Posts Tagged ‘movie reviews’
DVD Slump
Two nights ago Aim and I watched Eagle Eye, movie with Shia LeBouf or however you spell his name. About 35 minutes into the movie, Amy says to me…”It’s the computer.”
I didn’t say anything. I knew how the movie was going to end that way as well but our recent history with movies has been so atrocious, I was holding out some hope.
It was the computer. It was a remake of the movie iRobot without the acting and humor.
Last night we watched Next with Nick Cage and Jessica Biel. She is gorgeous but this role was incredibly small for her and basically she acted like the damsel in distress all movie long. Julianne Moore played a tough FBI agent. It was okay. I think the concept would have made a better television series than a two hour movie. To be able to see only two minutes into the future would have made for some funny bits as well as dramatic ones. I realize that this is sort like what Quantam Leap was back in the day but not really. (Are you following this?)
Decent movie with a weird ending but it was the best one we’ve seen in a while.
Anyway…here is our recent list of movies that you should avoid…
Burn After Reading – atrocious. It wasn’t a very clean movie. It wasn’t a funny movie. It wasn’t a good movie. Just don’t even bother renting it.
The Good Shepherd – Matt Damon, Angelina Joline, Robert DeNiro – how can it miss? It did. It wasn’t bad…it wasn’t great. It was slow, hard to follow at times. Again…don’t bother.
Traitor – Don Cheadle, all you need to know. Great actor and this I would watch again. It was a good movie, action/spy/thriller kind of vibe. I had to throw in one movie that didn’t suck it up.
Michael Clayton – George Clooney, politics aside, he can act. This one kind of starts off slow then draws you in. Probably was about 20 minutes too long but if you’ve got nothing else to watch – might be worth the rent.
Wanted – terrible movie. Can’t believe Morgan Freeman was even part of it.
Thankfully we have a TV now so we can watch Amazing Race, Survivor, Burn Notice, and Hell’s Kitchen.
Youthworker/Parent Weekend Wrap-Up
I’m done speaking for the conference.
It was good…great to reconnect with some old friends, meet some new ones.
Richard Ross spoke and did an outstanding job.
A couple of thoughts about the retreat. First, the concept is great. Get parents and youthworkers away for a weekend. I love it. The execution of it wasn’t all that great. The value of having a weekend with the parents of the youth in your group is the relational connection you could have. But the weekend didn’t allow a lot of that. When the parents were in sessions, the youthworkers were in worship and vice versa.
Then the meals ended up being infomercials, not relational face time.
Overall, it was a good experience. One that could be awesome with some tweaking.
Other news – the fam went and saw Madagascar 2 tonight. It was….average. It was a slow movie. I thought it was funny but then I started thinking about the funny parts and they all were either the penguins or Sasha Cohen’s character – King Lemur.
Fun weekend so far.
Hancock Disappoints
For a season, Will Smith couldn’t miss with movies. Call him Mr. 4th of July, Mr. Blockbuster, whatever. When Will Smith does a movie, it will have an edge and be worth going to see.
To be fair, it’s not that Hancock is a bad movie…it’s just not a great one. It starts off funny, great and even intriguing. Heck, I was pleasantly surprised to see Charlize Theron in the movie. And if a movie has Charlize in it…it can’t be all bad. (I’m choosing to ignore Aeon Flux.)
Then something went wrong. It’s like the director and producer realized they weren’t writing a tv show that could go on forever but a movie that needed to have an actually ending. All of the intrigue, humor, and plot development crash landed about 30 minutes from the end of the movie.
Rent the DVD, don’t buy it and definitely don’t go see it in the theater. Now for those who don’t want any spoilers…this would be a good time to find something else to read.
[Spoiler Alert]
While watching the movie, I was wondering how they were going to create conflict with a character that has no weaknesses. Even Superman has his Kryptonite but Hancock doesn’t. So what’s going to be the tension that draws us in and gets resolved in the end?
The twist with Charlize was great, the initial banter between her and Will was awesome. Then it went wrong…very wrong. The fight scene in downtown LA – why? What was the point? The whole attraction thing – all of sudden after thousands of years they figured out how to beat it? The moral drama of being alone yet immortal or living connected yet mortal was painted painfully shallow and short.
It’s hard to remember a movie where the start was so good and so promising only to watch the final 30 minutes completely crash the movie. So…enjoy renting the DVD for a night of mindless entertainment when it comes out but don’t expect much more than that.
The Dark Knight Was
Toby, Shaun and I headed to The Dark Knight this afternoon.
Two and half hours later we just sat there. Finally one of us exhaled.
“That….was….sick.”
In the first movie, Nolan took us on a character development ride as to what makes Batman/Bruce Wayne tick. This time around he just takes us on a ride…a very disturbing ride.
Heath Ledger’s Joker makes Hannibal Lecter look like child’s play. To quote Alfred – “You’re looking for a reason and there might not be one other than he’s just pure evil.” Ledger’s performance should get him an Oscar nod – it’s that good. There were a few scenes I found myself squirming in my seat – not because of gore but for the intensity of the story and acting.
Was it better than the first one? I’m not sure that’s a fair question. I personally enjoyed the first one more but not necessarily because it was a better movie. The stunts were off the charts, the acting was superb, the story line was solid, and the director didn’t insult us as an audience with giving us clean, neat solutions to every problem.
Basically, both movies (and here’s hoping there is more) show how comic book movies SHOULD be made.
It’s the best movie I’ve seen this summer.