Summer Movies Thread

[EricaLubarsky]

Avengers was enjoyable, but so many plot holes and just puzzling decisions that I had to try really hard to stay in it.

Still, Vision. He was my favorite back in the day and he was great in Age of Ultron.



Definitely worth the money for the spectacle, but I'm hoping that the Marvel movies aren't fizzling over time. My hopes for the Infinity Gauntlet series are sky high. Nothing like that has ever been done in the history of cinema. Ever.

[bunkmoreland]

I'm looking forward to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon 2 this summer. Hope it's good.

[Murphy3]

I usually don't films with subtitles unless they're directed by Mel Gibson.

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by Murphy3

I usually don't films with subtitles unless they're directed by Mel Gibson.

Or center around Dirk?

[Murphy3]

That's why I threw in the "usually"... There's the "dirk" exception. Maybe one or two others...

[Underdog]

Finally saw the new Avengers movie... I guess the best way to sum it up would be to update my all-time Marvel list:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Avengers
Captain America: The First Avenger
Thor
Iron Man
Iron Man 3
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Thor: The Dark World
The Incredible Hulk
Iron Man 2

I had high hopes for this one, but it failed to deliver on almost every front... None of the jokes landed for me, the CGI looked downright awful in parts (especially the physics), and the whole thing seemed like it only existed to set up the next Thor and Captain America movies, Ã* la Iron Man 2.

I could go deeper into why I disliked it, but I have no interest in getting into spoilers. I guess my biggest gripe is that the movie spent more time saying things rather than showing them... Which is insane, considering it was 2 hours 21 minutes long, but it really seemed like it could have used another hour to flesh itself out. Honestly, they just tried to cram too much sh!t into one movie -- some of these ideas/characters should have been saved for another flick.

[EricaLubarsky]

Yeah, Age of Ultron was decent but not great. I ate lots of popcorn and enjoyed myself, but it was far from the enjoyment of the first, GoG, and the Cap movies.

Mad Max on the other hand, WHOA. You get your money's worth and then some. I've never been so stressed out for so long as I was since seeing Gravity in IMAX. Just non-stop action and TONS of practical effects. So glad that it didn't use so much CGI. Just a relentless movie and perhaps my favorite action movie since Dredd and 28 Days Later before that.

[Murphy3]

Avengers 2 was entertaining. It wasn't nearly as good as the first.

Captain 1
Avengers 1
Captain 2
Thor 1
...then it gets a little more difficult
Thor 2
GoGalaxy
Avangers 2
The Incredible Hulk if you want to put it into the conversation
Iron 1
Iron 2
Iron 3

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by Murphy3

Avengers 2 was entertaining. It wasn't nearly as good as the first.

Captain 1
Avengers 1
Captain 2
Thor 1
...then it gets a little more difficult
Thor 2
GoGalaxy
Avangers 2
The Incredible Hulk if you want to put it into the conversation
Iron 1
Iron 2
Iron 3

I put Guardians of the Galaxy in the top group, but I definitely agree with the "it gets a little more difficult" cutoff... Marvel has only made about 4-5 decent-to-good movies -- everything else ranges from painfully-mediocre to awful.

[spreedom]

I'd rank them like this:

1. Iron Man
2. Guardians of the Galaxy
3. The Avengers
4. The Incredible Hulk
5. Captain America: The First Avenger
6. Avengers: Age of Ultron
7. Thor
8. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

AND THE REST ARE AWFUL IN EVERY WAY. ALL TIED FOR LAST.

[Murphy3]

Originally Posted by Underdog

I put Guardians of the Galaxy in the top group, but I definitely agree with the "it gets a little more difficult" cutoff... Marvel has only made about 4-5 decent-to-good movies -- everything else ranges from painfully-mediocre to awful.

I would probably go 6 deep that range from good to really good/great... Would go with pretty good for Avengers 2. Would go with meh for Hulk. Would go with unfinishable for the Iron Man movies... and I kinda like Robert Downey Jr which makes it odd.

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by Murphy3

Would go with unfinishable for the Iron Man movies... and I kinda like Robert Downey Jr which makes it odd.

Yeah, I feel the exact same way about the Iron Man flicks -- RDJ is brilliant as Tony Stark, but everything else about those movies is pretty unwatchable.

[EricaLubarsky]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=42&v=Nsi06PG7w_0
Nice mashup

[Murphy3]

The new Mad Max movie was definitely exhilarating.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Ex Machina- Really good until a bland and almost predictable ending. Still, you don't get better actors than Gleeson and Isaac.

What We Do In The Shadows- Very funny and nice to see a vampire spoof that actually works.

[EricaLubarsky]

Jurrasic World was pretty awful. Story made zero sense but dinosaurs.

[Murphy3]

Jurrasic World was pretty good. No, not the best story in the world, but it was still a pretty good movie.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

Jurrasic World was pretty awful. Story made zero sense but dinosaurs.

Surely you can suspend disbelief with a fun dinosaur flick if you can do the same with superheroes.

World's biggest flaw is that it basically wants a big disaster to happen. The lack of safety precautions around even the most tame of dinosaur exhibits was pathetic.

[EricaLubarsky]

So... Inside Out

Actually really good. My excuse for seeing it? I was babysitting for a friend.

[Bryan_Wilson]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

Jurrasic World was pretty awful. Story made zero sense but dinosaurs.

My kid finally won the battle and I took him to see this in 3D today, and he enjoyed it quite a bit. For 40 bucks with the usual popcorn and etc's it gave me the same entertainment value as getting my oil changed. My kid liked it so money well spent. My car likes fresh oil so that's money well spent too though and generally doesn't take 2 hours, unless it's firestone.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Originally Posted by Bryan_Wilson

My kid finally won the battle and I took him to see this in 3D today, and he enjoyed it quite a bit. For 40 bucks with the usual popcorn and etc's it gave me the same entertainment value as getting my oil changed. My kid liked it so money well spent. My car likes fresh oil so that's money well spent too though and generally doesn't take 2 hours, unless it's firestone.

I really do think it's whether you want your big summer blockbuster to be dinosaurs or superheroes. I'd pick dinosaurs since we've seen superheroes a billion times over. Haven't had a good live action dinosaur flick since I guess JP3?

[Big Boy Laroux]

Got a little dusty in the theater during Inside Out...

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by Big Boy Laroux

Got a little dusty in the theater during Inside Out...

Was the theater full of Clippers fans or something?

[Five-ofan]

Watched max 4 and world. World is better than Max 4. Both are fun, disappointed they changed the score for world.

[Big Boy Laroux]

Haven't seen Jurassic world yet, but I LOVED mad max fury road.

[Five-ofan]

Originally Posted by Big Boy Laroux

Haven't seen Jurassic world yet, but I LOVED mad max fury road.

Id say fury road is about as well as you can do with the material but that's kinda the issue with max, it has a ceiling. World on the other hand is nowhere near as close to maxing out the potential but the material is so much better. Overall both are fun, neither is great.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

I liked mad max fury road, but max just was a side character in this one. In fact, most of the characters seemed rather pointless, but the action scenes were impeccable.

[Murphy3]

I'd go with Max over World. No interest in seeing World again but would love to see Max one more time. Far superior movie... World is entertaining, but once is more than enough. The story was meh but the visuals were amazing.

[Murphy3]

But both were better than A enters... Which was still moderately enjoyable. Spy was actually quite funny.

[Five-ofan]

Originally Posted by Murphy3

I'd go with Max over World. No interest in seeing World again but would love to see Max one more time. Far superior movie... World is entertaining, but once is more than enough. The story was meh but the visuals were amazing.

True about the story being meh, but the story in fury road is also obviously meh. The max premise is just not a good one.

[Five-ofan]

Actually speaking of the story in world, I thought they missed an opportunity to do something interesting with the plotosaurus rex(hat tip to movie fights for the name) mild spoiler warning, but I thought given its actions and the reaction of the dr who made it, they could have gone an interesting direction by having one of the types of DNA it used be human. I really thought that's where they were going after the hunting for sport line by Pratt.

Also very small thing but it would have been hilarious if he had ended by saying your my boy blue.

[Underdog]

Ant-Man... High floor, low ceiling -- there weren't very many memorable scenes, but I didn't groan or roll my eyes like I did in several parts of AoU.

Honestly, I think this whole "shared universe" thing is starting to unravel. A lot of this movie doesn't make any sense unless you've seen Captain America 1 & 2, Iron Man 2, and Avengers 2... But I'm guessing Marvel knows that anyone who shows up to see a movie called "Ant-Man" is already deep enough into the MCU to get the references.

Updated Marvel list:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Avengers
Captain America: The First Avenger
Thor
Iron Man
Ant-Man
Iron Man 3
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Thor: The Dark World
The Incredible Hulk
Iron Man 2

[Big Boy Laroux]

Just saw ant-man as well. Fun movie - not a home run like guardians was, but still very enjoyable. Some good humor (without stupid one-liners), and it was different (in a good way) to have a marvel movie without such huge stakes (end of the world!!!!).

Definitely worth seeing.

As for the shared universe - the movie stands on its own without having seen any of the other movies. Yes, you may not get some references or characters without having seen some of the other films, but those are secondary reference and characters that are not crucial to the plot.

[bunkmoreland]

Finally got around to seeing the new Mad Max. Lots of fun. One of the more action packed films I've seen. Adding to the excitement: saw it at the Texas Theater and there were several dozen people dressed in costumes. A group of "warboys" took the stage before the film started and riled the crowd up.

[Big Boy Laroux]

Whoops - double post

[Big Boy Laroux]

Caught Jurassic World tonight... Didn't love it, didn't hate it. Just OK. Definitely not the sense of awe and wonder I got with Jurassic Park (yes, I know that would be difficult to do). The movie really just felt like a big re-tread. I assume they were going for an homage to the original, but most of it came across as "been there, done that". Dying brontosaurus = sick triceratops. Hoskins = Nedry. More kids in peril. etc. etc.

And wtf about the parents' divorce? Talk about a weird plotline that was just dropped.

I liked Pratt OK, but really liked Jake Johnson in it. He was the one real redeeming part of the movie for me.


I enjoyed Mad Max and Ant-Man waaaaaaaaaaaaay more than Jurassic World.

[Murphy3]

Saw Minions last night... wow, that was...not good at all. Avoid it if you can.

[spreedom]

Saw Ant-Man yesterday... very digestible, but also very forgettable. Like I don't remember a single thing about it less than 24 hours later. Marvel hasn't made a good movie since The Avengers IMO.

Psyched for Mission Impossible in IMAX tomorrow night.

[Murphy3]

Saw Vacation... moderately funny at times.. borderline unwatchable at others. Do yourself a favor and wait until it's on cable and then pay attention from time to time while you're washing dishes or folding laundry.

[rmacomic]

Saw Train Wreck . . . God Awful.

I actually like Schumer's show for the most part and attributed my dislike of the movie to Apatow's writing. Turns out Schumer wrote the movie too.

Then I got to digging. Something that always bugged me was that I often thought Schumer was lifting from Kurt Metzger (very funny comic) on her show, turns out he is the head writer.

I don't think I like Amy Schumer anymore.