What was the last movie you've seen?

[Sano]

Thor

I like this movie, but I've always had a large interest in Norse Mythology.

[Sload Soap]

Star Trek VI. One of the better Treks I think. Combines the cheesy (Christopher Plummer's hammy Shakespeare quoting Kilngon and Shantner) with some more substantial themes. The films is about becoming outdated (as classic Trek was at the time) and an allegory for the fall of the Soviet Union and the putting aside of old grudges.

It also has some pretty cool action sequences; I've always liked the zero gravity assassination scene and the final starship battle is one of the series finest. There's a lot of cool practical effects and make up as well which I always appreciate. It probably won't appeal much to non-Trek fans though. It's a shame they had to ruin Kirk's goodbye with Generations. Oh well.

[Fragems]

Deathrace 2000

Popped up under the cult film category on netflix the other day so I decided to check it out. Story was pretty crappy but it had some great action scenes and the cars were pretty awesome. The over the top vehicular violence was also pretty amusing and I liked the effects even if they were a little cheesy at times ..

[BogusMeatFactory]

Star Trek VI. One of the better Treks I think. Combines the cheesy (Christopher Plummer's hammy Shakespeare quoting Kilngon and Shantner) with some more substantial themes. The films is about becoming outdated (as classic Trek was at the time) and an allegory for the fall of the Soviet Union and the putting aside of old grudges.

It also has some pretty cool action sequences; I've always liked the zero gravity assassination scene and the final starship battle is one of the series finest. There's a lot of cool practical effects and make up as well which I always appreciate. It probably won't appeal much to non-Trek fans though. It's a shame they had to ruin Kirk's goodbye with Generations. Oh well.

I think that this one is the most appealing to non-trek fans outside of the J.J. Abrams films. It is a much faster paced Star Trek film, there is action, mystery and intrigue and great memorable moments. Everyone says Wrath of Khan is the best, but that is really just an elongated episode that is very superficial in story (still an entertaining movie). I just feel that VI is a very engaging film on a lot of different levels.

And yes..it is a shame about ruining Kirk's Goodbye.

[Gamerforlife]

So I watched Resident Evil Afterlife in 3d. I've never watched an RE movie in its entirety, just caught bits and pieces of them while channel surfing over the past couple years. I know they are not great movies, but I have defended them in the past based on what I've seen of them as a kind of guilty pleasure. If you go in just for hot babes and iconic video game characters slaughtering zombies with a few geeky references to the games thrown in for the hardcore fans, I think you can get something out of these movies. However, even with such low expectations I found Afterlife pretty disappointing.

I didn't feel like I really saw a whole lot of action scenes over the course of the movie, and what I did see was laughable. Basically, just people running around shooting guns, and jumping around striking ridiculous looking poses in slow motion. Basically, the kind of action sequences that would pop out of the mind of a 13 year old who watches a lot of crappy Japanese anime. Also, the amount of zombies I saw get slaughtered in this movie is way below the number of zombie corpses I've seen in some one hour Walking Dead episodes, and they've killed zombies on that show in FAR more gruesome and creative ways than you'll see in this movie. Some people complain about the uneven quality of The Walking Dead, but when you compare even some of its worse episodes to a movie like this suddenly The Walking Dead seems like The Wire or Breaking Bad for the zombie genre in terms of quality.

The plot is pretty thin and so little happens by the time the credits roll that I felt like I had only watched half of a movie. They might as well have just put, "to be continued" after the last scene.

Lastly, the 3d - which should have been the movie's saving grace. I've read on various sites that regardless of what you think of the movie it's use of 3d and the quality of the video transfer on the blu ray is amazing. Well, it's certainly more visually engaging in 3D than anything I've seen from this franchise on their 2D TV airings, but nothing the movie does with 3d really knocked my socks off. I mean the 3D effect is what it is. There's depth and pop out that enhances the movie's look and doesn't detract from it in any way, and a few cool effects revolving around smoke, lighting and rain drops, but with 3D or without 3D you've still got a movie with bland cinematography, generic special effects, and ridiculous action sequences. The old cliche applies here that you can polish up a turd but it's still a turd.

Or maybe Pina and Gravity have spoiled me. I haven't watched that many 3d movies, but those two have certainly set the bar pretty high for anything else I'm going to watch. Though I imagine if Afterlife was a visually stunning movie to begin with I could have better appreciated whatever little bit of enhancement it gets in 3D

[Sano]

S.W.A.T.

Great action flick!

[Gamerforlife]

Pacific Rim 3d

Fun movie, it's basically a live action Neon Genesis Evangelion, but without the overly complicated, pretentious bullshit story elements. This movie is just big evil monsters are killing people, and humans in big robots need to kick their ass! Honestly, you can make allusions to lots of Japanese mecha anime, Godzilla, and there's a definite nod to Voltron too. It's a pure otaku movie. I love that one of the main characters even speaks in Japanese much of the time, and I even heard the voice of GLaDOS as a nice nod to us gamers.

In 3d, the action scenes are phenomenal, but other scenes didn't really benefit from the 3D in my opinion. It's a post conversion job, so take that for what it's worth. They put a lot of time into it though, and I think it really does shine once the action kicks in, but when characters are just walking around and talking the 3D seems unnecessary and is slightly distracting in my opinion. I plan on seeing this movie at some point in 2D to see how it compares.

I honestly wish the movie could have had at least one more action sequence, especially since if feels like you're waiting a long time before the movie even jumps into the action in earnest. The early going had me just going, "can we stop with the characters talking and stuff and just get to why I'm REALLY watching this movie"

Unlike the last movie I watched (Resident Evil Afterlife), action scenes in Pacific Rim are genuinely awesome looking and not ridiculous and too over the top. The 3D just makes it all better

[Fragems]

Man of Tai Chi

Pretty awesome martial arts flick. Had noticed it a few times on netflix but being a foreign film it kind of got buried in my watch list. Anyways last night we grabbed some pizza and finally watched it after noticing Keanu Reeves was in it . Anyways the story is pretty good and the fights are top notch. Definitely worth checking out if you have netflix.

[CD AGES]

Man of Tai chi was also his directorial debut

[Gamerforlife]

I got the Lego Movie Everything is Awesome Edition in the mail today. I'm pissed at Walmart for shipping it in the most ghetto looking shipping box I've EVER seen, without even so much as bubble wrap or anything inside it to protect the product. So there is some notable denting and creases to the box. I was not in the mood to go through the hassle of returning or exchanging the damn thing though, especially after waiting for so long for this damn movie and wanting to just watch the damn thing already, so I decided to keep it. All in all, it's still in pretty good condition as most of the wear and tear is on the top flaps, which aren't even visible when you close the top of the box. That said though, fuck you Walmart.

Anyway, I watched it tonight in 3d after watching some of my favorite Pacific Rim scenes again. Initially, I wasn't feeling this movie. I thought it was too fast paced and felt like the movie was overwhelming me with non stop gags, jokes, geeky references and one action scene after another. Some of it was definitely entertaining, but I found myself wishing the movie would just slow down a bit. It felt like every moment you were just waiting for the next joke or action sequence. It felt kind of like I was watching a movie for people with ADD. Most movies of this ilk are a bit more balanced between character based storytelling with occasional moments for action and jokes. The Lego movie leans much more heavily towards the latter.

However, once the movie moves towards its final act and the story's big twist is revealed, I found the movie much more interesting and engaging. It's only towards the end that the movie starts to finally lessen its breakneck pacing and actually takes time to let some poignant moments build up between characters. I also really like the somewhat more serious tone the movie takes at this point, actually delivering some surprisingly meaningful and powerful messages, which are only hinted at earlier in the movie. The movie reveals some surprising depth here given how wacky and over the top most of the movie is. The story wraps up in satisfying fashion. It's always good when a movie finishes strong.

So all in all, I liked this movie, and will probably have to watch it again just to try and catch god knows how many gags and references I probably missed on first viewing. I'd probably put in on par with Wreck it Ralph, a very good family movie, more so if you can appreciate the pop culture references and Lego nostalgia, but not up there with true classics like How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda, The Incredibles and some other truly top tier family movies.

Vitruvius really steals the show as the best character. Batman is great too, though the movie overuses him just a little bit. I love how the movie both celebrates and pokes fun at how cool and popular the character has become. There are other DC cameos, but they are all bit players, while Batman takes center stage for much of the movie. He's DC's Wolverine.

The 3D is really good. The movie is very good about not overusing it and not having it be super noticeable all the time. It works in service of the movie and not the other way around, enhancing whatever it can without ever feeling obtrusive. Lego characters look naturally good in 3D too. I've heard a lot of people talk about the everything is awesome song, but as far as I'm concerned this is the movie's best track:



"DARKNESS!!!! NO PARENTS!!!"