The ORIGINAL EnigmaWave

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

I haven’t read the book version of this.  I feel like I should, now.

TIME PASSES

I have now read the book; it is quite a bit different than the movie.  At least the movie is not alone; it comes from a long line of inaccurate Dahl adaptations.

Valiant (2005)

There are a lot of good names in this; but it’s like a soda that’s been left out overnight that’s gone completely flat.

Kung Fu Panda (2008)

Good use of Jack Black.  Be Kind Rewind was OK; but I don’t think it utilized him as well as it could have, and The NeverEnding Story III was an abomination even he couldn’t save.

I’m wondering if this movie was responsible for kicking the whole panda thing into high gear, or if it was only joining a preexisting bandwagon.  Pandas really started showing up all over the place around that time, like, super-saturation.

Uncle Buck (1989)

OK, so they don’t really have anything to do with each other; but as I watched this, the idea become more and more deeply seated in my mind that this was somehow a prequel, of sorts, where Macaulay Culkin’s time spent with uncle Buck is what enables him to be able to do the things that he does in Home Alone (1990).

Huh.  Well, apparently, “The concept for this movie (Home Alone) originated during the filming of a scene in Uncle Buck (1989), in which Macaulay Culkin plays a character who interrogates a would-be sitter through the letter opening in the front door.”  So there is a real connection, at least, even if my own personal head-canon isn’t firing with a full charge of powder.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

Jack Sparrow treads a very fine line between bad-ass…and Jack-ass.  He leans dangerously close to the latter at times.

Life would have been much simpler for Ariel if all she had to do to get legs was to get out of the water.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007)

Well, they didn’t break another lamp off the wall; but that one pirate broke his frozen toe off, so I guess I’ll give that partial credit.

And Jack Sparrow continues his downward spiral; he still got some good moments though.

Ah, the sea turtle joke came back.

This would have been a very good place to end it; but I suppose there was more money to be made.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)

I’ve noticed some jokes recycled from the first movie;  I need to see if they use them again in the third film, that would make for a very drawn-out rule of three.

This movie seems to be both more serious, and yet also more silly at the same time than the first one.

I can definitely see the Flanderization of Jack Sparrow beginning to occur.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

This is so much closer to the Monkey Island games than it is to the ride.

And now I want to both ride the ride, and play all of the Monkey Island games again.

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

It feel like Peter Parker and aunt May just keep getting younger and younger.

And now we have yet another love interest for Peter Parker.  Oop, and now she’s gone.

I’m beginning to have seen enough of these that the contradictions between different versions are starting to become weird.

The Great Outdoors (1988)

YEAH!  Dan Aykroyd and John Candy!

Feels like Chevy Chase should have been in there somewhere.