Movies - both new and old

The Common Room Film, Television, Music & Books
#4201

I saw two movies today! One new, one slightly older.

Despicable Me 2 was, in my opinion, better than the first one. The villain was more interesting this time around, and I generally found it funnier. I liked the new characters they’ve added, and I especially liked that the movie presented a logical continuation of the first rather than attempting to repeat the movie we’ve already seen. Some animated sequels tend to have their characters forget the lessons they learnt in the first one, so it was nice to see that Gru wasn’t suddenly super-evil all over again.

I do feel like they overused the minions though. I don’t find them especially funny myself, and it sometimes felt like they were simply tacking scenes on with them in for the sake of it. That’s not to say the minions weren’t funny, simply that the filmmakers seemed to over-use them a bit. The news that there’s going to be a Minions movie is worrying, because I don’t think they can really carry a story be themselves. They were clearly designed as comic-relief side characters, and really need a more balanced character like Gru around to stop them from becoming irritating.

I also have another small issue with the film:

I didn’t like the little subplot about Agnes wanting a mother. I mean, it literally amounted to two/three scenes, but it still bugged me. I didn’t like the fact that she wanted a mother (despite Gru being depicted as a loving parent) and ended up getting one. It kind of had the unfortunate, and probably unintended, implication that children always need two parents. It also seemed like kind of a weird thing to want considering that not that long ago she was in an orphanage, but you could put that down to her feeling left out at Mother’s Day, and being pretty young. I suppose that makes it a bit better- the older girls didn’t ask for a mother, so maybe it was supposed to be more of an age thing. A minor issue, but one I found distracting.

But on the whole it was a good movie. It had some nice slapstick, as well as some very inventive moments. It was much better than I expected.

I also saw Limitless, a film from 2011 about a man who, struggling with writer’s block, begins taking an untested drug that allows him to use the full capability of his mind. When I saw the TV ads for it back in 2011, I thought it looked terrible- it seemed to buy into the “We only use 10% of our brains” myth (this is mentioned, but only once in the actual film) and it mostly seemed to show a guy having a good time while everything looks blue and orange. But the movie itself was quite entertaining, and the exaggerated colours actually serve a purpose- when he’s off the drug the world looks washed out and grey, but when he’s on it everything is bright and crisp. I really liked the film, to my surprise. Admittedly I think the character occasionally did stupid things (for some reason he doesn’t pay back a guy he borrowed money from for ages, despite clearly having the cash to do so) but it was mostly understandable.

#4202

This review was very comforting actually. I’m glad they improved on many aspects. But the minion overload was what I was afraid of!

#4203

Yeah, I was worried about over-use of the minions before I saw the film. To be fair, their scenes mostly work. But a couple of times they definitely seemed to be dragging out scenes with them for the sake of it.

I was reading the description of the Minions movie the other day, and it makes it sound as though there are minions other than the ones Gru has… but DM gave me the impression he created them (especially since in both movies we never see anybody else with them. In fact the sequel (very very mild spoilers) doesn’t really make sense if there are other Minions, because Dr Nefario wouldn’t have needed to steal Gru’s).

#4204

I don’t know if this is the right thread, seeing how this movie isn’t out yet, and won’t be until 2015, but guess what? someone at paramount thought this was a good idea

[url]He’ll be back: ‘Terminator’ film franchise gets trilogy reboot – The Denver Post

This can only go poorly…

#4205

So I watched two DreamWorks movies for the first time today…

The Croods was okay. It had a few funny moments, but didn’t really grab me, and I don’t think it really warrants the sequel and TV show it’s going to get. It was pretty mediocre in my opinion. One thing I found odd was that the film initially presents the daughter, Eep as the main character. But in the second half of the film she pretty much takes a backseat to her father, to the extent that there’s about five-ten minutes focusing exclusively on him. I think it’s because Eep didn’t really need much character development, but the movie had to follow her because she’s what gets the family out of their cave in the first place. The dad, on the other hand, is the one who has to learn to change his ways. This made the movie feel a bit uneven to me, like it wasn’t sure who to focus on (and IMDB claims the movie was originally a buddy comedy about the dad and Guy, which may be why…). I think the film would maybe have been a bit more successful if it had been like The Incredibles and focused on each family member individually, with Eep and Grug getting the most attention. Instead it seems to change its mind about who the protagonist is, and the rest of the family kind of blur into the background and just go along with the flow.

I liked the animal designs, and thought that some of the environments were very cool and creative. I think the creatures looked more appealing than the humans, and you could definitely see more of Chris Sanders’ style shining through in the big cat than in the Croods themselves.

I watched Rise of the Guardians immediately afterwards. I’ll admit I was slightly disappointed- I thought it would be a bit better than it was. That said, I’m sad to hear that this movie didn’t do entirely well at the box-office- I would much rather see a sequel to this than to The Croods. Guardians is very pretty to look at, and I loved the design of the Tooth Fairy’s home especially. There were a couple of moments where the dialogue was a bit clunky- a scene where Jack Frost calls the Easter Bunny a kangaroo stands out, as does the final line of the movie. On the whole though, it was an enjoyable watch (even if it did get a bit cheesy towards the end).

A couple of things confused me though. The first was something that seemed like a plot hole: I get the kids no longer believing in the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny…but Father Christmas too?? Christmas didn’t take place during the movie’s timeframe, and I doubt that every kid who stopped believing in the others would automatically lose their faith in Santa. On top of this, wouldn’t the adults believe in the Guardians themselves? I mean, somebody had to be putting money under the pillows and leaving eggs out, so surely the parents would believe in them, even if that belief didn’t count towards the Guardian’s powers.

I was also curious about the origins of Pitch Black. We learn that the Guardians all used to be normal people until they were turned magical (by the Man in the Moon I think). So… where did Pitch come from? Was he the original Sandman turned evil? Was he created some other way? This is a minor thing, but I wish they’d explained it a bit more (unless they did and I missed it).

Still, it was a good movie, and I like how DreamWorks has started expanding into less comedy-centric movies again.

I found it interesting that The Croods talks about the sun a lot, whilst Rise of the Guardians has a thing for the moon.

#4206

The Croods is getting a sequel and TV show, omg. I’m not even surprised anymore.

And yeah, I know a few other people who were disappointed by RotG. I blame all all the fans on tumblr, blowing it out of proportion.

#4207

I know, right? I can understand Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon. Shrek, too. But The Croods really doesn’t have much going for it really. It barely had enough story for one movie.

Yeah, that’s where I saw lots of people reblogging gifs and so on. I accidentally saw a certain scene a lot on Tumblr, but in the final film it’s actually pretty brief (though still important). I know its not fair to blame the movie for other people’s hype, but it still feels a bit disappointing. It’s especially frustrating because a couple of years ago I would have gone in with much lower expectations on the basis that it was DreamWorks. MegaMind was a very pleasant surprise.

#4208

I just added Heat (1995) to my DVD collection, and I have to say that it is truly one of the best crime films I have ever seen. I loved the atmosphere, the soundtrack, the acting by Pacino and De Niro (as well as Kilmer), the action sequences and everything else. Thanks Spirit for recommending it to me, you definitely weren’t lying about it.

#4209

Thanks! That film is a referent for us, mainly because you can clearly see Nolan has been very inspired by it, and we in turn are quite inspired by him.

#4210

Having not seen either of these films, your thoughts somewhat represented my presumptions, Nausicaa. Of the two, Rise of the Guardians seemed more interesting to me and is one of the only DreamWorks films that was ever able to excite me from the first trailer, most of the others required good word of mouth in order for me to see it. I also wish it could have made more money and I’m partly to blame for that even though I did want to see it.

About The Croods, which I haven’t even seen either; I think I’d like it decently, but I wonder what really grabbed everyone besides the visuals. As for the sequel thing, at least only one is announced so far though that will probably change and I, too, wish Rise of the Guardians could have gotten one instead. It seems like any DreamWorks film that performs better than the first Shrek gets at least one sequel and will get more until a downward slope occurs like with the third and fourth Shrek’s, but I don’t know.

With Turbo coming up, I’m not sure what to think yet. It looks cute, although I probably won’t end up seeing it. I don’t think it will be one of DreamWorks’ worst. I imagine I would like it decently or perhaps a little more than that.

The last sentence I quoted from you really interests me, by the way. I liked reading your thoughts!

#4211

:slight_smile: Thanks!

Yeah, the first Rise of the Guardians trailer grabbed me too. I found it interesting how it had almost no comedic content unlike most DreamWorks trailers, which usually try to sell the movie with its comedy. I’m not sure why the movie didn’t do well… Poorly chosen release date? Bad marketing? Looked too Christmassy?

So far I think thatTurbo looks… bad. But I’ve been wrong before :laughing: Still, I don’t think it’ll end up being one of the studio’s better films.

#4212

What do you guys think of Megamind? I’ve been considering renting it.

#4213

I think it’s regular. Nothing spectacular, but well done.

#4214

I have not seen Megamind. I hear people who expected not to like it did end up liking it.

#4215

Well, they improved after that one, actually. (And KFP and HTTYD before Shrek 4 are their very bests)

#4216

Oh good, that’s what it has been sounding like. And yes, I really enjoy both Kung Fu Panda (need to see the 2nd one) and How to Train Your Dragon, they’re quite good. However, I would also say The Prince of Egypt is as good. It’s not that I’m avoiding the new movies. It’s just that I don’t always get to see that many films every year, or sometimes I’m without the money. Maybe I’ll get to do so more often when I start driving, hopefully sooner than later.

Thank you for that, by the way! :smiley:

#4217

I think you’d enjoy it! :slight_smile: It’s got likable characters and definitely some funny scenes. I’d say rent it :smiley:

#4218

I’m definitely going to try watching Preminger’s Anatomy of a Murder today.

#4219

That’s one of my favourite films.

#4220

LQ: Ugh I hate Antz and Shark Tale, as well as Bee Movie. I think Over the Hedge is okay. It wasn’t horrible, but I’m not going to buy it either.