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.

Spy

Spy had potential, but the vibe is just off. It's not serious, it's not a parody, and it doesn't do a good job of being in the middle. It is consistently funny, but it could've been a lot better.

It's October, and apparently Spy is the second movie I've seen that came out in 2015. I really liked The Heat, and you can pretty much tell from the trailer which if Melissa's movies are going to be unwatchable. I figured this one would at least be passable, and that wasn't far off. There was something weird about the tone. It didn't quite work. I've seen most of the commentary, and the director keeps talking about how it's not a spoof or a parody, and they were going for serious (as much as they could with a comedy), but the general feel of the movie was really off.

I had a hard time investing in the plot. Maybe Melissa works better when she only has one person to play off, like in The Heat, than so many people. There were a *lot* of funny things about the movie, but something about it really brings my rating down. Most of the songs were jarring and just terrible choices in general, and the CGI was inexcusable. 

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is about the same as the other LotR movies. They changed some things from the book that I don't agree with, but it's still fun to be able to see the story.

I didn't think it was going to work out, but I actually managed to watch all three LotR movies in a row. I wonder what I would've thought of them if I hadn't read the books. There are a lot of things that don't make sense or are just wacky, like what goes on with Denethor, that don't bother me in the movies because that's just how it was in the books. I guess it doesn't all jive 100% in the books, either, though. I just kind of accept them for what they are. The story isn't perfect, but it's still interesting.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is obviously a middle movie. It's a little bit grueling, but they're on a long journey. It's still interesting, and it definitely leaves you wanting to see how it all ends. 

I actually saw The Two Towers a week after the first LotR movie, so it was a nice continuation of the story. I pretty much have the same thoughts about this one as I did about the first one. I like hearing all the language, and seeing how they represent everything. Liv Tyler makes a pretty good Elf. They changed a lot more things in this movie than the first one. I didn't think they were necessary changes this time, either.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

I really liked seeing Tolkein's book "come to life," to be cliché, in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. I don't agree with some of the changes they made in the plot, but they did a great job visually. It does seem a bit dated, but so do the books.

I've wanted to see LotR since it came out, but I wanted to read the books first, and I didn't do that until a couple years ago, and by then I didn't have time to watch old movies anymore. I tried to read The Hobbit, and either it was the most boring book I've ever read, or it was one of maybe two books that was so terrible I didn't finish it; I can't remember which. Either way, I won't be seeing that series (and it's not supposed to be good, anyway).

I feel like an unusual amount of memes came out of this series, like "one does not simply walk into Mordor." And that wasn't even a big line in the movie. Why did it become so popular?

This movie has a weird look to it, like it was shot on old-school film, and it has a weird old-school fantasy vibe to it in general. But so did the books -- they were written in 1937-49, after all -- so maybe they were going for authenticity. The opening part in Hobbiton reminded me of Willow.

Synecdoche, New York

Synecdoche, New York follows the proud tradition of Charlie Kaufman movies that I don't enjoy. His characters are always unlikeable, and I can't get invested in them. There are a lot of things about it that could be funny if it weren't so depressing as a whole. I can appreciate it, but it's resoundingly not my thing.

2008 seems like a long time ago. It was only seven years. Maybe anything before 2010 registers as "a long time ago" for me. Charlie Kaufman is not my favorite writer. I could appreciate Being John Malkovich, but I didn't like it. I found the characters to be really unlikeable, which was the same problem I had with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I generally hate surrealism, and that movie is pretty out there. Plus if you don't like the characters, it's just really hard to be invested in what's going on.

It's All Gone Pete Tong

It's All Gone Pete Tong (which is about a DJ who goes deaf, if you haven't heard of it) is one of my favorite movies. It's not super deep, but it is funny and good-natured.

It's All Gone Pete Tong is one of my favorite movies, and I don't care if it is unrealistic and simple. This was either the second or third time I've seen it. Paul Kaye's eyes are so striking, and I love Frankie's whole "Ibiza" look. There are so many great lines in the first half of the movie.