Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is pretty anticlimactic, especially if you already know all the spoilers. It's not that interesting visually, and there's just not a whole lot going on.

I finally finished the Harry Potter series, and it only took me until four years after the last movie came out. The beginning of this one is really weird. It felt like I came in at the middle of the movie, which I guess makes sense since it's a two-parter. I didn't remember Part 1 at all, though, so I was pretty confused. Maybe they could've done some kind of recap. Or maybe they thought they did. There wasn't a whole lot going on in this movie. I was pretty tired when I watched it, and I was just waiting for it to end already. It probably would've been more interesting if I hadn't found out all the spoilers from the internet.

A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange is one of my favorite movies (and books). I love the aesthetics, from the framing to the costumes. The dialogue is brilliant, especially the use of Nadsat. The soundtrack is amazing, and the plot is visceral and thought-provoking. Burgess' writing in combination with Kubrick's vision created something truly iconic.

This was the third time I've seen A Clockwork Orange. It's one of my favorite movies, and books. I love languages and different lingo, which is probably why I like it so much. There are so many lines that just strike a chord with me, maybe because they've been reinforced a few times.

Furious 7

Furious 7 could've been a much better movie if they had just tried a little harder not to be so absurdly cliché. There were some cool stunts, though, and I can't say I didn't enjoy it.

I don't know why I keep watching these. Maybe now that Walker's gone, I can stop. I held out for about half of the trailer before I saw too many interesting stunts and felt like I wanted to watch it. And then Roeper gave it a favorable review, so I had to do it. I don't regret it, but I do wish it could've been just a bit less cliché and more intelligent.

A Walk Among the Tombstones

A Walk Among the Tombstones is interesting for the atmosphere. Liam Neeson gives a great performance, most of the side characters are done well, and the setting ties everything together nicely.

I wasn't that into A Walk Among the Tombstones from the trailer, but Roeper kind of got me interested in it. The title's a little clunky, and I'm still not really sure how it relates to the movie. The movie itself is pretty straightforward, but it's interesting. Liam Neeson gives a solid performance.

Inherent Vice

 Inherent Vice is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. Josh Brolin, Joaquin, and Benicio all give standout performances. It's definitely confusing, it does drag on a bit, and the ending isn't completely perfect, but the humor is so refreshing and spot-on that I'm giving it 4.5/5.
Inherent Vice looked interesting from the trailer. I don't remember what Roeper said about it, but he gave it a B, so I guess he didn't hate it. I think Chris liked it more after thinking about it than he did right after he saw it. All that put together, and I still wanted to give it a shot, but I went in prepared to just enjoy the ride and not have everything wrapped up at the end.

I was surprised by how funny it was. It's subtle humor; they don't beat you over the head with it, but it's good. I'd say it's the funniest movie I've seen in a year, so that should count for something. I love that they shot it on actual film. It looks amazing; it has character without looking dated - although since it is set in the 70s, you could probably allow some dated-ness leeway. I liked how most of the women didn't look like they were wearing makeup. They all looked clean and natural. I'm sure they were wearing some makeup, but it just wasn't over-the-top like usual.

Predestination

Predestination is based on a short story, and it shows. They added some things that weren't in the story, but it's not enough. The framework of the original idea is really all that's there, and it wasn't worth my time. I was expecting a flashier action/fantasy-type movie, and it turned out to be straight drama. 

The trailer for Predestination made it seem like it would be all futuristic, but a weird 40s-style future, and flashy and exciting with the way they do the time jumps, like an action/fantasy movie. But it was actually pure drama; borderline boring drama. It was such a narrative. I wasn't surprised at all to find out it was based on a short story. It had a real "short story" feel to it. I don't think they had enough here to make a movie out of, even though they added things that weren't in the story. I feel slightly disenfranchised being sold a movie that turned out to be a short story, now that I think about it.

John Wick

John Wick is a lot of fun. The soundtrack adds just the right energy, the composition is interesting both in terms of lighting and blocking, there's some cool stuff going on with the action, and Keanu doesn't have too many opportunities to ruin scenes with his signature brain-dead delivery. 

John Wick looked like a cool movie from the trailer; there were some standout action sequences that made it seem like it would be unique, and I was hoping Keanu Reeves' acting wouldn't ruin this movie like it did Johnny Mnemonic. His delivery in the trailer was pretty terrible. One of his first scenes in the movie is with Willem Dafoe, and the contrast between their levels of acting is crazy. It's like Keanu is reading off of cue cards and Willem is just an actual person saying something.

Luckily Keanu doesn't have a lot of dialogue. He's primarily just doing stunts, most of which he apparently performed himself, so that's cool. I always get a little lost with close combat. It's tough to tell what's going on, and these fight scenes were no exception. I wish I could've seen it in the theater; a bigger screen might have helped, but it didn't come to the cheap theater. It seems like they only get kids' movies anymore.

The soundtrack was great. It sounded good, it fit what was going on, and it added just the right kind of energy. The composition was great, too, both in terms of lighting/colors and blocking/framing. The sets were gorgeous, and the neon overhead shots of New York were cool. John's house was actually designed to be an art gallery, so it had lots of windows and light, and it looked perfect. The art director said he wanted something everyone would want to live in, and he really hit the mark.

Everything was super sleek and opulent for the whole movie. John's suit looked great. The wacky subtitles were a misfire. I don't know if they were going for a comic-book feel or just trying to do something different, but it was just annoyingly distracting. The different sizes and placements just weren't necessary. There's nothing wrong with regular subtitles.