Starship Troopers - 2/5

This is one of those rare movies that is great, but not good. Much of the visuals hold up surprisingly well due to competent direction from Paul Verhoeven. The sets, costuming, and casting are all B-Grade, almost TV Soap level clean low-budget, but the action setpieces largely make up for it. The director is on record stating the film is a satire, but apart from the newsreel inserts this movie simply makes a good case for the war against the bugs and forgets to rebut it.

Content warning: Gore, nudity

Closest comparison: It’s like Dune by way of Blade: House of Chthon.

Setting: Sci-Fi
Plot: War
Tone: Action

The Matrix Resurrections - 1/5

This movie would be hillariously bad if it weren’t so boring. It makes incessant references to the previous films, calls them out, and goes nowhere with them beyond surface-level nostalgic fan service. Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss are fine doing their standard routine, but Jessica Henwick and Neil Patrick Harris bust out great performances for what they’re worth. The messaging is very muddled, and usually shakes out to mean the opposite of what it is meant to. The action is downright pitiful, all close-up shaky-cam nonsense with no sense of who is doing what or even what the stakes are most of the time; it’s easily the worst action I’ve seen all year.

Closest comparison: It’s like The Matrix: Reloaded by way of Jupiter Ascending.

Setting: Sci-Fi
Plot: Hidden World
Tone: Coffee Shop Drama

A Series of Unfortunate Events (Netflix) - 2/5

This show starts off strong, very quirky but also very enjoyable for everyone who enjoys some depressing catastrophes in their humor. Unfortunately the scenarios keep getting more and more unbelievable and, while true to the books, they are just too far out there to work as a show. Of course the production values are incredible, with Neil Patrick Harris and Patrick Warburton stealing every scene they’re in and everyone else delivering good or great performances as well. Eventually the narrative goes off the rails and once the writers start weaving extreme political beliefs into the core narrative it all comes to a shuddering halt.

Closest comparison: It’s like Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by way of The Upside Of Anger.

Setting: Tragedy
Plot: Tragedy
Tone: Comedy

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - 3/5

This movie makes the most of the starting premise, and though it often reverts to silliness it continually interposes actually funny jokes and meaningful moments. Instead of building up the whole movie to finally delivering on the title, instead they end the first act with the titular food-from-clouds motif and take the rest of the movie looking at the socioeconomic impact it would have on the locale. There’s a much smarter undercurrent then the facade would suggest, though that superficial layer is distractingly silly at times.

Closest comparison: It’s Phil Lord and Christopher Miller getting their feet under them before heading off to make The Lego Movie and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Setting: Sci-fi
Plot: Action Thriller
Tone: Screwball Comedy