I'm always willing to talk Marvel stuff I'm on such a marvel kick lately. I gotta watch Winter Soldier again, but I think it's my favorite Marvel move so far.
Finally got to seeing In Bruges, loved it. Maybe I'm a but late to the party but it was fun.
Also followed up with Killing Them Softly; I loved what it was doing as a film. The scenes were great experiences, though, perhaps by design, found no investment in the characters or the greater plot. It was all about the vignettes.
Bronson also was seen recently, I can't think of a more entertaining prison movie.
Fury was good, the tank combat was intense. The personal "feels" bits were ok, but the best if those scenes felt like a cut from Inglorious Basterds.
Birdman was a very strange movie, but was enjoyable. Michael Keaton and Edward Norton were both excellent. Not a movie for everyone, but definitely unique.
Maleficent isn't very good. I really liked the first 30 minutes or so, up until Maleficent enters the castle to see the young princess for the first time. It packs a real emotional punch, and explains why, in the original Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent wanted to put a curse on the child.
But from then on, it's just shit. And I'd heard it was good.
With Saving Mr Banks, and now this, Disney really isn't winning me over with the "Revisit the Classics" trend.
300: Rise of an Empire was so poorly directed, scripted, and overall made. I can't believe how boring it was. The actor who played Themistocles had no charisma whatsoever. The first 30 minutes is basically nothing but exposition and when we do get to the action, it's muddled crappy cgi that looks worse than many video game real time events. The movie didn't handle that naval combat aspect of the premise well; the water seemed to get in the way of the story and action instead of enhancing it. I'm not asking for an in depth look at ancient naval combat but you have to show some distinction between ships in order for these battles to not look like woody mulch floating on a pond.
For a decent but not great recent naval action movie, check out "The Admiral", a South Korean film about Yi Sun Shin. It's a unapologetic nationalistic propaganda but its pretty entertaining when it does finally get to the combat. The k-drama cliches are in full force though, seriously why does every other k-drama have a mute/deaf/blind female love interest? And the writers basically missed their own point by having one ship essentially solo a fleet instead of sticking to a more strict historical story.
If we wanna talk historical k-dramas, My Way is awesome. Just saw that recently, and I'd watch it again sometime.
Snowpiercer is now on Netflix, and I finally got to see it. I am pumped at how cool it was... definitely another gotta see it again movie. Everyone compares it to a video game, and rightly so; it would make a cool mod for sure.
The Hobbit 2 - Kept putting me to sleep. Well produced of course but I am just not interested. Makes me sad, as a childhood fan of the book.
Syriana - A 2005 drama/thriller that follows multiple intertwined threads of geopolitical conflict. A good, but not great, movie. Probably more of a product of the time that will not age well, as it feels more like a reaction to Bush-era politics.
Oblivion - Tom Cruise may be a little bit crazy but he still makes great action movies! I picked up on at least 2 major plot holes, which was unfortunate, and marred an otherwise very good movie. Cruise acted his pants off, the sci-fi world they created was pretty damn cool, etc. It did feel a bit like somebody watched Moon and said "hey, needs more guns!"
Tonight we watched Snowpiercer. I only knew the barest of facts going in, and had seen no trailers or anything.
Holy shit. Waaaaaay crazier than I thought it would be, but then again I didn't know it was a Korean production. Juliane really enjoyed the start, but it got very violent. I thought the fights and violence was really amazing, but I can see how that plus the plot questions and ending might put someone off.
I definitely plan on watching that one as soon as I get the chance. Very happy to see it hit Netflix.
I forgot to mention that after it was discussed on the podcast, I wound up watching Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Very good old movie, worthy of its reputation.
Last night I watched The Cameraman. It's probably the funniest movies I've watched this year. It's Buster Keaton at his best, I think. The stunts are toned down for really strong story telling and a more subtle romance plot than expected.
Also I watched it at screening with a live piano accompaniment, which really brought the movie to life. That's what silent movies are best for, I reckon, when the musician can react to the audience as well as just reflecting what is going on in the movie itself.
Maleficent Pretty good. The CG wasn't great, and her wings were pretty fakey looking when she flew, but for what that movie was, it was an enjoyable watch. The only thing I really disliked was the three fairies and their "three stooges" slapstick. They could have been excised entirely from the film with no loss.
Lincoln Surprisingly entertaining. Surprisingly brilliant in that it only follow the waning years of the war. The acting was great, and there are a lot of interesting characters. It covers the passage of the 13th amendment, which was not nearly so simple as people often assume.
Edge of Tomorrow Damn son. Super fun, super well done. Watch it in glorious HD.
Predestination I really liked this movie. I don't want to say anything, not even what it's based on. The trailer is highly misleading. Go see it. Don't read about it.
Finished Snowpiercer. Definitely fits the bill of "not very good, but entertaining enough." We had about 15 minutes of plot development, then 1 hour and 45 minutes of ultraviolence as we march up the length of the train.
Saw Interstellar. Disappointed by it. Good atmosphere, good special effects, great acting...plot was pretty poor. Not only does the plot ask for a lot of suspension of disbelief (or inference as my brother and I were arguing about), but it's really harmed by Hans Zimmer's incredibly intrusive score that hurts the speaking. At the end of it, I wasn't exactly sure what Nolan was trying to say or accomplishment with how the movie played out.
I watched The Royal Tenenbaums. I really loved it up until about two thirds of the way through. Then it got long and boring. I had the same problem with both The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and The Darjeeling Limited. I didn't have this problem with Moonrise Kingdom. I hope The Grand Budapest Hotel is better.
The Grand Budapest Hotel is better. Much better. Of all Wes Anderson's movies I've seen, his last two have been the best, by far. Which is actually pretty cool. Many directors do good work, improve, then fall off a bit as they get older. Anderson seems to be improving. Sentiment has to imbue the characters and movies, you can't force it in after two thirds have gone past.
Interstellar was very good. Some missteps, but overall a very satisfying movie. It's good to see a director have the confidence to go head to head with Kubrick's 2001 and not fall flat.
Tried to have a bad movie night for laughs with - Transformers Extinction but oh my, it was so fucking bad I had to stop 30 minutes in. Then I fell asleep watching Godzilla.
In the continuing "Juliane watches Arnie action movies from the 80's" series:
Predator!
It really holds up. The story is super simple, but the visual storytelling works perfectly. The predator itself is still an awesome monster, even if its memory is tarnished by later movies.
A friend watched the Jurassic World trailer and said "So the new movie will be Jurassic Park mixed with Predator?" and it turns out I'm totally cool with that, if that's what it is.
At the urging of my younger cousin, I watched "How to Train Your Dragon 2" without seeing the original. The moral of the story that I got from it is "Don't negotiate with terrorists."
I watched Jon Favreau's 'Chef' last night. Very predictable and almost self serving. I guess he got to act out a happy story with his actor friends. Some commentary on social media which was jammed down the viewer's throat.
Adult fairy tale which was interesting enough to watch once but don't go out of your way to do so.
A transatlantic flight means I catch up on the dumb action and comedy movies I'd never see in the cinema and probably wouldn't watch with Juliane either.
X-Men Days of Future Past turned out better than I expected. Which is weird, because the X-Men First Class turned out better than I expected too. While both are very silly, the both had solid stories that made me care about the characters. It helps that the end of this one wasn't solved by brute force but a singe character moment, and a good decision. Weird how the whole continuity is reset, but I guess that frees up the studio to do whatever the hell they want, just like Star Trek.
Lucy is dumb but fun. It was interesting to see them go to 100% in the end, but didn't make the whole film work. Certainly not the failure I'd heard from some people it would be.
Comments
I gotta watch Winter Soldier again, but I think it's my favorite Marvel move so far.
Also followed up with Killing Them Softly; I loved what it was doing as a film. The scenes were great experiences, though, perhaps by design, found no investment in the characters or the greater plot. It was all about the vignettes.
Bronson also was seen recently, I can't think of a more entertaining prison movie.
Fury was good, the tank combat was intense. The personal "feels" bits were ok, but the best if those scenes felt like a cut from Inglorious Basterds.
But from then on, it's just shit. And I'd heard it was good.
With Saving Mr Banks, and now this, Disney really isn't winning me over with the "Revisit the Classics" trend.
For a decent but not great recent naval action movie, check out "The Admiral", a South Korean film about Yi Sun Shin. It's a unapologetic nationalistic propaganda but its pretty entertaining when it does finally get to the combat. The k-drama cliches are in full force though, seriously why does every other k-drama have a mute/deaf/blind female love interest? And the writers basically missed their own point by having one ship essentially solo a fleet instead of sticking to a more strict historical story.
If you want to
Snowpiercer is now on Netflix, and I finally got to see it. I am pumped at how cool it was... definitely another gotta see it again movie. Everyone compares it to a video game, and rightly so; it would make a cool mod for sure.
The Hobbit 2 - Kept putting me to sleep. Well produced of course but I am just not interested. Makes me sad, as a childhood fan of the book.
Syriana - A 2005 drama/thriller that follows multiple intertwined threads of geopolitical conflict. A good, but not great, movie. Probably more of a product of the time that will not age well, as it feels more like a reaction to Bush-era politics.
Oblivion - Tom Cruise may be a little bit crazy but he still makes great action movies! I picked up on at least 2 major plot holes, which was unfortunate, and marred an otherwise very good movie. Cruise acted his pants off, the sci-fi world they created was pretty damn cool, etc. It did feel a bit like somebody watched Moon and said "hey, needs more guns!"
Holy shit. Waaaaaay crazier than I thought it would be, but then again I didn't know it was a Korean production. Juliane really enjoyed the start, but it got very violent. I thought the fights and violence was really amazing, but I can see how that plus the plot questions and ending might put someone off.
I forgot to mention that after it was discussed on the podcast, I wound up watching Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Very good old movie, worthy of its reputation.
Also I watched it at screening with a live piano accompaniment, which really brought the movie to life. That's what silent movies are best for, I reckon, when the musician can react to the audience as well as just reflecting what is going on in the movie itself.
Pretty good. The CG wasn't great, and her wings were pretty fakey looking when she flew, but for what that movie was, it was an enjoyable watch. The only thing I really disliked was the three fairies and their "three stooges" slapstick. They could have been excised entirely from the film with no loss.
Lincoln
Surprisingly entertaining. Surprisingly brilliant in that it only follow the waning years of the war. The acting was great, and there are a lot of interesting characters. It covers the passage of the 13th amendment, which was not nearly so simple as people often assume.
Edge of Tomorrow
Damn son. Super fun, super well done. Watch it in glorious HD.
Predestination
I really liked this movie. I don't want to say anything, not even what it's based on. The trailer is highly misleading. Go see it. Don't read about it.
Transformers Extinction but oh my, it was so fucking bad I had to stop 30 minutes in.
Then I fell asleep watching Godzilla.
I'm stupid for wasting my time.
Predator!
It really holds up. The story is super simple, but the visual storytelling works perfectly. The predator itself is still an awesome monster, even if its memory is tarnished by later movies.
A friend watched the Jurassic World trailer and said "So the new movie will be Jurassic Park mixed with Predator?" and it turns out I'm totally cool with that, if that's what it is.
Very predictable and almost self serving. I guess he got to act out a happy story with his actor friends. Some commentary on social media which was jammed down the viewer's throat.
Adult fairy tale which was interesting enough to watch once but don't go out of your way to do so.
X-Men Days of Future Past turned out better than I expected. Which is weird, because the X-Men First Class turned out better than I expected too. While both are very silly, the both had solid stories that made me care about the characters. It helps that the end of this one wasn't solved by brute force but a singe character moment, and a good decision. Weird how the whole continuity is reset, but I guess that frees up the studio to do whatever the hell they want, just like Star Trek.