Sean Sees Movies - February 2023 Review Roundup
I didn’t see as many movies in February, mainly due to my streaming of the first season of Lockwood and Co on Netflix (review coming soon) and the final season of His Dark Materials on HBO Max. Still, I found the time to sneak in a few current movies, but mostly movies that I really should have seen by now.
Let the Review Roundup begin!
Entries are not in ranked order. Each entry will feature the title, year released and what format/streaming service I saw it on.
Groundhog Day: The 30th Anniversary (1993) (Cinema) – I wrote at length about my Groundhog Day adventure in my post “Blueberries, Bones and Bunnies” (read here). As stated in the post, “I had never seen Groundhog Day in the cinema before today and was fortunate to see it with a fair number of other people in attendance.” Although this production was not advertised as a sing-a-long, it might as well have been since many in the audience quoted the lines of the movie out loud as the line was being said or before it.
2. Tar (2022) (Cinema) – I went to see this movie mainly to see Cate Blanchett’s performance. After seeing the movie, I understand why Blanchett is the other main contender for the Academy Award against Michelle Yeoh. (Although, personally I still want to see Michelle Yeoh win for Everything Everywhere All At Once (It’s the better movie.)) Cate Blanchet plays renowned musician Lydia Tár, days away from what might be the height of her career. However, as the movie progresses, mistakes from her past and present begin to surface causing her to lose everything. Blanchett does an amazing job at making the audience intrigued into how far her character will fall due to these mistakes and her narcissistic personality. If Blanchett wins over Yeoh for the Award, it will have been well earned.
3. Titanic: 25th Anniversary in 3D (1997) (Cinema) – Yes, it’s true. I had never seen Titanic till this month. Enough people have asked about my opinions, so I am writing something more at length that will be published soon.
4. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) (Cinema) – It was fun. I think it’s probably best to see it on the big screen. I thought the story was fine. In my opinion, the Marvel movies at this point are kind of like reading a long book series, you need to see each chapter to understand what comes next. Quantamania is the first film in Phase five, so you can’t really skip this first chapter of a new book, but at this point you might know what to expect. Paul Rudd was great. There’s a mid and post credits scene.
5. Muppets from Space (1999) (Borrowed Disc from Library) – This movie represents one of the very few holes that I had in my Muppet viewing list. I had always heard mixed reviews of this movie and nothing about it ever really screamed “essential viewing.” It’s a post-Jim Henson, pre-Disney Acquisition film. It was just okay. It could have been good, but it was just missing that essential chaotic energy that the Muppets are so well known for. It’s never good when I am actively writing a better “Muppets from Space” while the movie is still playing. In my opinion this movie suffers from two main problems. First, the music. The music wouldn’t have been as distracting if the Muppets had been singing the songs, instead the tracks were standard radio mixes. You don’t realize how essential the Muppets singing their own soundtrack is until that is taken away. Second, the movie needed more Muppets! The early breakfast scene featured the most and the majority of the popular Muppets casts. The movie then quickly dwindled down to less than a dozen core Muppets for the remainder of the film. It’s like they forgot what makes a Muppet movie great, mainly the Muppets. Finally, there was too much over-reliance on human characters. Not that there was ever that much of a plot to begin with, but it just seemed like there was an over abundance of human extras in many scenes where there could have been a greater inclusion of puppets. Personally, I like Gonzo and I am not opposed to a Gonzo centric movie. Gonzo’s search for who he is could have been a great allegory for all those individuals trying to find who they are in regards to gender, sex, culturally, or even artistically. And perhaps there are those that do find that in this movie. However, in my opinion this allegory could have been more effective in a better script. It’s just not a great Muppets movie. It’s a movie that features the Muppets and some tropes that were worn out even when it was first released over twenty years ago.
6. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) (Cinema) – Yet another movie that many consider essential viewing that I have not seen until now. Fortunately, I was able to see it in the cinema, the format that it was meant to be viewed in. I loved it. Since seeing Everything Everywhere All At Once, I have been trying to seek out films featuring Michelle Yeoh. This movie was beautiful. Watching exquisitely executed fight choreography is equivalent to watching the best of professional dance. Each takes enormous amounts of time to ensure that everything looks smooth, effortless, and natural. It’s been over 20 years since this film first released, so nothing I write about it will be groundbreaking or new. All I’ll say is that if you haven’t seen it, then it’s worth your time.