Maleficent
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Family
Main Players: Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sam Riley, Sharlto Copley
General Gist: A twist on Sleeping Beauty, from a totally different point of view.
Deb's Take:
I'm a sucker for fairy tales. I think 2 years ago a handful of fairy tales told from a different point of view flooded the screen. I liked them, so I figured I would like this one too.
I have never been a real big fan of Angelina Jolie and her acting abilities. Whenever I watch her I always just get more of a feeling that she is a presence more than an actor. She doesn't have many lines in the movies I watch her in. I was a little nervous she might ruin this one for me. Luckily, her role required more of a "presence" and not much talking, so she fit it perfectly. I was impressed with the makeup work on her (or digital work as it may be). I liked how this played on the fantasy, and told a pretty good back story. I liked Sam Riley's character, and felt like he was Angelina's other side. Almost like he had the words she didn't. Elle Fanning was very princess like. This movie was quite enjoyable. I'm not sure how younger kids would do with it however. I know it's a Disney movie, but a few parts may be on the scary side for those 5 year olds, but all in all it had all the things a good Disney movie needs.
Deb's Rate: Matinee
Tiff's Take:
I too have been enjoying the twists on the old fairy tale classics. This one had an interesting point of view. Obviously more depth to it then the original Sleeping Beauty.
I don't necessarily love Angelina Jolie but I don't really dislike her either so I didn't go into this one with as much skepticism as Deb. And I wasn't really surprised at how well the role fit Jolie. The other actors were good and got the job done. Overall, it was a good movie but not sure what demographics it was trying to pull in. I thought about taking my 6 year old but glad I didn't. I'm not sure it was "young" enough for her. And my 9 year old didn't have any interest in seeing it although he probably would have liked it better then he thought. (Not too princessy) But as a thirty something women who likes fairy tales it was worth watching.
Tiff's Rate: Matinee
Preview: We both finished the book "The Fault in Our Stars" so we took our posse (ok two others who also finished the book and a few more who didn't read it) with us!
Showing posts with label Week 22. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Week 22. Show all posts
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
2012: Week 22: Rock of Ages
Rock of Ages
Genre: Musical, Comedy, Drama
Genre: Musical, Comedy, Drama
Main Players: Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta, Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Malin Akerman, Paul Giamatti
General Gist: A musical set in the late 80's about a girl from a small Oklahoma town who moves to Hollywood to live her dream of becoming a singer.
Tiff's Take:
Let's just state the facts here. I'm a product of the 90's. I'm not a huge fan of musicals. (Remember my Joyful Noise review?) So you can imagine what I might think of this movie. Well, you can bet you're wrong. What an interesting little turn of events.
I was prepared to be slightly entertained but cringing at the style, music, etc. the whole time. The first scene starts out with a cheesy little rendition on a bus. Let the cringing begin. But after I got through the initial shock of watching a musical it all went up hill from there. First of all, I was surprised by how much I really enjoyed all the songs. Even though I did most of my growing up years in the 90's I was familiar with 80's music. So I obviously knew all the songs. In the movie, let's just say they were so fun. The way they were put into the scenes were great. And I think because I am not a product of the 80's I dug the way they poked at the 80's just a little between the more serious stuff.
As far as the actors, I thoroughly enjoyed Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand. I love their sense of humor. Catherin Zeta-Jones was great. Malin Akerman was great. Tom Cruise surprisingly worked for me. His over exaggeration of a slightly washed out 80's rock idol was spot on. Again, I think I liked the way they poked fun. Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta were okay, nothing special, but didn't ruin it for me definitely.
I thought this movie was a good mix of serious/humor/making fun of and overall a fun movie to watch. Who would have thought? Now what did my 80's loving sister think? Ha!
Tiff's Rate: Friday Night (I'm actually shocked I'm writing that!)
Deb's Take:
I am a product of the 80's. I love 80's music, I still listen to 80's music (to my children's demise) I work out to 80's music, I have so many memories when I hear those 80's tunes. So, I loved loved loved the music in this movie. It was sort of difficult hearing a different voice to these songs as the actors sang the music, but all in all they did well. As far as the movie itself, I am a little on the fence. I know it was suppose to be a spoofy type movie, and it was, but they threw in a relationship that was a little too serious with Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta. I just didn't like the blend of "Let's do overkill on the 80's" and "now lets add this somewhat serious yet cheesy relationship". That wasn't the kicker though, I just did not like Tom Cruise in his role. Man, he drove me crazy. He is not Rock Star material. I didn't even like him in his role if they were trying to make him look dumb and bad, it was distracting to me.
On the flip side, I think Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand were hilarious. Stupid funny of course. Also, like I mentioned I liked the music. I liked especially how they played on the music, pitting two songs against each other at times. Now, remember this is the pop rock of the 80's, so don't expect some out of control 80's flashback of best music, just the stuff that always came on the radio.
So do I sound committed one way or another? Ha, that was just the kind of movie it was.
General Gist: A musical set in the late 80's about a girl from a small Oklahoma town who moves to Hollywood to live her dream of becoming a singer.
Tiff's Take:
Let's just state the facts here. I'm a product of the 90's. I'm not a huge fan of musicals. (Remember my Joyful Noise review?) So you can imagine what I might think of this movie. Well, you can bet you're wrong. What an interesting little turn of events.
I was prepared to be slightly entertained but cringing at the style, music, etc. the whole time. The first scene starts out with a cheesy little rendition on a bus. Let the cringing begin. But after I got through the initial shock of watching a musical it all went up hill from there. First of all, I was surprised by how much I really enjoyed all the songs. Even though I did most of my growing up years in the 90's I was familiar with 80's music. So I obviously knew all the songs. In the movie, let's just say they were so fun. The way they were put into the scenes were great. And I think because I am not a product of the 80's I dug the way they poked at the 80's just a little between the more serious stuff.
As far as the actors, I thoroughly enjoyed Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand. I love their sense of humor. Catherin Zeta-Jones was great. Malin Akerman was great. Tom Cruise surprisingly worked for me. His over exaggeration of a slightly washed out 80's rock idol was spot on. Again, I think I liked the way they poked fun. Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta were okay, nothing special, but didn't ruin it for me definitely.
I thought this movie was a good mix of serious/humor/making fun of and overall a fun movie to watch. Who would have thought? Now what did my 80's loving sister think? Ha!
Tiff's Rate: Friday Night (I'm actually shocked I'm writing that!)
Deb's Take:
I am a product of the 80's. I love 80's music, I still listen to 80's music (to my children's demise) I work out to 80's music, I have so many memories when I hear those 80's tunes. So, I loved loved loved the music in this movie. It was sort of difficult hearing a different voice to these songs as the actors sang the music, but all in all they did well. As far as the movie itself, I am a little on the fence. I know it was suppose to be a spoofy type movie, and it was, but they threw in a relationship that was a little too serious with Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta. I just didn't like the blend of "Let's do overkill on the 80's" and "now lets add this somewhat serious yet cheesy relationship". That wasn't the kicker though, I just did not like Tom Cruise in his role. Man, he drove me crazy. He is not Rock Star material. I didn't even like him in his role if they were trying to make him look dumb and bad, it was distracting to me.
On the flip side, I think Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand were hilarious. Stupid funny of course. Also, like I mentioned I liked the music. I liked especially how they played on the music, pitting two songs against each other at times. Now, remember this is the pop rock of the 80's, so don't expect some out of control 80's flashback of best music, just the stuff that always came on the radio.
So do I sound committed one way or another? Ha, that was just the kind of movie it was.
Deb's Rate: Ok, I will give it Friday night. And considering it probably opens on a Friday night, you might as well go.
Preview: There's a good chance we'll be seeing Snow White and the Huntsman. Has anyone seen it yet?
Preview: There's a good chance we'll be seeing Snow White and the Huntsman. Has anyone seen it yet?
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Week 22: The Hangover Part II
Over Memorial Day weekend we went and saw The Hangover Part II. I'll admit that I didn't see the first one. I usually don't do that but I figured I wouldn't really be missing out on the plot line by not seeing the original. I think I was right but it did make me want to see the first one. I hear it was better.
One thing that made this particular movie fun was the ambiance. We went with my brother and sister-in-law and a bunch of her family to a theater downtown that had the studio suites that served food and had big reclining chairs. It was pretty cool. We decided we'll have to go back with our spouses next time and get better seats. (We were in the first row. Not ideal.)
But the movie itself...I thought it was pretty good. Not hilarious though. I actually thought it was more shocking then funny. It reminded me a lot of that movie with Cameron Diaz called Very Bad Things. Do you remember that one? About a bachelor party that went bad. Sort of black humor kind of movie. I thought The Hangover Part II was funnier but sort of along the same lines.
I thought all the actors were good. Zach Galifianakis was probably the best. But Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms were really good in this kind of comedy too. Oh and Ken Jeong who played Mr. Chow was good.
Remember that this is the kind of movie you probably don't want to go with your parents or grandparents. It wasn't overly sexual (I thought Black Swan was way more sexual) but it was crude with a lot of nudity. Male nudity at that. Frontal male nudity. You don't see a lot of that in movies. Overall I thought this movie was decent but can imagine that the first one was a lot better. And not as many laugh out loud moments as you might think.
To Sum it up: Vulgar, good comedic characters but falls a little short of belly laughing humor.
One thing that made this particular movie fun was the ambiance. We went with my brother and sister-in-law and a bunch of her family to a theater downtown that had the studio suites that served food and had big reclining chairs. It was pretty cool. We decided we'll have to go back with our spouses next time and get better seats. (We were in the first row. Not ideal.)
But the movie itself...I thought it was pretty good. Not hilarious though. I actually thought it was more shocking then funny. It reminded me a lot of that movie with Cameron Diaz called Very Bad Things. Do you remember that one? About a bachelor party that went bad. Sort of black humor kind of movie. I thought The Hangover Part II was funnier but sort of along the same lines.
I thought all the actors were good. Zach Galifianakis was probably the best. But Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms were really good in this kind of comedy too. Oh and Ken Jeong who played Mr. Chow was good.
Remember that this is the kind of movie you probably don't want to go with your parents or grandparents. It wasn't overly sexual (I thought Black Swan was way more sexual) but it was crude with a lot of nudity. Male nudity at that. Frontal male nudity. You don't see a lot of that in movies. Overall I thought this movie was decent but can imagine that the first one was a lot better. And not as many laugh out loud moments as you might think.
To Sum it up: Vulgar, good comedic characters but falls a little short of belly laughing humor.
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