What movies have you seen lately? Now with reviews!Movies 

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I've consciously skipped "The Hobbit" for just that reason. The first was bad enough, the second felt like an interminable sequence of filler with not much substance and too much "fan fiction" and spurious action sequences interwoven into the main story (what there was of it)... the Third... I can wait till it hits the small screen, I don't feel any great need to contribute to the big payola that convinces studios to milk these things till blood comes out the other end.

After King Kong, I'd finally cottoned onto the fact that Peter Jackson is as badly into action pornography as Michael Bay is. I guess the Elephant surfing scene in LOTR:ROTK should have tipped me off...
 
We saw Maleficent. My daughter loved it. She is now telling everyone about the movie where Maleficent is the hero in Sleeping Beauty.

My review: (7/10).
That score comes after getting over my irritation at Disney's repeated attempts to white wash their villains via retcons. It does not forgive the redefinition of true love in the retcon. That one is getting worn out and predictable, particularly with the way they portrayed the prince.

Where it fumbled the biggest for me was that it presents itself as gritty and dark, but makes everyone seem to be bumbling through the story worse than the cartoon version. Everything outside of Malefucent and Aurora is mostly accidental stupidity.

And why Maleficent started hanging around, and continued to do so for 16 years, is not made clear. The whole story comes undone because her motives are unclear at that point.


That said, it was an enjoyable movie. I liked having an explanation for why Maleficent was evil, even if the story decides that she isn't. They make the magic seem...well, magical.

Finally, a giant plus to Disney for once again making a movie an adult can watch and enjoy that a preschooler can also enjoy without problem.
 
Just saw the Hunger games part one, god that was a drag, I've learnt my lesson and I'll happily pass on part two.
 
.........Saw the mock trailer for Taken 3 ("Everyone just keeps taking my 🤬!!" :lol::lol:) so I watched A Walk Among Tombstones, another Liam Neeson flick. He's got the 'Murican accent down (nearly) but the film felt weird, almost as if the makers didn't know the direction they wanted to take the film in. In the end, a resounding "MEH". 4/10.
 
Birdman

To be honest, I found it a bit confusing. I can't go into detail without risking spoiling the story, but the acting was truly top-notch. 8.5/10 for the time being, I just need to think for a bit.
 
American Sniper 6/10

I went into this thinking it would be another US military koolaid movie but was pleasantly surprised to find it more a mix of Jarhead and a typical US military koolaid movie. The timelines were not very well conveyed, and the mish mash of being 'the' sniper and also being Rambo on house to house raids was a bit disjointed, a sniper can abandon his post... Um ok. I also didn't see the twist in the ending coming. Worth a watch, barely. Wasn't totally sold on Cooper's re-enactment it must be said.

The Imitation Game 7/10

I'd probably classify this as one of the most important stories that had to be told, but it's delivery was deformed and somewhat misaligned to many important elements to his life that somehow ended up on the cutting room floor. The treatment of one of the greatest minds in history by the UK Govt is abominable and this movie sheds some light on that, which is where its worth is. The annoying and intrusive music and selective story telling rubs out some of the good work though. Cumberbatch was good.
 
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Scarface

Despite being one of Pacino's iconic roles and my being a fan of the occasional DePalma film, I had never actually seen Scarface until last night.

Ultimately, I can see what DePalma was aiming for, even if I think he fell well short of it. Despite its length, the film is quite uneven; it takes its time to build up a head of steam, but then rushes to a conclusion when it needed to show Montana's steady descent into paranoia, cocaine addiction and ultimately madness. The ending also left too much unresolved.
 
Interstellar

That a movie dealing with a lot of scientific concepts was even considered for mainstream audiences has to be applauded. It would have been easy to fall into wafer-thin plot devices to keep 90% of movie-goers impressed, but this made an effort to keep the 10% of people who would want scientific "accuracy" happy too; not an easy feat. How conceptual ideas like black holes and higher dimensions was visualised in a digestable manner is quite magnificent.

There are some criticisms though; it's too long, the 40mins of Dr Mann could have been trimmed to 10 mins without losing any of the story. The organ based music was a bit OTT and some of the dialogue you could imagine was annotated with "with emphasis, for dumb people" in the margin of the script. I felt there was also some disjointedness between current technology (a Dodge Ram pickup) and technology capable of placing humans in stasis.

Thumbs up for Hamilton watch placement though :D

All in all, the 90% will love it and the 10% have enough legitimate scientific plausibility to not feel short changed. Definitely worth a re-watch.

8.5/10
 
Transformers: Age of Extinction(Blu-Ray)

3 hours of excruciating pain. Just wrong. All wrong. Bey messed up the Dinobots. Messed up Optimus Prime as a cool-headed leader. The story was not existent. The script for Walberg and Tucci... I dont see how either of them signed off to be featured in the movie. Their lines were dry, the girl who played his daughter had no character, her boyfriend didnt need to be in it. Sure, the paycheck was probably good and they were probably happy to take the banks money. It took me 4 days to watch the movie. I just couldnt sit there and watch it through from beginning to end.

And, sorry(not really), I'm spoiling it for those that havent seen it. Mark Walberg actually blocks a Transformer's killing blow... he blocks a giant, mechanized warrior's 20-foot long blade with an aliens gun!

Michael Bey, I want my money back.

Horrible/10
 
So THAT'S the subtitle!

My Year 7 class and I weren't sure, so we just took to calling it Transformers: Robot Dinosaur Explosions to be safe.
 
Surely, that's harsh.

It's worth a 3/10, at least, for teaching you the valuable life lesson that the Communist Chinese Government is more trustworthy than Urrh... America! Dual cashgrab advertising placement for the win.
 
I saw a couple of movies last weekend.


american_sniper_movie_poster.jpg

American Sniper (6.5/10)

I might be angered by the fact that my brother-in-law was so determined to see this film that we went to three theaters before we could find a reasonable showtime that wasn't sold out, but this is not worth the hype. If you have read some of Chris Kyle's stuff or know much about him, he comes off as a bit of a racist, speaking very poorly of Iraqis and having a very gung-ho attitude. The only sign of this in the film is that his group had The Punisher logo painted on their vehicles (winning the hearts and minds are we?) and him talking about how he regrets nothing because he was shooting bad guys that wanted to kill the good guys. It was so whitewashed that I even said that we will start hearing some different versions about Chris Kyle after the success of this film. It took less than three days to see my first article that painted him in a negative light, using statements from his own book. It felt too much like Captain America for me. They have a single scene where he and his wife are fighting over his going to war, but it just moves on. I got the feeling there was a bigger issue that never got flushed out.

The other issue I had is that the movie alludes to PTSD and his overcoming it and then going on to help other soldiers. But the years this all happens in is covered in roughly 3 minutes of the film. On minute he is talking to a therapist and the next everyone is thanking him for saving their lives in war and at home. If you want to be honest, that is the real story that needs to be told. The deadliest sniper in American history is not unbreakable, but triumphs and finds a way to continue saving lives.

My final issue was lack of visual continuity, and just general lack of caring in non-war scenes. I'm sure people have heard about the obviously fake, and kind of creepy baby, but that is just the worst of the issue. Things move, someone's hoodie keeps switching between zipped and unzipped, etc. It honestly feels like Eastwood was in the editing room perfecting every detail of the war scenes and then walked out and told them to rush the rest of it.

Ultimately, a lot of people want to know why Eastwood didn't get an Academy Award nomination for best director. The answer is simple: He didn't deserve one.



paddington_bear_ver4.jpg


Paddington (8.5/10)

If you have kids or a nostalgia for your favorite lost bear, Paddington is a good see. I didn't expect to enjoy a Kid-targeted holiday release, but this was surprisingly good, which got it an extra half point, for exceeding expectations.

He's cute, he's innocent, and he's unintentionally funny. That is why your kids will love it. His love of marmalade, his constant accidents, his entire walking disaster (like Curious George) bit is perfect for quality family entertainment.

But that isn't all that works in this film. Some of the shots are amazing. When he finally meets his family the camera angle has the Lost & Found sign directly over his head. It is small things like that, which can seem cheesy, but don't feel that way because the sign feels natural for a railway station.

It is fun, sweet, and innocent. Take your kids, or go to feel like a kid. Either way, you'll feel warm and cuddly afterward.
 
The Last Stand (Netflix)
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This movie is basically a 90 minute Chevrolet ad. It follows a sheriff and a fugitive from the FBI. The fugitive has escaped FBI custody and tries to escape to the Mexico border through a small town. The fugitive is driving a 1000HP Chevrolet Corvette ZR1. The sheriff's main car is a Chevrolet Silverado (Seen in the beginning) but in the final chase he drives a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Almost all Ford's seen in the film are destroyed (Crown Vic shot up, Ford FBI transport flipped by a ZR1) and the only wrecked Chevy at the end is the Camaro. Also it seems that half the convoy at the start is full of Chevrolet Voltz and Suburban's.

It's fun to watch but it isn't amazing. Just a big advert for Chevrolet really.

6/10

Need For Speed
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This was an OK movie but it wasn't as good as I expected as all the good parts of the film had already been shown in trailers so there wasn't anything to look forward to apart from the big race at the end that looks a lot like the NFSHP 2010 opening movie. I thought the race took place across the USA but it's a race that lasts 5 minutes and 80% of the film is him driving a Ford Mustang across America.

4/10
 
So we finally got out to the theater, after months of not, and we didn't have much choice. "Annie" had finished its run, didn't want to watch "American Sniper" (I've heard Cooper's performance was excellent, but I can wait for it to hit video before watching... and Eastwood's direction has always been hit-or-miss for me.)

This left:

"Into The Woods" (2015)

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Been waiting a while for this. There's a clamor for good musicals to be made into films (We're still waiting for "Wicked"), mostly from people who will never get a chance to see the actual play. But staying true to the play while simultaneously compressing some elements and expanding on others is a difficult balancing act.

An act that "Into the Woods" gets completely wrong.

This is not to say it's a completely bad movie. If you're a fan of the theater, you'll enjoy it. Great music, great acting. Meryl Streep's incredible expressive range is out in full force here, and Johnny Depp is, as expected, perfect as the Wolf... if a little un-nerving. And everyone else is understandably good. The Princes' duet is hilarious, as is Red Riding Hood, Anna Kendricks is charming, as usual, and the baker and his wife (James Corden, Emily Blunt) are a completely believable couple. Only "Jack" might disappoint, but that's relative... he does a fine job.

I loved the numbers, even the ones in the more dragging scenes.

But there's the rub... the movie drags. It feels like your standard play in three acts, and by the end of the third act, you're waiting to leave the theater... and there's an epilogue. Oh. Turns out the third act wasn't the Third Act. So it goes on, and on, and you get to the point where it feels like a morality play, but it's juggling too many balls in the air, so you're left wondering which one is the moral of the story in this mixed-up fable.

Part of the problem is that they retained too many of the conventions of the theater, the camera work and staging sometimes felt like it was built around people on a stage... there were clever moments (inside the Wolf's gullet, for example), but in the end, one wonders if they wouldn't have better off just filming the musical itself (a la Joseph and His Technicolor Dreamcoat). The movie felt like it needed an intermission, or certain scenes and effects streamlined. With better pacing, the mere two hour length would not be a problem.

It's worth noting that this feels long, whereas a three-hour epic like "Fiddler on the Roof" doesn't. Still, as a musical comedy, the first hour-and-a-half of "Into the Woods" is definitely worth watching. The acting is great. The music is great. There are some nice, emotional moments. There's lots of guffaw-worthy jokes and scenes. But the "after Happily Ever After" part? Well... you're not missing all that much.

6.5/10

(The missus doesn't agree that it felt like a stage play... but she gave it a 6. :lol: )
 
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Nightcrawler (7/10)

I'm a big Jake G fan, so I was looking forward to this; and whilst I wasn't astounded, it was still a good film. The progression of the story is well paced, without any plot holes and the complicated nature of the main character is ever present, but subtly. I do also like that the director kept the allusion of sex at that and spent zero time on any gratuitous scenes that would have added nothing to the story. The only part which I would really criticise is the choice of his car, which seemed out of alignment with his character (who kept modest dress and a ratty apartment) and seemed more like a product placement. I only saw the final plot twist too late too, I might add 👍

Big Hero 6 (7/10)

Typical Disney feel-good fare; cute characters, facial features that are copied and pasted from past movies and a storyline beaming encouraging messages, and sending good vibes out to those who watch. It does what is says on the tin. The mish mash of San Frantoyko was arb though.
 
So last night I ended up watching Death Race 2 & Death Race 3: Inferno.

Never new either existed as I think they were both straight to DVD prequels of the Jason Statham movie. Obviously had a smaller budget for these 2 movies, and no big name actors. Still plenty fighting and racing to keep me interested, and the ending of Death Race 3 was pretty good.

Not great but I'd watch again. 7/10 for both.
 
Team THRT Drift
There's a Death Race 3? Honestly, Death Race was good enough. The low budget movies were too raunchy for my liking.
Click to expand...

They were prequels of the Jason Statham movie, Told the story of how the death races started. The only cast member from the first one that was in 2 & 3 was Frederick Koehler.

Low budget, yes but still entertaining.
 
Adamgp
They were prequels of the Jason Statham movie, Told the story of how the death races started. The only cast member from the first one that was in 2 & 3 was Frederick Koehler.

Low budget, yes but still entertaining.
Click to expand...
I've seen Death Race 2. Didn't know Death Race 3 existed. Will check it out.
 
JASON_ROCKS1998
Remakes are ALWAYS worse than the original. Especially the SPEED sequel, god that was awful
Click to expand...

Sequel =/= remake. Also, both The Fly (Cronenberg's) and The Thing (Carpenter's) would like to have a word with you.

I watched The Interview last night, just to see what all the fuss was about. It was almost completely awful. A lot of it is ridiculous potty humour that seems more suited for youngins, but the constant violence and cursing make it impossible to show to any kids. It's as if Franco is actively trying to be as annoying as possible, but not in a dumb-lovable-character way, just the type you hope suffers from a rare disease.

2/10.
 
I've seen a few movies and just haven't typed them all up.

To match the one above me I will start with;

The Interview (5/10)
Nothing said by @SlipZtrEm is inaccurate. That said, it is a movie by stoners, for stoners, about what is basically stoner stereotypes. In other words, if you enjoy Seth Rogen and James Franco's type of comedy then this is for you. It isn't smart, far from perfect, and the jokes only apply to a certain demographic. Where it does shine though is in the moments when it takes a second away from the jokes to move the story along and Franco's character has his growing up moment. The commentary on North Korea, the facade they put on for westerners who visit the country, and how there is a non-stop denial of how they treat their people is very accurate. It reminds me of how Book of Mormon occasionally gives a commentary on the situation in Africa. So yes, it is slapstick and raunchy to a ridiculous point, but there are redeeming qualities in the story.


Lucy (7/10)
It feels as if someone took the concept behind Crank and pumped it full of semi-realistic theoretical physiology and a dose of The Matrix. It was enjoyable, but I won't make an effort to see it again. I liked the story, I liked the acting, but somehow I just felt no wow factor. I got finished and just kind of thought, "That was cool. Moving on." I can't really say a lot more about it without spoiling the concept of the film. It will be one of those movies where I will think about it in 5-10 years and decide that I need to watch it again.


Birdman (7.5/10)
The writing and acting blow this one away. I also enjoyed the one-camera style, even though at times it felt too much, and almost dizzying. Michael Keaton and Edward Norton had a lot of great scenes together and I enjoyed watching them go back and forth. The female characters added nothing to the script and poor Naomi Watts was cast in a role that was used as nothing more than to move the story along and give Edward Norton's character a reason to be there. Emma Stone had what at first appears to be an important character, but if her character was completely missing it wouldn't have ultimately affected the outcome of the film. She was a great counter to Keaton's character, but only to show that this once famous actor is struggling to define the real him separately from the actor.

All that said, it has the feel of being artsy and pretentious. If you can't get past a film that is openly acknowledging what it is and that everything about it is clearly a commentary on itself and the world around it, then this will definitely turn you off. By the time they are finished they have skewered a lot of Hollywood, including directly naming a few names. You get a feeling that someone is upset that they can't break into mainstream Hollywood by making art or "real" films. And then, just to mess with the audience, the very last scene leaves you with one giant question. It's almost like after skewering Hollywood the movie turns on the audience and says, "Screw you too."

Ultimately, this film feels like it was made specifically to try to win an award while offending the academy.



Whiplash (9/10)
Of all the nominated films that I have seen so far this is my favorite. JK Simmons deserves every award he has received and is nominated for. This is a wonderful story that takes the simplest of premises: A student who wants to be the best there is and his teacher. If you like Jazz, you will love this film. If you just like drums as an instrument, you will love this film. If you just enjoy good music, no matter the genre, you will love this film. This movie doesn't paint the story of someone becoming the best at something and white wash it. There is no happy relationships of people patting him on the back along the way. There is a trail of people left behind in his wake as he dedicates 100% to his craft. All of that said, my wife found it to be a boring drama, but she just likes romantic comedies and Lifetime movies.

Give this a listen, and if you could spend two hours with this then you will enjoy Whiplash.
 
Pawn Shop Chronicles, Paul Walker stars in it and its a comedy movie so i gave it a shot.

The movie has three arc stories which Paul stars in the first one. The movie actually went downhill after the first arc, no joke. I suggest if you guys want to see it, only watch the first part because that's the funniest and had the most interesting characters, Paul Walker palys a meth addict who is also a white supremacist. He's really good in here. I'm sure you all know he almost always plays the same character in movies but in this one he's really playing someone else. The accent, the dumb acts.

first arc : 7/10
second arc : 4/10
third arc : 1/10
 
Predestination (2014)

predestination-review.jpeg


WTF did I just watch.

I supposed I'd describe this as Looper + Primer having a love child. Only 90 mins, so you'll have plenty of time to google what it all means.

Excellent performances by Hawke and Snook.

9.5/10
 

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