Two sequels and a future Oscar winner
#80: Thor: The Dark World - Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all. [imdb]
SAVE US ALL, THOR! Summaries are funny. Thor is my favorite Avenger because of the mythology (and, yes, the Hemsworth), so the movie's focus on that made me happy. I still just cannot with Loki's manpain, which is unfortunate because Hiddleston out-acts most of the cast. I enjoyed the movie anyway; the story was compelling, the characters were strong, and the final post-credits scene was immensely satisfying.
#81: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark become targets of the Capitol after their victory in the 74th Hunger Games sparks a rebellion in the Districts of Panem. [imdb]
As with the book, the second Hunger Games movie was even better than the first. Again, they translated the story to the screen very well; none of us could think of anything that was missed.
They especially excelled in two areas:
1. Showing the brutality and dominance of the Capitol - noticed most prominently in the riot scenes and with Cinna's beating.
2. Showing how hilariously uninvested in either boy Katniss is, and how it's really all them, not her, creating the romance storyline. She's just like, "Uh, more important things, yeah?" <3
Both of those items showed how the third person perspective could enrich this story, and they make me wish again that the book hadn't been first person. It makes the story bigger and more whole.
On the people: well, Jennifer Lawrence is just fantastic, in all things. Here, she showed us how to do fear, panic, and rage without going over the top into melodrama. The final shot, too... She's just the best.
Also, I deeply enjoy Elizabeth Banks and Stanley Tucci in these movies. They are having so much fun. The new additions were pretty good, too, though it's a shame Finnick was a more interesting character than Peeta. Oh, Peeta.
I'm curious to see how they manage the third book in two movies. It's so problematic, but they've done a good enough job fixing things on film that I have some hope.
#82: 12 Years A Slave - In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. [imdb]
This movie is on track to win all the awards, and it deserves most of them. It delivers on every point you expect - truth, brutal truth, and a strong cast to bring it to you. Leading them were Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomin Northrup and Michael Fassbender as Epps. You can't say enough about their work, and everyone else rose to the challenge, too. Statues will rain down upon them soon.
The storytelling was effective and the only quibbles I had were minor. McQueen goes too often to the lingering close-up; sometimes, it worked really well to show Solomon Having A Moment, but other times it clunked, and that brought the good times down, too. Back on the plus side, I liked what they did with sound overlay between scenes - unique touch.
(I did sort of chuckle when Brad Pitt showed up, because it was very A WILD BRAD PITT APPEARS! That is the extent of the movie's humor.)
You should certainly see this movie.
In unrelated news, when did plain toasters get so expensive?
SAVE US ALL, THOR! Summaries are funny. Thor is my favorite Avenger because of the mythology (and, yes, the Hemsworth), so the movie's focus on that made me happy. I still just cannot with Loki's manpain, which is unfortunate because Hiddleston out-acts most of the cast. I enjoyed the movie anyway; the story was compelling, the characters were strong, and the final post-credits scene was immensely satisfying.
#81: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark become targets of the Capitol after their victory in the 74th Hunger Games sparks a rebellion in the Districts of Panem. [imdb]
As with the book, the second Hunger Games movie was even better than the first. Again, they translated the story to the screen very well; none of us could think of anything that was missed.
They especially excelled in two areas:
1. Showing the brutality and dominance of the Capitol - noticed most prominently in the riot scenes and with Cinna's beating.
2. Showing how hilariously uninvested in either boy Katniss is, and how it's really all them, not her, creating the romance storyline. She's just like, "Uh, more important things, yeah?" <3
Both of those items showed how the third person perspective could enrich this story, and they make me wish again that the book hadn't been first person. It makes the story bigger and more whole.
On the people: well, Jennifer Lawrence is just fantastic, in all things. Here, she showed us how to do fear, panic, and rage without going over the top into melodrama. The final shot, too... She's just the best.
Also, I deeply enjoy Elizabeth Banks and Stanley Tucci in these movies. They are having so much fun. The new additions were pretty good, too, though it's a shame Finnick was a more interesting character than Peeta. Oh, Peeta.
I'm curious to see how they manage the third book in two movies. It's so problematic, but they've done a good enough job fixing things on film that I have some hope.
#82: 12 Years A Slave - In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. [imdb]
This movie is on track to win all the awards, and it deserves most of them. It delivers on every point you expect - truth, brutal truth, and a strong cast to bring it to you. Leading them were Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomin Northrup and Michael Fassbender as Epps. You can't say enough about their work, and everyone else rose to the challenge, too. Statues will rain down upon them soon.
The storytelling was effective and the only quibbles I had were minor. McQueen goes too often to the lingering close-up; sometimes, it worked really well to show Solomon Having A Moment, but other times it clunked, and that brought the good times down, too. Back on the plus side, I liked what they did with sound overlay between scenes - unique touch.
(I did sort of chuckle when Brad Pitt showed up, because it was very A WILD BRAD PITT APPEARS! That is the extent of the movie's humor.)
You should certainly see this movie.
In unrelated news, when did plain toasters get so expensive?