Tag Archives: Movies

Movies

Geostorm

Upon the recommendation of one of my coworkers (you see, for me, “incredibly bad” is a recommendation), I took the time to watch Geostorm.  Even the recommendation kicked off a discussion of classic (from the 90s) disaster movies, so I both expected this movie to be bad and to enjoy it immensely.  At an atmospherically high level, this movie delivers on the disaster movie promise – cgi action heroics of one guy saving the world…

…For the rest of what I think, and minor spoilers, keep reading… Continue reading Geostorm →

Movies

A Trilogy of Hobbits

I recently did a movie marathon with Brooke where we watched the three Hobbit movies: An Unexpected Journey, The Desolation of Smaug, and The Battle of the Five Armies.  I’d only ever seen the first movie of the trilogy prior to this event, and that was immediately after I’d read the book.  It’s been five years now, so I have a slightly different perspective, but, as someone who liked The Hobbit, you can expect me to have words about this film.

This review is a bit tricky because I very much have two opinions on this trilogy of movies – as The Hobbit, a concise novel that I know and love in its original form, and as eight hours of visual entertainment that stands on its own.  Expect spoilers for both as I think through it. Continue reading A Trilogy of Hobbits →

Movies

Ready Player One: The Movie

Over the weekend, I went to see Ready Player One in the theatre.  It’s a movie I’ve been thinking about, and the opportunity to see it in a nearly-empty theatre was too good to pass up (even though I’m not a huge fan of theatres, in this case I got to go with someone).  Generally, I thought it was a reasonable adaptation of the book, but it was missing something critical that I’m surprised that I missed… Continue reading Ready Player One: The Movie →

Movies

Why I Buy Low Budget Sci-Fi

I have a habit of looking over the cheap movie shelf at my local Wal-Mart, just to see if there are any movies that might be interesting.  Almost inevitably, low-budget science fiction movies that haven’t even made their way to IMDB catch my eye, and yet these are the ones that are most likely to make it into my cart.  I realized at some point, that this was something of an odd habit – why would I go out of my way to pick up what is surely going to be a B movie, when there is a perfectly good movie right next to it at the same price?

After thinking about it, I’ve had a general dissatisfaction with mainstream Hollywood science-fiction for a few years, that has prompted me toward riskier movie buying choices. Continue reading Why I Buy Low Budget Sci-Fi →

Movies

The Notebook

At the end of my Moulin Rouge! review, I said that I likely would have enjoyed The Notebook more than Moulin Rouge!.  To test out this theory, I borrowed The Notebook, and made the time to watch it.  Romance for its own sake is not really my genre (as I’m more used to love stories being embedded in some other genre), but it seemed worth a shot to see if I was movie savvy enough to enjoy such a movie if it was well executed.

To that point, it fell somewhat short of enjoyable, but kept itself above the threshold of painful.  For more, you’ll have to see my full review after the jump. Continue reading The Notebook →

Movies

Frozen

As part of a bunch of movies being tossed around the office, I ended up watching Frozen.  Disney animated movies haven’t been my movies of choice for quite some time, but I can see why they retain their popularity; Frozen was a decent little feel-good film whose themes rang true to me.

I’ve got spoilers on this one, but it’s a Disney animated film, so your mileage may vary. Continue reading Frozen →

Movies

Mean Girls Revenge Revenge – Moulin Rouge!

As revenge for my movie assignments, another movie came my way.  This time, it was Moulin Rouge!, and no, that exclamation point is not because I’m excited about this review.  It’s to make sure this movie from 2001 is differentiated from the 1952 and 1938 movies of the same name (without the exclamation point) and I’d rather not disparage a movie I’ve not seen.

Hold on tight, I have words to say about this one. Continue reading Mean Girls Revenge Revenge – Moulin Rouge! →

Movies

Krull

I recently bought a new TV, and decided it was time to watch Krull again.  Most people who know me well know that Krull is my favorite movie of all time.  To some, it may only be the run-of-the-mill fantasy-action schlock, but as I’ve experienced this adventure a number of times (both the movie and the book), I can’t help but attribute a certain amount of depth to the story, as every time I experience it, I notice more and different things.

After the jump, a few of my own thoughts as I watched it most recently. Continue reading Krull →

Movies

Mad Max: Fury Road

I recently watched Mad Max: Fury Road with Jessa.  I hadn’t seen it, but it was finally out on DVD in the bargain bin, and all of my friends said it was great and that I should watch it.  I liked the old Mad Max movies, especially for a peek at a post-apocalyptic Australia…  …A land-locked desert, not so unlike where I grew up.

But, this blog entry isn’t really going to be about Mad Max: Fury Road, though I will use it to epitomize my point.  After watching it, Jessa turned to me and asked, “So, what did you think?”.

“Eh, It was alright”, I replied.

Jessa quipped right back, “Another glowing recommendation.” Continue reading Mad Max: Fury Road →

Movies

Quantum Voyage

Occasionally, Jessa and I find ourselves at our local Wal-Mart browsing their DVD shelves for something to watch. More often than not, we end up looking for something that fits our tastes (sci-fi or fantasy), but looks low budget and like it could be so terrible it’s good (or at least fun to watch). On past excursions, we’ve picked up Red (not to be confused with the big-budget action movie), Hansel and Grettel: Witch Hunters, and Jack the Giant Slayer. A few weeks ago, we picked up Quantum Voyage.  The decision to buy this movie began with the fact that it had no Rotten Tomatoes entry… …And then it didn’t have an IMDB entry either… The final kicker was the “Wal-Mart exclusive” sticker – this movie had to be low budget enough for us to enjoy, especially with Dean Cain and Malcolm McDowell in it. Continue reading Quantum Voyage →