Watched a few movies recently. Like quite a few. A quick synopsis.

Ghostbusters
This could have been great, but it was marred mostly by some pretty low-brow humor. All the cameos from the OG ghostbusters was pretty amusing, but didn't take away from the story. I just wish they'd taken a slightly higher road with the humor.

Secret life of Pets
I didn't much care for this movie. I don't know if there's anything specific I can put my finger on, but I just came away dissatisfied.

Bad Moms
This is more of a chick flick, so not really up my alley. We watched it for Shiny's birthday, and she loved it. It's rude and a bit crude, but amusing.

Sausage Party
For about the first 75% of this movie, it's really, really good. It's hilarious, disrespectful, and crude as hell. Then it kinda takes one more step and goes overboard. I still think it's a good movie, but jesus it goes off the deep end. I'd recommend seeing it.

Suicide Squad
This movie has gotten some really terrible reviews, but I don't think it was that bad. It wasn't amazing or anything, but I think it was fine. I would probably rate it higher than Civil War or the most recent X-Men.

Oh yeah, good idea to revive this thread. Watched quite a few movies lately.

Particle Fever -> Documentary (movie length) about the first experiments at CERN with the LHC and the discovery of the Higgs boson. It's a few years old, so some of its conclusions/findings are now obsolte, but it's still a great documentary. The massive particle collider and the thousands of passionate scientists working there really worked for me. I mean they are all kind of ultra dorks, but what would you expect of theoritical and experimental physicists.

Before Sunrise -> Old movie, directed by Richard Linklater. I watched it as part of the trilogy (Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight) and it was good. The characters are a bit pretentious, and so are some of the conversations, but I still enjoyed it. It had a lot of spunk and enthusiasm. It reminded me of my youth, to some extent. Or at least the possibilities of youth.

In Bruges -> Colin Farell and Brendan Gleesan as Irish hitmen who lay low in Bruges in the winter, while an almost Lynchian plot develops around them. Great movies, dark humor, absurd, well acted. And Bruges is beautifully filmed too.

The Big Short -> Good film, but a bit too preachy. I mean, yes, the whole credit crisis was a circus fueled by greedy psychopaths who never got what they had coming to them. But they try a little too hard to convince you of this. It was obvious already, guys.

Kickass 2 -> Disappointing. Kickass is a great movie, but Kickass 2 pretty much did worse in almost every regard. Less interesting story, less interesting fights, less complex characters. Pfff.

Bridesmaids -> Watched this with a chick. Was supposed to be really funny, and, well, it only kinda was. Maybe I just don't understand some of the female drama driving the movie. I was constantly like....why are people caring so much about all of this shit?! The one thing I did find very amusing was Jon Hamm as the douchebag fuckbuddy. I recognized myself in him, to some extent (way less douchy though).

X-Men: Days of Future Past -> Really decent blockbuster movie. A little heavy on the dialogue compared to some other Marvel movies, but great nonetheless.

Oh and I watched the first and second X-men movies for fun. I'd forgotten how cute Anna Paquin was as Rogue. I also forgot that these movies were made almost 15 years ago, and she was 18. I'm an old perv.

Watched Prometheus two days ago (I hadn't seen it before). As is to be expected from a Ridley Scott SF movie, it was very good. Missed that classic Alien touch a little bit, but as long as you're not constantly thinking "how is this an Alien movie" it's really rather good. The plot makes no sense at times, but hey, all in the name of SF. Good acting too, specifically from the female lead (Rapace) and Michael Fassbender as the android. That blatant setup for a sequel at the end was a bit lame though.

Yea, there were some pretty big plot holes in that movie, but mostly I really like it. The fact the gods that created us are raging assholes was a nice touch. I don't think it deserved the overwhelmingly negative reviews it got.

I saw the movie "The nice guys" with Ryan Gosling and Russel Crowe. A sort of 70s style buddy cop movie with lynchian elements. Absolutely enjoyable, very funny at times and interesting plot. Very much recommended.

I haven't seen it. Perhaps I should.

I don't think I mentioned that I watched Hardcore Henry. If you get an opportunity to see it for cheap or free, you should. It's filmed 100% in first person, which makes it pretty unique. The story isn't that great and there are all kinds of other issues, but for what it is, it's pretty nice.

The whole thing was inspired by the Bad Motherfucker video (same filmmakers), and the action scenes are the same kind of thing. Warning, may cause nausea in the weak.

Cool video. Lol @ nausea though...you're talking to gamers. This whole first-person thing is basically like playing mirror's edge or a twitch shooter.

Definitely watch The Nice Guys. It's not a masterwork or anything, but it's luducrously entertaining. Gosling and Crowe got mad chemistry and the writing is funny and fresh. Wasn't bored for one minute.

I saw this breakdown/review of Prometheus with the cut scenes today and when you see/hear about it all the whole movie suddenly starts to make a lot more sense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSaKxB-8YlE

Ben-Hur
1 out of 5

- Plastic acting.
- The central pivot points of the plot and motives are terminally unreasonable.
- Protagonists invoke no sympathy.
- Antagonists invoke no ... Antagonisation.
- Hollywood physics major bullshit for chariot races.
- Random misplaced and corny Jesus cameo.
- End story propagandist luvvy-dubby ending.
- Morgan Freeman regrets being in it.
- 30 minutes too long.
- misc other inaccuracies surrounding Roman military garrison procedures and treatment of aristocracy

You're not the only one who hated it (this time):

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ben_hur_2016/

Incidentall, the Jesus cameo was also in the original (and parodied by the simpsons)



(skip ahead to 0.50)

Watched Alien: Covenant yesterday and enjoyed it.

Really disappointed that they seemingly skipped over the events between Prometheus and this movie though. Sure, there is continuity, and they do show some flashbacks, but it's really not the same. From what I read in interviews Scott wanted to make that movie (Prometheus spoilers: ), but the studios wanted a more conventional Alien movie. So it's another ship of humans coming into contact with the xenomorphs somehow and then making stupid decisions that lead to catastrophe. Still, Scott is a more than competent director, and the movie never lets down. Fassbender is amazing (as usual) as the android and I liked the rest of the cast's acting as well. An the cinematography is gorgeous in general.

Worth viewing if you're an Alien/Scott fan!

Huh, ok. I'd heard it was terrible, so I was avoiding. Maybe I'll give it a shot after all.

We went and saw Fight Club last night at Alamo Drafthouse. They regularly do showings of older movies, especially cult classics. That movie is still amazing.

Well, it's no "Alien", but it's still a Ridley Scott movie with a big budget in the Alien universe. You'd almost have to try to make it suck completely hahaha.

It's listed as having 70% on Rottentomatoes, so that's really not that bad. I'd say it's a 6.5-7/10 movie for sure.

Now you're gonna make me watch Fight Club again. Was that in a drive-in or a 'regular' cinema?

Saw Cloud Atlas yesterday. It's already a few years old but somehow it passed me by completely, and since it's a Wachowskis movie that's pretty strange. Beautiful film, good acting performances, and a really ambitious storytelling exercise. But it just falls short of greatness. Can't really put my finger on it, but I was left wanting a bit.

Alamo Drafthouse is a sit-down movie theater, but they serve food and alcohol and have no tolerance for people being annoying during a movie. It's nearly the only place I'll go watch movies now.

I've seen Cloud Atlas and I really liked it. Shiny hated it. *shrug*

Damn, that sounds like a great cinema...I googled it and now I want to be there. I mean, I can get beer in the cinema here too, but those tables look so damn handy...and especially the zero tolerance policy for being a loud/obnoxious douche appeals to me. The fact that I have to share the room with idiots talking, laughing or worse throughout the movie - especially a good, slow movie - is the main reason I don't often go to the cinema. There's only so many times you can tell people to shut up before it gets old...so I prefer to spare myself the frustration.

Yeah, I can see how Cloud Atlas might divide opinions. It's just one of those movies.

Saw Guardians of the Galaxy 2 last night, really good (like the first one). I felt like they overdid the humor a little bit - ie it felt a bit more forced - but nothing major, I still smirked or smiled at most of the jokes. Good cinematography, good characters, action, half-decent story, great soundtrack. Just fun all round.

Yea, I think Guardians of the Galaxy was pretty good, though 1 was probably a bit better. Saw a few other movies lately...

Blade Runner 2049. I really liked this movie. Other may hate it (like the original). However, even if you hate it, the cinematography is amazing.

Kingsman - The Golden Circle. Entertaining. It, like the first one, is bascially as tongue-in-cheek Bond clone. Amusing, but not exactly deep or anything.