After hearing elsewhere that they were just showing twenty minutes of the movie, I decided to spend my time elsewhere.
After hearing elsewhere that they were just showing twenty minutes of the movie, I decided to spend my time elsewhere.
Split = Mind Blown. Brilliant. 9.5/10
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Insomnia #459
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"Chips".
Hilarious. Starts out funny and keeps ratcheting the laughs up. Love that they did it R rated as a lot of the jokes and visuals would have been dropped. 80 people at the 10:45 am showing yesterday, and something I rarely see (hear) at the end of a comedy, they all applauded.
I give it 5/6 beers on the RFSRS!
Kong: Skull Island
Works great as a creature-feature fueled blockbuster, with eye catching visuals to boot. They decided to ditch the 'less is more' approach handily used by Godzilla, instead opting to place the titular monster front and center and the film benefits because of it. An entertaining way to spend 2 hours.
3/5
I saw Hacksaw Ridge and Manchester By The Sea over the weekend, and boy am I in the minority on these.
Short version: if you were already inclined to see either of these based on trailers etc., go right ahead and do so - in both cases, the subject matter makes for a decent tale.
At least 2/3 of the scenes in Hacksaw Ridge felt like cliched and hyperbolic renditions of what that type of scene might be expected to be ("here's the scene where they establish their lack of respect for him, no doubt to be resolved in a later scene in which that respect is earned and acknowledged" (check)) and slo-mo and music were overused almost to the point of comedy. And how many cuts did we need from Desmond's face to that of Dorothy? She caught his eye - we get it. Minor quibble: were young men at that time allowed to have such tall hair, or is that an anachronism? Maybe Garfield has a standard pomade contract clause or something. Rachel Griffiths' performance was a caricature that would have been welcome in a one-line walk-on for an episode of The Waltons, which A) isn't good, but B) at least fit with the overall production. Hugo Weaving did a nice job, which was basically wasted. Other than that, I have no strong feelings on it...
I suppose Manchester By The Sea was the better of the two, but it vacillated between dull (in which not much happens, because much of the movie takes place after certain significant events have taken place - certainly a valid way to tell a story, and a logical one in this instance as this movie mainly concerns itself with characters' reactions to aftermath, but one in which dullness may result, as was the case here) and operatic (strange music lying atop of a sequence in which even less happens). Definitely less cartoony and therefore the more gut-wrenching of the two movies.
So, to sum up by contradicting everything I just wrote: I can see why some really liked these movies - but I wasn't one of them.
Eastasia has always taught college students to feel pride or shame according to their race.
I saw Rogue One again at the discount theater and liked it even more the second time. I'm not a big fanboy by any means when it comes to SW but this is a really good movie.
I watched Arrival last night. And boy was I disappointed. I feel like I missed something, I don't understand what the whole point of the movie was.
Only the gentle are ever really strong.
Watched Logan this weekend. I wouldn't say I was blown away but I did enjoy the movie. It did what it was supposed to do which was to be entertaining. The R rating worked well with this movie and I thought there were a few poignant moments that I hadn't seen/felt before in other Marvel flicks.
While we waited in line they were also doing a martial arts exhibition for the Power Rangers movie. It was fun to watch and I got a kick how serious the people looked who were performing.
...aaaaand now my enthusiasm for seeing Arrival has been dampened (I hate when entertainment tries to teach me something, and I'm already receiving enough "messages" instructing me what to think about present day affairs). But I'll probably still see it; it's always nice to have an excuse to stare at Amy Adams for an hour and a half.
Eastasia has always taught college students to feel pride or shame according to their race.
You can still enjoy it on a fundamentally sci-fi level. The parallels are painted in broad strokes, not something that gets crammed down your throat.
Just enjoy it on a 'first encounter' basis and the rest will take care of itself.
Rogue One: 3.5/5
Split: 4/5
Beauty And The Beast (2017): 4.5/5
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The Wailing. I knew next to nothing going into it; only that it was a haunting/possession-type horror with a lot of buzz about it. So I had no pressures or influences on what I was about to see.
And...I wanted to like it more. First off, the parts that were good were VERY good. Every scene with the little girl was excellent. And the two scenes of the shaman ritual were absolutely riveting. Some other scenes, especially in the last 30 minutes or so were likewise very intense.
However, much of the movie was so...frustrating. Frustrating because it didn't have to be so bad. There's no reason why the main character (cop) and his cohorts had to be so inept. Going for a few laughs here and there is one thing, but making them so cartoonish took me right out of the movie time and time again. I could give example after example of character stupidity, but don't feel like spoiler-boxing a wall of text.
First half of the movie, which mostly features the retarded cop: 2 / 5
Last half of the movie: 4 / 5
Overall: 3 / 5
(shaman scenes: 10 / 5)
What didn't you like about beauty and the beast? When rating remakes/reboots, its not really fair to compare it to the original. You have to rate it as if you're seeing it for the first time.
That being said, the movie was magical. The original songs were done very well, the new songs weren't fantastic but they were still enjoyable. Characters were great, special effects (for the most part) were great. My only real downsides are Emma Watson's singing voice (which wasn't horrible, but definitely a little weak), the chemistry between the two leads, and the all-time negative mark for beauty and the beast: No matter how great their connection COULD have been, that's still never enough reason for Belle to want to fuck a buffalo.
Went to see Life yesterday. Good effects, acting, a few good gag-worthy moments (and looked great in IMAX 2D), but it really doesn't do anything new for the alien-in-space-picking-people-off sub-genre of horror/sci-fi. I predicted the ending a couple minutes before it actually happened, but it was still a pretty ballsy one, so bonus points for that.
A NEW GAME BEGINS
Stay away from Ghost in a Shell. It's not even bad. It's just... blah. Which to me is even worse.
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I watched Passengers the other night. While it wasn't the greatest film ever made, I don't know where the bad reviews came from. Will I watch it again, no. But it was entertaining enough. The only thing that annoyed meSpoiler:
Only the gentle are ever really strong.