Movie review rant 2013

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Hix said:
About Time - a quirky little British movie, a chick flick, but still an entertaining couple of hours, especially if you like the idea of limited time travel. Bill Nighy is great I this as the father of the lead actor. Rachel McAdams is adorable, as always.


Prisoners - this is a drama about two small girls who disappear, and the actions of the parents and the police to find them. Hugh Jackman is brilliant as the distraught father who will go to any lengths to find his daughter. He should get a nod at the Academy next year for this movie, I reckon. I haven't worked out yet if Jake Gyllenhall was just acting badly or if the character was written that way.

A dark emotional drama, an interesting storyline, with no laughs whatsoever.



Captain Phillips - based on a true story, this is movie recounts the hijacking of a cargo ship and subsequent kidnapping of it's captain by Somali pirates, and his eventual rescue. A gripping story and a great movie.


Upcoming trailers that look interesting - The Counsellor, The Butler, Las Vegas, August: Osage County, and the true story One Chance.

:p

hix
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Hmmm out if the three, Captain Phillips (I assume that is the one with Tom Hanks) looks most interesting.

I have some movie vouchers that I need to use before the end of the year, so I am thinking of seeing the new Thor movie. There must be a few other good movies coming out soon.
 
I saw 'X-Men Origins' last night for the first time (on free view). I regret not having seen this in the cinema. At the time it was screening in theatres, I thought that it was a dumbed down teen movie (given the cast). Oh how wrong I was. If you have seen the X-Men series of movies, then you simply must watch 'Origins'. I love prequels for the simple reason that they explain everything that you had to take for granted in the earlier movies. Ever wondered how Xavier ended up in a wheelchair? Or if Magneto ever had a heart? Or who Mystique really is? Watch the movie and all will be revealed. A powerful, moving, action-drama - definitely worth a look.
 
nanoboy said:
I saw 'X-Men Origins' last night for the first time (on free view). I regret not having seen this in the cinema. At the time it was screening in theatres, I thought that it was a dumbed down teen movie (given the cast). Oh how wrong I was. If you have seen the X-Men series of movies, then you simply must watch 'Origins'. I love prequels for the simple reason that they explain everything that you had to take for granted in the earlier movies. Ever wondered how Xavier ended up in a wheelchair? Or if Magneto ever had a heart? Or who Mystique really is? Watch the movie and all will be revealed. A powerful, moving, action-drama - definitely worth a look.
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I love that film too, not dumbed-down at all, definitely the best of the five X-Men films so far. I saw it at the movies when it came out, the submarine was brilliant on the big screen!

The next X-Men film (Days of Future Past) is due out May 2014, and will apparently be a sequel to both X-Men Origins: First Class and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), in which:

wikipedia said:
The X-Men ensemble fights a war for the survival of the species across two time periods in X-Men: Days of Future Past. The characters from the original X-Men film trilogy join forces with their younger selves from X-Men: First Class in a battle that must change the past – to save their future.
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Can't wait!
 
zooboy28 said:
I love that film too, not dumbed-down at all, definitely the best of the five X-Men films so far. I saw it at the movies when it came out, the submarine was brilliant on the big screen!

The next X-Men film (Days of Future Past) is due out May 2014, and will apparently be a sequel to both X-Men Origins: First Class and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), in which:



Can't wait!
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I just love Magneto's back story, and I felt myself being drawn to his character while pitying him. Having studied the Cuban missile crisis in high school, I thought that the movie gave a fascinating alternative story to what went on behind the scenes.

Oh that new movie sound exciting indeed. A movie with their younger and older selves will bring in two different audiences under the same roof. I mean, I think of Famke as a Bond girl from 20 years ago, whereas I see the young Mystique as catering to the 'Hunger Games' crowd.
 
nanoboy said:
I just love Magneto's back story, and I felt myself being drawn to his character while pitying him. Having studied the Cuban missile crisis in high school, I thought that the movie gave a fascinating alternative story to what went on behind the scenes.

Oh that new movie sound exciting indeed. A movie with their younger and older selves will bring in two different audiences under the same roof. I mean, I think of Famke as a Bond girl from 20 years ago, whereas I see the young Mystique as catering to the 'Hunger Games' crowd.
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The official trailer for this film was released today:

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST - Official Trailer (2014) - YouTube
 
The Butler
Last week on Halloween, in a successful attempt to avoid brazen children demanding sugar, I went to a movie and saw the Butler. A brilliant movie.

The cast is an excellent lineup: Forrest Whitaker playing the title character with Oprah Winfrey as his wife, and David Oyelowo as their son; Robin Williams, John Cusack, Liev Schreiber, James Marsden and Alan Rickman as various Presidents; and cameos by Vanessa redgrave, Lenny Kravitz, Cuba Gooding Jnr and Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan.

The story itself is about the life of Cecil Gaines, the Butler, from when he was a small boy to very old age (the make-up/aging effects were brilliant). The subplot was all about racial tension and equality, and the butler's eldest son who was an activist in trying to change the world.

I'm tipping this one for an Oscar in the Best Picture category, and possibly for Make-up as well. (Then again, I was convinced Ben Affleck would win Best Director for Argo, so what do I know?)

:p

Hix
 
The Internship
This was a really funny movie. Vine Vaughn and Owen Wilson are in their stereotypical roles of middle-age, fast-talking slackers. The movies plot is that these old geezers land internships at Google, where they clash with young interns 20 years their junior. If you liked their previous movies (especially Wedding Crashers) then you'll love this. I'll give it an 8/10.

Thor 2
We saw this in IMAX, and I was underwhelmed. They didn't really make good use of the 3D effect, and the movie felt a bit too long and drawn out with unnecessary characters and sub plots. I will still recommend it to anyone who is after a half decent big budget action flick, or a superhero movie. If you enjoyed Thor 1, you will enjoy this flick. 6/10
 
What do Michelle Rodriguez, Lady Gaga, Jessica Alba, Vanessa Hudgens, Sofia Vergara, Mel Gibson, Cuba Gooding Jr, Emilio Estevez (i.e. Charlie Sheen) and Antonio Banderas have in common? They all starred in Machete Kills. With a cast like that, you know you are in for a fun ride with unbelievable plots and low budget special effects that are supposed to look like a cheap 70s flick. I mean, would a hottie really be attracted to Machete? And can Mexico really build a missile to hit Washington?

Look, if you want to be entertained by a star-studded cast in a silly action movie, and you want to see Sofia Vergara shooting guns from some surprising parts of her body, then this movie is for you. Lovers of the first Machete movie will love this second in the franchise, and will no doubt enjoy the third. 6/10
 
nanoboy said:
What do Michelle Rodriguez, Lady Gaga, Jessica Alba, Vanessa Hudgens, Sofia Vergara, Mel Gibson, Cuba Gooding Jr, Emilio Estevez (i.e. Charlie Sheen) and Antonio Banderas have in common? They all starred in Machete Kills. With a cast like that, you know you are in for a fun ride with unbelievable plots and low budget special effects that are supposed to look like a cheap 70s flick. I mean, would a hottie really be attracted to Machete? And can Mexico really build a missile to hit Washington?

Look, if you want to be entertained by a star-studded cast in a silly action movie, and you want to see Sofia Vergara shooting guns from some surprising parts of her body, then this movie is for you. Lovers of the first Machete movie will love this second in the franchise, and will no doubt enjoy the third. 6/10
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I loved Machete!! I didn't know the second one was out already. I may be waiting a while to see it though.

Emilio Estevez is Charlie Sheen's brother though.....
 
Chlidonias said:
I loved Machete!! I didn't know the second one was out already. I may be waiting a while to see it though.

Emilio Estevez is Charlie Sheen's brother though.....
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Sorry my bad - it was Charlie Sheen. He used his real name (Carlos Estevez) in this movie. The name 'Emilio' kind of rolled off my tongue. Charlie played the role of the president of the USA.
 
nanoboy said:
Thor 2
We saw this in IMAX, and I was underwhelmed. They didn't really make good use of the 3D effect, and the movie felt a bit too long and drawn out with unnecessary characters and sub plots. I will still recommend it to anyone who is after a half decent big budget action flick, or a superhero movie. If you enjoyed Thor 1, you will enjoy this flick. 6/10
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I agree that 3D wasn't used very well at all in Thor: The Dark World, and I felt I saw better 3D effects in the movie trailers before the feature film. However, it has more action than the first film, and it seems to find a good mixture between action and humor. Tom Hiddleston's Loki is, as always, a delight to see, but he only makes brief appearances in the first half of the film, but the second half focuses on Loki's less evil characteristics. Malekith fails to strike as a compelling/threatening villain, but overall I felt that while the film wasn't Marvel's best, it was certainly well worth the money.
 
This isn't so much a review (or a rant) but just a general inquiry into who else is excited to see Catching Fire, the second part of The Hunger Games trilogy? I've been waiting a long time for this and it comes out tomorrow (21st of November) in Australia (and probably everywhere else around the world).
 
PAT said:
This isn't so much a review (or a rant) but just a general inquiry into who else is excited to see Catching Fire, the second part of The Hunger Games trilogy? I've been waiting a long time for this and it comes out tomorrow (21st of November) in Australia (and probably everywhere else around the world).
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Nah not me. I fell asleep in the last one.
 
PAT said:
This isn't so much a review (or a rant) but just a general inquiry into who else is excited to see Catching Fire, the second part of The Hunger Games trilogy? I've been waiting a long time for this and it comes out tomorrow (21st of November) in Australia (and probably everywhere else around the world).
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Not me either I'm afraid. I've seen the first film, on DVD, and I kind of liked it, but I mostly didn't. I really like the themes behind the story, but I couldn't really cope with the idea (and visualisation) of teens killing each other. I haven't read the books (have you?), although I have read the plot summaries on Wikipedia, so I know what to expect from the next film and its just not my cup of tea.
 
WORLD WAR Z

A family-friendly zombie movie with little blood and nothing graphic. So if you are the parent of a five year old and you desperately want them to see a zombie movie to prepare them for any coming apocalypse then this is the one to show them.

The lead character is played by Brad Pitt, in the role of the most useless hero ever. Seriously, just about every bad thing that happens in the movie is due to his incompetance. I don't know if this was an intentional trait on the part of the writers or if the writers were idiots themselves. There didn't even seem to be a good reason for Brad to be the lead character. Another character made a comment that he had to go to South Korea with the young scientist because he had experience in bad places as a UN operative and would keep the scientist alive – but that is what the commandos were for that they also sent along! It was like the writers thought “ooh zombie movie, we need some worldwide locations, how to manage that....oh stuff it, we'll just send him places in a plane.”

Then there's the idea that Brad came up with for tricking the zombies into not attacking – by infecting oneself with a deadly disease because the virus causes the zombified victims to bypass sick people. But it made no sense at all, because the movie had made a major plot point of the incubation time of the virus being twelve seconds. The only people that when infected couldn't pass on the virus twelve seconds later would be people who were literally about to die. This was most obvious in the soldier in the South Korean army base who had a bung leg so he was safe from zombie attack – and yet he had had that bung leg “for ages” and it didn't stop him from, you know, being an effective soldier!!

Prime amongst Brad's many idiotic decisions was when he was on the satellite phone. “There's no time to explain by saying that the virus causes the zombies to ignore sick people so infect them with a disease which can be cured later, no, absolutely no time for that, instead look up on your computer where the nearest WHO base is and while you're doing that I'll sit and play clown music in my head. So how's the weather over there anyway?”

This is one of those movies where you just sit there watching it thinking “well that's just stupid” every few minutes. I'd rate it maybe 2 or 3 out of 10.
 
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I like Brad Pitt too. Most of his movies are good ones. I saw it in the hostel in Chengdu called Mr. Panda which is one of the best hostels I have ever stayed in. They play movies every night; I also saw Inglorious Basterds which was pretty cool but really just a typical Tarantino flick.
 
Chlidonias said:
I like Brad Pitt too. Most of his movies are good ones. I saw it in the hostel in Chengdu called Mr. Panda which is one of the best hostels I have ever stayed in. They play movies every night; I also saw Inglorious Basterds which was pretty cool but really just a typical Tarantino flick.
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I quite like Inglorious Basterds. I think there is a Chinese fast food franchise in the States called Mr Panda, unless I am thinking of South Park. Actually, that one's called Shiddy Wok, come to think of it.
 
Can you imagine a world where the rich live in gated communities worlds apart from the slums where the other 99% live? A society where only the rich can afford to have access to decent health care, while the poor have much lower life expectancies? And where poor refugees risk life and limb on rickety ships to try for a better life in the land of milk and honey? Hang on a minute.... that sounds like the world I live in at the moment! So why did Neill Blomkamp have to set Elysium in the future?

The film really didn't need to have robots, spaceships, and a space station if Neill wanted to hold a mirror up to society: he should have just made a documentary. Look, the action wasn't that great, and some of the scenes and premises were unbelievable (unless you think it plausible that in the future we have advanced androids and spaceships, yet men are needed en masse in factories to make robots and to move boxes from jammed doors). I came out of the movie not really caring about any of the characters, and I kept wondering why I even bothered to watch it in the first place, given the less than impressive trailer. The only highlight for me was the South African agent - Springboks have the coolest accent, yah?
 
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