Discuss and Rate the Last Movie You Saw v.14

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Blackway - 7/10

Sounds like an adult film. Actually a low-budget film. Good performances from Anthony Hopkins and Ray Liotta.


As the other poster said, loved it. Very low-key movie but I love that slow-burn shizz, and Blackway is a wicked little movie.
 
Sleeping With Other People---Alison Brie is hot. But I'm not buying Jason Sudeikis as a ladies man at all. I really am not a fan. Movie sucked 4/10.

Out of The Furnace--Dark, well acted, slow at times.
6.5/10
 
As the other poster said, loved it. Very low-key movie but I love that slow-burn shizz, and Blackway is a wicked little movie.

I've never seen Ray Liotta do a bad performance. His acting is always honest and believable.
 
Fist Fight. 5 or 6/10

I love Always Sunny so i thought Charlie may be funny... ehh.

It was bad. Awful script. I saw it was the writers first script. It shows. It's like the other 30 comedies with the same style from the last ten years.
 
BRIDGE OF SPIES

Alongside BFG, the Steven Spielberg effect mystifies me. Both these movies seem to have done poorly, at least compared to how good they in fact are. I would think Spielberg would be enough to put asses in seats, and with this one he's got a screenplay co-authored by the Coens. Plus Tom Hanks doing his period thing. I think this was Oscar nominated, and it's really good. And I'm not sure if I was trying a bit hard, since I wanted some of that Coen humor, I laughed pretty heartily at some wry jokes. There's a shot of a newspaper with Tom Hanks escorting, I guess Mark Rylance from the courtroom, and it's nighttime in the picture. He's blinded by the flashbulbs, so the picture is his stupid wide-eyed expression. And the fact that consummate professional actor Tom Hanks would take such a bad picture just cracked me up; he's good for that sort of thing (and urinating on camera -- make it a plot point if you want).

There's definitely a lot of standing still. But I can see the Coens writing certain sequences saying to themselves, "Shit. There's a plane in this. Have you ever filmed a plane? No? Have you? If you haven't then I haven't. I know that, stupid. Kiss me on the mouth." A plane crash is nothing to a craftsman like Spielberg. But it's like the only piece of action. So be prepared for that. This is less SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and more AMISTAD. There's a pretty cool low-key foot pursuit at the beginning tho.

Mark Rylance was really, really good. Made that film for me.
 
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Colossal

8/10

Working within a fairly straightforward analogy, Colossal pays off creatively and heroically. The feminist message here isn't subtle, but subtlety wasn't the goal considering they used a giant monster and robot to deliver it, and while it wasn't subtle it was complex. This film has left me with a lot to think about.

The film stumbles at times as clearly the director was focused on the big messages, and some of the minor scenes felt out of place and poorly developed. Colossal could have used a bit more work to shore up the story.

That said, the payoff was extremely well done and very satisfying. It was very clever, and visually stunning.

Strong recommend, unless even the whiff of feminism repels you.
 
Elvis & Nixon - 7/10

Kevin Spacey was great as Nixon. Michael Shannon was terrible as Elvis. And way to tall.
 
Rouge One 8/10

I enjoyed this one more than i thought i was. I mean its another damn movie about a planet destroying machine,but goddamnit this was a suicide mission...which made it a little more interesting. And of course the final minute hit me right in the feels.
 
Secret Life of Pets

5/10

Louis CK complains an awful lot about the acting industry, calling it shallow and morally bankrupt. Strange then, that he took the lead in a film as the least funny or interesting dog in animation. I was rooting for some improvisation or writing punch-up (CK is a writer and should be embarrased by that script) but the whole film played it extremely safe, with the only edge poking out of the owner-killing sewer gang with the collective personality of a potato

No witty existentialism, a few lazy nods to cats love stuffed toys, dogs love balls, rabbits in hats, hamsters crawl in tubes. Jesus

The closest moment the film had to having a comedic soul was when the falcon scoops up a guinea pig with arms outstretched, eyes wide with naive curiousity, a total throwaway sight gag. A film for kids about talking animals doesnt have to be bland to be age appropriate, it just needed more jokes about pet naivite and their limited world views, where conceptual humor would absolutely slay
 
Jersey Boys

8/10

I've seen it a bunch, and one more didn't hurt. The story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons is always a joy to watch, even if it can get depressing (it goes through the same usual tropes these flicks use). Clint Eastwood proves he can do a musical bio pic with ease.

I love these kinds of movies, because they get a lot of kids and other people who would have never otherwise known about that kind of music, to youtube and wiki their hearts out.

 
Update: May 31, 2017

Dragonlord's Review of WONDER WOMAN
(No Spoilers)

Bottom Line: Arguably DCEU's best film yet and the first legit good female superhero movie, Wonder Woman delivers thanks to its enthralling lead character/actress and sleek action sequences.

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For decades there has been a misconception that a good female superhero movie is impossible to make with detractors always citing Supergirl (1984), Elektra (2005) and Catwoman (2004) as proof. Hogwash. The truth is those movies unfortunately just have bad casting, bad story and/or bad direction. Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman shatters those misapprehensions by being the first legit good female superhero movie in a major Hollywood motion picture.

Wonder Woman tells the story of Princess Diana (Gal Gadot) from Themyscira, an enchanted island comprised of battle-hardened Amazons. When Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crash lands nearby the island, Diana learns about World War I and vows to stop the conflict by journeying to man's world by killing the god of war Ares whom she believes is the cause of the chaos.

Gal Gadot is simply captivating as Princess Diana/Wonder Woman, her charm is a delight and her beauty so stunning. They play the fish-out-of-water segments to humorous results and just the right dash as not to overshadow everything. Diana's innocence and naivete are endearing but not to the point of putting her down. When she goes into action mode, she's just a bad-ass. Speaking of badasses, the Amazons, though they only appear for a short time, were amazing to see in action especially Antiope (Robin Wright).

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Themysicra is bright, striking and filled with vibrant colors. But when Diana goes to man's world, everything is bleaker and drained of color. In other words, they've entered Zack Snyder's world. Snyder might only be the writer and producer in this film, but his fingerprints are all over this, from the color grading to the impressive Snyder-esque action sequences. Thankfully he didn't infect Wonder Woman with a case of brooding and morose as he did with Superman.

Chris Pine is affable as Steve Trevor, the leading man and potential love interest for Diana. Danny Huston as General Ludendorff was a pretty good villain. Elena Anaya as Dr. Maru was a decent secondary villain. But due to the story's last act, the villains were a bit shortchanged and didn't live up to their full potential (more on that in the spoiler box below).

At times, Wonder Woman feels like a cross between Thor (2011) and Captain America: The First Avenger. Not a criticism, just an observation. These admittedly flimsy comparisons to Thor is due to the mythological background, regal ancestry and fish-out-of-water element while The First Avenger due to the period war setting, the enlisting of a special unit to assist the protagonist and the ending.

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One of the best things about the film is the sensational action. The impressive fight choreography smoothly blends stylistic slow mo with fast-paced, kinetically-charged panache while maintaining motion clarity. The extended battle sequence that started at the "No Man's Land" was initially stirring and then simply kicked ass. The rousing score by Rupert Gregson-Williams deserves a mention. The now-famous Wonder Woman electric cello theme by Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL is also present.

The finale battle brings about a jarring tonal shift that takes me out of the moment a little and the lack of build up for the sudden last-minute revelation was unfortunate (more on this in the spoiler box below).

For almost 10 years now, I've been saying to denigrators that a live-action Wonder Woman movie can be good if they just follow George Perez's 1987 seminal origin story or the 2009 Wonder Woman animated movie. And I was right. The 2017 movie's framework is clearly based on the two examples I presented.

Overall, Wonder Woman is an enjoyable viewing thanks to its captivating lead character/actress, engaging story, and outstanding action. There is no post-credits scene.

Rating: 8/10

Warning: Major Spoilers below.

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The final battle is between Wonder Woman and Ares. Sir Patrick Morgan (played by David Thewlis) is revealed to be the god of war. What takes me out of the moment a little is that the movie, although fantastical in nature, was sort of relatively grounded in the way they portrayed super powers. Diana's super strong, fast, tough, has quick reflexes. These are all tangibles. But during the final battle, it becomes like an episode of Dragonball Z with Diana leveling up to Super Saiyan levels and with unexplained new powers and Ares teleporting, shooting lightning bolts and displaying telekinesis on a massive scale. Although they foreshadowed Diana's potential early in the movie where she accidentally zapped Antiope, it's still jarring to see the sudden introduction of high levels of super powers and out-of-nowhere special abilities like force field in an otherwise mostly grounded scenario. Many will probably enjoy this powerful version of Wonder Woman and there's nothing wrong with that. I just prefer the version with the sensible powers more.

Ludendorff and Dr. Maru didn't live up to their full potential because of the last-minute revelation that Sir Patrick Morgan was Ares, the big bad of the movie. Although Ares was mentioned many times in the movie, there was no build-up. I understand that they intended Ares to be a surprise but it was a bit erratic when he suddenly appeared and started doing Magneto stuff (even though I already knew Thewlis was playing Ares).

The above statements are not major complaints. And maybe on future viewings I'll learn to accept it. We'll see.

At the end of the film, it is revealed that Diana remained on man's world and continued to fight evil and injustice around the world. The head-scratcher is how come nobody, not even Batman, has even heard about Diana's exploits since she has been around since 1918. There is some wiggle room (although it requires an extra suspension of disbelief) on why nobody has heard about Diana and what she did in WWI since it was an isolated event, the mission was classified, most of the people that witnessed her in action died in the gas attack, and nobody believed the survivors' (from both sides) stories.

It seems like Diana's bracelets are one of the most powerful artifacts in the DCEU, capable of repelling large quantities of focused energy and stopping Ares' all-out frontal assault.

I'll post more after I process the movie a bit.
 
"The Wizard of lies". 7/10. Pretty good flick. De Niro was good in it.
 
The Lost Boys 7.5/10
For whatever reason, I never saw this one as a youth. Checked it out and really enjoyed it. A few thoughts on it:

- I liked the style and the visual look of it. Actually kind of frustrating since I thought this film had a very cool vibe to it meanwhile Schumacher went way over the top and helped make the Batman movies the shitshow they were. Had he reigned in the insanity and kept the Batman world closer to the production design of this film, he would have been a lot better off.
- Jami Gertz is beautiful
- The Frog brothers were legitimately annoying, but I guess that was kind of the point.
- Can't hear Corey Feldman's voice without thinking of Donatello in the first Ninja Turtles film.
- It was pretty sad seeing Corey Haim as just a young dude, knowing the direction his life headed in.
- The grandpa character was a boss. I really liked the running gag of Haim waking up to the various taxidermy animals his grandpa gave him as gifts and getting freaked out. Also, that last line was pretty much spot on perfect.
- Kiefer was cool.
- I liked the fusion of horror and humor.


True Story- 7.5/10
Good drama with Jonah Hill, James Franco, and Felicity Jones from a couple of years ago. Based on a true story, the film is about writer Mike Finkel's interaction with a man on trial for the murder of his family. It reminded me of Shattered Glass in its straightforward, non-stylized, intense type of storytelling.

There were some truly sad and disturbing elements to the film. Hill genuinely impresses me with his ability to convincingly do dramatic work. Here, both he and Franco deliver subtle, credible performances. Felicity Jones was also very good.

Haywire- 6.5/10

I'm a bit torn on this one. On the one hand, I loved the intensity of the hand-to-hand combat scenes. The fight scenes, particularly one at the beginning and one in the sequence where Carano is working with Paul erupt in a sudden and jarring way that really adds to the grittiness of the fight choreography. Carano was certainly tailor-made for the part, and you can see the difference putting someone well trained in combat sports in such a role makes in terms of execution. For instance, the kicks looked extremely effective, because Carano knows how to throw a kick in a technical manner. The bjj was fluidly integrated into the fight scenes.

The problem I have is with the stuff in between the hand-to-hand combat. To me, the storyline, though streamlined and not bogged down with a lot of excess fat, was some of the same-old rogue secret agent looking for revenge stuff we've seen time and time again. While I liked the ultimate payoff with what the extraction of the dissident reporter was all about, I thought that the film tried to too cool for school in Soderbergh like fashion but instead seemed distant and dull for certain stretches. It was hard to get on board with any of the characters. Carano plays an effective badass, but she was such a cool customer of a character that there was little to relate to her. Paxton as her father was awesome and kind of humanized her, but most of the other characters were just broad. Quite a cast though- Douglas, Fassbender, McGregor, Tatum, Paxton.
 
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. 9/10
Not quite as good as Raiders and better than Temple of Doom. Sweet christ they dont make movies like this anymore though.
 
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. 9/10
Not quite as good as Raiders and better than Temple of Doom. Sweet christ they dont make movies like this anymore though.

I'm holding out hope that Indy 5 is actually good, hopefully nearly as good as the trilogy, and washes the pure diarrhea away that was KOTCS.
 
Fury 7/10. Decent war movie and I love Army Tanks. I thought the main characters were solid and it had some good Tank action.
 
Life -- 5.7/10. Had some cool scenes, fairly entertaining I guess, but overall generic as fuck
 
I'm holding out hope that Indy 5 is actually good, hopefully nearly as good as the trilogy, and washes the pure diarrhea away that was KOTCS.
Wasnt aware they were doing another one,wow.
 
Wasnt aware they were doing another one,wow.

Comes out in 2019. Ford is gonna be like 78. He was 67 in KOTCS and they were already treating him like old man Indy so I wonder what they're gonna do this time? Hopefully they wont make a big deal about it. I don't need to be reminded every 3 minutes how old Indy is.
 
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