What Movies Have You Seen Lately?

Quote: Pacomartin

No, but the general feeling among critics is it deserves credit for taking on the novel, but it does a poor job of putting the message on screen. So you should just read the novel.

Sometimes the movie is different than the play, show, or novel on which it is based. It is different, but it is equally powerful. The Elephant Man, Grease, To Kill a Mockingbird, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus are good examples. This adaptation does not seem to fall into that category.

Not quite to that level, but I would add Up In The Air to that list. Both the novel and the movie were superb in my opinion, and yet completely different.

Guardians of the Galaxy should break $300m domestic in a few days. It will almost certainly be beaten by "The Hunger Games" film in the fall, but it stands a decent chance of taking the #2 or #3 spot for the year.

I wonder what Vin Diesel got paid to say "I AM GROOT". Even Bradley Cooper could go to work in sweat pants.

Didn't care much for Roger Moore as Bond, but just saw Richard Kiel died. (Bond villain JAWS)

Quote: rxwine

Didn't care much for Roger Moore as Bond,

Amen to that, pasty faced saggy butt Brit.
He was awful, I can't watch any of his Bond
movies. I thought they were awful at the
time, too.

Just a movie you need to be able to say you saw. I can say that now.

Not the worst vampire movie ... there are a lot of bad ones. This one is fair; and pretty campy.

Somebody needed to have a movie where Dracula [OK, it was Blacula] orders a Bloody Mary with a straight face. Done.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068284/

I saw The Maze Runner recently. The plot is boys, age about 12-16, are sent one per month to a large clearing surrounded by a maze. The maze is open only during the day. If you don't make it back before the door closes then precedent says you'll be killed by creatures that troll the maze at night.

A new kid arrives who wakens up a power struggle between those content to leave the maze alone and those looking for the elusive way out. That is about as far as I should take it here.

I will say the movie is part one of, I think, three. The feel to the movie is much like The Hunger Games, and I think is going after that demographic. Nevertheless, this middle-aged man enjoyed it too. So much that I may buy the book of part 2 because I'm too impatient to wait a year or more for the next movie.

On the down side, the movie felt a little rushed and much of the acting, including the lead actor, felt stiff.

My score on the 0 to 10 scale is a 7. Whatever score you gave the Hunger Games, I think you'd give the Maze Runner one or two points less out of 10.

Quote: Wizard

I saw The Maze Runner recently.

I haven't seen the movie, nor read the book. I did see a trailer that showed folks, well, running through a maze. I thought it would be some sort of "Twililight Zone" twist where the camera pulls back at the end to reveal that giant alien rat psychologists are conducting "Who Moved My Cheese" experiments. Anyways:

No girls?

Do the boys just wake up in the middle of the maze, and have to figure the whole thing out, or are they dropped off by helicopter, benefitting from an aerial view of the challenge?

What happens if they just stay in the middle and refuse to participate? Do the monsters come to the middle?

Quote: Wizard

The feel to the movie is much like The Hunger Games, and I think is going after that demographic. Nevertheless, this middle-aged man enjoyed it too. So much that I may buy the book of part 2 because I'm too impatient to wait a year or more for the next movie.

I think the demographic is called "young adult", but it often means "young female adults".

"Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" was in many ways the first "young adult" franchise that appealed to a lot of "older adults".


“The Hunger Games” ,“The Maze Runner”, “The Giver”, “Twilight”, “Ender’s Game”, “Beautiful Creatures”, “The Mortal Instruments”, “Eragon”, and “The Spiderwick Chronicles” are all YA films, but the first two seem to have a broader appeal.

But, with the exception of twilight, most of those films that didn't appeal to older people were failures. It seemed like 50-80 years ago they had no problems making films and cartoons that both kids and adults enjoyed.

I just watched Repo Men with Jude Law and Forest Whitaker. It's about a future where the world was devastated by war, but has rebounded to the point where technological replacement of body parts and vital organs is possible and common (like "Total Recall" or "Minority Report"). However, paying for the new parts is prohibitively expensive, and when folks can't make payment, their parts are repossessed like a used car. The movie plays like an action/drama/horror flick, but with a deliberate undercurrent of silliness. On the other hand, It could all be intended as a serious, sci-fi drama, and I could be laughing at situations inappropriately.

Most of the special effects are well done. I give it a 7 out of 10.

Quote: Pacomartin

But, with the exception of twilight, most of those films that didn't appeal to older people were failures. It seemed like 50-80 years ago they had no problems making films and cartoons that both kids and adults enjoyed.

hasn't that been the success of Disney with Cars, Toys and the like... adults seem to enjoy them. The Lego movie was pretty enjoyable too, I went with a couple of 10 year olds as well, and they loved it too.