Martin Freeman Movie Weekend

This weekend I watched The World's End and The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug. Here is what I thought of them:

The World's End

 This is the final installment of the Cornetto Trilogy put on by director Edgar Wright and actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and includes Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz as the other two movies. It's called the Cornetto Trilogy because in each of these films, a character is seen eating a different flavor of Cornetto ice cream cones.

Simon Pegg plays Gary King, a man who never really left high school mentally and has a dream to gather up his former high school gang and complete the Golden Mile: A mile long pub crawl through their hometown. Except, when they return, things are...different.

There's a similarity to Hot Fuzz in that the movie is rolling along and seems like just a regular comedy (and a good one) and then things take a very unexpected turn and even greater hilarity ensues. Really, it's a funny movie and I highly recommend it. It's currently out on DVD.

Martin Freeman Connection: He plays Owen the "O-Man". One of Gary King's friends taking part in the Golden Mile.

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug
Disclaimer: I have never read the book.

 I didn't sit and watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy as a whole until last year. I had seen bits and pieces and never really gave them much thought except that I didn't really have a huge desire to see them. But, watching them back to back over a weekend, I enjoyed them. So when The Hobbit was released, I wanted to see it.

I was one of the few who actually really enjoyed The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - probably because I never read the book. So I knew I'd enjoy Desolation of Smaug as the reviews said it was better than the first one. 

And I did like it, but not as much as An Unexpected Journey. In the first film, I like how it mostly fell on Bilbo to get them out of the many trappings they found themselves in. But in this film, the Elves were there to always save the day just in the nick of time and it got a little old. And the orcs. They never stopped. There was way more action and it became a bit monotonous after a while.

The introduction of Smaug was really well done - amazing CGI.

Really, my biggest complaint is that there wasn't enough Bilbo and way too much Legolas staring blankly into space or saving the day.

Martin Freeman Connection: He's Bilbo Baggins, duh-doy.

Movie Madness

Over the past two weeks I’ve watched 4 movies I’ve never seen before and two additional ones that I own and have watched many times. Here are my thoughts on all of them:

Looper
Looper is a time travel movie. Time travel movies can be very difficult because they are never without many plot holes and paradoxes. And Looper is no different in that case. But they get it pretty close. It’s very entertaining and feels like two movies in one. You think it’s going to be about one thing and then it changes gears about midway through. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a little creepy looking with his makeup to make him look like a young Bruce Willis. He kind of lays it on a little thick – both the makeup and the Bruce Willis impression. But the story is good, it makes you think, and I always forget how much I like Bruce Willis.

 

 

Moneyball

I used to be heavily into Baseball. And this movie takes place during the time period when I was heavily into Baseball. I remember this Oakland Athletics team vividly. And, being from Minnesota and the Twins being my favorite team, I remember our impact on their season. We ended their 20 game win streak (I was at the game we did it) and we ended their post-season run. That game is very clear to me and the movie misrepresented it. It was a day game. And Denny Hocking made the catch, not Corey Koskie. The movie failed on these details and it soured me on a movie that I was somewhat enjoying. I say somewhat because I just can’t with Brad Pitt anymore. And it was too long. But, as Baseball movie goes, it’s a good one. I do think you have to enjoy and understand the sport to like the movie, though.

 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

I admit, my main draw(s) to this movie was Gary Oldman and Benedict Cumberbatch Acting together (‘acting’ being capitalized because these guys know how to act).  I went through a huge Gary Oldman period in my late teens and adore Benedict Cumberbatch now so seeing a movie with both of them had to happen.  Because, really, a super dry and serious mystery spy movie that takes place in the 70s and really really really looks like it was filmed in the 70s and is full of Russian dialogue is not my cup of tea. But, it was a good movie. Or film. This really seems like it should be called a film. I found it a bit hard to follow at first. Strong accents, a lot of names being thrown around, very quick scenes in the beginning  made it somewhat difficult for me to catch what was going on.  But as the scenes slowed down the film picked up and I ended up finding it very intriguing. It definitely demands a second viewing. And both Gary Oldman and Benedict Cumberbatch are fantastic in it. As are the rest of the cast (which includes Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, and John Hurt).

21 Jump Street

I watched this the same night as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy so it was quite the culture shock. But this is a funny movie. I had heard so many good things about it and I am happy to report those good things are right. It doesn’t try to stick to the actual 21 Jump Street story and is really more of a tale of two friends. It’s funny, but not gross out funny which is so common in these kinds of comedies these days. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum have great chemistry. That Channing Tatum really is quite the Charming Potato (a nickname given to him from Pajiba).

(500) Days of Summer and Knocked Up

These are the two movies I’ve seen a number of times and just felt like ending my Sunday night with some comfort movies. Both are good for different reasons. (500) Days of Summer is almost too hipster for its own good, but I still really enjoy this movie. And I really like Zooey Deschanel, though I’ve never watched her show The New Girl. I’ve heard good things, though, so I should probably check it out.

As for Knocked Up, for reasons I cannot explain, I really like this movie. It’s a little long –as most Judd Apatow films are – but I just find it really sweet. It’s probably because of Paul Rudd. Paul Rudd makes all movies better.

Looking back on these “reviews” I just wrote, I’m reminded of Leonard from Community’s potato chips and frozen pizza YouTube reviews. Great. I sound like Leonard.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

I’m not a big Lord of the Rings trilogy/Tolkien fan. I’ve never read the books. I’ve seen the movies all the way through just once (have viewed pieces of them here and there many times). So my knowledge of the whole story of The Hobbit has been limited to what I see people complain about on the internet. How the book The Hobbit is not very long and there is no way it can be stretched into 3 movies or that they are bringing back some character that is not in this book just to fill space. I know nothing about any of that. All I knew going into this movie was that it stars Martin Freeman, who I adore, it was filmed with some new technology, and that the majority of people hate it.

I really liked it.

Maybe my expectations were so low going in that I was just somewhat surprised by how much I didn’t think it sucked.

I had forgotten about the 3D and the higher frame rate when I picked my show time. When they handed me my 3D glasses, I was super bummed. I hate 3D. I find it pointless. I like the sweeping and grand IMAX way of filming these days, but the 3D I can do without.

Then when we got into the theater, we were late because I had ordered mozzarella sticks and they took forever. So we ended up front row. For a 3D movie. At this point I was sure I was in for a terrible time.

Then when it started and it looked so…weird (due to the higher frame rate)…I thought for sure I was going to hate the whole experience.

But I didn’t.

The movie starts out with a lot of action and the crazy visuals really suck you in as you explore this new look. And then when things settle down and you revisit Bilbo and Frodo on the day of his birthday (the same time that Lord of the Rings starts), you become even more aware of how different this movie looks. It reminded me of old BBC/PBS shows. It’s so hard to explain. It was like I was  watching a stage play.  

It’s hard not to dwell on how the film looked because it’s such a giant aspect of it. But the story is quite engaging, as well.

I had read complaints of all the singing and sweeping shots of the landscape and people walking (which, really , isn’t that all Lord of the Rings is? People walking with long shots of New Zealand/Middle Earth?). The two scenes of singing lasted all of 30 seconds – completely harmless. There were a lot of landscape shots – but they were beautiful and wonderful to look at.

Martin Freeman and Ian McKellan (Gandalf) are so likeable that they  are just fun to watch.

As someone who has not read the books, I found the story very easy to follow.

Yes, it is a long movie. But the only times I wished it would hurry up and end was towards the end when my neck was cramped from sitting in the front row and then my contact popped out and I was watching a 3D movie with one eye. But I highly enjoyed the story and could have continued watching.

It is also directed more towards children than the other films so there was some cheap humor moments involving belching, snot, and other general gross out stuff that I could have done without.

But it’s a good movie with a good story that is amazing to look at.

I would like to see it again in standard 2D format. I’m curious if that would change my opinion in some way.

And I will see Part 2 in December 2013.

The Hunger Games: The Movie Version

 

I hadn’t been to the movie theater since Toy Story 3 was out. I’m just not really a fan of going to the movies. It’s expensive. You don’t know what kind of crowd you’re going to encounter. Will they be respectful movie goers? Or will someone bring their screaming, sick baby or talk on their phone or kick my seat or whatever other annoyances can occur at the theater?

But last Wednesday I went to see The Hunger Games and had a pretty pleasant movie experience. It was a great crowd for a packed theater. People were pretty engrossed in the movie the whole time.

I’d read the books. I really enjoyed them and have been waiting for the first movie to come out since I finished them. So, yes, expectations were high. I’d also been reading pretty much glowing reviews of the movie, so my hopes were up.

I was kind of disappointed.

Not that it was a bad movie. It just could have been so much better. I know they had to cram a lot into one film and with a running time of over 2 hours already, a lot had to be cut. But it seems the stuff they cut was kind of important and, if you hadn’t read the books, you would have been very confused.

Jennifer Lawerence was great as Katniss. She really did an excellent job. Josh Hutchinson as Peeta totally bugged. He walked around with his mouth hanging open the whole time. Just generally kind of unlikeable. And I liked him in the book. Gale, with his very minimal appearance in the film, came across as a meathead. Woody Harrelson made Haymitch a comical character, when in the book I found him to be quite tragic. Sure, he had some funny, drunken lines. But his story is really quite sad. I found it odd that the audience in the theater laughed at so many sad things. It was weird.

Surprisingly, I thought Lenny Kravitz made an excellent Cinna and was sorely underutilized. The movie really glossed over his relationship with Katniss except for right before she heads into the games. It was another time where the filmmakers went with the idea that everyone has read the books so we really don’t need to show this relationship grow. Everyone will just know that Cinna is important.

And that was really what kept happening. It was like they made the movie not as a movie on its own, but more as just a visual accompaniment to the book. Like you almost had to read along as you went so things made sense.

• They shoved in the backstory about Katniss’s father in a dream sequence.
• They tried to show how Peeta saved Katniss’s life by tossing her the bread in some terrible flashback cut scenes that were very confusing without any sort of narrative as to what they were supposed to mean.
• One moment during the games, from Katniss’s perspective, it appears Peeta is trying to kill her. Then, suddenly, she finds out there can be two victors and she seeks him out to help him without ever asking him why he was ganging up against her (like she does in the books).

There was just a lot left out that left the story very confusing. I was trying to view it as someone who did not read the books and I just thought that it seemed off.

I will say the sets were fantastic and, in my opinion, a good visual representation of what I had imagined.