Hooo boy. When I first saw this movie (in theaters, in the before times), I was pretty much blown away. It was a big budget, box office smasher of a movie, bringing together an entire series of super hero movies in one giant box office smash. It was something that had never really been done before… and they managed to actually pull it off. And not only that (knowing what I do now), it was the start of something even bigger. Absolutely bonkers to believe.

That being said, with the benefit of hindsight, it does have a few issues for it’s size: you don’t get as much time with all the characters as you need. The jokes are very Whedon-esqe and over the top–it’s one thing to have Tony Stark quip, but things like Thor’s immediate “he’s adopted” quip just don’t feel right now.

But for what it is–a giant summer blockbuster and a fantastic action movie–it’s pretty much top of the line.

It actually topped my list back in during my 2012 Movie Revies, but this time around… I just really like the other individual films more. So it goes.

(Still well well worth the watch).

Original 2012 review:

… there’s really not much to say about this that hasn’t been said / won’t be said a thousand times over. Long story short, it’s a great movie and a hit out of the park for everyone involved. I liked it enough that I’m sure to see it again and I strongly suggest that you go to.

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I think the movie poster right over there is perhaps a perfect example of one my major gripes with the first new Hobbit movie:

Thirteen dwarves, each with their one distinct beards (each of which reportedly cost as much as $10,000 to make) yet for the most part utterly interchangeable. The only ones of any real interest where Thorin (the leader), Balin (the old one), Bombur (the fat one), and to a lesser extent Bifur (the one with an axe on the mind). Other than that, who knows. Perhaps they’ll have more distinct roles in the other two movies, although I doubt it.

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“I have a story that will make you believe in God.”

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So what do you get when you put Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, and Jack Frost all together in a movie? Well, I’m still not entirely sure, but it’s entirely possible that you’ll end up with something approaching Rise of the Guardians.

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Yes. I went to see Breaking Dawn Part 2. And believe it or not, it actually wasn’t terrible.

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In the past few years, I’ve watched each of the previous Bond films at least twice, once in a semi-random order as they came up and then again in sequential order. So when I say that Skyfall was both more of a Bond film than either of the previous two Daniel Craig films, yet still not really a Bond film at all, that’s the basis I’m coming from.

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I wanted to make sure that I caught Cloud Atlas while it was in theaters, so that meant that I pretty much had to go this week. Between the 23 local screens, only 1 is still showing it and that only for three showings per day. I give it until the end of the week, maybe next week at tops before it’s gone.

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Okay, now that was just a fun movie.  Sometimes, when you have what’s ostensibly a kid’s movie, you get what basically amounts to a pile of juvenile humor. Granted, Wreck-It Ralph had a few such moments (duty/doody), but in those cases they came from the adorable little girl, so it just felt much more organic than when you had adult characters doing the same.

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First, a disclaimer: this isn’t generally the sort of movie that I go for. I’m absolutely fascinated with stories like the one that this is based on, but I tend to avoid reading any more about them than summaries and short articles. For movies and novels, I tend towards fantasy and science fiction, avoiding things that are more realistic.

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It’s been almost a month, so I figured I should go see another movie. Hotel Transylvania looked cute enough in the trailers, so why not.

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