Movies I Watched in July, Part 3

Finishing up the July recap on the very last day of August, which feels both lazy and fitting at the same time. The twist this time around? All three movies are, relatively speaking, brand-spanking new.  So let's make this quick ...


Steven Soderbergh returns to the heist themes of his "Ocean's" movies, relocatng the action to a NASCAR racetrack but, thankfully, bringing along the same sense of style and smarts. The cast is solid, too, with Channing Tatum and Adam Driver playing the titular Logan brothers, Daniel Craig slipping out of the Bond tux  to play demolitions expert Joe Bang, Jim O'Heir (Jerry from "Parks and Rec") as Tatum's boss and other, smaller roles filled out by folks like Katie Holmes, Riley Keough (Elvis' granddaughter!), Seth MacFarlane, Dwight Yoakam and, showing up out of nowhere near the end, Hilary Swank. The script sets up a situation, throws in complications, gets us to like our characters, pulls a few big switcheroos and then throws everything into motion until the end, when it turns out what we thought we were seeing isn't quite what we were actually seeing. Definitely worth a look.


I hated the book, which read like the worst combination of by-the-numbers nostalgia and lack of consequences ever put to paper. But, given the visual possibilities hinted at in Ernest Cline's leaden prose and the potential Roger Rabbit-esque thrills of seeing all that intellectual property in a single movie, I actually had hopes for the film version, especially with Steven Spielberg at the helm. Thankfully, it wasn't as bad as the book (which, admittedly, would've been some kind of achievement) but it never hit the bizarre heights I was, against all odds, hoping it would achieve. There are some fun visuals, and I'd be lying if I didn't admit to getting a kick of out seeing the Doc Brown's DeLorean, the Iron Giant and the hotel from "The Shining" on the screen again -- but it was all so frenetic and jam-packed that I could never really take it all in and enjoy it. (I mean, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" felt overwhelming back in the day, but now, 30 years later, it feels positively genteel in comparison.) And the plot? Well, it is what it is, and things are improved a bit from the book, but even if you haven't read the story, I'm guessing you'll find few surprises. It's not bad, not exactly, but not the mind-blowing, world-building experience I was hoping (again, against all odds) it would be. In the film's defense, my 13-year-old daughter -- who didn't read the book and doesn't know much of this pop culture -- really, really enjoyed it. Something about it really spoke to her -- so maybe I'm the one missing the point? I'm willing to consider the possibility. (But the book still stinks.)


Speaking of my daughter, her favorite Marvel movie is "Ant Man," so she was even more jazzed about this one than this year's "Infinity War." Thankfully, it's a fine follow-up to the original, taking the elements that worked the first time around -- the romantic banter, random objects and people changing sizes, Michael Pena being funny-- and amping them up even more. And, like "Ant Man," it's more of a comedy with action elements than a by-the-numbers superhero epic. (Frankly, it's exactly what the Marvel franchise needed after the entertaining excesses of "Infinity War.") About the only fault I could find is the movie just sort of ends at a certain point, and the villain, though pretty interesting, isn't used as well as she could be. Also, if you're going to cast Laurence Fishburne as the past-his-prime Black Goliath, give us at least one flashback of him in action -- and in costume!