I saw The Karate Kid tonight. It was alright, pretty formulaic, but for that it was well written, well shot and had a pretty good soundtrack (Chinese Gorillaz!). The only thing that bothered me was Jackie Chan saving the day with fake medicine at the end.
Saw The Shawshank Redemption yesterday with my brother.
Amazing movie...but it annoys me that because it's so ingrained with pop culture, that a lot of the surprises were already spoiled to me. (Fuck you, Family Guy) It didn't spoil everything, but it was still absolutely great how everything turned out the way it did. Morgan Freeman, Tim Robbins, and it surprised me that I could recognize Clancy Brown...all amazing.
I saw The Karate Kid tonight. It was alright, pretty formulaic, but for that it was well written, well shot and had a pretty good soundtrack (Chinese Gorillaz!). The only thing that bothered me was Jackie Chan saving the day with fake medicine at the end.
Did the fake medicine save the day or did he use the fake medicine to trick the recipient into thinking he was getting medicine so that he would have faith in himself?
Did the fake medicine save the day or did he use the fake medicine to trick the recipient into thinking he was getting medicine so that he would have faith in himself?
In the very end it was the main character's courage that won the day, so it didn't really hurt the film's message, but they were reinforcing the mysticism behind "ancient Chinese healing" the whole time. Basically, a real doctor said that the main character shouldn't go on because he's too badly injured, and he's like "BUT I GOTTA WIN", then Jackie breaks out the alternative therapy and the kid walks off like nothing happened.
In the very end it was the main character's courage that won the day, so it didn't really hurt the film's message, but they were reinforcing the mysticism behind "ancient Chinese healing" the whole time. Basically, a real doctor said that the main character shouldn't go on because he's too badly injured, and he's like "BUT I GOTTA WIN", then Jackie breaks out the alternative therapy and the kid walks off like nothing happened.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs was a top notch kids movie. Had some genuinely funny moments, but I'm glad I waited for it to be on NetFlix. Well animated, very surreal, fast paced, and generally entertaining. My favorite characters were Chicken Brent, Steve the Monkey, and the rat-birds. Oh, and Mr. T did a voice. That adds awesome automatically.
I realize I haven't been seeing a lot of movies at all lately, but I recently got The Invention of Lying from Netflix and watched it. I really enjoyed it, and I think that although it got mixed reviews, the type of people who gave it the negative reviews are the type of people who wouldn't post on a forum like this, so I would give it a strong recommendation for anyone here who hasn't seen it.
I realize I haven't been seeing a lot of movies at all lately, but I recently got The Invention of Lying from Netflix and watched it. I really enjoyed it, and I think that although it got mixed reviews, the type of people who gave it the negative reviews are the type of people who wouldn't post on a forum like this, so I would give it a strong recommendation for anyone here who hasn't seen it.
I watched the first 20 minutes, but stopped because I found it was chronically unfunny. And I'd heard that it was only funny in the first half, and then turned more serious in the second. I decided if the first half hadn't made me smile, I'd best not stick around for the second.
My friends were complaining that they apparently kill people, which is a big no-no for the A-Team.
A-Team is based on a TV show from a time just before people got killed on TV. It's not that the A-Team didn't kill people on purpose as much as they could not do it on TV.
When we saw The Invention of Lying a while back, Adam and I were both disappointed. The first half, while not terribly funny, promised to be an interesting film that introduced some philosophical questions. Unfortunately, the second half was a formulaic, passionless "rom-com." It did not develop on, or even really make reference to, the philosophical topics introduced in the first half. Also, I know Ricky Gervais wants to become a dramatic actor and writer, I am just not convinced he has the chops. While I think his writing is hysterical, I almost always find him unfunny when he is acting. His acting technique seems to have two defaults hostile/pissy or blank faced cardboard cut-out. He doesn't even give proper deadpan half the time as he comes off so antagonistic. Anyway, that is my take on it, for whatever that is worth.
I want to preface this by saying that when I first saw Stranger than Fiction, I saw it for a rather shallow reason: I wanted to see it as another Will Ferrell movie, but I was sorely mistaken and disappointed when I found out it was Will Ferrell in a straight role. I didn't think much of it afterward mostly because I didn't appreciate it. It's now the last week of my post-grad year in High School and I had to watch it in my Short Fiction class because we will have a discussion about it soon.
I saw it again and it hit me really hard in a way that not only wasn't present the first time I saw it, but in a way that that most movies do not succeed in doing. I believe it to be Will Ferrell's masterpiece as of this point in his career, and I really wish he would gravitate toward more straight roles in the films he is in rather than the crazy comedies he's known for, because this film alone shows he has a wider range than we are used to seeing in him. I also realized that this is a kind of movie and/or script that does not come out as often as I would like. It's also an example of the kinds of scripts that Hollywood needs to produce so they can get out of the prequel/sequel/remake rut they're in now. All in all, if you haven't seen it; please do so because it really is a beautiful and thought-provoking film.
The new Karate Kid was surprisingly good. It didn't do anything new, but it left you satisfied in everything you would expect. I wonder if I went to China people would want to touch my hair a lot.
Re-watched Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. Go see this. It stands as a great Batman movie and I wish I saw it in theaters back in the day. It was better than the other Batman film that was out at the time. (Forever I think) If Bruce Timm is involved I'll try anything from Care Bears to...some other shitty thing.
The new Karate Kid was surprisingly good. It didn't do anything new, but it left you satisfied in everything you would expect. I wonder if I went to China people would want to touch my hair a lot.
I just saw Doubt. Wow...just wow...that was almost too much for me because of the power it has. As always, Meryl Streep and Phillip Seymour Hoffman were in top condition. However, the performance that impressed me more than Streep's (though by a sliver) was Amy Adams as Sister James.
Superman I & II. Far too cheesy at times and Lex Luthor seemed like more of a used car salesman than an evil genius. Also, he should have been bald throughout both movies. The movies were entertaining though.
Superman I & II. Far too cheesy at times and Lex Luthor seemed like more of a used car salesman than an evil genius. Also, he should have been bald throughout both movies. The movies were entertaining though.
Comments
:P
Amazing movie...but it annoys me that because it's so ingrained with pop culture, that a lot of the surprises were already spoiled to me. (Fuck you, Family Guy) It didn't spoil everything, but it was still absolutely great how everything turned out the way it did. Morgan Freeman, Tim Robbins, and it surprised me that I could recognize Clancy Brown...all amazing.
I guess he could shoot the Nazis.
I saw it again and it hit me really hard in a way that not only wasn't present the first time I saw it, but in a way that that most movies do not succeed in doing. I believe it to be Will Ferrell's masterpiece as of this point in his career, and I really wish he would gravitate toward more straight roles in the films he is in rather than the crazy comedies he's known for, because this film alone shows he has a wider range than we are used to seeing in him. I also realized that this is a kind of movie and/or script that does not come out as often as I would like. It's also an example of the kinds of scripts that Hollywood needs to produce so they can get out of the prequel/sequel/remake rut they're in now. All in all, if you haven't seen it; please do so because it really is a beautiful and thought-provoking film.
Re-watched Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. Go see this. It stands as a great Batman movie and I wish I saw it in theaters back in the day. It was better than the other Batman film that was out at the time. (Forever I think) If Bruce Timm is involved I'll try anything from Care Bears to...some other shitty thing.