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

[revo]

Watched Whiplash last night and man, what an intense and satisfying movie. It moved ahead of Boyhood at #2 for best movies I saw from last year (Birdman's still #1).

Got to see a bunch of movies on my flights to and from Europe last week also:
Wish I Was Here - there was some of Zach Braff's charm, but the story was pretty trite and it was just kinda boring
Neighbors - solid comedy with a few laughs but nothing special
The Equalizer - solid action movie with some cool scenes but nothing special
The Hundred-Foot Journey - this one I did enjoy a bit; an Indian family sets up a restaurant in France across from a hoity toity place run by Helen Mirren which annoys her at first (those loud and garish foreigners!) although it turns out one of the Indian dudes is an awesome cook. A little sappy but still entertaining.
A Most Wanted Man - spy "thriller" (wasn't all that thrilling) starring Philip Seymour Hoffman based on a John Le Carre novel (same guy who did Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy which I turned off halfway through out of boredom). The acting's pretty good and there are some interesting ideas, but the payoff wasn't very satisfying.
Fury - definitely the best of the bunch, loved the action and the evolution of the young soldier being led by Brad Pitt; great war movie

Agree on Neighbors, The Equalizer, Hundred-Foot Journey and Fury.

As a WWII history buff, some inconsistencies with the movie irked me a bit, but overall, it was still a great war movie.

Spoiler!

- most SS units were re-allocated to fight the Soviets by April 1945, so it would've been very unlikely to encounter a unit such as this on the Western front
- but even so, how does an entire platoon of SS troops not have a single panzerschrek?
- why did the SS soldier who spotted the American hiding under the tank not a) kill him, or b) alert his unit? Why let him go after such a heated battle?
- the German troops dumped a couple of grenades into the tank, so how were the dead soldiers not obliterated?

Predestination was pretty damned good.

[swampdragon]

I still have to disagree with you all on Whiplash -
It was a sports movie disguised as an art film. The acting was great but the outcome and dialog almost cartoonally predictable.
bully coach calling people fags etc to motivate them
falling down at the big game then showing up his obnoxious coach
losing his girlfriend to show his dedication to his sport
his dad not understanding his drive to win
practicing so hard that he bleeds

all of this should be way too familiar

[overkill94]

If by outcome you mean the ending, you are a smarter man than I.

Some of your points are reasons that Whiplash didn't quite make it to the top of my list for 2014 - the girlfriend angle seemed to be padding and overall there wasn't quite enough variation in the storyline to elevate it past "exciting movie with excellent performances".

Even with all the hype I was a bit skeptical that a movie about a guy playing drums could be all that engrossing, but it was. The dark tone gave it more of a Black Swan vibe, setting it apart from the normally fluffier and feel-good sports movies you'll encounter.

[Lucky]

Kingsman was a fun, fun movie.

As a reward for me, my wife agreed to go see Kingsman with me. Surprisingly, she thought it was very good, and a lot of fun. She got a kick out of seeing Colin Firth in that role.

[Lucky]

watch this after you've seen Snowpiercer

I was in a band with a guy who would get stoned and write songs. They were bad songs. But afterwards, once again stoned, he would try to explain to us how deep and meaningful these songs were, and that all we had to do was try a little harder to understand what he was trying to say, and that then we would realize how very wonderful and revolutionary these songs really were. He was a good guy. But they were still bad songs.

[Fresno Bob]

I was in a band with a guy who would get stoned and write songs. They were bad songs. But afterwards, once again stoned, he would try to explain to us how deep and meaningful these songs were, and that all we had to do was try a little harder to understand what he was trying to say, and that then we would realize how very wonderful and revolutionary these songs really were. He was a good guy. But they were still bad songs.

says the guy drinking a quart of high life.....

[johnnya24]

As a reward for me, my wife agreed to go see Kingsman with me. Surprisingly, she thought it was very good, and a lot of fun. She got a kick out of seeing Colin Firth in that role.

... and Colin Firth was amazing in those action scenes. Colin Firth "action star" ... what next? Liam Neeson "action star"?

I'm not sure what the rating of the movie was, but it had some really adult oriented humour among all the zaniness. The fight scenes were extremely graphic, and yet I had a big smile on my face through all of them. Kingsman was the biggest surprise of the last year for me ... I really did not expect to like this as much.

[johnnya24]

Focus - I always look forward to a good grifter movie. I guess this was was OK, but it was carried by its slickness not the story or plot ... which was kinda stupid, badly ripped of other movies of this type, and ultimately made no sense. I didn't even care to think about how they manufactured the twists. Average at best.

[Pauly]

Saw Whiplash this weekend....and I find it hard to believe that any other Oscar-nominated movie could be better. Granted, I still have to wait a few weeks for Birdman to come to the Redbox, but that's how entertaining Whiplash was (but I can agree with other posters who say the plot is predictable).

[heyelander]

Focus - I always look forward to a good grifter movie. I guess this was was OK, but it was carried by its slickness not the story or plot ... which was kinda stupid, badly ripped of other movies of this type, and ultimately made no sense. I didn't even care to think about how they manufactured the twists. Average at best.

Saw it last night, I wouldn't change any bit of this review, starting with my love of the grifter movie down to the averageness of this. Good actors, and it didn't suck, but it wasn't good either. Lots of fun possibilities, and no payoff.

Another vote for Kingsmen being a blast to watch.

[overkill94]

Watched St. Vincent the other night. I expected it to be mostly Bill Murray hijinx but instead it turned out to be a funny movie with a lot more going on. Murray was predictably awesome as the degenerate/crotchety old guy and the little kid was really good as well - highly recommended.

[heyelander]

New Avengers Age of Ultron trailer out today.

Top comment on the sourcefed.com page where I viewed it was:

They say if an erection lasts longer than 4 hours, you should consult a doctor...
Guess I better stop watching this now.

[Fresno Bob]

New Avengers Age of Ultron trailer out today.

Top comment on the sourcefed.com page where I viewed it was:

They say if an erection lasts longer than 4 hours, you should consult a doctor...
Guess I better stop watching this now.

I love the Mark Ruffalo Hulk.....I really hope the "World War Hulk" storyline gets told in movie form at some point

[swampdragon]

The whole family watched Guardians of the Galaxy - it was really fun and clever with all the space action trappings. The dialog was quite snappy

[Gregg]

Nightcrawler - Brilliant movie.

[/review]

We finally got around to watching Nightcrawler last night. Acting was fantastic. Deserves all of the accolades it has been given.

Jake Gyllenhaal cannot be given too many props for his performance. I have not seen a lot of his work, because most of the movies he has been in do not interest me. This may have added to some of my unexpected over the top enjoyment of how he handled this role. He was brilliant.

Renee Russo also knocked it out of the park and was perfect for this movie.