What movies have you seen recently?

[roadman]

Just saw Wolf on Wall Street- Too long of a movie repeating the same scenes over and over, but I did like the movie.

[SPTO]

Well as promised, January brings the return of Kaiju Friday!

The Return of Godzilla/Godzilla 1985 (1984/5)

This was a reboot so that it does away with some of the lunacy the film series had accrued over the years and thus with this film this is a new Godzilla attacking Japan 30 years after the initial Godzilla. This movie has a strong cinematic feel and updates the original film for a more mid '80s style with a strong dose of Cold War politics thrown in. The story is pretty good and while the action isn't very evident in this one, the overall feel of Godzilla's impending attack on Japan is very much hanging over the heads of every one.

Surprisingly the Prime Minister of Japan in this movie steals the film from the leads and the actor Keiju Kobayashi gives a standout performance. The leads are all rather perfunctory but they don't really stand out. Godzilla is very much a force of nature in this one and seeing him at 80 meters tall walking through the cities of Japan is a sight to behold. The military attacking Godzilla at Tokyo Bay is very well done as well.

Fantastic reintroduction of Godzilla and sets the stage well for future films.

*** stars

[PhilliesFan13]

Anchorman 2

Saw this with a buddy last night. Enjoyable and funny, but I felt some of it was way too ridiculous compared to the first movie.

Spoiler

The ending battle scene in the park was great though. So many cameos you wouldn't expect. Probably my favorite scene in the movie.

[daflyboys]

Riddick

Maybe I wasn't in the mood for this or maybe I just forgot all that happened from Chronicles, but this was more like "Riddickikulous". Fairly cheesy dialogue/monologue.

[alifeincomplete]

Paranormal Activity - The Marked Ones

My fiancee and I went to see it last night. We're fans of horror and I have a loyalty for this series, at least the first movie. I wasn't expecting much because the fourth movie isn't really worth seeing, but this pleasantly surprised me. It feels more in line with the first three than PA4 does.

Spoiler

Very well done; a relentless and intense movie. I wouldn't really call it 'scary' in the same way the first one is because they largely do away with the slow-burn approach. After about the half-way point of the movie, it's freaking insane. Unlike the earlier movies when you get a break during the action, there is no such reprieve in this movie. Every time the camera is on, it's chaos. The ending is wild. I should despise the ending on principle alone, but it's executed very well. Overall, a surprisingly good mixture of humor and horror.

[Blzer]

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

I don't know if these movies are to be enjoyed more with a strong assumption that the books have been read, though most of the time I always read people's impressions saying the "books are better" regardless of the film so maybe I'll refrain anyway. However, I felt a bit left out of the loop when all was said and done, because I really didn't know what to expect out of this film or what will be to come in the next [and supposed final] sequel. Rest assured, though... I'm itching to see the final one.

Strangely, what came off as a "part two" in this series really just felt more like an "act two" of a single installment. The beginning didn't feel like a hard beginning, and the end didn't feel like a hard end. In fact, I was caught by total surprise that the end was where it was. Not because of the actual scene, but leading up to it not only did I not feel the time pass as it did, but the style was shot in such a way that it wasn't super climatic, if that makes sense. I think there were other things I was clued in on that led me to believe there was a lot of film left to go, but again I feel if I read the books beforehand this wouldn't have felt so strange to me.

What I mentioned is neither a good or bad thing, but it didn't work well as a standalone film and personally I don't think I could watch this one by itself. As I said, its style is so different in its pacing that I really think it's going to connect well to "part three" and they will need to be watched in consecutive order. Assuming they keep the same director, the director goes for the same art style, and it picks up right where we left off, I would be fine with that. I honestly think they should have shot these films back-to-back and just edited them into two films if the stories go this route, though.

Anyway, enough nitpicking here and there. Compared to the original, this one was very dark and brooding. Colors were mute all around and there wasn't much reason for anybody but Elizabeth Banks and Stanley Tucci to smile in this one. It was short of laughs, but that's because the people aren't really relatively enjoying their times in the districts. Jennifer Lawrence was plenty outstanding, Jeffrey Wright played a great supporting role, and I liked Phillip Seymour Hoffman as an addition to the cast (though hope/d his role will offer a little bit more in the long run because it's tough to waste such a talent). Emotions in this film sat right where they needed to be, and my initial fears of the love triangle playing off too strongly ala Twilight were negated pretty quickly.

The one thing I actually wasn't as pleased with this time were the games themselves. I thought everything leading up to it was awesome and was highly anticipating the games to start, but in the end there just wasn't much too them. I thought most instances were too forced/controlled and not just happenstance, which was sort of disappointing. I can't complain too much if this is how the books were especially when they're sticking close to the source, but I can only comment on what I saw. There was also a moment involving water I didn't really like that reminded me of this moment (go along with it if you get what I'm talking about):

Spoiler

"Here, this helps!"

I liked the movie plenty enough, but felt like the story was part one of a two-parter and the way that it was shot was act two of a three-acter, so it felt incomplete. I don't see a reason to buy this movie right when it comes out on Blu-ray because I simply cannot justify watching it over and over again until the third one comes out, unless it's just to re-remember parts and fill in the gaps. Yes, I really do feel these movies need to be watched sequentially and consecutively.

Anyway, as I said, I think I'm a little more out of the loop than others because I haven't read the books, and I will have questions if people have answers so I'm going to start venturing into the official thread. As it stands, I preferred the first one more simply because it was new to me, the film felt more "complete" (though that was by nature and intent), and I liked the games more in it. This one was great too and truly leaves me wanting more, so I still have to give credit where credit is due. Job well done on these films, and I only hope they tie closely enough to the books where fans of those can continue to be fans of these. Jennifer Lawrence is always a great help in making that happen, too.

[Blzer]

Quote: Originally Posted by alifeincomplete

Paranormal Activity - The Marked Ones My fiancee and I went to see it last night. We're fans of horror and I have a loyalty for this series, at least the first movie. I wasn't expecting much because the fourth movie isn't really worth seeing, but this pleasantly surprised me. It feels more in line with the first three than PA4 does. Spoiler Very well done; a relentless and intense movie. I wouldn't really call it 'scary' in the same way the first one is because they largely do away with the slow-burn approach. After about the half-way point of the movie, it's freaking insane. Unlike the earlier movies when you get a break during the action, there is no such reprieve in this movie. Every time the camera is on, it's chaos. The ending is wild. I should despise the ending on principle alone, but it's executed very well. Overall, a surprisingly good mixture of humor and horror.

Yeah, the ending is definitely set up for a lot of discussion and predictions. It's so insane that I don't even know where to begin with it. And you're right, I didn't leave the theater shaking my head at it because it really was done just right. It was a bold decision on their part to do what they did, but I think it opens the right doors for future sequels. It kind of "makes sense" of things prior to it as well, even if they weren't originally intended to go down this way when they wrote and shot the other films.

I also agree that the "scares" can't be compared, because they simply don't scare the same way. This is both good and bad, because I can assume that hauntings can only go so far for this franchise without becoming stale, but that's also what made the first few films so refreshing compared to other movies. The unfortunate part is now it's going to have to do a little bit more to separate itself from other franchises, because the scares in this simply have done before outside of PA.

But hey, I'm in it for the long haul. At least this one was very entertaining, even if it wasn't that horrifying.

[Quint75]

I find what the PA series does pretty well, especially in the first movie and this latest one, is present pretty likable protagonists to you (Katie and Micah in the first one, Jessie and Hector in this latest one) and then do horrible things to them, eliciting real sympathy. Couldn't help but feel sorry for Hector in this movie, though I must confess I would have bailed on Jessie after it became too much.