Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Movie Review: Iron Man 3


My rating: 4/5. 

Succinctly from IMDB.com: "When Tony Stark's world is torn apart by a formidable terrorist called the Mandarin, he starts an odyssey of rebuilding and retribution."

This was an exciting, entertaining movie, even with the one small complaint I have.  Unfortunately I can't fully describe that complaint without giving away a huge plot point, but I will say that the cheesiness of the Mandarin's television interruptions were never redeemed for me later in the movie, even though they were for my husband. I still found them cheesy and unbelievable, while he found them to make sense.  So, take from that what you will.  Otherwise I really enjoyed the movie, especially the exchanges between Stark and the boy. Loved that part.  I also appreciate when women are, at least sometimes, able to save themselves. We really don't see that often enough.  

Monday, January 13, 2014

Movie Review: The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey

My rating: 3.5/5.

From Amazon: "The adventure follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakenshield. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Sorcerers. Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain, first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever Gollum. Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of ingenuity and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum's "precious" ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know."

I had heard that this movie wasn't great, mainly because it tried to be both a kiddie movie and an adult-fan movie at the same time and couldn't pull it off.  I would agree to an extent, especially in the beginning. But I feel like by the second half of the movie, it had decided to be an adult-fan movie (especially judging by the gore; I don't recommend this for kids at all), and I liked it.  I'm a pretty big fan of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and didn't like this movie quite as well, but I still liked it and think it's a good watch for any LotR fan. 

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Movie Review: Cloud Atlas

My rating: 2/5. 

From Amazon: "Future. Present. Past. Everything is connected. An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution.The story is a time-shifting weave of six interlinking narratives, with diverse settings from the savagery of a Pacific Island in the 1850s to a dystopian Korea of the near future. Based on the New York Times best-selling novel Cloud Atlas written by David Mitchell."

I have not read the book, but judging by book reviews and previews for the movie, I really expected to like this. Instead, all I found it to be was a purposefully confused, often boring mess. Good storytelling doesn't have to force itself to be obtuse, and it needs to convey a point. This movie seemed mostly pointless.  It was also unnecessarily gory a few times, and I never appreciate that.  

I will give it credit for its makeup though.  Holy cow; a few times it was quite a while before I realized which (famous) actor was behind a particular character's makeup job.  But that's about all I can give it credit for.