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

[johnnya24]

Anchorman 2 - thought this was quite good actually. It has a serious undercurrent that runs through the whole movie regarding the demise of real news reporting, and the rise of news as entertainment. It's not belly-laugh-out-loud funny, but it is funny throughout. The only part I didn't like was the very end when they did that News-crew death fight thing, which wasn't funny the first time around, and is even less funny this time.

[dslaw]

Saw Book Thief and thought it was very well done. But it is about a young girl in Germany from 1938 to 1945 so there were a few tears in the audience at the end.

[johnnya24]

Went to see Gravity again before it finished its run ... reckon I'll go again next week. Amazing.

American Hustle - good, not great. It's a movie almost completely reliant on the all-star cast to make it. There isn't much of a story, but the performances are brilliant. Amy Adams and Christian Bale are exceelent.

12 Years A Slave - amazing movie. What I found really refreshing was the complete lack of sentimentality and resolution. No sugar coating.

[johnnya24]

Also Dallas Buyers Club ... stunning performance from Matthew McConaughey in full on Christian Bale Machinist mode. Brilliant performance and a very freaky transformation. One problem though ...

Spoiler!

They spent the whole movie slamming the FDA and doctors who were using AZT to treat AIDS patients, and then at the end revealed that AZT in small doses became the standard treatment for HIV and AIDS patients ... and did not mention if any of the unapproved treatments that the Buyers Clubs were distributing actually had any real impact. That's not to say they didn't, it just wasn't made clear one way or the other.

Left me a little cold at the end ... made me wonder about the validity of the narrative I was being told.

[Erik]

American Hustle - good, not great. It's a movie almost completely reliant on the all-star cast to make it. There isn't much of a story, but the performances are brilliant. Amy Adams and Christian Bale are exceelent.

I haven't seen it yet, but I wonder if being familiar with the scandal it's based on helps.

[johnnya24]

I haven't seen it yet, but I wonder if being familiar with the scandal it's based on helps.

I didn't think the story made that much difference to the movie, strange as it is to say that. It's all about the characters, the performances and the authentic recreation of the 1970's. The really interesting thing for me were the social differences between then and now, particularly with the Amy Adams character.

[johnnya24]

Lone Survivor - As an action war movie it hits all the right notes. Well constructed, well acted, convincing action sequences. Just left me a bit cold despite the quality of the film making. It's one of the most cleverly constructed propaganda pieces I've seen.

Wolf of Wall Street - another brilliant Scorcese-DiCaprio piece. I don't know why some critics are babbling on about this lacking a moral direction. Are they blind? It may lack subtlety, but the plot is overflowing with cocaine and quaaludes ... you can only be so subtle when the characters are off their heads most of the time. Wish we could have seen more of Matthew McConaughey's character ... he's having a real moment this year. This cameo, then Dallas Buyers Club, and also his brilliant character in True Detective on HBO.

[Trader Mac]

Anyone see the new Jack Ryan movie yet? The wife and I plan on seeing it tomorrow.

[heyelander]

Wolf of Wall Street - another brilliant Scorcese-DiCaprio piece. I don't know why some critics are babbling on about this lacking a moral direction. Are they blind? It may lack subtlety, but the plot is overflowing with cocaine and quaaludes ... you can only be so subtle when the characters are off their heads most of the time. Wish we could have seen more of Matthew McConaughey's character ... he's having a real moment this year. This cameo, then Dallas Buyers Club, and also his brilliant character in True Detective on HBO.

It felt like good fella's without the threat of deniro killing you at any second. and that was a big distinction for me. There really wasn't any drama. I think the lack of moral direction was that everyone did all this stuff but we never saw any of the people that were screwed out of their life savings, and in the end he seemed just as well off as ever. It played like the magazine article from the movie... all this was horrible, but in the end give me the yacht!

[johnnya24]

It felt like good fella's without the threat of deniro killing you at any second. and that was a big distinction for me. There really wasn't any drama. I think the lack of moral direction was that everyone did all this stuff but we never saw any of the people that were screwed out of their life savings, and in the end he seemed just as well off as ever. It played like the magazine article from the movie... all this was horrible, but in the end give me the yacht!

Isn't that the point though. They get away with it, over and over and over ... and they will continue to get away with it. New scams will emerge, new fortunes will be made ... the victims will be the same. That was the importance of the conversation with the Matthew McConaughey character.

I don't think the point was merely to say these people were crooks, but that the entire system is corrupt. Heck he almost got away with it when he rejected the deal. If you have a criminal-victim narrative, it allows the audience to view this as an isolated case ... a few bad apples. An important moment was when the hatchet piece was published in Forbes, revealing dodgy practices and dealings ... it was then he became a Wall Street hero. The more corrupt the better.

It's also a very modern way of dealing with narrative in movies ... Zero Dark Thirty, Black Hawk Down etc. Lay bare the facts and let the message speak through the actions of the characters and the events ... leave it up to the viewer to add a moral dimension. I don't like being preached at, so I like this style of movie making ... it feels more mature.

[heyelander]

yeah, maybe the message just makes me sad

[johnnya24]

yeah, maybe I'm just sad.

Did you invest in Aerodyne International?

Also Jonah Hill was really good.

[overkill94]

American Hustle - good, not great. It's a movie almost completely reliant on the all-star cast to make it. There isn't much of a story, but the performances are brilliant. Amy Adams and Christian Bale are exceelent.

This is pretty much how I felt, which makes it weird that it's the favorite for Best Picture. It's a caper film without much ingenuity, though I guess they were limited by it being based on a true story.

[overkill94]

Finally got around to seeing World War Z the other night - very tense and action-packed but probably 15 minutes too long and the ending wasn't all that fulfilling. Definitely more of a popcorn flick than great movie.

[overkill94]

Before Sunrise | Before Sunset | Before Midnight - I avoided Before Midnight (2013) when it was released because I still hadn't seen Before Sunset (2005). It's a pretty extraordinary series of movies. Like one of those experiments you read about when sociologists or psychologists follow the lives of twins separated at birth or octuplets. Every 5 years they return and carry out new tests and experiments. Kinda hard to watch in many respects, because it's like watching your own life in an alternate universe. Same arguments, same Mars-Venus dynamic, same make-up tactics etc.

If you were to rank the greatest romance / relationship movies, it'd be hard not to put this series on or around the top.

My parents saw the new one and absolutely haaaated it, but I could've seen that one coming (they have simpler tastes).

Then I got my gf to watch the new one with me (she hadn't seen the first two) and she loved it. I gave her the basic details from the first two so she wasn't lost and now she really wants to see the first two.