I thought Fassbender was PERFECT as the young Magneto. Even though you know he ends up the villain, you still root for him. Magneto was always one of the best villains in comic book history because he has a genuinely great backstory and motivation, other than "I want power," or some such nonsense, and the film captured it perfectly. Spoiler The entire theater erupted in laughter and applause at the Hugh Jackman cameo. I honestly can't think of a better way to use him, or to use the one 'fuck' they're allowed to use in a PG-13 film. I also dug the little Rebecca Romijn cameo, although my wife didn't even notice it. Overall, I'd say First Class was the best movie in the X-Men franchise thus far, just barely, by a hair, edging out X2: X-Men United. It actually made me go back and re-watch the first two films just because it ads depth to the conversations and relationships between Magneto and Xavier. That isn't to say it isn't without faults: I love the character of Beast, and thought he was one of the few redeeming qualities about X-Men 3, but I couldn't stand the actor playing him in this movie, or the character. Spoiler The way he transformed into the blue Beast we all know seemed like complete bullshit. Not to mention the fact that the makeup was god awful. Honestly, X-Men 3 was a giant piece of shit, but I really can't think of a better actor to play Beast than Kelsey Grammar, who did a lot with a small part in that film, and I felt like the kid in this movie just kind of shit all over the role. He turned an intellectual genius that fights for mutant rights into a sniveling whinny bitch that wanted to cry any time anyone said anything remotely derogatory towards him. I felt like the kid was just to whinny, and he was just incredibly wooden and boring. Spoiler After his transformation, when Magneto says "you've never looked better, man!" and he grabs Magneto and says "don't mock me?" What the fuck was that about? Magneto was the character saying they shouldn't have to hide, and they should embrace who they are, and THAT is who you think is mocking you? Maybe if Havoc had said it, it'd make sense for Beast to grab him, as Havoc was making fun of him more than anyone. I know that is more due to the writing than the actor, but it still didn't make much sense. Aside from that minor rant, I did really enjoy the fuck out of this movie, and highly recommend it. 9/10.
X-Men: First Class: Yeah, I really enjoyed, and for some reason I've heard it called a 'reboot' too many times, I felt it fit perfectly with Singer's X-Men movies. And Michael Fassbender. I have a major man-crush on Fassbender, and they gave him something good to chew on in this movie, Magneto's backstory is really compelling, and seeing the character as a young man of action really fills out well. The only thing was that not being a Marvel fan, I had no idea who most of the originals were. Most of their introductions felt like in-jokes I was missing out on, especially since they weren't really given a lot to do, I didn't miss the ones that were taken out... It might not be as fearless as Vaughn's Kick Ass, but then, it's far less divisive as well (the gf and my friends didn't get like that one). Super 8: The less you know about it, the better, if your intention is to see it. JJ Abrams is a master of building atmosphere, and the characters are only mildly annoying, which is incredibly good for child actors. Their story is pretty cool, and involving, the macguffin, the monster, is decidedly less so. The relevance of it is pretty minimal, but in filmmaking this good, it gets a pass, in my eyes. At the very least, no, it isn't a prequel to Cloverfield, thank fuck, because for a minute there, that's what it looks like... I haven't looked into the credits for this (I normally do every movie I see), but if the composer wasn't John Williams, then whoever it was; was instructed to "do what John Williams does." The music goes a long way to displaying the Spielberg influence, and for once, it's the good kind of Spielberg influence, not the Michael Bay kind (see Roland Emmerich). It also has a real Goonies feel, only updated for a modern sensibility (ironic, given the early 80's setting). In short, the first two acts are great, if you wanna see a coming of age film about kids in the 80's, and then the tone goes a little all over the place in the final act. I had fun, but... EDIT: I'm drunk, so please forgive The Invasion of the Commas...
These were my two big issues with Hangover 2 as well. First, the rehashing of the first one--having a similar plotline and similar jokes is one thing, having half the movie's jokes be nothing more than references to the first movie is something different (seriously, a number of the jokes were nothing more than a character saying something like "Hey, remember when we (insert scene from the first one)?? HAHAHA!!"). Second, the Alan character--in the first movie, he was a loveable ra-tard. In the second movie, he was kind of just an asshole and not very likeable (the vendetta against the kid, treating his mom like shit, etc.). Overall, I'd pretty much agree with your 7/10 rating...it was funny, but not nearly as good as the first (which was a legit 10/10). Hopefully they won't try to force a third.
Green Lantern Background: The first comic book I ever bought was Green Lantern #159. The first action figure I ever owned was the Super Powers! version of Green Lantern. Basically, I've been waiting for this movie for 30 years. And if I were still five years old, I'd tell you this was the greatest super-hero movie ever. Unfortunately, I'm now an adult with an appreciation for movies that don't suck. And I'm here to tell you, this movie is not good. That's not to say it's horrible (like the legendarily bad Steel), but it's not even as good as some of the sub-par Marvel films like Daredevil or Fantastic Four. Green Lantern is just too hard to translate into a 105-minute film. Even though the Hal Jordan version of GL has always been a member of an inter-galactic group of alien policemen, that aspect of it has become considerably more complex over the past decade and a half. That's an awful lot of fanboy shit to fit into a Hollywood film. That's where most of this film falls apart, because the script is absolute dogshit. It's worth the price of admission if and only if you are familiar enough with the Green Lantern mythos going into it. Otherwise, save your 10 bucks.
Midnight in Paris The trailer didn't tell much about the plot, but essentially an author named Gil takes nightly trips back in time to 1920's Paris to hang out with Hemingway and Gertrude Stein and all their friends while struggling with his career and relationship in present times during the day. There's a couple of the obvious "guy goes back in time and gives a famous person a famous idea" jokes, but it's definitely a new take on a time-travel movie. I can't say much about the movie without giving things away. I'll just say that if you're a struggling author, or can sympathize with their plight, you'll probably enjoy this. However, I would suggest seeing it in an empty theater. English majors are going to flock to this movie. And as unbearable as they are in the classroom, they'll jump at the opportunity to share their knowledge of Modernist era literature and art to their friends in a public place. The movie: A- I'm not a huge Woody Allen (I don't dislike him, I'm just young), but it was a very good movie. I would advise a quick trip through Wikipedia before you see it. The audience: D You're very knowledgeable, but I still wanted to murder you with an ax.
Tree of Life I wanted to like this movie. I was in the mood for a good, thought-provoking art-film, something high-brow and snobby that I could discuss with my film student friends. But this is not that movie. I don't know how to properly critique it without slapping lazy critic labels like "pretentious" on it, but really, it comes off that way. I don't mind nontraditional narratives, and to be sure this had only a vague semblance of a plot. But this movie is BORING. You should totally see it though. You don't want to look like a simple-minded bore at your next wine and cheese tasting.
I loved it. Rachel McAdams is a dime and it ridicules the commonly held notion that life was better in the (insert era here). While Gil may feel that way about the 1920s, we see throughout the movie that the same notion is held by others, and people will always be happy with the unpleasant, uncertain present.
Transformers: Dark Side of The Moon It's 1am, and i have to be up in 6 hours for work so this is going to be short. Best Transformers yet by a long shot. Would go pay to see it again.
Transformers 3 Dark Side Of The Moon: To try and critique this movie is foolish and pointless. You have to simply love it for what it is; a two and a half hour live action cartoon. You sit in your seat, turn off, your brain, munch popcorn and enjoy. Are there plot holes? Of course. Is it far fetched? Of course. What do you expect from a movie based off a cartoon about robots from space that can change into cars? I read Leonard Maltin's review and he said he looked at his watch half way through because he was bored. He must have severe ADD because there is no way you could be bored watching this movie. The first hour or so is actually pretty funny and the nearly full theater I saw it in cracked up a lot, and I thought it was actually funnier than the first movie in a lot of places. I definitely felt the absence of Megan Fox but the new chick is sufficiently hot and gave a decent performance. The action for at least the last 45-50 minutes is nearly continuous and intense. Overall I would say it's almost as good as the the first one and blows the second one away. 7.5/10
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.wwtdd.com/2011/06/transformers-3-is-down-40-percent-from-2/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.wwtdd.com/2011/06/transforme ... nt-from-2/</a> Haven't seen it myself yet, but these reviews are making me more likely to.
I give it a B. The movie looks absolutely beautiful, and it's a charming concept plotwise. And yes, the fact that there's so many "hidden" references is nice (for example, Gertrude Stein sitting in front of a Picasso portrait of Gertrude Stein...). My problem with the film, however, was that when Allen has found something that amuses him (and usually his audience), he couldn't resist the urge to turn it up to 11. He won't let a joke rest, and some of them become ham-handed through excessive repetition or exaggeration. Some non-spoiler examples: the pedantic friend, the annoying natures of his fiance and parents-in-law, and the Ernest-Hemingway-sounds-like-a-Hemingway-novel joke. It's enjoyable, but I doubt I'll feel the urge to watch it again.
Transformers: Moon Whatever Hmm. It wasn't really a bad movie, but it wasn't a good movie. Here's an analogy- you know when young kids start drawing, they don't really see things as contours the interaction of light on objects, they see symbols. So when they draw a person, it's a weird furry thing made up of circles and squares, and the eyes look odd and it's hard to tell it's even a person. But you know it's a person, because you understand these symbols too. That's what this movie is. It's a collection of symbols. It's a little kid trying to draw the world around him by using the only shapes he knows how. So you get the bad guys, the people in suits, the planes going woosh, the bombs going explode, the laser light thing going up into the sky letting you know "Oh no, this is bad." Bay also just took liberally from The Matrix and Lord of the Rings. You'll see the Sentinels looking for the human ship, you'll hear Aragorn's speech at the end of the movie (it's pretty word for word), the light in the sky, etc. Yeah, it wasn't bad, it wasn't good, making it's existence either way a complete nothing. If it was never made, it wouldn't make a difference. But if you want to see things go smashy smashy with no tension whatsoever, then go see it. It's entertaining in parts, sometimes for the wrong reasons. Observation: There were a LOT of girls there. And the majority of them weren't the typical nerdy looking ones that you'd see here, a couple of them were actually pretty good looking. Apparently girls like Transformers? I'm really confused.
Horrible Bosses Caught it at an early screening today for local paper reviewers, etc. If you go in expecting over-the-top raunch comedy, it's exactly what you'll get. There are few movies I find genuinely funny these days, but I had many laugh-out-loud moments with this one. The plot is easy, the characters are hilarious, and each actor plays to their strengths (or comfort zone) very well. Some jokes do fall flat, and Charlie Days character being upset that he's being sexually assaulted by Jennifer Aniston is a little too nuanced. Those flaws are minor and the funny jokes far outweigh the shitty ones. Its already being compared to the Hangover, which I personally found overrated, but it's definitely in the same vein and dare I say, better? Absolutely worth a trip to the theater. 9/10
Exactly. I don't understand what people expect. You bought that ticket knowing Michael Bay was going to bukkake pure Michael Bay all over your face. The upside was that you licked your lips and it tasted a little like vanilla. Here is what I take points off for - 1. Not using John Malkovich for the role that asshat from Grey's Anatomy was in. 2. Using that asshat from Grey's Anatomy at all. 3. Using Pouty McPoutface as the love interest. Like my brain knew she was hot but I was still "meh". I also find it difficult for a chick that skinny to have an ass like that. Why not a ginger? Like Cintia Dicker. Megan Fox at least had a little edge to her and would say that shit to Megatron that she did. 4. Also, I don't know if my brain got used to it, but I swear the 3D pop-out stuff stopped halfway through the movie. Other than the above, the movie was perfect for what I expected it to be.
Bad Teacher Probably one of the ten worst films I've ever seen. God bless Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel for trying their best with a jumbled script. What dooms this movie the most is that the main character is completely unlikeable, comparable to the main characters in "Drum Line" and "Notorious". There are some decent laughs in the beginning, but outside of one of the oddest "sex" scenes I've ever seen, nothing of note really happens in the second act. If you're expecting "Bad Santa" you'll be dissapointed. 3/10
Saw it last night and loved it. Charlie Days is kind of annoying, (there were a few times when I felt like saying "Shut up, you're not funny, you're just retarded") but everything else was outstanding. 9/10 for me as well.
I'm going to third this movie. I forget who had the concerns here about the movie breaking off into a love story, but it didn't happen. All laughs from start to finish.
I went in thinking it would be really bad. Thanks to this review i went in not really wanting to see it, but was dragged to it with my wife and mom(were out of town, getting my dads car serviced) so i didn't want to sit in a hotel doing nothing. I wouldn't go as far as shabamon as saying it is one of the 10 worst films i have seen, but it wasn't great. Everything else is pretty much spot on. I wouldn't waste money to go see it in the theaters like i did, but i if someone happens to have it downloaded, it would be worth a sitting through with some friends. I would give it some where in the 4.0/10 range. You could see the plot line coming a mile away, but it made me laugh alot more then i thought it was going to.
Yup. Saw this last night. While most of the plot won't be surprising to anyone that's seen a summer comedy before, there were one or two parts that I really didn't see coming. And let's face it, the chemistry between the three leads is great, it makes the jokes work really well. It's also nice to see the actors that play the three bosses playing against type. 8.5/10