Hotel Artemis (2018) Review

Hotel Artemis (2018)

Directed & Written by Drew Pearce

Starring: Jodie Foster, Sterling K. Brown, Sofia Boutella, Jeff Goldblum, Brian Tyree Henry, Jenny Slate, Zachary Quinto, Charlie Day, Dave Bautista

Plot Synopsis:(via Wikipedia)
The plot follows Jean Thomas, a nurse who runs a secret hospital for criminals in futuristic Los Angeles.

My Opinion:

I found this film to be a pleasant surprise. Maybe it was because I wasn’t expecting much after seeing the trailer. Despite liking the concept, it just looked a bit too much like John Wick to me. Actually, I liked it more than John Wick (Sorry, John Wick fans!). Hotel Artemis is one of very few movies these days that I felt was telling a fairly unique & original story. I really enjoyed it and the characters were pretty great. I’d love a sequel (or perhaps a prequel, which would be very interesting in this case – especially for Jodie Foster’s backstory).

First of all, Jodie Foster was really good in this. She’s the nurse running this secret hotel for criminals and has been for many years. She has a loyal assistant (played by Dave Bautista, also a great character) and several interesting criminal “guests”. There’s a lot of history to her character, unlike the characters in John Wick. The main criminal the movie focuses on is a guy who has just robbed a bank & whose brother has been badly injured in the robbery. This main dude was played by Sterling K. Brown and I liked him a lot as well. He’s very suave. I don’t think I’ve seen him in much before… I also thought Sofia Boutella, another criminal hotel guest, kicked ass. She had great chemistry with Brown.

This movie has a rating on IMDB which I think is far too low. I’m not sure what people were expecting. Maybe far more action (again, like John Wick)? It has surprisingly little action, which may be what people found disappointing but which I appreciated. As always, I prefer a good story & decent character development. The “baddies” (er, the REALLY bad baddies – not the kind-of-good baddies!) were very one-dimensional but our main characters were so good that it didn’t really matter. That’s not to say there isn’t any action, especially toward the end (mainly thanks to Boutella kicking ass while in a sexy dress). Oh, and I also loved that this is set “sometime in the near future” as they had some pretty advanced technology in this dim, dystopian setting. If you go into this not expecting wall-to-wall action and if you like a crime thriller with some good characters, you may enjoy this one. Also, don’t expect it to be quite as straightforward as a mainstream blockbuster. This movie feels like something a little bit different. In a good way…

My Rating: 7.5/10

Thor: Ragnarok (2017) Review

***SPOILER-FREE REVIEW (as far as I’m aware!!)***

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Directed by Taika Waititi

Based on Thor by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber & Jack Kirby

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Hopkins

Music by Mark Mothersbaugh

Plot Synopsis: (via IMDB)
Imprisoned, the mighty Thor finds himself in a lethal gladiatorial contest against the Hulk, his former ally. Thor must fight for survival and race against time to prevent the all-powerful Hela from destroying his home and the Asgardian civilization.

My Opinion:

As I always say when I start these superhero movie reviews, I’m getting very superheroed-out. However, I do have fun with the Marvel ones even though I wouldn’t call myself a massive fan. But then the Guardians Of The Galaxy films came along and it turns out that the “funny superhero movie” thing is MUCH more my type of thing! I love GOTG. And as for the Avengers, Thor is probably my favorite character because, um. I dunno? I’m trying to think of something mature to say… Okay, I like Thor the most because Chris Hemsworth is visually appealing. Okay?!

Of the standalone movies, the first Iron Man may be my favorite and I think the first Thor film is quite weak. But then I liked Thor: The Dark World a hell of a lot more than the first film and, with the Avengers films, we were able to see Thor develop much more of a personality. The “Thor with a sense of humor” thing that started to appear really worked for the character and I’m very happy that they’ve finally gone fully in that direction with this film. I’m surprised it’s getting such good reviews overall, though, as I can’t see “funny Thor” working for everyone? I hated Batman V Superman with a passion (yeah, I know that’s DC) and that whole “dark, brooding, depressing” superhero bullshit annoys me. But some people love that. Those who love dark & brooding are unlikely to love this new version of Thor. I personally love this new version of Thor (and all versions of Thor, including shirtless Thor) but my only negative comment is that this film does feel out of place in amongst all the other Marvel Avengers movies. It doesn’t really “fit”. I don’t know how some fans will feel about that.

I lied: I have one more negative comment so I’ll get that out of the way now. The story in this movie isn’t anything special. It’s your typical Marvel plot. But I honestly never give much of a shit about any of the Marvel plots as they all seem the same to me anyway & I see these all as “popcorn” movies that I don’t want to have to think about. I don’t mean to sound dismissive of these films as I know they have so many fans – I just see them in a different sort of way than a full-on fanboy or fangirl would see them. I don’t think I can say that this movie really added anything important to the overall Avengers stories. It was just a lot of fun to watch, which is the main thing that a superhero movie should be (in my opinion).

Here are the positives: there are loads of genuinely funny moments, Thor and Hulk are hilarious together, and I thought all the new characters were very good (especially Tessa Thompson’s super cool Valkyrie & Cate Blanchett’s super evil Hela). Oh, and Jeff Goldblum, of course. I didn’t realize he had such a big following! People seem to love him & he’s very funny in this. I also really liked Karl Urban (Oh yeah – I like Dredd a lot & that’s dark & depressing! Hmm) and I liked seeing Idris Elba get to do more than I can remember him getting to do in the other Thor films (I could do with re-watching them but doubt I’ll ever bother). And I think everyone knows that director Taika Waititi plays a character named Korg. He’s pretty damn hilarious and was clearly a favorite with the audience in my cinema. Oh, and it was one of those weird times when some people in my cinema clapped & cheered at the end of the movie. I always find that strange (it’s not a play!) but it gives you an idea of how some feel about Thor: Ragnarok – I saw a lot of people who clearly had a great time watching this.

I liked this movie a lot but, for some reason I can’t put my finger on, I didn’t love it. It seems like all the elements are there for me to love it. I think Taika Waititi is very funny, I far prefer fun & lighthearted superhero movies like this, and I loooooove Chris Hemsworth. The new characters are great, I laughed quite a bit, and even though I haven’t listened to Led Zeppelin in years after having a big phase of worshipping them in my teens I never stopped loving Immigrant Song (because it kicks ass) and its use, though predictable, is perfect for this movie. So why don’t I love this movie? I disagree with the hubby quite a bit on movies these days but I have to agree with him saying that this movie feels a bit “throwaway”. It’s fun but, years from now, it may not stand up as well when compared to some of the strongest Marvel films.

Also, I’ll remain spoiler-free but just a warning if you bring kids under 12: this movie is more violent than some and there’s one particular moment that was quite horrifying. My daughter turned to me with a look of horror on her face but I don’t think I was much comfort since I had a similar look of horror. 😉 But you know kids: they bounce back quick. About 15 minutes later she whispered “I love this movie!” while I still had yet to fully recover. The moment is listed in the parents’ guide at IMDb if you really need to know beforehand but it’s a major spoiler. Also, this movie is a lower rating in the UK but is a PG-13 in America. Damn. As we got it here first, I had no warning beforehand so be careful if taking sensitive kids to this. Knowing America, though, it probably only got the higher rating there for some “dirty talk” that will go over kids’ heads anyway. 

My Rating: 7.5/10

Is there a scene after the credits? Duh. Of course. One partway through and one at the very end. Worth staying for if you like to get the full experience.

Stan Lee Cameo: I feel like I should start rating these… I loved this one. Another fun cameo and he was the perfect person for this part. 🙂

My Top Ten Celebrities With Color Names

As I’ve already done lists of My Top Ten Color Movies & My Top Ten Color Songs, I figured it was time to also do a list of My Top Ten Celebrities With Colors In Their Names as well. 🙂

I think this list is pretty self-explanatory. I enlisted the hubby’s help & he started giving me lots of names which are colors in other languages. Too complicated! I’m sticking to English (sorry, Mel Blanc). Also, I decided to stick with real people instead of fictional characters as that also got too complicated. So here’s a quick shoutout to two characters I love: Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding from The Shawshank Redemption & Charlie Brown from Peanuts.

Okay – let’s do this! Here are My Top Ten Celebrities With Colors In Their Names (along with my favorite thing they’ve starred in, sung or written):

10. Sienna Miller
My Favorite: Stardust

9. Shel Silverstein
My Favorite: The Giving Tree

8. Robert Redford
My Favorite: Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid

7. Eve Plumb
My Favorite: The Brady Bunch

6. Jeff Goldblum
My Favorite: The Fly

5. James Brown, Ian Brown & Jackson Browne
My Favorites: The Boss, I Wanna Be Adored & Somebody’s Baby

4. Jack & Meg White
My Favorite: Icky Thump & Hotel Yorba

3. Scarlett Johansson
My Favorite: The Prestige

2. Jack Black
My Favorite: Tenacious D & School Of Rock

1. Betty White
My Favorite: The Golden Girls

Honorable Mentions (No, I didn’t forget these):
Karen Black, Alicia Silverstone, Frank Black (aka Black Francis), Pink, Emma Stone, Jennifer Grey, Eva Green, Whoopi Goldberg, Sarah Silverman, Seth Green, Emily Browning, Clancy Brown, Shirley Temple-Black, Rose Byrne, Rose McGowan, Erin Gray, Al Green, Tracey Gold, Matthew Gray Gubler, Shane Black, Joel Silver, Marc Almond, Paul Greengrass, Barry White, Eddie Redmayne, Goldie Hawn, Macy Gray, Otis Redding, The Redgraves, Sharon Stone, Amber Heard, Cee Lo Green, Christopher Plummer, Amanda Plummer, Oliver Stone

And, no – I didn’t forget these either: 😉
Dakota Blue Richards, Red Buttons, Red Skelton, Red West, Ron Silver, Indigo, Amber Tamblyn, Amber Valletta, F Gary Gray, Adam Goldberg, Phil Silvers, Emerald Fennell, Claire Coffee, Professor Green, Jonathan Silverman, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Simply Red, Cilla Black, Dan Brown, Logan Marshall-Greene, Brian Austin Green, Tony Goldwyn, Ginger Rogers, Bobby Brown, Lorne Green

Sorry – I had such a huge list to work off of plus someone always comes along to yell at me for the one thing I missed off of a list. But I’ll still have definitely missed some so let me know of any other Color Names you can think of! 🙂

Jurassic Park (1993) IMDB Top 250 Guest Review