Post by ECM on Oct 2, 2011 0:10:57 GMT -5
I've been watching a lot of movies lately because other forms of entertainment are kinda out the window for the time being, so here's a quick summary of them:
Green Lantern: it's not quite as bad as you heard (and I'm a lunatic fan of the character *and* hyper-critical, so those things should cancel one another out).
Yes, Ryan Reynolds kinda sucks; yes, there are way too many sub-plots for a movie that clocks in at under 2 hours; and, yes, the whole damn thing seems like it wanted to be the ultimate fan service-as-movie-event-of-a-lifetime, but they forgot that you need a. more time, b. fewer sub-plots and c. no Ryan Reyonlds to make all of hat work.
Anyway, it was basically just generally disappointing instead of crushingly so, mainly because, for some unfathomable reason, they felt the need (see: fan service) to squeeze the Corps. in on the first film when that really, really should have been saved for a sequel. So, yeah, the best part was one of the parts that helped to undo the entire film. Ugh.
(Compared to Cap America and Thor, it's not as good as either, mainly because even though those movies also suffered from the same problems, they didn't have *so* many sub-plots and *so* little time. And no Ryan Reynolds.)
Penny Dreadful: I'd heard this was terrible, then not bad, then terrible. Then I watched it--it's terrible.
Oh, there was promise for a few moments, now and again, but the fact that the heroine couldn't escape from a car that was merely trapped between two trees was the first blow of the axe and the fact that, Christ, it was, essentially, another torture porn film was the blow that finally severed the spinal column from the skull to which it doggedly clung. So, yeah, don't even bother.
Paranormal Activity 2: yes, I know chev, you're really tired of faux shot on video films, but this was still pretty entertaining--moreso when it finally dawned on me that it's a prequel to the first one.
Now, it may just be that I'm so sick to death of the modern 'horror' film (read: Saw clones fucking every where, that aren't horror, but torture porn for braindead teens to mentally whack off to) that I can sit back and really enjoy the creepiness of PA2 (and its prequel).
Yeah, sure, it relies on plenty of gotcha scares (which aren't terribly scary since you can see most of 'em coming) but what it does do well (and so did PA), is that it's like a classic horror film in that the pacing is done so well that it just gradually ratchets up the tension with a delicious slow-burn that really pays off in the end.
In fact, the only downside is that if you see one, you kinda get the other one semi-ruined for ya (I guess I'd still suggest seeing PA1 first, but it probably doesn't really matter since they're both part of the same, larger, story that concludes w/ 3 in a matter of weeks).
Predators: I re-watched this because I wasn't sure if my initial take on it, ages ago, was correct, which was: man, does this suck. But, actually, after a second viewing, it isn't half bad and it's miles better than both the AVP films, though nowhere near as good as Predator or even Predator 2 (which is a ball to watch nowadays w/ its near-future LA proving to be about 200% incorrect, making it as good for kitsch value as its actual merits as a movie).
Green Lantern: it's not quite as bad as you heard (and I'm a lunatic fan of the character *and* hyper-critical, so those things should cancel one another out).
Yes, Ryan Reynolds kinda sucks; yes, there are way too many sub-plots for a movie that clocks in at under 2 hours; and, yes, the whole damn thing seems like it wanted to be the ultimate fan service-as-movie-event-of-a-lifetime, but they forgot that you need a. more time, b. fewer sub-plots and c. no Ryan Reyonlds to make all of hat work.
Anyway, it was basically just generally disappointing instead of crushingly so, mainly because, for some unfathomable reason, they felt the need (see: fan service) to squeeze the Corps. in on the first film when that really, really should have been saved for a sequel. So, yeah, the best part was one of the parts that helped to undo the entire film. Ugh.
(Compared to Cap America and Thor, it's not as good as either, mainly because even though those movies also suffered from the same problems, they didn't have *so* many sub-plots and *so* little time. And no Ryan Reynolds.)
Penny Dreadful: I'd heard this was terrible, then not bad, then terrible. Then I watched it--it's terrible.
Oh, there was promise for a few moments, now and again, but the fact that the heroine couldn't escape from a car that was merely trapped between two trees was the first blow of the axe and the fact that, Christ, it was, essentially, another torture porn film was the blow that finally severed the spinal column from the skull to which it doggedly clung. So, yeah, don't even bother.
Paranormal Activity 2: yes, I know chev, you're really tired of faux shot on video films, but this was still pretty entertaining--moreso when it finally dawned on me that it's a prequel to the first one.
Now, it may just be that I'm so sick to death of the modern 'horror' film (read: Saw clones fucking every where, that aren't horror, but torture porn for braindead teens to mentally whack off to) that I can sit back and really enjoy the creepiness of PA2 (and its prequel).
Yeah, sure, it relies on plenty of gotcha scares (which aren't terribly scary since you can see most of 'em coming) but what it does do well (and so did PA), is that it's like a classic horror film in that the pacing is done so well that it just gradually ratchets up the tension with a delicious slow-burn that really pays off in the end.
In fact, the only downside is that if you see one, you kinda get the other one semi-ruined for ya (I guess I'd still suggest seeing PA1 first, but it probably doesn't really matter since they're both part of the same, larger, story that concludes w/ 3 in a matter of weeks).
Predators: I re-watched this because I wasn't sure if my initial take on it, ages ago, was correct, which was: man, does this suck. But, actually, after a second viewing, it isn't half bad and it's miles better than both the AVP films, though nowhere near as good as Predator or even Predator 2 (which is a ball to watch nowadays w/ its near-future LA proving to be about 200% incorrect, making it as good for kitsch value as its actual merits as a movie).