Quick Opinions - Movie Edition

A fistful of dollars I liked quite a bit. I remember being very intrued by him going back and forth between the two gangs.

Place Beond the pines was quite good, I enjoyed it a lot, thoguh I honestly dont remmeber much about it now...

I'm a big fan.

Family Plot was forgettable.


*edit* Oops, wrong page.

Sure. I'll just throw up my thoughts for the last set.

1. A Fistful of Dollars: The fact that this is basically a shot for shot remake of Yojimbo makes this hard to totally embrace, but it's also a blast to watch and brought Eastwood, Leone, and Morricone to the foreground in a big way. B+

2. Sexy Beast: Kind of a generic gangster film, but Mark Glazer's weird touches do elevate things and Ben Kingsley is a hoot. C+

3. Saturday Night Fever: Way more interesting than I expected and Travolta is very good, but I also think it's pretty messy. C+

1. Star Trek Into Darkness: A very misguided script which does not really seem to understand Star Trek hurts this a lot. From the film's weak depiction of Khan (and the secrecy behind his identity) to the Kirk death scene, to the violence, to the general excessive referencing, there is a lot of questionable stuff. That said, Abrams' direction is really polished. He crafts some effective scenes, the action and effects work, and I really like the cast. I'm torn, but looked in isolation just as a modern blockbuster and I think it's okay. C+

2. American History X: It's been a long time and my feelings are really mixed. On the one hand, Edward Norton is awesome here and I think in its best moments the movie works very well. On the other hand, the film's more hateful moments actually resonate more than Derek's redemption which is...troubling. I'll probably be revisiting this at some point so I'll refrain from giving a score for now. If nothing else, I will say the film is interesting and I do respect it for boldly tackling some important issues.

3. Gone Girl: I love it. The film's musings on marriage aren't totally convincing to me (though I love the basic question of how much do you really know someone) and there are some really glaring plotholes (problematic in a story which depends so much on having a tight narrative) but god damn do I love the way Fincher puts a movie together. An engrossing film to watch with lots of great small touches from Fincher, an engaging story, and a solid cast. A

Star Trek Into Darkness: It's a harmless movie and a lot of non-fans find it enjoyable. I'm not the biggest Star Trek fan in the world but I do highly respect it and can see why people despise these new films.

American History X: I haven't watched it since high school but I remember really enjoying it.

Gone Girl: Rosamund Pike is fantastic and delivers a top-tier villainess performance. Ben Affleck ain't half bad either. A

I remember seeing AMX years ago when I was just really getting into movie sand found it extremely powerful. But watched again when it was on bluray.... hmmm. Not so sure about it anymore.

Stand By Me - Eh, didn't care for it.  It's been a few years since I've seen it, but I remember not really being drawn in by the characters nor the story, nor did I find the boys all that likable.  **/****

Videodrome - Haven't seen it.

Superman - A very strong movie.  I don't care much for Superman as a character in general, but this movie has undeniable charm and is made with skill.  I also really enjoy Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor.  ***1/2 /****

I'll take Superman turning the Earth around over anything in Man of Steel.

Let's stop giving Gene Hackman so much shit. 40 years later and he's still the best cinematic Lex Luther.

Overall though, John Shea is #1.

If Lex Luthor existed in Trump's America, you'd be in the ocean right now.