Tuesday, May 15, 2012

2 months is a little long to post...

I thought the last post was a huge movie backlog, but this one is just ridiculous! It's practically half the movies I've seen this year. I have more-or-less caught up on all my fall movies I wanted to see (most of this list). Now it's that awkward wait for the summer movies to come out. The Avengers certainly kicked off the summer movies and boy, oh boy, did it kick the summer off!

With that said...Movies! They're going to be short reviews, unless I have something to really say given there are so many of them...

Mirror, Mirror (Julia Roberts, Lily Collins) - Clever portrayal of the dwarves, but the movie is definitely more a comedy than an action/adventure film. So, basically, don't take it seriously. Roberts nails drove me nuts through it because it was some sort of silver chrome and then they changed it at the end. I was trying to see what it was each time! I enjoyed it, but it did leave a feeling of "weird" and "bizarre" when I finished watching it. Grade: B/B-

Hunger Games (Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson) - There were some minor things I didn't like that they changed (e.g., where she got the Mockingjay pin from and its importance), but I overall really enjoyed the film. I didn't cry in the beginning during the reaping, but I did in the other parts I thought I would. I enjoyed it and look forward to the next ones. Grade: A-

21 Jump Street (Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum) - Surprisingly very funny (a la Bridesmaids, but in a male dominated film) and it's nice that they a) didn't take themselves seriously and b) didn't make it a remake. I liked the surprise cameos also and who'd of thunk Tatum was so funny? Basically the two points I made above is what made it work. If it was a remake/reboot, it would have been a little awkward and because it was very slapstick-comedy, it was funny. Grade: B/B+

Happy Feet Two - Good sequel, but it's not quite the first one either. I liked it and it was about family, helping each other out, and perceptions of each other. The environmental theme for this one was about climate change and the melting of the ice, but it wasn't as strong of a theme as the first one. There was less singing in this one too. Or so it seemed. Grade: B/B-

Tower Heist (Eddie Murphy, Ben Stiller, et al.) - Interesting cast for the film and they all worked well together. The movie was more the "mystery" of where the money went and the end. It was an okay film. There was something sort of "docile" about it. It doesn't have the glam appeal like Ocean's 11 and isn't an espionage, adventure, or straight comedy film either. Grade: B/B-

The Muppets (Jason Segal, Amy Adams) - I rather enjoyed the movie. It was a nice film and I liked the new muppet. I can't say the musical pieces always grabbed me, but I overall liked them. I liked all the little cameos from various people too. I think it was a nice film that sort of fit in the rebooting of The Muppets too. Grade: B+

Young Adult (Charlize Theron) - Definitely not what I expected it to be. It was more of a midlife crisis type of film and is titled Young Adult because Theron's character is a YA author who is trying to write her final book to her series. Her life is basically not going according to plan and she tries to get her old bf back and all this other stuff. Don't particularly recommend it. It's definitely not "light and fluffy" either. Grade: D

My Week with Marilyn (Michelle Williams, Eddie Redmayne) - An interesting film and though Williams can't ever really be Marilyn, I think she did a pretty decent job at it. Marilyn was certainly an interesting person and the movie shows the various sides to her. How true/accurate the film is I can't say, but I enjoyed it and thought the acting was good. Grade: B/B+

Three Musketeers (Matthew Macfadyen, Luke Evans, et al.) - Not what I expected...It's sort of "over done" by over-the-top production/costumes. I can't really describe it other than to say that I was a little confused by it and am so glad I didn't see it in theater. It's less adventure-y and more about redeeming themselves and everything. It also adds a 4th Musketeer and Orlando Bloom is the bad guy. So, yeah. I sort of rank this up there with Mirror, Mirror for "odd" and "bizarre" feeling after I watched it. Grade: C+

Adventures of TinTin - Okay, I admit it. The animation in this was AMAZING. No wonder it got such great reviews for the animation. It was amazing. It was still cartoon-y, but had that edge of realistic animation to it that simply wow'd you. The story wasn't fantastic and was lacking a little, but it is based off the kid's series and I think it kept well to being a kid's movie while trying to appeal to adults also. If there is no other reason to watch it, I'd just watch it again for the animation. Grade: B

Footloose (Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough) - Admittedly, I've never seen the original (don't throw things at me!), so I can't compare. I think they "updated" the film rather well, though. Basically a fatal car crash because of drinking (where dancing also took place) is what caused the town to have its no dancing rule. I liked Wormald and Hough, but the film was just "okay." Grade: B/B-

Carnage (Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, John C. Reilly) - What superb acting! This film is based off the play, which took me a while to figure out. The movie does, I think, a pretty good job trying to bring the play to the big screen, but I do think the play would be far more powerful to see in person rather than it being on the big screen. With that said, the acting was amazing and Foster and Winslet were definitely the two stars of it. Both characters, by the end, are completely drunk and Winslet has to do a throw-up scene and it's just hilarious, sad (at what they're arguing over), and fantastic to watch. It's pure acting with nothing else but them moving between 4 areas (the living room, the kitchen, bathroom, and hallway to the elevator). The grade is almost purely for the acting job. Grade: B+

A Dangerous Method (Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen, Keira Knightley) - Having learned about Jung in high school, I was curious to see the movie, especially since the cast intrigued me. I enjoyed it. It does deserve its rating and I think Knightley does a good acting job in the beginning when she's "deranged" (the jaw/muscle contortions is just...Wow...) and is trying to recover from her sexual issues. Mortensen is an interesting Freud and Fassbender and Mortensen play off each other fairly well. It's kind of sad to see their friendship devolve over differences in philosophy, though. The movie is kind of a biopic of their relationships (all 3 of them) more than anything, but there's just something slightly off about it. Perhaps it moves too quickly? Is too caught up in patient-doctor-mentor? I don't know...It had good acting, but the movie is definitely not lightweight or anything. Grade: B-

The Descendants (George Clooney) - I liked this film. There was something in it that really worked. I think Clooney did an excellent acting job and the story about families, our family history, moving on, the pain we cause each other, etc is interesting. I also liked seeing Clooney's character learn to build a bond with his oldest daughter and come to terms with his wife's cheating. There's something somewhat poignant and gentle about the film even though it deals with a fairly heavy topic. Grade: B+

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock) - Horn was really surprising at how good he was. Oh my goodness...He has these monologues that just astound you because he is rambling on a mile a minute and it's just amazing to see. Okay, maybe it's just astounding to me because I don't think I could ever do that so well! The depth of the emotion in the film is rather deep at times and I think he did that pretty well too. I really enjoyed the film. It has a really touching ending that both is healing and sad and you definitely go along the journey that Horn's character is trying to accomplish. It is somewhat rambley and there is probably a portion of the movie you don't necessarily have to see, but I liked it. I liked Bullock and Hanks too. Grade: B

War Horse (Jeremy Irvine) - Once again, it's no wonder the film was so well liked. I think Speilberg did an excellent job with the film. For as tough of a subject the film is, you can definitely feel its aim towards being a family movie rather than an adult film. The horses in it are amazing, but so are the people. It sort of reminds me of Black Beauty of how the movie follows the horse around and who the horse touches rather than the people. It does have some sad parts, but the ending is a happy one and, I think, more happy than Black Beauty. I did have my "Ginger moment" that is similar to Black Beauty in War Horse, but it was slightly (JUST slightly) better. The film is well done, though. It truly was handled really well. Grade: B+

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Gary Oldman, John Hurt, Colin Firth, et al.) - What has an amazing cast, I felt they were a little wasted. Supposedly the book reads far better than the movie and even watching the movie the movie felt flat. The acting is amazing (it is Oldman, Firth, Hurt, Cumberbatch, etc for goodness sake!), but there's just something that doesn't really jive well in the film. I wanted it to be better and it just never quite got there...This film is rather docile for being an espionage movie too. Course, it's more about finding the traitor or what went wrong during a mission so there's a lot of sleuthing of facts and accusations. So, in a lot of ways, the acting is rather guarded and underhanded. It's yelling at each other without really yelling, sort of. Grade: B-

Immortals (Henry Cavill, Mickey Rourke) - Well, it was what was to be expected? The mythology was a little odd to me at times, but the movie was interesting. The special effects were interesting and the end was interesting. It's not too surprising of a film and isn't my normal cup of tea, but it was okay. Grade: B-

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (Tom Cruise, Paula Patton, Jeremy Renner) - Surprisingly, it was rather good. I have never seen a MI film all the way through, but everyone said that Ghost Protocol was pretty good. This movie was rather funny at times and I enjoyed it. It's your basic MI film (or so I would assume) so it's nothing too out of the ordinary, but it passed the time well and you didn't feel cheated out of your rental or anything. I'd watch it again. Though, my palms sweated through one scene. Goodness! I'm glad they have cool gadgets, but that one I would still be iffy about... Grade: B

Haywire (Gina Carano) - It's kind of a combination of Bourne and Salt. It's the type of film where it's a lot of action and trying to clear your name where you've been wrongly set-up. It was okay. It felt a little "been there, done that" to really grab you. I think if there was just a slight change, it could have been better. I can't pinpoint what could have been changed, but it certainly could have gone another angle and perhaps done better. Grade: C+

We Bought a Zoo (Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson) - I liked this film more than I thought I would. It's a somewhat gentle film, but I can't fully say it's a family film. It could be, but it really settles more on the adults and them trying to pull the Zoo together. It's definitely about loss and learning to move on and getting past your grief. I suppose the other theme is rooting for the underdog too. I liked it. I think older kids would be more appropriate to watch this than really young kids. Grade: B

The Avengers (Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, et al.) - So far, my favorite film of 2012! I've seen it twice in theater and I'd even be willing to see it a 3rd time. Yes, it's an action film (my favorite), but the acting and script are great! Not to mention the CG is fantastic! Hulk definitely has the funniest parts in the film, but there are just so many amazing small things throughout it that really make it enjoyable from start to finish. I still get excited when Iron Man shoots his lasers off Captain America's shield (it's in the video game!) and it's just fun. I'm a little mad at Whedon for killing off a certain someone (why does Whedon feel the need to kill people off in everything?!) even though the death served a purpose (I'm convinced they could have written it differently where said person didn't die!). It kind of felt like a geekfest, truth be told, having all those superheros in the film and all this action going on. I think everyone's strengths were well portrayed in the film too and it all just jived well. Definitely makes you excited for the next one and it's a well deserved movie for breaking records right and left. Grade: A+

One for the Money (Katherine Heigl, Jason O'Mara) - NY accent on Heigl? Hmm...This film is based off of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum (bounty hunter) mystery series. It's the first book in the series (the number in the title denotes the book number in the series - I sold quite a few of these books...). I've watched so many Heigl rom-coms that I couldn't pass this one up even though she's very much a hit-or-miss. This one I'm sort of calling a draw. I can't say it's her worst one, but I can't say it's her best either. I think the biggest thing in the film was her accent sort of bothered me. I'm not sure why it should bother me, but it did. Other than that, it's your pretty basic rom-com where Plum is trying to learn to be a bounty hunter (she knew nothing at the start of the film) and track down an old ex who is wanted and, at the same time, is trying to clear his own name from the crime he supposedly made. So...bounty hunter crime solver...? It's okay. Grade: B/B-

With that...I am up to 41 movies for the year! I've got 7.5 more months to surpass 80 films. At the rate I'm going, you'd think that would be easy (only 40 films), but the summer slows me down a lot since there are far fewer films I want to see from earlier this year. I'm sure the fall will pick up with summer movies, but then the fall hits and I typically miss out on those in the theater. So...we'll see. I've only seen 5 movies in the theater or 6 movies total so far. The summer has some good ones (MIB3, Dark Knight Rises, Brave, etc), but we'll see. By my quick calculation, I only have 25 films left I want to see (DVD or theater). Course, I'm sure I'll pick up some extras, but getting to 80 will be harder than it looks!

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