Rate The Last Movie You Saw - 2

[Monty]

The Man From UNCLE - 4/10

This could have been so, so much better. Armie Hammer, who I think did a stellar job in Social Network and Lone Ranger (yup), was definitely the standout here. Made it watchable. Henry Cavill, on the other hand, continues to show that he is an abysmal actor.

Not nearly enough humour, which is where it fell short. Definitely not enough action to be interesting or set itself apart from, say, Mission Impossible. The female lead, who was phenomenal as Ava in Ex Machina, was brutal here. Jared Harris, who was terrific in Mad Men, had a throwaway role, as did Hugh Grant.

Again, Hammer was really solid. So much so that he makes this movie watchable.

But Cavill. Boy, oh boy.

[Canada Hockey Place]

Sense8 on Netflix is pretty good. Science fiction drama TV series but with a big movie budget. IMO probably the best Wachowski project since the first Matrix.

[TheFirstLine]

Mr robot- best tv show of the summer

[Monty]

Trainwreck-3/10

I didn't get the love or praise this got. Will edit later to post "issues" with it.

EDIT: Alright, so first off, the best rom-com I've seen lately was "They Came Together", featuring Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler. Written and directed by Michael Showulter and David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer) and a stellar cast. THAT was a funny, funny rom-com.

This was the "same old same old" as we've come to expect over the last decade. But what made this a lot worse, especially for a Judd Apatow film (though not written), is how eye rollingly unbelievable this script was. Also, out of nowhere, Amy Schumer would start narrating, as if there was a narrator the entire film. However, this only popped up once or maybe twice, so it was just odd.

But lastly, it just wasn't funny.

Edited August 25, 2015 by Monty

[The Bookie]

couple so-so horror flicks

Unfriended 4/10

Kinda cool concept (found footage told totally through a laptop screen - group of friends skyping/im'ing each other while being cyberstalked by a girl they cyberbullied to suicide a year earlier). Few tricks up its sleeve, then it basically just turns to monotanous generic one-by-one death scenes. Not really scary.

Backcountry - 5.5/10

Watched this on the weekend, didn't really make enough of an impression to bother reviewing. Not bad, just not good. But it's actually stuck with me since. More of a nature-thriller than horror I guess, very simple bare bones indie quality, just four actors, with a guy and a girl lost hiking being stalked by a bear. Since I spend a ton of time hiking/camping I've kind of gotten pretty relaxed with bear encounters, however I'm pretty sure this movie sticking with me will change that next time. So, I bumped up the rating. Decent. Nice to look at too.

[The Bookie]

overall though, dog days of summer, I've watched too many mediocre movies recently, so to cheer myself up I went through the upcoming September<->NYs releases. Lots to look forward to, particularly:

-The Revenant (Inarritu/Dicaprio/Hardy shooting in natural landscapes = sold)

-The Hateful Eight (truthfully I kind of want Tarantino to faceplant, going in circles these days and needs a kick in the pants, but this just looks like it'll be pure fun with his greatest hits cast)

-Crimson Peak (gothic surreal Guilllermo del Torro horror = sold)

-Truth (Redford vs. Blanchett in a true journalism story should be bulletproof, although apparently they've been holding back any trailers, so who knows)

-Trumbo (Cranston with a great supporting cast, might just be mediocre but guaranteed quality)

-Legend (more Hardy, playing two crime boss brothers,hoping it'll finally be his return to bombastic a la Bronson)

-Everest (Into Thin Air)

Edited August 26, 2015 by The Bookie

[GLASSJAW]

^ it's a shame the trailer for The Heart of the Sea kinda verges on mega hollywood cheese at times, because I think the story (it's the true tail of a rogue sperm whale attacking/marooning a whaling ship, the one that influenced Moby Dick) is probably about as good as a story gets. but director Ron Howard being Ron Howard, I just don't know HOW "hollywood" it will be. too much CGI? too sentimental? too fake, despite it being real?

that said, I thought Howard's film from, what, 2013(?) called Rush was as good as a sports movie can get. so, maybe he can prove me wrong here.

i also think Youth has potential. but maybe that's just because i'm a big sucker for Michael Caine. but with a supporting cast of Harvey Keitel and Paul Dano and Rachel Weisz, I am very optimistic. directed by Paolo Sorrentino, the guy who won best foreign film for The Great Beauty in 2013.

Edited August 26, 2015 by GLASSJAW

[GLASSJAW]

also the movie Genius, starring Colin Firth - easily my favourite actor. a biopic about Maxwell Perkins, the editor of some of the most famous novels of all time (hemingway, fitzgerald, etc.), and helped put the legendary publisher Scribner's on the map. could be interesting! also starring Nicole Kidman.

[Spoderman]

The Revenant looks great. Lubezki is a magician.

Although some of you guys might not like Spielberg, I'm really interested in Bridge of Spies (although I hate the title). Coen Brothers worked on its script, so I'm pretty excited.

I haven't really liked Oliver Stone's work in the last few years, but Snowden has potential.

Haven't looked into other releases. Just off the top of my head.

Edited August 26, 2015 by Spoderman

[g_bassi13]

Mission Impossible Rouge Nation - 7.5/10

Feels like there's been more of a trend recently where large movies like this have dropped the idea of back stories and long exposition, and are beginning things in what feels like the middle of the story. It's slightly off putting after being conditioned into having everything always established right at the beginning of things, and it's just as often a mark of a bad blockbuster as it is a good one to assume that your audience knows everything about your world and where the story is going to go.

It works for thrillers like this quite well though, as there was a mystery to unravel, and the movie picked up all the more for it as things began to piece together. I don't think there was anything to match the Dubai skyscraper scene from the last movie, nor the hanging/hacking scene from the first one, but that was quite thrilling for a thriller. A sum of its parts, even if it was a step down from Ghost Protocol.

Though it's going to be funny seeing the next Bond movie go forward with such a similar plot later this year. This was the people writing Mission Impossible borrowing heavily from the older Bond movies in the first place, but it will take away from the nostalgic feel they're trying to evoke with SPECTRE, when you the thought lingers that you've just seen the same plot-line a couple of months earlier.

[GLASSJAW]

Solaris (1972): 9/10

haven't seen this one for a while. I think 2001: A Space Odyssey is my favourite movie. if not, it's certainly a top 3, and this movie is essentially Tarkovsky's rejection of 2001 on the grounds of it being a cold, calculated, inhuman representation of, well, humanity. Tarkovsky replaces this 'coldness' with (very Russian) meditations on love and what it means to be human (in a setting very similar to 2001's).

some of the visuals, designs, and camera work seem exceptionally dated (lots of odd zooms, hilariously outmoded fashion meant to represent technology, etc.), and it isn't charming. but its all made up for in pure "huh???" moments - this means, of course, that it isn't for everyone. but i certainly enjoyed it.

one for fans of heavy, heavy sci fi or philosophy majors. but uh, yea.

[g_bassi13]

The Wind Rises - 7.5/10

Well that was &^@#ing depressing. Lol.

I don't know if it will be Miyazaki's last movie or not, but I think it fairs better as a send-off than Ponyo, or its hypothetical sequel, as that remains the only movie of hist that I disliked personally.

I think the movie had some problems with its pacing, as it was a bit long for the kind of movie it was, but I like the message. As someone who spent a lot of time studying Japanese history, particularly within that time frame, I can appreciate a movie that offers a military analysis from a civilian point of view. It is obviously and vehemently critical of the military, but I found it interesting how they tackled the concept of misusing someone's more innocent passions. From what it seemed like to me, they almost seemingly absolved them of guilt, despite them knowing they were only building more efficient war planes.

It's not a biopic, but I appreciate how they spun it with the liberties they took. It maybe wasn't as morally grey as it should have been though. Is the idea that he just wanted to build an awesome plane good enough? I think the movie would have been better off if it actually asked that question, rather than just stated that it was okay.

I think that was one of Miyazaki's better love stories.

[The Bookie]

I watched San Andreas. Not sure why these disaster movies insist on bothering with the pretext of "plot" featuring "characters" with "backstories". Just give me two hours of California destroying itself and Dwayne wrecking various modes of transportation. "Well, guess I crashed my chopper, so I'll just steal this pickup truck until I find a senile old man who'll trade me his plane for it, now who wants to go skydiving!?!@?"

uh....5 out of 10. Stuff happened. I was vaguley entertained. Never did find out what happened to the plane, hope it survived.

[D-Money]

Snitch - 5.5/10

Slightly above average. Premise was interesting, but got a bit stupid by the end. And although I don't mind Dwayne Johnson, and he does fine with his role, I think he was miscast here. The central idea is a regular, upper-middle class guy being forced into a situation where he is totally out of his element. Although he acts like he is, he certainly doesn't look it.

---------------------------

On another note, watched a couple more episodes of The Moodys, and I loved them. Absolutely hilarious. Went back and watched the first two episodes of A Moody Christmas (as it preceded the former, and sets the story). It was also very good. The premise is brilliant too (each episode is the family getting together for Christmas, one year after the last episode). The things that change (and the things that don't) really give you insight into each character that you wouldn't get from a standard timeline.

[Alflives]

Magnificent Seven. Greatest guy movie.

[Shift-4]

Jurassic World 10/10 (note, this is the 'are they unapologetically milking the franchise scale')

When it comes to actual entertainment factor I wish I took a pass on it.

[g_bassi13]

Tremor - 7.5/10

It was a pretty good movie. Holds up surprisingly well for a 25 year old creature flick, for a couple of reasons. One, is that these group survival stories are pretty in vogue again. Second, the effects are solid, and haven't aged due to it being practical and not CGI.

After watching it, I was put in a mood to watch Jurassic Park due to their similarities, so I did.

Jurassic Park - 9.5/10

I will always love this movie. A massive part of it is just nostalgia, but the movie is iconic because it is full of iconic moments. And while the philosophy is a tad bit contrived, the horror of it doesn't disappear after repeat viewings.

It reminded me of just how mediocre Jurassic World was. If I were to re-rate it, I'd have to knock it down a few notches more, even though I already gave it a middling score. It just doesn't stack up.

[g_bassi13]

Into the Woods - 3/10

I liked the premise at its core, but that was some terrible execution. The music was incredibly annoying, and the twist it took as they gave the movie a fake finish brought down everything down a couple notches more.

It went from being a cheesy and unmemorable movie, to a miserable movie that evolved and showed this self-awareness. It was all so forced that I would've taken the stupidly happy movie as it was before, even though I already did not like it.

It was just a stupid movie and a waste of time.

[The Bookie]

Show Me A Hero - 9/10

David Simon's HBO mini-series. It was, well, dry to say the least, but I went in expecting that from 6-hrs of a true story battle over low income housing in Yonkers in the late 80s. As usual with Simon (especially if you've watched his previous mini-series Generation Kill, about soldiers in Iraq) patience pays off as the full story comes into view. Not that anyone would think racial integration in the US simply happened after the civil rights movement, but it's important to see little snapshots of the continuing transition phase. Puts current events into a better perspective, amongst other things.

Aside from all that, it was a freaking master class in acting. Alfred Molina stole the show, but the chemistry between Oscar Isaac and Winona Ryder was a pleasant surprise. I'd like to see them in a proper film together. Clarke Peters showing up in the final two hours was a nice surprise as well.

[Monty]

Jurassic World - 7/10

I really enjoyed it. Expectations were lowered going into it, so I knew that it would never top the original (which I would give a 10 to). Chris Pratt was as charming as he always is, and Bryce Dallas Howard was "ok".

The kids were needed for the story, as they always have been in this series. However, they could have been written better. At the beginning of the film, they set it up that the younger one's knowledge would come into play. It didn't. He just had to remember how many teeth a dinosaur had. So that was a setup for nothing.

Otherwise, really enjoyable.