Movie Review #51: The Interview

I honestly wasn't interested in watching this movie, but given the hype and controversy around it my parents were kind of interested. Since it was available to watch via the Internet fairly cheaply, we all sat down in my parents' living room and watched it last night.

Short review: it's certainly what you'd expect from a Seth Rogan movie. Goofy, kinda smart sometimes, but mostly just a bunch of friends having a good time. Comedies like this aren't really my thing, though.

Movie Review #50: Big Hero Six

Laura wanted to go see "Robot Movie" as she calls it. I heard good things, so I was down.

Short review: definitely a fun, charming movie.

Movie Review #49: Seven

I'm pretty sure that the thing that kept me from watching this movie up to now was the fact that it's spelled SE7EN on the cover, which really ticked me off for whatever reason. It's on Netflix now, though, and the hook grabbed me, so here we are.

Short review: forget the dumb name. The movie itself is very good. It's also disturbing, with many scenes featuring dead bodies and lots of blood everywhere, though it's worth noting the that violence itself is not committed on-screen--this is a murder mystery, not a slasher film. If you've never seen it, go ahead and give it a shot and don't read the rest of this review. The ending is to good to spoil, and though spoilers don't bother me much, I'm glad that I didn't know the ending of this 20 year old movie going in.

Movie Review #48: The Ice Storm

I heard about this movie during an episode of WTF in which Marc Maron interviewed Elijah Wood. For whatever reason, this movie really stuck out in Marc's mind, so it's been on my list for months.

Short review: this movie is kind of all over the place as far as the tone goes, exploring a variety of emotions. It's compelling and uncomfortably sexual, but not explicit. It's also really hard to describe, apparently. The cast includes a variety of recognizable actors, including Toby McGuire, Christina Ricci, Sigourney Weaver, and, of course, Elijah Wood.

Movie Review #47: The Rounders

There are a bunch of movies I want to watch, but it's hard to string together 2-3 hours where I can sit down and actually focus on one I want to watch. Some movies I'm hoping to watch soon include 12 Monkeys, Ice Storm, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Raising Arizona, and The Fisher King. Given that I'm supposed to watch a movie every week this year, and that this is movie #47, I have five movie left. I think those five movies should probably be it.

Anyway, I chose this movie randomly while browsing Netflix for something to watch while eating breakfast. I just finished it, after 3-4 sittings.

Short review: there are better Matt Damon movies, better Edward Norton movies, and better poker movies. That said, it's competent and engaging enough. The actors perform well, but the story itself is rather predictable.

Dragon Age: Inquisition - First Impressions

The first Dragon Age game was the ultimate evolution of the Neverwinter Nights series: an epic fantasy RPG telling a sweeping story with cool characters, with tight, party-based, tactical gameplay, and varied, interesting environments, all in a rich, original world no longer tied to someone else's D&D campaign setting.

The second game also told a compelling story with cool characters, but it did so while sacrificing the original's scope and environmental design while making the combat system tedious and unnecessarily time-consuming, presumably to pad out the game. This balanced it out into an overall mediocre game that I must assume simply had some budgeting issues.

Dragon Age: Inquisition, the third installment, seems to have solved that budget problem. My every complaint about Dragon Age II has been addressed, though it's not without its own set of issues.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel - Spoileriffic Story Review

The Pre-Sequel takes place in between Borderlands 1 and 2, so if you've already played Borderlands 2 you pretty much know what's going to happen already anyway. That said, it's always the journey, not the destination that's important, so if you haven't played The Pre-Sequel yet, you have been warned.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel - No Spoilers Gameplay Review

This past weekend, just in time to pick up Dragon Age 2, I finished Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. Does anybody else actually play these games for the story? If so, you'll probably like this one, since it's probably the most story-based game in the series.

However, I'll handle all that spoilery story stuff in another post. This one is all about the gameplay

Movie Review #47: Snowpiercer

Have you ever heard of this movie? I hadn't, until my friend Reid recommended it. As a movie starring Chris Evans and with what looks like a decent budget, I'm surprised I hadn't heard of it before it hit Netflix. But, there it is.

Short review: this bloody (but not really gory) post-apocalyptic action flick is pretty good. It's at times sad, wonderful, surreal, and horrible. Also, I feel like I barely recognize Chris Evans in it.

Movie Review #46: Stand By Me

Clearly it's movie season. Four of my past five posts were movie reviews, and here's another one. Expect another one tomorrow. Movies are a great way to get through otherwise mindless tasks, and now is the time at work when I finally gravitate toward mailroom tasks when I can due to the holidays.

Anyway, Stand By Me is an iconic movie, yet much like Total Recall I've only seen bits and pieces. It's on Netflix now, though, so I got to watch it the whole way through.

Short review: there's a reason this movie is iconic. It's a movie about boys figuring themselves out, and it's as touching as it is adventurous.

Movie Review #45: Total Recall

I've never watched Total Recall from the beginning. I think I've only seen it from the middle to the end, which was enough to make me interested in the movie at least. As it turns out, the beginning of the movie is absolutely important to the context of the rest of the film!

Short review: In Arnold Schwarzenegger's most personable role shy of Kindergarten Cop, we get a mind trip of an action movie that's as thoughtful as it is violent. You won't soon forget what you've seen. Check it out on Netflix.

Movie Review #44: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Curiously, much like the Terminator series, I think I mostly just watched the second movie in this series as a kid, completely skipping the first. So, when I saw the original live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on Netflix, I figured it was worth actually checking out.

Short review: Released in 1990, this movie perfectly captures the transition from 80s to 90s. It doesn't seem certain of its audience; some parts are way to violent or thoughtful for kids, but other parts are way too cheesy for adults. It seems to me that they were aiming for both and managed to hit neither, but the box office sales belie that assessment. The fact that Michael Bay eventually took over this franchise makes a lot of sense to me now, though.

Movie Review #43: Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva

Last week, Cox's service went wonky in this area for a few days. We could access the Internet, but everything moved slowly, and download speeds were far too low to stream video. So, while looking around for something to watch that didn't involve streaming, I happened to come across a movie file I got back when Jeff and I were regularly watching movies based on video games in order to discuss them on the Fangamer Podcast. That didn't pan out, though, which is fine, since that meant I got to finally watch it last week!

Short review: Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva is exactly what you'd expect from a Professor Layton movie: there's puzzles, a mystery, a grand reveal somewhere along the line, and altogether a fairly cute story. However, the movie format doesn't bring much else to the table. It's a competent, adventurous movie, but watching it won't give you a deeper understanding of yourself or the Layton universe.

Movie Review #42: Ken Burns' Prohibition

Following in the wake of my marathon run of The History of Rome, I had some interest in getting a little more history. Primed as I was for some history, when Jeff recommended this documentary to me it was only a matter of time. Luckily, it's on Netflix!

Short review: It's a fascinating look at America a century ago. Even if you're not usually interested in history, I recommend giving the documentary a shot. Start watching it, and give it a chance to drag you in.

Movie Review #41 - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

I think the Hunger Games series is a pretty solid Netflix movie series: I'm good with watching it online, but I wouldn't go see them in theaters. So, yeah, I watched Catching Fire today on Netflix. I was a bit surprised to see it had a runtime of over 2 hours but, then again, any movie that's adapting an entire novel should probably run a bit longer, otherwise it may feel rushed. Books are dense.

Anyway, short review: although it seems a bit ham-fisted with its overtones, the movie made me think about few things, proving itself to be a bit deeper than it would seem at first glance. As far as action movies based on young adult novels go, I'd put it on par with some of the better Harry Potter films.

Movie #40: There Will Be Blood

People have been telling me to watch some Paul Thomas Anderson movies for a while now, so I finally did. A quick look at his filmography shows a pretty wide range, but I chose There Will Be Blood since it comes most recommended, followed by Boogie Nights.

Short review: this is a ponderous movie that focuses on an unlikable character, but without, say, Llewyn Davis's musical numbers to make you sympathetic. That's not to say it's bad--not at all. It's a fascinating descent into madness and greed. I recommend it to anyone who can sit through ponderous movies.

Movie Review #39: Dear Zachary

I never noticed this documentary on Netflix until Reid recommended it to me. He recommended it as a really good documentary that he never wanted to watch again. Then he shivered, which made me think it was some sort of horror story.

Most of the time when I watch a movie I really like, I can see myself watching it again and again later. However, every once in a while you get a Grave of the Fireflies; a movie that's good yet tragic, and I definitely don't want to watch it again.

That applies to Dear Zachary. This film is very interesting and engaging (wonderful qualities in a documentary), but it's also very sad. Well, it was sad to me. Laura was angry by the end, while I was wiping away tears. Regardless, there was a powerful emotional response, which is one of the best things I can say about any movie.

Movie Review #38: The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

The third in Terry Gilliam's loose trilogy on imagination's impact on different stages of life is The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Whereas Time Bandits focused on childhood and Brazil focused on middle age, Munchausen focuses on old age. The movie is available on Netflix if you want to check it out.

Short review: after seeing Brazil, Munchausen was definitely a step down. It's a fun adventure movie that feels a bit like The Goonies or The Neverending Story (though that may be because those are all 80s movies), which is to say that it's pretty fun. To be honest, it's simply not fair to compare Munchausen to Brazil, but I can't help it. It's like watching literally any anime right after watching Cowboy Bebop: it's just going to fall short by comparison.

That said, if you're a big fan of 80s adventure movies like The Goonies and The Neverending Story, I think you'll enjoy The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

Movie Review #36: World's Greatest Dad

Bobcat Goldthwait is probably best known as being that comedian with a high-pitched voice. However, his comedy career ended about 20 years ago as far as I can tell, and he seems to be primarily a television and movie director these days. Or, alternately, a panelist on the radio program Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me!

This is the first movie of his that I've watched. Short review: wow. It's not a perfect movie, but if you like dark comedies like Life Aquatic, you'll probably love World's Greatest Dad. It was hilarious and poignant. You can watch it easily on Netflix.

Movie Review #34: Brazil

There's this cool theater in Tuscon called The Loft, which is an independently-run theater that shows primarily limited-release films, art house films, and movies with very specific audiences.

They also like playing old movies, and often show cult classic films at night. It's really cool to be able to see movies in a theater setting long after that chance seems to have passed.

So, last night Laura and I went to see the Terry Gilliam classic Brazil. Short review: this movie hits every note powerfully. It's consistently funny, even when it's terrifying, strange, or outright depressing. If you want to see something you've never seen before, something unapologetically beautiful and dark is a way that Tim Burton can only dream of, the you should maybe see Brazil.