Gone Girl I just watched this. Here's my thing: people complain about how movies wrap things up in a pretty bow and how life isn't like that. No shit, life isn't like that. I'm not watching real life, I am watching a fictional story. I want it to be prettier than real life. I want the bow. I was watching this and it was giving me a major boner for its uniqueness. And then it had to pull real life bullshit with the ending. Fuck you. If you aren't going to give me the fucking bow, then what good are you? You aren't real life, so stop trying to be. Assholes. [update: yay, I can edit this now! Anyway, I was drunk and very angry when I wrote that. I still feel the same way about the ending, but it was still a good story and I don't regret watching it.]
Road Hard- Film just didn't seem polished, the script was just typical semi hammy rom com. The dialogue from everyone had Adam's rants all over them which made watching most of the other characters weird. Adam's acting was wooden. Not as truly terrible as people made it out but not a rewatchable film at all. Be nice to see him try branching out and trying films that aren't semi biographical, be nice if he tried something other than a mishmash romcom too. I figured it would be a lot like The Hammer in that it'd have the sentimental side, I was hoping for more of a road film though. Ill give it some credit, good score, some of the editing and delivery was inspired. They shoehorned a whole lot of references in it from his podcast. DAG's cut away bits were TERRIBLY done. Crammed in because it was one of the funnier nits to come out of the show. Teddy Pendergrass would have served a whole lot better as a Funny or Die video sketch. Phil Rosanthal is almost a living sitcom character, dude could seriously have his own show as a nebbish Jewish...anything. I thought Larry Miller killed it. Best character in the whole film. 5/10
Road Hard, Funny People, Punchline, etc. take your pick, pretty much any fictional comedy about stand-up comics suck fucking balls and ironically are just not funny.
Just saw the movie Focus, with Will Smith and Margot Robbie. I like a good improbable caper heist movie, but this one is a pretty big pile of shit. It's a crappy romance with a thin veneer of con men action that falls flat. Major Dad is the only vaguely interesting part of this movie and even then... not interesting enough. Do not recommend.
I was going to see Focus but then decided to watch Inherent Vice. An ok film, some great performances, but it's 30 minutes too long. http://redlettermedia.com/half-in-the-b ... scar-buzz/
Watched Road Hard two nights ago and I thought for someone's second movie on a small budget and shot quickly it was fine. Some jokes were funny, some scenes were decent, but some of the camera cuts were just too hard. Like the dialogues where it was over 1 shoulder and then another (tricks to make editing and voice dubbing easier) were too obvious. The dialogue and exchange when he first got to his house with his daughter was so stilted, the lighting also looked off. Just a lot of weird things and inconsistencies. I thought his acting went from bad to pretty decent. His scenes with the Dag/Phil, Babydoll and Diane Farr were much better than anything else.
It was also his directorial debut, so yeah, for what it was, I thought it was a good job. Not the best movie ever, or award-worthy, but respectable nonetheless.
I don't know if this counts as "old" or "recent" but I finally saw Snowpiercer and it was excellent. I knew a little about it going in which I'm sure boosted it in my mind, but I found the movie incredible. I was worried this movie was going to be an insane exposition fest. It didn't fall into the nerd techy side of everything, it didn't spell everything out for the viewer. It drops viewers into this world and starts running. At some points it slows down just so you can catch your breath and take in all the shit. I never felt like there were unanswered questions, just times where I should be thinking about things and pulling my own assertions.The ending doesn't really tie everything up in a bow except hint at a contradiction to an earlier established belief. I was also fascinated at how this movie is based off a French book, directed by a Korean guy, staffed with a TON of Swedish and Swiss people, then shot in English with an American star. It throws in action (pretty violent), camp, ideas about religion, ideas about class and a ton of stunning visuals large and small. I'm not sure what you'd categorize this movie and I find that awesome. This movie has a ton of depth to it, it has a lot of things going on without trying to be all things to all people. I'm going to see if I can find this book in English, because I know there is even more interesting shit than what they fit into this 2 hour movie. 9/10.
A Most Violent Year According to a few reviews this beats the Godfather Part 2 and Part 1. It doesn't. It isn't a great film, or even good, slow burn it is but it doesn't even compare to a quality mob flick. 3/10 at best. Sorry but DeNiro your not.
Furious 7 You know exactly what this movie sets out to be, and it does it in every regard. Best one yet and worth it to see in the theater. Good ushering in of the summer blockbuster season, this movie will probably make a cool $1B. 9/10
Are you fucking kidding me? Seriously? 9/10? Did you see this movie? 10/10! It was fucking perfect. There is NOT one goddamn thing they could have done better. The was the fastest and furiest movie out of the FF franchise. The ridiculous beats were on point, the hot chicks were hot and didn't push it too far into gratuitous (checked the box perfectly) and the action beat the shit out of everything else. Then the Paul Walker thing...they fucking nailed it. They nailed how they adapted the story, they nailed the use of previous footage, and they nailed anything requiring body doubles/CGI. The tribute at the end and how they set up to move on could not have done any better.
Driving fast cars and blowing shit up doesn't really need a lot of contextualizing. I think you'll be safe.
I've not seen any of the Furious movies. However seeing the trailer for Furious 7 I was immediately struck by the thought, "that's exactly how I used to play with my Hot Wheels cars when I was a boy!" Does that pretty much sum up the series?
Nightcrawler While the movie as a whole was pretty great, Jake Gyllenhaal's character is really the reason to watch. This character make me so uncomfortable, which is entirely the point. I can't think of anything to compare this movie to ( as in, "If you like... you will enjoy this). It's an original premise to my experience. The story keeps your attention and you want to see what happens next. But mostly, watch it for Gyllenhaal's ability to fully immerse himself in the character.
My wife, son and I just got back from seeing FF7 in the theater, after watching the first six at home over the last two days. Good lord, that was a lot of F&F.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Imitation Game. The acting was great overall, but Benedict Cumberbatch was just outstanding. I was really drawn into his character, and the last quarter of the movie is an emotional roller coaster. Highly recommended.
I just saw this too. I guess they took some heavily liberties with history in some places which relatives weren't happy with. Still the movie is really good and I highly recommend.
Avengers: Age of Ultron I'm still not quite sure how to feel about the new Avengers movie. It has lots of action, and I think they do that part quite well, but they also try to tell a story and portray the interaction between the different characters, and in that department they screw it up quite a bit. It all seems quite superficial and kind of half-assed, which would be okay, it being a superhero marvel movie, but it feels like they try to sell it for more than it is. And then there's the illogical/stupid plot decissions. Oh boy. Spoiler: Minor plot spoilers The whole Hulk/Black Widow romance thingy. It goes on and on and they just can't be a couple because, you know, then that subplot would be over, so we have to come up with stupid shit to keep it going. Thor goes into that mythical water thing and that's that, he's just back a few minutes later and nothings really thorougly explained. The Hulk suddenly knows how to work advanced airplane tech? Seriously? I kown he basically just switched off the com, but still. Not worth the ticket price, but if it's on tv it's a good evening filler. 6,5/10