Archive for the ‘Movies’ Category
Jun 15
I’ve watched a good handful of movies lately and though I haven’t felt the need to do full reviews on any of them, I thought I’d give a quick overview of what I thought of them. So in no particular order:
Penelope–I loved Penelope!! This one will be a permanent part of my collection and one I’ll probably watch many more times. James McAvoy wasn’t so mushy throughout, but there was just enough to still make me feel very ready to swoon over him by the end. The characters were great and they really did a great job of still making it feel like a sort of fairy tale.
Dan in Real Life–This was disappointing. There were a small handful of entertaining moments, but overall, it left me annoyed with the characters and annoyed that I had just sat and wasted time watching it.
Enchanted–Definitely one to see! I didn’t find it quite as amazing as everyone else did, but I still thought it was great. They pulled off the story rather nicely and it was good to see something that hasn’t already been done 15 times, ya know?
Horton Hears a Who–I’m still on the fence with this one. There were some moments that really cracked me up, but otherwise, I had trouble keeping my attention on it. I’ll have to give this one another shot sometime and see if it was just that boring or if I was just too inattentive at the time.
Walk Hard–Horrible. Jenna’s performance was awesome though, and worth seeing if you’re a big fan of The Office (and also to spot how many other Dunderheads you can spot in the film) but otherwise it was just hard to watch. The making fun of things and shoving it in your face was just a little too blatant for me; I need a little more subtlety.
Jun 1
Warning: I’m not attempting to keep this spoiler-free. While my opinions don’t include any outright spoilers, they allude heavily.
I enjoyed it. I’m glad I saw it in the theater rather than waiting for dvd. However, it didn’t live up to any of the hype surrounding an Indiana Jones film. At the risk of sounding like a really annoying teacher–I just expected more from it.
There wasn’t much in the way of being outright exciting. There were big parts that were just way too predictable.
I was actually really annoyed that they went the ‘alien’ route. What’s interesting about that? When you keep it as some ancient thing, there are boundaries and a challenge in pushing it to the limit without being just flat-out unbelievable. By going with extra terrestrials, they took all the fun out of it. Been there, seen that. You can make up whatever you want then and it’s just not nearly as entertaining. You lose pretty much any believability you had. [Not saying other lifeforms exist, but we don’t know, so therefore anything we use in movies is purely fiction and we know that.]
And if they make more with Shia as the star….I’ll boycott. No joke.
So as just any movie, it was enjoyable, but as Indiana Jones, it sort of failed…My two cents!
Feb 26
“In 1935, 13-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis and her family live a life of wealth and privilege in their enormous mansion. On the warmest day of the year, the country estate takes on an unsettling hothouse atmosphere, stoking Briony’s vivid imagination. Robbie Turner, the educated son of the family’s housekeeper, carries a torch for Briony’s headstrong older sister Cecilia. Cecilia, he hopes, has comparable feelings; all it will take is one spark for this relationship to combust. When it does, Briony — who has a crush on Robbie — is compelled to interfere, going so far as accusing Robbie of a crime he did not commit. Cecilia and Robbie declare their love for each other, but he is arrested — and with Briony bearing false witness, the course of three lives is changed forever. Briony continues to seek forgiveness for her childhood misdeed. Through a terrible and courageous act of imagination, she finds the path to her uncertain atonement, and to an understanding of the power of enduring love.”
Well. I’ve wanted to see this movie since I first heard of its upcoming existence. Now, with all the Oscar hype, I just couldn’t wait any longer.
James McAvoy owns my heart. His stunning blue eyes…his sigh-worthy little groans and whimpers of someone helplessly in love…ayeeee.
This was an incredible story. Refreshing in a time when no story seems completely original. I’m not sure how to convey all my feelings without being too revealing, so I’ll just say please watch it, and put the rest of my thoughts here behind a cut for you to read after you’ve seen it….
(more…)
Feb 15
From IMDB:
A genetic anomaly allows a young man to teleport himself anywhere. He discovers this gift has existed for centuries and finds himself in a war that has been raging for thousands of years between “Jumpers” and those who have sworn to kill them.
Well, it wasn’t my choice to go see the movie, and my mind wasn’t changed by the time the credits rolled.
While the movie was entertaining, there were just too many gaps in storyline. I understand the need to just leave things up to assumption for time purposes, but they just left too much out there.
There were some pretty awesome fight scenes though. And on another plus side, they somehow managed to keep Haden Christensen from saying much–Hayden is great at being angsty, but he can’t do much past that. In fact, if/when you see the movie, take note of how little dialogue there actually is!
I loved the idea behind it, and they had a lot of great story to work with, but they just sort of dropped it. And the big ‘twist’ just wasn’t very enthralling. In the end, I just wasn’t satisfied.
I guess this is just one to add to the list of movies that have great potential but don’t even really seem to try to reach it…
Nov 11
I’m getting really tired of these blatantly unoriginal story ideas. We’ve take then out-of-work-broke actress and combined her with the girly girl going into the army. Wooo….
Unfortunately I’ll probably end up watching this. :-X Why do I have to be a sucker for pop culture?
Nov 10
Some consider Chasing Amy
to be part of the Jay and Silent Bob series–some don’t. I can see either opinion fairly well. I sort of feel like watching all the Jay and Silent Bob movies is kind of like a rite of passage for my generation. *shrug* But then again, I’m kind of just an odd person.
So, I’m sure most of you have seen the movie by now, so I’m not going to avoid spoilers. It’s an older movie and not really one that needs to all be a surprise anyway.
I was distracted by Ben Afleck’s hair, including his facial hair, throughout the whole movie. It was just bad–and not excusable for 90’s hair at all.
The premise is really interesting. Ben Afleck falls in love with a lesbian. Turns out she kinda likes him too. Complications ensue!
It was so predictable that Holden (Ben Afleck) got angry when he realized he wasn’t the only guy she’d ever been with. Total guy reaction. She never told him as much, but sure, she never said anything to let him think otherwise. I don’t fault her for that though.
I’m still not sure how I feel about them ‘outing’ Banky…that all confuses me a little bit.
I’m also not sure how any person could ever come up with the solution Holden thought up.
I didn’t like the ending in that, I didn’t really get anything I was looking for out of it, but at the same time, I applaud Kevin Smith for not giving us the total predictable outcome.
So I enjoyed it. I’d let it play in the background if it were on television. And that’s all I really have to say about it!
Nov 9
Rachel comes to stay with her Grandmother Georgia for the summer leaving some obvious problems behind at home. Her alcoholic mother doesn’t even stay the night before rushing back out to California to be with her husband. Rachel shakes up the town, a beautiful girl in the boring Mormon country. Then she reveals her deepest secret to one of her new friends, and her mother comes rushing back to find out if its true. In the midst of this crisis the three woman become closer than ever and start to understand each other more.
I’m watching Georgia Rule
right now, and I’d like to complain in real-time.
First off they’ve done a horrible job with wardrobe. A grandmother that dressed down doesn’t wear that much makeup, and that ‘messy’ hairdo isn’t messy….
And could we skip the fake eyelashes on Lindsay?? Wth…
Lindsay is playing herself well….what great writing…
Alright, so far, the dialog is too blunt to be believable….
Again…Lindsay doing a great job of playing a rude whore…Let’s see if we can corrupt an entire town!
It seems we’re getting better at making Grandma look a little more homely, but we’re losing something in the way scenes are cut together.
Whoooa! When did Cary Elwes chub up!? He’s definitely not fat, but that’s not my Wesley!
This poor boy, Harlan, is adorable. His character is too cute.
And now we’ve gotten all serious. Only a little interesting though.
Whoa…I think I just saw one of the girls from Step By Step. I didn’t think any of them did any other work! lol
I don’t like using Cary Elwes as a dirty character…
And now she’s a 17 year old goddess in the kitchen??
This is really annoying. There’s a pretty big ‘issue’ but you can’t tell if Lindsay’s character has lied about it happening, or if she’s lying when she tells her mother it was a lie–is she just saying it to make her mom feel better? They manage to do it in a way that’s not at all intriguing. Pretty much makes me want to just turn it off.
Is there supposed to be some sort of symbolism with her only wearing white? Also annoying.
They should end the movie with her killing herself. That might save it.
Haha oh I spoke too soon. Now she’s head to toe in red. Definitely symbolism…
Man–these characters are too unbelievable.
Well alright….it has a very small handful of moments that are really interesting. Not enough to be worth watching though. I’m not even going to bother looking for a picture. Don’t bother with this one.
Nov 6
Last night we got to talking about a new movie coming out soon with a plot that reminded me of one of my favorite Stephen King stories, Autopsy Room 4–found in Everything’s Eventual. The gist of the story is that a man finds himself paralyzed in an autopsy room, with the coroners preparing to perform an autopsy—on him! He’s fully aware of everything going on, but he can’t do anything about it.
It’s a short story, but it had me so on edge! Even after I was finished, I couldn’t get over the idea of being in a situation like that. How terrifying! The suspense was absolutely killer. Was he really just able to move his toe? Did anyone notice? Will he be able to move anything significant in time? Ahh!
The Mist by Stephen King is next on my list of must see’s. A group of townspeople find themselves trapped inside a local grocery store by an unrelenting mist. They soon discover that there’s something in the mist. But what’s more frightful, what’s in the mist, or what these ordinary people turn into in the face of otherworldly danger?
Be sure to check out the trailer yourself and think about how scary the unknown can be. Be even more sure to go out and see in on November 21st. I’m not expecting King to let us down.
Oct 18
Wow…um Jason Bourne basically kicks your face off. No joke. If you haven’t seen this yet, just go. Don’t even finish reading this post, just go out and watch it.
Ryan and I were SO satisfied with this third [and final??] installment of the Bourne series. So often, sequels let you down and just leave you wishing the original stood alone. This is not on that level at all.
The fight scenes are incredible. There was one in particular the blew us away. There were so many times that you could hear the entire audience gasping or making some other excited noise altogether.
They did a fantastic job with this storyline as well. The mix between all-out action, and intriguing story was laid out perfectly.
It’s rare that I’m totally satisfied with the way a movie ends. They blew me away with this. They ended it in a way that tied things up just well enough to satisfy you, but everything was left so open that you can’t help but crave more.
I’d love to see a few more things fleshed out, but I don’t even know if I’d want there to be another movie. I wanna know, but I’m happy not to know….ya know? ha
is here. I present to you, Whatever it Takes:
