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

[johnnya24]

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.

The problem was the original ending was designed to be another series of mad action sequences like the Israel scenes (set is Russia). They felt that it was too much, so they re-did the ending. It was a huge story at the time, because it cost them 10's of millions to re-shoot and there was a lot of acrimony. I suppose it worked out.

If they had've realized that the sequencing was wrong sooner, I think they would have structured the movie better ... to finish with more of a bang. They seemed to be having an each-way bet on the script ... part of it wanted to be a stand alone movie, but it also wanted to be the first of a franchise. IF they had've committed to being part 1 from the start, it would have been much better IMO.

The sequels will hopefully be better, especially since they know it will be successful, and they know they don't have to squeeze too much into a short space. There are a lot of great stories to tell from the book ... they never touched on my favourite ones.

[johnnya24]

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.

I loved Before Midnight ... but then I spent a lot of time in Greece during the 2000's, so the setting was perfect for me. Originally I really disliked the Ethan Hawke character (I hated his character in Reality Bites as well). But they both (Hawke and Delpy) grew on me over the years. I must have saw the original 2 or 3 times before I eventually watched Before Sunset.

[overkill94]

I loved all three as well and Before Midnight might even be my favorite just because it's the "realest". Can't wait to go back and watch the first two.

[Teenwolf]

Caught up on a ton of notable horror movies. Most of these haven't been well-received critically, but horror fans are used to that.

Rec 1, 2, & 3 - Subtitled "found footage" horror film, follows a group of people locked in a building with a zombie virus spreading. Super well done. Rec 2 is a sequel that follows a swat team into the same building, so many of the zombies are characters from the previous film! Pretty awesome. Rec 3 is a wedding theme, and it's really enjoyable to watch zombies tear it up in this setting, but it loses the "found footage" shooting style of the first 2 films in the series. Still a worthy addition to the series.

V/H/S & V/H/S 2 - I love these collections of 20-ish minute horror stories. Brings me back to the glory days of Tales From The Darkside. The first one is better, but there are a few gems within each. Best part: one segment is filmed on a mountain biker's gopro helmet cam. Watching the entire zombie setup play out through a helmet cam, I don't want to spoil anything, but it's one of the most clever segments of recent zombie footage I've seen.

You're Next - This is a very standard setup. Family in a house gets trapped by masked killers, picked off one by one, etc. But the build up to the finale, as we find out that one of the survivors grew up on an army compound, and won't be taking any shit from anybody in a bunny mask... that's when this movie really hits the sweet spot.

Carrie - If you don't have a stick up your ass about remakes, and can handle watching Carrie White googling her psychic abilities, then you might enjoy this. I loved it. This is better than Chloe Grace Moretz's other remake, Let Me In.

Come Out And Play - Remake of the 70's cult classic Who Can Kill A Child?, but I didn't find it to be a difficult or gruesome watch. The premise is that a married couple take a boat to a small island, where there are only evil murderous little children.

Black Rock - Fans of The League, take note, as this is written by Mark Duplass and directed by and starring Katie Aselton. More of a horror/thriller, but be forewarned, if you're watching this with a significant other, the instigation for all the action is a rape scene. Women hate being subjected to this without warning, as I was so kindly informed by my fiance, but as far as rape scenes go, it's not overly long or graphic. Lake Bell and Katie Aselton are both great in drama, despite their comedy backgrounds, and I loved watching a women's revenge horror directed by a woman. Finally, the last 20 minutes, the girls unanimously decide to strip off all their clothes, start crafting weapons, and kill or be killed... great revenge finale.

[overkill94]

I think I've seen all I need to from Black Rock

[heyelander]

After putting it off for a long time, I finally went to see the Hobbit 2. Fortunately it wasn't nearly as stupid as the first so I enjoyed it. Still a lot of extra stuff being thrown in, but I wasn't as put off by it as I was in the first installment. Decent flick.

[Friarfan]

Caught up on a ton of notable horror movies. Most of these haven't been well-received critically, but horror fans are used to that.

Rec 1, 2, & 3 - Subtitled "found footage" horror film, follows a group of people locked in a building with a zombie virus spreading. Super well done. Rec 2 is a sequel that follows a swat team into the same building, so many of the zombies are characters from the previous film! Pretty awesome. Rec 3 is a wedding theme, and it's really enjoyable to watch zombies tear it up in this setting, but it loses the "found footage" shooting style of the first 2 films in the series. Still a worthy addition to the series.

V/H/S & V/H/S 2 - I love these collections of 20-ish minute horror stories. Brings me back to the glory days of Tales From The Darkside. The first one is better, but there are a few gems within each. Best part: one segment is filmed on a mountain biker's gopro helmet cam. Watching the entire zombie setup play out through a helmet cam, I don't want to spoil anything, but it's one of the most clever segments of recent zombie footage I've seen.

You're Next - This is a very standard setup. Family in a house gets trapped by masked killers, picked off one by one, etc. But the build up to the finale, as we find out that one of the survivors grew up on an army compound, and won't be taking any shit from anybody in a bunny mask... that's when this movie really hits the sweet spot.

Carrie - If you don't have a stick up your ass about remakes, and can handle watching Carrie White googling her psychic abilities, then you might enjoy this. I loved it. This is better than Chloe Grace Moretz's other remake, Let Me In.

Come Out And Play - Remake of the 70's cult classic Who Can Kill A Child?, but I didn't find it to be a difficult or gruesome watch. The premise is that a married couple take a boat to a small island, where there are only evil murderous little children.

Black Rock - Fans of The League, take note, as this is written by Mark Duplass and directed by and starring Katie Aselton. More of a horror/thriller, but be forewarned, if you're watching this with a significant other, the instigation for all the action is a rape scene. Women hate being subjected to this without warning, as I was so kindly informed by my fiance, but as far as rape scenes go, it's not overly long or graphic. Lake Bell and Katie Aselton are both great in drama, despite their comedy backgrounds, and I loved watching a women's revenge horror directed by a woman. Finally, the last 20 minutes, the girls unanimously decide to strip off all their clothes, start crafting weapons, and kill or be killed... great revenge finale.

Nice! Thanks for the write-ups, Jesse.

I miss Horror movies - wife doesn't like 'em and don't get to watch much of ANYTHING with a 2.5 year old in the house.

[Friarfan]

It felt like good fella's without the threat of deniro killing you at any second.

Yup, his is EXACTLY what I said to my wife while we were watching it last week. I loved it, but it was definitely a Goodfellas/Boiler Room mashup.

[johnnya24]

Drinking Buddies - Found it on Netflix. This is a great little movie starring Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson and Anna Kendrick. They are all good, but Olivia Wilde especially. It's a 30 something relationship movie that I'm guessing a lot of folk will really relate to. It's funny and entertaining. This should have gotten a lot more attention that it did. Strong recommendation (82% on RT, 71% on Metacritic) .

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit - mediocre. Could have been better, but there wasn't enough happening, and the star Chris Pine is not going to be a top tier movie star (Cruise, Clooney, Pitt etc). He's lacking charisma ... something is missing. He'll be a reliable ensemble actor, but he can't command the screen like Tom Cruise et al. I watched Jack Reacher again a couple of weeks back. That movie is not much better, but Tom Cruise owns the screen (even if he is a crack pot scientologist) and helps you suspend disbelief in the silliness. Plus there is a horrible, clunky, presumably US Govt. funded set piece that tries to justify the capturing of all our private data to catch the turrists. "We caught the turrists because of facebook and Instagram!". They have their tentacles every fucking where. Thankfully, it's a short concise movie so it doesn't have time to grate on you.

[heyelander]

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit - mediocre. Thankfully, it's a short concise movie so it doesn't have time to grate on you.

Agree with the mediocre.There was too much and too little going on at once. The movie spans like 10-15 years or something. From College to Marines to being recruited, to the actual mission. Lots of stories and none of them fleshed out enough to be particularly interesting.

[revo]

If 'The Monuments Men' is being billed as "the untold true story," then how did I read the book two years ago?

[johnnya24]

Some older movies (i.e. not new releases) I've seen recently:

Jackass: Bad Grandpa - really enjoyed this. Lots of laugh out loud moments, and damn if you don't come to love the old bastard by the end of the movie.

Drinking Buddies - took a chance on this via a Netflix recommendation. Glad I did. Really engrossing and fun 30 something where-are-we-going-with-our-lives relationship movie that you think is going one way, then veers off in other directions. Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson and Anna Kendrick are all excellent, especially Wilde and Johnson. Check it out.

[johnnya24]

Agree with the mediocre.There was too much and too little going on at once. The movie spans like 10-15 years or something. From College to Marines to being recruited, to the actual mission. Lots of stories and none of them fleshed out enough to be particularly interesting.

Yeah ... the best thing about Part 1's is that you get to see the back story and meet the character. This just bypassed all that interesting scene setting stuff ... it's as if they jumped straight into the sequel.

[revo]

Saw The Butler last night, and I enjoyed it a lot -- until I read up more on this gentleman's "amazing life" and realized that almost every facet of his life on screen was made up. Except for the fact that he was a butler for seven presidents, the entire story was contrived. And so after finding that out, I felt the movie -- which related a difficult relationship between an older black man who faced many racial injustices from the 1920s through the 1980s, and an activist son who seemingly was front-and-center of many of the driving events and faces of the civil rights movement -- was more like Forrest Gump than anything else.

Still a good movie, but saying it was "based on a true story" is pretty far-fetched.

[johnnya24]

Saw The Butler last night, and I enjoyed it a lot -- until I read up more on this gentleman's "amazing life" and realized that almost every facet of his life on screen was made up. Except for the fact that he was a butler for seven presidents, the entire story was contrived. And so after finding that out, I felt the movie -- which related a difficult relationship between an older black man who faced many racial injustices from the 1920s through the 1980s, and an activist son who seemingly was front-and-center of many of the driving events and faces of the civil rights movement -- was more like Forrest Gump than anything else.

Still a good movie, but saying it was "based on a true story" is pretty far-fetched.

That's why I didn't go and see it. It seemed really contrived ... Forrest Gump is a good example, but at least Forrest Gump had a real sense of humour about itself. I got the impression this was a bit self-righteous, and I didn't want to be preached at for 2 hours ... especially since it was all phoney.

In a similar vein, I really liked Dallas Buyers Club, that is until the very end when it seemed they had been a little too liberal with the narrative. It didn't take away from Matthew McConaughhey's brilliant performance, but it did make me question the movie.

12 Years a Slave on the other hand blew me away. Then again, I'm a big fan of non-preachy brutal realism (Wolf of Wall Street, Zero Dark Thirty etc).