Batman. I liked it. After a lengthy debate with a friend, I am comparing TDK to TDKR as a great multi-topping pizza, compared to a 7-course meal. TDKR went for a bigger bite, didn't get all it. TDK was a tighter package, easier to eat. Then again, I don't compare sequels. Any time there is a sequel to anything, for me, it always comes down to wanting to spend more time with the characters. With that said, I agree with mostly what Paperbag said about Bane. I feel they took a lot of teeth out of the character, and the venom steroids for that matter. I feel like the Penguin or The Riddler would have been easier "realistic" villians for them to pull off. Also, I hate the actress. I get she's a Nolan All-Star, but she does nothing for me ever. The whole cat-ears google thing was pretty nifty. I think small details like that get lost in the bigger picture of things. I feel this movie was a smarter movie as not everything was spelled out and you HAD to pay attention. Like the last few posts about Bane. I can't in good conscious give this movie anything less than an A-.
The Dark Knight Rises Most of it has been discussed, so I'm going to just add a few little thoughts. First off, I've never disliked Anne Hathaway. Never really had an opinion either way. But she looked mighty fine throughout that movie. Secondly - I don't try and get too nitpicky about these movies. Mainly, I just try and consider whether or not I'll buy the DVD or see it again. I will definitely buy the DVD. Maybe it's the cinematography, the awesome acting by Michael Caine (who keeps talking and doesn't blink), the film scores - I don't know. But I would put this movie on and waste and afternoon. Thirdly, I'll agree with a previous comment: Spoiler The city flyover scenes just take me out of the movie too much. I've never been to Chicago, but it definitely has a "Gotham" feel to it, and did a lot to add to the atmosphere of the first two films. Pittsburgh was a good fit as well, but that one scene where the new World Trade Center, mid-construction, is obviously right there? Totally sucked me out of the movie for a second. Then every time there was a skyline, I couldn't avoid focusing on what actual city it was.
To be fair Gotham basically is New York and always has been, and it kind of needed to be an island for Bane to cut it off by blowing the bridges
I don't really know whether I should keep using spoiler tags - but I'll play it safe. Spoiler Yeah, I know. And it's not something that takes away from the movie. I just like the idea of a fictional city, and when there's obvious landmarks, it just takes me out of it. I mean, we have the technology to show an aerial view of New York where the bridges explode. It would be cool to add some Gotham-like towers and maybe remove the ones that are obviously "real world" landmarks. Understand, this isn't really a criticism...it's just something I think would've been cool. I would've watched that scene paying attention to the exploding bridges and realizing that Gotham is being isolated by Bane. But instead I watched it and thought "hey, One World Trade Center!"
TDKR Spoiler Just came back from seeing it. Aside from the twist, the only other problem for me was how Nolan handled Bane's power grab. Specifically the scene where Bane is giving a speech about what will happen while we are shown scenes of it happening. It felt incredibly clumsy. The ending lagged a bit as well, but I can see why it was needed to wrap up the trilogy. Everything else I loved and while I can't in good conscience say it's better than TDK, it's definitely up there.
I watched TDKR this evening with a buddy. For the first half hour I was bored. The long middle chunk I thought was really fucking stupid. The last 20 odd minutes were ok in that the stupidity was finally being wound up. At the risk of getting banned; I kept thinking of Scootah each time Bane was on the screen. 5/10 for me.
The Campaign: Some typical humor that you'd expect from Zach Galifianakis and Will Ferrel, but the plot wasn't as predictable as comedies like that usually are. Good for lots of laughs but nothing cutting edge humor wise. Overall, enjoyable, but I wouldn't waste money on a ticket. This is rental material. 6.5/10
Finally, FINALLY saw The Dark Knight Rises. Many thoughts: Spoiler First, after reading through this thread (that I avoided like the plague to avoid spoilers), I feel like a lot of people that didn't like it didn't seem to pay a lot of attention to it. They got bored because shit wasn't blowing up enough for them and they stopped paying attention, so they missed crucial details. One thing Nolan does well is insert small details that you have to be paying attention to pick up on (i.e. the location of the prison, why Bane was telling the people he was freeing them, how Bane got so jacked up, etc). Second, I am SO glad they didn't bring Ra's Al Ghul back to life. If they tried to Lazarus Pit bullshit, I'd have been angry. It just wouldn't fit Nolan's universe. I knew they were bringing him back somehow, but I'm glad they did it that way. Third, I liked Bane as a villain, but I thought he deserved a proper death. It turned into a chance for a witty one-liner from Selina Kyle (note how they never once called her Cat Woman, which I thought was fitting). I saw the Talia twist coming, but I really wish SHE had been the sidekick to Bane, rather than the other way around; it should have been that Bane was the mastermind, and Talia was helping him by getting in with Bruce and getting access to the weapon. Instead, it sort of turned Bane into a sad sidekick. Fourth, JGL was excellent, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to see him put the mask on. I was hoping that while the city was in ruins, somehow his character would discover a Batman outfit and wear it. Finally: Holy fuck, I have the biggest crush on Anne Hathaway. God Damn. Overall, 9.0 out of 10. Not quite as good as Dark Knight, but still a fitting end to the Trilogy.
The Bourne Legacy It's what you expect it to be; long on action, short on plot. Renner does a good job kicking ass, but it doesn't feel as awesome as the first Bourne (thankfully it's not shaky-cam like the second and third Bourne). 8/10 as far as popcorn action flicks go.
Expendables 2 I was so-so on the first one, but everything was etter in the sequel. The writing, story, quips, dialogue, and even action were improved, big-time. Van Damme was actually pretty decent villain and definitely brought his A-game, even the old Kickboxer throwback moves. Schwarzenegger and Willis had bigger roles and were great also, plus a few bonus scenes with Chuck Norris. Not perfect, but very enjoyable and vastly better. 9/10
Get The Gringo Mel Gibsons latest movie was only released on demand in the US. Jew hating and wife screaming at aside the man is in some pretty good action movies. This isn't some masterpiece by any means but it's a great action flick. The story flows pretty well and while there's a couple of hiccups along the way I'd say they can be easily overlooked. Gibson's character is the typical dirtbag with a heart of gold. My gripe with that is that they went kind of sparingly on the dirtbag part. Also Mel looked a bit old for some of the shit he pulled towards the end, but that didn't really detract much from the movie to me. 7/10
Raid: Redemption Bought the BR yesterday as I've been anxious to see this based on Crown Royal's glowing review a few months back. I agree it's thin on plot and the martial arts scenes were damn good, but I think CR hyped it just a wee bit. I enjoyed it, but apparently not to the degree CR did.
Did you get good and liquored up first? It's about right when you find yourself yelling at the screen.
No, maybe that's where our paths diverged. Like I said, I enjoyed it. The "Kung fu" was amazing (as was the knife play). I guess I just bought into the hype too much and was expecting more.
Hit and Run Basically Dax Shepard woke up one day and wrote a "screenplay" that allowed him to show off all his toys and drive them around while being filmed, presumably for him to jerk off to later. Seriously that's it, plot was non existent, he is in the witness protection program for ratting out his buddies..... Ok I can buy that, happens all the time. Now those buddies don't get convicted and don't go to prison, yet 4 years later they commit untold felonies to try and kill Dax...... For what reason? Because Bradley Cooper got raped in County waiting for the trial that didn't happen. Anything would have been better than this turd, what a shit movie. 1/10
Sleepwalk With Me: Great movie if you like Mike Birbiglia. It's great stuff. The entire point of the movie is to elaborate on how he developed his comedy and the major aspect of his life that triggered it. The acting is all great. There are some small things in the movie that nitpickers might not like, but you have to understand what he's trying to do, and he nails it. I'll probably go watch it again, because the style his great. 8/10.
v/h/s Ever since The Blair Witch Project ushered in the "Found Footage" genre of horror, I have yet to see one I truly liked. Cloverfield was not bad, but most of them were just long teases with no scares. I was hoping the genre would die, personally. Then, there's this movie. I won't give away scares or spoilers, but here it is: Six seperate stories woven together by the central story called Tape 59 about a bunch of degenrate thieves stealing a single VHS tape from an old house. They find a pile of tape and watch the other stories, starting with the best thing about movie: Amateur Night, an instant landmark in the entire horror franchise: three friends on a roadtrip to pick up girls and one--Lily-- with huge eyes goes from being mousy, to bone-chilling, to the scariest character you will ever remember. Never has a line chilled me to the bone they way she says "I like you". EVER. The next, Second Honeymoon about a couple being stalked has a great twist. The slasher Tuesday the 17th (seriously?) has some lousy acting and plotting, but delivers in the climax. The sick thing that happened to Emily when she was younger uses Skype for a great creepy tale with a dumb ending. The final, 10/31/98 turn it up to eleven with friends on Halloween trapped in a demonic house that comes to life. As I am sure this film will have its haters and they are welcome to it, this is the scariest movie in YEARS. It uses first-rate special effects that make the realism and scares so much more effective, and some shocks (especially Amateur Night) had people running for the exits when I saw it. See this. It is true horror at its very finest, a real shot in the arm to the genre that is desperately needs. This film puts Paranormal Activity to shame. 8/10
Looper J-G Levitt is good. Very understated, but you can tell he studied Bruce Willis' mannerisms and speech. The makeup is pretty damn good, too. Emily Blunt as a protective southern mom, not bad at all. Bruce Willis is a one-note character who seems to mostly be in this movie as a plot point, rather than a person. Overall, it was enjoyable. Some of the action was good, it's a good concept, some of the acting was good (some awful). I just felt like it underperformed. Maybe I just didn't like the ending. 6.5/10
I liked it but the one thing i think people should know going in is that the pacing is very weird and that can be jarring.
Nothing on The Master yet? That shit was fantastic. I'm a dickrider for Phillip Seymour Hoffman ever since I saw Capote in high school. I can watch that jowly bastard sweat and and rub his forehead for hours. In all seriousness, this movie is amazing. I enjoyed There Will Be Blood, but I thought this was a step above. I got interested in it from a grantland article that ran a couple of weeks ago: Should You See It? A Curious Consumer's Decision-Making Guide to The Master I don't typically go see movies like this, and I would hardly call my film interest highbrow, but I enjoyed the technical aspects of this film as much or more as the satirical elements. The score, the camera work, the skill of the actors all works together to keep you interested through the lengthy (almost 2 hours I think) experience. This movie is sick in a way I would never recommend to my bros irl but totally seems appropriate on TiB. Go see this.