jwallin0311 Reviews

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

I feel the need...

[10/10 · 26 December 2022]

As an 80s kid, the original Too Gun was a "watch, rewind, repeat" necessity of my childhood. It inspired me to get into military aviation, as did a whole generation of members of our armed forces.

To say that this movie surpassed all that would be an understatement. It had just the right amount of nostalgia while keeping the characters moving forward and introducing us to a new generation of naval aviators without disrespecting the legacy characters. This movie has found a place of honor in my movie cabinet along with the 1986 classic. When I sit down and watch it, I get the same feeling that the original gave me as a kid.

Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

I did't hate it, I did't like it... I nothinged it.

[4/10 · 9 August 2019]

We saw this movie for my son's birthday. Halfway through the film he was yawning and asking to play on my phone. You made a 9 year old bored. But how? Were the environments mildly engaging? Yeah, I did not like all the dark shots, but I think they were trying to visually convey a darker side to the Star Wars galaxy. That's cool. I get what you were going for, you just botched the execution.

Were the action pieces exciting? they were not bad, I wasn't on the edge of my seat, but just meh.

So what went wrong? Well to cut it down I don't think that Disney understands Star Wars. When they bought this IP they just looked at ways to market it, making toys and shirts etc. Not how they were going to continue the saga. This really was not a story that needed to be told, no one cares about how he got his blaster. Everyone knows that Han won the Falcon from Lando in a Sabaak game. Han Solo is an iconic character and we have all followed his story since 1977. And LO!! There in lies the problem, it didn't matter what situation they put Han and Chewie in, we knew they were going to be OK because they are in the next 5 movies respectively. Without any real tension in the movie the movie just kind of glides along for two hours. "But Jason!!" you say..." there were plenty of original characters in this movie that had completely original backstories" and you would be very right.... but this movie wasn't called "Beckett: A Star Wars Story"or "Qi'ra: A Star Wars Story" and to be honest none of those side characters were that interesting. Despite the fact that even though I adore Emilia Clarke, she just oozes charisma and has a commanding screen presence. Just not in this movie. Or the legendary Woody Harrelson? C'mon... he is literally one of the best character actors of our generation. Just not in this movie. Seriously, if you couldn't see that Beckett was going to betray Han moments after his character intro then I bestow upon you this advice: stop putting your shoes on before your pants, its much harder that way. By the way, I clicked the spoilers button for all you currently reading this while struggling to get your pants over your shoes.

Why did Rogue One work but this one just kind of landed with a thud? Well Rogue one was an interesting story within the established universe with all new and INTERESTING characters. Not a huge Cassian Andor fan, but I loved Jynn Erso and the other characters (Obligatory Donnie Yen shout out!)... they were all fleshed out, even Cassian and when they met their end it was impactful and powerful. Cassian and Jynn sitting on the beach with that mushroom cloud behind them, meeting their ends as heroes, having found a cause beyond themselves put a bit of a frog in my throat. (I had popcorn dust in my eye... I swear!) Solo: A Star Wars story just did not. While I felt that Alden Ehrenreich did a fine job, because lets face it... that poor dude had a giant pair of shoes to fill. He wasn't overly exciting, but he didn't fall on his face like everyone (myself included) thought that he would. Joonas Suotamo has comfortably stepped into the the over sized shoes of the late Peter Mayhew. You honestly can not tell the difference. This movie was just boring to me and very "meh". Maybe there would have been an interesting way to tell a Han Solo story, but you should establish something within the universe and make your story fit. Not craft a Story and try to make the universe fit. Maybe something about how Han got indebted to Jabba the Hutt? You could have crafted a finely tuned story about Han smuggling weapons or spice and engaging in a cat and mouse game with the Empire only to get cornered and have to dump his cargo and going on the run. We know that Han is going to dump the cargo, but it would be fun to watch the wily smuggler out wit and dodge the Empires best efforts to capture him only to get to the Tattooine system to have the Empire throw everything they have in that sector at him, seeing Hans face as he watches his cargo float away; knowing that he will spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder. I don't know, would anyone pay to see that movie? But either way I was completely disappointed with this movie. And I didn't expect much walking into the theater. I tried to watch it on Netflix only to get distracted by a Bob Ross marathon on Twitch.

Chernobyl (2019)

Absolutely incredible and unbelievable.

[10/10 · 21 May 2019]

I was 8 years old when the Chernobyl disaster occurred, I remember watching the news and the coverage of it; but I never fully comprehended how close humanity came to wiping ourselves out. It was not until much later in my life that I became fascinated by the disaster. This show is almost all exposition, it beats you over the head with the plot, but the dialog is so genius, the atmosphere is absolutely perfect. A higher standard for television could not be set, and if it could; this show would smash that expectation. My children are absolutely enthralled by the show are eagerly count down the days until we get a new episode. This will definitely be an addition to my home collection to be enjoyed for as long as we can.

The Mystery of Britannic (2017 TV Movie)

Trying to create a mystery where there is none

[2/10 · 6 January 2019]

The visuals and historical retelling was amazing, as was the underwater footage of this grand old lady. That being said, the gentleman narrating and "exploring" the wreck was completely insufferable.

Hes trying way to hard to sound like the next Robert Ballard, or Jacques Cousteau. The entire theme of his narration is what caused the ship to sink so fast? Which he gets wrong right off the bat, saying it was a German U-Boat. Wrong, it was a sea mine that blew a hole in the side of the ship causing it to fill much faster than the Titanic. He completely lost all credibility with me when he claimed that WWI broke out with the assassination of Arch Duke "Fernidad" sorry Dirk Pitt, its "Ferdinand".

I truly think this was a pretty decent documentary ruined by a clueless "Maritime Historian" who wants underwater fame and glory getting spoon fed wrong information by people searching Wiki for tips.