Rate the latest movie you've seen.

[stromboli]

Also to add, first time to the big theatre since the last Star Trek. Don't go often. Also first time I have had popcorn since the same time. Don't each much popcorn either…..don't know how they do it, but you can't argue most movie popcorn is the frickin best.

http://www.mostmetro.com/dayton-dining/food-adventures/secrets-why-movie-theater-popcorn-tastes-so-good.html

According to the link, canola oil and the buttery topping.

[JBCuzISaidSo]

That was another surprise.  He turned out to be an excellent choice for the part, but I never would have anticipated that.  In fact, I discounted the movie somewhat when I heard he was going to be ant man.  I always get Paul Rudd confused with Ryan Reynolds, and never thought of either of them as serious actors, but they both seem to have broken out of their usual one dimensional roles this year.

I have to agree with you all, here. This was such a surprise to me, especially Rudd -- I don't believe that could possibly have been better cast. He was perfect. Great movie, very well done.

[Hydra009]

I really liked Ant-Man, which surprised me because I'm not much of a fan of the hero or his shrinking/enlarging powerset.  It just seemed goofy, and I mean goofy.  There were lots of ways this movie could've disappointed or under-performed.

Well, it didn't.  The initial plot - "Baskin Robins always finds out" - was a chore to get through and followed some dubious logic (is it really impossible for a felon with a masters in electrical engineering to find a job?) but it built to some amazing action sequences, heartfelt moments, and actually pretty funny jokes.  I liked the new, more Star Lord-looking helmet.  And I even liked the ants.

Not my personal favorite by a long shot, but a solid superhero movie worth seeing, imo.

[SGOS]

Yep.  Ant Man surprised the heck out of me.

[aitm]

The Martian, I really liked it. Not being as smart as most of you, I can easily dismiss the science stuff that would make it a no-no….but hey I like Star Trek which is pretty much the same boogie boogie.

Anyway, I liked it. To the average person it was just right…right on the edge of believability and your confidence that science could pull it off. Not a great flick, but I liked it. Overall as a movie that I would rate for real fun…about a 7.

[trdsf]

More Star Wars spoilers

[spoiler]I just watched Angry Joe and co's discussion and they bring up one thing that I absolutely disagree with.  The guy on the left says that Kylo Ren should've been scarred under the mask, "like a Sith should look".  This plays into a pair of tropes that the good guys should look attractive while the bad guys should look unattractive/disfigured.  I don't blame him for this expectation - Palpatine and Vader, the two most famous Star Wars villains, were both heavily disfigured - but it's a terrible trope to keep using, so I'm glad they didn't do that this time around.  Because obviously, looks are unrelated to evil.  Villains can come in a variety of forms, just like heroes.  It'd be stupid to have the villain be some deformed guy every single time.

Also, I don't think Rylo Ren was an unbearably angsty teen.  I think he pulled it off decently.  And compared to prequel Anakin, he's great.  I count this as an example of Abrams and Disney successfully pulling off what Lucas couldn't - a young man seduced by the dark side.[/spoiler]

And my not very spoilery comment to this, but just in case:

[spoiler]What blew it for me with Kylo Ren is not the angsty-teen thing (which I do happen to think was overplayed just a touch), but that he looks very like a 1965 pre-bearded Jerry Garcia.  Especially when he's just opened his mask and his hair is all poofed out.  While I can take that look seriously on a musician, it just doesn't work on a villain.[/spoiler]

[aitm]

Frankly of all the movie, by far, the fight scene blew the big one. I mean Ren could stop a lazer with his mind power and not just kick the fuck outa two newbs, even if one was a beginner? Nah.

I remember an old Tarzan movie and back then the special effects were really really bad, but in one scene he somehow got hauled into court trying to get his kid back from some circus that swiped him. Any-hoo, when the protaganist faced off in court, Tarzan lept to his feet over the table and one handed threw the guy into the wall, and it looked like it should, brute strength just overpowering. and then of course he jumped through a ten story window barely catching himself on the ledge, physics be damned, and swung ledge to ledge to escape....ah....the good old days of reality...

[trdsf]

Frankly of all the movie, by far, the fight scene blew the big one. I mean Ren could stop a lazer with his mind power and not just kick the fuck outa two newbs, even if one was a beginner? Nah.

Yeah, but the Noob is this trilogy's Chosen One.  And if you ask me, Ren's not a terribly good (er, so to speak) Evil Overlord.  He's already broken some of the rules on the list of things not to do if one is an Evil Overlord.

Is it bad of me that I think of the captain Ren had to deal with as Stimpy?

[Hydra009]

While I can take that look seriously on a musician, it just doesn't work on a villain.

That's the thing, though.  He doesn't have a particularly villainous look.  For me, that's what makes the reveal more disturbing that it otherwise would be.  Monsters look like just like us.

[Munch]

Just watched the woman in black 2. I've been a fan of the woman in black for a while now, since I saw the original theater production in london, loved how the play gave me the chills. And I was impressed by the movie adaptation of the story, it gave me the chills too, really atmospheric.

This movie however, it comes off as nothing more then a cash grab, the story was never adapted from a theater and was just the writer reprocessing the same elements from the first, but in such a dull, unimaginative way, it gave nothing to the story.
The set was nice, but so was the original, the actors were good people, but the way they were written was awful, the story was rushed at times and other times you just wanted them to get to anything possibily scary, and yet the scares where five nights as freddys jump scares, cheap and forgettable.

See this movie only if its free, your regret paying anything to see it otherwise.

[Mr.Obvious]

"Safety First"

A Belgian (Flemish) flick, following a comical series by the same name. I never watched the series because, while done by a great production-house, the humor I saw in the snippets that flashed by on tv, were not my kind of humor. I also heard bad things about it from people with about the same tastes as me.

My girlfriend loved the show however, so we decided to give it a go at the cinema. For going in with low expectations, I was pleasantly surprised. Not the greatest film of the year, by far. But definitely amusing.

Story is that an independent security-company called Safety First does some odd jobs here and there and have lots of trouble allong the way. In the film they land a job guarding the VIP at Tomorrowland, a huge festival in Belgium. The lead of the lead characters, finds out/admits to himself in this film that he is gay and most of the film is about him coming to terms with this after meeting a crush from his youth. It tells the internal struggles very well, without ever losing sight of the comedy.

It's in dutch, however, so it may be a lot of reading if you ever come across it.

7.5/10

[Munch]

Just saw Horns, with Daniel Radcliffe.

It was.. eehh.. kind of okay I guess. it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't no oscar winner either. It came from the horror section of move video stores, but there was really next to very little horror elements in it. Radcliffe was great as always, though the way he put on an american accent was kind of offputting, since its not his natural voice and it sounded very put on most of the time, while other times, it broke and it sounded like his normal voice.

The acting in it overall was good, all the actors gave it their all, nothing outstanding but same time they played their parts well. The setting and lighting was good, nothing I haven't seen before.
The biggest premise of the movie is when radcliffe's character develops his token 'horns', the effect he has around people being able to force them into confessing their sins and real desires was hilarious at times, dark in others. Forcing the homophobic cop to admit he was gay and start to undress and make up with his partner in his cop car had me laughing, while when his mom and dad admitted to having to real feelings for him and wishing he wasn't around anymore was pretty dark. The funniest was when he got the tv reporters to fight one another and the last one alive at the end would get an interview with him.

But overall the movie kind of barreled out after the first half and lost itself, the story was predictable, and special fx were kind of lacking for the time the movie was made. Radcliffe did a good job with his character, but the movie didn't really seem to know what it wanted to be.

C+

[aitm]

Superbowl 50....meh.....6/10

[SGOS]

Superbowl 50....meh.....6/10

I have as of today, reached a new level of awareness concerning my environment.  For the first time, on the day after the Superbowl, I still don't know where it was played, who won, or even who the contestants were.

[Hydra009]

The Maze Runner 6/10

AKA "OMG run, the movie" due to the frequent chase scenes.  A bunch of kids (including Jojen) are stranded in a small patch of wilderness surrounded by an ever-shifting maze.  Their little society reminded me a little of Lord of the Flies and the amnesia plot reminded me a lot of Resident Evil.  Midway, the plot picks up from its earlier doledrums as the characters are now trying to escape.  Their escape attempt was pretty exciting, but imo, it had a lackluster ending complete with sequel bait.  This isn't a bad movie, but it's not a good one, either.

Maze Runner: Scorch Trials 7.5/10

AKA "OMG run, even runnier".  I'll be honest, I picked this one up mainly because of Aidan Gillen - the smirking schemer I love to hate.  This movie somehow got worse reviews than the first one, which I don't understand because I liked it much more.  I really liked the worldbuilding and the action sequences weren't bad.  The set work was great, looking awfully similar to Fallout (though minus the radiation).  I also really enjoyed some of the new characters (especially Littlefinger), but a couple were pretty forgettable - Alan Tudyk was criminally underused.

They're both decent movies if you don't try to think too much about the setting.  The big picture - why everything is the way it is - doesn't make any sense.  I don't understand the villains' gameplan at all.  Plus, a couple characters make bafflingly stupid moves.  And there's a scene where a character falls onto a glass pane that starts breaking.  Then another character falls onto it, but it inexplicably doesn't break immediately.  Instead, it shatters at the most dramatic point possible.  Because fuck physics.  But, all in all, not bad.  I'm looking forward to the third movie.