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The new part 1!

I'll start--I've seen a couple of the Summer schlock busters so far: Superman, Man of Steel, a loud crashing bore but infinitely superior to After Earth, possibly the worst movie of the year.

On Netflix, however, we watched the interesting and frankly delightful Scapegoat, a twisted and only slightly less believable take on the Prince and the Pauper legend.

I saw Zero Dark Thirty last weekend and liked it, although pretty forgettable to me.

The Master is in the queue, but it's half impossible to get my wife to sit down and watch a movie lately so no telling how long that DVD will sit.

Speaking of Action movies, The Avengers is available on Netflix streaming right now. I'll give that I whirl, I guess.

Cabin in the Woods. Terrible.

walto wrote:Cabin in the Woods. Terrible.

I am a bit surprised to hear this. I do not care for the dice and slash movies at all but this one I enjoyed a good deal. Not terribly scary but very funny.

I admit that Joss Whedon (Dollhouse excepted) can do little wrong for me.

I think they needed to pick--meta funny movie, or non-meta scary movie. The mix didn't work for me, though I did laugh several times. The idea of somebody/something making all of the absurd plots--even the existence--of the standard slasher stories plausible was cool, but....Ancient Ones needing to be placated??

Also, the voice of the guy who played the stoner/fool really annoyed me.

mjb wrote:I admit that Joss Whedon (Dollhouse excepted) can do little wrong for me.

Funny because I can totally understand why someone would hate Dollhouse and I was ready to abandon ship so many times but I stuck with it and ended up liking it quite a bit. Maybe it was sort of a guilty pleasure but I ended up liking it on it's own terms.

The Outfit (1974)

I saw Joss Whedon's "Much Ado About Nothing" last night. Very nice take on Shakespeare's classic.

Jesus Henry Christ, which I thought I liked, but my daughter tells me sucked.

Harry wrote:I saw Joss Whedon's "Much Ado About Nothing" last night. Very nice take on Shakespeare's classic.

Looking forward to that. Heard him talk about this on Fresh Air. It took him two years to make The Avengers and after it was complete he was ready to take a family trip to Italy when his wife decided that what he really needed to do instead was make a film in his house with no budget and three weeks. That woman is a keeper.

I saw MAN OF STEEL this weekend and as the opening credits rolled, I reflected that there has never been a good Superman movie made and I didn't hold out hope for this one. It was better than I thought it would be, and I'd class it as on the same level as the first or second Christopher Reeve movies (the very best of the bad lot). This one succeeded, where it succeeded by being largely a movie about Krypton, not Earth. It is interesting to think about Superman's alien origins, because they are not over-mined as material. We tend to think of Superman as not an alien but as preternaturally American (as he is, what with the corn-fed Smallville upbringing). So I liked the exploration of Krypton's material and philosophical terrain. The Kryptonian technology was cool, as it seemed to be inspired by John Byrne-era Brainiac tech. Come to think of it, the Kryptonian wardrobe was from Byrne, too. Watching Zod and Kal-El fight, I couldn't help feeling like I was reading some Legion of Superheroes comic, where there are always multiple Kryptonians and everyone from every other planet is a wimp compared to them. What I liked about this movie was Krypton. Having said that, the film was overlong and very grey-and-blue. I'm glad they didn't do a full-on origin movie (like they do with every reboot) because that wastes so much time and we all know the details. This one handled origin with flashback and I thought it was generally effective at that. But the characters were not particularly interesting. DC movies haven't been as good at character as the Marvel franchises. Iron Man is a rounded character, so is Peter Parker; Batman and Superman not so much. DC movies have tended to be weighty and serious and philosophical. Batman has to be about the psychology of good and evil; Superman is about God and godlike power's effect on our existence. Avengers, on the other hand, is about ass-kicking and scary invaders. I think DC has to step up it's game with these movies, they are too epic. Should a JLA or World's Finest or Legion of Superheroes picture come down the pike, that could be interesting. I haven't fully enjoyed any of DC's offerings to date; the second of the Nolan Batman reboot is the best of the bunch, to my mind.

It was a hard choice between Supes and Shakespeare this weekend. I can't believe that I chose the comic book movie, knowing both that Whedon was attached not to it but to the other and that Supes would be far more serious than the Bard (of Oxford).

I give MAN OF STEEL three Montes, but one of them is kryptonite. It's a must-see for any superhero fan.

LennyH wrote:

mjb wrote:I admit that Joss Whedon (Dollhouse excepted) can do little wrong for me.

Funny because I can totally understand why someone would hate Dollhouse and I was ready to abandon ship so many times but I stuck with it and ended up liking it quite a bit. Maybe it was sort of a guilty pleasure but I ended up liking it on it's own terms.

Thought I had replied to this before - ah the advantages of old age.

I too stuck with it. I bought the Blu-ray discs and watched both series twice. I assumed I was missing something. Still left me cold ... perhaps worse.

A fellow Whedon fan/friend offered to sit through it with me. Still didn't work for me.

One day maybe?

The wife and I popped in The Master this weekend. We got maybe half way through when my wife decided that a night swim in the 85 degree pool was a better idea. She was right. The film lost her and she refused to finish and honestly I'm not sure I care enough myself. Bummer.

Scott Dolan wrote:I don't think I've heard a single positive review from anyone who has seen that movie, Lenny.

All I know is that it didn't even look interesting in the preview. And I figure if you can't even make the trailer look interesting...

The look and feel and slow-paced dialog reminded me of Terrence Malick. Bad Terrence Malick.

mjb wrote:Thought I had replied to this before - ah the advantages of old age.

I too stuck with it. I bought the Blu-ray discs and watched both series twice. I assumed I was missing something. Still left me cold ... perhaps worse.

A fellow Whedon fan/friend offered to sit through it with me. Still didn't work for me.

One day maybe?

Ha, I think you've put your time in, mjb. Since I only realized today that I gave it 5 starts on Netflix, maybe I'm the one that needs to watch it again to figure out what I was thinking .

Well ... Eliza Dushku

mjb wrote:Well ... Eliza Dushku

Ha...yeah, that *coulda* had something to do with it!

Saw The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys last night. Not bad, but I got bored. (Incidentally, I felt the same way about The Master.)

The sound editing was particularly bad on Altar Boys. That's something I usually wouldn't notice, but the back and forth from too quiet to understand to absolutely deafening really got on my nerves after about the 10th time. It also contains some terrible animated segments. The actiing is pretty good though, except maybe that of Jodie Foster.

Scott Dolan wrote:Eliza can't beat my girl, Abby:

I've had lots of crushes during my streaming TV show serial watching. Not sure any were bigger than this one.



Impossible to pick the best picture. Might has well look at the lot by searching tricia helfer on Google Images. Oy. I'm usually not into women that look too perfect and barbie-like...but this was a big exception.

So does this mean the silent movie is back? I hope so if they are as good as this one.

Saw The Heat last night. Cute.

Last week I saw this, As zoombie movies go I found it kinda passable.

World War Z just upped my respect for The Walking Dead series, how they manage to keep it interesting every week.

Saw Johnnie To's latest.

Drug Wars. I will watch any of his movies. At first you wonder if he really directed it. It's mostly really different than all his other films (anyone who has seen his films will know what I mean), but after awhile you get you used to it. It's not one of his best, but ended up really enjoying it. Without ruining it. There are points in which it's very much Johnnie To.

It stars Louis Koo who has been in several of To's films now....including his classic Election & it's sequel Election II aka Triad Election.



P.S. It was also filmed in China and not Hong Kong.



P.P S. If you don't know....making and/or distributing more than 50 grams of drugs get's you the death penalty in China. Don't worry they humanized things by going lethal injection throughout the country instead of firing squads. They still execute you within minutes of your sentencing. Oh yeah, they actually do have execution vans.

Significant Other has been insisting on watching "Django Unchained" for a week now.
Guess tonight's the night. I might enjoy it.