruise -- delayed for over a year -- has Two Big Stars. As big as Paul Newman and Julie Andrews in Torn Curtain? By 2021 standards -- yes. The Rock(I just can't call him Dwayne Johnson) and Emily Blunt(who just like julie, played Mary Poppins.)
Will The Rock have Arnold's staying power? Cuz Arnold's staying power...left a long time ago. I figure that international markets will keep The Rock's career going but, at heart, he's still more a wrestler than an actor(ANOTHER wrestler, John Cena , is in The Suicide Squad, and still ANOTHER wrestler, Dave Bautista, is in Guardians of the Galaxy.) Wrestling is a great launching pad for movie stars these days. Oh well, with Arnold it was bodybuilding.
The romantic mix is interesting between The Rock and Emily Blunt, who proves with each movie to be a great screen presence -- beautiful and yet a little plain; pure and yet a little sexy. Blunt does what she can to light a romantic spark under The Rock, but its rather a mismatch.
Funny: Paul Giamatti, who anchored an entire in-depth movie called "Sideways" about 15 years ago is in Jungle Cruise for about three scenes, doing nothing and barely explained. I thought it was a real comedown -- until I remembered that he's got some big cable series called "Billions" or some such. Still -- in this movie -- what a waste.
The movie theater had posters for James Bond (finally!) in October and Top Gun 2 in November. We shall see.
Meanwhile, I'm waiting to see if 2021 offers ANY movie of memorable merit. My hopes are set on The Many Saints of Newark.