Stolen

IMDB

First time viewed: Yes

Current Release: Yes

Nicolas Cage is gonna save his kidnapped daughter! Liam Neeson did it better.

Fire with Fire

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

This revenge film barley held my interest. I certainly looks like a movie. It's acts like a movie. It's just not as interesting as one. What the hell was Vincent D'Onofrio doing in this? was he even speaking english?

Ghostbusters

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No


Couldn't pass up the opportunity to see this one at the cinema. I never really got into this one as a kid and it's been such a long time since I last saw it. I thought I could barley remember it actually but it all came flooding back pretty quick.

Man, they just zoom through the origin story. I always forget that that's in there, it just feels like everybody already knows who the ghostbusters are.

Much fun to be had here.

Identity Thief

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

I went into this one expecting the worst but it wasn't actually that bad. There's a few laughs to be had.

Boy A

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Tyler, Amberly

A wonderful drama. Andrew Garfield's breakout role and he's just heartbreaking. Really love this one. It's pretty hard to track down but well worth the effort for such a beautiful film.

Jurassic Park

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Tyler, Kate, Ant, Cicely, Kelly, Clint, Brad, Grady, Xoe, Jaemie, Matt

Write Up.

Finally I have seen Jurassic Park in a cinema. In IMAX 3d no less. And it was everything I hoped it would be. Still works amazingly well. An added bonus was sitting next to someone who had never seen it before and experiencing their reactions to watching it for the first time. So great.

The sound is amazing, I picked up 2 or 3 lines I'd never even heard before, and I was sure I know the film off by heart. For the most part the 3d conversion looks pretty good. There are a few moments where you can see elements have been replaced or are oddly skewed but they did a good job with some of the trickier shots with window reflections and and rain drops and stuff like that. I noticed they painted out the scratches in the glass on the final shot, I wonder if there was anything else they touched up.

Some of the shots looked sharpened a little, I don't know if there was a DNR filter done on it or if that's just a result of the usual IMAX rescaling. Interesting to see that they used the full height of the digital IMAX frame. I don't know if that means they cropped off the edges or opened up the original frame. Anyway I plan on seeing it again somewhere else to have another look.

So great!

Sightseers

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Tyler, Amberly

A fun little black comedy with interesting central characters. The concept gets played out after a while  and the end felt a little lacklustre but there's plenty of good moments throughout that keep it enjoyable.

Warm Bodies

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Tyler

A very sweet romantic comedy. The cutest little zombie movie I've ever seen. They play up a bit of a Romeo and Juliet set up but the ends are remarkably different. Also a bit of a novelty to see it at a cinema that still projects 35mm. Something cool about watching zombies shamble about with that old school film grain.

This film plays loose with some traditional zombie rules but the world they create is consistent and the changes needed for the kind of story they are telling. There are one or two effective scary bits and some genuine heart. It's also rather funny. That all adds up to a real winner in my book.

House at the End of the Street

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

Yeah this was alright. Always nice to see Elisabeth Shue again too. I thought they revealed a bit too much early on so I had no idea what they were expecting to do with the last half of the story but the film knew exactly what it was doing.

There are a few bits of suspense but nothing that stood out particularly. More of a thriller really. Like, a 90's thriller with a horror-ish action set piece at the end. Jennifer Lawrence is good, Max Thieriot has a tricky role and he pulls it off just fine.

It all amounts to an enjoyable film but nothing that's going to get many repeat viewings.

Colossus: The Forbin Project

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: No

The latest to go through the Hollywood remake machine. The premise sounded right up my alley so I thought I should check it out. Sure enough I thought it was pretty amazing.

I do love a good 70's paranoid thriller. This one also has the added bonus of being a speculative sci-fi nuclear war games thriller as well. I'm all for that.

The forced "romance" is a little funny. But all the old school computer stuff was great fun.

Slither

IMDB

First time viewed: No

Current Release: No

Watched With: Tyler

Loved this when I saw it at the cinema. Great to watch it again. Just as disgusting and hilarious as I remember. It's also blackly romantic in a way. After watching The Blob the other night this one seemed like a good fit. James Gunn really shows his Troma film school roots here. Man, I can't wait to see what he's going to end up doing with a big budget Marvel comic book movie.

This film has a great cast, some amazing special and visual effects and some very black comedy. It's also a hell of a lot of fun. 

It's a Disaster

IMDB

First time viewed: No

Current Release: Yes

Watched With: Amberly, Tyler, Kate

Write Up.

Ejoyed this one so much the other night I just had to show it to friends.

Girls Against Boys

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

Pretty standard rape revenge film. It's also not very exploitative, it's treated more like a thriller or an indie drama.

Gotta admit I didn't want to see Michael Stahl-David get cut up, even when he was playing a rapist asshole he seemed so sweet.

The arc of the relationship between the two central female characters is somewhat interesting but it's not enough to make this film stand out from the rest.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Jordan, Amberly, Paul, Michael

A very different film from the first one. Made only more apparent by having just watched it before the screening. The first film is a huge silly cartoon made in live action, with fantastical gadgets and technology and ridiculous action sequences. But most importantly it was fun.

This time they get rid of the majority of the original cast, the strip everything down, pull way back on the scale, get read of all the gadgets and fantastic stuff (except for one or two bits here and there) and make a gritty combat movie. That pretty much the exact opposite of what I would hope for.

They probably saved on budget, but the 3d conversion did them no favors. If they were going for such a change in tone they could have at least tried to improve the dialogue as well. Pretty disappointing.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Jordan, Amberly, Paul, Michael

Write Up.

This film is just a big live action cartoon. So silly but so fun.

The Giant Mechanical Man

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

A pretty standard little drama made all the more enjoyable by performances from the two leads Jenna Fischer and Chris Messina. A very sweet little romance too, I enjoyed this one.

The Collection

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

A very tangental sequel to The Collector. A much larger scope, this on is trying very very hard to be the next Saw film but it's just not very compelling.