Movie Monday, round 2

[AmberCutie]

Oh look, I've gone and done it again!

Watched 3 movies this weekend. I'll list them in order of how much I enjoyed them.

Looper
What a fantastic film. It has been a while since I ventured to a theater to watch a movie, but I am so glad I experienced this one at the big screen. The story was more in-depth than the previews lead on, and the plot ended up quite opposite from what I originally believed it would be. Which is a nice surprise. Since this is a recent attraction I don't want to give much away and want everyone to experience it for themselves if they haven't already.

I loved the cast. I've been a fan of Bruce Willis my entire life, so that's a no-brainer. Joseph Gordon-Levitt made an AMAZING young Bruce Willis. I thought I would be completely distracted by his blue contacts (I love his black-brown eyes) and makeup but it was done so well and so dead-on. I imagine anyone who has become familiar with Bruce Willis' facial expressions and mannerisms in other movies would agree that JGL did extraordinarily well mimicking him.

I didn't realize Emily Blunt was in it until the movie began (must have missed it in previews). She was magnificent as well and I loved her character.

10/10 for me.

Our Idiot Brother

Another movie with a great cast! Many times, these movies with a ton of well-known actors in it disappoint me. They're usually hyped up and then completely predictable flops. But I really liked this one. Paul Rudd is absolutely perfect as a likable hippie stoner. You can't help but adore him in this movie and keep hoping he gets a break of good luck. The 3 sisters were perfectly cast, I think. Zooey Deschanel is so adorable and plays her usual type-cast role (which she does well) alongside Rashida Jones as her girlfriend. Their chemistry was great. Elizabeth Banks is the uppity journalist who you sorta like but sorta cringe at. Emily Mortimer... I just wanted to hug her. She played the perfect "I'm so focused on being a mom and a wife now that I've let myself go and haven't realized it" sister.

The story is very simple, and mostly told from the angle of all the sisters and what they sacrifice for, and learn from, their idiot brother. All have their quirks and predicaments which he is involved in. His lack of common sense is hilarious and is the cause of so many hilarious problems. But, since it does focus on his 3 sisters and their personal lives, I would say this movie was more "chick flick" than Jawbs and I had expected. Which is probably why I liked it more than he did.

I give this 7/10.

Prometheus

I wasn't even planning to see this movie. I had 0 interest in it from the get-go. But Jawbs suggested we watch it. I sat through it hoping to enjoy it. I hardly did. If any of you have been reading/listening to my thoughts on movies over the last few years, you may have noticed that the cast is a big part of a movie's enjoyability for me. Given that I only recognized 1 person in the film (Charlize Theron) I had trouble connecting with the characters. The female lead (Noomi Rapace) was pretty, at least. And the muscle-laden alien men were interesting looking.

I know a lot of people were hyped about this movie due to the idea that it was connected to Alien (which I've seen parts of when I was a kid) and that may have increased their enjoyment of it. (And after seeing it, I wonder if people saw outright connections between the 2 films?) But I found the interaction between the characters to be awkward and unsupportive. The events seemed strangely timed and spaced out. It just didn't flow right to me.

I can't even discuss any other points of the movie because I really was just that disinterested in it. I wouldn't watch it again.

3/10. Bleh.

Feel free to reply with your thoughts and ridicules of my reviews! :handgestures-salute:

 

[mynameisbob84]

RE: Prometheus

If anything, my enjoyment of the previous Alien films made me hate Prometheus even more. I love the first two Alien films (the original in particular) and when I heard that Ridley Scott was gonna be making another sci-fi film set in the same universe as Alien, I was excited. When I finally saw Prometheus, and saw how bad it was, how annoying and moronic the characters were, how pretentious the story was and how little sense it made... I don't recall being that disapppointed by a film since Blues Brothers 2000
As for the connections between the Alien films; they were there. The film kind of acts as an unofficial prequel. It answers some of the questions left over from the original, alludes to others and presents about 50 questions of its own (and infuriatingly neglects to answer any of them), but it never really felt like it was in synch with the originals. And I'm not sure if it was supposed to be or not. Originally, it was said to be a prequel, then Ridley Scott came out and said that it wasn't, the marketing for the film was kind of ambiguous, never really stating whether it was a prequel or not. It kinda feels like they wanted to make an Alien prequel but for whatever reason, the script just wasn't there. So we wound up with something that's kind of a prequel, kind of it's own thing - but either way, it's just not very good.

 

[JoleneBrody]

I'm with you on Prometheus. I'm a HUGE Alien/Aliens fan so I did enjoy it but only based on it's connections. They did a good job of throwing little things in there that were obviously going to be featured in "the future" (the alien movies) but as a whole the film lacked substance. I hate going to the theater, I only go for movies that need to be seen big screen and even in 3D, I wish I had saved myself the money and rented it on Amazon.

Worth watching for an Aliens fan, but only for the connection. I would not suggest a person even bother with it if they don't give a shit about that one key successful element.

Psst... you should totally watch the Alien flicks in order. Esspecially Alien and Aliens. They still hold up as some of the best! :-D

 

[DuoShi]

I watched Prometheus on Zune around Thursday. Even after watching all the Alien movies (including Resurrection), I thought Prometheus was pretty cool, but I also hardly have standards for films now-a-days. Hmmmm.

 

[Kradek]

Interesting that you didn't know any of the actors in Prometheus aside from Charlize Theron. Many of them are pretty big names right now. Off the top of my head comments on the actors:

I first saw Noomi Rapace in the original three Girl With The Dragon Tattoo movies, where she was freaking amazing. She was also in one of the recent Sherlock Holmes flicks with Robert Downey, Jr, but don't hold that against her.

Michael Fassbender (the android) is a pretty big name at the moment. I know him mostly from playing Magneto in XMen: First Class. He was also in 300, Band of Brothers, Inglorious Basterds and more. His big movie recently was Shame, where he played a sex addict and notably went full frontal.

I first became aware of Idris Elba (the ship captain) in The Wire. He was also in Thor, and he has a British TV series called Luther which is pretty good.

Guy Pearce, who played Charlize Theron's father, is in tons of stuff. Probably most notably Memento and LA Confidential, both two amazing movies.

The only other person that stood out as someone I knew was Sean Harris (the geologist) who has a role as a gay assassin on The Borgias.

 

[AmberCutie]

Hah, of all the things you named, the only ones I've seen are XMen: First Class, 300 (don't remember much of it) and Thor.

Could all be hot/big names right now, but are not easily identifiable by me. Maybe if we could throw Jason Statham in as one of the mouthy crew, Kate Beckinsale in as the female lead, Christopher Walken in as the crazy old rich man... those are faces I recognize. Not that it would help the story much, but at least when I've got visuals I can relate with it keeps my attention just a bit more.

Magneto could stay as David, he was pretty good. :mrgreen:

 

[JoleneBrody]

throw Jason Statham in

Mmmhmmm. I can get behind that.

 

[PoppyEverdeen]

@amber HOLY FUCK LOOPER WAS AMAZING

i watched it last night and was going to post how much i loved it as well. i hadn't seen any previews so i didn't know what i was getting into, but i had randomly asked my guys what movie i should go watch the all recommended looper. fuck it just blew my mind :dance:

 

[jimbalaya]

Totally agree on looper! I will go see any sci-fi movie and from the previews it seemed like a basic time travel action film, maybe a bit like Terminator...it even had the guy who played a terminator from the the show. which would have been fine. But then it turns into this deeper emotional thing about childhood and. Mothers and. Absent fathers. The bad guy becomes the good guy and things aren't as they seem. It was also very much like an old classic western at the end.

I love the line toward the end, something like "I saw a mother who would die for her son, a man who would kill for his wife, and a child headed down the wrong path. " and the end surprised me too. A really well written and thoughtful story. Too bad a lot of people will. Miss it because of the six fi aspect.

Also, Prometheus rules! I saw it in Imax 3d and at a regular theater and just bought the 4 disk Blu ray. It is based a lot on Persian mythology, if you read about that it helps explain what was going on with the big alien guys. Love Ridley Scott, one of my favorite directors. His films are always filled with these beautiful panoramic scenes.