Monday Morning Quarterback Part III
By BOP Staff
June 7, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Kim Hollis: What movies have you seen lately? What are your thoughts on them?
Tom Houseman: I finally saw Top Gun, which is one an enormous number of popular '80s movies that I have never gotten around to seeing. It was just as homoerotic as everybody said it was, and decently entertaining, although I know I'll never enjoy it as much as the people who are obsessed with those '80s movies do.
One thing it reminded me of is the days when people made good spoof movies. Hot Shots is a great comedy because it is still funny even for people who aren't familiar with the genre it is parodying. Most recent spoof movies are more a parade of references than an actual plot from which comedy is derived. Very sad.
Bruce Hall: In a shameless plug for my column, I'll say that I watched Heavy Metal last week. Not as mind blowing as it was when I was a kid, but still more genuinely entertaining than I remembered. The Hunger Games was a chocolate covered cherry without the cherry. Delicious, but lacking the essential goodness that made me crave it in the first place. I only bring it up because I haven't heard anyone utter the words "Hunger Games" for what feels like a decade. That said...
Think Like a Man was like a Tyler Perry film, except it was also kind of good. The Avengers was fun, if a bit cartoonish for my taste. Battleship is better than you think, but still somehow worse than any Transformers flick. Still, the movie can do some good for humanity if it prevents anyone from ever making another movie based on a board game again. There's always that.
Felix Quinonez: I saw The Avengers which I LOVED. I have nothing bad to say about it. Yes, it had some cartoony moments but it worked for me. I also saw Dark Shadows, which I mostly enjoyed thanks to Johnny Depp's very committed performance but even he couldn't save the third act in which they realized they had no clue how to end the movie. I finally got to see Chronicle. I loved it. The movie had some great acting, especially from the main actor, whose name I didn't bother to learn. It reminded me of Akira and I mean that in a very good way. I also saw The Grey which was very entertaining and Liam Neeson kicks ass. Oh, and I also recently saw 21 Jump Street. It was way funnier than I thought it would be. I no longer despise Channing Tatum.
Samuel Hoelker: MOONRISE KINGDOM MOONRISE KINGDOM MOONRISE KINGDOM!!!! I saw Moonrise Kingdom and it's so much better than even those with the highest of expectations could want. It's Wes Anderson-y, of course, but not in the overbearing, Darjeeling way. He experiments with his styles, motifs, and cliches, to wonderful results. It's with this movie that I realized how great he is with a fictional setting within the real world. The island of New Penzance is a place so mysterious it can't exist, yet so grounded in realize I want to move there.
Much like Tarantino, Wes Anderson can bring out excellent, unique performances out of actors you wouldn't expect (remember that Gwyneth Paltrow was good in Royal Tenenbaums?), and they're all excellent, especially Bruce Willis. The kids seem to click immediately with his style, making for fantastically quirky (in a good way) performances. It's touching, funny, and accessible. Definitely my #1 movie of the year so far.
Sticking with arthouse, I've seen Bernie twice. It's a delight - an excellent, nuanced Jack Black performance, a unique mix of documentary and narrative, and a really sweet tone overall. It's a movie that could go so easily into a mocking and cynical state, but it never does.
And I agree with Bruce. Think Like a Man is better than it should be, and toes the line of "a quality film."
Jason Barney: I've been "all in" on the summer movie season and have seen 15 films since late April. It is a bit easier as far as cost goes because we have a drive in theater in our region. Two films for the cost of one really helps. Going to the movies during the summer is a sweet delight for me, and there are several films I still want to catch. Some in the theaters now, some in the next few weeks.
The Lorax was great. Superior kids movie with a great message.
Salmon Fishing in Yemen is really enjoyable. Quiet, small, nice.
Chimpanzee is a great nature documentary. Would highly recommend it.
Coriolanus was awful. I had to prevent myself from walking out just to get through it.
Wrath of the Titans had great action with a couple of "duh" plot moments. It was not as bad as some say.
Pirates was the first of the drive in films. My son liked it, so that is all that matters.
Three Stooges was okay. Some funny moments, but expectations weren't exactly high.
Dark Shadows was disappointing. I like Depp and Pfeiffer, but it was disappointing.
John Carter was also disappointing. I love science fiction but was almost asleep by the end.
Deep Blue Sea is an indie film that you should avoid. Nice effort but not worth seeing, really.
Battleship Ultimately not worth seeing. If you like color on the big screen, this one is for you.
MIB3 is a good "average" summer movie. Not bad. Entertaining.
21 Jump Street - second film at the drive in. Funny, worth seeing.
Crooked Arrows is a surprisingly good indie pic that I would highly recommend. Give it a chance and it will surprise you.
Avengers was not disappointing in the least. I waited five weeks after the opening, listened to the hype, and still liked it.
Edwin Davies: The last two films I've seen in the theater are Moonrise Kingdom and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
I absolutely adored Moonrise Kingdom, which I thought did a great job of balancing its depiction of the flush of young love against the palpable sadness of its adult characters, which created a film that was both poignant and sweet, yet also incredibly funny. I have some problems with the last third, which kind of get a little too manic in places, but Anderson did such a great job of anchoring even its most extravagant moments in a some deeply felt humanity. Probably my favorite film of the year so far.
I also enjoyed The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, even if I thought going in that it was going to be the sort of wacky British comedy that I generally don't like. It wound up being a lot sadder than that, thanks to a great cast and a script that was a touch more acerbic than I expected. It is a little too tourist-y in places, and the overall direction of the film was very familiar, but the route it took to its conclusion was delightfully surprising.
I also watched We Bought A Zoo on a plane, and I'll be damned if I didn't love it. I'm not a big Cameron Crowe fan (my idea of Hell is sitting and watching Almost Famous on repeat) but the unabashed sincerity of the film really won me over. It probably helped that it reminded me a lot of Field of Dreams, which is my Dad's favorite film and therefore one I have some very fond feelings about, and that Matt Damon was so damnably winning in the central role. Maybe I'm getting all mushy these days, but I thought it was really, really good, and better than the title would have you think.
Max Braden: I've been saving my money for the first half of the year, knowing I could catch up on titles on DVD before awards season, so I've been fairly selective about what I've seen in theaters. That said, my most recent theater trip was to see Battleship. I went in with low expectations, but I was impressed by the visuals in the trailer and that aspect of the movie didn't let me down. But on the whole it was no more impressive than Under Siege or the other alien invasion movies of the last few years.
Now that early 2012 movies are showing up on DVD, I've felt reassured that I made the right decision with my money, because they haven't been very impressive. Gone demonstrates some good sleuthing by Amanda Seyfried's character, but once you see the movie, it's...gone. Man on a Ledge had a moment or two, because who isn't freaked out about heights, but it felt rushed and too easy as a heist. Contraband is a poor imitation of Gone in 60 Seconds, and Gone in 60 Seconds at least has cool cars. Underworld...four - I think - has nifty cinematography but at this point I can't be bothered to care about they mythology anymore. Rampart features Woody Harrelson doing his solid thing as a dirty cop, but there are as-well-acted but more exciting cop dramas already out there. We Need to Talk About Kevin may be well-acted as well, but it's psychoville-depressing, plus Beautiful Boy is a little less sensationalist on the same subject The Devil Inside is currently my vote for worst of the year. The Grey is next.
Kim Hollis: Edwin is now my mortal enemy for the Almost Famous comment. As for movies I've seen recently, I of course saw The Avengers (twice) and am a big fan. I could probably even see it one more time before it leaves theaters. I also saw Men in Black 3 over Memorial Day weekend, and I thought it was pretty fun. Josh Brolin is every bit as good as everyone says he is, and while it feels to me like maybe Will Smith ought to be past these types of roles, I still laughed and enjoyed myself. Admittedly, I may be a bigger mark for the MIB series than most. Other recent movies have included Chronicle (a very good superhero super villain origin story), Haywire (good, frenetic Soderbergh fun) and The Grey, which I think I hated. Honestly, I've kind of had a dislike for man vs. nature stories that goes all the way back to when I read Call of the Wild as a child. I don't know if I'll ever get past it.
I also frequently stop to watch X-Men: First Class whenever it is on. I've found myself really enjoying that film, which I think might be a lot because of Michael Fassbender, but perhaps also because of the setting. Between it and Captain America, Marvel had two really nifty throwback-type movies last summer.
David Mumpower: First of all, I have kidnapped Edwin's pets and they will not be returned until he writes a 2,500 word treatise on the greatness of Almost Famous. As an aside, who has a pet penguin? Other than Jim Carrey, that is.
Like Max, I recently have been cycling through early 2012 releases. I agree with him that The Grey is not at all what its reputation had suggested. I found it predictable as well as inexcusably boring. I also wasn't wild about Chronicle. I enjoyed it well enough - the apex predator aspect was cleverly implemented - but I found it rather thin on the whole. Maybe I was expecting too much from a slight movie. By the time I caught it, my expectations had grown unreasonably high compared to those who saw it in theaters, I guess.
I also finally watched Panic Room, a movie I had on my TiVo for 4 (!) years. Tying back to the earlier discussion about Kristen Stewart, I found my general dislike of her factored into my viewing experience. I kept rooting for the robbers to kill her, which is probably not what David Fincher intended. Overall, I thought the use of claustrophobia and the frequent surprises in terms of subverted expectations created a taut albeit overlong thriller. I also watched Men in Black 3, and I would describe myself as a fan of the series. I found this sequel perplexing in that Josh Brolin is pitch perfect as a younger Tommy Lee Jones yet the movie dragged a lot. What saved it for me in the end is a sweet final 15 minutes that in no way holds up to the established events of Men in Black yet I loved anyway. Men in Black 3 is a great example of how much a good ending can sway the overall perception of a film. It went from thoroughly mediocre to a marginal thumbs up because of its finish.
My favorite recent movie is Haywire, which is a title I expected to be brutal. I happen to be a Gina Carano fan, but I did not expect her attempt as a lead actress to succeed. I clearly underestimated Steven Soderbergh in this regard as Haywire is a wonderful update on The Limey. In fact, when I got finished watching it, my first instinct was to start The Limey and make a double feature of them. Given how much I love The Limey, this is high praise.
Also, before I forget, I still hate Edwin for that awful thing he said about Almost Famous. That is a blueprint example of how opinions can be wrong. I want to slap the Tiny Dancer out of him.