Movies the giraffe watched: August 2013

First viewing - Aug. 4th

I remember back when this movie came out I read a review trashing it, then my best friends showed up at my house to pick me up to go see it with them & I declined. They all dug it & I've heard others enjoyed it over the years so I figured I'd finally watch this one. It's solidly entertaining, but ultimately I was left with a feeling of meh. The visuals range from excellent to cheesy (the latter no doubt due to technological advancements that make them look worse than they did for their time), but the biggest problem here is that there's never a reason given to give a shit about any of the characters. So while it's entertaining to see what happens to them, I never once felt anything about it. And in the end I could just as well have gone on without watching it. So yeah, meh.

Currently streaming on Netflix

First viewing - Aug. 8th

Been meaning to check this one out for a while now, so when it popped up on Netflix I figured I'd finally sit down with it. Sure it was spawned by the popularity of Jaws, but I don't think that's a bad thing even when it's obviously borrowing ideas from Jaws. It's solidly entertaining & the acting is decent, plus there's a sense of humor to it (nice to see this early in his career that Joe Dante was employing his trademark visual gags for comedic effect). And best of all we get some excellent creature effects courtesy of Phil Tippett & Rob Bottin, though I hoped for a bit more use of some of the creatures who got some brief screen time early on. And that plus some other missed opportunities are my only real complaints here. I can't help but feel that another 15-30 minutes could have better fleshed out the story and made it something more admirable. But for what it is I liked it well enough & might even watch it again some day.

Just a thought: Now this song will be playing in my head for a couple days (at least).

Currently streaming on Netflix

Re-watch - Aug. 12th

Rented this so my daughter could see it & managed to be able to sit down & watch it all with her. Funny enough, much like the dreaded critic in the film my opinion of this one has improved somewhat. I still think that the idea of following one's dreams no matter what is nothing new & has been better explored & expressed in other films. And the idea that a human can be controlled by pulling on his hair is pretty silly. But I'd be lying if I said this movie fails to touch my heart & stir my emotions, and for that I can't leave it at a 6/10 anymore. I still don't think it quite manages to be Great in my book, but it's better than I remembered it to be & I'll gladly watch it again.

First viewing - Aug. 12th

Since this was a bonus feature on the Ratatouille DVD & I hadn't already seen it I figured I should give it a watch. And it was OK. Nice little history lesson, but not many laughs to be had or anything. Definitely nothing I'd go out of my way to watch again.

First viewing - Aug. 12th/13th

To be honest, I don't get all the hate for this movie. Sure it's not Great like some other films from the Coens, but I didn't think it was bad at all. The performances are mostly strong (especially the leads), the dialogue is excellent, it was funny & didn't take itself too seriously... Really the only complaint is that because it's a rom-com it's obvious where it'll end up, but that's standard for the genre. At least it's solidly entertaining regardless of that fact. Maybe it's because I went into this with my expectations lowered, but I liked it. And yeah, I'd watch it again.

Currently streaming on Netflix

Re-watch - Aug. 20th

The kiddo wanted to watch this one again, and since I didn't have anything around the house I absolutely needed to do I took the opportunity to watch it with her. Still hilarious & entertaining from start to finish.

Just a thought: I'll have to take the kiddo to see the sequel when it comes out.

First viewing - Aug. 11th

Elysium rarely takes time to pause, the narrative unstoppably moving forward as if it, too, were rigged with a robot suit. It delivers strong action; well-staged, memorable scenes with entertaining characters; and world-building that leaves the audience intrigued while addressing something of substance. It doesn’t do it in an inventive fashion, but it’s effective nonetheless. And while looking to the future helps us define our present, it is also carrying on a great tradition from the past — one that more genre films would benefit from following.
--from a review on TinyMixTapes

First viewing - Aug. 10th

Recommended by Xanadon't

I went ahead & watched my Five by Five movies back-to-back this month, and while I went into both of them not really knowing what they were about they wound up being complementary. Both films have sex & infidelity at their center, though with very different explorations of those (and other) subjects.

The cast here does a stellar job of creating characters that could easily be real people, to the point that were there not so many recognizable actors I might have thought I was watching someone's home videos. The story goes some unexpected places & handles it all admirably too. I'm reluctant to say I really enjoyed the film due to its dark subject matter, but I definitely appreciated what the film had to say & how it said it.

First viewing - Aug. 11th

Recommended by lotr23

Yet another case where I'm highly impressed by Nicole Kidman's acting abilities. Can't say I was too impressed by much else here though. To Die For is entertaining enough thanks to the story, but the narrative style irritated me at times. The film is presented through a series of interview snippets, which was different but for me it kept the film at a distance. The rest of the acting is solid to OK, and the ideas put forth about celebrity were good albeit nothing revolutionary. I was reminded a little of Natural Born Killers at times, though I never fell into the rhythms of this film like I did that one. Still, it's definitely worth watching once just to see Kidman's performance.

Just a thought: Adding this to the long list of films in which Joaquin Phoenix fails to impress me.

First viewing - Aug. 15th

One of those rare films you can't truly be prepared for, and so I won't even bother to explain my love & admiration for it. Just go watch it & figure out how you feel about it.

Just a thought: I'll never see Mr. Dursley the same again.

Currently streaming on Netflix

First viewing - Aug. 18th

Hmm...well, it's good to know Joon-ho Bong has improved since this one. It's got its moments, but honestly my interest in & appreciation of it was fleeting as the film went on. There are some truly funny moments if you're into dark humor, and the cast & story are solid, but it was a little overlong & I wasn't that into the characters. So it's worth a look, but nothing exceptional in my book & I doubt I'll watch it again.

Just a thought: I don't know that barking dogs never bite, but they sure can be annoying.

First viewing - Aug. 24th/25th

Aside from a stellar performance by Michael Shannon, I see no reason for anyone to watch this movie. That's not to say the rest of the cast doesn't do a good job (they do), but the story lacks any depth or surprises & ends on a note that had me rolling my eyes & wishing I'd watched something else instead. I'd had an urge around the 30 minute mark to bail on it, but stuck it out just because of the positive feedback I'd seen from some of my fellow Listalites. And doing so only resulted in my being able to watch Shannon take his character off the rails into over-the-top territory, which was entertaining enough but beyond that there's nothing to make this worthy of recommendation in my book.

Just a thought: More like Ugh.

Currently streaming on Netflix; leaves Sept. 1st

Re-watch - Aug. 25th/26th

After the bad taste left in my mouth by Bug, I decided I needed to watch something FUN to recover. Since this was on Netflix's chopping block, I figured I'd revisit it & see if it was as good as I'd remembered. You see, back in the mid to late 80s I must have watched this 100 times after it came out on video. That's left an impression on me, as every moment of it was still familiar to me even after about 20 years of having not watched it. And it was a good choice, because it's just dumb silly fun from start to finish which was all I wanted out of it. I probably never need to watch it again at this point, but I wouldn't shy away from doing so if I was in the right mood either.

Just a thought: Don't know how I never noticed it before (maybe because I'm not a big fan of The Beach Boys), but I realized watching this that "Surfin' USA" is a ripoff of Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen" & now I like "Surfin' USA" a whole lot less than I used to.

Currently streaming on Netflix; leaves Sept. 1st

First viewing - Aug. 30th

Well this was a good little movie. Good story, good characters, solidly entertaining. Not exceptional enough that I'd watch it again, but definitely worth a look.

Just a thought: Totally not buying Neve Campbell playing a 23-year-old here, but no big deal.

Currently streaming on Netflix; leaves Sept. 1st

Aug. 6th

I care about as much as these guys do.

OK, so I checked this one out because it was distributed by Drafthouse Films, which is of course a part of the Alamo Drafthouse company. The opening was AWESOME, with ninjas attacking drug dealers & lots of cheesy violence that had me laughing heavily. Then the credits roll & we're thrown into the actual movie which chipped away at any appreciation I'd had up to that point. The dialogue & characters were terrible, which I might have been able to forgive since it did seem to fit (this is clearly a low-budget B movie). But what I had the most problems with is that the film has at its center a band, who gets far more screen time devoted to their songs than I could stomach. I think I made it a half hour into this film, by which point they'd had 10 minutes (guessing obviously, and really it felt longer than that) of performing awful AWFUL '80s music, and I couldn't take any more of it. Had it been edited down to about a minute per song, I probably wouldn't have minded...but having to sit through entire songs by a shitty band is just brutal (and makes one wonder if it's not merely filler). When I turned it off the band was fighting with a large group of people, but I just didn't care anymore. I'm just glad I didn't pay money to watch what I did of it.

Currently streaming on Netflix