Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker

The constant barrage of emotional moments is a bit much, but aside from that, I liked the tone of The Rise of Skywalker. There isn't a whole lot to the plot, but the characters are likeable and it looks good, which is about all I expect from a Star Wars movie.

I wasn't really into the first six movies, so I don't have any allegiance to what "Star Wars" is supposed to be. I did like the two new ones, though.

I can appreciate that it's a closing of the arc, but I didn't like how every 5 seconds they hit you with saying goodbye to another big character. There was also a constant barrage of triumphant moments. Somebody described the movie as being waterboarded. Sure you like water, but that's too much water. I kind of agree.

Leia looked kind of weird. I always like Rey's outfit, though. I liked the new droid, but it's kind of weird that they keep introducing new ones.

Gladiator

I have a history of not liking Ridley Scott movies, and there's nothing in Gladiator for me. The time period reminded me of Titus (the Anthony Hopkins movie, not the comedian). I’d recommend watching that instead.

Gladiator came out the same year as Snatch. I guess I'm on an old movie kick. Like Snatch, I saw Gladiator back then, but I had completely forgotten all of it, and for some reason, I never saw the ending of Gladiator. It's widely regarded as a good movie, I guess. One of the people I was watching it with kept saying "this is such a good movie" during it, but I didn't share that sentiment. I think I'm pretty safe in saying I just don't like Ridley Scott's movies.

The opening fight scene reminded me of Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. I guess Gladiator came out first, so it should be the other way around. It's not a very feminist movie. There's not really anything for women to identify with or like.

Robin Hood

Robin Hood takes its place in a long line of movies where I'm not really sure what the point of making or watching it was.

I hadn't ever heard of this version of Robin Hood. I'm kind of ambivalent about Russell Crowe, but he is good at playing this sort of character. The characters were the strongest part of the movie. They were all pretty likeable and interesting. The movie did seem to go on forever. But I was watching the director's cut. Although I think most of the scenes that were added actually were beneficial to the movie.

Pacific Rim

I would've enjoyed Pacific Rim more if it weren't for some weird logic issues, but it was still fun. You pretty much know what you're getting into – it's mecha fighting Godzilla monsters. The characters are engaging, the plot kept me interested, and it's Guillermo del Toro, so you know it's going to look good.

I wasn't interested in Pacific Rim when it came out, but somehow two years later, I decided I should see it. I was expecting Josh Duhamel for some reason. I guess he's in Transformers, which some of the fights in Pacific Rim actually did remind me of. Raleigh looked a lot like Chuck, who naturally looked a lot like Herc. I didn't get them confused or anything, but it seemed weird that they would have so many characters were so similar. I didn't figure out that Chuck was Herc's son until near the end of the movie. I did actually have a bit of trouble figuring out who was who and what was going on with Chuck and Herc.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Miyazaki's movies all seem to match the same theme of "stop fighting and respect nature," and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is no exception. It is visually interesting, and you can't help but like Nausicaä, so I'd lean towards recommending it even though it's not exactly mind-blowing.

I'm pretty sure my college boyfriend liked Nausicaä, but it's been so long since I've thought about it that I could be totally wrong. I wanted to watch My Neighbor Totoro, which I haven't seen yet, but the plot was too simple for my company and they chose Nausicaä instead. It reminded me a lot of Princess Mononoke. I did like Nausicaä more, though. Except for the name. They pronounce it so weird, with an "sh" for the "s." I do like the animation style, although the hats were really distracting and weird.

Nausicaä herself was a cool character. I liked her outfit. You can't *not* like someone who's basically just nice to everyone/everyone's hero. Again the message is super heavy-handed, though. "Stop fighting and try to understand each other." Okay. I guess it's a good thing to tell kids.

Princess Mononoke

Princess Mononoke wasn't exactly the epic I was expecting. The theme is pretty simple, but the animation is solid, and it held my attention for the entire movie.

I like Miyazaki's work, so Princess Mononoke has been on my "to watch" list for a while. Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle were better, but at least this wasn't as bad as Ponyo. The animation was good, and it held my interest for the entire time. Maybe it's one of those movies that's better for its iconicity than it is for watching for the first time. I liked San's general look/outfit, but other than that there wasn't anything really striking about it, visually or thematically.

Ender's Game

Ender's Game is well-made. The acting, writing, and production value are all fine. It's mildly interesting, but it doesn't really pick up until the end, and I wound up wondering why I watched it.

I haven't read any of the Ender's Game series, but the movie kind of looked interesting, and Roeper gave it a B at least. The acting was fine, and Asa was likeable enough as Ender. I'm not sure I would've kept the last name "Butterfield" if I were Asa. I guess he likes it.

The movie more or less held my interest, and it moved along at a quick pace. Probably too quick of a pace; in the book I imagine they had more time to draw things out. The pace made things seem a little choppy in the movie. It was well-made; it looked good, and the writing/dialogue was good. It was still a little flat, though. People on IMDb described it as "too linear" and "rushed," and I guess I'd agree with that.

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. 

The Avengers

The Avengers got too much hype, and it went on for too long. It missed the mark in a lot of ways, but the dialogue was good. Tom Hiddleston pretty much made the movie as Loki, and I like Chris Hemsworth and Robert Downey Jr., too.

Somehow, I haven't been able to see The Avengers until now. I did request it from the library four months ago, but the library system in this county really sucks in terms of having enough media for the amount of patrons they serve. So, I'm late to the party, and I already knew all of the funny/interesting scenes.

I'm not a fangirl; I'm not into comics at all, but I've spent enough time around them to be bored to tears. I haven't seen The Hulk or Iron Man. I've seen enough parts of Thor and Captain America to know I'm not interested in the rest. I did like Iron Man 2, and I liked Hellboy. They should've brought him in, too. But I guess he's not Marvel.

The Avengers movie got way too much hype, at least in my circles. I heard about it for months before it came out. I didn't like the marketing, either. Too full of itself, maybe. I wasn't expecting a whole lot out of the movie. I do like the Iron Man character, and Robert Downey, Jr., and that aspect was good. The light on Tony Stark's chest is always a distraction for me. I imagine filmmakers are always thinking about when and to what extent it should be visible. I don't think they always made the right decision on that in this movie. Chris Hemsworth does a great Thor; that's a character I enjoy, too. Ruffalo was good.

I watched the featurette on the DVD, and I think it was Whedon (maybe not though) who said something like, "You'll always see Chris Evans as Steve Rogers now, it overrides all his other roles." No, actually, I won't. I see him as the guy from The Losers, which I liked better than this movie, anyway, thank you very much. I like Evans, but he looks kind of weird as Captain America. It doesn't really work for me.

Johansson did a fine job with Black Widow. Renner didn't do anything for me as Hawkeye, though. Loki was a great villain. That part totally worked for me from his first scene. Tom does a leer that's perfect for the role. Going in, I felt like the plot was going to be kind of dumb, but Tom at least made that part of the movie better than I was expecting it to be. I loved what they did with his hair, too; the little bits curling up in the back were a great touch.

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.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Jake is a good reason to watch this, but I'm not sure the hair or the accent really suited him.

Inglourious Basterds

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.

The 13th Warrior

Atonement

The composition and score are absolutely beautiful. The second half is a little tedious, but the ending is brutal.

300

Only good for the memes.

Across the Universe

Beautifully done, even if I didn't recognize half the songs and it did get too trippy at times.

Reign of Fire

Bale and McConaughey are both pretty awesome in this. I don't see why everyone says it's terrible.

2013 edit: Props to McConaughey for keeping that name when he went into film. Geez.

Pan's Labyrinth

Excellent companion piece to The Devil's Backbone.

Joyeux Noel