X-Men: The Last Stand

May 28, 2006 - Tagged as: Movies

X-Men: The Last Stand
I saw this movie last night with my friend Carsen and his friend Andrew. I was never a comic book reader, so I'm not a fanatical X-Men fan. I saw the previous two movies and I liked them both. I saw the previous two films a while ago, so I'm having trouble deciding which one I liked best. What I can say about this movie is that it isn't much better or worse than the other two.

How many X-Men movies will there be? I think one of the reason that comic book movies are a bit of a flop is that the story is always left open. Typically in a movie, you expect some closure, but X-Men doesn't really provide that. I guess that's ok. Was it worth $11.50? Maybe not. I did enjoy seeing the Vancouver and Victoria landmarks on screen though.

A Couple More Movies

May 14, 2006 - Tagged as: Movies

I saw a two more movies recently. It's sort of spammy writing a post for each movie, so I'll combine it into one boring post instead of two.

The Proposition
Justin told me about this movie. It's based in Australia in the bushranger era. Very solid story and acting from everyone. Pretty violent and gruesome. This is definitely not the feel-good film of 2005.

The Ringer
I don't know why I downloaded this. I was expecting it to be pretty awful and offensive, but I watched it anyway. Somehow it wasn't that awful or offensive. I guess that's the talent of the Farrelly Brothers. Shallow Hal and Stuck on You were sort of similar concepts. I don't want to give the impression that the movie was great, but it was decent and Katherine Heigl is super hot.

Not So Prime

May 8, 2006 - Tagged as: Movies

I watched a movie called Prime about a week ago. I have had trouble deciding whether I would write about it here. I guess I'm sort of embarassed to have watched it without a good excuse such as having some female force/bribe me.

The truth is, I saw a preview for the movie and it looked sort of funny and maybe a little bit different than your standard romantic comedy crap. I downloaded this movie and it sat on my computer for a long time without me watching it. Then at some point about a week ago, I decided that my time was worthless and I watched it. It wasn't a horrible movie. I know I have seen many that are worse, but it didn't stray as far from the expected as I would have liked.

To summarize: Men, this is not a movie to be watched without female accompaniment and they must beg you in order to watch it. Blech... I want some X-Men 3.

Munich

April 25, 2006 - Tagged as: Movies

I liked this movie quite a bit. The acting was pretty solid and the writers didn't try to establish "good guys" and "bad guys". The movie was based around an odd team of Israeli jews who were put together to assassinate people after the Munich Olympics. It wasn't perfect, but I liked it. Maybe I would have liked it more if I watched it continuously. It took me 2 days to watch because I kept getting interrupted.

Massive Movie Update

April 18, 2006 - Tagged as: Movies

Before I updated my website, I was tracking movies I had watched in a single post. I think that now I'm going to do seperate posts for each movie I watch. I got fairly lazy about updating the post, so I am going to do a single post to bring myself back up to date. Unfortunately, I forgot to write down when I watched each of these movies, but I think I have them in the right order.

Jarhead

I watched this movie about the gulf war by myself while I was battling a cold. Nothing special.

A History of Violence

This is the best movie out of the bunch in this post. The characters are all very believable and are substantially deeper than in many movies. Yes the movie is violent, but it's not violent like Kill Bill. It's very realistic and brutal. The movie kept me on my toes, but didn't seem artificially contrived.

Thumbsucker

I watched this movie a while ago and it must not have been that good because I don't remember it very well.

Proof

Gwyneth Paltrow is a genius. You don't believe me? I guess the movie was alright, but it wasn't as good as A Beautiful Mind, so if you haven't seen that, don't waste your time with Proof.

Waiting

Lots of gross-out, stupid humor. It was pretty funny, but I doubt it will becomd a cult classic which seems to be the holy grail for this genre.

Walk the Line

A solid movie. Not spectacular, but it moves along well and the acting is good. I would imagine this movie would be better if you were a Johnny Cash fan. Personally, I have very little exposure to his music.

Domino

This movie was based loosely on a true story. Basically there was a real movie star who really did have a daughter who became a bounty hunter and was eventually killed. I would have thought that would be a compelling enough story to work with, but Hollywood decided to add a bullshit reality show spin on things and add washed out 90210 stars. The movie was entertaining, but it could have been really good if the filmmakers had taken a more honest approach.

Serenity

This movie was based on a TV show called Firefly. The show was cancelled and I have never seen an episode, but I know that I fit the target demographic, so I figured I would give Serenity a chance. I thought that some of the acting was pretty weak and the universe in which the movie takes place was filled with holes that the viewer was supposed to ignore. I guess I enjoyed it, but it wasn't great.

Aeon Flux

April 17, 2006 - Tagged as: Movies

I downloaded Aeon Flux via Bittorrent the other day. I was pretty sure that it wouldn't be worth the cost of a rental, nevermind a purchase and I was right. The movie wasn't a disappointment. That's the beauty of low expectations, you are rarely disappointed.

There were some cool visuals and a lot of stuff that was blatantly ripped off from other sci-fi/action movies. OMG CEMENT PILLARS GETTING SHOT BY SECURITY GUARDS DRESSED IN BLACK!! I feel better having got that out now. The costumes were designed entirely to show off Charlize Theron's T&A. This didn't help the realism of the movie, but there was no hope for realism anyway, so pseudo-sexual content is a nice bonus.

Movies

November 6, 2005 - Tagged as: Movies

As long as I am tracking books, I might as well track movies as well. I'm going to start maintaining a list of the movies I watch, who I watch them with and maybe a few thoughts on the movie as well.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Watched With

Nobody

Watched On

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Thoughts

I enjoyed this movie, but why was the Viktor Krum taking Hermione Granger to the dance though? He's 5 years older than her. He was 19 and she was 14 at the time of filming. Creepy....

The Weatherman

Watched With

Nobody

Watched On

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Thoughts

This was one of those movies where not a lot happens. Sometimes that works, but when you don't really care about the characters or find them interesting, it flops.

Fun With Dick and Jane

Watched With

Tyler

Watched On

???day, ???, 2006

Thoughts

This was a weak movie. Jim Carey still does some reasonably funny stuff, but that's all this movie has going for it.

40 Year Old Virgin

Watched With

Nobody

Watched On

Sunday, ???, 2006

Thoughts

Funny stuff. Lots of funny supporting characters.

Memoirs of a Geisha

Watched With

Tyler Adams

Watched On

Saturday, January 28, 2006

Thoughts

I'm a little surprised that (a) I watched this "girly" movie and (b) that it was very good. If you have a girlfriend, she probably wants to see this. You can pretend that you don't want to go, secretly enjoy it and then use your attendance record to convince your girlfriend to go to the next violent-sci-fi-war movie you want to see. Sounds like an awesome, foolproof plan to me.

Four Brothers

Watched With

Tyler Adams

Watched On

Saturday, January 28, 2006

Thoughts

Empty, Hollywood violence galore. Moderately competent acting. Lame sentimental crap. Marky Mark. If you like all of the above, then Four Brothers is for you. Hey, it probably could have been worse. The shootout scene was actually pretty good.

King Kong (2005)

Watched With

Tyler Adams

Watched On

Monday, January 23, 2006

Thoughts

This movie was too long. It moved along pretty well, so I didn't get bored, but there were a lot of shots that just seemed drawn out and pointless. I didn't think I would get bored of big dinosaurs running around and crushing people, but it turns out that 10 minutes is about all I can stand.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Watched With

Tyler Adams

Watched On

???day, January ??, 2006

Thoughts

It has been so long since I read the book that I can't really point out any shortcomings or discrepancies between the book and the movie. That is probably a good thing though. I'd say I'm probably too old for this movie. I would say it's more Harry Potter than Lord of the Rings. Liam Neeson as the voice of Aslan was good casting in my opinion.

The Man

Watched With

British Airways Passengers

Watched On

Sunday, January 8, 2006

Thoughts

While watching this movie, I got the impression that the actors did a once over on the script and then just started shooting. A very weak effort. Sure there was some funny stuff, but I was too tired while watching the film to remember it now.

The Constant Gardener

Watched With

British Airways passengers

Watched On

Sunday, January 8, 2006

Thoughts

I had very high expectations for this movie. I guess I was a little bit disappointed, that it was only very good and not excellent. Watching Lord of War right before may have put me over my Africa quota for one day though.

Lord of War

Watched With

British Airways passengers

Watched On

Sunday, January 8, 2006

Thoughts

I thought Nicolas Cage was pretty good in this movie. Jared Leto as Nicolas Cage's brother...that's a bit of a stretch if you ask me. The movie was pretty good, but sometimes a bit pretentious.

Love Actually

Watched With

Valerie in France

Watched On

Thursday, January 5, 2006

Thoughts

This movie does definitely fit into a genre and that genre is romantic comedy. Romantic movies are like science fiction movies for women. They are usually crap, but their target audience likes them anyway. Love Actually is one of the best in this genre, so I think it appeals to a wider audience including me. Hell, I have seen it twice now.

The Russian Dolls

Watched With

Valerie in France

Watched On

Wednesday, January 4, 2006

Thoughts

This movie follows a French writer. I'm having trouble classifying it into a typical genre. I think that means it's a little different that the average hollywood romatic comedy or drama. I enjoyed the movie, but it could have just been the company. Warning: Mostly French with some English and Russian. I watched it with English subtitles.

Fantastic Four

Watched With

The people on the plane who couldn't sleep

Watched On

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Thoughts

This movie should have just been called "Four". Not very fantastic at all. The characters were all shallow and boring. If that's true to the comic book roots, then maybe a bit of divergence is a good thing.

Wedding Crashers

Watched With

A bunch of other people on the way to Heathrow airport

Watched On

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Thoughts

I am a little bit late writing about this movie. I don't really remember anything terribly good or bad about it. I think that pretty much sums up the movie. Nothing special.

Primer

Watched With

Nobody

Watched On

Monday, December 19, 2005

Thoughts

This was one of those movies that was almost impossible to understand the first time through. I was a bit frustrated when I finished it because I didn't understand it very well. I was thinking about watching it a second time to try to figure out more, but I found a better solution. I read an explanation on imdb.com. The acting was very good which is a bit of a rarity in the sci-fi genre.

The Dirty Dozen

Watched With

Carsen Chant, Mike

Watched On

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Thoughts

This movie is a bit older that most that I watch, but it's still good. For the most part, the effects weren't overly ambitious, so they didn't look bad. There was one part where the film was sped up to make it look like a person was climbing a rope faster than he really was. The characters in this movie were believable. It made me realize how few characters in modern movies seem like they could be real. I think that's an element that's missing from a lot of modern movies.

The Brothers Grimm

Watched With

Nobody

Watched On

Thursday, December 9, 2005

Thoughts

I was expecting a bit more from this movie. The one thing that really bugged me about this movie was the portrayal of the French people. Usually I'm up for a laugh at someone else's expense, but the jokes weren't the slightest bit funny.

Battlefield Earth

Watched With

Nobody

Watched On

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Thoughts

This movie was so filled with plot holes it was brutal. The movie was supposed to take place in the year 3000 and yet there were still cars bodies in the streets and partial skyscrapers. I seriously doubt that any of the stuff buit today is going to last 1000 years. In spite of obvious shortcomings, I still kind of enjoyed it because my expectations were so low.

Out For Justice

Watched With

Nobody

Watched On

Friday, November 25, 2005

Thoughts

This is a classic Steven Segal movie. I don't mean that it's better than other Steven Segal movies, just that it's the same as all the others. It gets a low score for originality, but who cares. I watched it for the heartless beatings of thugs. The movie was violent, but not in the pathetic, cartoonish way that a lot of current action films are. In that sense, Out For Justice was refreshing.

The Quiet Earth

Watched With

Nobody

Watched On

Monday, November 22, 2005

Thoughts

I really liked this movie. Definitely a must see for anyone who likes a bit of science fiction. What this is not is a sci-fi/action movie. There is very little action, but the story is solid, so I was never bored.

Best In Show

Watched With

Nobody

Watched On

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Predator Island

Watched With

Nobody

Watched On

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Thoughts

One of the worst movies ever. I saw it listed on a bittorrent downloads site and thought to myself "I haven't heard of that before". It will probably be bad, but a bit entertaining. It was very, very bad, but not at all entertaining. See my scathing and politically incorrect imdb comment on this movie.

Brazil

Watched With

Nobody

Watched On

Sunday, November 6, 2005

Thoughts

This movie was totally wacky. It's a type of movie that I find a little bit unsatisfying. It's impossible to tell what's really happening. I recommend it, but make sure you are paying attention or you will miss a lot.

The Interpreter

Watched With

Nobody

Watched On

Saturday, November 5, 2005

Corpse Bride

Watched With

Valerie

Watched On

Sunday, October 30, 2005