What was the last movie you've seen?

[lisalover1]

The Fault in our Stars

How often is it that we see the common trope of the "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" inverted to be the "Manic Pixie Dream Boy"? I'm seriously asking, because I don't remember a time in recent history where it has been done unsubtly. That's not to say that TFioS is blunt or overly simplistic; I just thought it was interesting is all.

While I did enjoy the unconventional take on the romance genre (as well as the satire of it the movie makes from time to time), it still felt like I was being manipulated the whole film, particularly with the male lead, Augustus, and the author character introduced later. We know that both of these characters are going to die, and soon, so the audience is intended to be a bit more forgiving of some of their more whimsical behavior. Fair enough, but taken on their own merits, some of the scenes just don't make much sense, or come out of nowhere. A few don't serve any purpose to the plot other than to play on the heartstrings.

Still the movie did a lot of things right, and most of the characters I genuinely ended up caring about. There's something powerful about having the Sword of Damocles hanging over your protagonists throughout their entire story, and it keeps you engaged if done well enough.

[samsonlonghair]

Maleficent


I can honestly say this is one of the most beautiful movies I have seen in a long time. Every single shot is like a painting come to life. Disney's Maleficent is more beautiful than all Peter Jackson's Hobbit movies combined.

That said, the script is poorly written, and the dialog is absolutely vapid. Maleficent says things like, "I don't like children. I hate you." the whole time. If that's not banal enough, the narration makes it worse. The narrator has trite lines like, "the boy meant to steal a magical jewel, but wound up stealing something much more precious."

The symbolism comes across heavy-handed as well. One example: Angelina Jolie (fresh off a double mastectomy) has both her wings cut off in this movie. Gee... I wonder what that could possibly symbolize. Aurora asks Maleficent what her wings were like. Her reply was something to the effect, "they were strong and beautiful, and so big they drug the ground." Yep. They sure were.

I can't give this movie a full review without at least mentioning feminism. First, the movie does pass the Betchdel test: there are multiple female characters, and they talk about something other than men. Director Robert Stromberg (best known in the world of visual effects) tries to wear a mask of feminism like a little boy trying to wear his mother's high heels. Sure, there's a strong female lead, but she boils down to a woman scorned who can't control her own emotions. Sure, all the men in this film are "bad guys," but they are ineffectual villains whose worst crime is to break a woman's heart. Before the movie even reaches its halfway point, the evil king is already on his knees begging for Maleficent's forgiveness. This is a movie that pretends to be pro-feminist while simultaneously insulting the intelligence of the female audience.

Verdict: wear your headphones to the movie theatre. Watch Maleficent for its beautiful visual presentation, but spare yourself the agony of listening to the hackneyed dialog or the uninteresting plot.

[jinx]

The Wind Rises

Dammit...

[Luke]

Maleficent

Great write up Sammy.

Maleficent, like you mentioned, is eye candy. Like OZ, it's bright, gorgeous, eye popping, and its visuals are worth the big screen...but that is it.

At the same time, some movies are only made for the "ohhs!" and "ahhhs!" so there ya go.


THE COCOANUTS

Vaudeville at its best.

And if you think vaudeville is a place, google it.

[Forlorn Drifter]

300: Rise of an Empire

Meh. Not nearly as good as the first one. I'm really interested in what Miller's Xerxes would have turned out like, seeing as he hasn't released it after 4 years now... I have a feeling the comic would have been better in this case. Leonidas' wife being a different actress was jarring at first, and the effects were much worse this time. Some of the most obvious green screening I've seen.

[Jmustang1968]

300: Rise of an Empire

Meh. Not nearly as good as the first one. I'm really interested in what Miller's Xerxes would have turned out like, seeing as he hasn't released it after 4 years now... I have a feeling the comic would have been better in this case. Leonidas' wife being a different actress was jarring at first, and the effects were much worse this time. Some of the most obvious green screening I've seen.

That was the same actress...

[Luke]

300: Rise of an Empire

Meh. Not nearly as good as the first one. I'm really interested in what Miller's Xerxes would have turned out like, seeing as he hasn't released it after 4 years now... I have a feeling the comic would have been better in this case. Leonidas' wife being a different actress was jarring at first, and the effects were much worse this time. Some of the most obvious green screening I've seen.

That was the same actress...

And the same effects.

[Sload Soap]

Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Pretty good film I thought. I kind of dismissed this one when it was first released but have heard good things about it since. The sequel is getting good reviews as well so I though I'd check it out.

There's a few cliche characters thrown in and some suspect narrative consistency. Tom Felton is just mean to the apes for the sake of being mean and David Oyelowo's business dick is also just that. Caeser becomes a bit too smart as well, as if he's some sort of chimpy Batman.

However, it's so refreshing to have an effects driven summer movie put it's emotional storytelling before it's explosions. This is exactly the sort of film we should see more of really: CGI used to accentuate the human(ape) element of the film. And it tells more story and hits more emotional beats in it's 105 minute run time than the entirety of the Transformers franchise. How Andy Serkis remains oscar-less is a mystery. Amazing mo-cap performance, again.

Hyped for the sequel now.

[Forlorn Drifter]

300: Rise of an Empire

Meh. Not nearly as good as the first one. I'm really interested in what Miller's Xerxes would have turned out like, seeing as he hasn't released it after 4 years now... I have a feeling the comic would have been better in this case. Leonidas' wife being a different actress was jarring at first, and the effects were much worse this time. Some of the most obvious green screening I've seen.

That was the same actress...

And the same effects.

Hmm. She looks a hell of a lot different in this one to me. Weird.

The effects were definitely worse this time. I can say that for sure. In the first one, there were never moments where there's a definite outline around the actors like in this one. Animations on some of the CGI stuff was wonky too.

[Gamerforlife]

Fucking awesome! Fans of the manga and anime should check it out



I'm a Les Mis fan from back in my high school days, so I enjoyed it and am probably biased towards liking it. Ann Hathaway was superb and Hugh Jackson did just fine in his role.

Journey to the West Conquering the Demons


Didn't enjoy this as much as Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle, but it has its moments and I'd recommend it to fans of the other two movies. It's a bit weirder than Hustle and Soccer though, and seems to rely a bit more on cultural knowledge (i.e. less accessible to US audiences) than those movies. The action scenes at the beginning and end of the movie really stand out and some of the comedy works, but this movie somehow feels more uneven than Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer



This is basically an animated Indiana Jones film. It makes excellent use of 3d(the way this movie should be watched). The characters look almost photo realistic and the movie has some really fantastic action sequences. The amount of talent behind this movie is staggering. You have names like Edgar Wright, Daniel Craig, Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson and Steven Moffit. All of those names should mean something to anyone who keeps up with TV and movies.

On my to do list:

Pitch Black
Hugo 3d
World War Z
Re-watching How to Train Your Dragon in 3d