It's Back: Exceelent Movies I've Seen Lately

[johnnya24]

Movie? TV? Mini-series?

The Dust Bowl by Ken Burns. Thought this was a terrific documentary. Long but never boring. I thought it contextualized the disaster brilliantly, though I think it lacked a bit of exposition to be perfect ... for instance, they didn't properly explain the new farming methods that were introduced to help reverse the damage. I would have been interested to see a more technical explanation of what they were designed to do, and why it worked. But highly recommended.

[heyelander]

I thought it was poor. I was rooting for the bad guys. If Disney made Tolkien, this is what you would get.

Edit: if George Lucas decided to make Tolkien, this is what you would get.

I wasn't quite rooting for the bad guys, but yeah, this was much more disney than LOTR. And it felt like there was a lot of extra fluff added in.

[DMT]

Agreed, even with lowered expectations I was pretty disappointed with The Hobbit.

Life of Pi was excellent, just wish I had seen it in 3D (but dumb theater only had showings at 5 and 10 pm).

[JudeBaldo]

Zero Dark Thirty was really freaking good. The story on which it is based spans years and so Kathryn Bigelow's ability to craft it into a succinct and powerful narrative is nothing short of masterful.

And since I've got a thing for gingers, Jessica Chastain was the sumptuous cherry on an already delicious sundae.

[heyelander]

Life of Pi was excellent, just wish I had seen it in 3D (but dumb theater only had showings at 5 and 10 pm).

I tried to go see Life of Pi on wednesday and was bummed when I found that it was almost out of theaters here (one afternoon show). It's got some evening shows this weekend so I'll try to catch it now. Now I'm bummed that I see Killing them Softly is out of theaters.

[Fresno Bob]

I watched "The Lookout" last night, which I thought was awesome. joseph gordon levitt has joined sam rockwell in my "will watch anything they are in" list. beautifully shot and acted character driven caper movie, thematicly think "memento" meets "punch drunk love"

[johnnya24]

joseph gordon levitt has joined sam rockwell in my "will watch anything they are in" list.

Have Mysterious Skin waiting for go for the same reason.

[johnnya24]

Zero Dark Thirty was really freaking good. The story on which it is based spans years and so Kathryn Bigelow's ability to craft it into a succinct and powerful narrative is nothing short of masterful.

And since I've got a thing for gingers, Jessica Chastain was the sumptuous cherry on an already delicious sundae.

It was a very good movie, and Jessica Chastian was excellent as was her performance in Tree of Life, but I found that the narrative was very limited --> find the courier, find Bin Laden, get Bin Laden. From within the scope of what it set out to achieve, it was spot on. But it's really only a small % of what is interesting about this scenario. They were clearly hamstrung in how far they could take it. The ISI was mentioned once I believe, and the most interesting scene for me was when they presented the case for incursion to the James Gandolfini character (the CIA Director?) ... the silence and unspoken narrative when they told him precisely where Bin Laden was hidden was very revealing.

It will be a long time before we see a Hollywood version of that movie, if ever. The overall narrative is much less flattering on the US Intelligence community, who were played like fools by the ISI for more than a decade ... hiding Bin Laden is only scratching the surface of that narrative.

[johnnya24]

Cloud Atlas - what a strange movie. The best I can say is that I didn't completely hate it, but it was a total mess. I liked the Korean story, and either disliked or was indifferent to the rest. At 3 hours, I can confirm that I will never watch this again.

The theme of the movie is that choosing to make a small difference or a huge sacrifice, while it may seem insignificant or ineffectual at the time, can resonate in ways you cannot imagine ... so have the courage and commitment to follow through. In the wake of the Newtown shootings, I suppose this film may have found a certain resonance.

[JudeBaldo]

It was a very good movie, and Jessica Chastian was excellent as was her performance in Tree of Life, but I found that the narrative was very limited --> find the courier, find Bin Laden, get Bin Laden. From within the scope of what it set out to achieve, it was spot on. But it's really only a small % of what is interesting about this scenario. They were clearly hamstrung in how far they could take it. The ISI was mentioned once I believe, and the most interesting scene for me was when they presented the case for incursion to the James Gandolfini character (the CIA Director?) ... the silence and unspoken narrative when they told him precisely where Bin Laden was hidden was very revealing.

It will be a long time before we see a Hollywood version of that movie, if ever. The overall narrative is much less flattering on the US Intelligence community, who were played like fools by the ISI for more than a decade ... hiding Bin Laden is only scratching the surface of that narrative.

Considering that the actual story was a decade in the making and that ZDT only have 2.5 hours to tell it speaks wells of the screenplay and the director.

[heyelander]

saw Life of Pi this weekend. It has me thinking well after I left the theater. Beautiful doesn't go far enough to describe it, and the story was very interesting. I don't usually go to 3D versions of movies, but this one was worth it. I'm glad I got to see it in the theater.

[johnnya24]

The Impossible - about the 2004 tsunami. The SFX really bring home the devastating power of this event. Remarkably it's a true story, but somehow the human aspect of of the story didn't really work for me. Naomi Watts was good, and the kids were OK. I think it was Ewan McGregor. He must be the most overrated one-dimensional actor in the world. How he keeps getting these plum roles I've no idea. He's been in some good movies, but generally the movies are good despite him, not because of him. He's been dining out on Trainspotting for far too long IMO. Still a good movie despite Ewan McGregor.

Jack Reacher - thought this was very enjoyable. Tom Cruise is on action-hero auto-pilot ... but I'd pay to see that every time. The movie has quite a few flaws, but it's entertaining enough that you can easily ignore them. Rosamund Pike provides the eye candy, and sweet it is. There is one funny fight scene were the two assailants end up fighting each other in order to get at a helpless Jack Reacher. Did I mention Rosamund Pike co-stars? The final scene (added on to tie up loose ends) was unforgivably bad, but since Rosamund Pike was in it, I'm even gonna give that a pass. The kind of entertaining action thriller we don't get enough of these days ... and Rosamund Pike.



Last chance to see Life of Pi in 3D tomorrow ... not in the mood, but I'll go anyway. Les Mis open Friday with Gangster Squad ... definately in the mood for both of those.

[DMT]

saw Life of Pi this weekend. It has me thinking well after I left the theater. Beautiful doesn't go far enough to describe it, and the story was very interesting. I don't usually go to 3D versions of movies, but this one was worth it. I'm glad I got to see it in the theater.

Glad you got to see it in 3D. I'm considering seeing it again before it vanishes from the theater (if it hasn't already).

[johnnya24]

Speaking of 3D, if you're thinking of buying a 3D TV ... think again. After years of the tech industry trying to push 3D TV's, it seems they have finally given up. 3D TV's were basically absent from CES 2013, they aren't selling well, and most people who buy them either never use them or don't have the channels to use them.

The industry seems to be shifting to Ultra HD for their next consumer TV bubble.

[DMT]

Speaking of 3D, if you're thinking of buying a 3D TV ... think again. After years of the tech industry trying to push 3D TV's, it seems they have finally given up. 3D TV's were basically absent from CES 2013, they aren't selling well, and most people who buy them either never use them or don't have the channels to use them.

The industry seems to be shifting to Ultra HD for their next consumer TV bubble.

Very good to know, thanks! My wife insisted we hold out until the Super Bowl because she read somewhere that's the best time to buy. I was eyeing a Panasonic plasma 3D but you just saved me about $500.