Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice

 

They kill Superman!  Oops, spoiler alert!

I was really hoping Batman would do it but no, they left that to Doomsday.  Doomsday was kinda weak.

Wonder Woman is bad ass.  It’ll be fun to see her in some more movies.  She’s powerful!

Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor I thought was just the right amount of unhinged.  And he gets more so as the movie progresses.

This thing isn’t as bad as reading facebook posts would lead you to believe.  It’s not as good as any of the Christian Bale Batmans but I really dig the pissed off Ben Affleck Batman we see here.  He’s not the hand to hand combat master Bale’s Bat was but who cares?  He’s got all the toys and he’s not afraid to break a thug’s neck if needs to.  He starts branding the criminals he catches with a bat brand!  That’s kinda awesome.

Jeremy Irons makes a good Alfred.  And mechanic.  And robotics expert.  Pilot.  Computer wiz.  Server of tea and wittiness.

Amy Adams is the best Lois Lane we’ve seen since whatshername from the old school Christopher Reeves Superman movies.  She also turns out to be Superman’s greatest weakness.  Well, and Martha his Earth mom.

Supes is a bit out of sort in this flick.  He’s all conflicted because of the negative press he’s getting.  And let’s be honest, if there were really superheros flying around blowing the shit out of everything, public opinion would wane quickly.  He gets suckered into Lex’s diabolical plot and doesn’t even see it coming.  X-ray vision or no.

The big fight scene at the end looked just like the big fight scene at the end of every superhero movie we’ve seen in the last several years.  The two heros throwing each other through buildings causing millions and millions of dollars worth of damage!  And I get it, Batman has a robosuit makes him withstand the beating but damn.  Just damn.  I would think the concussion would kill him getting tossed around like that.

But whatever.  Lex hooks Bats up with some kryptonite and he makes some weapons out of it to even the playing field.  And it’s cool.

Doomsday kinda sucks.  He’s a CG character that just looks like, um, I don’t know.  A deformed orc from Lord of the Rings or something?  He’s just bad.  Build a fucking puppet or something.  I’m tired of the generic CG bad guy.

Overall this is a fine effort but it falls short of the Marvel films we’ve seen and even of Deadpool.  But Deadpool is just awesome.  If I had to rate Batman v Superman amid all the superhero comic book movies of recent years I’d put it somewhere  Ironman 3 and Thor.

 

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Frozen, American Hustle, Anchorman 2

Merry Christmas y’all!

Christmas Day and the day after are the two biggest days at the movies in the country!  There will be more people going through the doors of your local cinema today and tomorrow than the entire month of February!

There are like 8 new releases today a couple big movies that have just been out for a couple of weeks.  I’m here to tell you want you need to go see and what you can wait a couple weeks to see.  Everything is going to be packed so arrive early and be prepared to stand in line.  If you can’t handle that, do us all a favor and stay the hell home!  Don’t bring your attitude to the movies today and don’t take it out on the little teen age kids just trying to keep up!

I had the good fortune to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty the other night in a private screening in our biggest and baddest theater!  And I have to say this is my favorite Ben Stiller movie to date.  Most of the time I’m ready to choke him out by the end of the movie.  But this one grabbed me early and didn’t let go until the credit started to roll.  My intention was to go in and watch for an hour or so then go home, it was about 2 am after all. 

I barely noticed the minutes slipping by and when I realized how long I had stayed, I wasn’t about to leave!

This is a classic holiday feel good movie and I believe it may be the big one this Christmas season.  It’s rated PG and in my opinion is appropriate for all audiences.  I can’t think of any instances of profanity save maybe one and the timing of it was okay.  Most of use would have said what he said when he said it! 

You’ve probably seen the commercials so you know what it’s about.  Goofy little daydreamer Walter Mitty just kinda zones out and escapes into his fantasy world, all the while the world around him just keeps on moving.  Circumstances arise and he abandons his make believe world and jumps head first into the adventure of a lifetime!  And it’s fun to watch.  I was left with a hopeful feeling inside and a smile on my face.

There’s been talk that this is Ben Stiller’s big push for an Oscar nomination and he might get it.  As an actor and director as well.  Yep, Ben Stiller directed this film and does a great job.

Kristin Wiig seems to get better by the movie. (Anchorman 2 doesn’t count.)  She’s charming, likeable and seems to be a good fit for Walter Mitty.

Adam Scott is hilarious.  He is the ultimate bro in this film and his scenes are pretty dang funny.  He plays the perfect antithisis to Walter Mitty.

The supporting cast should be given a group Oscar nomination.  From Patten Oswalt to Sean Penn, the supporting cast is great.  They do just that, support.  They support the story, keep it interesting and ultimately make us cheer for Walter!

Go see this on the biggest screen you can!  It is going to be crowded and that crowd I think will last for a couple weeks.  It should be a word of mouth kind of movie that everyone kinda likes and you can take the kids.

Frozen.  Is awesome. 

I like to rail against the machine whenever I have the opportunity and Disney is a big, giant machine but daggone it!  They make a heck of an animated film.

Frozen is based on the Hans Christian Andersen story, “The Ice Queen” and as it turns out, several of Disney’s bighits have been based on HCA stories.  The Little Mermaid, Fantasia 2000, The Ugly Duckling, Little Red Riding Hood and Chicken Little to name a few. 

And this movie is awesome!  It’s a classic Disney musical princess movie with a funny magical snowman sidekick, a frolicking reindeer that you can ride and acts like a dog and a pretty bad ass ice queen.  It’s fun, plain and simple.  Disney is good at what they do.

This is the movie to see for your small children.  They will love it!  There’s almost too much song and dance for me, but it’s not terribly overbearing and the songs are actually quite good.  When the Ice Queen sings, “the cold never bothered me anyway” and turns to walk off I almost pumped my fist in the air.  That’s right girl, you tell them!  Go see this one too.

Probably not worth the 3D upcharge but they are really pushing the 3D so it’s gonna be tougher to find a 2D time…greedy buggers.

American Hustle.

Boobies, boobies, boobies!  I wonder if they actually auditioned Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams or just had them send pictures of their boobs.  Their boobs deserve Oscar nominations if nothing else.  These women are fantastic!

And they are pretty good dang actors as well.

I love how this movie starts.  “Some of this really happened” are the first words we see on the screen as the movie starts.  That got a chuckle out of the crowd right off the bat.  Always a good sign.

This film is rated R and is not for children.  Profanity througout, adult situations, drugs, booze, smoking.  All that naughty stuff is in there.  It’s funny that the women have their boobs basically hanging out the whole time but the sex scenes are handled in a very conservative way.  We don’t see any actual nudity.  But the ladies wardrobe leaves very little to the imagination!

It’s the story of a con artist couple getting snared by the man.  In this case Bradley Cooper as FBI agent Richie DiMaso.  Richie is an over zealous guy looking to make a name for himself at any cost.  Richie uses his con artist couple, Christian Bale and Amy Adams to rope in other small time criminals then expands his circle to include the mob and eventually members of congress!  The Abscam scandal of the late 70’s and early 80’s is what this film is based upon.  I think they really kinda made everything up, but this scandal did happen and it did take down some congressmen.

It is an all star cast that really lives up to the billing of an all star cast.  Jeremy Renner has been one of my favorite Hollywood actors since The Hurt Locker and he is awesome here.  Bradley Cooper kills it.  Amy Adams is, well, I kinda have a huge crush on Amy Adams so there ya go.  Jennifer Lawrence proves that she is for real!  She’s had some really great roles but holy cow, she’s got the acting chops to pull off just about anything I think now.  Her character is something we’ve not seen from her yet and I was kind of blown away.

Christian Bale might go down as one of the best ever.  He puts himself into a role unlike anyone I’ve seen during his career.  He gained over 40 pounds and gave himself a “rather elaborate” combover for the part and he nails it.  He just nails it.

This is a must see as well, but you really don’t need to rush out.  This will be an enjoyable watch whenever you get the chance.  If you don’t have kids, this might be the one you want to see.  Hit up the matinee though because the night time shows are going to be crowded!

Anchorman 2.

Dumbest.  Movie.  Ever.

And I love Will Ferrell.  This thing is just really kinda of dumb.  No one could act like that in real life and be taken seriously.  Which is part of it, yeah.  I get it.  I’m just offened you think I’m so stupid.

Oh wait, we are that stupid.  And people will laugh and laugh and tell you how funny it is and how they laughed their heads off and it’s the best funny movie they’ve seen in a long time.

Two later they will not remember anything.  They won’t remember if it was in Anchoman or Anchorman 2.  It’s simply rediculous.  Which works for some, I guess.

I’d skip this one and wait for the video or cable.

Sorry Will.  I love you man, you just need some fresh ideas.  Maybe go back to SNL for a season or something.

The Wolf of Wall Street.

Not seen this one yet but it’s worth mentioning we received an email from our corporate office insisting we strongly enforce the R rated policy of no one under 17 watching this film without a parent or guardian.  They have suggested we schedule an usher to post at the theater entry.  Which is unheard of these days.  They are always like cut payroll, cut payroll, cut payroll.  So if they are telling us to schedule a person specifically to keep out underage viewers, this movie is dirty.

According to some observers only Martin Scorsese could have gotten an R rating over an NC-17.  I’ll let ya know what I think when I get a chance to watch it.  But be warned, this has some strong drug, sex, language, all the things that make movies rated R.  This has lots of all of it.

Happy Holidays and don’t forget, take your damn trash out of the theater with you ya filthy animals!  And be polite to the kids working there!  It’s Christmas!  Act like it.

the fighter.

yeah, i know i’m a little behind but i’ve been busy.  (read: lazy)  but it’s all good.  this probably is one of the at least ten best movies of the year.  of course, it has been a bit of a down year in film….

that’s not to say this isn’t an excellent flick.  it’s hard for me to think of five better movies but i’m still not sure it’d be in my Oscar contenders.  but i don’t have a vote, so there ya go.

Marky Mark was born to play the underdog athlete.  he plays this role so well.  first of all, he is built like a welterweight boxer.  dude is ripped!  but the real star of this movie is Christian Bale.  he dropped like 40 pounds to play the crack addicted, former boxer brother of Marky’s character who is also his trainer.

Bale is awesome.  he quite literally becomes another person.  i’ve seen lots of Christian Bale films, sometimes i think he’s a bit of an over actor like in Terminator: Salvation.  he would have been better as the terminator in that film, but whatever.  he shows his chops in this flick.  it’s an incredible performance.  this movie might not be on my Oscar list, but Christian Bale is.

this is one of those movies that made me want to watch it after seeing just one or two random scenes.  i work at the theater ya know, and part of my job is to do theater checks.  where i go in and check the theater.  making sure the picture is good, the sound is good, there are no disturbances from patrons, etc.  and during a movie check of this film, the scene on screen made me say to myself, dang, i should probably check this thing out.  and i’m glad i did.

Amy Adams also pulls off a really good performance.  this is a different role for her and she nails it.  she’s not the cute little sweet thing she is in most of the stuff i’ve seen her in, she matches the grit, the feel of this movie.  she mixes it up quite well.

the mother, Melissa Leo, is possibly the most obnoxious character of the year.  she is awful.  i wanted to reach through the screen and smack her.  and her little coven of bitches are all very well done.

great flick.  i’ve not seen the King’s Speech yet, but i will in the next few days.  i would assume that the King’s Speech will be nominated for the best picture Oscar as well as the Fighter so i’ll give ya my opinion.  those two films seem to be picking up all the big pre-Oscar awards.  also the Kids Are Alright seems to be popular.  i actually didn’t catch that one while it was at the theater, but i didn’t see a scene in it made me really get too excited about making sure i watched it before it left.  but i don’t know.

anyway, this is a really good, very well done serious human drama film based on a true story.  starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo and Mickey O’Keefe (who by the way is the real life Mickey O’Keefe).  if you like gritty real life drama, this is a film for you.  if you are a fan of any of the above mentioned actors, go check this flick out.  you’ll see something from them you’ve never seen before.

Terminator Salvation

better than terminator 3: rise of the machines.  not near as good as terminator 2.

the whole thing looked a little too much like the matrix after they got neo into the “real world.”  all post apocolyptic and all.  which is what the world is after judgement day i suppose.  but still.

i did really enjoy all the “shout outs” to this films predecessors.  i’ll not spoil the cool parts for ya but be on the look out for “i’ll be back.”  in one scene john connor, played very seriously by christian bale, is baiting a terminator with a boom box blasting out “you could be mine” by guns and roses.  that’s from terminator 2 for you newbies out there.  and the coolest shout out of all i thought is also the most obscure.  only die hards i think will catch it.  in the original terminator the character of kyle reece, john connor’s father who was sent by john connor from the future to protect his mother, is played by Michael Biehn.  this time around the teen age kyle reece is played by anton yelchin.  who by the way plays chekov in the new star trek film.  (that kid has had a busy summer already)  the first words spoken by both actors in each of thier respective films is the same exact words.  and it’s really cool if you catch it.

other than that, this film kinda left me feeling a little flat.  the actors are all very good.  sam worthington does a great job as the secondary male lead.  moon bloodgood makes me want to work out harder at the gym.  bryce dallas howard is good at john connor’s love interest.  she’s pregnant with his baby in the film and it looks like she actually is pregnant.  her hands look swollen.  so that’s either a spectacular make up job or she got pregnant before the film started shooting and they just went with it.  either way, that is a beautiful woman.  way to go little opie cunningham.

maybe i’m just spoiled by star trek being so good and this film will be better on dvd.  but for now i’m giving it two severed T-800 heads out of a possible five.

there is one big surprise treat near the end of the film that i won’t give away but you may find yourself pumping your fist in the air and shouting “yes.”  i did anyway.

the dark knight.

The Dark Knight.

 

It might not be the best movie ever made, but it is certainly the best movie I can remember seeing for myself.

 

I went to see it Saturday at the IMAX which was of course sold out.  When I got to the ticket booth, I asked the guy if there wasn’t one single seat left in the IMAX.  He said no sir, I’m sorry.

 

So I bought a ticket for the regular showing.  But being the sneaky guy I am, I walked into the IMAX theater just to see for myself.  At the IMAX you purchase numbered seats and they have ushers in there to help seat you.  Just so happens as I walked in, the usher on my side was helping someone to their seat up in the middle of the theater leaving the first row unguarded.  And there has a sparkly, golden seat calling my name.

 

Ha ha, suckers.

 

I didn’t feel safe until the lights went down though.  The theater was packed.  And there probably wasn’t a single empty seat.  I am lucky I didn’t get busted.

 

Needless to say, I was blown away.  Awesome is the only word that came to mind as I was walking out of the theater into the blinding sunlight of a humid July day in Louisville, Kentucky.

 

It was so good, I went to see it again the next day.  Just to make sure it was truly as bad ass as I thought it was.

 

It is.

 

It would have been nice to see all the same people reprise their roles from Batman Begins, but apparently Mrs. Tom Cruise didn’t think.  That’s it, she just didn’t think.  How can you not get back in this film?  Just one more reason I hate Tom Cruise.  I’m sure it’s his fault.

 

But that’s okay, Maggie Gyllenhaal looks like her a little bit and acted just like her, really.  I don’t know if she was intentionally trying to be Katie Holmes but she was dead on.  Speech patterns and all.  She’s just not quite as cute as Katie. 

 

Screw you Tom Cruise.

 

This thing was as good if not better the second time I saw it.  I’ll probably see it a third time.  I think it’s easily going to make more money than any movie in history; certainly it will make more money than any other movie this year.  And I know that’s not what gets you Academy Awards, but I’m starting to think they need to take box office draw into consideration.  I mean, gas is four bucks a gallon and it is at least six bucks for a matinee most places.  And if people are forking out that kind of bread two and three times to see the same movie, that means it’s pretty damn good.

 

The Guardian reports opening weekend ticket sales near $200 million.  http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2291950,00.html

 

That’s a lot of bread.

 

Go see this movie.  It is a definite full price, as soon as it comes out on DVD purchase. 

 

I give this film eleven dead Joel Shumachers out of ten dead Joel Shumachers.  Because Joel Shumacher should be buried under alive under the used ticket stubs of this film for what he did the Batman franchise with Batman Forever.  What a douche.

 

Oh, Heath Ledger’s Joker is off the charts frightening and hilarious.  Often times in the same scene.  In both screenings I saw this weekend, the audience reacted to his Joker like I have never seen in any other film.  Ever.  They laughed with him one moment and where scared to silence the next.