Last movie you watched......

I've never been able to watch it again after learning that Dan Devine was not the bad guy he was made out to be.

 

Went in cold also and came away thinking it was one of most fun movies that
I've seen in a long time. Bastista pretty much only know to WWE fans has now
hit the big time. His expressions and mannerisms were priceless.

 

I was also impressed by Batista. Pratt was excellent.

The animators/effects experts who created Groot also did a great job with the mannerisms and expressions.

I didn't go in cold, but I've only seen a little bit of the Guardians in the comics. They really do have a good bit of backstory, as do Yondu, Ronan, the Collector, the Nova Corps and Thanos. The only one I know much about is Thanos, but I went to the movie with a big fan of the characters and he liked how they were all portrayed except Ronan. He was a bit too one-dimensional for my taste as well, but that is a minor complaint.

I think the freedom that comes with most people not knowing the back stories of these characters was a big advantage for the movie. That said, they just did a really good job with it. I did not expect much, but it's among my favorite Marvel films.

 

Watched The Last Rites of Joe May, Dennis Farina's last gig before he died. Though I guess he has a few more projects in the can. It makes for a great elegy to his career. He plays a guy like a lot of the guys he played in his life, but things are slowing down for him, his time has passed and he's kind of at loose ends, while also trying to deny it to himself. There's some good work here. Don't know if he's ever played anyone this vulnerable before.

 

I just read that, too. And now I'm not so sure what I will say during the discussion prior. It's hard enough to have to explain the facts about football to a crowd that doesn't understand it but then to go and explain that this part of that part wasn't true is even worse.

Last month, I had a really hard time with "The Rookie" in trying to explain what was going on at the end with the strikeout (baseball's not known here at all, and you really need to understand what a K is to follow it) and then to follow up with, "Oh, BTW, Jim Morris didn't really strike him out on three pitches, it was four..." At some point I have to let truth go and let it be entertainment.

But the Dan Devine thing is much worse.

 

Haven't seen it yet, but is this one more of a prologue for the third cycle of Avengers movies than fitting into the current cycle?
I know Ultron is the villain for Avengers 2, and they're setting up Thanos for the Infinity Gems saga in the third leg. Seems like Guardians fits in better with the latter than the former, from what I've read.

 

From everything I've read, and from my taking in of the movie, yeah, it seems like the Guardians would meet up with the Avengers in their third installment, or the Guardians' second, depending on how things fell. I imagine for this first one, they were hedging and didn't want to entwine them heavily if the Guardians turned out to be a flop. But the Guardians movie doesn't have much tie-in with the existing Avengers films except for the Infinity gems (which are kind of a Marvel-wide MacGuffin) and some cameo stuff here and there with minor characters, so far.

 

Henry's Crime, Non-Stop and Kick Ass 2.

Really enjoyed Henry's Crime. I was drawn to it because of Vera Farmiga, and she certainly didn't disappoint. Keanu Reeves was pretty strong, as was James Caan. Overall it was a little off the beaten path. I went in with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised.

Non-Stop wasn't terrible, but Liam Neeson has fallen into a formula. Loner good guy takes on (wolves, kidnappers, hijackers) and shows remarkable resourcefulness and bad-assitude to save the day in just the nick of time.

Kick Ass 2: I had been avoiding this movie. The first one was so much fun that I just figured the sequel would be a money grab. And it was, and where the first one was original, this one was pretty cheesy, but it was still entertaining.

 

We might be strange for it, but I always enjoy looking for familiar names low in the credits of older movies.

Here's another one from many years ago: Kevin Costner as "Newlywed husband" in the 1982 Jon Voigt film "Table for Five." Voigt plays a divorced father of three who hasn't seen much of his kids, so to make up for lost time he takes them on a Mediterranean cruise. While they're gone, his ex-wife (since married to Richard Crenna) gets killed in a car accident. Was a real good tear-jerker film.

 

I saw "Heaven is for Real" which I really liked.

 

If my memory serves me correctly, he was either behind Jon Favreau's character or behind Rudy's parents and slapped five with them.

 

I would really like to see Boyhood, but of course, it's too arty for it show up in my burg. For shame.