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

[Fresno Bob]

Finally snuck out of work and saw Mad Max:Fury Road, one of only 2 people in the theatre at noon. If you have any interest in seeing this, I'd highly recommend trying to catch it on a big screen

[dslaw]

Saw Mission Impossible last weekend. If you liked the other MI movies you should like this one. Same type of action sequences and Tom Cruise doing his superhero stuff to save the world.

[nullnor]

I enjoyed Ex Machina very much

Spoiler!

im not sure it did pass the turing test or was aware. I think the guy made it look like they were trying to escape to fool the other one.

and Primer is Primer. it was a while since I last saw it but I don't remember not being able to follow the time travel stuff. they said it might be needed to be watched more than once. but I think I did pause it a few times.

[TranaGreg]

On a slightly related note, we saw Chappie on the weekend. Interesting flick. Definitely maintains that District 9 South African feel (same director) - pretty rough, sometimes hard to follow, but thought provoking. I think there were a few too many leaps of faith for it to be as believable as it tried to be, but still an interesting view.

[revo]

Saw a couple of very good movies this weekend:

'71 - this guy has a very shitty night in the Northern Ireland of the early 1970s, but it makes for a very entertaining movie.

Danny Collins - Al Pacino playing an Al Pacino-like rock star. Not sure what rock star would fit his mold today (of an early 70s yacht rocker still instantly recognizable with the young kids today), but a key part of the story is based on a true event, which makes the whole tale very interesting.

[DMT]

Straight Outta Compton was good...if you liked the music definitely worth seeing.

[overkill94]

Straight Outta Compton was good...if you liked the music definitely worth seeing.

Haven't seen it yet but it looks good. Interestingly, one of the screenwriters is the fiance of one of my old frat bros - as far as I can tell it's the first movie he's written!

Saw some movies on planes recently:

Top Five - Eeeeeeexceelent, really blown away by this one. It was hard to tell from the trailer what this movie was really about, turns out it's Chris Rock as a Martin Lawrence-like movie star (famous for being in really stupid movies) coming out with a passion project about a Haitian slave revolt which prompts a lengthy interview with a reporter from the NY Times (Rosario Dawson). They cover a lot of ground throughout the day - from alcoholism to "leaving the projects" to marrying a reality star - and all of it rings true. I'm obviously not one to know the "African-American experience" but this seemed to be very authentic while still being really funny as opposed to the absurdism of the Tyler Perry or Barbershop movies.

Wrecking Crew - Documentary about the backing musicians in LA studios of mostly the '60s who played on a ton of classic tracks without getting really any recognition. Not quite as good as some other music documentaries I've seen lately but still pretty fascinating.

The Judge - Pretty innocuous flick featuring a blend of courtroom theatrics and big city hotshot coming back to his humble roots. RDJ was great as usual but I thought Robert Duvall's character was a little hammy. Nothing all that original here and not really worth a watch.

Wild - Very Into the Wildish in terms of someone getting out in nature to do some soul-searching. Reese Witherspoon does a great job in the lead role and Laura Dern was especially great as her flighty mother. Pretty good, worth a watch.

[revo]

Saw Ex Machina last night and like the others here, loved it.

Spoiler!

The final twist of the humanoid abandoning that poor bastard in the facility, leaving him to what I suppose is a grisly, long death, really upped it from a 4-star flick to 5-stars. I didn't see that one coming.

[DMT]

Anyone seen Compliance?

[johnnya24]

I'm generally not an enormous fan of comedies, since the risk of absolute suckitude is so enormously high, but holy crap Trainwreck with Amy Schumer and LeBron James was hilarious. Best comedy I've seen in quite some time.

I was expecting a lot more given the reviews. Amy Schumer's stand up is hilarious, and it was definitely funny. But I don't remember laughing out loud that much. The scenes with LeBron James were really good ... maybe the funniest parts of the movie?

[johnnya24]

Anyone seen Compliance?

Nope ... never even heard of it ... but looks interesting.

[DMT]

Nope ... never even heard of it ... but looks interesting.

Expect to have the following reaction, 'there's no way in hell this actually happened'.

[johnnya24]

Been negligent with this thread ... but this I had to post:

Sicario - 10/10 ... a modern classic IMO. Relentless and uncompromising all the way to the end. Probably not a "date night" movie.

Spoiler!

Her partner had to be CIA right? Nothing else makes sense. There was a point in the movie when the director was suggesting he might be a corrupt agent, but the fact that he wasn't means he had to be CIA (or FBI working with the CIA). He introduced Kate to the corrupt police officer at the country bar. They would never have let him so close to the operation unless he was in on it. Plus, the blanks in the weapons when they raided the tunnel.

[Fresno Bob]

greatest movie night club ever....

[johnnya24]

Been negligent with this thread ... but this I had to post:

Sicario - 10/10 ... a modern classic IMO. Relentless and uncompromising all the way to the end. Probably not a "date night" movie.

Spoiler!

Her partner had to be CIA right? Nothing else makes sense. There was a point in the movie when the director was suggesting he might be a corrupt agent, but the fact that he wasn't means he had to be CIA (or FBI working with the CIA). He introduced Kate to the corrupt police officer at the country bar. They would never have let him so close to the operation unless he was in on it. Plus, the blanks in the weapons when they raided the tunnel.

So I went to see Sicario again, just to confirm my initial impression. It really is that good. I'll probably see it again before its run finishes.

If you miss this in the cinema, you'll probably regret it. The music, cinematography and direction are top class. There is one scene when the sun is setting on the horizon that will blow you away.

Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro are all excellent, Del Toro in particular.