Movies you've seen recently (possible spoilers!)

Green Lantern. One of the cheesiest movies I've ever seen, just eye-rolling bad, up until the climactic scene, which is visually very cool. GL is a cool character, but they just bogged it down with all this mythology, on top of over-the-top acting and bad scripting and directing (surprising, since I usually like Martin Campbell movies). For something like this, when it's not a character audiences immediately identify with, you'e gotta boil it down to its essentials. He's a guy who has a ring that enables him to create anything his imagination can conceive. That's it. Run with it. There's so much you can do with that. Instead they focused on the guardians and Parallax and all this stupid nonsense.

Hangover 2. Just as good as, if not better than, the original. I was rolling in the aisles. Of course, I could literally watch Zack Galafiniakis read from the phonebook and be amused.

I saw Sudden Impact, a Clint Eastwood movie, very violent, action oriented, good movie,a Dirty Harry cop movie, its about a young woman who gets vengence on the men who attacked her and her younger sister. a little violent a little dark but a good movie.

I saw the Brave One with Jodie Foster, another vengence movie, a woman becomes vigilate after her fiancee is attacked, dark yet interesting, she is befriended by the very same detective on the case.

the Terminal, with Tom Hanks, a fair movie, not thrilled but not bored either.

Apt Pupil with Ian Mckellen, based on the Stephen King novella, fair, interesting. and dark

and to lighten the mood I saw Ghostbusters, for the umpteenth time, fun movie .

Bridesmaids. Really funny, and really well done character-wise. I'm not sure Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph can really carry a movie, but they're really talented comedic actresses (particularly Wiig), and are great in an ensemble piece. Megan McCarthy is also hilarious.

I saw The Art of Getting By a few weeks ago. It was all right, though of I'm completely honest, I spent a good portion of the film wondering where the plot was before realized the plot was basically teen angst. Still, I found it pretty enjoyable over all. Freddie Highmore's dimples were certainly enough to keep me interested. (I'm saying this, of course, as someone who is the same age as he is. Doubt the 20-something+ people here would find them nearly as captivating.)

Horrible Bosses. Pretty funny. Jason Bateman and Jason Sudeikis have great deadpan line delivery, and I even enjoyed Jennifer Aniston (when I normally don't) because she was playing an evil whore. Kevin Spacey was also good, as usual.

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Pt 2: What a way to end the series. Excellent acting all around. The cast of the series has never been better. The two standouts were Ralph Fiennes and Alan Rickman. I haven't cried in a movie in a LONG time, but Rickman's performance made me shed a tear. Wonderful way to end such a beloved franchise.

phantom10906 wrote:Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Pt 2: What a way to end the series. Excellent acting all around. The cast of the series has never been better. The two standouts were Ralph Fiennes and Alan Rickman. I haven't cried in a movie in a LONG time, but Rickman's performance made me shed a tear. Wonderful way to end such a beloved franchise.

Oh my God, Rickman's performance was amazing. The way he delivered his last lines to Harry...you could tell that he was finally looking at him and seeing not James, but Lily. Sniff...

~LCD

I have yet to see the final Harry Potter film, but I have allways been a huge fan of Alan Rickman, ever since Truly, Madly, Deeply, and Robin Hood Prince of Theives. and Die Hard, and another gifted actor, Richard Harris from the first Harry Potters, I honestly was'nt even going to watch the first movie when it came out, but I loved the great actor Richard Harris so much, I watched it and was greatly suprised what a wonderful movie it was. To be honest though I would not have found out what a wonderful movie it was without him.

Captain America. Bleh. I had decent hopes for this, but I never felt the sense of soaring heroism and patriotism I wanted. I had hoped for something less over-the-top and pulpy. Didn't feel real. I wanted him to fight real Nazis instead of the Red Skull and Hydra. That said, great casting. Hugo Weaving was very good as the Red Skull, and I even grew to like Chris Evans in the title role. And I did love the end of the film and getting to see the Avengers preview post-credits.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes. One of the best films I've seen in quite some time. Very moving. The CG primates are so real that I felt for them more than I do for most human characters in movies. I was skeptical of this going in because I generally hate prequels that try to give some clever back story when things are best left up to the imagination (see Star Wars prequels and Love Never Dies (technically a sequel, but the same applies to Susan Kay's Phantom and fanfic)). But it was very well done across the board.

HBO's Game of Thrones (1st season). Well, although there are many violent scenes, I liked this epic fantasy story (but I'll not re-watch it like I do with some BBC serials). Shame on me, I've not read G.R.R.Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, so I'm going to read it.
*I was suprised to see Charles Dance in this TV series *

Klavirista wrote:HBO's Game of Thrones (1st season). Well, although there are many violent scenes, I liked this epic fantasy story (but I'll not re-watch it like I do with some BBC serials). Shame on me, I've not read G.R.R.Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, so I'm going to read it.
*I was suprised to see Charles Dance in this TV series *

I adore A Game of Thrones! My fiance got me into the series, and consequently the HBO show as well. I think the author has achieved a great ability to make human characters - most of them you love sometimes, you hate sometimes, your opinion changes as you learn more about them. And then the author kills them off

Winnie the Pooh: I loved it! Saw it once with my best friend and then again with my family for my mom's birthday. The second time, I could even hear my 22 year old brother laughing, and he's not exactly one to like that kind of stuff. Good movie.

The Change-Up: Did NOT like it. It was funny at times, but the story was pretty bleh, and there was too much nudity for my tastes. That being said, the casting was good.

Captain America: I actually really liked it. Then again, my main motive for seeing it 3 times (soon to be 4) was to stare at Chris Evans for 2 hours (maybe not something I should openly admit ). And because very little else that's out right now looks appealing to me.

Moneyball. Incredible film that surprisingly does the source material justice. Should be enjoyable even if you're not a baseball nut like me. Brad Pitt ought to get some Oscar consideration, as should director Bennett Miller and screenwriters Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian.

Everything Must Go. Really good film. Will Ferrell carries this movie pretty much on his own. Really underrated actor. It's funny but emotionally powerful too.

Paul. Bleh. I thought I'd like it, since I love Hot Fuzz so much, and enjoy Seth Rogen and Jane Lynch in pretty much anything. But I fell asleep not far into it. Just was not very funny. It was late at night, but it wouldn't have held my attention regardless.

Cedar Rapids. Pretty good comedy. I'm not sure Ed Helms can carry a whole film by himself, but he did surprisingly well here. Great ensemble work by John C. Reilly and Stephen Root as well.

Drive. Absolutely flawless and riveting. Ryan Gosling is intense. Definitely Oscar-worthy on all fronts, from screenplay to cinematography to direction to score to Gosling. Great work by Ron Perlman and others as well.

Grey Gardens. The HBO movie with Drew Barrymore in it. About two eccentric women, mother/daughter who lived in Grey Gardens in East Hamption but had let it go to pot after years.
Was fantastic. HIGHLY recommended. I would recommend seeing the documentary of the same name from 1975 first,though. It really enriches the HBO movie, and comparing Barrymore and Jessica Lange's performances to the real people. They did an excellent job.

I didn't even realize they'd made a movie about it. I'm not sure they could do better than the real thing, which is so affecting.

I thought they did a pretty good job. I liked that we get some history of the family, and how they ended up where they were, almost destitute.

And they re-enact some of the scenes from the film which are uncanny. Scarily so.

Now that I've seen these, it's time to see the musical version

Three Musketeers 2011.

I love swordplay, and this movie had some great fights in it. I was also surprised at how much of the original story Paul Anderson chose to keep in it.

It did feel as if Anderson and his production crew had gone back to every Musketeer movie ever made and pulled out bits and pieces from each and stuck them in this. The guy playing the servant Planchet was emulating Roy Kinnear's Planchet from Richard Lester's Three and Four Musketeer movies. And the guy the guy playing D'Artagnan was channeling Chris O'Donnell's D'Artagnan from the 1993 Disney remake. Accent and all.

Lots of steampunking, though. I thought for sure at some point James Bond's Q would show up to tell us how all Milady De Winter's gadgets worked, and how the air-ship-blimp things worked.

One of Anderson's strengths is action. And there's plenty of action within this Musketeer remake. If you go in expecting stupid fun (as aintitcoolnews.com said) then you'll have a fun ride. Just don't go in expecting a faithful period piece. There were so many costume/set/prop/hair and make-up atrocities within it one could make a drinking game to it, and pass out half way through the movie.

Having said that, I'm going to nitpick just a bit: Versaille. They went ahead and used aerial shots of what it looks like today, not the way it would have looked in the 1620's and '30's. Another irksome thing was that this King Louis XIII was blond, not dark haired. Even the 1993 version got that one right. (Heck. He was probably bald. It would have been fun to see him actually putting on a wig at some point. But make it dark haired!) And the dialogue, Good gawd. I wanted to scream.

Except for D'Artagnan, I found I really liked the cast. I think with a different director, a better script and less steampunk with less comic-book influence this could have been a great movie.

Oh, well. In 10-15 years, there will be a new version to look forward to.

Having said all that, I did end up having fun at this one. I'd give it 3 stars out of 5, though. (I did think it much better than the 1993 Disney one, though.)

Bad Teacher. The critics hated this, but I actually thought it was pretty amusing. Really all the characters except Jason Segel's were annoying as shit or bad people in some way. You didn't feel sorry for Cameron Diaz, and you weren't supposed to.

The Muppets. I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. It was enjoyable, and as a Muppets fan, I appreciated the inside jokey nature of it, but it was done with too much of a wink for my taste. It was so geeky it didn't take itself seriously. I also definitely miss Frank Oz's voices.

Caught the little independent Star Wars-themed movie "Fanboys" on TV (young Star Wars fans try to break into Lucasfilm ranch so that their terminally ill friend can see Episode One before he dies), probably most well known in the SW circles for how the studio attempted to rework it into a stoner comedy rather than keep the heart of the story intact.

Made me wonder what a Phantom-themed version would be like.

TAFKaR

I love Fanboys. I had also heard about the reworking of it. Don't even know if they did that or not, since I also saw the original version.

You made be laugh at the thought of a Phanboy/girl version,though.

I saw Hugo. One of the most lovely heart-warming movies I've seen in a long time. The trailers are deceiving, though. Although the little boy, Hugo, is the main character the movie really is more about the French director Georges Méliès and what happens to him after his popularity wanes. Ben Kingsley is amazing as Méliès. This whole movie has OSCAR written all over it. And well-deserving, too

I saw Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy a few weeks ago.

I really enjoyed it. Very slow and redolent of the 70's. Just as good as the classic 80's BBC adaptation (which can be picked up on DVD pretty cheap) and almost as good as the novel. There's a wonderfully unexpected rendition of La Mer (this version I think) near the end which really shouldn't work but actually does, quite beautifully and movingly. Really quite a subtle and engaging film, definitely to be recommended if anyone is a little dubious about it (or spy stories in general- it's the furthest thing you can imagine from Bond-esque cartoonishness).

Also, if anyone's interested, the entire "Karla v. Smiley" trilogy (of which TTSS is a part) is now available in a single book at Waterstones (elsewhere too, I guess). I read the books after watching the film, never having touched le Carre before and was so impressed I then went on a binge and read all his other books! They're unexpectedly good, esp the others that were adapted into films like The Russia House and The Spy Who Came in From The Cold.

PhantomsGhost wrote:You made be laugh at the thought of a Phanboy/girl version,though.

I thought about it some more and realized since the majority of the phanbase is female, it would probably end up less Fanboys and more Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Although a plot involving a group of phans traveling to England to destroy ALW's original LND demo recordings so he can't make a sequel had some potential.

TAFKaR

Raphael wrote:

PhantomsGhost wrote:You made be laugh at the thought of a Phanboy/girl version,though.

I thought about it some more and realized since the majority of the phanbase is female, it would probably end up less Fanboys and more Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Oh, I'm sure the screenwriters could include enough apple porn to keep the guys happy...but there goes the PG-13 rating.

True. A little apple!porn makes everything go down easier

TAFKaR

Crazy Stupid Love. Just phenomenal. Such a great script and great ensemble cast. Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, and Julianne Moore are particularly amazing and have great chemistry. Heartwarming, hilarious, and at times heartbreaking.

Friends with Benefits. Too pat of an ending, but pretty good. Mila Kunis drives me crazy.

SenorSwanky wrote:Crazy Stupid Love. Just phenomenal. Such a great script and great ensemble cast. Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, and Julianne Moore are particularly amazing and have great chemistry. Heartwarming, hilarious, and at times heartbreaking.

I loved that one too. Didn't quite know what to expect, but the acting was much better than I assumed, and the various stories were cute. Nice little movie, with some very funny moments.