This really wasn’t that bad at all. It was mindless fun, exactly what I needed. The plot is exactly what you see in the trailer, and the end is exactly what you’d except, give or take a highly illogical gold car. All the leads did a good job, even Eddie Murphy. I love a good heist movie. This isn’t exactly that, but it is a heist movie, so it got those bonus points. And really, the gold car aside, it’s a pretty tight script when you look at the heist part. Maybe. I might be forgetting other silly bits. But whatever, it’s not supposed to be great, it’s supposed to be a fun watch, and it was everything it needed to be.
I loved it. It was so well written. The characters were instantly likable and just the right amount of cliché, which appropriately grew over time. I knew a little bit more than I wish I did going into it, but not nearly enough to have it spoiled. The trailers gave away that Topher didn’t die, but otherwise all the stuff that seemed spoilery is actually set up in the opening scene. Great opening scene by the way, with the title card popping up like it does.
The acting in the cabin was ok, as to be expected. They all played their parts well enough for their purposes. In the control room though, everyone rocked. It got to the point where I did not care about the cabin at all, I just wanted to watch the puppeteers. This changes the way I will watch any slasher/horror movie again. I can never not imagine that they are behind the scenes manipulating every little thing.
I hope that this means the end of the genre as we know it. I know it doesn’t, because just like the gods below in this one, we moviegoers need to see the same old teen sacrifices year in and year out. But maybe it will make the filmmakers go at it just a little bit differently.
This one demands a rewatch or three. I need to see the scene in the basement again, and identify all the little trinkets.
Even as a fan of the first three movies, I found it hard to love this one. There were some moments that really worked, like MILF, but so much just fell flat. Like The Hangover Part II, this was full of rehashes of jokes that worked way better last time. And the acting, which has never been a highlight of this series, was particularly bad. Especially Rookie of the Year and Chris Klein. So bad. Alyson Hannigan felt completely wasted here. Jim’s Dad was good, even Jim was good. Finch too. And Stifler did exactly what you’d expect, so that worked. But no new ground was broken. “Hey guys, we’re old now, and things didn’t turn out like we hoped, dick joke”.
While it wasn’t as sad as it seemed it might be, the scene at the end with his mom right before he went into surgery got me. And it’s because in that moment I didn’t identify with him, despite myself being a 20-something handsome dude, but I was seeing it through his moms eyes. All I could think about was watching Ronnie go into a surgery where there is a serious chance she might not come out.
But anyway, the movie, really really good. Well written, well acted, everything worked perfectly. Anna Kendrick was particularly good, as was JGL. Everyone really. I’d watch it again for sure. It was very clever and didn’t manipulate your emotions when it clearly could have. It’s not that kind of movie. Knowing that he is still alive today helped, it would have had quite a different feel otherwise, but still, I think it may have creeped into my 20122 Top Ten list, not that that’s relevant any more. I should do top ten lists 3 years late.
This should be filed under Horror and Do Not Watch. Not because it wasn’t good, it was actually quite excellently made, but it’s way too real feeling, I don’t want to worry about this kind of stuff. I don’t know anything about epidemics, but I imagine if one were to happen today it would go down pretty much like this.
No one stood out as particularly excellent or bad, everyone just kind of fell into their role and despite this movie starring about half of the working actors in Hollywood today, I didn’t really think about it while it was on, I just got into the story. And speaking of story, it doesn’t really feel like a traditional story, more like a documentary from multiple viewpoints. Anyway, I really liked it except that it scared me and now I don’t want to leave the house
Remember: Always Wash Your Hands!
I gotta say, I really liked it. I was a naysayer the whole time it was being made, but in the end it all came together quite nicely. Not everything was perfect, but enough was. The world of Panem was so wonderfully realized, especially the Capital. They could have gone way over the top, but they kept it pretty real, like an extension of the celebrity that already exists today. The games themselves were pretty good, except for the cave part but thankfully that was short. Lots of stuff was left out or slightly altered from the book, but nothing that really hurt the movie.
The ending kind of sucked. Well, I guess I’d say that if there were an ending. It’s so clearly just part 1 or a trilogy (please don’t make it 4 movies…), and I knew that going in, but it’s no excuse. Even the Lord of the Rings movies felt like they each had a solid conclusion to the story. I still think that having the whole series be two movies would have been best. Cut all the bullshit out of this one, have a rather quick victor’s parade, and then hit us with the cliffhanger ending: they are going back into the arena. Part two would be 30-40 minutes of solid games action, and then the revolution for 2 hours.
So yeah, I was a hater, but I’ve come around. I look forward to seeing it again on blu-ray, hopefully with some kind of enhanced viewing mode, or at the very least a commentary. Catching Fire is going to be awesome. Mockingjay will probably suck, but that’s a story issue and it doesn’t look like they’ll be making and huge changes to that.
Was I paying enough attention to properly write this one up? No, not really. But I can say this: it was pretty, it had good action, and it was silly (but in a good way). What else can you expect from Paul W.S. Anderson? I thought it would be horrible, and if you think it is I totally support your choice, but I found it to be just the right about of nonsense and action to be utterly enjoyable.
So this was not good, yet I found myself oddly fascinated by it. When I first saw the trailer I immediately dismissed it because the concept was just too ridiculous. How could they possibly explain how people stop aging and then have a clock in their arm that determines how long they live? Turns out they can’t. The first line is a JT VO saying something like “We don’t know how it happened, but it did, we’re genetically engineered.” Ballsy move and I’m kind of ok with it.
None of the actors did a particularly good job, not even JT. He needs to be charming and funny. The script was just plain old silly and much of it was unmemorable. But like I said, I was oddly fascinated. Why would they cast people clearly over 25 when the entire premise is that no one is over 25? It’s not like there aren’t plenty of 25ish actors out there, just look at any movie or TV show about high schoolers. Cillian Murphy is 35 years old for Christ’s sake, and he looks it. But this really doesn’t matter. It feels like the screenwriter or the producers just had this idea “what if you had a life clock in your arm man? That would be CRAZY!” and they went with it, somehow got funding, and here’s what we got. It was actually pretty fun. I could see this on How Did This Get Made.
Adorable. Anna Farris always is. The movie was as cookie cutter as they come, with a couple self referential lines thrown in there to keep it from being completely corny (I know where he lives, why don’t I just go wait there?). It’s ok though, her and Chris Evans were great together and there were plenty of funny moments.
Pretty solid find on Netflix. This guy is a dick but they do a good job of making him not really seem like a total dick. Barry Pepper was over the top and kind of awesome. Keven Spacey deserved that Golden Globe nom.
