this is not a journal title

Below is a list of the films I've seen in the theater during 2014, put into categories of how much I liked them.

( List and discussion )

10 films total

2013 films | 2015 films

Originally posted on Dreamwidth. comments there. Comment here or there.

Below is a list of the films I've seen in the theater during 2013, put into categories of how much I liked them.

( List and discussion )

13 films total

[no previous year] | 2014 films

Originally posted on Dreamwidth. comments there. Comment here or there.

Watched Star Trek: Into Darkness in a packed theater last night.

The un-spoilery version:
This movie is a lot of fun action, funny one-liners, and also reveals a lot more about the Kirk and Spock characters, giving them more depth than they had before. I'd recommend seeing it in the theaters. I'm torn about whether I liked this or Oblivion better. Oblivion was prettier and more thinky, this was more action and fun.

( The spoilery version: )

So yeah, I really enjoyed it. :) Go see it.

Originally posted on Dreamwidth. comments there. Comment here or there.

My favorite X-Men: First Class trailer.



I may just need to go watch this movie in the theaters again.

( I don't think this is really spoilery, but just in case )

You know you're tired when you type "lj-cute". Have I mentioned I'm sick? I might even have pink eye, yay.

I finally got around to reading the 1954 post-apocalyptic novel by Richard Matheson upon which the 2007 film starring Will Smith was loosely based.

If you didn't want to read the spoilers below, my summary is that the novel's good in an entirely different way from the film.

( Spoilers for both the novel and movie herein )

Okay, that came out really lengthy. If you don't want to read the novel eventually, at least give the film's alternate ending a gander.

I watched this in two chunks while trying out my new borrowed bicycle stand thingit so I can "bike" indoors. It was definitely funny, in a Monty Python manner, and would've been funnier in a group. I see why all my HS friends were so fond of it. Don't bother watching it if you haven't read (and at least tolerated) Hamlet.

First off, if you haven't watched the first one (Day Watch) recently, be sure to at least read its Wikipedia page before watching this sequel. Unlike domestic movies, there was no handy-dandy summary at the beginning reminding you of relevant parts of the first movie, and instead it jumps right in expecting you to remember all the characters.

Second, this movie seemed like a low-budget sequel to its predecessor, Night Watch. The special effects of the Gloom were very toned down from the first movie, and there weren't any of the cool subtitles effects from the first.

The plot is good, though a little hard to follow if you've forgotten the first, so it's definitely worth seeing. The Chalk of Fate is a bit cliche, but it works well enough as a plot device in the movie. It's interesting how the penultimate fight of Evil vs. Good boils down to the oh-so-human fight of two Others, supernaturally empowered former-humans, for the love and affection of one flawed man. In the end he makes his choice and redeems himself.

Edit: It's worth noting, that Day Watch ends so that it seems the series is over - except that the answer of how the Great Other choosing one side or the other will win the war for Light or Dark. Perhaps that is to be answered in the upcoming third movie of the series, titled either Dusk Watch or Twilight Watch.

Wikipedia, IMDB

I hate Johnny Cash. I didn't before the movie, then I found his music to be typical folk/country that I didn't mind except when my father insisted on playing CDs of it over and over again on road trips. Just the one CD. Over and over again. I didn't hate Johnny Cash even then, just some of his music. But now I hate Johnny Cash, the person.

Okay, maybe "hate" is too strong a word, but he definitely is NOT a sympathetic character. Joaquin Phoenix makes a really good villain, but his Cash wasn't a villain either. He was a stupid loser who could only see the bad in his life and "self-medicated" with an addiction to prescription drugs - a path which he was set upon by Elvis and Johnny Lee Lewis (so bizarre it must be true). I like to say that everyone has hardships in life, what marks a person's character is how they react them. Cash throws away his perfect wife and adorable daughters and starts screwing roadies - not because he doesn't love his wife and family, but because he loves another woman (June Carter, played by Reese Witherspoon) and cannot have her. You know why he can't have her? Because she's too good for him and knows it! June's married and unlike Cash she doesn't cheat on her husband. When they divorce she actually feels sorry about it, and remarries rather than letting Cash cheat on his wife. God, he's such an ass!

You know how he finally proposes to her? He *orders* her to marry him, not asks, and does it on fucking *stage* because she told him she didn't want to talk to his sorry addict ass anymore. I was severely disappointed when she said yes.

Two closing and less bitchy thoughts: I wish they'd developed the characters of his backup band more. It's the same individuals throughout the movie, but the most we ever learn about them is they like to play gospels, and they buy him a plane ticket home when he hits rock bottom and then leave him there. Second: Man, they can sing! I really like it when actors sing their own parts. Phoenix does a remarkable job of Cash's voice too.