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Monsters University 2013
I very much enjoyed Monsters, Inc. When I rewatched it a few months ago, I was surprised at how creepy Steve Buscemi's character was - kidnapping children from their beds and torturing them for their screams. That's the stuff of nightmares and just barely skirts being inappropriate for Pixar's audience. There's no such darkness or drama to Monsters University. Being a prequel, the audience is already fully aware of how things will turn out for the characters. Of course, being…
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This Is the End 2013
Clearly, everyone involved in this movie was having a blast. There's a lot of bro humor and dick jokes, which usually bore me. However, the willingness of the actors to make complete asses of themselves in the name of humor made it a lot of fun. It's stupid nonsense, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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The Iceman 2013
Michael Shannon is appropriately creepy. The story is fascinating, but it could use a little more drive to it. As it is, the movie is a little too dry. Subject matter like this begs for a director so insert some style into it. Some dark humor. Some tension. By the time the movie comes to an end, it doesn't feel as if the screws were tightening - it just feels as if it comes to this point in the story. It was nice to see Winona Ryder doing something besides her old deer-in-the-headlights thing- even if it was a pretty cliched role.
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The Purge 2013
I think this is a clever idea that's ripe for political commentary, but the movie itself is sloppy. Characters constantly appear out of nowhere in the nick of time - again and again. You can never figure out where anyone is in relation to any other character. And you never get a clear idea of how many bad guys there are. Part of the fun is counting down the casualties. Characters make stupid decisions again and again. Clearly made for cheap, lacking any tight direction or or plot. A mess.
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Man of Steel 2013
I've never read much Super Man. Most of what I know about him comes from the old movies from the seventies and eighties - as well as the SuperFriends cartoons from Hanna Barbera. So what little I know of his origin story and abilities comes from here. There are a few tweaks here and there (which may not be new to some people, I'm not sure), but there's nothing radically different about this origin story. In each of these incarnations,…
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V/H/S/2 2013
Some of the contrivances that this movie comes up with to explain away the found footage concept don't really work for me. And the sound is too crisp - especially for the GoPros, which every segment uses. So it lacks some of the low quality charm of the first movie (at least for me), but the last two segments are so strong and clever and well done that I forgive the rest of the movie. I think the cult section…
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Heaven's Gate 1980
Yesterday, I saw the 219 minute cut of Heaven's Gate. There's no way the 148 minute cut isn't better. I had put off watching this movie for years as I assumed it was a very slow, contemplative movie. And it is for much of the running time, but I wasn't expecting the amount of violence that consumes the second half of the movie.
The movie is too repetitive - particularly in early scenes. Cimino takes too much time setting up…
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Screwballs 1983
The entire plot of this movie revolves around high school kids trying to see one girl's boobs. That's it. Everything happens in order to achieve that goal. There's plenty of gratuitous nudity and boobs from other girls along the way. And while the movie completely revels in the lecherous plots of the male characters, there's an elusive innocence and even sweetness to the movie. It's the kind of innocence that movie about ogling girls can only achieve after thirty years…
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Aftershock 2013
The characters are paper thin and dull. The earthquake doesn't happen until over thirty minutes in. Nothing that happens in the aftermath makes any sense. I'm pretty sure Eli Roth bankrolled this just so he could get paid to go to Chile.
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Pete's Dragon 1977
I don't think there was a five minute stretch without a goddamn song in it. The acting is staggeringly broad. The effects are quaint. Nothing about the movie is at all genuine, which is probably to its benefit. And while the songs grated on me, they've been stuck in my head all day. Fuck you, Pete's Dragon. It could stand to lose at least thirty minutes, and maybe four songs. But it wasn't as hideously awful as I was expecting.…
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Aberration 1997
It's competent, but kinda dull.
