This past weekend the fall weather finally caught up with us here in the PNW. What do you do when it’s dreary outside and you want to entertain yourself? Watch movies. A LOT of movies. 🙂
I saw six movies this weekend. Two were second viewings and four were fresh viewings. There were good, bad, better than expected, and even more awesome than I remembered. Here’s my list (in the order I watched them)
Snow White and the Huntsman
I reviewed this one the weekend it came out. The verdict after a second viewing? Not much has changed about my opinion on this one. If you haven’t seen it yet, I don’t think you’ll be mad you spent money on the rental.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
This delightful dramedy takes place in Jaipur, India at a rundown hotel whose owner would like to make it a destination for retirees but hasn’t quite got the dream down yet. An all star cast of scenery chewing British thespians, including Jude Dench, Maggie Smith, Billy Nighy, and Tom Wilkinson struggle with settling themselves in India with varying degrees of success. Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) is the hotel’s manager and co-owner with problems of his own and a dream of a successful hotel and marrying the woman he loves.
I totally enjoyed every moment of this movie. It was pitch perfect. I totally recommend it!
The Raven
John Cusack plays Edgar Allen Poe in this earnest but ultimately unsatisfying attempt to mash Poe’s greatest hits into a horror thriller. While the performances of the leads (Luke Evans as the Inspector, Alice Eve as Poes’ beloved, Brendan Gleeson as Emily’s father) are solid, the story and the writing are horrid. I was bored the entire time I was watching it… So, I took it out and went to sleep. Which is a rarity for me. Final verdict: skip it.
It just doesn’t get better than this!
The Avengers
In the interest of not making this post fifty years long, I’ll just say this: Perfect. If you’ve seen and you don’t think so, you’re one of the ones who just doesn’t get this kind of thing and you won’t understand no matter what I say. If you have an ounce of fanboy/fangirl in you… well, YOU know! You can see my gushy opening week review here. 🙂
Dark Shadows
I have never watched the original show so I had absolutely no expecations going in other than what I’ve come to expect from a Tim Burton/Johnny Depp collaboration. That said, whatever expectations I did have were desperately put to death by this clunker. While it had the typical dose of Tim Burton beauty/grotesquery and some genuinely funny moments, the whole thing seemed rather joyless. Even though I really wanted to be able to going in, I can’t really recommend it after seeing. Definitely not one of my faves. Check out Willy Wonka, Alice in Wonderland or, my personal favorite, Sleepy Hollow if you want a Tim Burton/Johnny Depp collab at it’s best.
Rock of Ages
I was a teenager in the late 80’s and while, at the time, my favorites were Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, and a smattering of somewhat mainstream leaning Industrial, I listened to radio like everyone else and secretly loved as much hair metal as I heard. So, when I first saw the commercials for this movie I got a little ecstatic.
Yes, it is cheesy. It’s a musical for goodness sake! But I sang along at the top of my lungs and I cared whether or not the boy meets girl story was going to have a happy ending. But my favorite part of this movie (and this will seriously shock anyone who knows me well) was…
Wait for it…
TOM CRUISE.
Yes, I said that in public. No, I’m not generally a fan but he was born to play a drunk, drug addled, arm and a half into a straight jacket crazy metal band rocker. He made the movie for me. I haven’t checked online yet to see if he did his own singing or not but if he did… well, I think Tom may have missed his calling in life. If you’re a child of the 80’s you will LOVE this one. Go rent it now!
So that was my movie fest. I’m looking forward to catching Cloud Atlas, Skyfall, and Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 in the coming weeks. What movies are you looking forward to seeing soon?
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