The Raid: Redemption

There are some interesting action pieces in The Raid: Redemption, but the tone is way off, and it feels more like a first writing/directorial effort than the third that it is.

A friend recommended The Raid about a year ago, and I just got around to watching it. I usually don't like the same things he does, but I figured you couldn't go wrong with a pure action movie. The tone was pretty weird. The director said in the commentary that he was going for kind of a horror/suspense vibe, which I didn't get at all, and a lot of the scenes he thought were funny didn't come across that way to me. So it just seemed really uneven and amateur.

This was the writer/director's third movie. It comes off more like a first. The title makes it seem like it's a sequel. It's actually not, but there is a sequel out now. I'd kind of like to see it to find out if he was able to learn anything from this one/improve the next one. Somebody else did the screenplay for the sequel, so that could potentially help.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Tinker Tailor Solider Spy is apparently about how pointless the Cold War was, or what a drag it is to be a spy, which doesn't exactly make for an enjoyable movie. It was interesting about half the time, though, and Gary Oldman's performance was great.

I wasn't interested in this when it came out; or before I watched it, frankly. I heard it was supposed to be good, but it just seemed boring. It did turn out to be about 50% boring. There were some parts where the suspense or storyline kicked in and it got interesting, mostly because of Tom Hardy or Gary Oldman.

X-Men: First Class

The main plot of X-Men: First Class comes off as extraneous, but the movie is still an entertaining look into the characters' backgrounds. Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy do a great job portraying the origins of Charles and Erik's relationship, and Kevin Bacon hits the right notes as the villain. 

I don't know why I wasn't interested in First Class when it first came out; maybe because I didn't know any of the actors at the time. Now James McAvoy is one of my favorites, and I like Nicholas Hoult from Warm Bodies. I wasn't really on the Michael Fassbender boat before I saw First Class, but now I think he's good. I was a little confused about the casting of Kevin Bacon for the villain, but he did a good job with it. His nose was insanely distracting, though. I guess it's always been like that and I just haven't seen him in a lot of movies. Maybe they could've shot from a more flattering angle. Or maybe it didn't bother anyone else.

I always thought of the title "First Class" as like "elite fighters for the government" or something, and I don't think I realized until I saw the movie that it meant "the first class that Professor X trains." I still don't like Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique; or I don't like the way they're styling this version of her, or both. The suit is just unattractive, and the hair looks so fake. What they did with Rebecca was so much better. And I'd love for them to spring on some CGI or something to soften the look of the greasepaint. My #1 X-Men pet peeve, greasepaint; especially glaring for Azazel this time.

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.

Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai

Miike's Hara-Kiri is beautifully directed, but it's also depressing, boring in parts, and not terribly original. 

I'm having a problem finding movies I'm interested in. I was watching the trailer for Blitz seeing if I could get into it enough to watch it, and I felt like I wanted to see something with swords. I had Hara-Kiri on my list of movies to watch, so I watched the trailer for that. I wasn't exactly sold, but I decided to go with it anyway. I wanted something with a little substance, even if I was running the risk of being bored.

Apparently, according to IMDb, the original was better. I didn't even know there was an original. I found out about the remake when I was looking through Ignatiy Vishnevetsky's reviews. He liked it, and I've always been interested in Miike's stuff. 13 Assassins was good, although everything before that was pretty crazy. I can't even believe I watched that stuff anymore. Supposedly the original draws you in more, and there's more dialogue between the father and the clan guy.

That would've been good, because my suspicions were right: I got bored, especially in the middle. I really lost interested when they took the focus away from the present-day stuff and started talking about how Hanshirô knew Motome. The cinematography was great, though. I loved the camerawork and the sets. It really was beautifully directed. I don't know why Miike shot it in 3D. That probably didn't add much, although it would've been a good effect with the falling snow. 

I liked the slow, deliberate pacing of the camera and people's movements, and the fact that we saw what happened to Motome and then afterward learned why it happened made it more interesting.

Let My People Go!

Let My People Go! is a really weird French farce. I don't regret seeing it, but I wouldn't exactly recommend it, either. It has its funny moments, but the main character can be tough to watch.

This looked interesting from the trailer, and at least the person whose IMDb review was on top liked it, so that was enough for me. I liked the idea of Finland and France and a Jewish family and it all seemed very confusing and bizarre, and it was. Bizarre anyway, not so much confusing. It was tough to get a handle on the context. All the houses in Finland were so bright; was it exaggerated to make a point, or is that just normal? Everything in Ruben's house was so old. Was that supposed to say something about his parents, or is that just how it is in France?

I'm glad they didn't do the whole movie in Finnish; I didn't like that very much. I didn't like the French much better. It was kind of distracting because I kept getting caught up on words I could recognize. One time I even figured out a whole sentence. I think it was "how are things with Teemu." Not exactly a monumental achievement, but still.

In Time

In Time's concept and world are cool, but they're wasted on a lackluster plot and Justin Timberlake's bad acting.

I was interested in this movie when it came out, and I remembered it had gotten semi-favorable buzz. I couldn't think of anything else I wanted to see this weekend. I think it would've been a better movie without Justin Timberlake. I looked over Ebert's review after I watched it, and he thought Justin was great, but I'm not with him on that. His acting was terrible; it pulled me out of the movie practically every time he said something.

It's totally engaging just because of the concept, but plot is a letdown. They could've done a lot more with it. It was cool seeing people like Pete from Mad Men, Cillian Murphy, and Matt Bomer. They all really helped carry the movie. There shouldn't have been so many "time" puns. It got ridiculous.

The Guard

Not everything they do in The Guard works, but it's still a funny movie, and Gleeson and Cheadle are fun to watch.

The first thing I noticed about The Guard was that I couldn't understand what they were saying, so I had to turn on the subtitles. They were definitely the worst subtitles I've ever seen. Super obtrusive, covered stuff up, and didn't even get all the dialogue. The movie was pretty funny, but a lot of things were kind of a swing and a miss for me.

Killer Elite

Killer Elite was great. I'm a Statham fan, and I was pleasantly surprised to see Dominic Purcell get a big role, too. I liked the characters, the plot was good, and the action was fun.

Killer Elite is another movie that needed better press. I hadn't heard of it until I saw a Roeper review. He made it look good, and I'm always down to watch anything with Jason Statham, so I gave it a shot. It turned out to be one of the best movies I've seen this year. The acting was perfect, it had some original action scenes, and the plot was totally unique. I highly recommend it if you're into this kind of movie.

Hanna

Hanna was a great movie. The score adds an entire dimension to the experience, the villains are great, and the action is solid. It's got some major plot holes, but it wasn't intended to be taken seriously.

Hanna: probably not the last in the long line of movies I wanted to see, then decided I didn't need to see after all, then decided to watch after seeing Roeper's review. I'm glad I saw this one. The action sequences were great. I loved Tom Hollander's character. He was so interesting. The Chemical Brothers did a great job with the score. It added a whole dimension to the movie. Cate Blanchett was a superb villain, too. I loved all the languages and accents.
 

Cowboys & Aliens

Also starring: Daniel Craig's butt.
A movie not without its faults, but good show.

I didn't want to see Cowboys & Aliens. It seemed too gimmicky. Everyone was all like, "what a crazy movie! It's all there in the title, cowboys and aliens, ha ha ha!" And I was like..no. Plus, I didn't like Daniel Craig. I didn't get why everyone liked him so much. I hadn't seen him in anything. Then I saw him in Skyfall. Turns out, he's a good actor. Then I saw Roeper's review of Cowboys. He liked it, and he made it seem like something I wanted to see, so I got it.

Drive

I didn't think I would like this as much as I did, but there were a few surprises.

Fright Night

Colin Farrell was a great vampire. The movie was fun, smart, funny, and had a few unexpected moments.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

This movie has a lot of problems. I couldn't follow what was going on with the action half the time, Carly is a complete non-character, and Sam's an unlikeable jackass. The plot has more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese.

You also have the awesome (not) hour-long action sequence at the end again. I thought they would've learned their lesson from the last one: no one wants to sit through that much. Break it up into a couple of battles or something.

Fortunately, none of those things really matter to a movie like this, and I loved it anyway. We have Josh Duhamel, the name "Witwicky," Sam's parents, John Malkovich, Wash, Patrick Dempsey doing something unexpected, and several genuinely funny scenes.

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.

Drive Angry

I was a little disappointed with this, but I did enjoy William Fichtner's character.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Not exactly an epic, but it's a decent movie if you're into the series.