Julia Roberts looked like she was having so much fun with her character. That made the movie more fun for us. And it was nice to see Mare Winningham again.Originally Posted by oregontraveler
Julia Roberts looked like she was having so much fun with her character. That made the movie more fun for us. And it was nice to see Mare Winningham again.
Like Andrew, we watched Thor today. It was the only one we hadn't seen. I saw the Avengers 2 weeks ago, and have revisited Iron Man already. But we had never watched Thor, it was really pretty good. B's friend has borrowed both Iron Man movies as well as both Hulk movies and Captain America as he hadn't seen them.
I saw Mirror Mirror about a month ago or so and I really enjoyed it as well.
I didn't get Anchorman either. I don't think I made it all the way through it even.
Took my son's to see Men In Black 3 yesterday. We really liked it. Fun and fast paced. Had a few things that didn't really make sense but I would recommend seeing it.
Have a Disney Day!
You don't have to walk on water, it's how you walk on land.
Men in Black 3.
Much better than Men in Black 2 but then Men in Black 2 was truly execrable.
This was ok though I didn't find more than 1 in 20 of the jokes/gags to be funny and the entire final act makes no sense if you give more than 10 seconds thought to it.
Anyway, pretty stupid. But Will Smith always has charm and watching Josh Brolin channel Tommy Lee Jones was kind of cool.
"Snow White and the Huntsman" - Loved the film. It's actually been a good year for Snow White films.
Charlize Theron was exactly as terrific as I thought she'd be given what I'd seen of her in the trailers. Kristen Stewart was really good, and of course, Chris Hemsworth was great to watch - third movie I've seen him in this year, so that's a bonus. There were a couple of twists from the normal Snow White story I know, so those were fun.
I thought I recognized a few of the "dwarfs", and I was right.
This film is definitely a much, much darker version than what came out earlier this year, but it was good too.
cstephens, you and I aren't on the same page lately. Just got home from Snow White and the Huntsman and thought it sucked pretty hard.
Actually, I think you and I don't generally have the same taste in films. But that's ok.
Glad you enjoyed it. We saw a preview, and I didn't want to give anything away when I posted here, so I'm glad that you mentioned the dwarfs. We thought we spotted several familiar faces and were really pleased to see the cast credits at the end. The costumes were amazing (does Colleen Atwood ever do bad work??) and added richness to the character development. Even DH was impressed. Agreed, this has been a surprisingly good year for Snow White movies.
My perception has been different so I was curious. Just went back a random number of thread pages and ended up at the list of movies you've mentioned in this thread since late 2010 that I have seen.
Out of 41 movies that resulted, we only seem to strongly disagree on 7 of them: TRON: Legacy, Rango, African Cats, Pirates 4, Cars 2, The Muppets, and Snow White and the Huntsman. If we have wildly different taste it is apparently in Disney movies.
And I think we were in near agreement on 22 of them. (The rest we differed but not strongly, mostly on the same side of "recommend/pan" but with one of us much farther in that direction.
I defer to your research!
I think I see a lot of movies, including both mainstream and art house, but you see even more than I do, and some of the art house ones you see are way more esoteric than the ones I see. Maybe that's what I was going off, that you seem to see and like a lot of movies that I don't even go to.
"Crooked Arrows" - It was pretty good for one of those feel-good sports stories where you know how it's going to end. It was fun to watch, and you do get caught up in it. I really wished it had been a true story though. It was nice to see Brandon Routh again - he definitely hasn't lost his Superman physique.
My wife and I finally got around to renting and watching We Bought A Zoo last night. It's predictable and a little unfocussed around the edges but at the heart of the matter, it's a very nice family film. This is the kind of movie the Walt Disney Studios should be making (We Bought a Zoo was produced by Fox) but seems to have lost its way. Very pleasant to see Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson in smaller, more realistic roles.
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Snow White and the Huntsman , G and I both Loved it.
Went totally 80s lately
Valley Girl 9/10 - this was So Cal back then
Teen Wolf 10/10
Back to the Future 11/10
16 Candles 8/10
Breakfest Club 7/10
Revenge of the Nerds 9/10
GO PADRES
Moonrise Kingdom
Very much a Wes Anderson movie and if previous Wes Anderson movies haven't worked for you I doubt this one will either. Personally, even when the movies don't really connect emotionally I still love watching what he has done visually. I absolutely loved the first two-thirds but the affectless acting style Anderson prefers didn't work well once things went a big gonzo at the end. Still, a strong recommend if you are up for such things.
Source Code
I think I'm a pretty smart guy, and I have no problem juggling the time lines in Back to the Future and "Pandorica Opens" but I couldn't get my head around how he was able to actually change events in the past during the simulation. I finally came to the conclusion that the writers didn't know either and just explained it away with a phrase they heard on that one episode they watched of "Star Trek."
He didn't change the past. They were, unknowingly, creating alternate universes.
Quick story about this film. I had been living in So Cal for about 6 months when I caught Valley Girl on TV. In one scene they are at the mall food court, and had to laugh because I ate lunch there every day. And even though it was 20+ years after that movie was filmed, the food court hadn't changed one bit. Even the Hot Dog on a Stick was in the same place. Now I try to find local landmarks in movies, and they are surprisingly frequent.
By the way, the mall is in Torrance, not quite the valley.
God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into its nest.
In 1979 Ridley Scott released a science fiction horror film that would leave a permanent mark on both genres. The eponymous Alien from the film would go down as one of the greatest and most frightening movie monsters in the history of cinema, and the fully realized setting of the commercial vessel Nostromo would be forever iconic amongst sci-fi settings. Despite this, Ridley Scott never gave us another taste of that world; granted we did get sequels from other filmmakers that ranged from pretty good to nearly unwatchable, but none ever were able to match the brilliance of the original. In fact, after Alien, Scott only once returned to the Science Fiction genre and that was for an entirely different property called Blade Runner.
Then, however, we heard that Ridley Scott was working on something that may or may not be a prequel to Alien, and at the time it sounded brilliant. However, it turns out that the "kind-of a prequel, but not really" approach is the fatal flaw that Prometheus simply can't overcome.
It's hard to talk about the story of Prometheus without spoiling too much, but in broad strokes a pair of scientists have discovered ancient pictograms from various civilizations throughout history that indicate contact with extraterrestrial life, as well as depict a star system where these beings might have originated from. The massive Weyland Corporation funds the expedition to uncover the secrets of these extraterrestrial beings, but once the crew of the Prometheus arrives the situation rapidly starts to deteriorate.
As I mentioned, the biggest problem with Prometheus is that it tries to live in the shadow of Alien without ever taking the initiative and paying off that connection. The plot beats of Prometheus follow those of Alien almost verbatim giving the whole thing a very "been there, done that" feel, and it makes a point of recalling classic iconography from the original film, but only in a frustrating way that poses questions which the film has no intention of ever answering. At the same time, though, the new story the film is trying to tell feels overshadowed by the legacy of Alien, and can never quite shine on its own merit without being tied down by fitting into a universe that doesn't quite suit it.
The movie is also overly ambiguous. At every new turn of the plot a new question is raised, but there is no payoff for any of these questions by the end of the film. While many films end with cliffhangers and pose questions that won't be answered until a subsequent film, a movie should still feature a self-contained narrative with a beginning, middle, and end. Prometheus just feels unfinished. It gives you two hours of questions and ends in a way that essentially says "to be continued maybe." I'm sure some will argue that there's deeper symbology here, that the meaning of life is unknowable and that life only offers questions without ever providing answers, and while I like high-minded stuff as much as the next guy, if the entire point of your movie is to frustrate your audience, you're doing it wrong.
Prometheus is not without it's good aspects, though. The production design and the cinematography are excellent. Scott has always had an excellent eye for creating interesting and compelling worlds and Prometheus is no exception. The locations are simultaneously loving re-creations of Alien sets while also being new, unique, and beautiful. It's all fully realized and completely immersive, and the 3D really showcases the setting in a beautiful way. If you intend to see the movie, I would definitely recommend seeing it in 3D. Also, the performances are strong with an exceptional stand-out performance by Michael Fassbender. Though the Academy likely won't recognize him for a role in a sci-fi summer blockbuster, he really deserves a nomination for best supporting actor. His performance is absolutely chilling and almost worth seeing the movie for all on its own.
Sadly, though, the bad outweighs the good on this one. By connecting this otherwise unique story to the long-established Alien universe, Prometheus is caught underneath a shadow it could never hope to escape from. It's too much like Alien to justify this new and tangental story, and the story is too different from Alien to justify the connection. While Alien is one of the greatest films of all time, Prometheus is just an average film that tried to wear shoes it could never fill.
C+
"Prometheus" - Generally, I liked the film. I'll admit there are things I don't understand and some stuff that doesn't make a whole lot of sense (maybe things will become clearer when I see it again), but I can forgive that. The story kept me engaged and interested, and the photography is gorgeous, as you'd expect. I thought the acting was really good too. Some moments reminded me of elements from other franchises. And yeah, there were some scenes I didn't watch.
Coming out of the theater from Promethe was moderately ok with it. But it has soured on me over the last 24 hours.
Definitely did not benefit from time to think about it.
I agree with IOL in his analysis.
But beyond that...
I do think Aliens is as good if not better than Alien, but they are slightly different genres. Prometheus felt more like a cheap knockoff of Aliens.
God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into its nest.
Dark Shadows for the third time! I absolutely LOVE this film! Came home and did a 3 1/2 hour original Dark Shadows marathon. Loved the fact that some of the lines in the film were direct quotes from the TV show. THAT was a pleasant surprise! Seriously thinking about getting the whole series now.
Cruising the Seas... Looking for the Pearl
I saw a screening of Brave last night. I know not many have seen it yet since it doesn't come out until next week, so I'm not going to say much of anything except that I really enjoyed it. After the D23 panel on it last year, we've been anxiously awaiting it. They've done a great job at keeping the story under wraps, other than the general theme. Theater was full, kids were quiet and entertained, lots of applause at the end. What more could you ask for?
But I don't want to go among mad people!
I saw the trailers for Brave that were posted online and have to admit I was not all that impressed. Then I saw the 3D preview that was shown before The Avengers and bingo - magic. It looked stunning, seemed to be kind of funny, and had the most beautiful Scottish score. Now I can't wait till next weekend.
Writing about all things Disney, a couple of paragraphs at a time.
http://disneylandtraveler.blogspot.com/
48000 page views and counting
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