Interstellar - 10/10 just an awesome movie in so many ways The Hobbit: Battle of the 5 Armies - 7/10 I actually enjoyed the prequel trilogy quite a bit more than I thought I would.
Robocop (2014) - 3/10 Gary Oldman was good but everyone else was meh or bad. Story was dumb and completely predictable. Some ok action sequences. Good enough for a dumb action movie to have on while you're doing other things. Otherwise, pass.
Django unchained. That was a brilliant movie! Wouldnt know what to rate it but absolutely a must see!
What We Do In The Shadows - 9.5/10 This.. THIS is why I love going to the movies. To see brilliant performers, flawless writing, sharp biting satire (pun intended), and ways of looking at things we have seen a million times and making them seem new. That's what this movie does. And there is not one single moment of wasted space in this film - which is good, because even though it's short-ish, around 90 minutes, it doesn't feel too short or too long, it is just right. I will give just a brief overview, because I don't want to spoil any of it. Just go see it for yourselves. The film is shot as a documentary, so it slides into that same sort of world that Christopher Guest has perfected with movies like Spinal Tap and Best in Show - we see the characters in their awkward, self-conscious moments, as well as at their best (or as 'best' as they can manage). If you don't already know, the documentary centers on a group of friends living together in a house ('flat-mates' as they call themselves) in New Zealand, with the film intended to follow these three in the time period leading up to a certain big-deal annual party they always attend, and have for years. LOTS of years. Because these guys happen to be vampires. You already knew that if you have seen the previews, but the previews give away almost NOTHING about this movie. It is a comedy, and one of the most funny and clever comedies I have seen, ever. I mean that. They are socially inept, basically lonely and lost in the modern world, and are desperately trying to get by in a world that seems almost indifferent to them. Some new wrinkles unexpectedly enter their lives, and we see each character grow or change in ways we are happy to see. Each character grows on you, and is lovable in his/her own way, at least as far as vampires can be, seeing as how they kill humans and all. (There's a line about a sandwich which just destroys me... but there are a LOT of things in the film like that) This is the sort of movie I will watch many many times once I manage to get it on disc, and I think it will end up there in the realm of Young Frankenstein and Holy Grail for me.. (NOTHING can top Young Frankenstein for me, don't get me wrong, but it will be in that same conversation). It's the kind of movie you will want to share with your friends, and will talk about for years after, quoting lines from it, just like those other movies. It's not just a pure silly comedy either - the film does a great job of conveying that sense of pathos, of not fitting into the world any longer, of watching everything you used to love and care about simply.. ceasing to exist any more. It's there. I am dying to talk in detail about it, but I won't. It's too good. Just know this: if someone offers you a plate of 'busketti', you should probably take a pass. GO SEE IT. Unfortunately, the only place in Houston it's showing is at the Sundance, which is downtown, and so it's a pain in the rear to go see, but it is well worth it. Hopefully it will manage a wide theatrical release, because it deserves it more than most movies out there now. GO.
In an area the size of Houston, the words 'perfectly' and 'centrally located' are mutually exclusive terms. Driving past about 10 movie theaters to go 30 miles away to see a movie is extremely inconvenient. I'm sure there are a few people who live close enough to downtown to make that theater 'perfectly located', but for me at least, yeah, it's a huge pain in the rear.
Taken 3 - 2/10. I was a huge fan of the first Taken, and liked part 2... but part 3 was so damn ridiculous. Spoiler So he goes and clears an entire building of Russians, and the cops are like "Oh, your wife's husband tricked you into thinking that they were the bad guys... don't worry about killing like 20 people and knocking out about 10 cops. NO BIG DEAL!" The only reasons to watch is the Maggie Grace eye candy... and lots of killing.
Dumb and Dumber To was just exactly what I expected. Enough references to the first one to be worth the $1 Redbox rental, but generally pretty awful.
Kingsman 9/10 - It was exactly what it was supposed to be and I loved it. I need to find myself a Swedish Princess now. Definitely worth watching.
Citizenfour, 8/10 - Like most HBO documentaries, this was really well done. Gave me a whole new perspective of Snowden and why he did what he did. Wish it could have gone deeper though. I felt like it barely scratched the surface.
American Sniper - intense, well done. Sort of depressing, but excellent work by Eastwood and the actors.
ex machina - 4.5/5 stars - really good science fiction movie that makes you think stuff about artificial intelligence machines and our souls.
I'd like to see this but I'm curious if it's a rip off of the Spanish film called Eva. Anyone seen both?
Seconded on Ex Machina, excellent sci-fi film with some great acting from Alicia Vikander and Oscar Isaacs. Has some 3 act problems, mainly it gets predictable, but still a solid bit of sci-fi - A
Definitely not a rip off. Some noticeably similarities, but definitely it's own movie. It was great. If you're interested in it, give it a go.
