Monday Morning Quarterback Part III

By BOP Staff

July 11, 2012

He'll be missed.

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Tremors - I had never seen Tremors before, which is a little surprising because it was my kind of movie when it was released in theaters. It's goofy and the effects are terrible (of course), but it's a whole lot of fun. Kevin Bacon is great, and I enjoyed Fred Ward as well. If I was scrolling through the channels and saw it was airing, I'd probably turn it on to watch again.

Rock of Ages - I fully acknowledge that Rock of Ages is not really a good film. With that said, I guarantee I will watch it about 2,000 times. The reasons why are pretty simple. I do like movie musicals. I really tend to like embarrassingly bad movie musicals, including such stuff as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (oh, it's terrible, I know) and Grease 2. I don't know that Rock of Ages is as terrible as they are, but its plot is ludicrous and David is correct that Diego Boneta is utterly lacking in appeal. With that said, I'm a child of the '80s and I loved the little touches such as Journey "Escape" t-shirts, buttons on jean vets, and Russell Brand wearing a Joe Elliott-type shirt. Also, Tom Cruise is really great. I'm not saying his singing is fabulous, but I think his voice actually fits the character pretty well. And there are a few fun hair band cameos in there, too.

Moonrise Kingdom - I'm a Wes Anderson mark, with The Darjeeling Limited being his only true "miss" for me. I was really excited by the great reviews for Moonrise Kingdom and I can say that I was not in any way disappointed. To the contrary, this is my favorite movie of the year so far. I thought Anderson injected a lot of wry humor into the film and as always, the detail was spectacular. He's created a fantasy world that is well worth the visit.

Brave - I think this is a movie that I will enjoy more upon repeated viewings. It is absolutely gorgeous, with lush animation that can be spellbinding at times (the horse in particular is *wonderful*.) I thought the mother-daughter focus was pretty touching and I also rather liked the fantasy aspects of the film. It felt sort of inspired by Miyazaki to me. I agree that it's not at the same level of such classics as Up and Ratatouille, but I found it to be satisfying.




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Seeking a Friend for the End of the World - The subject matter is tough, because the title tells you what is going to happen. Don't doubt that for a moment. With that said, this is a sweet movie that takes full advantage of Steve Carell's talent at playing a good, decent everyman. His chemistry with Keira Knightley is surprisingly tender.

Safety Not Guaranteed - I love when I go into movies and have no idea what to expect. I knew who was in this film and that it involved time travel in some way, but that was all. It's a movie that I like more as I think about it more. Aubrey Plaza is indeed outstanding, and Mark Duplass is goofy as hell yet still manages to be completely engaging. I never was sure where the story was going - not even to the last moment. I love it when I can see a movie and be surprised and delighted.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - When I left the theater after seeing this, my comment was, "It was slow, but not bad." However, the more I thought about the movie, the more it annoyed me. I thought this premise had a lot of potential but instead of making a fun movie about a brilliant president who also happened to hunt vampires on the side, we got a pretty straight story. And in the end, the movie just wound up being boring and laborious. That's just not forgivable.

Ted -This movie does have a lot of big laughs, and I was pretty impressed with the animation/puppetry involved in bringing Ted to life. With that said, I'm not a big fan of Family Guy because I think the jokes fall flat more often than they hit, and Ted sometimes falls victim to the same problem. There are a lot of *very* funny jokes in the film. There is a cameo that is brilliant. Still, I found myself wondering why in the hell people were laughing at a number of things. Overall, I'd still recommend Ted. The high spots are so good that the less funny stuff is easy to overlook.


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