This movie, oh man, this movie was a bit different than I was expecting, which I think was a good thing. In all honesty, I didn't know what to expect from this movie, but it did things that were quite wonderful. It is probably for the best that Marvel had waited until the end of their 2nd phase of movies to release this movie, it is based on a comic, but I honestly had no previous knowledge of the characters, although I did recently get a copy of the first Rocket Raccoon, I just haven't read it yet.
This movie does something that none of the Marvel movies to date had done by including lots of music, and I thought the music was very well selected as well, a list of the tracks can be found here. The music is a lot of 70's pop music, and I think the combination would be something that my mom would really like getting and listening to. None of the other Marvel movies have more than maybe one of two songs within them, and there are 5-10 songs played in part during the movie. I thought the music and the reasons it was so prominent helped the story and motivation within the movie.
This movie has been called the funniest Marvel movie in ads, and also on Rotten Tomatoes I will say that this could not be more true! Other Marvel movies have had humor in them, but this movie really has humor through the entire movie. There are so many good laughs, even within the action and fight scenes. This movie has such a wonderful sense of humor, but just because it is funny doesn't mean this movie doesn't also have heart. There is some sadness in this movie, in fact there is sadness in the movie for each of the main characters, some more than others, but some of them have extremely tragic moments in the movie. I was close to crying in this movie a few different times, that is just something I would not have expected from the funniest movie in the Marvel world.
I must say that this movie should be a launching platform for James Gunn the director. He has already done 2 movies that I own and love, the Dawn of the Dead remake, and also the scifi horror movie Slither, but this will likely enable him to make other studio films, that is if he wants to. Marvel announced that there would be a second Guardians movie even before the first one was released, and the movie beat projections by more than $20 million, which is crazy from a lesser known comic.
This movie was just so much fun, there really isn't much wasted time, and the pacing is fast, but just the right speed to allow the brain to follow everything that was going on. All of the characters have their moments, and also all of the characters are funny in their own way. The movie is extremely well written, with lots of funny jokes, each of the characters have their own personality which is more than can be said for some other comic book movies.
I don't think that there is a weak link in this cast. The 5 main characters are all amazing. Vin Diesel as Groot is great even though he has a limited vocabulary. I wouldn't have known that Rocket was played by Bradley Cooper from the voice, but he did such a wonderful job in that role. Chris Pratt is well on his way to being a star with 2 awesome movies out this year, and he will also be the lead in Jurassic World coming out next summer. There are also many wonderful actors in smaller roles including academy award nominees Glenn Close, John C. Reilly, and Djimon Hounsou, as well as one winner in Benicio Del Toro. Also for all of the Whovians out there we have Karen Gillan is also in the movie, with lots of makeup and prosthetics.
The movie has some wonderful 80's references in it, and it also makes fun of it self at times, such as when something convenient happens to help advance the plot. They also make fun of the fact that Groot only says "I am Groot" which is wonderful when it happens in the movie.
Because there is already a sequel in the works, I have a strong feeling that a lot of the things introduced in this movie will come back in the sequel. There are some lines that hint at more, but there so many of them it is hard to know exactly which direction the series will go. There is also the possibility of a crossover as sometimes in the comics some other marvel characters fight alongside the Guardians.
One thing that sets this apart from the other Marvel Studios movies is that these characters are not really superheroes. They are more along the lines of a ragtag group of losers than superheroes. I really look forward to where the movies go in the future, and I will gladly pay money to see the next movie.
This year has been wonderful for movies for me, I will likely buy all of the movies I have seen today, and that says a lot because I don't buy many movies anymore. This movie was just so engaging and moved at a wonderful pace that it just flew by. I have seen it twice and will gladly go see it again. Because of all of these things I had to rank it first for the year, and it is hard to imagine a movie beating it, but we will see.
2014 Movie Rankings:
1. Guardians of the Galaxy
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
3. How To Train Your Dragon 2
4. 22 Jump Street
5. X-Men: Days of Future Past
6. The Lego Movie
Rankings of the Avengers Movies:
1. Guardians of the Galaxy
2. The Avengers
3. Iron Man
4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
5. Captain America
6. Iron Man 3
7. Thor
8. The Incredible Hulk
9. Thor: The Dark World
10. Iron Man 2
Showing posts with label Marvel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marvel. Show all posts
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Marvel Movies
I was originally going to make this as a post to try to rank the non-Avengers Marvel movies, but there is so much more to talk about than that. So first to start things out, this post is about all of the different Marvel segments, Marvel Studios owns the rights to all of the movies that have gone into the Avengers as well as many other peripheral and smaller characters, 20th Century Fox owns the rights to X-Men and the Fantastic Four, and Columbia Pictures owns the rights to Spider-Man.
So as it is my understanding, deals were signed with these other production companies before Marvel started producing its own movies, and the terms of the agreement allowed these companies the right to the characters as long as they kept using those rights. Imagine what could happen if Marvel owned the rights to all of these characters. Imagine who could pop up in what movie? There are so many possibilities that are currently unable to happen.
Now I would assume that these agreements were made well before Marvel started producing its own movies, but even if there was an inkling that they might one day produce their own movies, why would you sign an indefinite contract giving up the movie rights for some of the biggest characters?
Now I can't really complain with what has been done with the X-Men movies, I have enjoyed them all so far. The Spider-Man movies are another story, the first 2 made this whole superhero boom possible, without them we would not have had a chance for The Avengers or all of the movies leading up to it. The issue is the 3rd movie along with The Amazing Spider-Man series. The 3rd movie just had way too much going on, now the stories I have read involve it being the work of too many re-writes and a director who had already done what he had wanted to do in the first 2 films, but was obligated to make the 3rd, also possibly he might have not been in charge of the editing as well. But the new series, I could not have cared less about the first movie, and doubt I will waste time seeing the 2nd movie even on HBO, it just doesn't seem interesting. For the record, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 got 10% less on Rotten Tomatoes than Spider-Man 3.
Now the issue isn't that they are making bad Spider-Man movies, but the fact that they are going to run the character into the ground. They have 3rd and 4th movies scheduled from 2016 and 2018 already, even though this movie was so poorly rated. Give Spidey a break!
Why don't they just sell it back to Marvel for a percent of the proceeds of all future movies made with Spider-Man in them, it just pains me to see this character being ruined for future movies. As long as these movies make money, the studios will keep making them, and my dream of Spider-Man being in the Avengers can no come to fruition. I would also lots to see a Spider-Man and Deadpool movie, also just a Deadpool movie, and so many combinations of these characters teaming up, and even possible secretly popping up in other movies.
On top of the Avengers movies Marvel has been producing TV series, the animated shows actually have the characters teaming up and popping up outside of their normal domain, because Marvel has the right to all of the characters in animated form. I would also love to see an X-Men show like one of the shows being produced for Netflix, take a few of the lesser known X-Men and make a show out of their activities, something online those lines.
This doesn't really need to be mentioned, but The Fantastic Four was just brutal, and it might get messed up once again when they reboot starts up soon. I just think that Marvel could do a much better job than Fox has with it.
The reason that I like Marvel Studios rather than these other Studios is that they have been very methodical about what they have been doing. They choose good writers, as well as good actors to fill the roles, which is also what was so successful about the first 2 Spider-Man movies. The actors don't just have to be good at acting, but a fit for the role.
I guess the real takeaway from all of this ranting is that I wish this was a perfect world, and I wish it wasn't driven by money! I wish we could have some crazy crossovers or even like a Marvel vs DC style movie, but that will, in all likelihood, never happen. I wish this was a world that was ruled by what would make the best and most interesting movies, but what rules the movie industry is only money.
So as it is my understanding, deals were signed with these other production companies before Marvel started producing its own movies, and the terms of the agreement allowed these companies the right to the characters as long as they kept using those rights. Imagine what could happen if Marvel owned the rights to all of these characters. Imagine who could pop up in what movie? There are so many possibilities that are currently unable to happen.
Now I would assume that these agreements were made well before Marvel started producing its own movies, but even if there was an inkling that they might one day produce their own movies, why would you sign an indefinite contract giving up the movie rights for some of the biggest characters?
Now I can't really complain with what has been done with the X-Men movies, I have enjoyed them all so far. The Spider-Man movies are another story, the first 2 made this whole superhero boom possible, without them we would not have had a chance for The Avengers or all of the movies leading up to it. The issue is the 3rd movie along with The Amazing Spider-Man series. The 3rd movie just had way too much going on, now the stories I have read involve it being the work of too many re-writes and a director who had already done what he had wanted to do in the first 2 films, but was obligated to make the 3rd, also possibly he might have not been in charge of the editing as well. But the new series, I could not have cared less about the first movie, and doubt I will waste time seeing the 2nd movie even on HBO, it just doesn't seem interesting. For the record, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 got 10% less on Rotten Tomatoes than Spider-Man 3.
Now the issue isn't that they are making bad Spider-Man movies, but the fact that they are going to run the character into the ground. They have 3rd and 4th movies scheduled from 2016 and 2018 already, even though this movie was so poorly rated. Give Spidey a break!
Why don't they just sell it back to Marvel for a percent of the proceeds of all future movies made with Spider-Man in them, it just pains me to see this character being ruined for future movies. As long as these movies make money, the studios will keep making them, and my dream of Spider-Man being in the Avengers can no come to fruition. I would also lots to see a Spider-Man and Deadpool movie, also just a Deadpool movie, and so many combinations of these characters teaming up, and even possible secretly popping up in other movies.
On top of the Avengers movies Marvel has been producing TV series, the animated shows actually have the characters teaming up and popping up outside of their normal domain, because Marvel has the right to all of the characters in animated form. I would also love to see an X-Men show like one of the shows being produced for Netflix, take a few of the lesser known X-Men and make a show out of their activities, something online those lines.
This doesn't really need to be mentioned, but The Fantastic Four was just brutal, and it might get messed up once again when they reboot starts up soon. I just think that Marvel could do a much better job than Fox has with it.
The reason that I like Marvel Studios rather than these other Studios is that they have been very methodical about what they have been doing. They choose good writers, as well as good actors to fill the roles, which is also what was so successful about the first 2 Spider-Man movies. The actors don't just have to be good at acting, but a fit for the role.
I guess the real takeaway from all of this ranting is that I wish this was a perfect world, and I wish it wasn't driven by money! I wish we could have some crazy crossovers or even like a Marvel vs DC style movie, but that will, in all likelihood, never happen. I wish this was a world that was ruled by what would make the best and most interesting movies, but what rules the movie industry is only money.
Monday, May 26, 2014
X-Men: Days of Future Past
I must say that I didn't know what to expect from this movie going in. I really enjoyed all of the X-Men movies that have come out, even the much maligned X-Men: The Last Stand. I think X-Men was my favorite cartoon growing up, so there have always been some expectations for the movies, more so than for other comic book movies.
Not to belittle the movie itself, but the most amazing feat in the movie is to get this amazing cast together, now there are a few different groups of characters, but there are so many awesome actors in this movie, and it was nice that they stuck with actors from the original series, and also have brought in some new ones as well.
This is not my favorite X-Men movie, in fact it might be 4th out of the 5 that have been made, but it was still a fun and enjoyable movie. There was not as much action as I would have liked in this movie, but I was still quite interested. I think they tried for a little bit of a different feel than other X-Men movies, and if that was the intent then it worked. They don't introduce that many new characters, but there are a few of them. I honestly would have liked to see Quicksilver a little more, he was the comic relief early in the film. I guess I had missed that Quicksilver had been in the credits of Captain America: The Winter Soldier? He was portrayed by a different actor, but that is something I would like to look at again, he will be portrayed by the same guy who played Kick-Ass in the Kick-Ass movies, so that should be interesting.
It really seems like they tried hard to show Mystique as Jennifer Lawrence a lot, when the character would have likely been in normal blue state, but I guess if you have Jennifer Lawrence in a movie you are going to show her being Jennifer Lawrence. I could really mention all of the different cast members and say that they all did a good job, which they did, but come on is there more perfect casting than Hugh Jackman as Wolverine? Even in the terribly written Origins movie he still was great as Wolverine. I am glad that they were able to work in more Beast action, in the other movies the character has been in, he hasn't been all that involved. In this movie he is part of the movie for the majority of it, he was my favorite character growing up.
I do feel like a little something was missing from this, maybe it was just some extra fighting, but when the mutants are all on the same side, for the most part, the fighting is kept to a minimum. If they mutants were to fight the humans too much it would just lead to dead humans in all likelihood. I also was happy that they actually had sentinels in this movie, I remember sentinels as much as any other things from the cartoon growing up, and the way this movie ended they could easily pop up in the future in similar ways to that of the cartoon as well.
It is really hard to try to describe this movie, and try to relate it to other things. This is a bit of a spoiler, but what this movie did is that it can actually be watched in the same cycle as the first set of X-men movies, but then its also possible that this series can get back into the events as the first series, yet both happened? It rebooted the whole thing, while also validating what had already happened in the other movies. So they could actually make X-Men movies in the past which would be following up this story line, while also making X-Men movies in today's present times, and they could all be in the same time stream. I know I am making this more complicated than it needs to be.
I have a bit of a rant to on for Marvel movies in general. I am going to create that as its own post in the next few days.
I think all of the movies that I have seen this year have been good, and borderline ownable. Its really hard to rank this, I have to put it just ever so slightly ahead of the Lego Movie this year, but that is really a toss up for me.
2014 movie rankings:
1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2. X-Men: Days of Future Past
3. The Lego Movie
Not to belittle the movie itself, but the most amazing feat in the movie is to get this amazing cast together, now there are a few different groups of characters, but there are so many awesome actors in this movie, and it was nice that they stuck with actors from the original series, and also have brought in some new ones as well.
This is not my favorite X-Men movie, in fact it might be 4th out of the 5 that have been made, but it was still a fun and enjoyable movie. There was not as much action as I would have liked in this movie, but I was still quite interested. I think they tried for a little bit of a different feel than other X-Men movies, and if that was the intent then it worked. They don't introduce that many new characters, but there are a few of them. I honestly would have liked to see Quicksilver a little more, he was the comic relief early in the film. I guess I had missed that Quicksilver had been in the credits of Captain America: The Winter Soldier? He was portrayed by a different actor, but that is something I would like to look at again, he will be portrayed by the same guy who played Kick-Ass in the Kick-Ass movies, so that should be interesting.
It really seems like they tried hard to show Mystique as Jennifer Lawrence a lot, when the character would have likely been in normal blue state, but I guess if you have Jennifer Lawrence in a movie you are going to show her being Jennifer Lawrence. I could really mention all of the different cast members and say that they all did a good job, which they did, but come on is there more perfect casting than Hugh Jackman as Wolverine? Even in the terribly written Origins movie he still was great as Wolverine. I am glad that they were able to work in more Beast action, in the other movies the character has been in, he hasn't been all that involved. In this movie he is part of the movie for the majority of it, he was my favorite character growing up.
I do feel like a little something was missing from this, maybe it was just some extra fighting, but when the mutants are all on the same side, for the most part, the fighting is kept to a minimum. If they mutants were to fight the humans too much it would just lead to dead humans in all likelihood. I also was happy that they actually had sentinels in this movie, I remember sentinels as much as any other things from the cartoon growing up, and the way this movie ended they could easily pop up in the future in similar ways to that of the cartoon as well.
It is really hard to try to describe this movie, and try to relate it to other things. This is a bit of a spoiler, but what this movie did is that it can actually be watched in the same cycle as the first set of X-men movies, but then its also possible that this series can get back into the events as the first series, yet both happened? It rebooted the whole thing, while also validating what had already happened in the other movies. So they could actually make X-Men movies in the past which would be following up this story line, while also making X-Men movies in today's present times, and they could all be in the same time stream. I know I am making this more complicated than it needs to be.
I have a bit of a rant to on for Marvel movies in general. I am going to create that as its own post in the next few days.
I think all of the movies that I have seen this year have been good, and borderline ownable. Its really hard to rank this, I have to put it just ever so slightly ahead of the Lego Movie this year, but that is really a toss up for me.
2014 movie rankings:
1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2. X-Men: Days of Future Past
3. The Lego Movie
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
I had put off seeing this movie for a bit too long, it wasn't that I hadn't wanted to see it, it was that I just didn't have the want to go see a movie in the theater. I had been looking forward to this movie for quite a while, I like the first Captain America a bit more than most. I did have it as my 3rd favorite movie in the Avengers cycle.
I really like the different things that Marvel Studios has done with the different movies. The first Captain America was a war movie, and each of the movies that they have put out have had their own feeling to them. The feel of this movie was a bit difficult to explain, it is a bit of an espionage/spy movie, but also makes me think of movies like the Mission Impossible series. It was definitely a lot different of a feel than the first.
While it may have been different from the first movie, I actually think that it was even better than the first as well. Similar to Iron Man 3, this movie deals with what the characters do after The Avengers, with the added bonus of Captain America trying to adapt to the modern world after being frozen for so long in the Arctic.
This movie does pretty much everything right. The mystery and intrigue is very engaging. I really liked the performances in the movie, Chris Evans does a good job, and Scarlett Johansson does a great job in her role as The Black Widow, and actually the movie brings out a little bit of the character's back story. Robert Redford does an awesome job in the movie, and looks surprisingly spry for his age as well. I really enjoyed newcomer Anthony Mackie in his role as Sam Wilson/The Falcon, a character I knew of but didn't really know much about. I look forward to seeing him more in other Captain America movies, and possibly the Avengers. He is definitely a character that could have a peripheral role in future Avengers movies.
I don't really want to give away all of the details of the movie, but there are several twists and turns that occur, and some were more surprising than others, but they all worked well within the story. I really liked the story between Cap and Black Widow, I thought they really worked well together in the movie and their teamwork really worked.
The movie has some humor, not too much, not too little, but just right. There are a few different visual gags in the movie, the first one to look for is to read the things on Captain America's list of things he has missed, and the second is the quote on a grave. I wish I could say more about the 2nd one, but I really don't feel like spoiling any parts of the story.
I have placed below the rankings of all of the movies made by Marvel Studios, and this one is quite highly rated as you will see. I think what sets Iron Man above this movie is that Iron Man has Robert Downey Jr. in it. I like Chris Evans, I think he is great for the role of Captain America, but he just does not bring the same pizzazz that RDJ has.
Rankings of the Avengers Movies:
1. The Avengers
2. Iron Man
3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
4. Captain America
5. Iron Man 3
6. Thor
7. The Incredible Hulk
8. Thor: The Dark World
9. Iron Man 2
2014 movie rankings:
1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2. The Lego Movie
I really like the different things that Marvel Studios has done with the different movies. The first Captain America was a war movie, and each of the movies that they have put out have had their own feeling to them. The feel of this movie was a bit difficult to explain, it is a bit of an espionage/spy movie, but also makes me think of movies like the Mission Impossible series. It was definitely a lot different of a feel than the first.
While it may have been different from the first movie, I actually think that it was even better than the first as well. Similar to Iron Man 3, this movie deals with what the characters do after The Avengers, with the added bonus of Captain America trying to adapt to the modern world after being frozen for so long in the Arctic.
This movie does pretty much everything right. The mystery and intrigue is very engaging. I really liked the performances in the movie, Chris Evans does a good job, and Scarlett Johansson does a great job in her role as The Black Widow, and actually the movie brings out a little bit of the character's back story. Robert Redford does an awesome job in the movie, and looks surprisingly spry for his age as well. I really enjoyed newcomer Anthony Mackie in his role as Sam Wilson/The Falcon, a character I knew of but didn't really know much about. I look forward to seeing him more in other Captain America movies, and possibly the Avengers. He is definitely a character that could have a peripheral role in future Avengers movies.
I don't really want to give away all of the details of the movie, but there are several twists and turns that occur, and some were more surprising than others, but they all worked well within the story. I really liked the story between Cap and Black Widow, I thought they really worked well together in the movie and their teamwork really worked.
The movie has some humor, not too much, not too little, but just right. There are a few different visual gags in the movie, the first one to look for is to read the things on Captain America's list of things he has missed, and the second is the quote on a grave. I wish I could say more about the 2nd one, but I really don't feel like spoiling any parts of the story.
I have placed below the rankings of all of the movies made by Marvel Studios, and this one is quite highly rated as you will see. I think what sets Iron Man above this movie is that Iron Man has Robert Downey Jr. in it. I like Chris Evans, I think he is great for the role of Captain America, but he just does not bring the same pizzazz that RDJ has.
Rankings of the Avengers Movies:
1. The Avengers
2. Iron Man
3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
4. Captain America
5. Iron Man 3
6. Thor
7. The Incredible Hulk
8. Thor: The Dark World
9. Iron Man 2
2014 movie rankings:
1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2. The Lego Movie
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
2013 Movie Wrapup
I thought this was a great year for movies, I saw a total of 13 movies in theaters that were released in 2013, and 2 more movies at home that I didn't have a chance to see in theaters here in Green Bay. As you will see from my list at the end of this post, there are actually dozens more movies that were released this year that I would love to see at some point, and yes I spend a lot of time reading about movies on sites like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB.
I want to say that these are rankings according to my taste in movies and my taste alone, and not everyone will feel the same way that I do. I tend to value humor in a movie even if the movie is not a true comedy. If the movie is a flat out drama with little humor, I probably won't enjoy it quite as much. I tend to lose a little bit of interest if I don't laugh once in a while at a movie, and it isn't at all difficult to make me laugh a bit.
Unranked movies I saw that came out this year:
Kings of Summer- I really liked this movie, It is available through Red Box, and possibly on demand through certain services, but at this moment it is not available on Netflix Instant. The movie is about how a small group of young high schoolers spend their summer, I don't want to give too much away, but it is a bit of a coming of age tale, while also bringing in elements of dealing with family, and friendship. I really enjoyed the movie, but I had a hard time writing about it, possibly because I have been making myself write a bit more than I have in the past by seeing more movies in the last week. I especially enjoyed the performance by Moises Arias in this movie, he is funny and a bit off beat. There are a lot of known actors that people would recognize in smaller roles in this movie, and some good performances by lesser known younger actors. If you want something that is a bit different than the mainstream selections take a chance on this movie, I think you will enjoy it.
Blackfish-This was the only new documentary that I saw this year, and it was really eye opening. I have never been to a Seaworld, at least I don't remember going to one at any point in my life, and after watching this movie, I highly doubt I will ever go to one. This movie documents the history of a whale named Tilikum, and all sorts of incidents that have taken place involving Orcas at Seaworld, showing from the actions taken to capture orca calves in the wild, to the breeding of them in captivity. If you don't feel like you can handle this subject or don't want to know about it, I understand. I found this movie eye opening, and I had a visceral reaction to certain parts of it, I really had no idea of all of the incidents, if you love animals, I would say that this is a must see to just show you the kind of things that have happened at Seaworld. I watched this movie when it was played on CNN, I have no idea if it is streaming anywhere, but there is a lot of interesting information that I had no idea about that is given out in this movie, I highly recommend it.
And Now the List of Movies I Saw in 2013:
13. Pain & Gain-I saw this movie, I paid to see this movie, why oh why did I pay to see this movie? I don't know of any other examples in recent history where I regretted not walking out of a movie. I wan't to say that I will never see another Michael Bay movie in my life, but I will probably see him ruin Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles before I am ballsy enough to really make that vow.
12. Thor: The Dark World-I was really bored during this movie, I can't pinpoint the reason. It may have just been the fact that the movie didn't do a good enough job of trying to get my to care. Loki was entertaining, but he wasn't in enough of the movie. I wouldn't be surprised if I don't see this movie again, there are numerous other Marvel movies I would rather be watching.
11. World War Z-This wasn't a great movie by any means, and it definitely wasn't a very good adaptation of the book, it is entertaining in parts, it was a good popcorn movie, and not much more. I don't know how excited I am about the upcoming sequels, they seem like a complete moneygrab, but that seems to be what a lot of the movie industry is doing right now anyway.
10. Pacific Rim-I thought this movie was so much fun, I think the idea is really cool and creative. Some elements of the plot somehow seem to be set up for convenience and there are some pretty bad fake accents in this movie as well, but it is still entertaining, and the monster battles are really well done. I tend to like the work of Guillermo Del Toro, he does monsters especially well. He was originally in line to direct the Hobbit back when it was still being planned out.
9. Anchorman 2-This was a funny movie, but it didn't really stand out in any other way than humor. I am not sure I expected much more than humor, I don't think there were quite as many quotable lines in this one as there were in the first, which might make it have less cultural staying power than the first.
8. Iron Man 3-I thought this movie was a great return for form, while also creating a new and enjoyable feel to the character that already had 2 previous movies. I like what director Shane Black added to the tone of the movie, I really liked the introspective take on Tony Stark in this movie. It would normally rank much higher, but I really liked many other movies this year.
7. Hunger Games: Catching Fire-I thought this was quite a bit better than the first installment, and I loved what they did with the arena especially, it looked just like it did in my mind, well except with better computer animation. I am cautiosly optimistic for the remaining movies, although turning one book into 2 movies always bothers movie, just another money grab.
6. Frozen-This, for me at least, felt like a return to the Disney movies I grew up with, it was a great movie to attend with my family. The vocal performances in this are great, and even though its not that similar to the original story, I thought they did a great job of getting some humor into the film, I especially liked Josh Gad's role in the movie.
5. Star Trek Into Darkness-I have to admit that I am not the biggest Star Trek fan, I haven't seen as much of the original series of the movies to be able to claim that about myself. I know that this movie takes a lot of different stories from previous Star Trek iterations and changes them in ways to reflect the alternate universe. I do think that there could be a little bit of creativity put into writing any of the additional Star Trek movies, if there are going to be any.
4. This Is the End-I loved the sense of humor in this movie, and how all of the main actors were making fun of themselves in some way, I also really liked the wide variety of people they got to appear in this movie, there were very few of the extended group that they didn't get for the movie. I thought it was generally a fun idea, and the movie was hilarious. I am interested to see the movies that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg write and direct in the future.
3. The World's End-I really liked this movie, it was the frontrunner for my favorite movie for a few months there. I think this movie is just so well directed and edited, some of the best transitions and fades I have seen in a long time. It was not my favorite movie made by the core team of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and director Edgar Wright. Edgar Wright has directed 4 movies that I love so I am excited to see what he can do with Ant-Man and join the Marvel universe. I would imagine it will have quite a bit of humor along with lots of well shot action scenes. If there is one thing I can say it is that Edgar Wright is the anti Michael Bay. Michael Bay edits so that his action is too fast, whereas Edgar Wright goes with longer shots and fewer cuts, not forcing the eye to adjust so much throughout a sequence, sorry I didn't plan on ranting about Michael Bay outside of Pain & Gain.
2.Gravity-This movie is probably the most technically and visually amazing film I have seen in a long time. It used CGI but it didn't feel like CGI at all. I think that Cuaron is likely going to win the best director Oscar this year for the simple fact that he was able to do so much with just actors in a room by themselves. I think that Sandra Bullock proved that her Oscar was not a fluke with her performance in this movie. I don't think watching it at home will do it nearly enough justice, this movie was made to be watched on a big screen and in 3D and I loved it in that situation.
1.Her-I was excited heading into this movie, and the movie was still able to exceed my expectations. I loved everything about this movie, from the idea, the performances, and the execution of those ideas. It is almost a bit of a fable for the cyber age that we are in. I think the main things that set this movie above Gravity are my belief that Her will be much more rewatchable than Gravity, and the sense of humor in Her. I stated before that I really value a sense of humor in a movie, and this movie really hit me in the perfect way on so many different levels.
Well I forced myself to power through all of that writing, now it is a new year, and I will have to start a new list from scratch, time for a fresh slate.
If I had felt like taking a lot of extra time I would have linked all of the movies below this to their IMDB pages. I may still go back and add the links in at a later time. But below is a pretty extensive list.
Movies I didn't see but probably will at some point in the future:
12 Years a Slave
Short Term 12
Fruitvale Station
The Spectacular Now
Inside Llewyn Davis
The Way Way Back
Blue Jasmine
The Wolf of Wall Street
American Hustle
Kick-Ass 2
Captain Phillips
In a World
Don Jon
Nebraska
Hell Baby
Bad Milo
We're The Millers
Elysium
The Wolverine
Man of Steel
The Heat
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Monsters University
Despicable Me 2
The To Do List
Ass Backwards
The Place Beyond the Pines
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
Sound City
Muscle Shoals
Drinking Buddies
Enough Said
I want to say that these are rankings according to my taste in movies and my taste alone, and not everyone will feel the same way that I do. I tend to value humor in a movie even if the movie is not a true comedy. If the movie is a flat out drama with little humor, I probably won't enjoy it quite as much. I tend to lose a little bit of interest if I don't laugh once in a while at a movie, and it isn't at all difficult to make me laugh a bit.
Unranked movies I saw that came out this year:
Kings of Summer- I really liked this movie, It is available through Red Box, and possibly on demand through certain services, but at this moment it is not available on Netflix Instant. The movie is about how a small group of young high schoolers spend their summer, I don't want to give too much away, but it is a bit of a coming of age tale, while also bringing in elements of dealing with family, and friendship. I really enjoyed the movie, but I had a hard time writing about it, possibly because I have been making myself write a bit more than I have in the past by seeing more movies in the last week. I especially enjoyed the performance by Moises Arias in this movie, he is funny and a bit off beat. There are a lot of known actors that people would recognize in smaller roles in this movie, and some good performances by lesser known younger actors. If you want something that is a bit different than the mainstream selections take a chance on this movie, I think you will enjoy it.
Blackfish-This was the only new documentary that I saw this year, and it was really eye opening. I have never been to a Seaworld, at least I don't remember going to one at any point in my life, and after watching this movie, I highly doubt I will ever go to one. This movie documents the history of a whale named Tilikum, and all sorts of incidents that have taken place involving Orcas at Seaworld, showing from the actions taken to capture orca calves in the wild, to the breeding of them in captivity. If you don't feel like you can handle this subject or don't want to know about it, I understand. I found this movie eye opening, and I had a visceral reaction to certain parts of it, I really had no idea of all of the incidents, if you love animals, I would say that this is a must see to just show you the kind of things that have happened at Seaworld. I watched this movie when it was played on CNN, I have no idea if it is streaming anywhere, but there is a lot of interesting information that I had no idea about that is given out in this movie, I highly recommend it.
And Now the List of Movies I Saw in 2013:
13. Pain & Gain-I saw this movie, I paid to see this movie, why oh why did I pay to see this movie? I don't know of any other examples in recent history where I regretted not walking out of a movie. I wan't to say that I will never see another Michael Bay movie in my life, but I will probably see him ruin Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles before I am ballsy enough to really make that vow.
12. Thor: The Dark World-I was really bored during this movie, I can't pinpoint the reason. It may have just been the fact that the movie didn't do a good enough job of trying to get my to care. Loki was entertaining, but he wasn't in enough of the movie. I wouldn't be surprised if I don't see this movie again, there are numerous other Marvel movies I would rather be watching.
11. World War Z-This wasn't a great movie by any means, and it definitely wasn't a very good adaptation of the book, it is entertaining in parts, it was a good popcorn movie, and not much more. I don't know how excited I am about the upcoming sequels, they seem like a complete moneygrab, but that seems to be what a lot of the movie industry is doing right now anyway.
10. Pacific Rim-I thought this movie was so much fun, I think the idea is really cool and creative. Some elements of the plot somehow seem to be set up for convenience and there are some pretty bad fake accents in this movie as well, but it is still entertaining, and the monster battles are really well done. I tend to like the work of Guillermo Del Toro, he does monsters especially well. He was originally in line to direct the Hobbit back when it was still being planned out.
9. Anchorman 2-This was a funny movie, but it didn't really stand out in any other way than humor. I am not sure I expected much more than humor, I don't think there were quite as many quotable lines in this one as there were in the first, which might make it have less cultural staying power than the first.
8. Iron Man 3-I thought this movie was a great return for form, while also creating a new and enjoyable feel to the character that already had 2 previous movies. I like what director Shane Black added to the tone of the movie, I really liked the introspective take on Tony Stark in this movie. It would normally rank much higher, but I really liked many other movies this year.
7. Hunger Games: Catching Fire-I thought this was quite a bit better than the first installment, and I loved what they did with the arena especially, it looked just like it did in my mind, well except with better computer animation. I am cautiosly optimistic for the remaining movies, although turning one book into 2 movies always bothers movie, just another money grab.
6. Frozen-This, for me at least, felt like a return to the Disney movies I grew up with, it was a great movie to attend with my family. The vocal performances in this are great, and even though its not that similar to the original story, I thought they did a great job of getting some humor into the film, I especially liked Josh Gad's role in the movie.
5. Star Trek Into Darkness-I have to admit that I am not the biggest Star Trek fan, I haven't seen as much of the original series of the movies to be able to claim that about myself. I know that this movie takes a lot of different stories from previous Star Trek iterations and changes them in ways to reflect the alternate universe. I do think that there could be a little bit of creativity put into writing any of the additional Star Trek movies, if there are going to be any.
4. This Is the End-I loved the sense of humor in this movie, and how all of the main actors were making fun of themselves in some way, I also really liked the wide variety of people they got to appear in this movie, there were very few of the extended group that they didn't get for the movie. I thought it was generally a fun idea, and the movie was hilarious. I am interested to see the movies that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg write and direct in the future.
3. The World's End-I really liked this movie, it was the frontrunner for my favorite movie for a few months there. I think this movie is just so well directed and edited, some of the best transitions and fades I have seen in a long time. It was not my favorite movie made by the core team of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and director Edgar Wright. Edgar Wright has directed 4 movies that I love so I am excited to see what he can do with Ant-Man and join the Marvel universe. I would imagine it will have quite a bit of humor along with lots of well shot action scenes. If there is one thing I can say it is that Edgar Wright is the anti Michael Bay. Michael Bay edits so that his action is too fast, whereas Edgar Wright goes with longer shots and fewer cuts, not forcing the eye to adjust so much throughout a sequence, sorry I didn't plan on ranting about Michael Bay outside of Pain & Gain.
2.Gravity-This movie is probably the most technically and visually amazing film I have seen in a long time. It used CGI but it didn't feel like CGI at all. I think that Cuaron is likely going to win the best director Oscar this year for the simple fact that he was able to do so much with just actors in a room by themselves. I think that Sandra Bullock proved that her Oscar was not a fluke with her performance in this movie. I don't think watching it at home will do it nearly enough justice, this movie was made to be watched on a big screen and in 3D and I loved it in that situation.
1.Her-I was excited heading into this movie, and the movie was still able to exceed my expectations. I loved everything about this movie, from the idea, the performances, and the execution of those ideas. It is almost a bit of a fable for the cyber age that we are in. I think the main things that set this movie above Gravity are my belief that Her will be much more rewatchable than Gravity, and the sense of humor in Her. I stated before that I really value a sense of humor in a movie, and this movie really hit me in the perfect way on so many different levels.
Well I forced myself to power through all of that writing, now it is a new year, and I will have to start a new list from scratch, time for a fresh slate.
If I had felt like taking a lot of extra time I would have linked all of the movies below this to their IMDB pages. I may still go back and add the links in at a later time. But below is a pretty extensive list.
Movies I didn't see but probably will at some point in the future:
12 Years a Slave
Short Term 12
Fruitvale Station
The Spectacular Now
Inside Llewyn Davis
The Way Way Back
Blue Jasmine
The Wolf of Wall Street
American Hustle
Kick-Ass 2
Captain Phillips
In a World
Don Jon
Nebraska
Hell Baby
Bad Milo
We're The Millers
Elysium
The Wolverine
Man of Steel
The Heat
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Monsters University
Despicable Me 2
The To Do List
Ass Backwards
The Place Beyond the Pines
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
Sound City
Muscle Shoals
Drinking Buddies
Enough Said
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Thor: The Dark World
This is the first Marvel Studios produced movie that I almost didn't go see in the theater. I didn't really like the first Thor all that much, and it didn't seem like the story was all that great, and I just didn't care about the character all that much either. If Tom Hiddleston had not been in this movie, I can only imagine how bad it would have been.
Loki provides a lot of the comedic elements in the movie as well as a lot of the general entertainment. I wish there was a way that Loki could have his own movie, but that just doesn't seem likely, but he will likely be a part of all future Thor movies, especially with how this movie played out.
I found the style and special effects in the movie to be kind of off putting, they reminded me of a combination of the style and effects from the Star Wars prequels and the Lord of the Rings movies. It was trying to be a combination of both science fiction and fantasy. I really didn't like the science fiction elements, the awkward flying ships, the laser cannons that appeared for the situation, when also they fight a normal battle without cannons or anything, just hand to hand weapons. It really just didn't work for me, I think they wanted to replicate things that were successful in other movies, but that stuff didn't work all meshed together.
I felt like Natalie Portman really phoned it in in this movie. She just seemed out of place in it. I don't know if it was just the feel of the film, or the lackluster script, but it really felt like she wasn't really caring about her performance.
I don't know if there will be another Thor movie, but I think they can do a lot better than they did with this one. I think the fact that Thor isn't that well known to people who haven't read the comics makes it a bit harder for him to carry a film. A lot of the Avengers are in the same boat, Iron Man was able to break through this in the 3 movies, now I think people will know what to expect from an Iron Man movie. I really don't know what people will expect out of another Thor movie.
I have updated my movie rankings for the year, and while I haven't seen all that many movies this year, I just couldn't put this above World War Z. I think I would much rather see World War Z again than I would Thor: The Dark World.
9. Pain & Gain
8. Thor: The Dark World
7. World War Z
6. Pacific Rim
5. Iron Man 3
4. Star Trek Into Darkness
3. This Is the End
2. The World's End
1.Gravity
Loki provides a lot of the comedic elements in the movie as well as a lot of the general entertainment. I wish there was a way that Loki could have his own movie, but that just doesn't seem likely, but he will likely be a part of all future Thor movies, especially with how this movie played out.
I found the style and special effects in the movie to be kind of off putting, they reminded me of a combination of the style and effects from the Star Wars prequels and the Lord of the Rings movies. It was trying to be a combination of both science fiction and fantasy. I really didn't like the science fiction elements, the awkward flying ships, the laser cannons that appeared for the situation, when also they fight a normal battle without cannons or anything, just hand to hand weapons. It really just didn't work for me, I think they wanted to replicate things that were successful in other movies, but that stuff didn't work all meshed together.
I felt like Natalie Portman really phoned it in in this movie. She just seemed out of place in it. I don't know if it was just the feel of the film, or the lackluster script, but it really felt like she wasn't really caring about her performance.
I don't know if there will be another Thor movie, but I think they can do a lot better than they did with this one. I think the fact that Thor isn't that well known to people who haven't read the comics makes it a bit harder for him to carry a film. A lot of the Avengers are in the same boat, Iron Man was able to break through this in the 3 movies, now I think people will know what to expect from an Iron Man movie. I really don't know what people will expect out of another Thor movie.
I have updated my movie rankings for the year, and while I haven't seen all that many movies this year, I just couldn't put this above World War Z. I think I would much rather see World War Z again than I would Thor: The Dark World.
9. Pain & Gain
8. Thor: The Dark World
7. World War Z
6. Pacific Rim
5. Iron Man 3
4. Star Trek Into Darkness
3. This Is the End
2. The World's End
1.Gravity
Monday, June 3, 2013
Iron Man 3
I saw this movie a few weeks back, but haven't really made myself sit down and write about it, so here goes.
I liked this movie, I don't know if I would go as far as to say that I loved this movie, but it was definitely better than the second movie, by a long shot in my book.
This movie had a different director than the first two, and I think this movie definitely has the feel of a movie by Shane Black. I also liked the humanity of Tony Stark that exists in this movie. I also enjoyed how many people are questioning just how much people know, after the world was attacked by aliens that no one had any idea existed.
I really like that I was actually able to be surprised by the story in this movie, and how everything played out. I really loved Ben Kingsley in this movie, I also loved that they were able to get Ben Kingsley in this movie. He plays his character so well, and getting someone who has been knighted into a comic book movie just seems like such a big deal to me, maybe I am overstating it.
I think this is a good movie to come out after the Avengers, I believe Iron Man got the Marvel movie cycle started, so it makes sense to go back to it to start phase 2, as Marvel is calling it.
Well I guess I have really run out of things to say about Iron Man 3, it was good, very watchable, but not the best Iron Man movie.
I liked this movie, I don't know if I would go as far as to say that I loved this movie, but it was definitely better than the second movie, by a long shot in my book.
This movie had a different director than the first two, and I think this movie definitely has the feel of a movie by Shane Black. I also liked the humanity of Tony Stark that exists in this movie. I also enjoyed how many people are questioning just how much people know, after the world was attacked by aliens that no one had any idea existed.
I really like that I was actually able to be surprised by the story in this movie, and how everything played out. I really loved Ben Kingsley in this movie, I also loved that they were able to get Ben Kingsley in this movie. He plays his character so well, and getting someone who has been knighted into a comic book movie just seems like such a big deal to me, maybe I am overstating it.
I think this is a good movie to come out after the Avengers, I believe Iron Man got the Marvel movie cycle started, so it makes sense to go back to it to start phase 2, as Marvel is calling it.
Well I guess I have really run out of things to say about Iron Man 3, it was good, very watchable, but not the best Iron Man movie.
Friday, May 4, 2012
The Avengers
I literally just got home from watching the movie, I still have thoughts swirling in my head about the movie. I don't think I could have dreamed up a way of doing that movie better. I guess there is a reason i am not a screen writer huh? Although I think Joss Whedon is above the game in that respect as well. He has written what are my 2 favorite movies so far this year, The Cabin in the Woods is the other.
There is so much to say about this movie. I really do not think there is not a moment in the movie that is dull. There is action, there is tension, there is laughter to break the tension, and there is great dialogue. All of those things put together in one movie is why I really want to give credit to Joss Whedon and Zak Penn.
Beyond the good writing, I also think just about everyone had a good performance in this movie. I did not notice any poor performances. I still think Tom Hiddleston does a great job as Loki, with such an evil smile. I think there was good chemistry between all of the stars, and some great tension in the movie between the Avengers as well.
The movie does an amazing job of painting each of the characters in their own lights, with their own strengths and imperfections. The movie is so balanced and, with its ensemble cast, does an amazing job of keeping balance. No one character shines above the others, it is a true team effort. The team of course is even larger now with the addition of The Black Widow and Hawkeye. Jeremy Renner is in everything these days!
I really think what makes the movie a cut above the rest is how it combines all of these things together. There are several large laughs which are not what you would normally expect out of action movies. I definitely tend to enjoy action movies that can include a decent amount of humor, it might have actually been my biggest issue with Transformers 2, there was not much humor, and it is not hard at all to make me laugh, run on sentence much?
I think it is awesome what they were able to do with a movie like this, every single person knows how this movie will end going in, yet it is very compelling the whole way through. The movie takes a wonderful course to its conclusion.
In all honesty, I highly doubt my words are going to get anyone to see the movie. If you saw and liked the other Marvel movies of recent times, then definitely go see this. If that is not your cup of tea, then I highly doubt you have read this far. There is of course another scene after the credits that, for me, was worth a big laugh. There is also a reference to the villain who will be in the next movie, but I am uncertain who that character is at this time.
I really was hoping for some sort of reference to Ant Man or the Wasp, but alas there was none. I hope Edgar Wright is still signed up to write that movie, which would make it a must see movie for me personally.
I wanted to post an updated ranking of the recent generation of marvel movies:
The Avengers
X-Men First Class
Iron Man
Captain America
The Incredible Hulk
Thor
Iron Man 2
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
There is so much to say about this movie. I really do not think there is not a moment in the movie that is dull. There is action, there is tension, there is laughter to break the tension, and there is great dialogue. All of those things put together in one movie is why I really want to give credit to Joss Whedon and Zak Penn.
Beyond the good writing, I also think just about everyone had a good performance in this movie. I did not notice any poor performances. I still think Tom Hiddleston does a great job as Loki, with such an evil smile. I think there was good chemistry between all of the stars, and some great tension in the movie between the Avengers as well.
The movie does an amazing job of painting each of the characters in their own lights, with their own strengths and imperfections. The movie is so balanced and, with its ensemble cast, does an amazing job of keeping balance. No one character shines above the others, it is a true team effort. The team of course is even larger now with the addition of The Black Widow and Hawkeye. Jeremy Renner is in everything these days!
I really think what makes the movie a cut above the rest is how it combines all of these things together. There are several large laughs which are not what you would normally expect out of action movies. I definitely tend to enjoy action movies that can include a decent amount of humor, it might have actually been my biggest issue with Transformers 2, there was not much humor, and it is not hard at all to make me laugh, run on sentence much?
I think it is awesome what they were able to do with a movie like this, every single person knows how this movie will end going in, yet it is very compelling the whole way through. The movie takes a wonderful course to its conclusion.
In all honesty, I highly doubt my words are going to get anyone to see the movie. If you saw and liked the other Marvel movies of recent times, then definitely go see this. If that is not your cup of tea, then I highly doubt you have read this far. There is of course another scene after the credits that, for me, was worth a big laugh. There is also a reference to the villain who will be in the next movie, but I am uncertain who that character is at this time.
I really was hoping for some sort of reference to Ant Man or the Wasp, but alas there was none. I hope Edgar Wright is still signed up to write that movie, which would make it a must see movie for me personally.
I wanted to post an updated ranking of the recent generation of marvel movies:
The Avengers
X-Men First Class
Iron Man
Captain America
The Incredible Hulk
Thor
Iron Man 2
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Saturday, May 7, 2011
The Fallacy of Online Dating
This is just something that I have been thinking about today. I need to make a better effort of writing things when they are fresh in my mind rather than waiting until the thought is completely wasted.
I don't think that online dating is a bad thing, but I think it cacn be used in a bad way. Some guys and girls use it purely as a way of finding new people to have sex with, now there are sites that are more targeted towards this, but I have noticed both guy and girls on sites who have used them for this. I find that degrading.
I think that when used properly dating sites open up the options of people you could meet to people you would have never run into. I think these sites are great for finding things about people that you like, and also things that you don't like. I can honestly say that I have met lots of fun people through these sites. I know being a person that does not drink, and also does not enjoy the bar scene, this is a great new way to meet people, but it needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Some people avoid telling the whole truth, or flat out lie on their profiles. I personally choose to be completely 100% dorky me, after all I don't know how to be anyone else.
I have met some people who assume that just because you have a high number of things in common that you will magically fall in love like the commercials want it to seem, but I would imagine that some of the people in those commercials, while they are very happy now, had to go on several dates with other people before meeting the one. Its not a "tool" to be used and then assume that the first person you go out with will automatically be the one. It takes chemistry, and sometimes people can have a ton in common and lots of things they should be able to talk about, but just don't have the chemistry. Sometimes chemistry can take a little while to work out, other times you will realize that its not going to work out. Sometimes you find out the person who seemed cool online has turned out to be a complete jackass.
It can be very easy to draw yourself into delusions either on the positive or the negative end. When no one is writing to you, or replying to the messages, its very easy to get down about it. Its also very possible to get over confident when you might have multiple people you are messaging at once.
I think the one problem I have with online dating is that its not natural. Youre not meeting someone through a natural means within your life. You are introducing them inorganically, and as doing so it can be hard to establish what normal behavior for the "relationship" should be. Its not like people sit down and discuss this (Oh how I wish people would, it would have made lots of things much easier on me!). Its just one of those things that you have to try and see how much talking on the phone the other person likes, or how much texting, how much time together etc. I think it works best if both people are honest about what they like and don't like when things happen, I am most likely in the minority about this. I have found that I am too open and honest in most cases, some people aren't able to handle it when you're that open about what is going on I guess.
I have actually thought about writing a book, Dating For Geeks, which I think would be a great topic to cover for some other people like myself out there. Of course I have enver written anything more than a blog, I just think that this topic would be a good one to cover. For all I know there are already tons of books out there on the topic, but it seems like a very interesting idea.
I have been enjoying my self imposed hiatus from dating, although lately I have been extra flirty, and I can't decide if its just me being me, or if its me actually liking something, or even if its me overthinking stuff as I always do. I dont know.
Sometimes I am great at talking to girls, while other times I am more shy and reserved. It all really depends on my mood, but lately I have definitely been in a good mood regularly, so I have been very flirty with the ladies, and wow that sounded very creepy. I guess I have talked about how flirty I have been twice. I am still just trying to figure out why! Oh well, its really not that big of a deal though.
I just got a bit emotional when I noticed that my post on my friend who died, had been viewed nearly 3 times as many times as any of the other posts. I am still thinking about Dave on a day to day basis, I would still like for more people to write about him, but I think I got all of the commenters that I am going to get for that post.
I just got home from watching Thor, and over all it was pretty good. I would say about 7/10 which for a movie is a pretty good rating from me. I enjoyed it. There was a lot of good action. The characters were well developed through the movie. There were even a few laughs(more for me than there were for other people, because I laugh too much, and at weird times).
I didn't think the 3D element of the movie really added much at all. I haven't really ever been much of a fan of 3D. I don't think my eyes adjust well to it at all. I have to keep adjusting the silly glasses to get the correct 3D to actually work for my eyes. Really not worth it for most of the movies that are in 3D in my opinion, I hope the fad goes away again, although this time its partially about being able to charge extra for it. I just don't think in most cases all that much if anything was added by showing it in 3D. I do like that many movies are also being offered in 2D, but I thought Thor might have had some good 3D parts to it, I didn't really notice any of them if they existed.
There were some great shots in the movie, both of real environments, and of CGI environments. The movie has a lot of CGI, but most people going to see it probably are expecting that. My only other complaint about the movie is that it was just too bright. I kind off wish the 3D glasses would have been sunglasses for some of the scenes, so be warned about that.
I would like to give my ranking of recent Marvel movies that have been released:
Iron Man
The Incredible Hulk
Thor
Iron Man 2
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
I liked all of the movies here other than Wolverine. I don't know what it was about Wolverine, but the movie just didnt click with me, even though I was very excited to see it. I have even watched it a few more times to see if I can enjoy it more, but to no avail. I don't hate it or anything like that, just didn't really like it either.
I have actually been thinking about the older Marvel movies, kind of the first generation, and here are my rankings for those while we are at it:
Spiderman 2
Spiderman
Xmen 2
Xmen
Xmen: The Last Stand
Spiderman 3
Fantastic 4
Hulk
That took some time to think about. I think I am satisfied with those rankings though. I will usually watch any of the top 5 if I see them playing on tv while channel surfing. I didn't have a chance to see the second Fantastic Four movie, not that I really wanted to all that much. I guess I could include Daredevil and Elektra, but meh, didn't really care for either of those, also have never seen either of them all the way through in one sitting. I have never seen Ghostrider or either of the Punisher movies. I have surprisingly never seen any of the movies in the Blade trilogy. I would like to at some point, but im not exactly dying to see them either. If they were all on Netflix, I would definitely watch them, I will leave it at that.
I really think that overall, for the most part, the movies coming from Marvel materials have been well done any enjoyable. There have been a few exceptions, but I have gotten quite a bit of enjoyment from these movies, and I look forward to the future releases.
Anyone else think Nathan Fillion would be awesome as Ant-Man/Hank Pym?
Does it seem like I have a man crush on Nathan Fillion?
So what if I do?
Well thats all I have for now, thanks for reading.
I don't think that online dating is a bad thing, but I think it cacn be used in a bad way. Some guys and girls use it purely as a way of finding new people to have sex with, now there are sites that are more targeted towards this, but I have noticed both guy and girls on sites who have used them for this. I find that degrading.
I think that when used properly dating sites open up the options of people you could meet to people you would have never run into. I think these sites are great for finding things about people that you like, and also things that you don't like. I can honestly say that I have met lots of fun people through these sites. I know being a person that does not drink, and also does not enjoy the bar scene, this is a great new way to meet people, but it needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Some people avoid telling the whole truth, or flat out lie on their profiles. I personally choose to be completely 100% dorky me, after all I don't know how to be anyone else.
I have met some people who assume that just because you have a high number of things in common that you will magically fall in love like the commercials want it to seem, but I would imagine that some of the people in those commercials, while they are very happy now, had to go on several dates with other people before meeting the one. Its not a "tool" to be used and then assume that the first person you go out with will automatically be the one. It takes chemistry, and sometimes people can have a ton in common and lots of things they should be able to talk about, but just don't have the chemistry. Sometimes chemistry can take a little while to work out, other times you will realize that its not going to work out. Sometimes you find out the person who seemed cool online has turned out to be a complete jackass.
It can be very easy to draw yourself into delusions either on the positive or the negative end. When no one is writing to you, or replying to the messages, its very easy to get down about it. Its also very possible to get over confident when you might have multiple people you are messaging at once.
I think the one problem I have with online dating is that its not natural. Youre not meeting someone through a natural means within your life. You are introducing them inorganically, and as doing so it can be hard to establish what normal behavior for the "relationship" should be. Its not like people sit down and discuss this (Oh how I wish people would, it would have made lots of things much easier on me!). Its just one of those things that you have to try and see how much talking on the phone the other person likes, or how much texting, how much time together etc. I think it works best if both people are honest about what they like and don't like when things happen, I am most likely in the minority about this. I have found that I am too open and honest in most cases, some people aren't able to handle it when you're that open about what is going on I guess.
I have actually thought about writing a book, Dating For Geeks, which I think would be a great topic to cover for some other people like myself out there. Of course I have enver written anything more than a blog, I just think that this topic would be a good one to cover. For all I know there are already tons of books out there on the topic, but it seems like a very interesting idea.
I have been enjoying my self imposed hiatus from dating, although lately I have been extra flirty, and I can't decide if its just me being me, or if its me actually liking something, or even if its me overthinking stuff as I always do. I dont know.
Sometimes I am great at talking to girls, while other times I am more shy and reserved. It all really depends on my mood, but lately I have definitely been in a good mood regularly, so I have been very flirty with the ladies, and wow that sounded very creepy. I guess I have talked about how flirty I have been twice. I am still just trying to figure out why! Oh well, its really not that big of a deal though.
I just got a bit emotional when I noticed that my post on my friend who died, had been viewed nearly 3 times as many times as any of the other posts. I am still thinking about Dave on a day to day basis, I would still like for more people to write about him, but I think I got all of the commenters that I am going to get for that post.
I just got home from watching Thor, and over all it was pretty good. I would say about 7/10 which for a movie is a pretty good rating from me. I enjoyed it. There was a lot of good action. The characters were well developed through the movie. There were even a few laughs(more for me than there were for other people, because I laugh too much, and at weird times).
I didn't think the 3D element of the movie really added much at all. I haven't really ever been much of a fan of 3D. I don't think my eyes adjust well to it at all. I have to keep adjusting the silly glasses to get the correct 3D to actually work for my eyes. Really not worth it for most of the movies that are in 3D in my opinion, I hope the fad goes away again, although this time its partially about being able to charge extra for it. I just don't think in most cases all that much if anything was added by showing it in 3D. I do like that many movies are also being offered in 2D, but I thought Thor might have had some good 3D parts to it, I didn't really notice any of them if they existed.
There were some great shots in the movie, both of real environments, and of CGI environments. The movie has a lot of CGI, but most people going to see it probably are expecting that. My only other complaint about the movie is that it was just too bright. I kind off wish the 3D glasses would have been sunglasses for some of the scenes, so be warned about that.
I would like to give my ranking of recent Marvel movies that have been released:
Iron Man
The Incredible Hulk
Thor
Iron Man 2
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
I liked all of the movies here other than Wolverine. I don't know what it was about Wolverine, but the movie just didnt click with me, even though I was very excited to see it. I have even watched it a few more times to see if I can enjoy it more, but to no avail. I don't hate it or anything like that, just didn't really like it either.
I have actually been thinking about the older Marvel movies, kind of the first generation, and here are my rankings for those while we are at it:
Spiderman 2
Spiderman
Xmen 2
Xmen
Xmen: The Last Stand
Spiderman 3
Fantastic 4
Hulk
That took some time to think about. I think I am satisfied with those rankings though. I will usually watch any of the top 5 if I see them playing on tv while channel surfing. I didn't have a chance to see the second Fantastic Four movie, not that I really wanted to all that much. I guess I could include Daredevil and Elektra, but meh, didn't really care for either of those, also have never seen either of them all the way through in one sitting. I have never seen Ghostrider or either of the Punisher movies. I have surprisingly never seen any of the movies in the Blade trilogy. I would like to at some point, but im not exactly dying to see them either. If they were all on Netflix, I would definitely watch them, I will leave it at that.
I really think that overall, for the most part, the movies coming from Marvel materials have been well done any enjoyable. There have been a few exceptions, but I have gotten quite a bit of enjoyment from these movies, and I look forward to the future releases.
Anyone else think Nathan Fillion would be awesome as Ant-Man/Hank Pym?
Does it seem like I have a man crush on Nathan Fillion?
So what if I do?
Well thats all I have for now, thanks for reading.
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