I accomplished the rare feat of going to a theater to see a movie this weekend. We picked Avengers: Age of Ultron or whatever the subheading/punctuation combo is. I had seen a handful of reviews and "what does this mean for Captain America" etc. stories, and was kind of braced for the worst. I had largely avoided spoilers, so that was nice, but I was still ready to see something worse than the first one.
That was not my assessment. I really enjoyed it. Much more so than the first Avengers movie. Good action, good balance between characters, a really fun villain, a little bit of heart, a good amount of humor... a great popcorn flick.
So... what has everyone else seen this month? Tell me more about why I should go see Mad Max, since I'm hearing lots about that? Etc.
We went to see Home on Mother's Day. It was pretty much meh. Inoffensive for the kids, but not particularly compelling to me. More interesting was that it was the first time I've actually been to a movie in a theater in at least five or six years. It was a Marcus theater with the leather recliners. I... might rethink my anti-theater stance for action/spectacle movies, but still hold on to the policy for anything without explosions. I definitely feel like not seeing Fury Road in that environment would be a mistake. (Also, 10 am Sunday showings for $5 for the win.)
My wife also borrowed Where the Wild Things Are from the library. Good lord, that is a pile of garbage. I couldn't finish it and the trinket was completely uninterested in even pretending to pay attention. Every single character was miserably unlikable and the pacing was beyond bad, likely because nothing happened. Just terrible.
Thanks to Zack I got a digital copy of John Wick and thought it was great. I remember when The Matrix was coming out and everyone around me (and me) was all like, "Keanu Reeves, WTF?" But man, he's a legitimately great action movie star.
Saw three movies this month:
This Is Where I Leave You: Wonderful cast, uninspired script and directing. I think there could at some point be a great movie about the regular lives of middle to upper class white people, but I haven't seen it yet.
Pitch Perfect 2: Derivative, about what you'd expect. A few genuine laughs, many cheap ones. I felt kind of gross afterwards. The lines given to Banks and Higgins' characters in this movie are horrendous. On top of that, the soundtrack isn't nearly as fun and the "original" acapella song is laughably bad. I did love the German group they compete against, and the acapella cameo by real-life Green Bay Packers(!). The best part is probably Keegan-Michael Key in a role as a hot-shot music producer.
Stand By Me: Can you believe I never saw this until this weekend? Not as moving as I was expecting, as I generally dislike narration. It felt like a more intense Wonder Years episode. That said, Rob Reiner was a beast in the 80's, no? I love the performance he gets out of River Phoenix (and knowing the actor himself is dead is the saddest part) and he proved that Wil Wheaton can be better than he was on Star Trek. I can't believe the ugly fat kid is the handsome hunk from Sliders. It's also striking how much Keifer Sutherland looks like his dad in this movie, as I generally don't feel that way.
I'm hoping to give Pitch Perfect 2 high marks for allowing me to go see Fury Road. The only barrier is finding someone to watch my son on a Sunday morning.
I watched Pitch Perfect 2 tonight. It was worse than the first and not all that good. Like Beau says, though, dumb comedies are often funnier when you're able to laugh alongside a bunch of other people.
Key is, indeed, the best part about this movie by far. The original song, suffice to say, is not going to make the Hot 100.
I think there could at some point be a great movie about the regular lives of middle to upper class white people, but I haven't seen it yet.
Ordinary People?
Yeah, I need to watch that.
Going to see Mad Max tomorrow night ... have seen only glowing reviews.
The Book Thief - Not a big fan of the narration, but overall, this was a pretty compelling & enjoyable movie
Jersey Boys - My wife had seen the show onstage in London and enjoyed it and Clint directed this version, so I gave it a shot. The acting was a bit wooden, but the music was awesome.
The Imitation Game - This was pretty amazing. I liked the way the story was told and Cumberbatch did a fantastic job.
Quigley Down Under - Holy crap, Tom Selleck is 70!
Guardians of the Galaxy (repeat viewing)
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 - Had saved Wild online, but when I got to the kiosk, it wasn't there. I wish it had been.
Robots - Didn't catch all of this, but Kernel has requested and watched it frequently in the past few weeks and I enjoyed what I saw.
Just got back from Mad Max…wowzers!
If the stars align, I'm hoping for an Ultron sort of evening tonight.
Took in Avengers on sunday. It scratched my itch.
I did not see what the big effing feminist beef is with the Black Widow reveal scene. She did not say she was a monster because she can't
. That is just a brain-dead misreading of the scene.
Agreed. Folks are trying hard to read in a message where it doesn't exist there.
I saw two movies this month in theater.
Avengers: Age of Ultron - I saw this one expecting to be let down. That wasn't the case. I didn't like it quite as much as the first, but it was a lot of fun. James Spader is perfect as the bad guy, and there are a lot of nice character pieces throughout. Plus; spectacle!
Mad Max: Fury Road - The best movie I saw this month (granted, there were only two movies I saw this month, but still). It was everything I want out of a Mad Max movie in the year 2015. It's amazing how much character and depth can be grabbed from a movie with very little plot and even less dialog. Still, the reason you go to this movie is that it's the most metal movie in existence. Like one reviewer said, the crazy guitarist with the dual-necked guitar that doubles as a flamethrower is simultaneously the craziest thing about this movie and the thing in the movie that makes the most sense. Lots of fun.
My "Awesome Action Movies of 2015" List So Far is as such.
Furious 7 ≥ Mad Max > Avengers >>> Kingsman
I thought Mad Max: Fury Road was phenomenal. Charlize Theron's character stole the show. Max himself was great as well, but he definitely took a back seat to Ms. Theron. Yes, a few over the top visuals, but what a fun ride that movie was. I saw Avengers: Age of Ultron too, which I definitely liked as I watched it, but it's allure has already faded. Mad Max, however, has stuck with me the past 2 days and, for the first time in a long time, I am thinking of seeing a movie a second time on the big screen. In fact, if I would have gone to the early show, I would have stayed and watched it again. I am simply amazed that George Miller took 30 years between Mad Max movies and came back (at 70 years old) and set a new bar for the genre. Amazing stunt work, amazing cinematography and the understated dialogue was perfect. So, yes, I liked it a lot!
Mrs, zooomx.2 and I watched The Man in the Moon last night for the 3rd or 4th time. Didn't intend to watch the whole movie, but got sucked in again. Reese Witherspoon's first movie. In fact, it was filmed near her home town and apparently, she auditioned as an extra and landed the lead. Kind of a sappy movie, and I did tear up a bit (again), but just a nice flick all in all.
Also watched Dodgeball yesterday for the umpteenth time. Not a big fan of the movie, as Ben Stiller bugs me and Vince Vaughn completely phone it in. Did get some chuckles watching my kids laugh at the sophomoric humor.
Completely agreed, re:Ms. Theron. I want her to be nominated for an Oscar for this. I'm not even kidding. She owns that movie.
Funny you mention that, as I have already been telling my friends the same thing. I have admired her work in a few other films, but she was over-the-top good in this one.
Avengers: (Age of) Ultron
Now I would never say that I have a refined taste in movies, but I saw Mad Max yesterday and it instantly shot into my top-10 movies of all time. Maybe top-5. Holy hell did I love it. I was a fan of Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome, but Fury Road is on an insanely higher level. I'm probably going to go see it in the theater again, which I'm honestly not sure I've ever done before with any movie. I just want to keep watching it again and again.
The most amazing thing about it is that not only did New Gal agree to see it with me, but she loved it just as much as I did. After a lifetime of being interested almost exclusively in gritty, realistic dramas, she said she finally understands why people like action/adventure movies.
I forgot to mention in my comments above, that my wife also amazed me by not only agreeing to watch it, but also loving the movie too. My 15 year old son was blown away as well.
I agree with all the Mad Max praise. It was incredibly good and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since Friday night. I left and let J know we are absolutely going next weekend so she can see it. It was awesome to see an action movie that had women who kicked a bunch of ass, too. It's seriously wonderful.
Other stuff I watched:
Ex-Machina: This blew me away, too, and have been thinking about it since I saw it. Excellent flick. Go in as blind as possible; the commercials and such are spoileriffic.
Chef's Table: Watched this on Netflix with J while she was sick last weekend. I really want to eat at n/naka now!
Silicon Valley: Caught up on this Friday while I was working at home. Pretty damn good. Last night's episode was hysterical.
I liked, but not loved, ex-machina. Too much was predictable, but I didn't quite call the ending. Close but no cigar.
Mad max? Yeah, baby. Quickly the best movie of the year. I wasn't as sold on Charlize's performance as others are, but I'm totally on board with the message. I'm going to see if my norn' Irish friends are interested as I'm more than willing to see it on the big screen again.
Season 2 of The Americans - It was good but I think I liked the first season better. I liked the dynamic between the husband and wife better when they couldn't decided if they liked each other.
I started Season 2 of Friday Night Lights. The first four episodes were terrible. Two big story arc mistakes with the Landry story line and coach story line. Thankfully, I expect they will get back to business as they seemed to wrap them up.
I watched part of Django Unchained. I didn't like it at all. Got tired with about 45 minutes left and never bothered to pick it back up. I didn't care how it ended.
Django was one of the movies that most exceeded my expectations. After Inglorious Bastards (spelling wrong because phone), I was prepared for disappointment but loved it.
Django is my favorite Tarantino flick. Don't know why, just thought it was good. Christoph Waltz was superb
Really? I like a lot of his movies but I just thought this one was boring and predictable.
Does Steve Buscemi make an appearance that I missed? Then I would reconsider.
No, Buscemi. I just was in love with how he married Blaxploitation with Spaghetti Western.
So, uh , anybody else still watch Mad Men?
Yes. Not sure what to think of it yet.
I watched more things this month.
Wish I could remember them all.
Still bouncing back and forth between Fullmetal Alchemist and Attack on Titan. I'm nearing the end of the latter, and I fear that only part of the series is on Netflix. The other option is that this was season 1 and there are more to come.
Started Damian Lewis in Life with EAR. Her pick. Given our loathing of him as Soames Forsyte in The Forsyte Saga and general distaste of him in Romeo & Juliet, it's fun seeing him as the protagonist. (He's great as Soames, just completely despicable.)
Watched Hot Fuzz the weekend it went on Netflix. Still funny. EAR got into it until the violence went over the top.
Watched Studio Ghibli's Princess Kaguya, which left me way too "meh" for Ghibli. I'll try it again.
The other option is that this was season 1 and there are more to come.
This is the case. It'll be a while for the next seasons as they're waiting for more manga to be released, but it's happening.
More "falling asleep for a few seconds and missing what was said because my eyes were closed*" stagnation. I've worked on the same episodes for a few nights in a row.
EAR won't watch (she doesn't do well with any animation that's not for children, except some prime-time broadcast TV series), so I wait until she's either asleep on the couch or gone to bed.
We don't get to the cinema much these days, but last month I did take the family to see Slow West at the MSP Film Fesitval. It was a New Zealand film about a young Scottish aristocrat seeking his fugitive unrequited commoner love and her father in the American West. He falls in with an enigmatic saddle tramp who, for a price, promises to keep him alive and help him get to his destination and rendezvous all the while trying to hide an ulterior motive. A really enjoyable movie, well photographed and directed with a compelling story that ends both sadly and happily.
More movies I watched:
Tracks. True story of a woman who walked west from central Australia to the Indian Ocean with Camels and a dog. I really dug it, the lack of firm reasons for doing that, how gross she looked at times, walking naked when it suited her. I was surprised that EAR liked it, too, because it was open-ended and vague and didn't have a clear point.
Noah. I'd seen that there were bad reviews of this, but I don't really understand* now that I've seen the movie. I was expecting something awful and it was good.
*OK, maybe the divergence from the biblical story. If one takes the biblical story as true, it's still history as written by the winners. This could have been titled "The Last Temptation of Noah".
Wet Hot American Summer and They Came Together, consecutive nights. They were OK, I guess. I think I wanted more. The older one (Summer) was probably better.
I watched A Most Wanted Man and found it pretty good. Philip Seymour Hoffman looked exactly like a person about to die, but still provided his typical fine performance. It was refreshing to see a spy movie in which the spies don't leave behind a double-digit body count.
I found it much better than the other recent La Carre adaptation (Tinker Tailor with Gary Oldham.