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Wacky Reviews: Various Movies 2016

Drew Goddard is nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for The Martian. It's good when Buffy people make it big.
 
John Wick.

Keanu Reeves is directed by someone who was his stunt double in the matrix, he shoots a lot of people while wearing black with lots of different guns, then has a final fight with the bad guy in a bad rain storm.

And the whole film is desaturated and tinted blue.

Kind of a depressing film, but they already greenlit a sequel.

There was a rave too, just in case the matrix references wernt overt enough.
 
The Martian - Yes, I watched it! It was good! I liked how much science was in it, even if some of it was probably a bit inaccurate (like the rescue scene felt suspiciously like something that wouldn't work, but it was emotional.) Matt Damon is good at playing a likable character stranded on Mars. In fact I'd say my only complaint is that at one point it seemed to go away from his character for a really long time which felt a bit jarring since we'd spent so much time getting to know him. But the other characters were good too and I laughed when Donald Glover showed up. I wonder if the LOTR reference was in the book and casting Sean Bean was a coincidence. They should make a sequel where all the potatoes he left behind have mutated into alien potato people and they attack Earth (they shouldn't really.)

I loved the Martian, thought it was great start to finish. I've also read the book and the LOTR reference is in it! The film is very faithful to the book.
 
I really liked John Wick. Yes, it's grim and yes it is about a man out for revenge over his dog, but it's really stylish, has great music and doesn't outstay it's welcome. I think it's about 90 minutes long. The hotel for assassins and other crims where there's a constant state of truce is a great idea too.

I'm looking forward to the sequel.
 
Kingsman: The Secret Service - So this was okay. Colin Firth was great, the young cast were good, Samuel L Jackson was a good quirky villain. Matthew Vaughn does good ultra violent action scenes. But I think it could have been a bit better? The tone was weird. Like the church massacare scene plays like we're supposed to be cheering Colin Firth slaughtering all those people, but then afterwards he'd horrified at what he's done and I guess the viewer is supposed to feel bad even though it was a total "WOW HE'S GOOD AT KILLING PEOPLE SO COOL" moment. And I'm sure many articles have been written on the weird anal sex bit. It just felt out of place. Maybe if he'd interacted with the princess character beyond a twenty second conversation. Also it's weird that SLJ's character is supposedly abducting famous people but we never see any of them. In the comic Mark Hamill was one of the people he abducted but in this he played an English guy instead of playing himself. But it was an enjoyable movie!
 
I dont think he was horrified he killed them, they were pretty much the Westboro baptists in all but name, he was horrified because he wasn't in control.
 
It was like the movie wanted it both ways, making sure to tell you they were bad people so you can enjoy the scene of them being killed, but then after you were supposed to see the horror of what the mind control thing could do. It was a bit contrived. And then later it's showing the rage affecting people worldwide (where surely millions of people would have died even though it was only active for a minute) but it plays out like a crazy action spectacle while at the same time we're supposed to care if Eggsy's mum kills her baby or not.
 
Creed - How do you revive the Rocky franchise? It was good in its day (and the first one was a legit great film) but each sequel got stupider than the last with Rocky V being truly awful. I never watched the 2006 Rocky Balboa movie because the idea of Rocky fighting again aged 60 seemed too ridiculous (though it seems to have been pretty well received.) This one puts Rocky in the Micky role of the old man teaching the young fighter, who is Apollo Creed's illegitimate son. Thankfully this movie wasn't stupid and went back to basics, capturing the feel of the first Rocky movie. I thought it was really good! Okay, so it follows the Rocky formula pretty closely and if you don't want to watch someone training to box you probably won't like it, but it was really well done. Michael B. Jordan was a likable lead and Sylvester Stallone actually did good acting! The way the boxing matches were shot was much better than the originals. The music was really good too and that's important in a Rocky movie! So yeah, reviving the Rocky franchise actually can work if you just make it good!
 
Eddie the eagle, good fun romp, even if the true story is only 5% true.

Kick Ass, I know I am the last person on the planet to see it, but it was very enjoyable, I only hope the 2nd one lives up to it.
Nick Cage channelling Adam West was a highlight for me.
 
10 Cloverfield Lane - It was good. I liked it. The acting was strong from Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Goodman (and the other guy whose named I've already forgot.) It was never boring despite (mostly) all taking place in a bunker and very tense at times. It had no connection at all to the previous Cloverfield movie but I'm sure everyone's heard that by now. I probably liked it better than that movie actually. I guess I should use spoiler tags for THE ENDING..

I think some people probably hated that the aliens were real but I was fine with it. I could see them doing an ending where they weren't real, but the final shot of her choosing to go and fight was a great ending. The only problem I had with the aliens was that her destroying that ship was kind of poorly done. It seemed to be based on the bit in War of the Worlds where Tom Cruise destroyed a tripod but that was much more believable because he used a grenade rather than a bottle of whisky. It's a shame they couldn't have come up with another way to show how resourceful she was and have her get a win over them. But it didn't ruin the movie or anything.
 
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