Alice Through the Looking Glass

Alice Through the Looking Glass was cool to see in the theater, but I wouldn’t recommend it outside of that. It could’ve been a lot better. Aesthetically it alternates between gorgeous and freakish; the plot’s largely contradictory and uncompelling; the dialgoue is trite; and Mia doesn’t quite have the presence to pull off the Alice they’re trying to portray.

Roeper warned me that Alice Through the Looking Glass wasn’t going to be any good, but I didn’t listen. It looked pretty, so I wanted to see it. It was pretty. Although the Hatter and the Red Queen looked really freaky and screwed with the aesthetic appeal for a lot of the movie. Alice’s outfits were really cool, though. I loved that crazy thing that she wore to the ball.

Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead

Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead is fairly disjointed in terms of actual mechanics and plot, but there are some cool ideas, and I loved the outfits, the vehicles, and the look of a lot of the scenes in general.

Wyrmwood has been described as "Mad Max with zombies," and I guess you could kind of look at it that way. I did love the look of the movie; the outfits and the truck and everything. There was some cool editing and camerawork going on. I probably should've had the subtitles on; I had to struggle to hear what was being said, and I didn't always catch it.

Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For

Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For has a striking visual style, an engaging plot, and fun characters and cameos. 

I liked the first Sin City, although I haven't read any of the comics. I didn't remember much about it, so I read the Wikipedia article on it before watching this one. I didn't think it really helped; it was just a jumble of names - X did this, then Y did that, and I couldn't even keep the names straight while I was reading it. I think it actually was useful, though.

I love the visual style of the sequel. I wanted to see it at the theater, but it looks like it's not coming to the cheap one. It's amazing how much it looks like you're watching a live comic, and all the highlights and color pops were great. I liked the noir-style narration.

Kiss of the Damned

Kiss of the Damned has great cinematography and music, but the writing and acting really bring it down. 

When I saw the trailer for this movie, I loved the music, and I like Milo from Gilmore Girls, so I was pretty much hooked. Roeper didn't review it, but at least one person on IMDb said it wasn't terrible, so I watched it. It turned out to be pretty interesting. The best part about it is the music. It's really good. All the songs fit the scenes perfectly, and the parts of it that are original score are amazing.

Tai Chi Zero

Tai Chi Zero really only exists to set up Tai Chi Hero. It looks amazing, but it's super cheesy.

I saw a trailer for Tai Chi Hero, and it looked cool, so I decided to check out the prequel before I saw it. I read on IMDb that Hero was better than Zero, so I wasn't expecting much. The whole kitschy/cheesy/video game feel was kind of obnoxious. It wasn't my thing. I didn't like the pop-ups about the style, or the diagrams that showed up under people's feet. And I especially didn't like the part where it would say "That's Angelababy as Chen Yu Niang! She's a famous actress!" It really took you out of the movie, and I don't know who those actors are, anyway.

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby has a pretty uninspired plot, but the cinematography is great. It's a good way to find out what the story's all about, if you aren't familiar with it already.

I've never read The Great Gatsby, and I had no idea what it was about, so I was a blank slate coming into the movie. I was surprised by how long it took for Leo to make an appearance. I was like, "he is in this movie, right?" The opening parts with all the partying were kind of obnoxious and hard to follow. The camera was all over the place, and everything seemed a little shaky, a little off. Maybe that had to do with the 3D aspect (although I didn't watch it in 3D). Everything was kind of exaggerated and crazy, which was probably the effect they were going for, but I didn't exactly enjoy it.

I felt bad for Tobey, always getting pushed around by everyone all the time. I think it would've been interesting to do the party scenes with the music they actually would've listened to at the time. The rap music worked to get a "party" feel going, and it never felt out of place like it did in The Man with the Iron Fists (maybe RZA could take a note from Gatsby, or maybe rap music just fits partying better than martial arts), but it did feel like the only modern thing in the movie.

The Man with the Iron Fists

The Man with the Iron Fists has some cool stuff going on. Some of the acting is a little flat, but it's entertaining and it looks great.

It's nice that RZA got to make a movie. The Man with the Iron Fists is listed as a movie "by RZA," and that couldn't be any more true. He directed it, starred in it, and wrote the story, screenplay, and music. Crazy. It's a pretty epic movie. I'm not a classic martial arts movie fan, so it's hard to tell what's an homage and what's just not well done.

The costumes and props seemed a little cheap at times. They shot the movie in 52 days, so I guess it's reasonable to think they didn't have a lot of time for the other stuff, either. I could never get over the Lions' hair, but we'll assume that was on purpose. I think Dave Bautista is just the worst actor on the planet. I don't think there's any "homage" justification that can be made for his lack of performance. I liked the idea of this big guy who's just a total stone block, though.

Snow White and the Huntsman

Snow White and the Huntsman was captivating to watch just for the way it looked. The story wasn't brilliant and some of the acting sucked, but the visuals made it worth seeing.

I don't think The Huntsman actually had a big enough role to be in the title with Snow White. More aptly, it should've been "The Queen and Snow White." But that doesn't have quite the same ring to it. I was kind of interested in this one, but I don't think I would've followed up on it if I hadn't seen Roeper's review. I don't remember what he said anymore, but I decided it was okay enough to watch. 

I was mostly interested in the visual aspect, and that's the part that paid off. Visually, it's a great movie. A feast for the eyes, if you will. I loved the cinematography, the costumes, the landscapes, the sets, all of it. It didn't all work; some of the camerawork seemed a little pretentious. But for the most part, it was really interesting to watch. I wish I had seen it at the theater.

Kristen Stewart sucked, though. I mean, she's just terrible. She doesn't act. She isn't pretty. Her eyes don't even have a color. It's bizarre. I don't understand why anyone would want to cast her in anything. 

Cloud Atlas

Not life-changing, but it held my interest.

First of all, someone should really have done a better job promoting Cloud Atlas. Until I saw a review of it, I pretty much just knew it was a bunch of confusing stuff involving Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, and the future, and that's not very appealing.

I liked the stories about the future the most. What happened in Neo Seoul was utterly appalling. Some of the stories weren't as entertaining/satisfying as the others, but you've got a lot to choose from, so it's kind of a wash. Some of the makeup was distracting, and there were times when the constant switching between stories got to be annoying.

I think my favorite character was probably Old Georgie. He was such a mystery, and he had a great outfit. The movie leaves a few things unanswered. Not about the Fall or the rebellion, like some people apparently wonder about, but smaller things. It makes me want to read the book, but there are so many upsetting parts I don't want to revisit.

Overall, it wasn't life-changing, but it held my interest.

Fast Five

I have a lot of love for this series, and I wanted to like this more than I did. It felt like they only had about half a movie going here. I enjoyed everybody getting together, and Rio was a fun place to see, but about 70% of it was flat.

TRON: Legacy

You can't really make a movie out of pretty lights.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

I like Cage, it had some good moments, and the magic was flashy, but none of that could make up for the atrocity that was the writing in this movie.

I still love the part in the trailer where Jay asks Nic if he's crazy and he holds up his fingers signifying "a little bit," though.

Inception

The actors and the scenery were interesting to see, and I really enjoyed the slow reveal of what happened with Mal. It's a fun ride as long as you don't think too much about the loopholes.

Alice in Wonderland

I liked the characters, the take on the world, the story, and the actors. I approve.

Avatar

Apparently James Cameron had been waiting his whole life to make Pocahontas in CG. Not exactly what I was hoping for.

I think it was really pretty, though. I'm not sure for certain because I saw it in 3D. Since I have astigmatism, I can't really see 3D that well, so it pretty much just gave me a headache. But I'm betting it was gorgeous if you could see it properly.

Sukiyaki Western Django

In terms of this being a Miike film, it's actually a little disappointing. Maybe the fact that this is a classic Japanese story, told as a Western, set in "Nevada-Utah," with Japanese actors who are speaking a language they don't know (English), was weird enough that he decided the story itself should be normal. It was a little surreal to need subtitles on something in English. The movie doesn't seem to have a whole lot to say, and it's probably better if you've seen Yojimbo and/or Django, but aside from a few disturbing things happening, it's interesting for aesthetics alone.

Hero

At first I was like, "this is so unrealistic. lame," but then I realized we were watching someone tell a story, so I was okay with it. I loved the use of color, and all the different versions of the story. Maggie and Tony are pretty, and Jet's great as always, although I got a few more shots of his pudgy little hands than I would've liked. Overall, it was a great movie.

Babylon A.D.

When I saw the trailer for this a while ago, I thought it was another Riddick movie. But it's not. The first half was really interesting, but then it took a turn. It's lousy with plot holes, but it's great visually..at least until everything goes to shit two-thirds of the way through.

Speed Racer

This hurt my eyes, and I wish I knew more about the cartoon. The movie needed way more Asian people, but Benno was an awesome surprise. I think I would've liked it more if I were a 10 year-old boy, but it wasn't bad.

The Triplets of Belleville

This is a great movie. I love that there's no dialogue. The story is great.