Well, I didn't go to theaters much--I saw, what, 'Sucker Punch' and 'Your Highness' , but I did a lot of rentals... Since I'm re-rebuilding my Facebook page and there's thusly not much going on there, figured I might do a thread, just 'cause I didn't want any WT- or personal- threads and it's just too decent a day to ruin it with too much about the Borg. So, list:
- Sucker Punch--I loved it. I was going through an awful time and it really lifted my spirits. It's so much more than what it looked like.
- X-Men: First Class--movie of 2011 for me. Michael Fassbender OWNED IT!!! Movie might as well have been called 'Magneto'. He and James McAvoy are just magic on the screen together.
- The Beaver--I was really impressed with Mel Gibson's performance--Oscar-worthy in my opinion. A sad movie, but I think, an important one to make.
- Battle: Los Angeles--I didn't have high expectations for this one, but it ended up really impressing me. I think I would have preferred to know more about the aliens, but I'm guessing they didn't exactly want to go on '60 Minutes' to talk about it, so...shoot 'em, I guess...
- Thor--I thought there was some great stuff in there, great humor, though I think more interesting stuff happening on Asgard than on Earth. Still, a good film.
- Unknown--Pretty cool. Liam Neeson is having some great action movies these days--it's rare that a movie serves up surprises as well as this one did. I kind of hated January Jones for awhile after this until I saw 'X-Men: First Class', and then I quickly liked her again...
- The Adjustment Bureau--I liked it, though I wished there was more of an explanation than was given. Worth seeing once.
- Green Lantern: Emerald Knights--Great little set of stories about the coolest/most powerful Green Lanterns out there. It's animated, but hardly less of a movie for it.
- Source Code--Great movie. Jake Gyllenhaal has been impressing me more than I think he rightfully should. First 'Love & Other Drugs', now this?
- True Grit--I just like Jeff Bridges (who is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors), and Hailee Steinfeld was great. Pretty much the way Bridges says, "Fill your hand, you son of a b****!" and charges his horse at like, 3 bad guys, is really all I needed to make this a classic of mine.
- Mars Needs Moms--A surprisingly good kids' film. Really great humor and an exciting pace. I really, really enjoyed it.
I have yet to see 'Captain America: The First Avenger' but have heard good things about it. I am also hoping to see the animated movie 'Batman: Year One' soon, as I absolutely love the comic series. I only wish they'd let Frank Miller do it himself, since he wrote it and all. But I've heard good things about it. Still haven't seen 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes', either. James Franco, Frieda Pinto, and Andy Serkis as ape-gone-mad? That's really all I need to know. I don't doubt I'll enjoy it, even if it's not nearly as good as the original (and what is, really?). I'm also looking forward to 'Super 8', which I've heard good things about, and 'Kung Fu Panda 2', which I'm hoping is a worthy sequel. Haven't seen 'Green Lantern' yet--the live-action one--but I think I'm going to like it even if it's not that great, because I just like Green Lantern (and Blake Lively, and Ryan Reynolds, the former for very different reasons than the latter. You had me at 'Gossip Girl', Blake...).
I've seen the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy on Blu-ray. Some of the changes to those were kind of odd. The CG Yoda really helps Episode I, but they removed some good lines (R2-D2's lines, of all things!) and messed up the pacing in some of those scenes. Episode II had a bit of Anakin's mom crying out to him in a dream, and that was new, and they removed a few seconds of footage from the confrontation with Dooku and put it a moment or two earlier in the film, which seemed unnecessary, but maybe makes more sense on some level, except that it's very unexpected and feels out of place. Episode III had one barely noticeable change, the clones' shouting on Utapau as they attack, rather than saying nothing. But Episode I has never looked so good, and I felt like I was watching it for the first time. II and III were largely the same in picture quality as the DVD version, which is a shame, I kind of wanted to see it look even better... Still haven't watched the Original Trilogy yet, but I'm working on it. "No. NOOOOOO!!" Ha ha, haven't seen that part yet. I don't want to let any apostates take that quote out of context and thus lead people away from Star Wars!
So, hope your weekend is awesome. See you around.
--sd-7