The three months from April to June saw a varied genre of movies released; as we approached the summer the big budget films started coming out.
Let’s get straight into the films; starting with the good ones.
There are a number of films from this period that I still have to see and I am certain I will like a few.
1. Take this Waltz – directed by Sarah Polley and starring Michelle Williams; Seth Rogen (who’s weird comedy i have warmed to) and Sarah Silverman. I don’t quite know why I haven’t seen this yet.
2. To Rome With Love – Another city for Woody.
3. People Like Us – Elizabeth Banks; Olivia Wilde. Should have seen this.
4. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World – Seemed interesting. Ill watch anything with Steve Carrell.
5. The Five Year Engagement – That makes 2 films with Emily Blunt that I have to see; and that is two of three highly rated films. This one; for a romantic comedy; has a 130+ minute run time. That is possibly why I haven’t seen it yet.
6. Magic Mike – I have been put off by the plot here. Male strippers? And I tend not to appreciate the direction of Steven Soderbergh. I find the angles weird.
7. Ted – My brother’s obsession with Family Guy and the complete un-funny parts that I have seen of the show (It may be funny; but I have seen nothing funny or maybe it is not to my taste) has led me to park this film; despite Mila Kunis being in it. Creator of the show Seth MacFarlane is going to host the Oscars also.
8. Rock of Ages – Musical. Too long but will see it.
Now to two films which have got universal critical acclaim; but I might not watch them.
1. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – It has two stalwarts in Judi Dench and Maggie Smith and is among the list of films nominated everywhere for Best Picture but this just is not my kind of film. Shot in Udaipur.
2. Beasts of the Southern Wild – Neither is this but I might have to make an exception here. While the film itself is one of the highest rated of the year; its lead is a young girl called (I had to google this) Quvenzhané Wallis (And copy paste). By young I mean 5 when they auditioned and 8 while filming. Ive been reading few predictions and she could well become the youngest ever Best Actress nominee. Dont know about the plot.
Ok so now to the best films of the quarter.
I have run over this a few times and I could actually find only one; just one Outstanding film.
Films that were good.
I expected Prometheus to be great. It wasn’t great; but it was definitely a good film. With obvious sequel prequels to the Alien Quadrilogy on the way maybe this film might get better.
Did anyone not like The Avengers? Ok let me rephrase that : Did anyone not ‘enjoy’ The Avengers? I did. Superhero movies have come leaps and bounds since the rubbish Batman & Robin and the god-awful Spiderman Trilogy. Less cheesy effects and better story lines; not to forget better casting.
This was not the best collaboration between Tim Burton and Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd? Edward Scissorhands was better. Ed Wood was the best I think). But this was a film I liked; maybe more than The Avengers and Prometheus. Yeah Johnny Depp is at his eccentric best; but it is the super (almost all female) support cast (I am biased) led by Eva Green; who looks prettier than she ever has (without a doubt).
But; Undoubtedly the best film of this quarter was ...
Where do you start here? Because it had two 12 year olds as the main actors I thought ‘I’ll watch this later’ and kept putting it aside. But it is only a shade over 90 minutes long and rated 8.0 on iMDb so I saw it. I have seen Lincoln and Django Unchained but this is a better film than both. It truly is. Like I said with Soderbergh’s direction and the angles; Wes Anderson is the opposite. I like the way his films are shot; unique. And the two leads are like seasoned pros. A gem of a film and very high up in my best films of the year. Funny; original and feel good. Deserves an Oscar nomination.
Some of the other films that are worth a mention in the quarter.
American Reunion – I saw it because I just wanted to laugh and kill time. Was actually pretty fun.
The Raven – Okayish film. Murder mystery set in the 1800s. One time watch.
Safe – Jason Statham vs the Chinese; the Mafia and the NYPD all at once. One time watch again.
The Dictator – I laughed a lot during this. Way better than Bruno.
Chernobyl Diaries – Incredible plot; but executed well.
Men in Black 3 – I find the Men in Black movies stupid. Just not bad enough to be relegated to my bottom 3.
Snow White & The Huntsman – Charlize Theron has not impressed me in any way. She was over the top in this; kind of like Javier Bardem in Skyfall (Why he is being lauded for essentially hamming his way through the film?) This film dragged on too long. I saw it in the theatre; with my mother and I felt it was like the times I would see some horrible Bollywood film in the theatre with her – too long; stiff actors; boring. And Kristen Stewart has a horrible confused expression throughout the film. Was it because Robert Pattinson found out about her and the director? (Why do I know that and if I did; why did I mention it?)
Piranha 3DD – This almost made my bottom 3; If there was a bottom 4 this would be 4th. The first Piranha film was fun. This was anything but. Danielle Panabaker is pretty but she should stay away from such shit. David Hasselhoff has such a pathetic self-parody role. Utterly horrible.
[REC] 3 Genesis – The first film was superb. The second was a good follow up. This was a disaster. It was funny! There were jokes and joke kills! Why? Why mess up something so good. It is on the same levels as Die Hard 4 becoming PG-13. Die Hard needs to have violence and vulgar dialogue! [REC] has to be scary. It was not that bad a film; but a big disappointment. And it even moves out from the hand held to a wide normal movie camera. Let down.
And now; the worst three films of the quarter.
Battleship – Battleshit. Ten minutes into the film in the theatre and I began questioning my decision to watch this. A criminal assault at the senses. Fuckin alien ships of different sizes so the navy actually plays Battleship by taking guess shots at grid like targets in the dark. My neck began to hurt from the times I kept shaking my head and muttering ‘No! Please no! FUCK NO!’ at the overdose of stupidity. And it cost 200 million to make this film. Still shaking my head. Brooklyn Decker in her film debut doesn’t make it better. Liam Neeson is wasted. And Rihanna?
The Cabin in the Woods – A horror film that has everyone saying it is great; has good reviews from the critics and a 7+ rating on iMDb means it must be a superb horror film since horror films don’t get this level of acclaim.
OR
THE MOVIE IN QUESTION IS NOT A FUCKIN HORROR FILM AT ALL!
[REC} 3 had a few scares and was funny in parts and was a disappointment for moving away from the genre established by the first two films; but BY GOD I WAS PISSED WATCHING THIS. It starts off ok. Then it makes a fool of itself by playing some sort of ‘pick your horror villain’ and something.
And the worst film of the quarter was –
Timur Bekmambetov. I will get to this joke in a bit.
Timur Bekmambetov made his first film for Hollywood in 2008. The film was Wanted. Yeah; the ones where bullets do not travel in a straight line and featured the most pointless death scene ever when Angelina Jolie does not move after firing a bullet in a circle that kills everyone in the room who does not duck and she also does not duck for some reason i don’t know; maybe she was thinking she adopted someone from Niger instead of Nigeria or something. Fuckin rubbish film.
Then; fresh from that he produces two more appalling films in the name of Horror :-
Apollo 18 - Found footage film where the actual last manned mission to the moon encountered aliens; so man never went back.
Darkest Hour – What an awesome ... trailer. What special effects in the ... trailer. Should have just watched the trailer and not the pathetic film.
And now this. If you have to give him the benefit of doubt this is based on a novel. But it is so horrible; the plot; that I was actually dreading the time when Daniel Day-Lewis will pick up an axe in Lincoln. Even the effects were amateurish.
Ok Piranha 3DD actually was worse than all these three films; but that was a parody from the start. All these three films try to take themselves seriously; which in the case of the first and third films is delusional.
The next two quarters have some good films. Later.
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