Quick-Take Movie Reviews!

[cp]

One thing I look forward to on my trips is the time to catch up on some movies. Here are a few I fit in these past few trips, with some brief thoughts (plus my rating, using my arbitrary 64-point scale).

The Grey, 2011. Fairly typical Liam Neeson fare, without many likeable characters (and of course this time the villains are the weather and

Comments

[pigshitpoet]

i liked john wick and guardians of the galaxy

[cp]

Definitely two good ones! I think they're making a sequel to Wick as well, that should be interesting.

[technophobe1975]

I think you hit the nail on the head as regards Guardian, you can always tell when everyone on a production enjoys what they are doing!

[cp]

I certainly think so! It just creates a vibe that adds to the mix, somehow.

[goblue]

Two thumbs up for your movie rating system. ;~)

[cp]

Ha, I see what you did there. ;)

[theidolhands]

Fuck yeah, Peckinpah!

[cp]

I know! I'm a bit surprised and ashamed that I've really not seen any of his films, even the big names like Straw Dogs and The Wild Bunch. Given my affection for Tarantino, that's inexcusable! I'm not sure Alfredo Garcia was a great place to start--it was interesting and worth watching, but it can't rank among his best. I'll move on to his classics next. :)

And I see he directed a couple of music videos for Julian Lennon in the 80s. That seems very weird!

[thewayne]

I didn't know Little Boy was a 'faith' movie, I'm glad I avoided it. I really don't like the volume of that type coming out, especially when you have lovely little nuggets like the kid who was the inspiration for Heaven Is For Real admit that he made the whole thing up.

Re: Jesse James: from what I've read on Wikipedia, yeah, Ford flat-out murdered him. I kinda want to see it some time. We live in Billy the Kid country: now HE was nothing but a murderer, and he's highly romanticized here.

[cp]

Yeah, it's not as heavy-handed about the faith stuff as something like Left Behind or Saving Christmas (or so I presume, having subjected myself to neither!), but some of the producers were also involved with the recent Bible tv miniseries, one of whom is none other than Roma Downey (of Touched By An Angel fame). There's certainly an audience for this sort of thing, and it can be done well (this one is a near-miss, I'd say), but on the whole it's not for me.

The JJ film was definitely interesting as a historical portrait, both of JJ and Robert Ford. The most interesting part to me was the aftermath of the murder, wherein Ford and his brother toured the country re-enacting the event on stage night after night. Very creepy.

And that ties in to your point--for some reason we're a country who absolutely insist on lionizing just about everyone, both people who deserve it and people who really and truly don't. It's always struck me as odd.