Monday, June 24, 2013

11 Quick Movie Updates

Hey Everyone - Thanks for continuing to follow my movie reviews.  I have been less active this year because   1) It has been a pretty lousy year for movies and 2) I have been doing some side work on a new movie review website project that, at the moment, keeps me from double posting some reviews.  Once I have more information and that site is live I will link it here. For now I am staying brief here while I work on the more in depth reviews over there.

In the mean time, here is just a very quick catch up for 2013 of 11 movies I have seen. Some formatting is being weird and I don't want to try and fix it, so posting as is.

As always, please feel free to write me at mattsci@hotmail.com if you have any comments, suggestions or just want to ask which movie to see this weekend.

Thanks,

Matt


Mud: This may be my favorite movie so far in 2013. I thought it was excellent. Has a very independent feel to it with solid acting by the two young boys and everyone else, including Matthew McConaughey... Reece Witherspoon is good too in a pretty limited role. This is one of those films about things that can only happen to 'people and places different than our own' or something like that... think smart film about some trashy people who all have more to them than they'll ever be given credit for... or something like that..."

Iron Man 3: I liked the original Iron Man but #2 was terrible and I never got into this one and left after 45 minutes.  So yeah, my opinion is invalid.

Room 237: If you like The Shining then you should see this doc about the movie from the perspective of a bunch of conspiracy theorists.  Not a great doc but it is fun to watch if you are into the movie.

Star Trek Into DarknessPretty much like the first one for me. Good enough for what it is. Actually this one may have been better because Cpt Kirk wasn't quite so smarmy. Never was into Star Trek so I have no idea how they did in terms of translating it to the big screen.

The Great GatsbyI liked it for the most part. Enjoyable in many ways. Nothing special though.

Hangover IIII hope it really is the end. I don't understand movies like this where I am supposed to be laughing but I never do.

Now You See MeDecent enough to kill some time. It never moves to anything great but it is entertaining all the way through. 

Man of Steel: This is the definition of trailer hype going in a different direction entirely and making me mad.  I thought it was going to be a good solid character and plot driven film with a darker tone and some great origins and a new take on the Superman history... based on the first two trailers that is what I expected. Instead, about 1/4 of the film is great and does what I thought it would, but the rest turns into typical CGI superhero genre crap.150 minute film containing, easily, 100 minutes of CGI battles and buildings falling down is NOT what I was expecting nor hoping for based on the early trailers, which had me actually convinced this would be a somewhat character and plot driven film. The June release should have tipped me off that it is just another money grab. Some good parts? Sure. Overall? Go ahead and see it like you probably will, but I'm sticking to "I told you so" on this one.

The Bling RingTechnically and superficially enjoyable, but lacking enough emotional and/or social commentary. I am going to love watching Emma Watson movies for the rest of my life.

This Is The EndI don't do enough drugs and I have come to accept that it has thwarted my funny bone growth over the last decade. I laughed a few times of course, but how is this a full length movie and how can people say it was awesome? Subjectively, I want every movie to be Caddyshack.

World War ZDidn't even know it was a book until a few weeks ago, so obviously no comparisons from me. Movie was pretty damn enjoyable from a sit back and relax summer blockbuster perspective. 

(SPOILER ALERT!)

I'm no zombie aficionado so I'm sure it made my experience easier, but I (shockingly!) didn't enjoy most of the big zombie/helicopter cgi stuff but was much more drawn to the subdued scenes in the WHO lab. I somehow feel like the movie isn't a zombie movie, just sort of an action save-the-world movie that happens to contain zombies. 

When Pitt and the Israeli woman are the only two to survive the plane crash I pictured The Fonz jumping the shark.