The Accountant I was a little underwhelmed by this one after seeing Warrior by the same the director, which I really liked. Ben Affleck I thought did a good job in his role, and there was a decent story but I thought it should have been fleshed out more. The actions scenes were good. I really would have liked to see more of the story about how he came to be in the position he's in, more on the relationship between him and the old man, and they explained absolutely nothing about his accomplice. In the trailer they made it seem like a mob movie, but there's next to no mob in it at all. Too much exposition and not enough actually happening in the movie. Spoiler "And what the hell did the brother do for the entire time? They didn't even bother with exposition for him, just threw him in" It just felt....incomplete. Definitely enough material for a sequel or prequel, but I'm not sure if I'd care enough to see them. I probably would. 6/10. Rent it, don't go to the theater.
I have a very different take on The Accountant. It is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. They actually explained everything about his accomplice in one of the final scenes. It wasn't obvious, but think about the computerized voice. I agree that I would have liked to have seen more about the relationship between the old man and Christian. My entire family loved the movie, and we sat in the theater for a few minutes afterward just talking about it.
Dr. Strange Fine movie. The pacing was very good; it felt like every chapter (his mundane life, downfall, training, etc.) was the correct length. Visuals were good and none of the characters annoyed me. 7/10.
Dr. Strange Perfect casting, smarter than other superhero movies and cutting edge visuals makes for the very best MCU film to date. A must-see on the big screen. 9/10
It's hard to properly express my feelings for a movie I've been waiting so long for and endured so many emotional roller coasters for (including seeing names like Guillermo del Toro and Neil Gaiman attached). Doctor Strange did not disappoint. Amazing showing from what could have easily been a cheezy, lame and campy showing . Marvel did an outstanding job on this one. 9 Hoggoths out of 10 from me on this one. Slight embarrassing spoiler: Spoiler I'm truly embarrassed that it took me about 5 minutes until the characters actually said it before I realized "Ohhhhhhhhh, the Eye of Agamotto is the Time Gem!" Hannibal Lector/LeChiffre/Felicity Jones' Dad only uses word "Time" in damn near every friggin sentence.
The Edge of Seventeen This one joins Boyhood on the list of recent coming-of-age teen films that are mediocre but getting rave reviews. Most of the acting performances were excellent, but all of them except for the lead actress's (Hailee Steinfeld) were wasted. It isn't always bad when the lead is the only character who is fleshed out, but her character just wasn't likeable or interesting enough to carry a film on her own. She came off as too much of a whiny brat, even for a high school kid who had gone through some rough patches. The fact was that her home life and social life were not bad enough to justify her rebellious streak that was at the center of the film. Also, her brother's character and her relationship with him should have been explored more. But the biggest disappointment of the movie, to me, was that her best friend, Krista (played by Haley Lu Richardson) barely had any screen time after the first 30 minutes. It would also be nice to see a teen film about an ugly ducking who really is ugly, instead of the "not a prom queen but should still have no trouble getting dates" types like Steinfeld in this film or Rachael Leigh Cook in She's All That. There were a few chuckles and worthwhile scenes, but overall The Edge of Seventeen was a disappointment. 5/10
Bad Santa 2 As a fan of the first film, I am advising everyone not to pay money to see this sequel. It's the same basic formula as the first film, except with a new player in Santa and the midget's operation and they trying to fraud a charity instead of a retail store. The problem is that almost none of the jokes and one-liners hit. I think that I laughed out loud a total of one time throughout the whole film. I think that it also hurt that Thurman Merman was reduced to a more minor role and there weren't any new characters who matched Bernie Mac's in the first film. Moreover, the ending was also highly predictable, even by the standards of the genre. About the only positive that I can say about this movie was that Christina Hendricks was nice to look at in the few scenes that she was in. I know that I should have expected as much, but this is a prime example of a classic movie needing to be left alone without a sequel. 2/10
Spoiler: Answering spoiler In the Infinity Gauntlet comic the green gem was The Soul Gem and it controlled all the others. Did they call it the "time stone" in the film?
Many of these anticipated, long-awaited sequels have been disappointments. ID4, Dumb and Dumber, etc. It sucks. These are much loved cult movies and this tarnishes their legacy.
Hacksaw Ridge. It's an incredible story. The movie is very well done, but not incredibly well done. It's like 90% of what it would have taken to be considered for Oscars, but that other 10% was hard to pin down what's missing for me. Both Andrew Garfield and Vince Vaughan were almost right casting, but not quite. (Sam Worthington was very good.) I was moved, the film was powerful, but the whole thing seemed not quite.
Rogue One I liked it. A lot. I didn't connect with the main character very much, but the movie in general was just so good that I didn't care. My favorite character was the droid, forget his name. Some belly laughs, some feels, and I walked out with a big grin. Even though... Spoiler: major spoiler alert literally everyone fucking dies, it was still a feel good ending.
I enjoyed the film. However, in my theatre, either the print (if that's what they're still called) was too dark, or the projector needed a better bulb. It was so dark it was hard to see what was going on. A buddy who went to a different screen, same theatre, different time said his was fine. Weird. As far as the "main character," Jyn Erso. She was seemed to be the main character in the trailers and poster, but less so in the actual film. I found Rey a much more compelling character than Jyn, but that was probably intentional to make more of an ensemble. I think that Cassian and Chirrut were just as "main," and liked Chirrut better. K-2SO is the droid, and he was voice by Alan Tudyk, which I thought was cool, since I'm a Firefly / Serenity fan. My favorite character was K-2SO, also and thought Spoiler: spoiler 1 that the fact he could suddenly move super fast was a really cool thing to add. It's hard to reveal something "new" when you're doing a prequel movie - like, that was one of the things that was wrong with Eps 1-3, imo, was that a lot of the spaceships looked sleek and more advanced than ones the same folks would fly in Eps 3-4. (Though, that may have been just a failure of the shiny, CGI tone of those that Force Awakens and Rogue One shed in favor of the grittier look consistent with Eps 3-4.) And, speaking of CGI, I was very impressed with Spoiler: spoiler 2 Tarkin. I didn't know he was going to be in this episode. When he appeared, I was like, um, wtf? Peter Cushing died 20 years ago! After the fact, I read a review that called it "obvious CGI," but I disagree. and, it was cool Spoiler: spoiler 3 that Darth Vader showed why he's a feared bad guy, with his light saber whoop ass moment. CB, as far as your spoiler goes, Spoiler: spoiler spoiler we know going in that these events take place between Eps 3 & 4, yet none of these characters are around in 4. So, it was pretty clear everyone was going to die.
Well, I mean Spoiler: spoiler Not really that clear. The rebel alliance was pretty big, so they could have just part of the expanded universe that doesn't get mentioned. I'm not as broken up about it as my daughter was, I think it is touching that these people sacrificed themselves - especially with folks like Bodhi and Cassian talking about their sketchy pasts, this was balancing the scales for them. And it is a good message that war isn't pretty, etc. In ref to your CGI comment Spoiler: more spoiler Tarkin was freaking me out. It came almost too close to the uncanny valley phenomenon, but worked out okay. Same with Leia. I should probably also note that I am currently super obsessed with Sherlock, what with season 4 coming out, and there was one scene that almost got ruined for me because one of the whiners in the scene plays a character named Anderson in Sherlock who is known to be a whiner (typecasting I guess) and had to hold myself back from saying loudly, "Shut up, Anderson!" Also, one of the rebel leaders, Alistair Petrie, is also in an episode of Sherlock. And I loved Mads Mikkelsen. I've only seen him in two other things. Casino Royale, where he is a complete evil asshole. And Doctor Strange, where he is a villain but clearly troubled. In this one, he is Spoiler: even more spoilers So gentle and unlike his other characters. And I loved that he was the one responsible for the weakness.
I loved the movie. I enjoyed it quite a bit more than The Force Awakens. Since the story wasn't a complete rehash and they had some decently complex characters, it really stood out over TFA. By the time the final battle got into full swing I was near cheering aloud for the the rebels. The last act with the battle had some of the best action scenes Ive seen in a few years. I was pretty disappointed they did away with the grand opening and crawl. The reworked opening music just didn't sit with me at all. It's timeless music with a deep connection to cinema history, if it ain't broke why fix it? They used less of it in Force Awakens too which I thought was weak on the producers part. They also kind of de-emphasized the use of the force, it didn't play as strong a role as Star Wars is known for. I wished the blind guy had been more cerebral and philisophical on the nature and use of the force. Still this movie is well worth the price of admission. 8.5/10 Spoiler: spoiler I also didn't like how they took out Forest Whitakers character so soon into the movie. The whole fanatic angle was interesting and his character was set up as farely sinister, torturing people and all, that it was a shame they didn't try to include him with later acts.
That was an intentional choice to keep the sequential nine movies unique in their own special way. And, John Williams is 84, he has to cut back his work load at some point (but has committed to Episode VIII). Another spinoff prequel!
Re: Rogue One. It was much more fun for me the second time. I was able to pick up some more background or other things I didn't notice the first time. Spoiler Like the guys at the Jedha prison playing the "chess animal" game like Chewbacca played on the Millennium Falcon. Spoiler And the fact that some of the "mountains" were huge Jedi statues. Also, with Carrie Fisher dying and the timing of Rogue One's release, I went back and watched Episode IV. That was pretty cool seeing it again right after Rogue One's ending. I also watched Empire Strikes back, and boy, that is still my favorite. I also never noticed before, but C-3PO is ALWAYS not around whenever the central cast meets up with Darth Vader. When I first saw Episode I, I was like, why didn't Anakin recognize C-3PO since he made him? But, he always happens to be ducking away behind a closing door, or getting disassembled in another room when Vader encounters Luke, Leia, Han or Chewie. Not sure about RotJ. I highly recommend a rewatch of New Hope if you just saw Rogue One.
Well, since Mr. Smarty Pants rep'd me about the Carbonite scene. I KNOW Chewie has C-3PO on his back. But, a) Vader enters from the other side of the room, and Threepio's head is facing the other way, obscured by the big walking carpet. b) Han can't even see Threepio while talking to Chewie. Vader is on the other side of the Carbonite pit, and it's dark and steamy. c) C-3PO tells Chewie to turn around, because he can't see. Chewie never does. d) While C-3PO is on Chewie's back, Darth Vader looks right at Lando and says, "Take the princess and the Wookiee to my ship." Nothing about the droid that's currently hanging right there on Chewie's back. Then Vader walks out of the room, away from them. So, nerd burn.
Unless C3PO actually talked to or in front of Vader how would he ever recognize him over all the similarly built protocol driods? The force?