Top Gun Maverick was well made. (And probably better for those who recently saw/deeply care about the characters in the first.)
I had not seen it in a while. So when most of the movie hinged on slow sentimental scenes between those characters, I was starting to get a little bored in places. (Plus, the action felt pretty low stakes. Like I knew no main character was going to die, or even get injured. Similar to Panic.)
But according to the people I saw it with, it had plenty more action than the first.
So it was decent overall, I suppose.
The thing about that is the only characters from the first other than Maverick is Iceman and that whole scene and its sentimentality has more to do with Val Kilmer's irl cancer than any connection from the first movie because the first movie absolutely does not show them becoming friends beyond just the fact that they're both navy pilots. The action feeling low stakes is exactly what makes it so effective. In the age where action movies are just more and more grandiose and similar and more often than not contain superheroes and the same style of humor, a movie that is just so simple and 'low stakes' while also being so goddamn incredibly well made because of Cruise's obsession for realism makes it so goddamn thrilling to watch. There's just a sense of genuine realness and tension to it that you just don't get with blockbuster movies anymore.
The 2:15 scene is a singular gripping moment of film tension from start to finish and people in my theater cheered after that scene and it was earned. A movie doesn't have to kill characters to up stakes or tension when it's shot in such a way that when characters have an insane amount of g-force you actively feel yourself gripping the armrest until it levels out. That's the kind of movie it is and goddamn it's incredible how a sequel to a cheesy bad 80s movie about shirtless dudes pretending they're heterosexual is one of the best movies of the year and also the best legacy sequel movie that I can remember.
Maverick is far and away the best theater experience I've had in recent times and Tom Cruise is saving cinema once again what a crazy motherfucker. It's not the best movie I've seen this year (but it's a solid third), that honor goes to Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Anyway I have no desire to watch Obi-Wan because a big problem I have with Star Wars projects now is this insistence on filling in gaps that don't need to be filled and also everything still revolving around the same legacy characters. Star Wars needs to leave the Skywalker era behind in either direction.
I have been watching Ms. Marvel because I'm a fan of Kamala Khan in the comics and probably the biggest Carol Danvers fan any of you know (and I will fight any pretenders to my throne) and with those biases aside the show is, three episodes in, probably the best MCU streaming show. It's certainly the most visually creative and colorful which is a low bar but then this is the MCU we're talking about.
Birdie Wing: Girls Golf Story is the most yuri ass show that isn't actually a yuri show and the hardest sell for it isn't them making golf exciting but it's trying to tell me that the main character is fucking 15 years old and that's part of why I have such a difficult time getting into anime anymore.
I watched Good Luck To You, Leo Grande and that was a delightful little movie. It kind of felt like a stage play but there's something to be said about a movie consisting solely of two characters talking in a room for 90 minutes especially when the characters are talking about sexuality and personal growth.
