Irrelevant But Awesome

Alexa:  I’ve had major Winter Olympics withdrawal the past week, so when I saw “Cool Runnings” was available on Netflix, I knew that was the key to filling the bobsled-shaped hole in my heart. Or at least I hoped it would be. The last time I watched this movie was on the Disney Channel when I was about seven or eight, and I’m happy to say it totally holds up. No one does uplifting sports movies quite like Disney, and “Cool Runnings” is among the most fun. It’s only very loosely based on the real Jamaican bobsled team from the 1988 Winter Olympics, but it still captures the group’s resilience beautifully. Pretty much the only thing I remembered from watching the movie as a kid was Sanka’s delightful “Jamaica has a bobsled team” song, so this viewing was like discovering this gem of a story all over again. It’s wonderfully 90s but doesn’t feel too dated. Its themes of perseverance, sportsmanship and self discovery are timeless, the performances are magical and its sense of humor...

Alexa:  I’m not typically a big horror person, so I didn’t have particularly high expectations for “Before I Wake,” but I was pleasantly surprised. I had never heard of the movie before Jason picked it (apparently it was a casualty of Relativity’s bankruptcy), but it’s an intriguing little film worth discovering. I wouldn’t even necessarily classify it as a horror movie. It has some disturbing imagery and a handful of jump scares, but it’s more of a dark fantasy. The general premise of dreams and nightmares coming to life offers plenty of captivating possibilities, but I wasn’t expecting it to be as layered as it was. What could have just been a middle-of-the-road thriller evolved into an emotional exploration of the different ways people process grief. The weaker parts of the movie are some of the standard tropes that populate many other PG-13 thrillers - the highly polished house, the obligatory visit to a hospital/mental institution to discover the truth behind the mystery....

Ok, that’s clearly a hyperbolic, clickbait title, and I apologize for that. Here’s what’s actually going on. It seems that there was one day during filming where George Lucas was on set. This was during Ron Howard’s time, after Miller and Lord had left the project. While it was only supposed to be a short visit, Lucas reportedly stayed for close to five hours, taking in the set and talking with people. In a conversation with Entertainment Weekly, Kathleen Kennedy said that there was one point where George Lucas suggested, “Why doesn’t Han just do this…” It seems that Ron Howard heard the suggestion from Lucas and thought it was a great idea. He went to his actors and said, “George wants us to do this.”  Now, we don’t know exactly what the suggestion was or how big or small it was. Likely, this will come up again a few weeks after the movie has been released and once we’ve all seen it. Someone will probably mention in a promotional interview that, “such and such moment was George’...

Alexa:  It’s easy to look back on some movies that are often heralded as among the best of all time and feel a little disappointed. Maybe it’s been so overhyped that it just doesn’t live up to expectations, or maybe other films that came after it have improved upon the formula it originated so much that you feel underwhelmed when you finally see it. But “The Godfather” completely stands the test of time. It really is one of the best movies ever made. Yes, it paved the way for a slew of other great mafia films, but none of them detract from what “The Godfather” created. At its heart, the film is an epic character study. Yes, it’s long, clocking in at about three hours, but every bit of that time feels necessary. It covers about 10 years of this family’s experience, and every exchange is essential to understanding Michael’s journey. “The Godfather” features a roster of actors who have gone on to give plenty of other dynamite performances, but this movie remains a career-best for...

Alex:  Adapting illustrated children’s books into feature-length movies is no easy feat. Those stories are built on short and sweet narratives, so sustaining that for at least 90 minutes in a way that feels natural is a challenge – and it’s one that “Paddington” pulls off swimmingly. Paddington is such a classic character, and this adaptation is completely worthy of him. It is so delightful. It balances plenty of references fans of the books will appreciate with fresh new territory, including a backstory about the explorer who introduced Paddington’s family to British culture as well as a new villain, played with pitch-perfect frostiness by Nicole Kidman. The film adeptly transports the action to the present day without losing any of the charm of the original books. The cast is fantastic. Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins are the perfect people to adopt Paddington. They’re clearly having fun playing around in Paddington’s world, which only bolsters the movie’s playful vibe. Th...

Note: Nothing in this article is intended to be a commentary on the quality of the new movie Cloverfield Paradox . It simply focuses on the business strategies behind the deal. Joel:  Last year during the Super Bowl, Netflix released a trailer for the movie Bright , a movie that would be released eleven months later in December of last year. This year, Netflix’s big trailer release was for Cloverfield Paradox , a movie that, much to everyone’s surprise, was released right after the game was over. Even for those that have been following the story of the third Cloverfield movie, this movie was entirely unexpected, but it’s release is a clever play on the part of both Netflix and Paramount, and is worth taking a closer look at. For those that don’t know, Cloverfield Paradox was originally a movie titled God Particle . It was an original movie that was later retroactively changed to serve as the third installment in the Cloverfield franchise. This isn’t a huge deal as the s...

It really can’t be avoided anymore. We have to talk about the unbelievable box office story that is Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. This past weekend, Jumanji was once again the highest grossing movie at the box office. Seven weeks after its debut, Jumanji is still able to top the weekend at the box office. Yes there have been a few of those weeks where Jumanji came in at number two in the weekly rundown (it did open the weekend after Star Wars after all) but all in all, Jumanji’s box office dominance is something that nobody was expecting. The movie has grossed over $350 million domestically making it The Rock’s highest domestic grossing movie of his career (yes, even more than any of his movies in the Fast and the Furious franchise) and has brought in over $850 million worldwide making it Sony’s fifth highest grossing movie ever with no end in sight (Only Spider-Man and James Bond movies have grossed more worldwide and Jumanji’s number continues to climb). To continue to put in pe...