Some movies I'd like to catch while they're in theaters:
1. "The Equalizer": it's getting very mixed reviews, but I'm all for watching Denzel reboot Edward Woodward's role and get waist-deep into some good old-fashioned ass-kicking.
2. "Fury": Brad Pitt's World War 2 film is being universally labeled as gory; critics are divided on how deep or substantive the film is, but everyone agrees on its viscerality.
3. "John Wick": this Keanu Reeves revenge drama looks like stupid fun along the lines of Mel Gibson's "Payback," but even grittier.
4. "Birdman": the buzz on this movie is that Michael Keaton is back. Keaton was dismissed as a lightweight for many years until he did 1988's "Clean and Sober," followed soon after by his turn as a pensive Bruce Wayne in Tim Burton's 1989 "Batman." Many moviegoers still give Keaton the top prize, over Clooney, Bale, et al., for his portrayal of Bruce Wayne.
5. "Interstellar": Skeletal Matthew McConaughey and the freakishly ocular Anne Hathaway star in a movie that, one hopes, will rehabilitate the save-the-Earth narrative that had been attempted a few years earlier in the spectacularly stillborn turd that was "Sunshine." How alien will the alien worlds be? Will they be more alien that the world Hydros in Robert Silverberg's The Face of the Waters? How about the gas-torus world of Larry Niven's The Integral Trees (one of my favorite Niven novels)?
So, yeah. Movies.
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Friday, October 24, 2014
movies to see
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4 comments:
I have heard of none of these films. Hmm.
"The Equalizer" was a major disappointment in my book. If it was still the 1980's, it might have worked, but not in today's technological world. And just wait until you see the locations of the Home Mart McCall works at. "Locations" because this gargantuan store mysteriously moves from a residential area in the beginning of the film to a rather empty industrial area for the film's climatic battle. And even lovely Chloe couldn't save it for me. Quite the Denzel letdown after "Flight."
I could have also lived without seeing the beautifully, hell-on-earth, filmed, "Fury." Several real life Sergeant Alvin C. Yorks would have been needed to to inflict the damage this Rambo-esque tank crew were able to on an overwhelming German force, and there were no Sergeant Yorks in that tank. It was also jarring to see hell on and all around the battlefields, but then Brad Pitt takes the time to demonstrate why he will once again win the title of sexiest man alive.
Surprisingly, based on my above comments, not all is entirely bleak in the current film world. I was pleasantly surprised by"The Conjuring" prequel, Annabelle, but I had low expectations going in. However, it really tied into an amazing idea for tons of future prequels (you must see "The Conjuring" or the TV program, "Friday the 13th: The Series," with Robey to get this reference). The most fascinating part of the film for me was just how far do you go in believing a loved one when it comes to accepting what they believe to be the supernatural while most competent outside minds would quickly just label as a serious mental illness.
I doubt I would have been as patient and understanding when faced with a similar situation. Sort of like believing in people that claim god(s) actually spoke to them. What would you think if a loved one said god gave them ten commandments, or that they were the direct son or daughter of a god? These are along the lines of the questions this film raises.
Just saw Tommy Lee Jones and Hillary Swank in, "The Homesman." Definitely worth a viewing concerning hard to watch subject matter that still isn't talked about openly and dealt with quite poorly when at all (in the Old West it was really rough). It's also quite sad (with all that lost time praying and paying) that their loving god still went out of his way to really frack them all up good. But at least you get to see Meryl Streep and her daughter, Grace Gummer, in the same sad flick.
I wonder if it will even play in U.S. movie theaters as Luc Besson and Europacorp are distributing this hard to market U.S. film.
Horrendous doesn't even begin to describe life for so many in South Africa (makes the U.S. seem like some sort of utopia), but Zulu is a great little flick from S.A. that proves that Legolas can actually act when he isn't covered in mascara and even holds his own against another Oscar-worthy performance by Forest Whitaker.
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