Three sentence movie reviews: 2 Days in New York

Aside from Julie Delpy being the bomb, I wanted to see this because the trailer led me to believe that Chris Rock was the straight man and that was a rather intriguing concept to me.  And he was the straight man, standing up mightily to the comic turns of Delpy’s family.  I found this amusing, though not laugh-out-loud; and I also discovered by watching the commentaries that this is a follow up to an earlier film which I’ve now also placed on reserve at the library.

Cost:  free from library
Where watched: at home.

Three sentence movie reviews: Stories We Tell

Sarah Polley has been on my “to watch” list since I saw the movie Go, so I was going to see this documentary anyway, even if it didn’t have a very intriguing premise.    Polley did a great job of giving us glimpses of the key players without revealing too much information early on which paid off in that she kept pulling me further into her story as more details were revealed.  I feel conflicted about the “footage” of her mother, but not so overly so that it detracts from this very, very good movie.

Cost:  $4.00
Where watched: Laurelhurst Theater w/S. North.

Three sentence movie reviews: The Heat

What I can I say, it was hot.  I was tired of driving and this was the next movie playing so I went.  It wasn’t a laugh riot, but was amusing and the two leads worked well together.

Cost: $10.00
Where watched:  Edwards theater in that funnily named place in downtown Boise.

Three sentence movie reviews: Before Midnight

I did a good job of keeping myself in the dark about this film so everything was a revelation, which made it that much more fun to watch.  So I’m not going to tell you any details, but that this was enjoyable, if uncomfortable and I loved how real it was.  Linklater/Delpy/Hawke said on the Fresh Air interview* that they have zero ideas for a sequel, but how could they have any idea where these characters will be in another  nine years?**

Cost:  $8.00?  I was blithely spending vacation money at this point, so I didn’t pay attention.  The web site doesn’t tell me the prices either.
Where watched:  At the Flicks with Sara.

*Very good, but reveals much about the movie.  I saved it for listening to after I viewed.
**And I’ll sit back and wait patiently for them to think of something.

Three sentence movie reviews: John Carter

My main problem with this movie was the various things that populated Mars were all too cute.  My secondary problem was that it was rather long and boring.  My third problem was that Taylor Kitsch was pretty much Tim Riggins* on Mars**, which was rather disappointing from an acting perspective.

Cost:  free from Library, thank god.
Where watched: at S. North’s house, where I ate delicious popcorn as well as ice cream with strawberries and chocolate, which pretty much made up for the sad state that was this movie.  No wonder that executive lost his job.

*for those of you who haven’t been indoctrinated, Tim Riggins is a character on Friday Night Lights.
**At one point, I couldn’t help myself and yelled “Texas Forever”*** after John Carter’s big speech.
***That would be a Tim Riggins saying.

Three sentence movie reviews: Downton Abbey Season III

Oh so many things happened in this season and I wasn’t really pleased with some of them.  Still, I’m intrigued by Mr. Fellows’ unorthodox use of cast members (is he a British version of Joss Whedon?) and let’s face it, I was engrossed the entire time.  I think with season four, I’ll make more of an effort to watch it in real time, because now everyone is over discussing what happened.

Cost:  $4.00 (first disc watched Comcast On Demand, last two discs rented from Videorama)
Where watched:  At mom’s house, with mom.

Three sentence movie reviews: Friday Night Lights Season II

O! Season two, you abruptly ended when Tim Riggins was in full-on wooing mode.  I found this season to be much more DRAMATIC than the first one, which I did not enjoy so much.  However, they laid such a firm foundation in season one, I just kept coming back for drama-fest season two.

Cost:  free from library (though I think I had to pay a few days worth of fines)
Where watched:  at home with Matt.

Three sentence movie reviews: GI Joe Retaliation

I went to see this because it’s the newest Channing Tatum flick and if Mr. CT is in a movie, go I must.  I do not wish to do any plot spoiling here, but let me tell you that there is a reason he’s kind of small on the movie poster, and that reason was rather disappointing to me.  However, I rallied, and instead focused my keen critic eye on the actress who played Tyra on Friday Night Lights.

Cost: $4.00 (now the only way to see a movie for less than $4.00 is to go to the Kennedy School where they charge $3.00 and where I usually end up ordering wine so the cost isn’t $3.00 at all.)
Where watched:  Jubitz Cinema.  It was me and a room full of truckers who, to my delight, had their usual pre-movie conversation where they don’t know each other, stare straight ahead, never making eye contact and they talk about all matter of things.

Three sentence movie reviews: Before Sunrise/Sunset

My friend at work realized after we had the big double feature, that she too wanted to watch these movies, so I borrowed them back from Christi and watch them we did.*  It’s very fun for me to watch a film I love with someone who hasn’t seen it before, because if they love it, we can talk about that, and if they don’t love it, it is interesting to hear why.  She loved them, though and was a quite astute observer, catching a few details I hadn’t noticed.

Cost:  free (thanks Christi)
Where watched: at home with Tiffany & Tim.  Matt came out at intermission for snacks and conversation.

posters from the same place they were from last time

*And that is how good these flicks are.  Two viewings in two weeks and I still was enraptured.

Three sentence movie reviews: Argo

Matt hadn’t seen this and so we watched it together. It was a good one to watch a second time as I wasn’t so tense and worried and had time to notice details, plus ponder if John Goodman is one of the most under-rated actors of our times; because that man always delivers. I will conclude by saying that this movie still has the best toast of all time.

Cost:  $2.00 from Videorama
Where watched: at home.

(special bonus posters because I think they are great.)