Last movie you watched......

Watched The Martian and really enjoyed it. Even though you knew how it was going to end, it still provided enough suspense to keep you engaged.

 

Saw Everest. Not bad, but for a movie about climbing the tallest mountain in the world, and the tragedy that happened there back in 2006, it was strangely bland. Seriously, if you're going to turn real-life into some B-grade disaster movie, just throw in Jason Voorhees. It wouldn't be any worse.

 

'Black Mass' was very good.

 

Went to the XD, 3D version Sat. night; felt like an event with the family. XD was nice; the 3D not really needed.

Very fun; really enjoyed the start of the film.

Read the book last year and so did my family this summer so we all knew how it was going to end. Kinda neat though that we could all talk about how faithful the film was to the book in our opinions.

Scenes of Mars were seemingly realistic.

 

Time Lapse .. Three friends find a photo machine that takes pictures of their living room window 24 hours in future .. Not a bad movie. Good premise and well-executed. But I didn't care about any of the main characters. Not the ending I was expecting, which was nice, but ... meh.

Almost Just Famous ... Documentary on celebrity impersonators. By and large they were normal people; but people who want to be performers, but can't succeed on their own. They highlighted a Madonna, a Lady Gaga, Elvis, KISS, Hugh Hefner, Obama, and a Bush/Clinton duo. The guy doing Bush looked a LOT like Bush. The Clinton guy? If was Bill I'd be insulted.

Life of Crime: Doris Payne story: Documentary on an 83-year-old career jewel thief. Intriguing and sad.

 

That sounds a lot like an old Twilight Zone episode. Expect I think the camera could see like one minute into the future, not 24 hours.

 

Tomorrowland
Bunch of nonsense I couldn't follow.

 

Yeah, when I saw Breakfast for the first time a few weeks ago, that guy absolutely grated on me too. I wasn't paying enough attention at first to figure out it was Rooney; I thought for a few seconds it might be a hugely made-up Jerry Lewis, then I realized, "nah, it ain't him." But mainly the character was just one of those completely stupid comic-relief people who got thrown into just about every movie in the late-50s/ early 60s.

The joke could have been somewhat amusing -- even a little cute and not too offensive, if it had been used once or twice -- the funny offbeat guy living upstairs.

But when they just kept flogging and flogging and flogging it, it quit being cute and started being offensive -- "OK, by about now, even in 1960, you should be realizing this is pretty racist, and it's basically just bogging down the story. Get this fucker outta here."

 

Kill Me Three Times:
Aussie flick, (I think ) with Simon Pegg as a contract killer trying to make a hit on a woman who's also being pursued by at least two other people who want to kill her.
A solid Meh.
It's only an hour and a half, and its was OK. Good plot with some twists. Not a bad way to kill an evening.

 

Saw Furious 7 last week and, as a fan of the franchise, it could have been better, but it could have been worse. The loss of Justin Lin, who revived the franchise with 2009's Fast & Furious, at the helm was really noticeable. James Wan, known more for his horror movies, was a bit overmatched by trying to bring the action in this one to life. He used an odd rotating camera angle each time someone was flipped during a fight, and it became a bit of a crutch. However, since it wasn't an interesting perspective the first time, it just got more tedious each time he used it thereafter.

Dwayne Johnson's lack of involvement (not sure if he was injured or something during shooting) was a disappointment. He was a good foil for Vin Diesel in Fast Five, but he was barely worth the screen time in this one.

Also, Ronda Rousey does not have a career ahead of her as an actress. Good god, she was terrible with her two or three lines of dialogue. Fellow MMA fighter Gina Carano was far superior in a similar role as female badass in Fast Five (she also gets credit for being not terrible in Haywire).

Furious 7 had some fun moments, and it was unexpectedly sentimental (they did a nice job paying tribute to Paul Walker), but it's in the lower tier of F&F movies.

Top of my head rankings:
The Fast & The Furious
Fast Five
Fast & Furious
Fast & Furious 6
Furious 7
2 Fast, 2 Furious
Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift

 

Every single time I watch "Sideways" I laugh my ass off during the scenes involving Miles retrieving Jack's wallet.