The Movie You Saw Last

[Makuta of Time]

Last movie I saw was Kung Fu Hustle which was two nights ago. Pretty funny movie for almost all the action being CGI while the rest is live-action.

[Angel Beat]

Man of Steel

 

It was very nice...

[hachiroku]

Big Stan with Rob Schneider. He was a real estate agent and was convicted of fraud and was sent to prison for 3 years. Very hilarious and funny movie I may say.

[Krana Za]

Saving Private Ryan. It's a great movie.

[Hodor]

Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy.

 

Great watch, even if it's four hour running time (excluding the metric ton of special features, such as extended interviews and small features on things like Freddy's glove) is a bit much for some people. Well worth checking out, if you ask me.

[Velox]

Olympus Has Fallen. Definitely a very entertaining movie, for me. Yeah, there were quite a few plot holes and various other things wrong with it, but overall I still definitely enjoyed it. Probably because it was exactly what I expected--a fast-paced, action-packed, suspenseful movie. And that's exactly what I got. It's kinda sad that a lot of the bigger issues with the plot could have been avoided extremely easily, though. For example, the whole Cerberus plot-line was, essentially, quite unneeded at all, really--take it away and the movie wouldn't be much different, as long as a couple other things were heightened/expanded. The suspense and the stakes were high enough without it (especially if they made a bigger deal out of removing their troops/moving the fleet, which they should have), and the payoff from that was ultimately a let-down. Probably the biggest thing I was disappointed with, though, was that it wasn't the movie adaptation of Transfer of Power, by Vince Flynn, even though the plot was very similar in many ways. It's kind of funny, too, because Antoine Fuqua was originally signed on to direct the first Vince Flynn movie, Consent to Kill (now cancelled; the first movie is going to be American Assassin and directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff), and Gerard Butler was at one point considered for the lead role of Mitch Rapp. Similar character, similar plot, and the director was at one point going to make a Vince Flynn movie. It's just a shame it wasn't simply a novel adaptation, as I liked that plot more, too. Ah well.

Edited December 1, 2013 by Velox

[Dapper-Sama]

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Why, why did Netflix classify this as a comedy?

 

So many feels.

[Velox]

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Extended Edition (review/commentary here). Watched it twice over the weekend--really a great film. Can't wait for Desolation of Smaug.

Edited December 1, 2013 by Velox

[BBBBalta]

Captain Phillips. I really enjoyed it - the movie was incredibly intense, and the tension was pulled off perfectly.

[Terminus]

Thor: The Dark World

 

I didn't like it as much as the first, mainly because I though it was just too funny throughout the entire movie. Still, It was enjoyable, and I'm going to see it again tomorrow, this time with my family.

[BZCoolness]

Ender's Game.

 

I've read the book before and I think the movie did a very good job portraying it.

[Angel Beat]

Thor

 

I liked it.

[Makuta of Time]

Despicable Me 2. Still funny as the first one.

[Vorahk1Panrahk2]

Ruby Sparks- A movie about a writer who has such a vivid imagination, that the girlfriend character he was writing pops itself into reality. Shenanigans ensue. I feel like the screenplay didn't really explore the movie's themes deeply enough, and it has an especially problematic ending. Not only was it kind of insulting, but there's really no indication or evidence that the main character learned anything from his strange encounter with the title woman. Certainly not a bad film, and in some ways important, but it could have been so much more.

 

Snow Angels- This had less of a plot and was more of an exploration of relationships told through the intertwining stories of three couples: A divorced mother and father, their son falling in love with a classmate, and that son's ex babysitter's turbulent relationship with her husband. While I think it was a really interesting series of vignettes (even if one or two of them went fairly undeveloped), I'm not sure what I was supposed to pull from the film. That failing relationships are worth fighting for? Except that's definitely not what it's about. The best I can come up with is that it's trying to tell me that relationships are not easy, and that what starts off nice won't last unless you work at it.

 

Next up: The Master and The Dark Knight Rises.

[Legolover-361]

Gravity. I saw it with a friend today (and actually went to a theater for the first time in at least months), and it definitely met my expectations. I really enjoyed its plot, but its cinematography is beautiful.

[Wazdakka]

The Legend Reborn. After four years, I've finally seen it.

 

I loved it.

[BBBBalta]

Thor: The Dark World. It was, unsurprisingly, awesome. The best part was

Loki as Captain America.

 

[Meiko]

Just saw Catching Fire because a friend of mine got tickets from her friends. Outside of the theatres, it was An Adventure In Space And Time, or V For Vendetta.

[Onaku]

I don't really remember, but I think it was Thor: The Dark World.

[Legolover-361]

In honor of my eighteenth birthday, I watched Saw with a friend. I'm ambivalent toward the acting, but the plot is great.

[Makuta of Time]

Finally saw The Wolverine. It was epic but I'm wondering how the sticks got back up after she put them down the first time.

[Timelady Gallade]

Hunger Games. At school. Everyone jumped when the wolf thingys ate thaht one dude. o.O

[Voltex]

Just re-watched Spaceballs again. I will never tire of that movie.

[Velox]

^Love that movie. Definitely one of my favorite Comedy films (up there with The Princess Bride, The Court Jester, etc.).

 

Anyway, just watched Star Trek Into Darkness tonight for the first time after purchasing it from Amazon. Great film--Benedict Cumberbatch was amazing, as expected.

[Voltex]

At last I have seen The Butterfly Effect; I've been trying to have both the time and the film in my possession at once since 2010 to no avail until now. While it isn't the greatest film ever by any means, it was certainly worth the wait. Very tense, and the outcomes of the main character's actions were very interesting to see.

[Just A Dot]

I finally got around to seeing the first Ace Ventura movie. It was pretty darn good, but I liked the second one a bit better.

 

But a few hours before that, I saw Sharknado. Best. Movie. Ever.

[Makuta of Time]

Saw The Lone Ranger. Trying to figure out how it got nad ratings. It was pretty good.

[Dapper-Sama]

Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Best movie from the 1980's, bar none.

[BobaFett2]

The Dark Knight, for the first time. Now I have to see them all.

Edited December 5, 2013 by BobaFett2

[Vorahk1Panrahk2]

The Dark Knight Rises - When the movie opened with the unbelievably tired 'villain plans to get captured' trope, I figured I was going to regret the next two and a half hours. But, as it turned out, it wasn't all that bad. Nolan wisely dispels of a ridiculously overconvoluted plot (like its predecessor) in favor of something relatively simple, allowing the story to focus on Bruce Wayne as a character much like the first movie did. Fans will be disappointed that his Batman persona only shows up for maybe less than forty minutes of screentime, but I found it refreshing. Bruce Wayne is a broken man at the end of the second movie and there's no way they can introduce Batman without focusing on that pain. A wise, if probably unpopular, move for Nolan.

 

Although, also unlike its predecessors, I found the acting to be completely forgettable from everyone except Anne Hathaway and (of course) Michael Caine. Everyone else just seemed bored. Why that is, I can't say. Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard are both capable actors, and Bane's role was meaty enough that Tom Hardy should have been playing him with some enjoyment. Instead all these characters were just... flat. I have to label Christian Bale here as the worst offender, though, since the movie was supposed to be developing his character and he just didn't bring the script to life the way he should have.

 

So where do I place this movie in the trilogy? Probably on par with The Dark Knight. And of course Batman Begins is still the best.

 

On a somewhat related note, one has to feel sorry for Christopher Judge. The man goes from a leading role in a hit sci fi television series to 'Mercenary Security #4' in this movie. Here's hoping he gets a real role sometime in the future.

 

12 Years a Slave - I don't even know how to begin to write a review here. I just can't put into words how good it was. Sure I can go down a checklist and say it was perfectly acted and directed, beautifully shot and had a screenplay that captured all the emotions of the story without drifting into melodrama… but that just doesn't seem like enough.

 

If the movie does have flaws, and it really doesn't, it has two. The first is Brad Pitt's presence. While his acting is fine, it just seems strange that he pops in for a quick cameo. And the fact that he's one of the film's producer and the plays a character who ultimately saves the day just makes it kind of weird. The second flaw is, no surprise, Hans Zimmer's score, of which the main theme (basically his entire contribution to the music) is basically just a few notes from his Inception score... or Thin Red Line. It's hard to tell. But, hey, at least he wasn't hitting me over the head with a bass drum (looking at you, Dark Knight Rises). Neither of these things kill the movie in any way shape or form, and are really just me nitpicking.

 

So yeah. Believe the hype. Amazing movie.

 

The Master - About a man who, upon returning home from war, falls in with a quasi religious group/cult/thing. I don't actually know what to call it. While it's kind of a weird movie and it certainly isn't for everyone, I really enjoyed it. And I can't really think of anything else to say so I'll just end it there.

 

Cloud Atlas - It's hard to ignore just how ambitious this project is. How can a movie relate six completely unrelated stories? How can you make your actors show up in different roles in each story? How can you sell a three hour movie to an audience? After viewing the movie (and the Box Office results), I can't honestly say it completely accomplished its goals.

 

I've been looking forward to Cloud Atlas since I watched the six minute trailer last June, (and I stand by my belief that its one of the best trailers ever made, but that's beside my point) so the fact that I was finally able to watch it was thrilling. And, as such, I don't take these criticisms lightly. I have to say that it doesn't quite live up to expectations. Like the book, the stories are tied together with the thinnest of threads. The directors tried to rectify this by casting all the main actors as different characters in each story, and this was definitely a great idea. It's helps connect characters and themes together. The problem is that some of the actors are cast as basically nothing more than cameos in some of the stories, which in some cases completely drowned their significance to the overall story. The other issue is the makeup. I love what they tried to do, and I really appreciate it, but a lot of the makeup just did not look convincing, particularly in the case of the Neo-Seoul segment where they tried to make everyone look Korean. Readers of the book can explain their look away by noting that, in this time, facial surgery was the thing to do yourself, but the movie doesn't give that context. It just looks weird.

 

So, yeah, as the rottontomatoes summary says, the scope and ambitiousness of the project is impossible to ignore, and one can't help but really like and appreciate what the filmmakers set out to do here. The problem is that they didn't quite accomplish it. I'm torn, though, on wether I want a remake. On one hand, I think there's a lot of potential for a film like this and I'd love to see it fully realized. On the other hand, a remake wouldn't have all the elements that did work for this film, like the music and the actors. So all in all, Cloud Atlas is a mixed bag. Some will appreciate it, some will not. And while I don't think it's a perfect film, I certainly appreciated it.

Edited December 7, 2013 by Vorahk1Panrahk2

[Noxryn]

Thor 2 and I heavily enjoyed it even though the dark-elf dealio felt a little out of place, but then again I'm not familiar with the comics or anything and hey, I thought the sci-fi space elf idea was pretty cool (and they weren't reskinned vulcans so that's a plus).

 

Movie made me want to play my GW2 mesmer so much more, especially after Loki's parts.

[Makuta of Time]

Saw Catching Fire on Sunday. It was awesome, but I got spoilers since I didn't read the book.

[Voltex]

I got the opportunity to see Frozen last night. Everything good about the reviews was correct; it was an amazing movie and I wish more Disney films could be like it. I just wish there had been one or two more songs.

[Mr. House]

Ender's Game. Slightly rushed, but good overall.

[Archer Vonn]

watched the extended cut of the good, the bad, and the ugly. such a great film. easily in my top 3.

[Vorahk1Panrahk2]

Frozen

 

Was I looking forward to this movie for a long time? I have no idea, but I can't remember when I wasn't looking forward to it. Anyway:

 

(There are some minor spoilers in here. I don't really give away any plot details, but I do give away some of the more unexpected elements of the film. If you haven't seen it yet and want to go in 'pure' [like I did], then don't read this.

 

 

 

Objective

 

I think this film is a pretty huge improvement for Disney with regard to the writing. Not only do they avoid many of the writing flaws from previous musical films (weak third act, badly developed love interests), but they actually end of subverting them by the end of the film. In that regard it's definitely one of Disney's better fairy tale musicals. Gone are the days of Ariel when the female heroine falls in love with a guy primarily for his looks, and instead we get a developing relationships that leave plenty of room for more character growth even after the movie ends. If this is the future of Disney princess musicals, I embrace it with open arms. Obviously there are some other writing problems (some of which I've highlighted below under "subjective," but, you know, baby steps.

 

Musically speaking we also see songs that are an improvement on what was given in Tangled and Princess and the Frog. While they still don't quite reach the heights of Disney Renaissance music (the lyrics seemed a bit wonky at times), it comes incredibly close. The centerpiece is, of course, Elsa's Let it Go, marvelously sung by Idina Menzel (of Wicked fame where she plays a somewhat similar character). While there are aspects of the song and scene I don't care for (see: "subjective") it's almost certain that the song and the animation that accompanies it will long be remembered as one of the great Disney scenes right up there with ones like A Whole New World, Under the Sea, or I Just Can't Wait to Be King. It really was that marvelous. And the rest of the movie is just as well animated. Frozen wastelands and blizzards have never looked more beautiful. I had doubts (mostly nostalgia based) about how well 3D animation would work for Disney's fairy tale musicals. Tangled distilled some of those doubts, but Frozen really shattered them. While I still really want to see more hand drawn stuff from Disney, if the 3D animation gives us more scenes like Let it Go, then bring it on.

 

Subjective

 

It's one thing to say that the film is extremely well written (by Disney standards, at least) and boasts great music and stunning animation, but it's another thing to actually care about any of this. And I just... couldn't. It's not that I regret watching, and I definitely liked it, but I just couldn't get emotionally invested in it. Below I've listed a few reasons why that might be. I don't really know if these are legitimate criticisms or just my personal taste at work, so I've listed them under this 'subjective' section. Because I feel like that makes sense to do.

 

1.) Pacing - One of the reasons Tangled resinated with so much is because the film took time to pause in its story and just let the characters be themselves. Such as Rapunzel's opening song, or the campfire scene, or the scenes of Rapunzel and Flynn having fun in the kingdom. Frozen didn't really have any of these moments, and as such the plot just seemed to come and go in rapid fire. What we really needed were some more moments between Elsa and Anna. We're sort of just supposed to believe that these characters were super close during the first four-ish years of their lives, but we only ever see the tail end of it. They definitely needed more interaction so we could get to know them better as individuals instead of just characters. There's also the character of Elsa, who is actually really fascinating. There's a lot of potential for her as a character once she exiles herself, but we never see anything from her perspective. She just shows up when the plot demands it. I think the writers made a huge mistake with not giving us a few more scenes of her.

 

2.) The music placement - Frozen boasts several more full songs than Tangled did (by my count, at least two more full songs not counting reprises), and I really like it. The problem is with where the songs where placed. The beginning was very frontloaded with the best songs on the soundtrack, culminating (appropriately) with Let it Go, not even half way through the movie. The rear of the movie gives us two more songs (Olaf's Song and Troll Song), but they're 'fun songs', and not nearly as musically interesting nor plot advancing (if that's a phrase) as the other songs. They just felt there, with no real purpose other than to give the wacky characters something to sing, as Disney movies like to do. And for that matter they weren't even great songs. This music distribution might be one reason why I began to lose what little investment I had.

 

3.) The instrumental music - I loved what Christophe Beck did for Paperman, but this movie proves that there really is no replacement for Alan Menken in the world of Disney musicals. As criticized as it was, I felt like his score for Tangled was much more emotional and interesting than what Beck gave us here. And I wasn't too fond of how many musical styles where used for the lyrical stuff either. I guess they all sounded very Broadway, but stylistically they were really different, and none of them really fit with the Nordic setting of the film. I guess I was just expecting something more.

 

4.) Olaf - I know why he's in the movie, but sorry, he just wasn't funny.

 

I have to wonder if, perhaps, I just spoiled myself with Tangled. Despite that film's flaws I was charmed by the characters, the music, and the voice acting. Maybe that's why I compared it so much in this review: I was expecting Tangled and I didn't get it (which, when you think about it, should be a good thing). To be honest I have no idea why I couldn't get emotionally invested in Frozen, but I did like it. Believe that. I will definitely watch it again to give it a second try.

 

And on a note that's completely unrelated to everything above, I love the look that Elsa gives when she delivers the last line of Let it Go ("The cold never bothered me anyway"). It was just so amazingly sassy.

 

Edited February 3, 2014 by Vorahk1Panrahk2

[Velox]

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Ahhhhhhhh.

[Vorahk1Panrahk2]

All these comments contain spoilers to a degree, but none of them are really major so I won't use a spoiler tag. So if you don't want spoilers for the italicized titles... don't read the paragraphs below them.

 

Dr. Zhivago

 

David Lean makes the greatest epics of all time and I don't think anyone will ever surpass him in that regard. This movie tells the story of a man caught up in love and romance during the Bolshevik revolution. It was hard for me to appreciate this movie given that my family was distracting me from watching it properly at the time, but it contained the grand music and sweeping cinematography that Lean has made a staple of his films, and I thoroughly enjoyed what I was able to view. I'll definitely watch it again when I have some more personal time.

 

Wreck it Ralph

 

I'm not a huge fan of videogames and this movie never really looked like something that would appeal to me. Which is why I'm so glad this movie isn't really about video games. I mean, it is obviously, but it's really not. It dealt with themes of acceptance, of both yourself and of others, that really resonated with me. I do think the film could have benefitted from dropping the romance subplot between two characters we just don't care about, because frankly it didn't add anything to the script. That's a minor nitpick though in a film which I thoroughly enjoyed.

 

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

 

This film undoubtedly suffers from 'middle movie syndrome' and is pretty much proof that splitting this series into three movies was a really bad idea. But even though some action sequences run too long (and some scenes even run too short) I felt it was a huge improvement on the last installment. I'm still not fond of some of Jackson's adaption choices (Taurial and Kili's thing, Dwarves vs. Smaug) but overall I did enjoy the film and look forward to the next installment. When I stop being lazy and write a more in depth review I'll edit this post (hint: probably won't happen).

 

Thale

 

A Norwegian movie about two crime scene cleaners who find a creature-of-Scandinavian-folklore (named Thale) chained up in a house. Shenanigans ensue. One could be forgiven for writing this off as a cheap, low budget, really dumb horror film. I wouldn't blame you because I did the same thing. And while it was definitely cheap (I can't say I've ever seen a cheaper looking film), it was really not that bad. And it wasn't even a horror film really. It contained horror elements, but was more along the lines of an ET-esque fantasy where you have characters from two completely different worlds coming together and interacting. This is supported by the film's music, which was quite beautiful and had much more of a fantastical sound than a horror one. Yes there are moments in the beginning when the characters (and as such the audience) are quite scared of this creature (after all she is initially violent and the creature's caretaker is dead), but that's about where the horror ends. I do think that these moments could have been downplayed in order to elevate the emotion when the characters do start to bond, but I can't fault the writer/director for wanting to place us in the character's shoes.

 

Where the film really falls short is in the third act. A few villains are introduced, but they're out of the blue. They're random. We don't know their motivation and we really have no idea who they even are. This again places us in the same boat as the characters, but this only works up to a point, and that point is reached when the audience can't figure out what is going on. And, quite frankly, I couldn't figure out what was going on. To me the villains were no better than pieces of cardboard used to show the audience what Thale is really capable of, and the fact that these scenes (or at least the previous scenes- I can't remember) where accompanied by a sloppy expositional voiceover didn't help much.

 

I'm not sure how I would fix this movie. Obviously it needed a bigger budget. The acting and CGI effects were surprisingly decent (for a $10,000 flick), but the camerawork was absolutely shoddy. But, really, it needs a script rewrite. I think instead of having a random human organization as the villain, the film should have included the creature's "family" as villains. This way there's tension throughout about what this family will do about these human characters, and there's still lots of room for the bonding element that was the core of the film. So while this wasn't a great film, it could have easily been a lot worse. And it does have some redeeming elements. Although according to an internet review aggregate website I am in the minority here, so maybe you shouldn't listen to me.

Edited December 27, 2013 by Vorahk1Panrahk2

[Voltex]

The Wolf of Wall Street

 

Pretty good film, would definitely recommend

[NorikSigma]

In-theatre: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Amazing.

 

Donny Darko. Probably one of the most confusing movies I've ever watched...

Well, if you do a little online research it sorts make a little sense. Essentially, something is displaced into an alternate timeline, and Mr. Darko has to return it. Physics bends to his will, and when said object returns, he gets killed by the aforementioned something.