Terminator: Salvation, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
So I guess this is the Title: Subtitle edition...
Terminator: Salvation
Walking out of the midnight show, flaggday's resonse, and later his Facebook status was "and the credits rolled, and there was a thundering chorus of "that wasn't bad", "yeah, it was decent", "no, I thought it was pretty good"." My clever one-liner to sum up my feelings toward the movie is: It wasn't Terminator 2, but it also wasn't Terminator 3.
Yeah so I gotta agree with the resounding chorus. It wasnt bad. It was decent. It was pretty good. There wasn't all that much to it, but what was there was good. Do have to say, I was actually kinda impressed with some of McG's work in this film. Very good post-apocalyptic feel, great action scenes, some very creative and interesting shots. Direct references to the previous movies were hit or miss. One of the signature lines was well delivered, the other not so much. I later read about subtle throwbacks in the costumes (John Connor's tiger striped cammo pants, Kyle Reese's Nikes), which I thought were really cool. And I hafta admit, I cheered for Ahnold's semi-cameo.
Acting wise, gotta say it was a bit of a waste of Christian Bale. Dont get me wrong, he was quite good. Its just that this type of movie is almost a bit beneath him. I mean, after performances like the ones in American Psycho or The Machinist or Rescue Dawn you have him hunting down robots in a Terminator movie? Not the best road to take to get your much delayed first Oscar nod. Although, there was a perfect scene in the movie for yelling out your favorite parts of his infamous rant. You'll know it when you get there. Was very surprised to see Helena Bonham Carter. She didnt really do much that was noteworthy, but she gets awesome points just for being in it. Hell, she gets awesome points just for her existence. Also was more than pleasantly surprised to see Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese after falling in love with his Chekov in Star Trek.
The downside to midnight movies and reviewing them a week later is that I tend to forget things to talk about. Although, interesting note about the midnight show, 95% of the audience were of the male persuasion. Strange given how well balanced most of the recent midnight movie trips had been. Bottom line: if you're a fan of the franchise, its worth a watch. If you're not, you're prolly not an action fan, so watch the trailer and use your judgement.
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
I love kiddie movies. And I remember being enthralled watching the original in the theater. Although I knew I'd be less impressed on a second watch, and waited to get the DVD as an X-mas present instead of buying it right away. This one just sorta fell a bit flat. It by no means sucked. Hell, it made me spend my day off on Monday at the Museum of Science. But it didnt really impress me either. The kids in the audience seemed to love it, but my inner 8 year old was kinda bored.
There was a very feeble attempt at throwing in some jokes for the "big kids" in the audience, but they were few and far between. And the humor was very splilt. You usually just heard the little ones laughing hysterically or the occasional moment of just the grown ups laughing. It was rare that both happened at once. And the few things I did find amusing wasn't so much of a "hey thats funny" as it was a "oooh pop culture reference!" Although some of those pop culture references were kinda forced.
The one thing, or I guess I should say the one person, that did impress me was Amy Adams--no surprise there. She is one of those rare actresses that can handle a character role and sustain it well as a supporting (arguably leading) role, as opposed to a lot of character roles that tend to be more on the featured end of the spectrum. Just like her Giselle in Enchanted, she was perfectly in character, perfectly believable, and always captivating. Owen Wilson was another good one. Clearly just there to have fun. Not much to Ben Stiller's role. I was kinda disappointed with Hank Azaria. Not that he wasn't good, but he wasn't great like he normally is. Kinda felt like he was phoning it in. Besides Amy Adams, I think my favorite was just unexpected actors in bit roles: Jay Baruchel as a sailor, Jonah Hill as a nightguard, Clint Howard as a mission control dude.
Overall a bit weak, prolly best to wait for the DVD.
Terminator: Salvation
Walking out of the midnight show, flaggday's resonse, and later his Facebook status was "and the credits rolled, and there was a thundering chorus of "that wasn't bad", "yeah, it was decent", "no, I thought it was pretty good"." My clever one-liner to sum up my feelings toward the movie is: It wasn't Terminator 2, but it also wasn't Terminator 3.
Yeah so I gotta agree with the resounding chorus. It wasnt bad. It was decent. It was pretty good. There wasn't all that much to it, but what was there was good. Do have to say, I was actually kinda impressed with some of McG's work in this film. Very good post-apocalyptic feel, great action scenes, some very creative and interesting shots. Direct references to the previous movies were hit or miss. One of the signature lines was well delivered, the other not so much. I later read about subtle throwbacks in the costumes (John Connor's tiger striped cammo pants, Kyle Reese's Nikes), which I thought were really cool. And I hafta admit, I cheered for Ahnold's semi-cameo.
Acting wise, gotta say it was a bit of a waste of Christian Bale. Dont get me wrong, he was quite good. Its just that this type of movie is almost a bit beneath him. I mean, after performances like the ones in American Psycho or The Machinist or Rescue Dawn you have him hunting down robots in a Terminator movie? Not the best road to take to get your much delayed first Oscar nod. Although, there was a perfect scene in the movie for yelling out your favorite parts of his infamous rant. You'll know it when you get there. Was very surprised to see Helena Bonham Carter. She didnt really do much that was noteworthy, but she gets awesome points just for being in it. Hell, she gets awesome points just for her existence. Also was more than pleasantly surprised to see Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese after falling in love with his Chekov in Star Trek.
The downside to midnight movies and reviewing them a week later is that I tend to forget things to talk about. Although, interesting note about the midnight show, 95% of the audience were of the male persuasion. Strange given how well balanced most of the recent midnight movie trips had been. Bottom line: if you're a fan of the franchise, its worth a watch. If you're not, you're prolly not an action fan, so watch the trailer and use your judgement.
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
I love kiddie movies. And I remember being enthralled watching the original in the theater. Although I knew I'd be less impressed on a second watch, and waited to get the DVD as an X-mas present instead of buying it right away. This one just sorta fell a bit flat. It by no means sucked. Hell, it made me spend my day off on Monday at the Museum of Science. But it didnt really impress me either. The kids in the audience seemed to love it, but my inner 8 year old was kinda bored.
There was a very feeble attempt at throwing in some jokes for the "big kids" in the audience, but they were few and far between. And the humor was very splilt. You usually just heard the little ones laughing hysterically or the occasional moment of just the grown ups laughing. It was rare that both happened at once. And the few things I did find amusing wasn't so much of a "hey thats funny" as it was a "oooh pop culture reference!" Although some of those pop culture references were kinda forced.
The one thing, or I guess I should say the one person, that did impress me was Amy Adams--no surprise there. She is one of those rare actresses that can handle a character role and sustain it well as a supporting (arguably leading) role, as opposed to a lot of character roles that tend to be more on the featured end of the spectrum. Just like her Giselle in Enchanted, she was perfectly in character, perfectly believable, and always captivating. Owen Wilson was another good one. Clearly just there to have fun. Not much to Ben Stiller's role. I was kinda disappointed with Hank Azaria. Not that he wasn't good, but he wasn't great like he normally is. Kinda felt like he was phoning it in. Besides Amy Adams, I think my favorite was just unexpected actors in bit roles: Jay Baruchel as a sailor, Jonah Hill as a nightguard, Clint Howard as a mission control dude.
Overall a bit weak, prolly best to wait for the DVD.