So let's get a thread started about movies, shall we? Any movies, all movies. Whatever. Movies. You know, motion pictures. Films. Blockbusters. VHS tapes, Betamax, LaserDisc. It's all OK by me!!
Movies I've seen recently: Iron Man 3, Young Adult, DeathNote 1 + 2, Sleepwalk with Me. I liked all of them?? What's going on?? Normally most movies I watch end up being horrible or mediocre. Not this month!! I've got a winning streak going. Iron Man 3: loved it. No faults found here by me! Extremely well done superhero movie with an absurd premise and yet somehow you're never pulled out of it and in the context of the movie, you buy it. 2 hours and 20 minutes and I never got bored or distracted. Took me totally by surprise. Good work, Iron Man 3!! Young Adult: I actually had really low expectations with this one, but it was very good. Patton Oswalt did a great job, too. It's a very good "feel-bad" movie. Really uncomfortable scenes. But very relatable, too, in a disturbing way. I'd recommend it if you want to feel worse about humanity. DeathNote 1 +2: I actually really liked these. I loved the anime, and expected the movies to fall short. At first I wasn't quite into it, it was hard looking at real human beings portray these characters, but after a bit I got sucked in. I liked seeing what they changed and why. I thought it actually had a much more satisfying and clever ending than the anime. Only problem with it I had was the music was completely unremarkable, which was annoying because the anime music was so amazing. Also, making the Shinigami look like the comic characters in 3D was jarring since they look so cartoony. I felt they probably should have made them look creepier and more realistic for a live-action movie. But all in all, good stuff. Tried to watch L: Change the World but couldn't get through it. I dunno, I was really bored by it. Sleepwalk with Me: Pretty good movie here, too. A smaller movie about a stand-up comedian's real story. Pretty funny and interesting throughout. Decent movie. OK, I'll throw in one I didn't like that much because it's weird just saying good things about movies. Spring Breakers. I was really disappointed by this one. I thought the premise was really great, like, our generation's version of nihilism, and the ramifications of it. But it just went off the deep-end. It became so outrageous and the only character who was even mildly developed left the movie midway. A shame!! Could've been an interesting and timely commentary. OK that's all I got!! I'm just trying to get the ball rolling! Disagree with me or talk about other movies, it doesn't matter!
How did Iron Man 3 compare to the previous movies in the series? I felt the others, while definitely entertaining, left me feeling a bit underwhelmed, story-wise. The only movie I've seen recently was Oz: The Great and Powerful. The visuals were lovely, especially the Emerald City (although that may be due to my obsession with the Art Deco aesthetic). I felt the obviousness of the CGI actually added to the alien wonder of the Oz experience, rather than detracting from it. The Wizard's motivation and character development were really good, but on the other hand the pacing of the Wicked Witch's descent was a little abrupt. It definitely pulled off the "denizens of Oz as manifestations of people in your life" far better than the original Wizard of Oz, since it allowed for the symbolic rectification of his broken relationships in the real world. The use of a greedy, self-obsessed protagonist makes his becoming a hero all the more cathartic. Overall, a resounding success of a prequel, of possibly greater (and more powerful?) scope than the original. As far as upcoming movies I'm excited about, Man of Steel should be interesting.
To be honest, I don't remember the first two that well. I saw the first one in a drive-in and as a result didn't really get invested, and just plain can't remember the sequel. That said, this one felt the most like there was a real story to chew on. I think that's why I never stopped giving it my full attention, I actually cared about the character and what happened. They set the stakes very well, and never did I feel like "oh but he's invincible so who cares". They do a very good job making him vulnerable. I agree about Oz, and yeah my only real beef was the Wicked Witch plot not being fleshed out enough. Also I'm not a huge fan of epic battle scenes, but that probably just boils down to personal taste. The greedy character was fun, and I liked his monkey sidekick. Although I was left wondering, since it's a prequel, why would you trade down from scary baboons to silly monkeys?? But that's a pretty minor nitpick. I'm also definitely interested in Man of Steel. That's the first Superman movie I've actually gotten remotely excited about, and I'm actually pretty darn excited about it based on what I've seen so far. At the very least it's a good direction, judging by the ad.
Good to hear that the latest Iron Man isn't a forgettable one. In that case, I might watch it. But yeah, I have high hopes that Man of Steel will be the proper psychological treatment of the superhero story. What do you think of the upcoming Star Trek movie? I feel like the 2009 one had a lot of impact due to its refreshing originality. With that in mind, I'm not sure how the sequel will compare.
I'm looking forward to that one, too. I guess it won't have the same impact as far as that goes, but it does look promising.
