37 replies to this topic

[KuroMa]

I haven't been watching a lot of movies as of late, I finally got to the end of Roque Santeiro (a brazilian soap opera I had recorded AGES ago) and started Cowboy Bebop (it's good).

 

But last night I saw Inside Out (2015)... Yes! A movie that came out less than ten years ago! It's cute too I guess.

 

Next movie I'm going to watch has got to be a tragedy or something... Like Les Miserables. Or the movie adaption of The Trial.

[Iyouboushi]

Just finished watching the latest Dragonball Z movie: Fukkatsu no F

 

I like it more than Battle of the Gods. The plot was pretty good though the way Freeza became insanely powerful just by training for X number of months was kind of silly.  But it's DB, so what do you expect?  The movie had a decent mix of humor as well and I like how it wasn't all Goku and Vejita this time around (Roshi, Krillin, TenShinHan, Gohan and Jaco weren't just chumped right out like they usually are lol).

 

Now that I've seen this one I might check into DBZ Super (when they get through this movie's arc in the show).  And if you haven't seen it.. I recommend it.

 

Rating: 8/10

[Smz]

I need to see that. lol

 

I think the excuse they used was he never really had to train and actually put in effort for once to gain crazy power.

[Dead]

I really like the tone the new DBZ movies are setting, they feel like good ol' DBZ, but they're not afraid to make fun of themselves either.

 

I watched Pixels, and ended up enjoying it way more than I expected to. I blame the Centipede scene, it won me over for sure.

[Iyouboushi]

Last night we went and saw The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (2015) the final chapter of The Hunger Games saga.

 

I'll just start off by saying I'd give this a 7/10.  It's the second part of the last book and it's the epic climax of the war against The Capitol.  There isn't a ton I can say right here without spoiling so I guess if you're going to watch it yourself just stop here.  If you don't care..well, continue on lol.  I'll spoil the plot first (like I did for the other three)

 

Spoiler

The movie picks up right where Part 1 left off.  Katniss was attacked by Peeta after he was brainwashed and tortured by President Snow and the Capitol.  They're trying to fix him but it isn't an easy process and he still lashes out and hates Katniss.  She vows that she's going to kill Snow for what he did but before she can even think about it, District 13 needs to be able to access The Capitol.  To do that they need to take over a weapons armory in District 2, which is fortified and basically a huge fortress under a mountain.

 

Gale, President Coin and Beetee basically come up with this elaborate bomb plan to be used later in the war effort.  For the more immediate problem, Gale suggests causing an avalanche to block the fortress (since they can't get inside, it's too heavily fortified) and cut them off.  Katniss protests because there's civilians that would become trapped inside the place so Coin compromises and decides to leave a train entrance untouched so that people who want to leave can do so.  It pretty much goes without a hitch.  A train arrives, people get off, one attacks Katniss, a different one actually shoots her (but her armor is bullet proof, naturally).  But in the end, District 13 captures District 2 and that basically means all of the districts are now reunited and stand behind 13, poised to attack and take over the Capitol.  Katniss' job is finished.

 

But it's not, because she's the main star.  She sneaks aboard a medical transport and wants to head off into the Capitol alone on an assassination mission.  She's seen once she arrives back in District 2 though, naturally, because everyone knows who she is.  Now she's not able to go alone and President Coin decides that she'll make that assassination attempt seem like it came from her.  They assign her to a military squad, one that is supposed to bring up the rear and is for propaganda ("propos") point only.  And from here is where I start to have an issue with the film.  Up to this point it was fine.

 

Everything that happens from this point to the very end of the rebellion's attack on the capitol is more or less pointless.  Everything would have ended exactly the same if Katniss had just stayed in bed back at 13 after she had been shot.  In fact, it probably would've turned out better.

 

See, the rebels go on ahead (a day's worth ahead, I think they said) and the propo team follows behind, mostly empty streets, occasionally having to dodge a trap or two that has been set to defend the city.  Katniss still wants to break off on her own but they need a machine that tells them where the traps are (which has security so that only one person can use it).  Eventually Peeta is assigned to the team and while he's better he still has occasionally moments where he snaps.  Unfortunately for the group, they trigger an undetected trap and a few people from the group die.  They are chased into a building by this oil-looking substance that instantly kills you if it catches you.  It also alerts the Peacekeepers as to where they are.  When the oil subsides the members of teh group that are able decide to flee into a different house to hide and the Peacekeepers show up and blow the crap out of the first building.  This leads the Capitol, and Snow, to believe that Katniss is dead, and they do a "Tribute" to them on the TV (just like they would in The Hunger Games where they'd show the picture with the name and all that).

 

With everyone believing they're dead, Katniss and gang decide to head underground to try and move unseen.  Unfortunately a security camera catches them and Snow unleashes the hounds--hounds in this case being weird alien-looking zombie people that swarm the group causing a few others to die.  The group escapes the sewers where the Peacekeepers are waiting for them and they lose a few more members of the group.  The film maker (Cressida, I think her name is) leads them to a woman who gives them safe harbor for a night.  Meanwhile the Rebels have breached most of the city so Snow orders an immediate evacuation to his mansion.  He claims he'll protect them and give them shelter/food/clothing.  In reality, I'm pretty sure he was planning to use them as human shields.  Regardless, Katniss and Gale decide to play some Assassin's Creed and get these huge hooded coats and blend into the refugees.  Unfortunately they forgot that peacekeepers would be there and would be removing people's hoods.

 

When it looks like the gig will be up and they'll be discovered, the rebels arrive and start blowing crap up. Katniss gets up and watches as the peacekeepers start taking children to try to get them into the mansion.  Then she watches as a plane flies by and drops a bunch of can things on parachutes.  As soon as the parachutes touch the refugees they explode, causing a massive carpet bombing of everyone near the gates.  Katniss, who is dazed and nearly knocked out at this point, manages to see her sister on the front lines of the medical team trying to aid any of the survivors near the gate.  As Katniss goes to approach her, a second bomb goes off killing everyone that is anywhere near the gate.  Katniss blacks out, having nearly been blown to smithereens.

 

Upon recovering, Katniss learns that the Capitol has been conquered by the rebels, and that Snow has been captured. Katniss confronts Snow, who claims that Coin masterminded the bombings in order to turn his supporters against him. When Katniss accuses him of lying, he reminds her of their promise to always be truthful to each other. Suspicious, Katniss realizes that the final bombs that ended up killing her sister resembled the bombs that Coin, Gale and Beetee were working on towards the beginning of the film.  Gale confesses that while he's not 100% sure if it was that particular bomb, he says he's failed to do the one thing Katniss asked of him: protect her family.  Angry and disappointed, Katniss sends Gale away.

 

President Coin (who has appointed herself interim President of Panem) and the remaining Victors hold a meeting to discuss having one final edition of the Hunger Games with the children of the Capitol as retribution for the previous games. Realizing that Snow was right and that Coin has "played them both for fools", Katniss votes in favor of the motion "for Prim," which gains Coin's trust. She is awarded the opportunity to execute Snow.

 

At the execution, which is being held before the whole of Panem, Katniss faces Snow once again. As she readies her bow, the two make eye contact, and Snow gives her one last smile. Katniss silently agrees, and instead shoots the arrow into Coin's heart, killing her.  A lynch mob bumrushes and kills Snow while Katniss is taken into custody.

 

Katniss is pardoned for her crime, being deemed mentally unwell, and through a letter delivered by Haymitch, Plutarch Heavensbee  advises Katniss to return home to District 12 until things settle down. Katniss returns to her home in the ruins of District 12 to recover from her traumatic ordeal, where she is eventually joined by Peeta, who has recovered his memories of love for Katniss. The people elect a new President of Panem, and Katniss, Peeta, and Haymitch bond over their shared trauma. Katniss and Peeta slowly grow back together, and Katniss admits her love for him. Years later, Katniss and Peeta are shown to have two children. Katniss reminisces about her recurring nightmares she still suffers from and explains she plays "a game" where she lists all the good things she has seen someone do. She notes that while the game has grown tedious over the years, "there are much worse games to play", as she smiles into the camera before the screen cuts to black.

 

So yeah.. that's the summary.  Here's a few thoughts..

 

Spoiler

Like I said, Katniss' part from where she goes to become an assassin to where the bombs go off have no real effect on the plot.  The rebels would have still made it and bombed the mansion gates even if she had just stayed in bed.  That's my biggest disappointment in the story.  It would've been better if her efforts had a more direct reason as to why the rebels were able to win (even if it did involve bombing children in the end lol).

 

I like the twist that Coin is just as corrupt/crazy as Snow is when it comes to winning war--the fact that she was willing to bomb refugees and children to cause the Capitol to turn against Snow.  Even though they discuss the bomb that was ultimately used to do it at the beginning of the film I had kind of forgotten about it. 

 

Also, I don't know if it was the theater we were in or what, but the sound effects were amazing.  The bombs shook the whole freaking theater.  It almost felt like I was there in the Capitol street.  That was amazing.

 

Anyway, I've written enough about this film.  I liked it but it does have some problems.  I'm still only about half way through the book but Bri says the movie was pretty close (except for a few scenes towards the end but the result was the same, they just changed a few things).

 

If you saw the other three, go see this one. 

[Iyouboushi]

A few nights ago we watched The Gift (2015).

 

A young married couple's lives are thrown into a harrowing tailspin when an acquaintance from the husband's past brings mysterious gifts and a horrifying secret to light after more than 20 years.

 

It has a 7.2 imdb rating.  I remember seeing the trailer for it in front of another film we watched and it looked decent.  Bri wanted to see it due to the trailer and the fact that the rating was so high.  And it wasn't necessarily a bad movie, it does have a bit of suspense and thriller aspects to it, but the ending...  ugh.  And the big secret that happened 20 years ago was just.. underwhelming.  I don't want to give it away in case you want to watch it yourselves..but just be prepared for a bit of disappointment.

 

Personally I'd give this one a 5.5/10 or something like that. 

[Iyouboushi]

This morning we went and saw Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone because it truly deserves to be seen without knowing what's going to happen.  All I'll say is that BB8 is awesome (I want one!) and it was a lot better than the prequels lol.

[Iyouboushi]

Yesterday was a movie-filled day! We watched: Inside Out (2015), Big Hero 6 (2014) and Wreck-It Ralph (2012).

 

Inside Out

Growing up can be a bumpy road, and it's no exception for Riley, who is uprooted from her Midwest life when her father starts a new job in San Francisco. Like all of us, Riley is guided by her emotions - Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness. The emotions live in Headquarters, the control center inside Riley's mind, where they help advise her through everyday life. As Riley and her emotions struggle to adjust to a new life in San Francisco, turmoil ensues in Headquarters. Although Joy, Riley's main and most important emotion, tries to keep things positive, the emotions conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house and school.

 

The description of the plot is kinda misleading, really.  Basically Joy and Sadness get out of headquarters after certain events and the other emotions have to try to keep Riley going while Joy and Sadness go through their adventures to return to headquarters.  Anyway, despite the bad description above, the film is actually pretty good.  I mean, it's Pixar so of course it's going to be good (I haven't seen a bad Pixar movie yet).  It has some pretty funny moments (the dream sequence had me laughing out loud) and of course some feels towards the end. Not really sure what else I can say about it without spoiling anything so I'll just leave it at that.  It's a solid movie, 8/10 easy.

 

 

Big Hero 6

From Walt Disney Animation Studios, the team behind "Frozen" and "Wreck-It Ralph," comes "Big Hero 6," an action-packed comedy-adventure about the special bond that develops between Baymax, a plus-sized inflatable robot, and prodigy Hiro Hamada. When a devastating event befalls the city of San Fransokyo and catapults Hiro into the midst of danger, he turns to Baymax and his close friends adrenaline junkie Go Go Tomago, neatnik Wasabi, chemistry whiz Honey Lemon and fanboy Fred. Determined to uncover the mystery, Hiro transforms his friends into a band of high-tech heroes called "Big Hero 6."

 

From the first trailer I had wanted to see this film but it just took me forever to finally get around to it.  It's actually based on a Marvel comic so even though it wasn't produced by Marvel Studioes and doesn't fall into the same universe as the other Marvel films, you might as well think of this film as an origin story for a super hero.  And with that in mind, it was decent but it wasn't really anything new.  A lot of stuff in this film is cliche.  Yeah, Baymax is awesome and I totally want a robot that is my own personal healthcare provider turned hero, but a lot of the twists and stuff you can see coming. 

 

Still, I like the setting--it's basically San Francisco and Tokyo mixed (there's lots of Japanese architecture and writing), and the characters were all pretty good.  I'd say this one is a 7/10 for me.  It wasn't anything really new but it was still super entertaining.

 

 

Wreck-It Ralph

Wreck-It Ralph longs to be as beloved as his game's perfect Good Guy, Fix-It Felix. Problem is, nobody loves a Bad Guy. But they do love heroes... so when a modern, first-person shooter game arrives featuring tough-as-nails Sergeant Calhoun, Ralph sees it as his ticket to heroism and happiness. He sneaks into the game with a simple plan -- win a medal -- but soon wrecks everything, and accidentally unleashes a deadly enemy that threatens every game in the arcade. Ralph's only hope? Vanellope von Schweetz, a young troublemaking "glitch" from a candy-coated cart racing game who might just be the one to teach Ralph what it means to be a Good Guy. But will he realize he is good enough to become a hero before it's "Game Over" for the entire arcade?

 

Out of all of the movies I saw yesterday I feel like this one is the most unique.  It was definitely pretty cool seeing all these arcade/game characters interacting and the various arcade worlds.  However, I honestly feel like they spent way too much time in the candy cart racing game.  I feel like the movie had more potential and wasted it.  Still, having said that this one was really good too.  Disney really knows how to make animated movies, that much is for sure.  7/10 for me on this one too.

 

 

 

At some point soon I'm going to watch a movie someone recommended to me at work: High Noon (1952).  Supposedly it's a really good western.