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June Movies
Jun. 30th, 2014 11:37 pmI really really really need to catch up on my books list. But here's the latest movie update, at least!
JUNE MOVIES
44. Salt, Cable. Pretty good chase scenes. Good cast. Was a rewatch. Angie doesn't look as fragile as she's looked lately, and Chiwetel Ejiofor has a great scene. Waste of Andre Braugher, though, and I wish Liev Schreiber's character was a bit more conflicted or something in the third act. Anyway, fun. And I especially appreciate filmmakers who take a moment to have a character who is fleeing from law enforcement and might never return to her apartment arrange for dog sitting. Good job!
45. Brothers, Cable. As you might expect, this is about some brothers. One, Jake Gyllenhaal, is a ne'er-do-well ex-con, the other, Tobey Maguire, is a soldier. The soldier goes back to Iraq and goes missing, presumed dead. The ne'er-do-well picks up the slack and helps the soldier's wife and children out and straightens out his life at the same time. Pretty good. I really like Gyllenhaal, so I might be biased. Maguire is excellent, too.
46. The Trials of Cate McCall, Redbox. Mostly boring. Waste of Clancy Brown and James Cromwell. Kate Beckinsale is as game as ever, and Nick Nolte is quite good, but the plot itself could have been a Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode.
47. This is the End, Redbox. Stupid. I mean, really really stupid. Intentionally stupid. A send-up/critique of celebrities and their vapidity, which I did appreciate, although at some point you realize that they're writing what they know because that's all they know and it kind of makes you sad. I laughed despite all of that, but mostly I was kind of wanting everyone to die. And thankfully, they all do! The enjoyable parts are really all the celeb cameos and the ways everyone dies. Or doesn't...
48. Runner Runner, Redbox, Not bad. Justin Timberlake is a math whiz who is trying to raise his grad school money by playing online poker. When he realizes he's been swindled, he travels to Costa Rica to confront the site owners. Predictably he ends up working for them, and bad things happen (and I'm not talking about denials of service or sticky viruses). Ben Affleck is impressively oily as the online casino owner.
49. Dracula: The Dark Prince, Redbox. OMG. Bad. So very bad. You think you can imagine bad, and then there's this and you realize you don't know from bad. It would have been ok if they played it for camp, but it was so serious! Well, except for the sex scenes. But so very bad. And what is Jon Voight doing in this? It can't have paid well enough. He must be destitute. I hope they paid him extra for the inexplicably ugly prosthetic nose he has to wear throughout.
50. Nebraska, Redbox. Well-deserved hype. Bruce Dern is great, Will Forte is great, all the supporting cast is great, the cinematography is great, the story is great. It's just great. It's funny and touching and maddening and the best road movie I think I've ever seen, and possibly the best father-son movie I've seen, also. I have trouble sitting down to watch "good" movies, which is almost always stupid of me because I love them. So glad I watched this.
51. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Redbox. We've got a new Jack Ryan, and he's Captain Kirk. Which is fine. We've got Kevin Costner as his grizzled CIA recruiter and later handler, and he's great in the part. We've got the hammiest Kenneth Branagh ever, playing the Russian baddie, and that's sorta fun (he's also the director, which is I'm sure the only reason someone let him get away with that cheeseball accent). There's some financial mumbo jumbo about crashing the world financial markets and suddenly analyst Jack has to become spy Jack. He manages. It has a few fun moments. The Jack Ryan franchise has always suffered under the weight of its own seriousness, in my opinion, and this doesn't do much to dispel that. But Pine is fun to watch.
52. Donovan's Echo, Redbox. Danny Glover is Donovan, a former scientist who helped with the Manhattan Project, and who later lost his wife and child in an accident. He comes back to his home after 30 years away, where Bruce Greenwood, his brother-in-law and town sheriff, has maintained his property. He tries to settle into small-town life, but he is plagued with premonitions that seem to echo his own past. His next-door neighbors are a mother and her young daughter and Donovan is convinced that they are going to die on the 30th anniversary of his own family's death. Is he right, or is he just losing is mind? It's ok, but the writing is a bit too sappy and everything has this sad tinge. Donovan has just a bit too much backstory, and his notebook of SCIENCE! is a bit tedious. I want to support movies that have older leads, but this is not going to win anyone over.
53. Ice Soldiers, Redbox. Oh my. This is truly bad. Kind of hilariously bad. Evil grown-in-a-vat super soldiers rape, murder and pillage, and leave behind one woman who gives birth to Dominic Purcell. He grows up to become a scientist/adventurer/seriously awesome athlete who sets out to find what happened to the soldiers. Predictable stuff happens, Michael Ironside performs the Michael Ironside role, and everyone dies. Our hero escapes, barely, and flails around in the arctic, then Adam Beech shows up and becomes his Tonto. Sorta. There's a LOT of killing. Some boobs. Ice soldier naked butts. More killing. That's about it! Surprised it wasn't an Asylum movie.
54. How I Live Now, Redbox. Loved this! American teenaged girl gets sent to stay with relatives in England for the summer and is pouty about it and typically teenagery. A couple of days later war breaks out. She's with her cousins, but their mother is a diplomat and she's been called away so there are no grownups. All kinds of post-apocalyptical horrible things happen. Very good and very realistic.
55. The Dark Knight Rises, Redbox. Another rewatch. Despite his pouty side in this, I do heart Christian Bale. He just really brings it to every role, and he's by far my favorite Batman. I was just in a superhero kind of mood this month. Oh hell, every month.
56. Man of Steel, Redbox. Yet another rewatch since I was watching Batman. And it was good. Another pouty superhero. Love Russell Crowe as the super-effectual ghost in the machine.
57. Edge of Tomorrow, Theater. Loved this. No matter how you feel about Tom Cruise, it's really really good. I mean, if you hate him, well, he dies in the movie. About 100 times! Maybe more. And if you love him there he is. And if you're indifferent, he's a pretty good actor despite his Tom Cruiseyness. Seriously, go see it. It's so good!
58. 3 Days to Kill, Redbox. More fun than I thought it would be. Kevin Costner is a CIA agent who is dying of cancer and has only a few months to live, so he goes back to Paris, where his estranged wife and daughter live, for an attempt at reconciliation. There are spy hijinks and awkward father-daughter moments and bike riding and scary Parisian nightclubs, but it all works out and Kevin is reasonably charming. I bet this is one of those that audiences like more than critics, because it's not exactly deep. Still, I have a soft spot for Costner.
59. All Is Lost, Redbox. Gripping. Robert Redford sails the ocean blue. For a lot of the movie you worry that he's going to break a hip. The actor is 77, after all, and he's sailing alone. REALLY REALLY ALONE. THERE IS NO ONE ELSE IN THIS MOVIE EVER. THE CAST LIST HAS JUST ROBERT REDFORD! Ahem. Boat takes on water when it's struck by a shipping container (hey, I can relate. My car was hit by a dumpster, once) and he spends a chunk of time fixing it. He's got a clever seat pull winch something, so he doesn't have to climb up the mast. He's very resourceful, anyway. All of his electronics are fried, so he has to figure out how to sail by the stars. And of course there's a storm, and the boat does several complete rotations so he walks on the ceiling and eventually ends up in the drink a lot, and there are sharks, and of course he runs out of supplies eventually.
But he's really not a talker. There is a scene where he tries to raise somone on the dying radio. And there's a monolog at the beginning. There's one "fuck" and maybe a super quiet "shit" and some "HELP"s. I think that's it. If I were in that position I'd be chattering up a storm. All day long "fuck this fucking boat and the fucking ocean and how is this my life and oh, sure, now there are sharks and why didn't I somehow bring more water, I'm such a moron." But no. Redford brings new meaning to the term "stoic."
I gotta say, this didn't make me want to take up sailing. I'm sure if you saw this in the theater it would be hella impressive, but because I was watching on DVD and there's no dialog, I kept looking away and reading the internet. This is definitely one of those critics love it, audiences are mixed sort of movies. Still, the Sundance Kid is still pretty hot and fit and impressive.
60. Freezer, Redbox. Robert Saunders, played by Dylan McDermott, wakes up in a giant industrial freezer filled with food and realizes he's being held captive by Russians who want their money. He swears he doesn't have it. A surprising number of people traipse through the freezer and beat him up. The writers were clearly pleased with themselves, because there is plot twist on top of plot twist. Did Saunders steal the money? Does he make it out of the freezer? What the hell?
ABANDONED MID MOVIE:
Gambit, Redbox. So I rented this at the same time as Cate McCall, while I was in Hyannis. I watched Cate, and it was so meh that when I got about 20 minutes into this I just gave up and went to bed. Sorry, Cameron Dias and Colin Firth. I am sure you're lovely people. But no. And Joel and Ethan? Maybe you need a vacation. Because, as I've mentioned, no.
JUNE MOVIES
44. Salt, Cable. Pretty good chase scenes. Good cast. Was a rewatch. Angie doesn't look as fragile as she's looked lately, and Chiwetel Ejiofor has a great scene. Waste of Andre Braugher, though, and I wish Liev Schreiber's character was a bit more conflicted or something in the third act. Anyway, fun. And I especially appreciate filmmakers who take a moment to have a character who is fleeing from law enforcement and might never return to her apartment arrange for dog sitting. Good job!
45. Brothers, Cable. As you might expect, this is about some brothers. One, Jake Gyllenhaal, is a ne'er-do-well ex-con, the other, Tobey Maguire, is a soldier. The soldier goes back to Iraq and goes missing, presumed dead. The ne'er-do-well picks up the slack and helps the soldier's wife and children out and straightens out his life at the same time. Pretty good. I really like Gyllenhaal, so I might be biased. Maguire is excellent, too.
46. The Trials of Cate McCall, Redbox. Mostly boring. Waste of Clancy Brown and James Cromwell. Kate Beckinsale is as game as ever, and Nick Nolte is quite good, but the plot itself could have been a Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode.
47. This is the End, Redbox. Stupid. I mean, really really stupid. Intentionally stupid. A send-up/critique of celebrities and their vapidity, which I did appreciate, although at some point you realize that they're writing what they know because that's all they know and it kind of makes you sad. I laughed despite all of that, but mostly I was kind of wanting everyone to die. And thankfully, they all do! The enjoyable parts are really all the celeb cameos and the ways everyone dies. Or doesn't...
48. Runner Runner, Redbox, Not bad. Justin Timberlake is a math whiz who is trying to raise his grad school money by playing online poker. When he realizes he's been swindled, he travels to Costa Rica to confront the site owners. Predictably he ends up working for them, and bad things happen (and I'm not talking about denials of service or sticky viruses). Ben Affleck is impressively oily as the online casino owner.
49. Dracula: The Dark Prince, Redbox. OMG. Bad. So very bad. You think you can imagine bad, and then there's this and you realize you don't know from bad. It would have been ok if they played it for camp, but it was so serious! Well, except for the sex scenes. But so very bad. And what is Jon Voight doing in this? It can't have paid well enough. He must be destitute. I hope they paid him extra for the inexplicably ugly prosthetic nose he has to wear throughout.
50. Nebraska, Redbox. Well-deserved hype. Bruce Dern is great, Will Forte is great, all the supporting cast is great, the cinematography is great, the story is great. It's just great. It's funny and touching and maddening and the best road movie I think I've ever seen, and possibly the best father-son movie I've seen, also. I have trouble sitting down to watch "good" movies, which is almost always stupid of me because I love them. So glad I watched this.
51. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Redbox. We've got a new Jack Ryan, and he's Captain Kirk. Which is fine. We've got Kevin Costner as his grizzled CIA recruiter and later handler, and he's great in the part. We've got the hammiest Kenneth Branagh ever, playing the Russian baddie, and that's sorta fun (he's also the director, which is I'm sure the only reason someone let him get away with that cheeseball accent). There's some financial mumbo jumbo about crashing the world financial markets and suddenly analyst Jack has to become spy Jack. He manages. It has a few fun moments. The Jack Ryan franchise has always suffered under the weight of its own seriousness, in my opinion, and this doesn't do much to dispel that. But Pine is fun to watch.
52. Donovan's Echo, Redbox. Danny Glover is Donovan, a former scientist who helped with the Manhattan Project, and who later lost his wife and child in an accident. He comes back to his home after 30 years away, where Bruce Greenwood, his brother-in-law and town sheriff, has maintained his property. He tries to settle into small-town life, but he is plagued with premonitions that seem to echo his own past. His next-door neighbors are a mother and her young daughter and Donovan is convinced that they are going to die on the 30th anniversary of his own family's death. Is he right, or is he just losing is mind? It's ok, but the writing is a bit too sappy and everything has this sad tinge. Donovan has just a bit too much backstory, and his notebook of SCIENCE! is a bit tedious. I want to support movies that have older leads, but this is not going to win anyone over.
53. Ice Soldiers, Redbox. Oh my. This is truly bad. Kind of hilariously bad. Evil grown-in-a-vat super soldiers rape, murder and pillage, and leave behind one woman who gives birth to Dominic Purcell. He grows up to become a scientist/adventurer/seriously awesome athlete who sets out to find what happened to the soldiers. Predictable stuff happens, Michael Ironside performs the Michael Ironside role, and everyone dies. Our hero escapes, barely, and flails around in the arctic, then Adam Beech shows up and becomes his Tonto. Sorta. There's a LOT of killing. Some boobs. Ice soldier naked butts. More killing. That's about it! Surprised it wasn't an Asylum movie.
54. How I Live Now, Redbox. Loved this! American teenaged girl gets sent to stay with relatives in England for the summer and is pouty about it and typically teenagery. A couple of days later war breaks out. She's with her cousins, but their mother is a diplomat and she's been called away so there are no grownups. All kinds of post-apocalyptical horrible things happen. Very good and very realistic.
55. The Dark Knight Rises, Redbox. Another rewatch. Despite his pouty side in this, I do heart Christian Bale. He just really brings it to every role, and he's by far my favorite Batman. I was just in a superhero kind of mood this month. Oh hell, every month.
56. Man of Steel, Redbox. Yet another rewatch since I was watching Batman. And it was good. Another pouty superhero. Love Russell Crowe as the super-effectual ghost in the machine.
57. Edge of Tomorrow, Theater. Loved this. No matter how you feel about Tom Cruise, it's really really good. I mean, if you hate him, well, he dies in the movie. About 100 times! Maybe more. And if you love him there he is. And if you're indifferent, he's a pretty good actor despite his Tom Cruiseyness. Seriously, go see it. It's so good!
58. 3 Days to Kill, Redbox. More fun than I thought it would be. Kevin Costner is a CIA agent who is dying of cancer and has only a few months to live, so he goes back to Paris, where his estranged wife and daughter live, for an attempt at reconciliation. There are spy hijinks and awkward father-daughter moments and bike riding and scary Parisian nightclubs, but it all works out and Kevin is reasonably charming. I bet this is one of those that audiences like more than critics, because it's not exactly deep. Still, I have a soft spot for Costner.
59. All Is Lost, Redbox. Gripping. Robert Redford sails the ocean blue. For a lot of the movie you worry that he's going to break a hip. The actor is 77, after all, and he's sailing alone. REALLY REALLY ALONE. THERE IS NO ONE ELSE IN THIS MOVIE EVER. THE CAST LIST HAS JUST ROBERT REDFORD! Ahem. Boat takes on water when it's struck by a shipping container (hey, I can relate. My car was hit by a dumpster, once) and he spends a chunk of time fixing it. He's got a clever seat pull winch something, so he doesn't have to climb up the mast. He's very resourceful, anyway. All of his electronics are fried, so he has to figure out how to sail by the stars. And of course there's a storm, and the boat does several complete rotations so he walks on the ceiling and eventually ends up in the drink a lot, and there are sharks, and of course he runs out of supplies eventually.
But he's really not a talker. There is a scene where he tries to raise somone on the dying radio. And there's a monolog at the beginning. There's one "fuck" and maybe a super quiet "shit" and some "HELP"s. I think that's it. If I were in that position I'd be chattering up a storm. All day long "fuck this fucking boat and the fucking ocean and how is this my life and oh, sure, now there are sharks and why didn't I somehow bring more water, I'm such a moron." But no. Redford brings new meaning to the term "stoic."
I gotta say, this didn't make me want to take up sailing. I'm sure if you saw this in the theater it would be hella impressive, but because I was watching on DVD and there's no dialog, I kept looking away and reading the internet. This is definitely one of those critics love it, audiences are mixed sort of movies. Still, the Sundance Kid is still pretty hot and fit and impressive.
60. Freezer, Redbox. Robert Saunders, played by Dylan McDermott, wakes up in a giant industrial freezer filled with food and realizes he's being held captive by Russians who want their money. He swears he doesn't have it. A surprising number of people traipse through the freezer and beat him up. The writers were clearly pleased with themselves, because there is plot twist on top of plot twist. Did Saunders steal the money? Does he make it out of the freezer? What the hell?
ABANDONED MID MOVIE:
Gambit, Redbox. So I rented this at the same time as Cate McCall, while I was in Hyannis. I watched Cate, and it was so meh that when I got about 20 minutes into this I just gave up and went to bed. Sorry, Cameron Dias and Colin Firth. I am sure you're lovely people. But no. And Joel and Ethan? Maybe you need a vacation. Because, as I've mentioned, no.
