Pacific Rim (2013) - 7/10

The best dumb action movie in a long time. I was wary going in since I've more and more hated the big CGI fests of recent (Man of Steel, Transformers, etc). However, where the aforementioned films in my eyes fall flat due to an extremely overblown sense of self-importance, Pacific Rim is just a big dumb action film, and it knows it and runs with it.
Also the CGI and animation here is pretty fantastic. Where a stupid Michael Bay-film just throws CGI at you with little sense of proportion or coordination or dramatic structure, the fights here are slow and massive, you can anticipate every blow, every throw, every crash. The movie actually wants you to participate and anticipate, not just sit and be blasted with sound and bright flashing.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't a mindblowing movie, but just 10 minutes in I was already grinning from ear to ear, knowing I was in for an enjoyable CGI movie. That realization alone was so nice.

The Lone Ranger (2013) - 5/10

It feels very thin. Where as Pirates Of The Caribbean has a great structure what has the movie almost always firing on multiple cylinders, both with plot, action and emotion, The Lone Ranger just doesn't hold together very well at all. Also there are so many scenes where you end up with a chuckle stuck in your throat. Something seems to maybe have been played for a laugh, yet the music doesn't do anything to accentuate it. Other times the music wants to inform you that something is quirky, but it just falls kind of flat.

Even though it probably isn't, this feels very much like a rushed product. It's well shot, well made, mostly well acted. But it still feels empty and incoherent in tone and execution. On a shot by shot basis it's any big movie you've seen, but strung together there just seems to be something missing, that layer of polish and attention that properly makes the movie stimulate you emotionally.

A spectacle it is, but I just don't remember alot of it. Meh.

Little Big Man (1970) - 8/10

Old western that chronicles the life of Dustin Hoffman's character as he goes through various phases of his life, and meeting various people that influences his path. Feels slightly like a western Forrest Gump, with the main character looking back on events in his life, filled with colorful characters and sometimes dubious facts.
Classic storytelling, and this may be a movie you only see once. Still, highly recommended. A surprisingly funny movie, bordering on historical satire.

Rosemary's Baby (1968) - 8/10

Great thriller. The best thing about this film is the very natural direction and acting. Many times it feels like someone left a camera on a table and filmed real interactions.
The story evolves very naturally. Very minimalist. A few great moments of surreal dream visions with superb editing, staging and scoring.

WHAT DIDD YOU THINK OF THOSE MOVIES THAT YOU SAWL, PORRIGEGUM?   

Watched Charlie Wilson's War a few days ago. Could have been tighter, and Sorkin annoyingly lets out his preachy side a teeny bit. Still, it's a funny and informative film. Wish they had made a clearer connection to the war on terror at the end of the film.

Much Ado About Nothing is a lot of fun. The performances aren't of the quality that we've come to expect from Shakespeare adaptations. It seems more like a bunch of friends playing around. Which, of course, is exactly what it is, so yeah. Worth watching.

Benedict Cumberbatch is awesome as always and the film did a very good job of not painting wikileaks as heroes or villains, Assange himself does not come out of it unscared however. a solid film thats not going to change movies as we know them but certainly better than the bad reviews it's been getting 3/5

Clear and Present Danger is not a bad film but gets lost in having a lot of different characters to follow resulting in a very slow pace. I actually had to check the time at the 30 minute mark when yet another plot thread was introduced. Whilst Harrison Ford is great in some films his Jack Ryan just feels like Harrison Ford turned up for work where as Alec Baldwins take on the character was much more fish out of water.

Not a bad film just disjointed in a way that works much more effectively in a novel.

What a disappointing experience. Moments of awesome wrapped in a poorly reasoned mess of a story.

I honestly can't remember ever questioning the events and motivations of a film so much. The central problem of the story is that the reason for the Jaegers' existence hasn't really been thought out. So we have repetitive  battles, with robots ineffectually punching or throwing around monsters for long stretches, only to pull out a sword at the end or shooting missiles or a plasma cannon that could have been better delivered by other means. And the world around everything's so poorly set and developed, we're apparently led to believe that walls were the better alternative? If you can't build a tank to stand up to an attack, a wall built with essentially the same materials isn't going to do shit either.

It wouldn't be such a problem if they hung a lantern on the ridiculousness of how badly the Jaegers approached the fighting... like in Iron Man 2. "Next time, lead with that!" But that half of the movie seems to take itself too seriously (the Ron Pearlman half is of an entirely different tone).

Thus one of the main plots of the story, the kaiju adapting, is demonstrated really poorly. Why not simply show an arms race developing over the course of the war, with increasingly destructive weapons being employed by the Jaegers against the larger kaijus coming through, weapons that ultimately mean harming our own planet in the long run? Instead, the Jaegers are boxers and wrestlers, the equivalent of a tank trying to run over its opponents instead of firing its main gun. And they don't appear to change at all over the course of the war, other than going digital. What makes a Mark 5 so much better? It falls over once in water and half of its systems fail!

It's not entirely beyond saving, some re-editing and changing of some expositionary dialogue could dramatically improve it.

What a surprise! A fun and ballsy movie with swearing, cool tongue in cheek dialogue and no sense of restraint which make it an unexpected joy. I watched the Extended version, which apparently includes a lot more 'oh shit, no way!' moments. It's definitely superior to Van Helsing.

I have mixed feelings about Pacific Rim. On the one hand it looks great and the action is fun. On the other hand, the characters made me want to throw stuff at the screen. Hated almost everyone in it. The best performance was from the kid playing young Mako Mori, she was amazing. The rest weren't.

But....the characters! Those fucking annoying cunt-head characters! 

I just watched it last night and it was exactly what I expected and I really liked it.  I'm with you, in that, the movie is pretty much indefensible as cinematic genious but I didn't think it was terrible.

I really enjoyed this and the follow up, Children Of Dune, as well. I prefer it's adaptation to the 1984 film, which I don't care for much. I'd like to see this get a well funded TV season to flesh out the world fully, or perhaps a movie trilogy would do the trick- LOTR style?

I'll probably rewatch Children Of Dune while I'm at it.

The program for this evening is not new.
You've seen this entertainment through and through.
You've seen your birth, your life and death.
You might recall all of the rest.
Did you have a good world when you died?
Enough to base a movie on?

One of the most controversial Hollywood biopics. An intriguing, trippy story with a rather loose structure. The Doors concentrates mostly on one aspect of Jim's personality (the pretentious "Lizard King" who's constantly drunken or stoned), but is enjoyable nonetheless. A good performance by Val Kilmer.

At least these ones are using weapons.