Hi Khush! Here are some random thoughts on movies you saw recently
Hi-ya Fatty the Hutt!
Now you've done it. Maybe I will get into this a bit more.
The Good Dinosaur - OK, I guess. Lesser Pixar. Wasn't blown away
There were moments as I was watching it that I thought to myself that this is better than a lot of other Pixar movies and other times where it just seemed like the pacing was off or that it was two different directions competing with each other as to what this film should be. It took awhile but when the T-Rex's showed up, I realized that movie seemed to be going with a Dinosaur Western type setting but then there were other characters that just didn't seem to fit that mold either like a group of pterodactyls or John Ratzenberger's character or even the main dinosaur/human relationship. I guess it makes sense considering the movie had gone through a few rewrites and changes and was originally planned to be released a few years ago. There's also weird tonal issues. It's supposed to be family friendly but one story by a T-Rex and it's survival against some crocs as well as a few other moments that seemed to go past the family friendliness. Yet, to stay within that friendliness there are scenes in which dinosaurs fight but no real harm or damage is done which doesn't seem realistic and ruins the suspension of disbelief. In the end, it makes me wonder if it might have been a stronger movie by giving up the G rating and allowing for a bit more of embracing the danger elements of dinosaurs. Doesn't mean it has to go the Jurassic Park route but it may have been a factor in developing this movie as well.
PotC: Black Pearl - like
PotC: Dead Man's Chest - like a little less, drags a bit
PotC: At World's End - remember liking more, haven't seen it recently though. It's the crazy one. Plus I think DMC sufers from lack of Barbossa. He's back in this one thankfully. Giant Tia Dalma still makes me laugh.
PotC: On Stranger Tides - Barbossa in courtier whiteface for most of this was a pain but the payoff was pretty good. Plus, Killer Mermaids! Sadly, I thought Blackbeard was miscast, as much as I love Al Swearengen.
Let's group these together. For me, I'd rank the series as 1,2,4,3 as best to worst. I actually like the second one a lot myself and the only thing that prevents me from putting it as the top film is that it isn't really a complete film on its own. The first is a complete film on its own that doesn't require seeing anything else to get the whole story. I actually think the action drags a bit on the first one particularly in the end when Jack and Barbossa are fighting but neither can be killed. It just makes the whole fight pointless because it removes the stakes and threat from the fight. I actually thought the action in the second was the highpoint of the series particularly when the chest is located and it becomes an insane free-for-all battle. The third movie unfortunately seems to undo all the good from the first two with how it concludes many of the characters storylines and gets bogged down in the mythology and magic it has created making while struggling to find ways to surpass the action that came before but not quite succeeding. The fourth film is a better return to form although it feels like a sea-faring Indiana Jones movie. The problem is that by jettisoning so many of the characters from the first three, it feels lesser as though it is missing something and it is unable to equal the first two in action or thrills but it still has its moments like the aforementioned mermaids.
Rocky Balboa - really enjoyed this. Great capper to the series. Haven't seen Creed yet.
I've only ever seen the first Rocky and then I saw Creed a couple months ago. Because of Creed's release, some movie channels were playing older Rocky movies so I watched this and the fifth one to see what they were like. Despite not being as good as Creed, they were still engrossing and I still enjoyed them. I think one of the underappreciated aspect of the Rocky movies is their music. The score really helps elevate the material making it better than it probably should be. Watching these films helped me appreciate some of the references that were in Creed that I didn't even realize were references until watching this which may have further helped the appeal. But do check out Creed. I thought that movie was much better than either of these.
Star Wars 7 - I'm up to 3 viewings. You could say I was a fan
You know, I missed out on the whole Star Wars review thread so I'll make some comments on this now.
There were parts of it that I thought were great and it definitely had its moments yet I had this weird feeling in my head like I was watching something for the first time that was new yet I'd already seen it all before. It definitely struck me as a combination of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back blended together. After this and Star Trek: Into Darkness, it left me wondering if J.J. Abrams has ever had an original idea in his life. Although that sounds harsher than I actually feel about it.
The biggest weakness is that you could almost view it as a re-make or replacement of the original A New Hope except for how the force is never explained to Rey like it is to Luke in the original. Somehow, Rey just guesses or learns how to use the force despite not getting any real instructions on it. If this was someone's first Star Wars movie, I don't see how they'd understand what characters are doing with the force with how it's shown and used in this movie. Say what you want about the other Star Wars movies but I think if a person were to watch any of those movies as their first one without having seen any of the others, I think you can understand the rules of that universe and that you wouldn't really need to have seen any other film first to understand the characters. They could mostly act as a standalone film. This one seemed to depend or rely on you having at least seen the original trilogy which then makes it so weird that they blended the first two films of it.
SPOILER WARNING in case some of you still haven't seen it.
Thinking about the movie on my way home after watching it, I pictured Harrison Ford watching this movie and then doing a fist pump when Han Solo was killed and thrown in the pit and maybe thinking to himself, I'm finally free of this bloody movie franchise. I wonder if Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill are also super jealous and hoping they can be killed off as well. I love how so many of the stars of Star Wars hate being constantly associated with the films and the undying fandom for them. A couple other things that struck me while watching the films. "Why does everyone want to keep going back to Jakku?!" The aliens that Han and Chewie were carrying get released and proceed to attack and kill everyone they get in contact with. Except when one attacks Finn, then suddenly the creature decides to drag him away all through the ship despite killing everyone else instantly when attacking them. I didn't buy that. At first I thought Supreme Leader Snoke was this skyscraper tall alien until the transmission ended and it turned out to just be a hologram message. I like the idea of giant alien creatures. If we can have midget ewoks, why not 3 story tall aliens? Maybe we'll see something like that yet. A death planet? And the Empire is still building their weapons with one terrible defect in them? At least the second Death Star seemed to correct the mistake of the first and required some tough maneuvering to get inside to the center to blow it up. So many other things about the Death Planet I could question but won't. Saw the movie in 3D and really liked the one shot of being inside an X-Wing during the Maz (Katana?) dogfight. Took me back to my days of Rogue Squadron 2 and flying around in cockpit mode in that game. With the 3D, it was even more immersive. Hope the upcoming Rogue One has more shots like that. When Kylo Ren was walking on the long platform and then Han called out to him and met him on it, I couldn't help but marvel at how the Empire just doesn't believe in workplace safety like maybe having a hand or guard rail along each side of a platform like that. I did like Kylo Ren's fits and the storm trooper reactions to them. Chewie may have been the secret star of this film. Everything with him was great. I thought Finn might have died in that final battle and I suddenly saw this moment of boldness for the film introducing this character and making him such a major player throughout only to lose him. Maybe the next films would also have big characters that would be major players but also be offed and only star in the one film. Now that we don't know what to expect or who might survive, everyone is danger whether old or new. However, it turns out he did survive so that moment quickly passed. Shame. And after a whole movie of all the characters asking, "Where's Poochy, er, I mean, Luke?", we finally get to see him at the end only for him to stand still and say nothing while Rey holds out a lightsaber to him and says nothing and they do this for 2 years until the next episode starts up. Mr. Turner - very disappointing to me. Seemed to be a collection of scens of "Hey, remember when Turner did this? Crazy, huh?" Well acted but left me with a big sense of "Who cares?" I would rather have seen a 45 minute documentary.
Agreed. It has a few interesting scenes and moments but it just seems to lack direction. What was the purpose of this film? It's a shame because it has some great cinematography to it. Visually, it's brilliant doing a great job of capturing the artistic beauty that Mr. Turner could see or be inspired by. But narratively it is lacking with little in the way of character development. I feel like it is worth a watch for the cinematography but its hard to recommend even with the occasional interesting moment scattered throughout.
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior - solid flick. Holds up. Original Mad Max is pretty good, too.
Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome - Yeah! Tina Turner in all her 80s hair glory. And Ewoks, erm, I mean kids soften up ol Mad Max. This is the weakest entry but I have a soft spot of nostalgia for it.
Mad Max is the rare franchise where it seems that every entry is better than the one before it. I actually think the 3rd one is better than the 2nd in this case but I can get why someone would like the 2nd over the 3rd. It just seems like that with every film as the production values grow, it gets closer to Miller's ideal of what this world is like, becomes narratively stronger and is visually more appealing. That said, I'm just not big on this series like some people and don't see myself revisiting it anytime soon.
Far From the Madding Crowd - was this the 2015 one or the 1967 one? I've wanted to see both/either. How was it?
The 2015 version. I quite enjoyed but I do like these kinds of stories and films. The 3 suitor conflict may have been wrapped up a little conveniently but that happens a lot with older novels like this. Still, I enjoyed the journey and the ending love felt hard-fought, deserved and right and isn't that how you want a romance to feel? Plus, how can be against a movie that wants to feature a bunch of sheep abuse?
Brooklyn - any good, or sentimental NPR crowd pap?
This is a hard movie to describe. It plays out very understated. There's really nothing flashy about. It doesn't really have any major high points or low points. I can't say I really felt a lot watching it although it did have moments that made me laugh from time to time. I also thought the conflict that arises late in the film felt rather unnecessary and could have easily been avoided although I do get the motivation for why it takes place. And yet, when the movie spells out its message at the end as the main character talks to another character that reminds them of a time earlier in the movie, it really stuck with me and impacted me. As such, the whole movie has stuck with me and I'm still thinking of it from time to time despite having seen it over a month ago now. It might be because I've gone through a bit of that situation in the past year myself. I think if you like Far From the Madding Crowd, there should be no reason you wouldn't enjoy Brooklyn as well. I just can't figure out how a movie that plays out as unassuming as it does managed to find its way under my skin and stick with me so much. It's a puzzle but a pleasant one nonetheless. And it's interesting to see Emily Bret Rickards from Arrow pop up in other media.
Judgement at Nuremburg - love, love, love this flick, even with all it's usual Kramer heart-and-politics-on-his sleeve overtones. Max Schell is just so damn good in this. So is Deitrich. And Monty Clift, ouch. That is a great performance from a very broken actor. He leaves it all up there.
I don't think there is a weak link in any of the performances really. Lancaster and Tracy also do good work here. This is a case where the Kramer's politics do help the film because it really does raise a lot of interesting questions especially through Schell's defense. Even more surprising is how Schell was right about the convictions not lasting. Much better than The Reader which sort of delves into some of this same discussion and topic. This was nominated for Best Picture in 1961 but lost to West Side Story. I think this is a better film than West Side Story but not better than The Hustler which would be my pick for Best Picture Winner that year. It's maybe a more an emotional pick but while I found JaN to by highly engaging and intellectually thought-provoking, I find The Hustler to be a good pseudo Film Noir that appeals to my sensibilities and sticks with me more.
Precious - I've heard this is a comedy masterpiece.
That is a great review. I went into this movie not knowing anything much about it and was as odd as that person describes it. I'm surprised it was nominated for Best Picture. There's really nothing about I'd recommend especially if you just read that review unless you want to see for yourself if it is as crazy as it sounds.
Oz: The Great and Powerful - I enjoyed this, for what it is.
I did too. It did really well in coming up with an origin story for how things came to be before Dorothy's arrival and succeeded more than I would have thought possible. My only gripe is that the ruby slippers don't show up. In the OZ books, there are wicked witches in the east and west and good witches in the north and south. Glenda is the good witch of the south, everyone knows about the wicked witch of the West whom Dorothy defeats and the wicked witch of the east is killed by Dorothy's house. Therefore, the other wicked witch in this movie should be the east witch and have the ruby slippers but they never come up or appear.
The Big Short - I liked this movie a lot until the last third or maybe quarter of the film. It seemed to lose its way and didn't know how or where to end. Plus, they patiently explained all the technical jargon all the way through until the end, when a lot of "stuff" happened that they did not stop to explain. I had to look it up afterwards and I'm still not sure I understand. Maybe the filmmakers don't either and that's why it felt like they dropped the ball at the end.
The only thing I ended up confused on at the end was what Steve Carrell's company's relationship was to Bear Stearns and how they were being affected to possible lose everything despite having the Shorts on the big banks that would bring in money. The funny thing is that despite understanding a lot of the other things explained in the movie, I'm still not clear as to how shorts work or how they would pay off aside from considering it like a wager or bet on the marketplace. I was disappointed that the cast of characters don't really engage each other much. Bale is all on his own in this film. Still, this is one of the top films of the year for me. It's interesting how the comedy works in this movie. For instance, there's the case of the banks laughing at Bale's character for making the deals with them that he does and yet we know the outcome so we are laughing at the banks for making that deal which is going to backfire on them. The movie does a good job of using a viewer's foreknowledge of the situation to good effect and keeping them interested despite kind of knowing the ending which isn't an easy thing to do.
Ex Machina - really been wanting to see this. I like good sci-fi. Is this the real deal?
Wecome back, Khush!
Good to be back. For Ex Machina, I'd heard good things about it and was looking forward to it as well but it wasn't as good as I hoped. The movie isn't really sci-fi. It's played more like a mystery thriller of who can you trust. The cinematography does its job of setting up and creating the proper atmosphere and tension. The problem for me is that I could see a lot of the "twists" coming and had guessed them early on. I agree with ShyGuy that the main character, whatever the blonde dudes name is, was a bit of a dunce. As far as I'm concerned, the A.I. failed the Turing test because I never saw it as anything but a machine which also didn't help in my sympathizing with the main character or getting on his side. Is it worth watching? Maybe. It still has some good moments and the production is really well done. However, I'd say temper your expectations and know its less sci-fi than expected. When it comes to A.I., I'll stick with what Person of Interest is doing even if its a bit more fantasy than sci-fi in that world.
Topic: Rate the last movie you've seen (Read 1553323 times)
