Movie Reviews 2.0

So I saw the third Hobbit movie last night. Personally I thought it the weakest of the six, like everyone concerned was running out of steam. I have to say it didn't bother me that the Hobbit movies were action romps - The Hobbit is a kids book, so I don't see why there's a problem giving the movies a bit of a superficial treatment.

That's not to say that given all that budget + screen hours + six movie slots dedicated to the TH + LOTR story arc, that something a little bit better couldn't have come out of the arse-end of The Hobbit story, but reality is that was unlikely to happen (should have been two Hobbit + 4 LOTR movies, obviously, and in that order).

Overall I think that LOTR + TH were a better six movies than Star Wars 4-6 + 1-3.

 

Well, so far SW only had 2 properly good outings to be perfectly honest. Episode IV and V. VI was basically a remake of IV with annoying furries, and the new trilogy was pretty much undone by Gergie boy's lack of script writing chops (nothing says exciting space opera like a good ol' trade blockade) and inability to direct actors. I do have a soft spot for Revenge of the Sith, though.

 

I'm going to see American Sniper tonight. Getting some good reviews and I know very little about it, apart from being about a sniper... an american sniper?

 

I liked it, another decent Eastwood directed film.

 

Good movie. Bradley Cooper looks f'kin weird in it. But he shoots very far. So that's ok.

 

I see what you did there, LB.

 

I watched The Conjuring yesterday. Thanks to the overwhelmingly positive buzz - any movie that earns its R-rating by virtue of simply being "too scary" has my full attention - my hopes for this one were quite high. Something comparable to 2012's utterly creepy "Sinister" perhaps. Now that movie, flawed as it was, really did do quite a number on me. Alas, that wasn't the case with The Conjuring. It's by no means a bad hounted house movie. In many ways it's actually a quite remarkable one. The director's utter refusal to play with a loaded deck of cards is a commendable quality; There are no jump scares (one clever little fake out notwithstanding) in The Conjuring, and every character in it behaves like a reasonable human being. The sets are lovely, camera work and image composition are great (terrific use of negative spaces), sound design is bang-on (pun entirely intended, thank you very much), and the actors, lead into the fray by horror's charismatic new grand dame Vera Farmiga, are all pulling their weight and then some. That said, it's still just a haunted house movie. You get your banging furniture; the kid finds a creepy imaginary friend; people are violently thrown about the place by invisible forces (forces that smell like farts no less); and eventually someone pulls out a bible to have a wee cross-dimensional chat in church Latin. I was certainly entertained. At times a little creeped out even. But whereas the very best genre pieces usually end on a punch to the gut and a feeling of unease that lasts throughout the night, if not well into the next day, The Conjuring merely musters a spirited tickle.

 

Compared to most other formulaic horror films, I found The Conjuring one of the very best I saw in the last few years. Definitely more interesting and entertaining than most.

I saw Ex Machina the other day. Wonderfully weird and understated film. And what an ending!

 

Oh I am with you on that. It's heads and shoulders above the sanitized PG-13 cash-grabs calling themselves horror films now these days. I just wish it was scarier.
Have you watched Sinister? I really liked that one. Actually had to pause it for a moment and turn on the living room lights because I needed a bit of a breather.

 

Missed that one! I'll have to give it a run.

 

ZOMG!
SPIDER-MAN OFFICIALLY JOINING THE MCU UNIVERSE AND WILL APPEAR ON ONE OF THE NEXT FILMS (CIVIL WAR OBVS) AND THEN HIS OWN NEW SERIES OF MOVIES WHICH WILL CONNECT TO THE CURRENT MCU MOVIES. AND WITH AN AGREEMENT THAT CURRENT MCU CHARACTERS CAN APPEAR IN THE NEW STANDALONE SPIDEY FILMS.
DYING.
GOODBYE.
I'M TOO DEAD TO LINK IT.

 

Hmm... are you like, a Marvel fan or something?

 

I watched Nightcrawler the other day. What a great, crazy film. Jake Gyllenhaal is fantastic in it, you really, really feel a strong dislike for his character and what he does. Total sociopath.

 

A little.

 

It's the Spandex

 

This could be an appropriate image then

 

Sony isn't giving up Spidey rights (good for them)... however, working with Disney/Marvel instead (even better).

 

Marvel Pushes Back Four Movies In Light of Spider-Man Deal

 

I'm not familiar with Marvel comics, so, based only on the movies, I kinda have a hard time figuring out how Spiderman and the Avengers characters could work together...

 

Well Spiderman was one of the main characters in Civil War, which is Captain America's next film. Would have been awkward to do it without him. It also fits well with the rest of the MCU universe.