Recently watched movies!

[Dr Kain]

Ninja Turtles - This was actually not as painful as I had been expecting. Of course, I also borrowed it from the library, so I didn't spent a dime on it to watch it, which helps. There were moments where the turtles actually felt like turtles. And then they had to go and ruin it with Mikey's creepy icky love comments about April. Oh yeah, and the Shreddinator was hands down the worst thing about the movie. What the hell were they thinking? What is so hard about having the turtles fight a highly skilled man? Why did they have to make him a mech suit? That is just insulting to Shredder's skills. I also hated this version of Karai as they turned her into a brain dead lackey instead of the intelligent strategist she is supposed to be. Finally, I can't believe I am going to say this, but Megan Fox appeared to at least be trying to act for a change. It is kind of sad that she was decent while Will Arnet was just a bumbling idiot who phoned in his entire performance. In fact, he was pretty much just mimicking Hank Azaria's character from Godzilla. Overall, it is better than Turtles III and was not the worst thing to come out of 2014, so I'm going to give it a 5/10. Oh yeah, the CGI needs to go. It just looked bad and the plot really was ripped right out of The Amazing Spider-Man.

[sentaison]

Lupin the 3rd live action. Watched this yesterday and it was pretty good. It gives a plausible origin story of how Lupin and the gang get together, while slowly building up from the standard crime heist film to the outrageous action that you would expect from a Lupin caper. It can be very hard to translate an anime as out there as the Lupin series can be to live action, but imho this film gets it right. Very good casting as well. I would love to see a sequel to this one.

[lhb412]

Clash of the Titans

I enjoyed the Perseids meteor shower last week, so naturally I got the urge to watch this movie.

Anyone else think that "let loose the Kraken" is a better line than "release the Kraken?"

[jellydonut25]

[Dr Kain]

[Dr Kain]

Chinatown - This was quite enjoyable. It is easily one of the best Neo Noirs I have ever seen despite it lacking narration. The lighting was well done and the story was good, although, it did drag on a little bit. Oh, and the whole thing about the sister/daughter was kind of disgusting. Aside from that, a great movie that I'm going to give an 8/10 to. Jack Nicholson was great in it and it was interesting to see him not playing a psychopath.

[Dr Kain]

It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World - That was a strange strange strange strange movie, and yet, it was a quite entertaining. It did drag on in a few parts, but overall, it was quite hilarious and intriguing. Oh, and I do not know why, but I just couldn't stop laughing at the times when the British guy and Russel were driving in the damaged car and it was just bouncing back and forth. That was just so damn funny. I give it an 8/10.

[eabaker]

We watched Edge of Tomorrow yesterday. The first hour and change was pretty good, as basically "Groundhog Troopers." But the last half hour just fell totally flat for both myself and Jenn, and the ending was just horrendous; not only didn't it make any sense in terms of the internal logic that had been established, but - much, much more importantly - it didn't work thematically, either. I read that Christopher McQuarrie felt that, having played up the comedy in his drafts of the script, he needed to give it a traditional comedy ending, but... he was wrong. Playing up the comedy in a poly-genre work doesn't mean that you have to follow all the rules of a bland mainstream comedy.

I would have forgiven the total garbage last couple of minutes, though, if most of the previous half hour hadn't been such hollow, poorly paced, murkily lit generic action movie nonsense, following on what had been such an entertaining exploration of a pretty cool little premise.

[Dr Kain]

The Third Man - My Alamo Drafthouse showed this tonight using the brand new 4K print that was just made and man was it beautiful. The movie was a vast improvement the second time around, although, it did still drag in spots. I do not know why, but everything until Harry first appears in the shadows feels slow but after that point, the movie just keeps getting better. I'm upping my original score of 7 to an 8/10 and I really hope Criterion brings out the 4K version on BD soon.

[jellydonut25]

The ending actually IS consistent with the internal logic of the film and I'll explain when I'm not on my phone.

[klen7]

[eabaker]

[jellydonut25]

So here's what we KNOW from the movie itself:
The orange dudes are drones. Killing them does nothing.
The blue guys are alphas. Killing them resets the day.k
The big thing is the Omega. It is the brain and the driving force behind the mimics.
Tom Cruise becomes an alpha when he gets alpha blood on him.

Here's what happens:
Tom Cruise has that awkward moment with the general, gets knocked unconscious, wakes up in boot camp or whatever and the next day is sent to fight the mimics and becomes an alpha. Everything before the day of the fighting...EVERYTHING is one day. At some point, Cruise gets a transfusion and is no longer an alpha, however, that same day, he goes on the mission to kill the Omega...this is that same day when he "normally" would be in boot camp....the same day he flies in to meet the general, etc. As Cruise blows up the Omega, he gets Omega blood on him.

Thus, Cruise BECOMES THE OMEGA. His day resets but not to the waking up on the ground, because he's dying almost a whole day before he normally dies as an alpha, so his day resets to the day BEFORE the part where he wakes up on the ground....to the day when he meets the general. Because he now IS the Omega, he is their fighting will against humanity...which he has none.

We don't know for sure that Omega blood turns you into an Omega and whatnot, but it's a somewhat safe assumption given that we KNOW the Alphas are special and closer to the Omega than the drones. So, Cruise goes back to earlier not due to a cheat, but because he died way earlier, and the mimics quit because Cruise is now the Omega.

[klen7]

I still don't follow the final reset. The whole point in the Alpha reset is to protect the Omega. If the Omega can trigger a reset, then killing it does nothing. So why does the last reset occur? And when it does occur why does it reset humanity but not mimics?

[jellydonut25]

There's an Alpha killed when Cruise kills the Omega. But Cruise now IS the Omega.

[eabaker]

EDIT: Okay, re-reading the last couple of posts, the point I'd made here was addressed. Still doesn't totally work for me, but it makes enough sense that I can go with it.

Still, none of it makes the ending emotionally satisfying for me.

[klen7]

Still not buying the transference of Omega-ness, but even if i did that wasnt conveyed nor does it explain the reset selectively resetting elements.

[jellydonut25]

A.) The movie rather clearly shows the Omega blood getting on Cruise.
B.) Everything is reset, but with Cruise now the Omega, the mimics are just laying down unwilling to fight against humanity. It's not a selective reset. It resets back to the day when Cruise first meets with the general because it happens during that day and not during the day when Cruise is normally deployed and dies, bbecause they hadn't even gotten to that day yet. You can't reset from a point you haven't reached.

[Dr Kain]

Beauty and the Beast - Another Disney hit with some truly fantastic animation. This is by far one of their best (definitely in my top 10, maybe top 5). It is also nice to see Belle and the Beast actually get some development in their love story before actually falling in love. I give this fantastic ride a 9/10.

[MekaGojira3k]

[jellydonut25]

The sequel is quite different. Less body horror, more cheesy monster movie. As a fan of 80s/90s B monster movies with rubber suits I like it, but it's not much by way of a sequel to Cronenberg's glory.

[klen7]

[eabaker]

[jellydonut25]

[EricDent]

Redbox night, cause why not?

Justice League Gods & Monsters: REALLY different orgins for Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman. Not really "evil" per se but not the anti-killing people you are used to.
Lots of action, nods to other people in the DC universe, and an interesting story.
I won't spoil the fun, but it has an interesting ending.

Area 51: one of those "found footage" kind of movies. This one tells about 3 friends who go to a party, and something happens to one of them. He becomes obsessed with going to Area 51. Let's just say they do get there, and actually get into the base, but something weird happens...