where are your gloves and your helmet?

Finished Taxi Driver last night.

( Uggggggggggggggh. Also, spoilers. )

Long story short: if you want to see an unrelentingly grim movie about one man's alienation from society and his fellow man and how it drives him to insanity and violence in New York of the 1970s... watch Joker. Better character establishment, better exploration of motive and personality, less incel grossness. And it still has Robert DeNiro.

Saw Godzilla: King of the Monsters last night. It wasn't bad, but I could have done without the HERE LOOK IT IS A FAMILY AND THEY HAVE TROUBLES, WATCH HOW THE MONSTERS AFFECT THE FAMILY stuff involving Kyle Chandler. Actually, I could have done without Kyle Chandler's character, period. Wasn't thrilled with the estranged ex-wife, either. ( Spoilers )

Saw Into The Spider-Verse last night.

!!!!

It's not often that I come out of a movie thinking 'they got it right, they totally got it right, they know the character and they know the universe and they did the story right and it was wonderful', but good goddamn, they got this movie right.

Miles Morales is the most adorable thing I have ever seen when he's running around in the store-bought Spider-Man mask. And he's fantastic overall. I had thought Vincent D'Onofrio was more or less the definitive Kingpin after what I've seen of Daredevil, but this version was wonderful too (of course he sounds like that!). All the Spiders were amazing including Peni Parker and her spider-powered mech from the future. Even Spider-Ham. (Who is now my introduction to John Mulaney's voice.) New York City was almost entirely the way it's supposed to be; I say 'almost' because I have absolutely no idea where the church is that they used for a funeral scene, and it's a little distracting trying to figure out geography for me. (It looked like Manhattan, but the churchyard was right next to an elevated subway line, and the area around the church didn't really resemble the parts of Manhattan I remember being that close to the El.)

Also, this version of Doc Oc was pretty much the best one I have ever seen. And I was impressed enough by this version of Aunt May that I may have to watch the movie again just to take notes on her outfit, because as much as I would love to do up a Spider-Man Noir costume, I would swelter to death at most of the cons I go to- but this Aunt May, I could cosplay without a problem.

This was a marvelous movie and the after-credits scene drew applause.

I saw Incredibles 2 on Friday. It was brilliant in so many many ways.



HOWEVER.



THIS MOVIE ABSOLUTELY REQUIRES A GODDAMN PHOTOSENSITIVE EPILEPSY WARNING.



There is a fight sequence in a room with many, MANY flashing strobe lights that goes on for long enough to be a problem. There was NO warning of any kind about this possibility. I am guessing no one at either Pixar or AMC remembers that one Pokemon episode.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, people, if you’re going to put a flashylight sequence in the middle of a movie you have to let parents know before they buy the ticket. If movie theaters can put up ‘hey, there’s several seconds of absolute silence during The Last Jedi and it’s not a technical flaw, it’s part of the movie’ posters to warn people, then they can put up ‘hey, if your kid has a seizure disorder or if anyone in your party has photosensitive migraines, you need to not be where you can see the screen at TIME_1 through TIME_2′. This isn’t protecting feelings or spoiling plot. This is a medical issue.

Got to see The Shape of Water on Friday. Matinee showing at one of the local theaters (I'm burning vacation days by taking Fridays off in Nov. and Dec.). Excellent movie, and props to Del Toro for his casting across the board; super extra props to the makeup and costuming team because I cannot imagine making a fish-man suit that can be used for an actual dance number was easy.

I do not much wish to spoil it, so I won't. I will, however, drop a few warnings: ( TW: violence, sexual content )