Various Movies

I liked The Marvels, but I'm not really excited about end of the year movies like Wonka and Disney's Wish. I saw the soccer/football movie Next Goal Wins last month but I was disappointed. There was a nice trans character on the team, but overall the film wasn't as hilarious as Taika's previous comedies. Will Arnett has a cameo as the new boyfriend of the coach's ex-wife, but it was too little. There was a slight mystery/twist about the coach's daughter, but I didn't care that much by that point.

Meanwhile I did enjoy Godzilla Minus One recently. It's an excellent movie set in post-WWII Japan. The main character Koichi is a failed Kamikaze pilot, but he keeps encountering Godzilla attacks. He deals with war trauma and survivor's guilt while taking in a young woman and orphan baby into his home. People think that Noriko is his wife, and that he should enjoy the family that fate brought his way, but Koichi doesn't think he deserves to live or be happy. He gets a job helping to destroy sea mines off the coast of Japan, and becomes part of an amiable crew with the captain, scientist Doc, and the Kid who was too young for the recent war. When Godzilla becomes much bigger due to atomic testing, he destroys navy boats and then rampages on land in Ginza. Koichi gets to the point where he feels a personal stake in killing Godzilla and getting revenge for lost comrades and loved ones. The Japanese government (and the US) decline to solve the Godzilla problem, so a citizen-led effort of war veterans comes up with an intricate plan to trap and kill Godzilla. Koichi volunteers to be bait to lure Godzilla to the ocean trap, but he is secretly plotting to fly a true Kamikaze mission to blow up Godzilla. The movie really gets you invested in the emotional stakes while also showing off Godzilla's destructive rampages. I suppose the ending was setting up a sequel with a resurrected Godzilla. I wonder if the next sequel will continue to focus on Koichi and his family.