Technically, we weren’t supposed to take candid pictures of the guests. However, Dave Foley was a sweetheart and overrode his handler’s objections.
I got to talk to him a little bit, too. I told him how hilarious he was in Sky High as the teacher of the sidekicks, and I wished that there had been a sequel. He said that I wasn’t the first person that day to mention Sky High and how surprised he was. I honestly can’t imagine why he’d be surprised!
Yes, we are taking a break from your regularly scheduled Florida TARDIS pictures (from 2020) to post the pictures I took at Ottawa Comic Con 2022.
To start, here’s what our booth looked like this year! Can you spot the TARDIS? (Trick question…there are TWO!)
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Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2022 film Secret Headquarters.
A very simple and effecient story that uses everything that it sets up. It’s not groundbreaking writing but it is solid and well thought out.
Score: 1
An impressive young cast that balances comedy, action, and drama extremely well. I really enjoyed the evolution of the soldier. I liked the pseudo villain being a rich dude with too much greed. Although the Kill a Minion to show I’m a Jerk trope was a little overdone.
Score: 0.5
The movie leaned heavily into comedy and has a lot of great lines. The comedy was balanced well with beleivability.
Score: 1
The special effects were amazing and the locations suitibly YA. I found the camera work excellent and it emullated other hero movies excellently.
The music was significantly better than I had expected.
Score: 1
Despite a few awkward moments the movie is fun from start to finish. Everyone in the family loved it and the kids forgot to ask for snacks.
Score: 1
A light YA movie that meshes the humour of 80’s kids movies with the action and special effects of modern superhero films. A lot of fun with some amazing kid actors.
Final Score: 4.5 Stars out of 5
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Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2022 film Thor: Love and Thunder.
The actual story was fairly simple and straightforward. There was a lot of humour and a lot of emotion. Sometimes it felt like the flow between scenes was missing something and there were more than a few parts that could have been extended. It felt like they had 6 hours of story and only 2 hours made it to the final cut.
Score: 0
Somewhere along the way in the MCU, Thor went from slightly oblivious jock / rich kid to a dim-witted fool. Every movie, it feels like he has to relearn how to be worthy and honestly, it’s getting old.
The addition of the Mighty Thor made things more interesting, but I have to say the whole romance was a little meh for me.
I liked the relationship between Jane and Valkyrie and loved the cameos by Sif and Heimdall.
The villain stole the show, however. He was both relatable and if it wouldn’t have killed Thor, I would have been okay with his plan. His redemption at the end through the power of love felt earned and not like a cheap plot trick.
Score: 0.5
The quips and dialogue were excellent, but the imbalance in tone made some scenes comical or just weird.
Score: 0.5
Visually this movie was a feast for the eyes. Absolutely gorgeous in every way.
The music was clever and well placed.
Score: 1
Once I got used to the fact that the movie would be all over the place in tone, I started to enjoy each piece like short films. The last scene with the kids was just so empowering. I loved it.
Score: 1
The tone is all over the place, the story feels disjointed, the love story was meh, but damn this movie was still a lot of fun. The dialogue and action are spectacular and Christian Bale makes a relatable and fantastic villain.
Final Score: 3 Stars out of 5
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Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2022 film Zombies 3.
Although following the same themes as the first two, it deviates more in story. The overall plot is utterly ridiculous, but in the best way possible. There are a few inconsistencies with the first one (specifically the ages of the characters) but it’s still a fun story. I particularly like how they used the three groups’ tech together.
Score: 0.5
I like the third movie in these sorts of series. The characters are developed and sure of themselves. Zed is a proud Zombie trailblazer and even without knowing her origins, Addison is a leader and welcomes everyone. The rest of the cast fit really well together.
Score: 1
There are a lot of nice nods to classic sci-fi and monster movies. The dialogue leans into the cheesy and series nostalgia, which somehow works really well.
Score: 1
By far the best filmed of the series, but the special effects aren’t as great as they could be. I liked how much they managed in the first two with little to no budget, but with a massive budget it was a little disapointing.
The music was great, but still not extremely distinctive. I doubt I’ll hear the soundtrack and know right away what it’s from.
Score: 0.5
This is a an angst-free and fun movie. It has all the elements that made the first two fun and everyone in the family enjoyed it.
Score: 1
My favourite of the three, but mostly for the return to an awesome world. It was fun and had some great songs.
Final Score: 4 Stars out of 5
Hello!
JenEric Designs, JenEric Coffee, The Travelling TARDIS, and Eric Desmarais will be at this weekend’s (Friday the 9th to the 11th) Ottawa Comiccon. at the EY Centre.
We’ll be at booths 2606-2608!
We will have a total of twelve coffe flavours along with our newest flavours Apple Pie and Bavarian Cream.
Hope to see you there!
Éric
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2022 film Lightyear.
This was a great concept. A movie about the real Buzz Lightyear. The character is the basis for the toy in Toy Story.
Unfortunately, there are some issues with this sort of story. People are expecting a movie about the cartoonish and silly character. This means that people who only care about Toy Story might be turned off by the science-fiction elements, while people who love science-fiction might be turned off by the the association with Toy Story.
That being said, this is an excellent adventure / science-fiction film with influence and nods to so many other great films.
Score: 1
The character of Buzz is only changed a little from the toy; his silliness is toned down, but he’s still brash, overconfident, and single-minded.
The rest of the cast, although not as fleshed out, are fun and have rewarding story arcs.
Score: 1
There are plenty of references to both Toy Story and classic Sci-Fi. With so much reference material, it could easily have been a quote fest that left people feeling like they missed something. The writers did a great job balancing the quotes and the original story. To a point that they’re great for those that know, but pass over other’s heads.
Score: 1
I was in awe of the space scenes, and pretty much all the animation. Pixar ups their quality with every movie and I love it. Beyond the animation, the cinematography is fantastic and references so many other great movies. The shot of Zurg’s ship rising from the floor was just like Vader’s in A New Hope, the airlocks look just like those of 2001: A Space Odyssey, there were plenty of others too.
The music was epic and had just the right balance to be remarkable but not overpower the action.
Score: 1
The fun you get from this is definitely influenced by your expectations. If you’re expecting the tone and feel of Toy Story, you’ll be disappointed. I went in expecting cheesy sci-fi and was surprised by how much fun it was.
My five and three year old both loved it and sat through the whole thing without complaining. The rest of the family seemed to really love it too.
Score: 1
The movie is a retro sci-fi with all the best parts from the movies of the genre in the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. It’s delightfully littered with Pixar and Sci-fi references and has a fun and heartwarming story.
Final Score: 5* Stars out of 5
*A 5 star review doesn’t mean the movie was perfect nor that it is perfect for everyone but it is a movie I believe is as close to perfect as possible.
Hello my Imaginary Friends,
It’s been an exciting six months and by that, I mean blarg. I still find it disturbing how much of the world is convinced the pandemic is over. Hopefully soon, we’ll see a vaccine for infants approved in Canada. Then I will feel much better, but I still am going to continue to be careful. It will be a while before I give up my mask.
Anyway, let’s see how I’m doing with my resolutions!
The hardest part about this year’s serial story is not writing ahead. Currently, as of this writing, dealing with carpal tunnel, that might not be a problem. Read from the beginning of the Aetherverse.
This went famously (haha). I loved writing this story and I’m glad that it’s now vacated that part of my brain that it’s been occupying for the past decade. Unfortunately, a spin-off series has decided to move in.
Pending health, I have no idea how this is going to go. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish it, but if not, I’m not going to risk injuring myself worse over it.
Unlike Copper Tarnish, this book starts from scratch/random jot notes, and won’t need heavy line-editing before I start, so I should be able to do this one with dictation software. I hope.
I created an entire ridiculously complex module for mixing components that was just way too much. So, I remade it in a simpler way and it seems to be working really well. I’m continuing to tweak and add more monsters as I go. Mostly, I’m just having fun with the system and my players.
You may be sensing a theme, but depending on health issues, we may be dropping to four days a week, but not yet, and I don’t know. So we’ll see.
So far, so good. I might need to create a template to copy-paste to make my life easier.
Ottawa ComicCon is happening in September. This one will depend on how my health is. It’s not the highest priority; that will be roasting and packing ComicCon levels of coffee.
Other than books that I’ve written or that Jen wrote, I’m a little behind on this. As in, halfway through the first book. But for some reason, I forsee having more chances to read (if Jen will let me).
Honestly, I have no idea how I’m doing on this one. I do know that I’m a terrible injured/sick person. Feeling like I’m letting people down makes me grumpy.
I have developed tools to help me de-stress. Playing ukulele, reading, writing, playing video games, and cooking. The only one of those that I can currently do without hurting myself is reading. Let’s hope this dictation software works and doesn’t add to the stress.
My work is also irrationally pushing a return to the office and that’s still causing lots of stress with an unvaccinated toddler. HURRY THE F UP, HEALTH CANADA!
I was doing well with this. I even memorized the Spider-man theme on the bass and wrote a song for the ukulele. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to do this for a while.
The good news, I haven’t utterly failed at anything yet and I have a few Successes.
I’m going to take that as a positive and just do what I can for the rest of the year.
How are your resolutions going?
Éric
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Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2022 film Uncharted.
The story isn’t all that original and is best when they’re doing the treasure hunting parts.
Score: 0.5
Every character is backstabbing and tragic. It’s a little tired by the end, especially when they try to make them seem less bad. Nathan Drake is likeable because he’s the main character and Tom Holland is a sweetheart. The rest are kinda meh.
Score: 0.5
Fun quips, silly dialogue, and archeological techno-babble is all fun, but other than Drake, no one seemed to have any emotions.
Score: 0.5
It’s a little too obvious that the movie was built around the visuals and the fight scenes. It’s gorgeous and beautiful to look at.
The music is fantastic and has wonderful references to the game.
Score: 1
The treasure hunting was fantastic, but the character moments mostly fell flat. It frustrated me that no one corrected the “found gold” narrative when it was obviously gold belonging to the natives.
Score: 1
A visual spectacle with little to no plot that is completely carried by the charisma of Tom Holland. The treasure hunt is exciting and the puzzels interesting. It’s fun with great action scenes, but not super memorable.
Final Score: 3.5 out of 5
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Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2022 film Better Nate Than Ever.
This is a combination of musical, kid running away, and trying to reach your dream. It’s fairly predictable but lots of fun. I liked the friendship and I really liked the casualness of his sexuality.
I do feel there should have at least been a little bit of dialogue about him running away between him and his parents. They should have at least admitted that they pushed him to run away with their disregard for his dreams.
Score: 0.5
I didn’t like the parents. I found they were, as usual for an American movie, too focused on the sports star and too dismissive of the younger son. I also found the line where the dad is justifying Nate sleeping over at a girls house a little ridiculous. He says that’s it okay because, “Nate is different.” That works if they’ve had a talk about his sexuality, but if the dad is just guessing, that’s a dangerous line of thought. We bisexuals exist and there are a lot of boys who look or sound gay and are somewhere else in the spectrum.
The dynamics between the best friend and Nate are great and I love the aunt. The brother’s growth is well done.
Score: 0.5
The dialogue was pure Broadway fan with a few explanations for those who didn’t know. It was clever, witty, and quick while still being hopeful and naive. I loved it.
Score: 1
The movie was excellently framed and shot, making perfect use of the camera without being too static. The sets and locations were a great mix.
The music was perfectly picked and the musical numbers were a lot of fun.
Score: 1
This is a feelgood movie with lots of hope and talent. My 2yo was glued to the screen and my 5yo was writhing on the floor in second-hand embarrassment (she really doesn’t like movies where kids lie to their parents.)
The rest of us had big grins on our faces most of the time.
Score: 1
A fun, exciting, and musically filled film with lots of heart. I hope that the matter-of-fact treatment of sexuality is something we’ll see more of in the future.
This movie will make you smile and want to get up and dance. It almost made me want to audition for something.
Final Score: 4 Stars out of 5
