At The Movies

Movie Day

41 Comments

I saw Django Unchained and a few TV shows in this very busy month that was mostly spent on the release of my game. I continue to ignore superhero movies in theaters and lament my lack of movement on the classics.

...but maybe you've seen something?

41 thoughts on “Movie Day”

  1. World's Greatest Dad: dark comedy about suicide that is really depressing and given last weeks events. Solid satire though had its slow spots.

    The Giver: good acting and well shot. But it wasn't very engaging; the plot could have been a lot deeper.

    United States of Tara We plowed through all 36 episodes in just a few weeks. Just a really fun show, and it's the best representation of therapists I have ever seen on the screen. They are all client centered and use language that actual therapists use. Patton Oswalt and Eddie Izzard are great.

    1. I read The Giver freshman year of college. "It wasn't very engaging; the plot could have been a lot deeper": that sums up my opinion, too. Quite a shock from The Stranger, A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch, and parts of The Faerie Queene that I'd read as a senior in HS.

    2. I've often wanted to check out World's Greatest Dad but a good friend of mine died from auto-erotic asphyxiation and I just haven't been able to bring myself to do it. And now, of course, the movie has an unintended poignancy.

  2. Foyle's War "season" 2 -- continuing to enjoy these miniseries.

    Elysium -- pretty disappointing. Runner daughter pointed out a goof:

    'Spoiler' SelectShow

    The Rock -- finally watched this one. Nick Cage as NICK CAGE! And Michael Bay! Yeah, okay.

    Dragonheart -- watched it mainly for the soundtrack; entertaining throwaway with several name actors

  3. No movies this month. That's weird.

    Linds and I started House of Cards over the weekend. It's engaging, and Spacey is fun in it. I dunno. Two episodes seems too early to tell.

    That can't be all we've watched lately, and yet, here we are...

    1. I love "House of Cards" but I've been stuck between the first two seasons for ages. I want to be able to marathon it when I start watching, I guess.

      And here I am on the first day of a "weekend," and no longer distracted by producing my card game...

  4. Boyhood -- it deserves a lot of its accolades. A little slow but it is what it is: the story about a boy growing up and since I have a son that's about the same age as the protagonist, it was very interesting. It's more than just a gimmick of being filmed over 12 years.

    The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance -- Classic western with your typical John Ford touches. Contains the classic line "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." Streams on Netflix.

    Don't Hurt Me. Big Star Documentary -- If you want to know more about the band Big Star, this is the doc for you. Slows down a bit at the end but overall nice movie. Streams on Netflix.

    1. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - When I started actively rounding out my Western's movie library, this, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Searchers and The Magnificent Seven were my first additions. "Classic western" is right.

  5. Gaurdians Of The Galaxy - was completely awesome. Getting to know new characters and exploring a different part of the Marvel Universe were both very fun. But the humor was brilliant, especially for a superhero movie. I've seen very few movies in theaters since the birth of Aquinas 5 years ago (this was #3). I used to love going to the theater, so getting see a big summer blockbuster in that setting again was very rewarding on its own, but the movie's excellence really cemented things. Just a very fun movie.

    I mentioned it a couple weeks ago, but The Grand Budapest Hotel is a brilliant film. I feel like I'm at the point where I trust Wes Anderson more than any other filmmaker. I didn't always feel that way. Rushmore was "meh" and The Life Aquatic was a complete miss for me. But The Royal Tenenbaums is one of my favorite movies and after seeing Moonrise Kingdom I rushed out and purchased it. Anyway, go see The Grand Budapest Hotel if you haven't. It is so many things in one film, but never goes overboard.

    The Muppets Most Wanted is apparently on video now. I need to see this one. Possibly with my kids.

      1. And Muppets Most Wanted has now been viewed. Very enjoyable. Higher number of laughs, songs, cameos than the previous Muppet movie. But the plot itself was... not as good.

  6. Boyhood: I absolutely adored it. My favorite movie I've seen this year, and I'm not sure anything will come close. It was like 12 perfect little vignettes about family and childhood and growing up. I think I'm going to go again next weekend.

    The Raid 2: Berandal: The best action movie I've seen since The Raid. It was a little bit longer than it needed to be, but my word the fight choreography in this movie was good.

    Lucy: Enjoyable trash. The first half was spectacular. The second half was rushed and not nearly as good. It definitely requires a fair bit of suspension of disbelief, but it was worth it in my opinion.

    Guardians of the Galaxy: I have only watched a handful of the MCU films, but this is definitely my favorite one. I laughed a ton. Perfect summer movie.

      1. I haven't seen either, but I've seen Dredd, which was awesome, which put The Raid on my short list as well.

  7. No movies, but I have been watching the original Doctor Who on Retro TV. They've started from the very beginning, with the first Doctor. I'm enjoying it. A couple of observations: it's much slower paced than the current show, and there's not as much humor in it. And, obviously, the special effects are 1960s TV special effects. Those aren't meant as criticisms, just commentary. The show is fun to watch. You just have to accept it for what it is.

  8. The Lego Movie - Thoroughly enjoyed this one and although I'm pretty sure it was well beyond my three-year-old's comprehension, she sat still for about half of it, so that was pretty cool. Fun story, well executed character development and really sweet visuals.

    Game of Thrones: Season's 1 & 2 I'm finally reading A Dance With Dragons so a friend at work lent me the first two seasons on Blu-ray. I understand why these have generated so many new fans. They do a good job of capturing Martin's world without overexposure or poorly done special effects and they seem to stick to the source material sufficiently enough that I only have minor quibbles here and there. Some of the things that I was really excited to see their treatment of didn't make it into the series, and a few of the things that they found interesting enough to include (but which I was neither here nor there about) did. That being said, I'm looking forward to seeing Season 3.

    Veronica Mars I don't this show enough to compare it to the movie...but the movie was fine. Not great, but not awful; it came across a bit like a long episode of a television show.

    Lawless I kind-of liked this. Nothing spectacular, but an interesting plot and some good actors (though not their 'best' performances). A decent, throw-it-in-and-see-where-it-goes movie where I didn't invest much and therefore came out ahead.

    2. I also enjoyed "The Lego Movie".
      "Everything Is Awesome" wears after the 200th time. At least "Frozen" had the courtesy of containing several songs, some completely different than each other.

      1. Yeah, but the whole point of "Everything is Awesome" is that it's a terrible radio song that every rational person hates. Granted, I get that the story reasoning ceases to matter after the fifteenth viewing.

      2. My one complaint about The Lego Movie was that I thought it needed a[nother?] big musical number.

        1. I kept waiting for another as well. I don't know if it was "missing," but sure could have been fun considering the story.

          1. I didn't find it to be missing. There was really only the one musical number that was a more "traditional" music number. I loved the second time they did it, though, since it was used as a plot device better than any song and dance routine I've ever seen in a movie.

    3. recorded GoT Seasons 1-3 from a free HBO weekend marathon a couple of months back. Binge-watched last month while I was home sick for two weeks. Excellent series. It does a great job of bringing the books to the small screen. Now I'm itching for GRRM to hurry the frack up and finish the next one.

      1. ...itching for GRRM to hurry the frack up and finish the next one.
        I think that may be why I'm really taking my time with Dance, I know there's nothing to move on to.

      2. I've gotten to a point where I'm pretty sure the books are dead and the show is going to be the one finishing the story.

    4. I haven't watched The Lego Movie with the kids yet, but I'm not sure they'd sit through it much anyway. It was my in flight entertainment on my way back from England, so I still really need to watch it on my tv. I feel confident saying it'll be my favorite movie I've seen this year. I love everything about it.

  9. It just occurred to me that I also saw Nebraska. Huh. How did I forget that one? My initial reaction was that I liked it a lot, but in hindsight, maybe it was kind of forgettable?

  10. I didn't watch a whole lot of new stuff. I watched Ricky Oh!: The Story of Ricky the other night, though. It was.... interesting. It wasn't particularly well made, but was filled with so much craziness that its worth watching if you like martial arts movies and over-the-top gore (like old Peter Jackson type of things).

    With a new Mad Max movie on the horizon, I might go back and watch the trilogy again, just for fun.

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