[Ginkasa]

You may not know this about me but I worked at a movie theatre for 10.5 years which meant I got to see any movie I wanted to for free and even got paid to watch movies sometimes. This meant I saw just about everything. Even the stuff I didn't sit down and watch it in their entirety I still was heavily exposed to just by working. When I had kids it became harder, but my theatre had a daycare center on site so when they got just old enough we returned to basically seeing movies weekly even after I left the theatre and I *gasp* had to pay.

Anyway, COVID put a stop to that obviously. We saw Onward like the week before things shut down and it was over a year before we got back (the longest I'd been away from a movie theatre for at least 15 years, perhaps ever). By the time we could get out the kids were too old for the daycare, but having been forced out of the habit of visiting the theatre regularly we never really picked up the habit again. Mainly other things had come in and filled that time. Long story short is I don't see half as many movies as I used to.

Anyway, that was me just thinking about old times. We'll still pop a movie on at home, but if we go to the theatre its usually something the kids want to see. They're old enough now that probably I could take them to most things and it'd probably be fine as far as content, but that doesn't mean they'd enjoy it (although they'd behave fine).

We actually have been to the theatre quite a few times in the past month. Had some time off and multiple movies that everyone wanted to see.

Godzilla: Minus One I thought was pretty great. I definitely enjoy Godzilla more as a destructive force of nature and a nigh insurmountable challenge for humanity than, like, a champion for humanity. I think comparing this to Shin Godzilla and the US 2014 Godzilla, this definitely comes out on top. (the kids tolerated it for me, lol; I think they just had fun getting out and it was my birthday so they liked doing that for me I think).

Wish was okay. We actually would have preferred to see the new Trolls movie first, but the timing worked out better for Wish. It was fine. I did really enjoy the animation style (even if the character design felt kind of generic). I get Disney was trying to pay service to their 100 year history, but it ended up just kind of feeling like Generic Disney Movie than anything particularly notable.

We did get around to Trolls a few days later. We enjoyed it more. They aren't high art movies or anything, but they are very FUN. Very colorful and upbeat and silly in the right ways. I liked this third one better than the second one, personally, but I still think the first one is the best.

I was a little nervous about Wonka, but the kids really wanted to see it. Gene Wilder's Wonka was an eccentric fellow, but I think people overstate just how weird he really was. Depp's Wonka went too far in the direction of insane. I was concerned this new version would be like that. The trailers seemed to emphasize the wrong parts of Chalamet's performance. But I thought this new one ended up being a pretty alright film. I don't think it, like, redefine's Wonka moving forward or anything. But it was a decent enough watch.