Movie Reviews (20)14: Modern Times Edition

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The Amazing Spiderman 2 5/10: This was as disappointing as Spiderman 3. The main actors have great chemistry but so many things felt rushed with wasted moments.
The ending made me more sad for the series than the characters. Gwen's death felt completely rushed. Giamatti was a retard with a bad accent. Knowing that there was a deleted scene of Electro's mother's death and another one with Mary Jane makes the movie look like two movies forced together and then edited down.
The extra bad guys at the end felt completely tacked on and the running time shows that. Electro was boring and all the office politics even more boring. The jokes were lame and there was a lot of bad acting (especially at the beginning). Jamie Foxx sucked. The "Peter's family saga" was dull and boring. The brights spots were the two leads and Sally Field.
 
Saw it last night at local multiplex at 4:50 pm. Big crowds. I am sure it will be huge hit. Not surprised by the 90% plus ratings on RT and IMDB.

That said, for me it was just good, not great.
I think my favorite comic / graphic comic movies are Scott Pilgrim, TDK, Sin City, Watchmen.

The sound track is 70s popular music. 1/3 of the selection is good and 2/3s is just terrible, and I know the arguments will be about how they were selected.

Probably one of the better Bradley Cooper performances.
I don't watch Community, so not familiar with how good a job that guy is doing. All the actors hit their marks.

If you think you will like it, I am sure you will.

Oh yeah , there are lots of nods to other movies.

I would rather watch the Serenity movie again than this.
 
movies out I would recommend seeing are;

Lucy 7.5/10 I liked this a bit more than Under the Skin. It has the Korean actor that was in the original Old Boy. Every second he is on screen is gold.
Of course Scarlett Johansson does great. I can't think of a bad performance from her.
The action scenes are good. For me, one of the better car racing in the streets scenes. Too many movies have these impossible car chase scenes that go on forever. At least in this movie there is a reasonable premise why this is possible.


Get on Up 8/10 This will be a crowd pleaser. The actor does a great job portraying James Brown. The moves, mannerisms, style of speech, volatility are quite impressive. It does not matter that all of it is only at about 30% of the real man. I have seen tape of that TAMI Show at the Santa Monica Civic in the 60s when he shared the bill with the Stones. The film portrayal is mild by compassion.


A Most Wanted Man 7.5/ 10 This is not PSH at the top of his game. It is the last movie he made. Watching The Dark Knight I do believe it may be Heath Ledger's best performance. In this I kept thinking how out of shape Hoffman looked.
This movie has a great supporting cast. Good story. One of my big problems with movies like this is that they are supposed to be Germans in Germany, having them speak English with crappy German accents is insulting to the audience.
 
deep said:
One of my big problems with movies like this is that they are supposed to be Germans in Germany, having them speak English with crappy German accents is insulting to the audience.
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Is it more insulting than having aliens from different planets all speaking English in Guardians?

Suspension of disbelief.
 
Guardians of the Galaxy 7.5/10: Solid franchise opener. It's a bit like Raiders and Star Wars. Most of the jokes work well and it's a movie that benefits by watching with an audience. The special effects were top-notch. Most of the characters were developed really well. I hope the sequel they already announced keeps the quality up, but you never know.
 
Doubt I'll be seeing Guardians in theaters, but Magic in the Moonlight was really lovely and satisfying in the way Allen's work almost always is.
 
Noah 3/10: Incredibly dull movie that just drags and drags with crappy melodrama. The rock "transformers" are uninspiring. The best thing is the Iceland views, but I could enjoy a travel documentary instead.

deep said:
movies out I would recommend seeing are;

Lucy

Get on Up

A Most Wanted Man
Click to expand...

I'd like to see those, though the Lucy reviews were quite negative.
 
I Origins:

From the director of Another Earth, which I enjoyed. This was way better. Gorgeous direction and imagery, Mike Cahill really proved he could do something with a bigger budget. The concept of the film is also a lot more fascinating than the one in his previous work. This isn't "hard" science like Primer but enough to make it thought-provoking, also more grounded than the abstraction of Upstream Color, and there's a substantial amount of emotion entangled with the scientific element and plot threads.

Michael Pitt and Brit Marling are great, as is relative newcomer Astrid Berges-Frisbey.

Story took a lot of turns and was very suspenseful as it got into the last third.

Might be my favorite of the year at this point. Very impressed. I'd suggest avoiding trailers and reviews because they both are giving away a lot of plot points.
 
Wow I read some negative stuff about the movie. I did like Another Earth a bit but if I Origins is better then I'll probably give it a try.
 
Lucy 5/10: It's not a bad diversion but it's ultimately forgettable. Johansson carries the movie with her amazing looks and above average acting. There's some comedy here and there. Some people laughed at every joke but most were quiet. Some people let out some surprise at the shortness of the movie and the ending. The best parts are already in Limitless which is not much better.
 
Finding Vivian Maier 7/10: Documentary about a reclusive photographer who took copious amounts of photos but didn't push her talent enough to get noticed in her lifetime. The black and white photos are extremely good. Her life is quite sad due to her extreme introversion but the talent is incredible. Definitely worth seeing.
 
Jodorowsky's Dune 7.5/10: Documentary of the failed project of surrealist director Alejandro Jodorowsky. What makes it good is the behind the scenes egos and the some of the really good art design. There were great choices in characters and the changed ending was interesting and ambitious. The failed project still continued in comics and influenced Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Alien, and Blade Runner. It didn't surprise me that Jodorowsky would fail because of his insistence in keeping the movie long. I understand his artistic integrity in no cuts but movies are expensive and all studios want to avoid Heaven's Gate and Cleopatra scenarios. I really loved Alejandro's spirit and motivational presence and in his eighties it's still there. I haven't seen any of his movies and the clips in the documentary were scary in that I might laugh or find them pretentious but what's on his glorious storyboards looks much better than the Dune we got.

My favorite part is when Jodorowsky was dragged to see the movie, (already revering David Lynch). While watching the movie, as he worries that it will be better than his vision, he rejoices in schadenfreude that it was a disaster. :lol:
 
The Wind Rises 8/10: Complex movie about a Japanese engineer who created Mitsubishi planes that would be used in WWII. The animation is outstanding. The romance between the engineer and his ailing wife was touching. Miyazaki makes it known his pacifism but at the same time lauds the artistry of the engineers. I like this about 3rd best after Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. It was better than I thought it would be.
 
Boyhood 8/10: It doesn't have a ton of "big moments" but it feels real. There's a sense of life passing by uncontrollably and this is one of the best fiction movies that deals with time passing. The musical references and elections are the best time markers for the audience. By having the same actors age in the movie it makes the feeling of the speed of life stronger. The main star here is Patricia Arquette. You can see how unpredictable relationships are. She shoulders on despite the obstacles and keeps being pulled by circumstance, but so is everyone else.

Autumn Sonata 9/10: This is one of my favorite Bergman movies. Ingrid Bergman plays an absent parent who focuses on her concert piano career. When she's invited by her adult daughter to visit the sense of separation is so clear. They almost seem like strangers. The psychological analysis of the mother by her daughter is brutal and uncompromising. As expected the photography is really well done. For a short movie it packs a punch.
 
MOOD INDIGO

This was a good movie. They should've called it GOOD INDIGO.
 
You're the only other person I know who's seen it.

Not for everyone. People who hated The Science Of Sleep probably won't like this one either.

I found it pretty clever and delightful, and then sad in that typical French way.
 
Imperor said:
MOOD INDIGO

This was a good movie. They should've called it GOOD INDIGO.
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Did you see this and the ~new~ Lamar Drafthouse?

Is there a whimsical canon to shoot Gondry/Jeunet and their ilk into space?
 
I did, my first jaunt there. Nice trip down memory lane since my first time at the Alamo upon moving here was at the old South Lamar.

I'm actually about to head there now. We're hosting a screening of LE MANS tonight.
 
They're actually opening up one in downtown Los Angeles soon. Looking forward to it. Hopefully the prices will be the same as the Texas locations, like $10 for an evening show?
 
lazarus said:
They're actually opening up one in downtown Los Angeles soon. Looking forward to it. Hopefully the prices will be the same as the Texas locations, like $10 for an evening show?
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Sounds about right. From what I understand, the ticket prices are consistent with the market prices of the area. In Austin, they're $10; in Yonkers NY, they're $12.25. The food & drinks are comparably priced to bar food, though the menu is mostly limited to salads, burgers, and pizza.

L.A. getting a Drafthouse is a bigger deal than Tarantino taking over the New Bev temporarily, in my opinion, though I may be biased.
 
LMP said:
Oh nice! I was wondering who was putting that on.
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Yeah it was a promotion for our race next week. Good turnout, although I think that's mostly because we gave away an all expense paid trip to France. Also made the gametime decision to give every audience member a ticket for next weekend, so that was cool.

I didn't watch the film, choosing instead to get shitty and sing "The Humpty Dance" next door.
 
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