Amph What was the last movie you saw?

2 guns

Quite a decent movie, and funny even though Denzel Washington isn't a "funny" guy

 

Yeah, it was alright.

 

Little K made me, Mrs. K, grandma K, and grandpa K watch Muppets Most Wanted.

 

Stars are out of 5 or 10. WTF is this **** star crap, Rogue 1.5?

 

Saw butch Cassidy and the sun dance kid. I give it 13/18 stars

 

Raindrops keep crapping on this Thread...

 

Just watched Inside Llewyn Davis. I thought it was supposed to be a porn. Disappoint.

 

I was just over @ Boxofficemojo and saw its total box office so far (Just over $11 million). Pheeeew. Arnie's really stumbled out of the gate so far. He needs to take a page from his buddy Sly's book and return to his most iconic roles. Looks like Terminator is happening--though God only knows what part Arnie will play in it, as he can't convincingly play the T-800/850 anymore unless that number suddenly refers to his cholesterol count--and Conan.

 

To be fair, it's possible it might have made more if it hadn't been up against Cap2.

 

Hobbit 2: Desolation of Benedict Egg Cabbagepatch. It was alright. Definitely had some serious pacing issues. I think it would've been best if some of the fat/fanfic had been trimmed and the movie had ended with Smaug being slain on Laketown, and completely devout the last and still unnecessary third film to the battles of the Five Armies and White Council vs. Sauron/Dol Goldur.

 

under the skin

FIVE DUENDES

 

Yeah, Cap steamrolled everybody, but Sabotage beat it to theaters by a week (at least here in the U.S.; I know Cap opened earlier in other countries) and it was D.O.A. The Last Stand did similar numbers, and Escape Plan underperformed (In the U.S. anyway, grossing only $25 million) as well. I'm not sure if it's just that people weren't very excited by any of these films (which aren't bad, but in the case of The Last Stand and Sabotage, a little generic), if Arnold's personal life has turned people off or if audience's just feel he's too old to be an action hero at this point. Maybe a combination of all three.

I think he needs a safe bet, as well as a story where he can use his age to his advantage. For Stallone it was Rocky Balboa. For Arnold it might be the long discussed King Conan.

 

They kept telling us he would be king in the first two movies. They have to pay that off.

 

Finally had the chance to watch Catching Fire. It was decent, better than the first, but pretty flawed. It boggles my mind that it has an 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. It's too long, touches on a number of interesting ideas that I don't think it really fleshes out (perhaps a middle chapter problem), but does have a few standout performances. Jennifer Lawrence was solid as ever, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Josh Hutcherson this time around, and Jena Malone was delightful. I'll see the Mockingjays at some point, though probably not until they're out on DVD like I did here.

 

Red Cliff... a masterful production detailing the battle of Red Cliff in 208/209 China, near the end of the Han Dynasty. A great mix of character development & study to go in with the action, which of course was top-notch (what else would you expect from John Woo?). **** out of ****.

 

Five hour version or two hour version?

 

The original, uncut version.

 

Disney's The Jungle Book 2 - Not as good as the first one.

 

I felt the same way about The 400 Blows.

 

Rio 2 (2014)

I don't remember what happened in the original. I also don't think it's possible for birds to operate GPS or to make pancakes. I dunno maybe it was the heroin or something.

 

Resurrection, this movie that was made in 1980. Ellen Burstyn plays a woman who gets injured in a car crash that kills her husband, but has a brief glimpse of the afterlife, and soon discovers she has the powers to heal people, which she puts to use as a faith healer. The film had great, New Age-y style music, and had the now-usual view of a tunnel of light and meeting loved ones for the afterlife, but for a film of this time, it probably wasn't common. I liked the movie's main point, that God is love.

 

Plus, he was out of the acting game for over a decade (even if he was in the public eye still as the Govenator). That's a fairly long time in Hollywood terms to be away from movies (there's a reason why actors like Depp, Cruise, Julia Roberts and Clooney tend not to take too much time on breaks between films). Love him, hate him or indifferent to him, he hasn't been in the public conciousness for a long enough time to make much of an impact yet on movie going audiences.

But the marketing and putting Sabatoge against Cap 2 damn sure didn't help.

 

The January release date certainly didn't help its cause, but I honestly though curiosity alone would bring in a larger audience for The Last Stand. It was a pretty low-key way to start his comeback, but also a return to basics. Something his career was in desperate need of before he ran for office IMO.

The Last Stand is the type of movie I would classify as a "rental" more than a "must see" (at the theater), but certainly not a bad film at all. Coupled with The Escape Plan, which I thought was an above average thriller, I figured people who had seen those on DVD would be more likely to give Sabotage a shot at the theater.

I bet all of these films have been or will be RedBox/On Demand hits, but people just don't seem to think of them as "must see". What Arnold needs is an event film.

I honestly thought his time away would help him. Let's face it, his career was flagging when he left for politics, and I thought that for audiences absence would make the heart grow fonder. But you might be onto something. Maybe he was simply gone for too long.