What Movies Have You Seen Lately?

[Nefret]

I lurve me some Karl Urban!

SM

I liked him in Xena/ Hercules and LOTR.

[fljustice]

I've been on a movie binge these past weeks. Besides the old holiday classics, I've been to see:

Don Jon (much more intelligent than the opening scenes would lead you to believe)
Nebraska (brilliant)
Her (SF books do it better)
American Hustle (gotta love that comb-over)
Frozen (one of Disney's best in years)
The Wolverine (fun, but doesn't develop the character)
Hobbit II (it is what it is)

Missed a bunch that I wanted to see, but will catch on streaming or PPV.

[MLE (Emily Cotton)]

Re the Hobbit: at the risk of annoying Peter Jackson's huge fan base, I have seldom felt so thoroughly disrespected as a consumer than with this movie. Why? because the whole thing depends on getting me to suspend disbelief, and they didn't even try. It was far more important to the movie decision-makers to pile one special effect and action scene on top of another than to put the viewer into a storyworld and do the work to keep them there.

Yes, the effects were fantastic. But they were also unbelievable.

Spoilers follow. Just in case I've got the tagging system wrong.

For example, the barrels. They had those things open, flying down through whitewater, and never filling or sinking. That immediately popped me out of the movie's reality, making it cartoonish, like the roadrunner always popping back up after the coyote blows him up. And you can't invest your emotions in a situation with no danger. Same for the running battles -- how could the orcs miss nearly every single time?

Another: Smaug uses his fire-breath to flame people when it suits the plot, but at other times, it just doesn't occur to him. Why is Thorin standing in front of a dragon defying it, and Smaug appears helpless?

Or that bit with the golden figurine. Really? They got that together that quickly? with that much material?

It would have been nice to see some emotional tension between Legolas and his girl, but they were always busy doing such incredible feats that my eyes about rolled back in my head.

Somewhere in the middle of all that action, my eyes glazed over. I felt like I was in the middle of a video game where I never got to play. And I don't like video games.
C'mon, guys, you want my dollar, tell me a story I can at least pretend to believe in.

Rant over.

[DianeL]

MLE, thank you - I zoned entirely out of the action bits for much the same reasons, it felt to me like "video game" effects. The CGI cartoon of Orlando Bloom became tiresomely unbelievable in a hurry (or, really, just started off that way). And the CG cartoons tended to have far more screen time than anything/anyone with blood in its veins.

Interestingly, the only character in the film with any development at all was the dragon. I forgave it for that, and I took the whole for what it was (and as an enjoyable time with the friends I was with) - but there is a reason I don't want to play video games, and paying what a movie costs these days to be shown a significantly long video game isn't my usual preferred fare.

[Nefret]

Finally got around to watching episode one of the White Queen. Hey, isn't that Thomas Cromwell? It was kinda interesting until they brought up the river goddess thing.

[DianeL]

I took Neftlix streaming up on a suggestion to try a millennial Johnny Depp occulter called The Ninth Gate last night. It *seemed* to be aware it was a parody, but I cringed through the entire movie watching supposed rare book lover after supposed rare book lover smoking, eating, and TOUCHING WITH BARE HANDS the priceless tomes driving the plot. When one of them brushed ashes off a hand-tooled leather cover, I nearly passed out.

[EC2]

Oh well, horses for courses. Me and best girlfriend went to see Hobbit II, loved every minute and thought it better than Hobbit 1. Definitely will be adding to my DVD collection. I got shivers watching Thranduil!

[Nefret]

Hobbit II pretty much just made me want a dragon, and the third movie.

[Ash]

I loved the book, and was thrilled to hear it was to be a movie; then less than thrilled that it was going to be stretched into three. I'd prefer to just not bother, and just reread if it I wish

Philomena is amazing, just have a box of kleenex for the first 20 minutes or so

[Nefret]

Hunchback of Notre Dame (animated). It has the best villain song not sung by a lion.