Category: Three Sentence Movie Reviews

I found this movie to be a bit of a meander and repetitive and so I don’t recommend it if you like a tight, quick story.  However, if you are interested in great acting, or a well-executed period piece, this is your film.  Despite being difficult for me to look at*  Matthew McConaughey was a marvel, as was the always under-appreciated Jared Leto and the similarly appraised Jennifer Garner.**

Cost:  $9.00
Where watched:  Regal Fox Tower with S. North.

*Much too thin.
**Who had a great wardrobe of outfits my elementary school teachers would have worn.

On a scale of one-to-ten, my interest in Formula One Racing hovers somewhere in the negative numbers. However, on a scale of one-to-ten my interest in Chris Hemsworth hovers somewhere above an eight.  So it was I attended this picture show about a subject I care nothing about, directed by a director I find semi-okay* and strangely, I found myself loving this movie for its characters, especially Niki Lauda who was the “head”-approach in contrast to James Hunt’s “gut” approach to racing.

Cost:  $3.00
Where watched:  Laurelhurst

*Aside from Parenthood and this film, I find all Ron Howard movies a bit draggy in the middle.

O! Excellent adaptation of the Hunger Games second book, I salute you for cleverly changing over the book’s Katness perspective to a broader perspective, while still keeping all the Panem plates spinning.  And I salute all the actors who have brought their A-game making this a gripping and fast-paced movie, which is incredible given the bladder-straining 146 minute length.

Cost:  $8.50
Where watched:  at the new Baghdad with Matt.

Hot tip for the new Baghdad:  If it’s opening weekend and you want a choice of seats rather than just settling for what’s available, plan to arrive 45 minutes before the show starts.  We got there 30 minutes early and ended up in balcony seats that were okay, but also gave me a clear perspective on just how many people wander in and out during the movie.

Some elements of this movie (the multiple freeze frames, the voice overs) seem a bit dated, but overall, it’s still a gripping and enjoyable descent.  There are plenty of scenes that are magical in the configurations* and the acting is fabulous.  And, holy crap, there’s Samuel L. Jackson playing the doomed Stacks Edwards.

Cost:  $3.00
Where watched:  at the Laurelhurst

*My favorites:  the trip through the kitchen of the Copa followed by Karen’s wide-eyed question “What do you do?”; the perfection of blending “Layla” with a montage of dead and discarded gangsters; the claustrophobic build of the busy last day before the Hills got busted.  It also has one of the best lines in movie history:  As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.

This is not my favorite Van Sant film and watching it today it’s easy to reflect on so much that has been lost:  River Pheonix, gritty Portland, Keanu Reeves’ youth.  It’s a fun movie to watch from the perspective of glimpses of Portland past, and it’s gleefully weird in places.*  But overall, I find it to be a so-so story.

*That scene where River Pheonix dresses as the little Dutch Boy and cleans for/before his “date” comes to mind.  Also:  Flea!

Cost:  Free due to remodeled Baghdad promotion.
Where watched:  remodeled Baghdad, which looks and sounds terrific.

Unlike the first movie (which I found kind of boring the first time through and strangely profoundly moving the second viewing) this movie was very well-balanced, giving good time to the earth people, the Asgardians, Thor’s friends, Thor’s romance, and even a bit of gratuitous washing up involving a naked torso.  But best of all, (well, second best, because Chris Hemsworth has got something going on) was Loki, who is perhaps my favorite Marvel villain, mostly because he’s just so fun.  I thought the fight scene at the end was full of creative action-movie-fight scene-type-things and hopefully you will stay for the bit during the credits AND the bit at the bitter end of the credits.

Cost:  $7.00
Where watched:  St. John’s Cinema with Matt.

A very good exercise in remembering to breathe when things are tense, because this whole darn movie is tense so there is a lot of breathing practice.  Excellent acting–it’s not often we get a film where just one woman occupies the screen for the majority of the movie.  This was one of those movies that is just very well done.

Cost:  $8.50
Where watched:  Regal Tigard 11 with mom.

I enjoy a few things about Simon Pegg/Nick Frost/Edgar Wright films: they tend to combine genres in new and exciting ways; they are incredibly silly while also being a bit moving; and mostly I enjoy them because they are funny all the way through.  I saw the preview for this movie upwards of five times, so I was very familiar with those funny bits, and yet there were still more funny bits sustaining the entire length of the film.*

Cost:  $4.00 (though I spent another $5.00 for Kombucha on tap)
Where watched:  The Academy Theater (first time!) with Matt.

*One would expect this in a comedy, but it’s rather rare, actually.  Most follow the pattern of a bit of funny sprinkled here and there held together with vast swaths of not-funny.  It’s the worst when they’ve exhausted all the funny parts in the previews.