Recent movies I've seen that are definitely worthwhile...

I agree that Avatar was visually spectacular (in 3-D), but the story was quite ho hum, predictable, etc. I'm glad Hurt LOcker won the award. Even though I have not seen Hurt Locker yet I believe that it will prove to be a much more rounded and poignant movie.

Avatar was VERY captivating, and I think I have the "proof". I normally hate going to theaters, and generally refuse, due to all the rude talking, cellphone using, chair kicking, morons out there. That is unless I'm mega excited about a fantasy fiction movie or I have some other highly compelling reason. I have only gone to a few movies in the last 10 years: LOTR multiple times each movie (of course) and Dark Knight (because my friend was supposed to be in it). I sorta broke my rule to see Avatar due to the 3-D hype. I was amazed that there were no distractions during the whole movie - well, okay one, one baby cried for about 2 seconds, but other than that I don't think anyone hardly moved the entire time. About 2/3 way through I noticed my arms had fallen asleep because I had not moved.

I am quite interested in seeing Hurt Locker on DVD.

 

How to Train Your Dragon looks like fun. Hurt Locker was good, but I'm not sure it deserved best picture. I haven't seen enough of the other 42 films nominated for best pic, though, so I can't make an informed opinion as to what maybe should have. But now I'm just counting down the hours to Clash of the Titans and avoiding all trailers. I'm betting there won't be any mechanical owls, though.

 

Beware of Clash of the Titans 3-D. After Avatar's success they rushed Titans through a 3-D process, which might end up kind of lame/cheesy. The 3-D for How to Train Your Dragon is supposed to be almost as good as Avatar, as it was planned as 3-D from the beginning.

 

I concur. The 3D of Clash was blown away by the 3D of the owl movie trailer that preceeded it. So, the effect was anticlimactic. The movie itself had fantastic effects, but serviceable to downright bad acting and horrible dialogue. And they tried to expand the story, but mostly failed. I won't give away anything more than to say that I mostly liked Hades, but the scene below deck on the "ferry" was ridiculous. Normally good actors weren't, so I blame the director. If you don't have to see the big monsters on the big screen (like me), avoid this film. In fact, it doesn't belong in this thread, so my apologies, but you are at least forewarned.

 

I went and watched Clash of the Titans last night. I heard of all the bad reviews, and yet I still went.

A few months ago, I watched the original from the 80's- and yes, the new movie went in a different direction. However, I had a good time watching it and was pleasantly surprised. The movie centered around the conflict of Man versus God(s). Insert your religion and it would probably work.

Now I chose to watch it in 2D and left the theater in a positive mood.

Overall review: Clash of the Titans 8/10

 

I enjoyed How To Train Your Dragon. 3-D (Imax) was very good, probably equal to Avatar.

 

Finally saw Avatar (on Blu-Ray) and am now laughing at the negativity directed towards this movie. The story isn't exactly original, the characters are fairly one-dimensional and the dialogue isn't terrific, but other than that, everything else in the movie is friggin spectacular. How did Hurt Locker beat this movie out? Don't listen to the anti-hype and go see if it, if you haven't already.

Dan in Real Life was midly funny; worth a watch with your woman.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was a little sad, but excellently done. Brad Pitt may not be the best actor of all time, but he can sure pick a script. I definitely recommend this movie.

Ninja Assassin was so over the top, it was comical. I didn't get a chance to finish it, as I wanted to keep the Netflix train rolling, but I'll probably watch the whole thing at some point, if for no other reason than the hope that there are more scenes like the one in the beginning where the ninja stands up out of a flat shadow. It's exactly how I always pictured their "magical stealth" ability.

 

Wanna know just one of the reasons why "Avatar" didn't win? Then scope this: http://20.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kvs7y ... o1_500.jpg . This should help to answer your question.

 

That is hilarious!

:lol:

 

When you think of it in terms of what's coming out of Hollywood, it's actually quite sad. I guess not only have they run out of ideas, but this is as good as it gets: 'splosions and technology.

 

Watching No Country For Old Men right now and loving it.

 

Yeah, it was pretty frickin' weird, but I loved it, especially the end!

Saw The Blind Side just a week or two back, and thought it was actually pretty good.

 

2012 was preposterous, but the effects were fun to watch. Strange choice for John Cusack, who usually picks good scripts.

The effects in Red Cliff were also very good, as was the number of famous (asian) actors in it, but I only saw the theatrical version. I'd like to see the full-length, two-part, non-dubbed "epic" version. Definitely worth watching either way, though.

And I liked Sherlock Holmes more than I thought I would. Another one worth watching, but it wasn't the quintessential Holmes, in my opinion, that everyone has been clamoring about.

Cloudy...Meatballs was great fun. A must watch IMHO.

If you like a good b-movie once in a while, Last Legion might appeal to you. Otherwise, avoid it.

 

Got around to Inglorious Basterds tonight, which I thought was going to be another mess, but it seems Tarantino has finally turned the tide of producing successively crappier movies. None of the American characters were particularly memorable, but there were many great French and Germans, highlighted by Christoph Waltz, who's character you want to strangle 5 minutes into the movie. Lots of great period details, too, which surprised me. If you're not turned off by the obligatory Tarantino gore (which I often am), it's definitely worth a watch in my opinion.

 

Saw Grown Ups tonite with some friends. Had some really funny parts and, in many ways, was also a nice family romp. Made some good points about how technology seems to sometimes overtake our lives as well as how busy life can be.

Some interesting comparisons were in the movie between tabletop gaming and video games.

Adam Sandler did a great job with his comedy and one can see he has really grown as an actor. David Spade and Rob Schneider played roles that are similar to ones you've seen them play before but still brought the funny. Chris Rock had one or two good scenes but, overall, wasn't as funny as he could have been.

 

Denzel Washington has finally made me a fan, as I really enjoyed Book of Eli. I'd be interested to hear Geek Preacher's opinion of it.

 

SPOILER INFORMATION BELOW

SPOILER INFORMATION BELOW

OKAY, IF YOU'VE READ THIS FAR.....you don't mind some spoiler information.

I have to say I found it to be a very interesting movie. All in all, I enjoyed the action scenes and such and really enjoyed the interplay between Eli (Denzel) and Carnegie (Gary Oldman). Carnegie's character had an interesting view of Sacred Text in how it could be used to control people as a certain type of authority and I must say that brought some great insight into the storyline and really hit close to home.

One person wants to preserve "holy writ" so that it might be had by everyone to bring peace and stability (Eli) and another person wants to use it to consolidate control over the entire population (Carnegie). This is a constant battle seen in many religious wars and makes for interesting conversation and definitely helps drive the story along.

The most interesting part is Eli's character's blindness. One can never be sure if it is "divine intervention" or just Eli's adaptation to his circumstance. You can never quite come to a conclusion and I rather like this in the movie. It allows one to see "divine guidance" working hand in hand with human action. This also hits close to home for me because this is an area I tend to stress in my life. These two things are not separate but are integrally woven together.

With all of this said, the hardest part I had was my suspension of disbelief. I'm sorry but I find it extremely difficult (if not downright impossible) to believe that every Bible on the face of the earth (or at least North America) has been destroyed. It's just not feasibly possible.

A good friend of mine and I "geeked it out" as he tried to explain how all the Bibles could have been destroyed and while he made some decent arguments I think I ended it with one word, "iPod!" Eli starts off the movie with an iPod that is still fully functional. The movie even shows him getting "juice" for the iPod and it's obvious that there are electronics that are still working all these years later. Well, I can tell you right now that there are many, many people that have both digitally written copies of Bibles on their iPods as well as complete audio versions. I just don't see the Bible (or many other sacred writings) falling off the face of the earth very easily in this day and age.

With that said, it's still a great post-apocalyptic movie. While I'm not a big fan of Christian "apocalypse" style movies, I have to say this one is a must see.

Thanks for asking what I thought of the movie. I appreciate your interest in what I have to say on the topic....that's pretty darn kewl.

GP

 

Oh, man, I enjoyd Kick-Ass myself. Thought it was a great little movie and had a lot of fun with it.

Zombieland is a "must see" for us and even though my wife normally hates Zombie movies she really liked this one. (Shaun of the Dead still being her favorite.) I've seen Zombieland twice and thought it was just hilarious. The Bill Murray cameo made it even more fun.