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

[heyelander]

Something about Emily Blunt's character didn't work for me. They go out of their way to choose her, she's the head of a door kicking outfit, and yet she suddenly turns very beta and has an attitude they would have avoided when selecting someone to work with. Overall I thought it was good, but not great. Del Toro was excellent.

[johnnya24]

Something about Emily Blunt's character didn't work for me. They go out of their way to choose her, she's the head of a door kicking outfit, and yet she suddenly turns very beta and has an attitude they would have avoided when selecting someone to work with. Overall I thought it was good, but not great. Del Toro was excellent.

Spoiler!

She was set up for the job from before. Her FBI partner was either CIA or an FBI "insider". They didn't bring her in as a "door kicker". Her job was to sit at the back and be the acceptable clean face of an illegal off-the-book operation. They needed someone who was new, young, but still able to handle heat, and knew the severity of the situation ... she proved all of that ... and I'm guessing they thought a woman would be easier to manipulate (or bully) if need be ... which is kinda what happened.

They did everything to marginalize her from what was going on in the operation. She was supposed to be a passenger and know as little as possible, and her FBI partner was basically her supervisor ... it was he who set her up with the corrupt officer when they used her as bait. She didn't know anything about the sketchy backroom torture or the overall plan. She wasn't even supposed to go with them into the tunnels ... her partner did everything to stop her from going. They gave her blanks in her weapon, just in case she interfered ... but she went down the wrong tunnel and saw everything.

At the end, when the niceties were no longer necessary, Josh Brolin's true nature came out ... he explained that she was irrelevant to the operation, just a signature on a page, and a pretty face to add legitimacy to the mission.

For me Emily Blunt's character is where the debate lies. She is the moral fulcrum of the movie. How far should the authorities be able to go to fight an enemy that has no boundaries? As the movie goes on, they take turns trying to convince her and demonstrate the severity of the situation. She never gives up her dedication to the "rule of law". They figured they would show her the logic of their position, but they couldn't ... and at the end they had to put a gun to her head to make her concede. For me, her character is brilliant, and wonderfully contrasted by Brolin's amorality and Del Torro's dead eyed vengeance.

The troubling thing about the movie, from a viewer perspective, is that all sides have legitimate arguments, but nobody has an answer. It invites you into the debate without preaching, and confronts you with the problems, but in the end, you are left with more questions than answers.

But questions are a good thing. We need more questions and we need more questioning.

[Gregg]

My wife and I watched Hidden last weekend.

If you like horror movies, this one is pretty interesting. Not so scary, but plenty creepy. Can't really say much without spoiling. If you like this sort of movie it is worth the time.

[revo]

My god was "Furious 7" horrible.

[johnnya24]

My god was "Furious 7" horrible.

+

81% on RT

[revo]

+

81% on RT

One thing that was phenomenal though -- it was revealed this week that CGI was used to replicate Paul Walker in almost 350 scenes! I had thought it was only the last few scenes, but apparently it was most of the movie. If they could do that these days, why not revive some of the all-time greats? Imagine a new Steve McQueen film -- that would be awesome!

[Controller Jacobs]

Just watched the 1931 Frankenstein (there is a free one on dailymotion).
Beautiful at times, comic at others, I highly recommend it. Wildly different from the book of course, but one of the scenes was amazingly close to the sendup on Young Frankenstein. I plan on watching Bride of Frankenstein later this week, then Plan 9 from Outer Space, then Young Frankenstein.

[johnnya24]

Just watched the 1931 Frankenstein (there is a free one on dailymotion).
Beautiful at times, comic at others, I highly recommend it. Wildly different from the book of course, but one of the scenes was amazingly close to the sendup on Young Frankenstein. I plan on watching Bride of Frankenstein later this week, then Plan 9 from Outer Space, then Young Frankenstein.

I watched Crimson Peak last week ... seems like a homage to Gothic horror / hammer horror and cheesy 1940's movies. Whatever vision Guillermo del Toro had for this movie, it fell well short. I guess if you're a huge genre fan, this could be palatable, otherwise it was pretty painful.

Charlie Hunnam is such a bad actor.

[johnnya24]

The Martian was awesome. The book was better.

Yeah I really enjoyed it ... will probably see it again before its run finishes. I did feel that it lacked a little suspense though ... wasn't as exciting as Gravity or Apollo 13, and a perhaps little predictable.

[Mithrandir]

Just watched the 1931 Frankenstein (there is a free one on dailymotion).
Beautiful at times, comic at others, I highly recommend it. Wildly different from the book of course, but one of the scenes was amazingly close to the sendup on Young Frankenstein. I plan on watching Bride of Frankenstein later this week, then Plan 9 from Outer Space, then Young Frankenstein.

Bride of Frankenstein is awesome!! As was the original Frankenstein.

[overkill94]

Saw The Martian myself last night - very entertaining, well-acted, sometimes a little sappy, overall quite enjoyable.

Now comes the most wonderful time of the year - Oscar-bait season!

[heyelander]

Saw The Martian myself last night - very entertaining, well-acted, sometimes a little sappy, overall quite enjoyable.

yep..

[johnnya24]

Spectre - For the first 66% it's the greatest Bond movie of all time, for the final 33% it's the worst Bond movie of all time.

I can't recall watching an action thriller that was so good up to a point, and then just completely fall off a cliff. It's as if a different writer and director took over the film. I was thinking halfway through that Star Wars will have to be extra special to beat this. By the end I was thinking ... you know, if the Sith lord takes of his mask, turns to the camera and says, "Me's a Jedi now", it would still be better than this.

The opening sequence is spectacular, the opening credits are spectacular, the scene where the archvillain is introduced is spectacular, the car chase is great ... then Michael Bay x100. Up to a point you think, Christoph Waltz could be the greatest Bond villain ... he ends up being the most pointless.

Maybe something happened in the making of this movie? Studio interference? I dunno. It was as if Sam Mendes deliberately fucked the movie up and made it as absurd as possible.

[mjl]

coincidentally, it's about 33% longer than Quantum of Solace (and 25% longer than all the other recent ones).

That's pretty disappointing though. I was very excited.

[johnnya24]

Was Skyfall good? I loved the hell out of Casino Royale but thought that Quantum of Solace was pretty stupid.

I really liked Skyfall. Yeah Quantum was pretty meh.