Category: Three Sentence Movie Reviews

All hail this movie about AI and women and perhaps being a little shortsighted in the creation process. All three main actors (and also the fourth one no one mentions) bring their best to this tense drama, with Oscar Isaac once again pointing out that he’s got this whole acting thing down.  Highly discussable, this was a great date movie, and one of the best films I’ve seen this year.

Cost: $8.00
Where watched: Hollywood Theatre with Matt.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2015/ex_machina.html

This was a well-acted exploration of male friendship and is populated with a decent amount of early-90s actors you’ve seen in a ton of other things.  It’s also about an alien abduction, but the vast majority of it deals with the fallout of those left behind. According to the expert who spoke before the movie, Hollywood got the alien part wrong.

Cost: Free. It was kind of a history pub, but McMenamins is going to start having regular History Pub-style meetings at the Mission Theater, but concerning UFO/Alien Encounter stuff.  I couldn’t find anything about it on the website to link to, but that’s what we were told.

Where watched: Mission Theater with Matt, Laurie, Burt, Brooke & Mike.

*It’s like we’re watching the sequel to “Smoke on the Water” Brooke quipped.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/1993/fire_in_the_sky.html

Matt and I celebrated our thirteenth anniversary in style with Marvel’s biggest earners, enjoying their quips and antics.  Overall, I found this to be a tighter movie than the first one* and I enjoyed the Avengers-at-rest scenes more than the big battles.  So here’s hoping the next two movies concern Avengers chatting late at night, and perhaps doing their superhero laundry or cooking a nice meal or home renovation.

Cost: $10.75?  Matt bought the tickets
Where watched: Regal’s Vancouver City Center 12.

*”They have to get that cube thing AND kill off all these creatures? This movie will go on forever!” I thought at one point when watching the first feature.  Luckily, getting the cube thing killed off the creatures.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2015/avengers_age_of_ultron_ver11.html

In which the series lets go of any small grip on reality as our heroes–currently wealthy and somewhat bored in exile–are recruited by the Rock to help take down a super bad guy which they agree to so 1) they can get Letty–who is not actually dead, but has surfaced with amnesia–back and also 2) be pardoned so they can go home to good old Los Angeles.   But first there must be much fast and furious driving in many different countries and some great hand-to-hand fighting to keep those bored by fast and furious driving, but never (never NEVER) any shooting of anyone by Vin Diesel.* Favorite moment: probably Letty and Dom racing through London and then having a sweet moment together**

Cost: Free from library (because Videorama doesn’t seem to have any copies of this movie due to catagorizaiton error. Employee Yvonne and I looked for it in vain. Luckily, the library still has a ton of copies.)
Where watched: at home with Matt wandering through and stopping for the fight scenes.

*At one point he picks up a gun and attempts to hit someone with it, and then it flies off and we continue with the bare-knucked fighting.
**Because I’m a total sap.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2013/fast_and_furious_six.html
IMP poster commentary favorite quip: Vin Diesel’s backside in saggy pants?  What a waste!

In this Car-Miscreants-Turne-Bank-Robbers, we establish that it’s okay for Vin Diesel to shoot non-named extras (aka Red Shirts) but any actor listed in the credits must be dispatched by Mr. Diesel via car shenanigans, or Paul Walker stepping in at the last moment.  The addition of the Rock to the ever-growing list of actors in this series is most welcome as Mr. Johnson completely buys into the seriousness with which the actors take this entirely ridiculous franchise that manages to be so enjoyable. Favorite moment:  when the side of the train is pulled off and there stands Vin Diesel, ready to do what has to be done, including driving a car off a cliff.

Cost: $2.75 at Videorama (It was one of Employee Yvonne’s Top Picks)
Where watched: at home.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2011/fast_five.html

Skipping the sub-par 2 Fast 2 Furious and Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift, we bring the winning combo of Diesel/Walker back together to establish that it’s okay for Diesel to shoot a car, which then crashes and kills people, but he will never just shoot anyone.  Our Zeitgeist for this movie is GPS navigation systems and our moral quandary is if Paul Walker is a good guy pretending to be bad or a bad guy pretending to be good.  Favorite moment: Vin Diesel driving a car so precisely that it dodges a spinning burning tanker truck full of gasoline that is headed straight towards him (and Letty.)

Cost: $2.75 from Videorama.
Where watched: at home.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2009/fast_and_furious.html

Having just watched Furious 7, I felt compelled to go back and remember why I like these movies so much.  This is the movie that sets the stage and introduces us to a bunch of our series regulars, as well as establishing that Vin Diesel, while he might beat someone nearly to death while his sister repeatedly yells his name, will not kill someone by shooting a gun.  Favorite moment:  Paul Walker breaking into a huge smile, pointing at Vin Diesel and saying “I nearly had you!” as well as Vin Diesel’s response.

Cost: $2.99 from Amazon Instant Video.
Where watched: at mom’s house (she has a smart TV)

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2001/fast_and_the_furious.html

I’m hoping to rarely have other experiences watching the ghost of a dead man on the screen, because the (nearly seamless) CGI of Paul Walker made this movie hard to watch in some ways.  In other ways it was just as awesome as its predecessors, inspiring almost equal multiple thoughts of “that is totally unrealistic” and “this movie is awesome!”  Overall, this was a great addition to the franchise and I’m happy the loss of Paul Walker did not put an end to big dumb cars driving fast and furious.

cost: $5.00
Where watched: Regal City Center Stadium 12 with Christi

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2015/furious_seven.html
but I like this one better: http://www.impawards.com/2015/furious_seven_ver2.html

Sometimes when there is a lot of tremendous gushing about a movie* it scares me off and that’s one reason it took me so long to catch up with this fabulous film.  However, I should not have tarried, as this has an interesting setting (“short-term” care facility for troubled youth) and great female character in the lead as well as an excellent romantic interest.  It’s sweet without being saccharine and hard without being formidable and I highly recommend you search it out.

Cost: free from Library’s Hoopla
Where watched: at home

*The Filmspotting podcast I listen to could not say enough good things about this movie.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2013/short_term_twelve.html