40Cent @ the movies

[JasonPratt]

I can't believe I still haven't seen Days of Future Past! -- but every time I think of it, I figure I might as well wait until the coming "Rogue Edition" is released and reviewed somewhere so I can decide which version to spend my money on (assuming they don't include the theatrical cut with it).

[mirth]

Watched Raiders of the Lost Ark at a local theater last night. So friggin awesome seeing it on the big screen again!!

[BanzaiCat]

Ant-Man...saw it last night with the family, and all I can say is, wow. At first I really did not want to see this at all - it looked uninspired, silly, and just plain boring. I am very glad I was wrong on all counts.

It was not a brilliant piece of movie-making, nor breathtaking or cutting-edge, but there just was something about it...the pacing, the timing, the parts, everything all meshed together perfectly and made for an excellent story that kept me engaged the entire time. I was worried Rudd wouldn't be up to the task of a superhero, but he portrayed the character very well. The visuals were stunning - the bathtub scene, where he first shrinks, was almost dizzying in presenting the perception one would have at that small a level.

Corey Stoll made a great villain in this. I really liked him in House of Cards and when I saw he was playing the bad guy, that's what tipped the scales in making me want to see this movie.

If I had to complain about something, and I almost always do, the ants were portrayed like big puppies. That was really weird. I'm no entomologist, but even mind-controlled ants, that didn't look like what they should behave like.

Another disturbing thing was Michael Douglas in the first scene; it took place in 1989, so he was much younger, and whomever did the CGI to render his face young should receive an Academy Award. It was hard to look away, trying to find a flaw - it really looked like him from his younger years. What disturbed me is that they can do that. I can see filmmaking and actors' roles becoming obsolete/greatly changed in the near future because studios can do things like that. All an actor would need to do is sign over their likeness, get signed, maybe do some voiceovers, and poof, computers and renderers do all the work.

Thirdly, they had a cameo in the movie from a guy that was in The Winter Soldier. I won't say who, but his inclusion was rather ham-fisted, as if they were trying to legitimize Ant-Man more by throwing in the token dude (no, I don't mean token in that way, though it certainly could be interpreted that way). They'd already thrown around a few phrases, which felt like name-dropping to try to tie everything more into the Marvel continuum, but whatever. It wasn't too bad.

Regardless of the minor complaints, Ant-Man was thoroughly satisfying and worth the price of admission.

The two end-credits scenes were interesting. If you don't want spoilers, don't read below:

One pretty much paved the way for the Wasp. The other involved the aforementioned cameo as well as another couple of well-known individuals, Captain America and Bucky. I don't know if that was aiming for a new Cap movie or a new Avengers movie, or perhaps both. I get the feeling (maybe I've missed something along the way) that they're going to do more Avengers movies, but they're going to move to a new class of heroes.

I would say this is easily 35/40.

[MetalDog]

Just got back from watching Ant-Man.  I thought my dislike of Michael Douglas, and the usual shenanigans the movies make with Marvel canon, would throw me off.  Not so, say I.  For the hot mess it could have been, I think it was pretty good.  There were no parts where it dragged.  The amount of primary and secondary characters was well balanced.  And I like Paul Rudd.  There were several people in the theater with very small children, and it's not geared towards them, but, I think your average ten year old could follow things pretty well.  All in all, a good effort by Marvel/Disney.

[Centurion40]

Agreed.  Ant-Man was better than I expected.

On the other hand Pixels was exactly as I expected.  A cool concept in a semi-lame Sandler flick.  Still, it could have been worse.  Great for the kids, and it brought back many warm memories of the hours that I spent in arcades as a lad.

The only thing that annoyed me was the way that they dressed Sean Bean's character.  In the credits he was listed as "SAS Officer", yet he was wearing corporal chevrons on epaulettes on his combat dress.  The Brits don't have epaulettes on their combat dress, nor would a corporal be commanding a special forces unit (talking like a peer to a full USN Admiral who was supposed to be one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, possibly even the Chairman).  I know that its just a Sandler flick, but they could have made the "SAS Officer" an actual officer, or even given him an actually facsimile of a SAS badge (instead of whatever the frick they actually had) on his beret.  I'm even trying to recall if they had the right colour beret.  Ah well, I also seem to recall glimpsing a US Lt. with a vertical bar on an epaulette. 

[BanzaiCat]

I think there's some stipulation that whenever a uniform is in a movie, it has to be slightly altered so it's not the exact same as a real uniform. I can't recall where I heard that before, but I think it applies to not just military, but also civilian law enforcement.

I've been listening to Opie Radio interview people from the Pixels movie all last week...the director wrote Goonies and Gremlins and directed a few Home Alone movies too; you'd think this would be a home run of a film. They made it sound like it was being received so, so well by audiences that had seen it prior to full release (but of COURSE they'd say that). I was surprised to see what terrible ratings it's been getting, but then again, Adam Sandler and Kevin James are in it, so it ain't going to be a genius film...at best a 'meh' one. That's a real shame. I'd still like to see it but I'm not going to the theater to do that.

[Centurion40]

The 3D was ok, especially whilst battling aliens playing Centipede in Hyde Park.

I dunno about the uniforms.  Monaghan looked fine:

[BanzaiCat]

I got home late from rehearsal last night and was exhausted, but decided I was going to watch Pixels.

It wasn't a terrible movie, but neither was it a GOOD movie. I don't think it deserves the 18% it currently has on Rotten Tomatoes; more like 40-50% I think would be better, but 50% would be pushing it.

It tried SO hard to be an homage to the 80s...or wait, was it 80s arcade games? I don't think Chris Columbus or the movie really knew what it was trying to do. It tried to jump between video games and homages to 80s music. I think this felt more like they were trying to make something that 40-somethings like us would come and eagerly watch and bring the kids...though most of our kids are kind of ??? when it comes to these characters. My son, for example, is 16; he knows Q-Bert very well (he played that game constantly over one summer a few years back), but most everything in this, he wouldn't get.

It was completely and utterly predictable, which I absolutely despise in a movie. I'd like a few twists and turns, but when I can tell exactly what's going to happen and how they're going to do it (they're in the hole, one step from disaster...but hey look, they pulled it out at the last second! Gosh, who saw THAT coming?!?). Drives me crazy.

Adam Sandler wasn't nearly as bad as he's being made out to be in some reviews. He's...well, Adam Sandler. This didn't feel like an Adam Sandler vehicle, though he certainly was the main character in it.

Peter Dinklage was totally wasted in this flick. He has such awesome acting chops, but his role was really meh. He had a few funny moments in it, but I felt like he was lost in this role, which is a shame.

Kevin James was...Kevin James. Pretty much Paul Blart, US President. No surprise there. A caricature of a President, to be sure.

The romance subplot was the usual formulaic nonsense that Hollywood feels it needs to do. You could see it coming a mile away, anyway. Several eye-rolling moments during those expositions.

The 'invaders' were kind of interesting but I really didn't feel an "OH COOL" moment at all, at any point in the movie. Keep in mind that I essentially lived in arcades back in my younger days...whether it was the arcade at the bowling alley (my parents were in a lot of bowling leagues as I grew up, and I passed the hours there among the classics), and the mall was always a great place to blow some money while mom and dad got a few hours to enjoy themselves, lol. It still didn't feel as fun as I'd hoped it would be. There were a few 'huh' moments, like "Huh, look at that, there's Paperboy...oh wait, he's gone and he won't come back again." That happened a lot. There were a few characters I didn't recognize so I guess I'm not as well-versed in all the arcade games as I could be. I'd wished they'd put in Dirk the Daring from Dragon's Lair or maybe Space Ace from the game of the same name...but as it is they already tried to cram so many cameos into this that it felt like Chris Columbus thought that quantity was better than quality.

If you've seen the trailers...you've pretty much seen the movie. I also despise that about trailers/movies.

One good bright thing was at the end, they did a short summary of the movie while the credits rolled, in 8-bit glory. That was kind of cool. But it's sad when that's the coolest part of the entire movie, at least to me.

Overall I'd give it a 20/40, tops. Not bad, not good, and SO much wasted potential, especially considering Chris Columbus was behind this. Very disappointed.

[Centurion40]

Loved seeing Joust and Defender.  I saw Paperboy a couple of times.  Pretty sure I spotted Dirk once too.

I could have lived without Max Headroom though.

[mirth]

Seeing Jaws tonight on the big screen!

[BanzaiCat]

I could have lived without Max Headroom though.

That WAS really weird...thanks for mentioning it. I liked the Fantasy Island and MTV and other messages the aliens used...that was rather entertaining. Max Headroom was...???

Mirth, sounds like Jaws will be fun! You taking the kids? ;)

[mirth]

Lol. My kids would never go in the water again if I let them watch Jaws. OTOH, it would piss their mother off...hmmmm.

I'm looking forward to seeing it. For all the times I've watched Jaws, I've never seen it in a theater.

Retro movie night is pretty sweet. Raiders last month and now Jaws. Good stuff.

[Gusington]

Raiders and Jaws...man they just don't make them like that anymore.

[mirth]

Raiders and Jaws...man they just don't make them like that anymore.

Nope. They sure don't.

[Gusington]

We need more movies that melt Nazi faces and devour hawt chicks in bikinis.