Movies, Movies, Movies.....

[rcdude]

I went and saw Saving Mr. Banks while I was in Utah last week. Excellent film. Acting was outstanding (Emma Thompson definitely deserves an Academy Award nomination), the story was interesting, the numerous flashbacks didn't annoy me like flashbacks typically do, and there was enough minor comedy in the film to keep my attention (I generally find serious dramas boring). I do wonder how accurate some parts of it are, but if you look at the movie independent of real life it doesn't really matter if everything was portrayed perfectly or not. Definitely recommended for fans of Merry Poppins, Disney, or true story movies, and one of my favorites of the year.

 

Now that 2013 is over, here's my rankings for the 18 movies I saw in theaters (best to worst):

 

A:

 

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Gravity

Saving Mr. Banks

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Star Trek Into Darkness

 

B:

 

The Wolverine

Pacific Rim

42

Rush

 

C:

 

Oz the Great and Powerful

The Great Gatsby

Thor: The Dark World

Iron Man 3

Now You See Me

Man of Steel

World War Z

 

D:

 

Identity Thief

A Good Day to Die Hard

[cfc]

I caught Frozen today and enjoyed it. Disney Animation has been on quite a tear lately with Frozen and Wreck It Ralph. These two make one forget Meet the Robinsons and Chicken Little.

[alilstronger]

I saw Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones on Saturday. I liked it a lot to be honest. Lots of laughs and some good scares. I like how the dialogue of the movie is how people talk to each other in real life.

 

I HATE how people yell at the movie screen during a horror film to "not go in there", "You are so stupid", "don't do that". I always want to turn to them and say well if they did what YOU think they should do we would NEVER have a horror movie because it would end 5 minutes into the movie.

[Nrthwnd]

^

 

But true. I would want to say that, too.

[Meteornotes]

So the other night I was sort of tired, and wanted to watch something that wouldn't tax my brain too much. So thanks, Netfilx, for putting the re-make of RED DAWN on streaming, as this was the sort of thing I was looking for. I expected it to be bad, and it was. It wasn't horrible, but there was a sort of "let's not put too much effort into this" throughout the proceedings. There were a couple of amusing moments, and the re-working of a classic scene from the original was cool, but for the most part it's a generic dumb action movie, full of totally unrealistic stuff (did you know a school bus can be rammed full speed into an armored military vehicle and take almost no damage? Apparently in this universe, it can!).

 

Two Ice Bats out of Five. Netflix really needs to add much better movies to their streaming service...

 

dt

[molemaster43]

I saw Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones on Saturday. I liked it a lot to be honest. Lots of laughs and some good scares. I like how the dialogue of the movie is how people talk to each other in real life.

 

I HATE how people yell at the movie screen during a horror film to "not go in there", "You are so stupid", "don't do that". I always want to turn to them and say well if they did what YOU think they should do we would NEVER have a horror movie because it would end 5 minutes into the movie.

 

Whip out your phone and give 'em a little George Costanza.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzxfivZF9Yk

[yankeeman311]

My Top 10 of 2013:

 

10. Saving Mr. Banks- I felt the Disney magic in this movie. Emma Thompson deserves best actress imo. Her and Tom Hanks were amazing in this movie and it really revealed the power and influence of imagination.

 

9. American Hustle- simply a great cast with a decent plot. Nice little curveball at the end too.

 

8. This is the End- best comedy of 2013 without a doubt. The ultimate bromance movie and probably the best last 10 minutes in the history of comedies.

 

7. Pain and Gain- the most underrated movie this year. I really digged the Goodfellas-like narration and the movie did a great job of making you feel bad for 3 idiots who were probably real life monsters.

 

6. Rush- amazing sports rivalry movie. Not a formula one fan but this movie made me have much more interest in it and made me respect even more the mentality it takes to be a racecar driver.

 

5. Now You See Me- great twist with a very interesting and unique plot. If the ending wasn't a little weird, this might've challenged for #1.

 

4. Zero Dark Thirty- I consider this a 2013 movie since it was only released in like 5 theaters in 2012. Great intensity throughout the movie with a fantastic build-up to an ending which I'd say lived up to the build-up. Not to mention Jessica Chastain is a badass. Movie felt a little too long to be ranked higher.

 

3. Man of Steel- finally did Superman justice. Very nice backstory in this movie and the no-name actor did a nice job playing Superman. Definitely some epic fight scenes too. The only good superhero movie this year imo.

 

2. Captain Phillips- like ZDT, kept up nice intensity and built up to a stunning ending. They absolutely mastered the last 15 minutes in this movie and I felt the hostage situation was very realistic. Tom Hanks deserves a nomination for Best Actor for this.

 

1. Hunger Games: Catching Fire- this movie had the perfect balance of political drama and survival in the games. 1 of the few movies this year that kept my attention from start to finish. Great twist ending and cliffhanger as well.

 

Still need to see Wolf of Wall Street so Saving Mr. Banks could still fall out. Honorable Mentions:

 

Gravity

Kick-Ass 2

Olmypus Has Fallen

42

Monsters University

We're the Millers

The Heat

Spring Breakers

[cfc]

Finally watched The World's End last night and thought it was great, as you can enjoy it on a number of different levels. Definitely more than your basic "slob" comedy.

[DBru]

So the other night I was sort of tired, and wanted to watch something that wouldn't tax my brain too much. So thanks, Netfilx, for putting the re-make of RED DAWN on streaming, as this was the sort of thing I was looking for. I expected it to be bad, and it was. It wasn't horrible, but there was a sort of "let's not put too much effort into this" throughout the proceedings. There were a couple of amusing moments, and the re-working of a classic scene from the original was cool, but for the most part it's a generic dumb action movie, full of totally unrealistic stuff (did you know a school bus can be rammed full speed into an armored military vehicle and take almost no damage? Apparently in this universe, it can!).

 

Two Ice Bats out of Five. Netflix really needs to add much better movies to their streaming service...

 

dt

 

Oh geez, the Red Dawn remake. I tried to watch that movie but it became too difficult once I kicked my screen in after watching Josh Peck's "acting" for 20 minutes.

[cfc]

I remember seeing the original Red Dawn at a 99-cent theatre in Atascadero, California, and laughing through most it. Best time that 99 cents could buy.

[molemaster43]

I could live through Josh Peck's acting, but I definitely didn't enjoy it. And after seeing him in a show such as Drake & Josh, it was hard for me to take him seriously.

 

I also bought three more movies for the collection this week: The 1989 Batman on Blu-Ray, Pacific Rim on Blu-Ray/DVD, and now Hot Fuzz on Blu-Ray/DVD. Planning on watching Batman tonight.

[triggernel]

So the other night I was sort of tired, and wanted to watch something that wouldn't tax my brain too much. So thanks, Netfilx, for putting the re-make of RED DAWN on streaming, as this was the sort of thing I was looking for. I expected it to be bad, and it was. It wasn't horrible, but there was a sort of "let's not put too much effort into this" throughout the proceedings. There were a couple of amusing moments, and the re-working of a classic scene from the original was cool, but for the most part it's a generic dumb action movie, full of totally unrealistic stuff (did you know a school bus can be rammed full speed into an armored military vehicle and take almost no damage? Apparently in this universe, it can!).

 

Two Ice Bats out of Five. Netflix really needs to add much better movies to their streaming service...

 

dt

 

Just watched it a few days ago, and I felt the exact same way!

[tarheel1231]

That new "Devil's Due" movie freaks me out I swear, every time I try to watch South Park on TWC on demand, there's a trailer for the movie in it. Am I the only one freaked out by the premise of the story?

[jmicha]

The trailer gives me the chills but I have a feeling the movie itself will just be another silly 'home-movie' style film and not really do much of anything to really scare viewers.

[triggernel]

Had a Her and Lone Survivor double feature on Friday. Her is a must see and deserves all the hype it's getting. Lone Survivor is a cut above a lot of the modern war movies. Both had great character interaction and both were very emotional.

 

I liked Her more, but they are both worth seeing.

[805Andrew]

I finally saw Anchorman 2 this past week. Silly, but funny.

 

I remember seeing the original Red Dawn at a 99-cent theatre in Atascadero, California, and laughing through most it. Best time that 99 cents could buy.

 

That's my hometown! We don't have a 99 cent theatre anymore (I don't recall one here) but we have a nice new theatre (Galaxy Theaters) that opened a few years ago that has D-Box on one of the screens and a VIP screen for 21+ with a beer and wine bar. Also it has $6 Tuesdays.

[_IntaMAN_]

Just got some Mel Brook's stuff and I recently watched BLAZING SADDLES. I have never laughed so hard in my life, this is probably one of my favorite movies from Brook's now. Everyone was telling me how good it was and I barely found out yesterday. Pure hilarity. Up next is Young Frankenstein. 9/10

[cfc]

Young Frankenstein is his best movie--even better than Blazing Saddles.

[alilstronger]

I think my mom and I are the only people who think Her looks silly. Everyone I talk to praises it and/or they can not wait to see it. I just do not see what makes it so good looking. A lonely man falls in love with a computer voice. Is he that pathetic? I will eventually give it a shot once it gets to Netflix and I do not have to pay for it.

[tarheel1231]

^I don't see why he wouldn't fall in love with the computer when it has Scarlett Johansson's voice

Still. I'm curious as to why this is rated R. Why? Is this guy about to f**k a computer?

[molemaster43]

^The MPAA rating is the following:

 

Rated R for language, sexual content and brief graphic nudity

[Philrad71]

I think my mom and I are the only people who think Her looks silly. Everyone I talk to praises it and/or they can not wait to see it. I just do not see what makes it so good looking. A lonely man falls in love with a computer voice. Is he that pathetic? I will eventually give it a shot once it gets to Netflix and I do not have to pay for it.

 

In my opinion, they could have easily had themselves a Golden Globe if they would have made a movie about a gal that falls in love with an amusement park ride instead.

[tarheel1231]

^The MPAA rating is the following:

 

sexual content and brief graphic nudity

 

Oh gosh So he is going to make love.......oh my............WHAT THE HELL? Eeewwww............ It's one thing to fall in love with an artificially intelligent computer, but another thing to get nude and screw it. Oh gosh...... WHY IS THERE NO TAIKO PUKE SMILIE?????!!!!!

[Nrthwnd]

Congratulations to Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto for their Golden Globe Award WINS!

"Dallas Buyers Club" is an awesome movie, and should be seen by a lot more people.

I'm hoping they and the movie get some Oscar Love this Thursday, when the nominations come out.

Jared Leto (as Rayon in DBC) must be nominated!

[robbalvey]

So I finally saw Saving Mr. Banks. I liked it, but I didn’t love it. For some reason I just couldn’t connect with it and felt little emotion throughout the entire film. Perhaps it was that I’m still not off my “Frozen high” when it comes to current Disney movies, maybe it’s just that I don’t really care for movies where you know the ending going into it, or films that purposely try to drag emotions out from you and it just doesn’t work on me, I don’t know.

 

I’m sure part of it has to do with the time I spent working in Hollywood and obnoxious, bitchy license holders that made you jump through ridiculous hoops before they would sign off and give their approval were a dime a dozen, so I just don’t understand why the story of P.L. Travers is much different that many of the other horrible people we had to tolerate on a daily basis for just about every property I worked with. (Don’t even get me started about the complete rude bitch at Mattel that made us do insanely stupid crap on some Barbie project nobody but her cared about.)

 

I love Mary Poppins, love the music, the film, the Broadway show, I even spent time in my life working on a project with the Sherman Brothers, so I can totally connect with the subject matter. But the emotional part of the movie just didn’t work on me. I felt like the movie was trying too hard to make me tear up, and every step of the way it just seemed overly predictable. Part of me wanted the movie to be more like the “Social Network” of Hollywood films telling more of the story about how the film came to be, and while I cared about the back-story with the father, I didn’t care that much as I needed to follow it the entire movie.

 

I felt like it was weirdly edited, too. Like as though the audience was supposed to think that P.L. Travers was flashing back to these things at the same time the audience was, and in real-time as things were going on in the movie. Like, I “get it.” It’s about the dad. I felt like the movie kept wanting to remind me of this more than I needed to be.

 

When I walked into Frozen, I wasn’t expecting to be as emotionally attached to the characters as I was. It was amazing and it took me by surprise. None of it felt “forced” to me. But during Mr. Banks, it was like some guy tapping me on the shoulder the whole time “Isn’t this really sad? Isn’t it? Well? You’re sad now right? What about this part? It’s sad too!”

 

On another note, what kind of horrible businesswoman was P.L. Travers that everyone had her books, but she was flat broke? I don’t know why, but that really stuck out to me as something that didn’t seem right and it was never explained. Maybe I should do my own research.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I *liked* the movie and the story it told, Mary Poppins is still one of my all-time favorite musicals, and it was kind of fun flashing back to the time I spent working on the Disney studio lot and singing with the Sherman Brothers during meetings, but I think Elissa said it best “If I want to be reminded of some bitchy author with a funny accent that thinks she’s gods gift to licensing, all I have to do is walk a couple miles down to Universal.”

 

I dunno, maybe I have a frozen heart, but watching Saving Mr. Banks just made me want to see Frozen again!

Edited January 14, 2014 by robbalvey