Nerd in the 'Noke

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), PG-13, 2hr 32min - It's almost hard to believe that it has already been two years since we saw the return of Star Wars to theaters by way of Episode VII: The Force Awakens .  I suppose that is partially due to the fact that we got Rogue One - the first Star Wars anthology film - last year which helped pass the time.  This holiday weekend will be The Last Jedi's second weekend in theaters and it is already making quite a bit of noise at the box office.  At some point over the past year or so, they seem to have dropped "Episode VIII" from The Last Jedi's official title.  I'm not sure when or why that happened, but I'll likely refer to this film by both names throughout this review. The Last Jedi picks up pretty much where The Force Awakens ended, with Rey (Daisy Ridley) having located Luke Skywalker's (Mark Hamill) whereabouts and with the rest of the Rebel fleet fleeing the The First Order after having destroyed Sta...

Sicario (2015), R, 121 minutes - When I made my last post at the beginning of the month, I was hoping that October would be the time I got back to regular updates to the blog after a busy second half of the summer and an odd stretch in which there wasn't much in theaters that I was interested in.  Well, life decided to happen and after weekends absorbed by familial obligations and backed up yard work I find myself sitting here at the end of the month having not gotten 'back on track' in the way I had hoped.  So...here is attempt 2.0 at regaining momentum on updating content! Sicario (Spanish for 'hitman') was actually the last film that I was able to see in a theater.  Oddly enough I watched it the afternoon after my last review was posted (my wife and I have since seen a handful of other films via Redbox/Netflix, reviews of which will hopefully be posted later today).  Anyway, Sicario focuses on up-and-coming FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) and her efforts...

Inherent Vice (2014), R, 148 minutes - I'm not familiar with Thomas Pynchon's novel of the same that is the basis for this film, but the trailer caught my eye with its kooky 'who done it?' feel, 1970's setting, and expansive cast led by Joaquin Phoenix. At the urging of his ex, Shasta Fay Hepworth (Katherine Waterston), private investigator Larry 'Doc' Sportello (Phoenix) decides to look into the disappearance of real estate mogul Michael Wolfman (Eric Roberts). She was concerned about her lover's safety after having been asked by Wolfman's wife and her lover to join a plot to disappear him and split his enormous wealth. The plot only gets more convoluted from there, but pulls in Los Angeles Lt. Det. Christian F. 'Bigfoot' Bjornsen (Josh Brolin), a drug cartel known as the Golden Fang, the Aryan Brotherhood, and an undercover police informant (Owen Wilson's Coy Harlingen), among other things. Basically, along each step of his inv...

Um, can you say 'AWESOME!'?  Because that's what the first trailer for this summer's Guardians of the Galaxy looks like.  Guardians appears to basically be Marvel's attempt at a true sci-fi/space opera (a la Star Wars) within their cinematic universe.  Based on the group of the same name from their comics, Marvel has positioned this rag-tag group of characters to be a comedic and entertaining expansion beyond the nine realms already seen and mentioned in Marvel's films (including Earth of course). A co-worker asked me who the Guardians of the Galaxy were the other day, and the simplest answer I could give was that they are the Island of Misfit Toys equivalent of space-based comic book characters.  You have Star Lord (Peter Quill, an human/alien hybrid), Gamora (daughter of Thanos - yes, that Thanos), Drax the Destroyer (originally human, his spirit now inhabits a more powerful alien body), Rocket Raccoon (a bipedal raccoon-looking alien who isn't actual...