Amph What was the last movie you saw?

Oculus (2013)

Very pleasantly surprised by this indie horror film about an evil mirror. It does several things right. Karen Gillan plays the lead and the film is bold enough to make her unlikable, but in a compelling way, not an annoying one. And the flashback stuff to when she and her brother were young children is really excellent, thanks in large part to the casting of Rory Cochrane and Katee Sackhoff, both of whom are really excellent, as their troubled parents. The film has some creative sequences and the first hour especially is very suspenseful and engrossing. The last half hour goes off the rails by getting intricate to the degree that it's just confusing and distancing, but it pulls it together for a bold, surprising ending. You can tell it was made on the cheap and it gets too smart for its own good with all the time jumps in the last 20 to 30 minutes, but on the whole it was very enjoyable and steadfastly smart, if not brilliant. I'd recommend it. *** 1/2 stars.

 

Bad Neighbours - It has a number of good gags in it and is well acted, but it's not exactly new and you could see where it was going. Funnier than I expected it to be.

Amazing Spider-Man 2 - It did a good job of expanding the story from the previous movie (what happened to Peter Parker's parents for example) and was big on the character development which is good. Everyone acts very well, Andrew Garfield & Emma Stone have great chemistry as do Garfield and Dane DeHaan. I thought adding 3 villains wasn't really needed, but I understand why they did it given they had to resolve a particular character's storyline. It is long but I didn't think it felt very long, however some of the set pieces were at bit OTT and never looked entirely real (although I guess if it looks like a comic book that doesn't matter).

 

From what I've heard it's pretty close to being a scene by scene remake, except with some car stunts added because it's Paul Walker.

 

Pacific Rim I was more entertained than I thought it would be, but God, it was dumb. I don't think there was a single line that wasn't a cliche.

Terms and Conditions May Apply Although I already knew 90% of this stuff, it all being laid out in an 80-minute film is still scary.

 

The Big Lebowski - A good movie

 

Saving Mr Banks. Very good movie, but not what I was expecting. Being that its about Walt Disney and the making of Mary Poppins, I was expecting something with a fairly light tone. Instead I got Disney doing a straight up period drama liberally sprinkled with Mary Poppins references about a woman who actually had kind of a screwed up childhood. Its not exactly chim chim cheree and dancing penguins.

 

don't get me wrong, there was a lot of great things in this, the scene from which the above is taken, all the bridge stuff, etc. i was thinking about it a bit today and i think it was the ultra-flatness of the characters that bothered me the most. we're supposed to care about these guys but it's like...why?

 

just watched down by law, based on your post, and the fact i really should have watched it previously. i loved it, although, having said that, i still sthink dead man is better. roberto benigni is awesome in this movie tho. i went into it thinking tom waits but yeah, roberto steals it. great movie.

 

Watched Skyfall this afternoon. Hadn't seen it in a year. Still like it quite a bit

 

The Killer (1989).

I don't really know where to begin. It was like the John Wooiest movie to ever John Woo, but I enjoyed it so, so much. The violence was fascinating and beautiful in that way one can get beauty out of, say, a Sam Peckinpah film. The acting was outstanding. The shot composition and editing was brilliant. Just... everything. I love this movie and I've only seen it this once. Goddamn.

 

Violence becomes poetry. This really is on the level of the closing shoot-out of The Wild Bunch... and then some.

 

I saw The Other Woman today. It was a really good movie. Not really for the mens, though.


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The other Woman. I think the movie was very funny.

 

The Losers. This movie goes on my list of movies that are terrible but so freaking hilarious. Watch this movie just for Chris Evans; seriously. And one of the most over-the-top ridiculous explosions I've ever seen.

 

The Amazing Spider-Man 2... because of its darker tone, and some unexpected happenings in the plot (unexpected for me anyhow), this was a better film than its immediate predecessor. Andrew Garfield continues to play Parker/Spider-Man much better than Toby Magurie's version; same with Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy- a far better written & acted love interest than Dunst's Mary Jane. Foxx does a really niiiiice job as Electro... there was some good stuff here in which you felt for the guy. And, the "new" Harry Osborne was a delight. I was rather entertained by the end; an afternoon well spent (I really need to go to more matinees.. only $6.50 I paid for this!). Another huge plus: everything to do with Richard & Mary Parker's back story.


However, there was the presence of the usual tropes (does NYC ever get a break in these films?) & cliches bound to be found in a film such as this... the next to last sequence (leading right up to the final scene), though effective & daring in some respects, still struck me as a bit bizarre. There was a kabuki dance-esque feel to the proceedings here, even if it was mostly well done & entertaining; another familiar song & dance. Hollywood's quite good at that. *** 1/2 out of ****.

 

I found that Garfield is a better Spidey but MaGuire was a better Peter IMO

 

Frozen, at long last. Seriously, it's taken forever for it to get a home release down here. Anyway, I loved it. Excellent characters, awesome song sequences ("Let it Go" may just become my favourite Disney song ever), and--best of all--a long list of intelligently subverted Disney movie tropes combined for an excellent movie. 8/10

 

Agreed. Parts of Frozen had me going "WOW!" Disney subverting its own schtick was great.

 

The following is copy-pasted from screencrush.com:

Hulk (2003)

For many people, Ang Lee's 'Hulk' is seen as a crushing disappointment and one of the worst comic book movies ever made. Honestly, that's a fair assessment. Great swaths of the film simply do not work and its artistic flourishes are frequently at odds with the poppy, silly material. But for all of its flaws, 'Hulk' is aiming for something that wouldn't be commonplace for a few more years -- it wants to be a genuinely great, thought-provoking superhero movie. Granted, it isn't that on any level, but the botched attempt is fascinating and frequently beautiful. There are moments in 'Hulk' that are borderline avant garde and that's something you typically don't get to see in this kind of movie. This is a true case of a movie getting an "A" for effort.

Read More: Ranking All the Modern Marvel Movies #18 – #8

I have to say I agree with the sentiment. At the time, I appreciated Lee's Hulk, and when the 2008 one came out, I still preferred the first one. Of course, now that I've seen the 2003 Hulk a number of times, I vastly prefer watching the Ed Norton one, if both of them are on TV at the same time. It's lighter, more fast paced, more actiony and just more fun, which is really the trademark of the Marvel Studios flicks, isn't it. Light and fun. Plus, it's less taxing on your mood to watch a resourceful scientist who simply can't risk a too high pulse, compared to watching a tormented soul of pent-up rage for two hours. The 2003 Hulk was interesting and engaging the first couple of times I watched it, and boring every time after that.

Here's their take on TIH:

The Incredible Hulk

If Ang Lee's 'Hulk' is an ambitious and artistic failure, Loius Leterrier's 'The Incredible Hulk' is the exact opposite: it has no artistic ambition whatsoever, but it's a simple superhero action film that doesn't aim particularly high and succeeds with flying colors. Although there is a debate to be had about Noble Failures VS Mid-Level Successes, 'The Incredible Hulk' is upper-tier entertainment, a movie that's unapologetically all about a giant green beast smashing his way through everything that stands in his way. Like every Marvel Studios movie, it's impeccably cast (particularly Tim Roth as the villain), but unlike so many Marvel Studios movies, the final action scene delivers in a huge, massive, amazing way, delivering a monster versus monster battle that's yet to be topped in this genre.

 

Apologies for double posting, but I have to bring this to Jabba-wocky 's attention, as he will love this:

Spider-Man 2

The fact that 'Spider-Man 2' isn't number one on this list is a bit of a travesty, huh? After all, Sam Raimi's second outing with the web-slinging hero is as perfect as superhero movies get, nailing everything that's great about its hero without sacrificing the unique tone established by the first film. How exactly does Raimi pull off a movie that's simultaneously goofy, melancholy, romantic, frightening, melodramatic, crazily intense and emotionally fulfilling? Some kind of cinematic alchemy, apparently. Watching 'Spider-Man 2' is like watching a dozen different movies at once, each of them complementing the others. It showcases the unlimited potential of this genre by recognizing how silly a superhero is while asking you to care deeply about his personal plights. Most of all, it has a huge heart, powered by people who truly love Spider-Man but aren't afraid to break the rules of the character's comic universe to make a better film. 'Spider-Man 2' is a masterpiece.

For the record, Avengers got the #1 spot on the list.

 

Wocky you should go see this and pretend that it's a director's cut of Spider-Man 2.

 

What, all the awful parts of the movie that the director left on the cutting room floor?

 

This morning A New Hope, then tonight Empire

 

Just finished Empire so why not move onto Jedi