The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Maybe because I had low expectations going into it, and/or maybe because I just like Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer, I thought The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was brilliant. There are so many hilarious scenes, and the timing and delivery of the lines is (frequently, although not always) dead on. The plot is less than inspired, but it looks slick, and the soundtrack really stands out.

I didn't have high hopes for The Man from U.N.C.L.E. It got pretty mixed reviews. People like to pick on Guy Ritchie for some reason. I liked Snatch, and I wasn't impressed with Lock, Stock, although I can't remember either movie anymore at this point. But Sherlock Holmes was great. I need to see RocknRolla. I wanted to see The Man in the theater, but circumstances prevented me from doing it, the first time it came in from the library I flat out didn't have time to watch it, so I've been wanting to see it for forever.

I *thought* I hadn't ever seen Henry Cavill in anything until I just checked and found out he was the super hot guy from The Tudors. He's still super hot, and I love his voice. Solo reminded me a lot of Neal from White Collar. They're basically the same guy - a thief who got caught and is now working for the government. Although Neal wasn't in the Army. Henry's acting wasn't exactly perfect. There was something a little *too* mannered/deliberate/campy about it. But it did work most of the time. 

The only thing I'd ever seen Armie Hammer in was The Lone Ranger, but he was great in that. So I was basically just interested in The Man because of the two lead guys. And the trailer had some great lines. I liked the idea of these two guys who hate each other having to work together. I'm sure it's not the first time it's ever been done, but it looked interesting anyway. It was really tough at first to buy Armie as a Russian guy, though. I don't know how authentic his accent was, but I just kept thinking, "this guy isn't Russian and I know it." He and Henry did absolutely kill it a lot of the time in terms of comedic timing/delivery/tone, though.

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.

Death Race

It had a few flat moments, but it was everything I expected and more. The characters were likeable, the action was exciting, the story and ideas behind the race were simple but interesting. The soundtrack was surprisingly awesome, with the exception of one horrible choice at the end. And I did finally like Jason Statham in something, yay.

Delirious

It's a little slow at first, but I found it more interesting at every point than parts of The Bank Job; maybe only because Steve Buscemi makes any scene worth watching. I loved the score and the soundtrack. It's a little weird that there were no attractive people in it, not even one, but I guess that's what happens when you make a movie for $2 million (or was it three?). The lead actress reminded me of Alex Borstein, which was really distracting since she was supposed to be pretty. But, that aside, it was honest and satirical and fantasy all in the right places, so I enjoyed it.