Which movie did you watch today and how would you rate it?

[MarkW]

Badlands

9/10

Terrence Malick's debut as a director is visually beautiful but, unlike many "lovers on the run" films, refuses to romanticize the outlaw couple who are the protagonists. Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek are impressive leads--he portrays the multiple murderer Kit as equal parts ruthless and confused, while she is convincing as the 15-year-old Holly, naive and emotionally distant. The score makes extremely effective use of Carl Orff's "Musica Poetica."

 

[angelo]

I decided to watch a Robin Williams movie last night, although a fairly old one at that. Jumanji. Yes, I know it was aimed at the kiddie audience. Everyone says he was a comic genius, well to some people he certainly was. Mrs Doubtfire was somewhat funny and a much better effort than this. As kid's movies go this would rate 5/10

 

[credoconsolans]

The Mockingjay Part 1 (Hunger Games 3)
8/10

Grim and disturbing. Tonally different from the other 2 movies.

You move the movie Gladiator from the pomp and spectacle of the Coliseum into the gritty world of those rebelling against it.

That's what this movie is.

This movie veers more toward the adult side of the conflict. Some movie critics lament that Katniss is more passive in this movie, but they seem to forget that Katniss is only 17 years old and is still suffering from PTSD.

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She has been thrust from a world where she is forced to plan and take action, into a new world where adults are actually doing the fighting instead of kids.

So of course she's going to appear more passive by comparison. The movie is uncomfortable because even though Katniss is the Mockingjay by her own actions, you see

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that she is being used again. Earlier by the Capital and now by the Rebels as propaganda fodder and Katniss is forced to cooperate again, to defend and save her friends' lives. Even her little sister is starting to learn how to work the system.

The movie earlier intersperses Katniss' actions and words with events in the districts but the latter half of the movie drops this as events focus

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more on the events in District 13.

There is never any real explanation as to why

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District 13 survived. They pass off a weak explanation as "we were military and this is how we survive", but the Capital, as we've seen from earlier movies, is well funded and not afraid to send in men with guns. So why would they only attack from the air and never follow up with ground troops to root them out? I think there was a hint of fear about nukes, so possibly that's why the Capital doesn't push? Not sure.

Some things don't make sense, like why would a noob like Gale

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would be sent in on an obviously special forces type mission when his only experience is firing a bow. Yes, he volunteered, but he can be turned down.

I do like that the whole movie has you questioning who is still playing games with one another. Whether it's on a personal level as Katniss looks at

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Peeta in the propaganda movies from the Capital she marvels that "He's still playing the game"...or President Coin with President Snow or Plutarch with Snow.

You wonder who can really be trusted.

I do like that Katniss, with help from

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Finnick finally realize that she did love Peeta after all. All her focus is on him and she is agonized by what is being done to him and continues to champion him, even against the Rebels. This is upsetting to Gale whose jealously finally emerges - not to his credit.

Dark and troubling with some very adult and gruesome scenes, and only some occasions for levity, this is a grownups movie.

Recommend.

 

[credoconsolans]

Correction, I meant

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Plutarch and Coin, not Plutarch and Snow.

 

[Narapoia]

Interstellar 6/10

Hmm, some very good things about this film and some very poor things. I can understand the polarised reception it has received now that I've seen it. An amazing piece of technical film making and so good to see some incredible special effects that didn't involve aliens/robots attacking a US city. Nolan had some ambition putting this piece together and I thoroughly enjoyed parts of it but it's ultimately pretty flawed and flawed by conscious decision it seems. There's no way that the Nolans could not have anticipated the poor reaction to some of the magic bullet nonsense they included in the script. More below;

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The magicy woo, love nonsense dragged me right out of the film, just didn't fit with the theme and turned what could have been one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time into a saccharine, syrupy mess in parts. I'm actually okay with the time travel aspect of the film the use of black holes/neutron stars is one I've seen in other SF, but the bookshelf/watch medium of communication was just ridiculous. The higher dimensional beings can build wormholes and facilitate time travel but can't set up a tcp/ip connection.

Also, given it had a 3 hour running time I reckon they could have spared 5 minutes to actually show Cooper going to pick up the prof's daughter, even if it was just the ranger landing next to her camp.

 

[angelo]

Tomorrow, When The War Began [Sci-fi ] Eight unlikely teenagers fight invaders. A cringworthy effort of an Australian film with pathetic acting and an un-plausable plot. [My gawd there are worst actors than Ben Affleck and Adam Sandler around!]

2.5/10

 

[Jayjay]

Hesher, a modern retelling of Mary Poppins where an eccentric fellow played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt helps a family get over the grief of losing their mother.

9/10

 

[Daioh]

Police Academy
6/10
I'm sure most people know about this movie (And it's follow ups)
And I thought it was a decent enough little comedy
The characters were simple but fun
The script delivers the required chuckles even if it isn't absolutely hilarious
The acting can range from pretty solid to kinda flat but none really stand out s awful
And the overall movie is a fun little diversion

Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment
4/10
I just couldn't get into this movie as much
It just lacked the kind of carefree fun of the first one and instead just kinda dragged along
This isn't to say that there weren't a few good moments
Or that the acting got worse (it was about the same)
But it just didn't feel as fun as the first

Police Academy 3: Back In Training
6/10
This one felt much more like the original
This could be because a fair few parts seemed to be copy/paste completely from the original
So if you like the original then this is pretty much the same
And it is fun like the original

 

[spikepipsqueak]

I finally watched Avatar all the way through. Not sure why I avoided it all this time. Nice piece of green propaganda with a message I am comfortable with. 7/10

 

[Ford]

The Mockingjay Part 1 (Hunger Games 3)
8/10

Dark and troubling with some very adult and gruesome scenes, and only some occasions for levity, this is a grownups movie.

Recommend.

I just got done watching "Catching Fire," (and it was difficult to reply to your post without glancing at the hidden spoilers) and I'll wait for Mockingjay to hit at very least the discount theater before seeing it.

For some reason I just can't bring myself to care about these characters, with the possible exception of Effie Trinket. Banks' performance was so convincing I fully expect that in the next movie she

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will have cast off her trappings and joined the rebellion.

The other thing that bothered me was how predictable parts of the movie were.

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Katniss' wedding dress not really a wedding dress?

Saw it coming a mile away.

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Lenny Kravitz getting taken down for it?

Obvious.

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Force field taken down with lightning bolt?

Painfully obvious.

Oh, and why is it that

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every time Katniss empties her quiver of arrows, it is full in the very next scene?

I give it 5/10 just because I'm a sucker for post-apocalyptic movies. I hope the next one is worth the full 3 dollar price of admission at the discount theater.

 

[spikepipsqueak]

I am in the middle of The Wild with a 4 and a 5yo. Can't help being curious as to why a koala is speaking with a cross between an English, Scottish and Canadian accent.

 

[angelo]

I finally watched Avatar all the way through. Not sure why I avoided it all this time. Nice piece of green propaganda with a message I am comfortable with. 7/10

Exactly what I thought of it.........green propaganda. I was watching the credits to see if some green movement had something to do with the production. I would rate it 6/10 tops.

 

[Playball40]

The Theory of Everything 8/10 - Eddie Redmane's performance was outstanding as Stephen Hawking. Interesting behind the scenes story that made me laugh and cry. Inspired my 12yo daughter to go buy the first Hawking book. Intersting my daughters (11 and 12 were by far the youngest people in the full theater).

 

[credoconsolans]

The Mockingjay Part 1 (Hunger Games 3)
8/10

Dark and troubling with some very adult and gruesome scenes, and only some occasions for levity, this is a grownups movie.

Recommend.

I just got done watching "Catching Fire," (and it was difficult to reply to your post without glancing at the hidden spoilers) and I'll wait for Mockingjay to hit at very least the discount theater before seeing it.


The other thing that bothered me was how predictable parts of the movie were.

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Katniss' wedding dress not really a wedding dress?

Saw it coming a mile away.

Did you see her forced to actually wear it from a mile off?

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Lenny Kravitz getting taken down for it?

Obvious.

That was pure self-sacrifice for the cause. Surely you understood why he was doing that. Was it obvious that they'd do it in front of her to try to rattle her before the games?

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Force field taken down with lightning bolt?

Painfully obvious.

Not just the force field, the entire arena, the power grid, the transmission.

Oh, and why is it that

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every time Katniss empties her quiver of arrows, it is full in the very next scene?

If you haven't read the books, it's common sense understanding that she goes back for them. It's not like they're going anywhere or she is miles away from where she used them.

 

[Ford]

Did you see her forced to actually wear it from a mile off?

We used to call it "telescoping" when I was writing comedy bits. You don't want the audience to see the punchline from a distance. That's what they did several times, and it wasn't terribly subtle.

Was it obvious that they'd do it in front of her to try to rattle her before the games?

Yes.

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The whole dress thing is indicative of the problem. We know Lenny designs outfits that change when she twirls, and for this one they even say explicitly that there's a "surprise." She goes on the show, does her thing, and then they cut back and forth between Lenny being self-satisfied and smug, and President Snow being angry. Repeatedly. Right then you know "this dude is gonna die, and they're gonna make it hurt." Once he walked into the staging area with Katniss I was like "and here's when they do it." It was just so ham-handed.

Anyway, on to today's movies. I'm off work, so I'll probably be watching a few this week.


Guardians of the Galaxy. 8/10

One of the things that has bugged me about some of the Marvel Universe movies is the over-abundance of gags and pithy quips used to add moments of levity among the action and explosions...and I'm looking at you, Thor 2. With the last two films - Captain America: The Winter Soldier and this one, it seems they've maybe figured out that it is okay to make a serious comic book movie (like they did with Cap 2) and save all the levity and put it into Guardians.

It was fun. A bit rocky at the start, but once you realize you're watching a movie with a talking racoon and a walking tree, check your brain and enjoy the ride.


Next up was not fun:

Dirty Wars. 7/10

It follows journalist Jeremy Scahill as he uncovers the existence and operations of JSOC - the elite and unaccountable US military outfit tasked with blowing up terrorists in and out of war zones around the world. Or sometimes innocent civilians when mistakes are made. Their target list began with the people responsible for 9/11, then expanded to the "deck of cards" of leaders in Iraq, then expanded again, and now seems less a list of targets and more of a policy of taking out targets of opportunity no matter where they are, no matter what it takes to get to them, and no matter how much collateral damage happens in the process.

Chilling, disturbing film. They only thing that holds it back is that interspersed with the documentary footage taken in Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, etc. are staged scenes of Scahill working on connecting the dots, with close-ups that linger on his face and eyes...and the guy looks like he could be Jared Leto's brother.

 

[Daioh]

Police Academy 4: Citizens On Patrol
4/10
I think this one was probably the worst "Training people" movie of the Police Academy Series
Movies 1 and 3 were similar but did enough to be entertaining
4 just kinda has stuff happening without any real payoff
It is still funnier overall then the second movie
But not as good as the others

Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach
6/10
It's good solid police academy
By now you generally should know the characters and formulas and this delivers much the same
And the locale change kinda helps move on from the last movie spinning its wheels
Overall this is a chuckle worthy little movie that is worth the watch

Police Academy 6: City Under Siege
6/10
Like 5 this movie tries to mix things up a little
And it does well with what its got
Some of the jokes may be a little hit and miss
But overall it is a solid enough movie

 

[MarkW]

Dredd

7/10

This 2012 film, the second to bring the British comic book character to the screen, is considerably superior to the overblown Sylvester Stallone vehicle from the mid-1990s. While it's not exceptional, it's a competently-executed, tightly-paced and hard-edged action thriller. Karl Urban was a very good choice to play the title character and Olivia Thirlby is also excellent as the rookie Judge who the audience will most easily relate to.

 

[angelo]

The Special Relationship British politician Tony Blair forges a loyal relationship with US President Bill Clinton. An impressively acted political drama and biopic that is authentic and intelligent. Stars Michael Sheen and Dennis Quaid.

8.5/10

 

[Narapoia]

Dredd

7/10

This 2012 film, the second to bring the British comic book character to the screen, is considerably superior to the overblown Sylvester Stallone vehicle from the mid-1990s. While it's not exceptional, it's a competently-executed, tightly-paced and hard-edged action thriller. Karl Urban was a very good choice to play the title character and Olivia Thirlby is also excellent as the rookie Judge who the audience will most easily relate to.

I concur, thoroughly enjoyed this film myself. I particularly appreciated the fact it was portrayed as just another event in the life of Dredd, without the whole world at stake. Just a vicious situation in a bleak dystopia handled with due ruthlessness and cunning.

 

[Underseer]

Dredd

7/10

This 2012 film, the second to bring the British comic book character to the screen, is considerably superior to the overblown Sylvester Stallone vehicle from the mid-1990s. While it's not exceptional, it's a competently-executed, tightly-paced and hard-edged action thriller. Karl Urban was a very good choice to play the title character and Olivia Thirlby is also excellent as the rookie Judge who the audience will most easily relate to.

I concur, thoroughly enjoyed this film myself. I particularly appreciated the fact it was portrayed as just another event in the life of Dredd, without the whole world at stake. Just a vicious situation in a bleak dystopia handled with due ruthlessness and cunning.

I don't think they did enough to mock typical action movies, which was part of the charm of the source material.