40Cent @ the movies

Centurion40 · August 22, 2013, 11:28:50 AM

Oooo, bad news! I loved the first one and was hoping that #2 would be ok.

Martok · August 22, 2013, 12:22:55 PM

Thus far, I've seen almost nothing but scathing reviews for Kick-Ass 2. It's got only a 29% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Silent Disapproval Robot · August 22, 2013, 12:33:45 PM

There were some decent ideas that very well could have been fun and interesting, but the script was just too weak.

****MINOR SPOILER****

A good superhero movie needs a good villain and they just did not have it in this film.

McLovin' throws out his Red Mist persona and decides to become the city's first super-villain. He decides to create a team of super-villains and goes about finding likely candidates. One is a spoof of Joe Pesci's character from Goodfellas. So we're treated to a very quick intro scene where a short, pudgy Italian guy with a 1970's porno mustache beats two guys to death with a pool cue. Then other characters refer to him as pube face. And that's pretty much it out of him for the rest of the film.

Another candidate is the black MMA fighter that McLovin' hires to train him to fight. McLovin' hires the guy and christens him "Black Death". Another character says "that's racist!". And that's the gag. Just that. And that's the tone of the whole film. Underwritten characters. Poor, lazy writing and cheap gags.

Centurion40 · August 22, 2013, 01:14:30 PM

A sad report! :(

Silent Disapproval Robot · August 27, 2013, 08:27:33 PM

I went to see World's End today. I really liked Shaun of the Dead a lot and thought Hot Fuzz was pretty good so I had high hopes, especially as the film got generally positive reviews. In that light, it was a bit disappointing. There are certainly some funny moments to it but there were a lot of missteps as well. I think the thing that brought it down for me was Simon Pegg's character. He plays a 40-something loser who never outgrew his high-school days and I found him to be too obnoxious to care about when it finally got to the redemption phase.

It's not a bad film, I just think I went in with my expectations set too high. (it does make me want to go to England and go on a pub crawl though.)

GDS_Starfury · August 27, 2013, 08:46:02 PM

went and saw The Wolverine over the weekend and liked it. ninjas, robots, shootouts, sexy oriental girls that kick ass. oh and that Wolverine guy.
fun time.

eyebiter · August 28, 2013, 04:53:38 AM

.

mirth · September 03, 2013, 11:32:24 AM

Finally watched Man of Steel. It was good, but frankly I'm tired of these repeated reboots. IMHO it didn't come close to topping the original film with Reeves, Hackman and Kidder. I will credit Henry Cavil and Michael Shannon with very strong performances. The rest of the cast was fine, if in many cases under-utilized (why waste Laurence Fishburne like that?). The most pleasant surprise for me was seeing Harry Lennix as the general charged with dealing with Superman and the other Kryptonians. I've been a fan of his since seeing him in Dollhouse.

33/40

Silent Disapproval Robot · October 04, 2013, 08:52:02 PM

In a futile attempt to stay dry during my vacation (do not go to SE Asia during monsoon season) I went to see Riddick 3: The Riddicking a few days ago. I really liked the style of the first and enjoyed the story well enough in spite of the ridiculous plot contrivance. The second was just awful IMO. I had no idea what to expect from the third and I ended up quite enjoying it.

It's very similar in look and feel to the first movie. Riddick is marooned on a planet and spends time doing his Bear Grylis routine. Then a couple of competing teams of bounty hunters show up to try to bring him in.

There's some wanking material for Starfury because whatsherface from Galactica who played Starbuck is in this film playing Starbuck again, but with a different name. Her career seems to be swirling the toilet faster than Lois Gossett Jr's. Anyway, she shows tit, so there's that...

Martok · October 05, 2013, 04:43:02 AM

I've been meaning to mention this, but I keep forgetting...

So a couple weeks ago, I finally sat down and watched Jar-Jar Abrams' Star Trek: Into Darkness with some friends (also big Trek fans) who picked it up on Blue-Ray. I was very wary, since (as most of you know) I utterly despised the first Abrams film.

Well all I can say is: Wow. What a difference four years makes.

I can scarcely believe it, but I actually enjoyed this one. Unlike the 2009 horrible-ness, this one actually *felt* like Star Trek. It had heart; it had soul.

Just as importantly, it had a coherent, plausible (for sci-fi), and well-written storyline...including actual character development. Pretty much all the main characters -- not just Kirk & Spock -- get some much-needed fleshing out (with the possible exception of poor Chekov). As for Khan, I don't know if Cumberbatch's portrayal can quite measure up to Montalban's (although that could just be the "purist" in me talking), but there's no denying he was very, very good.

I heard Abrams received a ton of flak for not having watched any of the shows or films prior to doing the 2009 movie. If so, it's clear he's since rectified that, as a number of scenes were obviously shout-outs to earlier films (especially The Wrath of Khan). I've also heard said shout-out scenes inspired a fair amount of nerd-rage among some Trekkies -- they felt it too obviously aped the original scenes -- but I personally felt they were well done. (Even Zachary Quinto's Spock doing the classic "KHAAAAAAN!!!" scream felt like a respectful homage.)

Ultimately, I have to say Into Darkness may have changed my mind on future Star Trek films. Not that I'm going to go into a movie theater expecting they'll all be good from here on out, but I think I'll be willing to give them a fair shake now. I rate it 33 out of 40.

Bison · October 05, 2013, 07:36:15 AM

I took the brood to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 last night. It was mildly entertaining for adults. The kids enjoyed it. I'd say on 40Cent scale a 25/40.

Centurion40 · October 05, 2013, 07:40:50 AM

Quote from: Bison on October 05, 2013, 07:36:15 AM
I took the brood to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 last night. It was mildly entertaining for adults. The kids enjoyed it. I'd say on 40Cent scale a 25/40.

We saw it last night too!

Loved the animation. I'd give it a 28/40.

Bison · October 05, 2013, 07:45:14 AM

The animation was good, but the creativity of the overall story was just not there. The original was creative and fresh. This one? Not so much. I did love the Tacodile.

LongBlade · October 05, 2013, 10:38:07 AM

Quote from: Martok on October 05, 2013, 04:43:02 AM
I've been meaning to mention this, but I keep forgetting...

So a couple weeks ago, I finally sat down and watched Jar-Jar Abrams' Star Trek: Into Darkness with some friends (also big Trek fans) who picked it up on Blue-Ray. I was very wary, since (as most of you know) I utterly despised the first Abrams film.

Well all I can say is: Wow. What a difference four years makes.

I can scarcely believe it, but I actually enjoyed this one. Unlike the 2009 horrible-ness, this one actually *felt* like Star Trek. It had heart; it had soul.

Just as importantly, it had a coherent, plausible (for sci-fi), and well-written storyline...including actual character development. Pretty much all the main characters -- not just Kirk & Spock -- get some much-needed fleshing out (with the possible exception of poor Chekov). As for Khan, I don't know if Cumberbatch's portrayal can quite measure up to Montalban's (although that could just be the "purist" in me talking), but there's no denying he was very, very good.

I heard Abrams received a ton of flak for not having watched any of the shows or films prior to doing the 2009 movie. If so, it's clear he's since rectified that, as a number of scenes were obviously shout-outs to earlier films (especially The Wrath of Khan). I've also heard said shout-out scenes inspired a fair amount of nerd-rage among some Trekkies -- they felt it too obviously aped the original scenes -- but I personally felt they were well done. (Even Zachary Quinto's Spock doing the classic "KHAAAAAAN!!!" scream felt like a respectful homage.)

Ultimately, I have to say Into Darkness may have changed my mind on future Star Trek films. Not that I'm going to go into a movie theater expecting they'll all be good from here on out, but I think I'll be willing to give them a fair shake now. I rate it 33 out of 40.

I watched the second Star Trek reboot about a week ago. I was hesitant because I'd heard negative press. But I also liked it. The ending was a bit too actiony, but the rest was solid. I enjoyed it.

LongBlade · October 05, 2013, 10:42:35 AM

Anyone see Gravity yet?

The Fox reviewed absolutely gushed over it, and what I thought would be a pass looks like it's a must-see-this-weekend for me and the crew.

This guy compares the movie to the early movies of the 20th Century. Although the plot isn't too great, he believes from a technical achievement it's a stunning leap forward.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/10/04/gravity-review-theres-just-nothing-else-like-it/