PCF at the Movies (4 Viewers)

[SixSpeedFury]

Managed to take the tween to catch Zootopia last night. Very funny movie, has jokes for the adults as well as the little ones.

 

[B.C.]

Took my 3yr old to Zootopia last week. Her first ever trip to the movies. Great kids movie.

May have been more excited about the bucket of popcorn and a bag of M&M's big enough for her to fit her head in:

 

[tommythecat]

Finally got to see Deadpool last night. I really enjoyed it. It's a great turn your brain off and enjoy the ridiculousness on display kind of movie.

 

[manamongkids]

Saw batman vs superman last night, Jesse Eisenberg single handedly ruined the movie. It looked like he was trying to play Heath Ledger as the Joker playing Lex Luther.

 

[jbutler]

Saw batman vs superman last night, Jesse Eisenberg single handedly ruined the movie. It looked like he was trying to play Heath Ledger as the Joker playing Lex Luther.

Agreed Eisenberg was horrible but he definitely had some help in ruining the movie from Henry Cavill and the screenwriters.

 

[manamongkids]

Agreed Eisenberg was horrible but he definitely had some help in ruining the movie from Henry Cavill and the screenwriters.

never thought id say it, but there were too many explosions, i go to a 4k Imax Jordans Furniture theater where their are speakers and subwoofers in the seats, my ass was tingly by the time i left

 

[SixSpeedFury]

Just finished seeing it myself. Man, that movie was lolcraptastic. I think Eisenberg's Lex (Lex Jr., we still haven't seen daddy yet) brought energy to the film, everyone else was just wooden and going through the motions. And that ending? The CGI on Doomsday was just horrendous.

 

[gpc]

Just saw BvS and I liked it. I heard it was not getting good ratings so went in not expecting much but I was surprised. Ben Affleck's Batman and batmobile are good and may be the best out of all. Wish someone else was Lex Luthor.

 

[jbutler]

Just saw BvS and I liked it. I heard it was not getting good ratings so went in not expecting much but I was surprised. Ben Affleck's Batman and batmobile are good and may be the best out of all. Wish someone else was Lex Luthor.

Affleck's portrayal was and is the least of my concerns. I think it was hilarious that that was the most pressing question leading up to this movie and then the actual performances were like 15% of the problem.

Screenwriting has never been the strongest element of these comic movies (apart from the Nolan movies where the writing was well above average) and finally the writers just pretty much entirely mailed it in on this one. And Snyder's direction is an entirely different problem but certainly doesn't help matters.

 

[jbutler]

Despite my general prejudice against biopics, I went to see I Saw The Light this weekend. Very disappointing. I was prepared not to be blown away simply because it's difficult to do anything creative with biopics, but I Saw The Light was the blandest Behind The Music-style dramatization possible. He's drunk and broke then he's drunk and rich then he's clean then drunk again then dead. Great. Every dumb musical biopic trope you could think of was dropped in there including the casual-debut-of-a-now-classic-song when Hank plays I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry. I guess this is the best we should expect from a writer-director whose last movie was a biopic about the guy who invented intermittent windshield wipers.

It's hard for me to understand why people with up-and-coming power like Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen would even be interested in the script. Maybe they thought people would be as taken by it as they were with the equally uninteresting Ray and Walk The Line, neither of which deserved a quarter of the praise they got. I will say that Elizabeth Olsen is stunningly gorgeous and that Tom Hiddleston's gaunt figure was perfect for Hank (and his singing voice - if that was his - wasn't horrible), but it takes a lot more than a beautiful woman and good likeness to a movie work and that's about all it had going for it.

Obviously not recommended. Just listen to Hank for a couple of hours.

The only good that came of the movie was that for some reason the title also got the Brook and Dunn song Brand New Man in my head again after a long time. Love some 90s country.

 

[jbutler]

...I Saw The Light was the blandest Behind The Music-style dramatization possible. He's drunk and broke then he's drunk and rich then he's clean then drunk again then dead. Great.

I knew I was channeling something I couldn't quite put my finger on when I wrote this the other day. Turns out I was ripping off a comedian I don't even like. But Denis Leary was right when he said:

"Do we need a two-and-a-half hour movie about the Doors? No, we don't. I can sum it up for you in five seconds, OK. I'm drunk. I'm nobody. I'm drunk. I'm famous. I'm drunk. I'm fucking dead. There's the whole movie, OK?"

 

[ohio3302016]

Anyone see the movie Snowpiecer? I think it's a few years old. I enjoyed this film.

 

[detroitdad]

Anyone see the movie Snowpiecer? I think it's a few years old. I enjoyed this film.

I really enjoyed it. Weird as shit

 

[jbutler]

Anyone see the movie Snowpiecer? I think it's a few years old. I enjoyed this film.

I really enjoyed it. Weird as shit

Agreed - really good one. Same director, Bong Joon-ho made previous two movies - The Host and Mother - that are also very good, maybe better than Snowpiercer. South Korea has produced some solid movies for a while, but they've really stepped it up over the last decade.

 

[detroitdad]

Agreed - really good one. Same director, Bong Joon-ho made previous two movies - The Host and Mother - that are also very good, maybe better than Snowpiercer. South Korea has produced some solid movies for a while, but they've really stepped it up over the last decade.

I've seen The Host. I agree. Like it a lot. Never heard of "Mother". I'll put it on the list to watch. S. Korea has put some really good shit out there. We really liked Battle Royale. One of my favorite action flicks is "The Man From Nowhere". I absolutely love that one. The 3rd act if fucking fantastic.

 

[snooptodd]

Obviously behind the times on this, but watched Spotlight a week or two ago. Damn, that was well done.

Heard a great interview with the real-life Sacha Pfeiffer on NPR, talking about how much the movie got right (can't seem to find it now) and it was fascinating. I wasn't living in this area when the story broke, though I was certainly aware of it. I obviously knew the history, but this lapsed Catholic was pretty friggin' pissed off for like 2-3 days after watching it.

 

[jbutler]

Obviously behind the times on this, but watched Spotlight a week or two ago. Damn, that was well done.

Heard a great interview with the real-life Sacha Pfeiffer on NPR, talking about how much the movie got right (can't seem to find it now) and it was fascinating. I wasn't living in this area when the story broke, though I was certainly aware of it. I obviously knew the history, but this lapsed Catholic was pretty friggin' pissed off for like 2-3 days after watching it.

Yes, I saw Spotlight twice and it was phenomenal both times. Not too bummed it won Best Picture in lieu of some others I'd have preferred. Also, you might have heard Sacha Pfeiffer on On the Media which may be aired by NPR in some places, but is a WNYC show. Here's a link to the episode and it's pretty great.

So I saw three movies this weekend: one okay, one nearly perfect, and one as horrible a movie as I've seen in a long time. In order of viewing:

First, Hardcore Henry:

Not that anyone would be justifying expecting anything more, it was pretty much an hour-and-a-half action sequence. That works for something like Fury Road, but without any kind of world-building or nuanced costume or set design and without the other aesthetic nuances someone like George Miller can insert, it get really boring about half an hour in. There's not a lot in the way of a plot which, itself is not a big problem, but without excelling in other areas, it's pretty hilarious how thin and poorly acted the scenes that make up the story actually are.

I tried to take as much an interest as I could in the Russian setting since it was the only thing of interest to me after a while, but obviously that's not going to carry the movie. The direction is inventive at some points, but surprisingly ordinary at others. I could see someone enjoying this as a one-time watch, but it wasn't for me.

Next, Midnight Special:

This was the nearly perfect one. And I only say nearly perfect because I've just watched it this afternoon and so don't want to assume that something negative won't occur to me at some point. But as I was leaving the theater I was sure it was at least the second best and maybe the absolute best movie I've seen this year.

A lot of the reviews focus on its Spielbergian-ness and there's certainly a lot of Spielberg in the film, but there's a fair amount of John Carpenter and even some Robert Zemekis. It's the sort of movie that James Cameron might have made if T2 hadn't been such a blockbuster that he went full Hollywood (I could see the argument that Cameron actually did make a version of this movie in the form of The Abyss, but The Abyss doesn't present nearly as conflicted or skeptical a view of human nature as is on display in Midnight Special).

I'm reluctant to say too much about the movie because having successfully avoided nearly all the plot points, I loved seeing it with no prior knowledge. The cast is full of all-star character actors and I even thought Kirsten Dunst, who I don't usually care for, had probably the performance of her career. Haven't read the reviews yet, but just now when I looked, it had a 91% on RT. Definitely deserved. Should be 100% imo.

Finally, The Boss:

I think I was in the minority (I certainly was among my friends and those critics whose opinions I most often agree with), but I loved The Heat and liked Spy, so while I didn't necessarily have huge expectations, I thought it was possible I'd love this one. I could not have been more wrong. This was an absolute trainwreck. I smiled - not laughed, but smiled - once in the entire movie. Not much more to say other than the script was absolute garbage and Melissa McCarthy couldn't save it, nor could Peter Dinklage in a supporting role. Almost every attempt at a joke or sequence of attempted physical comedy made me wince in embarrassment for everyone involved.

 

[B.C.]

Michael Shannon eating breakfast is probably 5 stars at this point of his career. He has been killing it since Boardwalk Empire.

 

[jbutler]

Michael Shannon eating breakfast is probably 5 stars at this point of his career. He has been killing it since Boardwalk Empire.

Agreed. And he has been great in all four of Jeff Nichols' movies: Shotgun Stories, Take Shelter, Mud, and Midnight Special. All so, so good.

His comment re: Batman v. Superman was also hilarious (he said in an interview that was "utterly unconcerned" with the match-up) and particularly understandable since he had so recently filmed Midnight Special which is, essentially a superhero origin story and had to have reminded him what is interesting and good about the question of what the world might do in response to someone who has a power that is not understood and how contemporary comic book movies are totally unequipped to answer that question in a way that isn't entirely beholden to the financial expectations of corporate shareholders who understand that no answer can be creatively satisfying enough to forego the near guarantee of a big payday represented by an answer that can only be given over the course of a minimum of three films.

 

[B.C.]

If you haven't seen it, check him out in The Iceman.

 

[jbutler]

If you haven't seen it, check him out in The Iceman.

I saw it and thought it was okay, but have been meaning to revisit after I've heard so many more glowing things from other folks. Maybe I wasn't in the right headspace, but it didn't bowl me over the first time around.

 

[manamongkids]

Thoughts on the Suicide Squad trailers? Margot Robbie does it for me, so definitely will be watching, not sure if it will be theaters or redbox rental type of film

 

[jbutler]

Thoughts on the Suicide Squad trailers? Margot Robbie does it for me, so definitely will be watching, not sure if it will be theaters or redbox rental type of film

I'm a masochist so I'll see it in theaters. I'm not a Jared Leto fan and even apart from that bias, I'm not a fan of what I've seen of his Joker portrayal (though I'm glad he didn't try to mirror Heath Ledger's interpretation). Another potential problem imo is that they appear to be retooling in response to the negative reviews of BvS, specifically trying to insert more humor and highlight it more obviously.

Still, there is a certain feel to the movie as it comes through in the trailers that makes me think it might be worthwhile and David Ayer has a couple of great movies under his belt, so if he can do this in his voice, I could see myself being won over.

 

[Toby]

We finally watched The Force Awakens over the weekend.

Total meh-fest for us. Looked great in places, some of thd FX were spectacular, but the casting, plot, characterization left a lot to be desired.

Too many comedy moments and fan-boy in jokes by far.

Most throwaway/pointless main character death of all time. Probably most noteworthy for that. Could not have given less of a shit about it. There should've been much more build up - I'd expect to have seen it at the end of episode 9, to give them a chance to build up some momentum. Complete waste.

All things considered, I still enjoyed it a lot more than Phantom Menace!

 

[bergs]

The trailer for Hardcore Henry gave me a Horrendous Headache. I can get the exact same experience for the cost of a pint of Bud Light if I go down to the Cask and Flagon on a game day wearing my Roger Clemens Yankees jersey and repeatedly chant "BOS-TON-SUCKS...BOS-TON-SUCKS"

EDIT: Actually, my experience would bar better than the movie. Instead of the ass clowns with the fake Russian accents in the movie, I'll get actual Bostonians wearing warm ups and flannel and saying things like "Ayy, you fuckin' gaiiii, whaddafuck is youh prollem?"

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I'm a masochist so I'll see it in theaters. I'm not a Jared Leto fan and even apart from that bias, I'm not a fan of what I've seen of his Joker portrayal (though I'm glad he didn't try to mirror Heath Ledger's interpretation). Another potential problem imo is that they appear to be retooling in response to the negative reviews of BvS, specifically trying to insert more humor and highlight it more obviously.

Still, there is a certain feel to the movie as it comes through in the trailers that makes me think it might be worthwhile and David Ayer has a couple of great movies under his belt, so if he can do this in his voice, I could see myself being won over.

Per Ayer (and Jai before him), the reshoots are nothing to do with the studio wanting to lighten up the movie.

#SuicideSquad “reshoots for humor” is silly. When a studio loves your movie and asks what else you want, go for it! #ThanksWB #moreaction

— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) April 11, 2016

I tend to believe him. Looking forward to this one, despite, like you, being not sold on Leto. Nor have I seen MoS or BvS.

Also another big recommendation for Spotlight. Finally watched it this past weekend. Such a solid, riveting movie. Haven't seen a procedural like that in a long time. Maybe since All the President's Men. So well done, with great acting across the board. Though I do have to revisit Zodiac at some point.

 

[jbutler]

Saw two this weekend that well exceeded my expectations.

First, Everybody Wants Some!!

I suppose my expectations should have been higher for this, Richard Linklater's semi-follow-up to Dazed and Confused, but it appeared in the trailers to lack the spark of Dazed. That makes sense because, after watching it, it really isn't playing in the same territory as Dazed, which is a good thing. I can hardly imagine any movie being a worthy follow-up to one of the best of all time, particularly when the writer/director is coming off another all time best (Boyhood).

People will do best going in without any thought of Dazed and letting the movie exist on its own. And it's fantastic on its own. Not much happens. There's very little in the way of a plot and no substantial conflict to resolve or endure. It shows a college freshman baseball player in the weekend leading up to the Fall semester. He meets his housemates/teammates and some girls and has a blast.

I could say a fair bit more, but I'll leave it at that. If you like Linklater or the sex comedies of the 80s or have any fondness for the era itself (1980), it is highly recommended.

Next, The Jungle Book.

I don't watch many children's movies (I still haven't seen Frozen or Inside Out or even Toy Story 3 which I understand is excellent), so maybe I'm just behind in my awareness of what's possible, but damn if the CGI in this didn't blow me away. The animated animals are literally indistinguishable from real life. It's amazing.

And the rest of the movie on top of it makes the CGI, as great as it is, secondary to the performances, storytelling, and direction. Excellently paced, funny, thrilling - it really has everything. Maybe a bit too tense in portions for very young children; perfect if you think they can handle the action, though (the above trailer is fairly representative of the level of action/tension).

 

[Anthony Martino]

Thoughts on the Suicide Squad trailers? Margot Robbie does it for me, so definitely will be watching, not sure if it will be theaters or redbox rental type of film

Looking forward to it, gotta love some Harley Quinn. Just saw a hilarious "Friends" version of the Suicide Squad trailer I thought was pretty well done

 

[Chicken Rob]

Here's a better friends intro spoof

 

[jiratic]

Can highly recommend Zootopia (incredible animation, and explores some deep themes you wouldn't expect in a children's movie) + Jungle Book (ridiculously seamless CGI brings to life a well loved children's book)