What movies did you recently watch?

Locke - 8/10.

 

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - 5 out of 5

I really didn't expect anything to be better than Rise, but man, this was awesome. Andy Serkis deserves Oscars all the time. It's absolutely incredible the overlapping of human and animalistic ape behaviors that both humans and apes in the film cycle through.

 

The Raid 2: Berendal - 10/10.

Simply put, yes. Yes to the action, yes to the story, yes to everything. Iko Uwais is a boss.

 

Cold In July (2014) - 2/5

Really disappointed with this one. First 30 to 40 minutes I was hooked. It had great suspense, mystery and character building moments. But after that the movie just takes a nosedive. It completely throws away what it had set up in those early scenes and replaces it with a whole another setup that isn't half as interesting or gripping.



Locke (2014) - 5/5

Wow goddamn! This is easily my favorite film of the year, surpassing Under the Skin. Such a meticulously crafted piece of work. Tom Hardy is absolutely brilliant. It could be one of his top 3 performances. Almost forgot how good he is because he's been kind of lowkey seen TDKR. I especially loved how they managed to make the film a realistically grounded thriller but at the same time a very precisely crafted character study. I found Locke's character fascinating as fuck!

 

21 Jump Street - 3.5/5

Fun. Wish it was as funny throughout as it is in the beginning.

 

I was gonna pirate it when I saw it's been put up, but now I think I'll pass

 

Haha you really hated UTS didn't you? But this is NOTHING like UTS though. Check this out btw. Maybe your mind will change.

[video=youtube;nyW01TOyEKI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyW01TOyEKI[/video]

 

^ I thought Chris Stuckmann's explanation of Under The Skin glossed over a lot of stuff (you might even say it was just "skin deep" BOOM).

The entire movie subverts gender roles, with a female predator luring male victims into a white van while asking things like "are you meeting anyone?", "do you live alone?", and things of that nature. Both times I watched this movie with female friends, they both commented on the fact that young women are taught early on that questions like that are instant red flags. And yet the men in the film, who we have to remember were mostly non-actors filmed actually being picked up by Scarlett Johansson, completely ignored these red flags because they've grown up in a society where they haven't had to worry about being lured to a predator's home the same way women do. There could also be certain implications in the fact that the main character is basically being used by a bunch of male overseers.

These motifs about gender and predatory behavior are pretty much the basis of the movie, and yet Chris doesn't even bother touching on it and concludes the movie is saying "humans are superficial about beauty." Which could definitely be one aspect of the movie, but definitely not the only one.

 

^ Well Chris' analysis isn't written in stone. He gave his interpretation, like the way you did. I like your take on the whole thing too.

 

Grave Encounters - 4/5

I'm a sucker for these types of movies. Fucking terrifying. They did really well with certain things. The ending did drag out a bit, but nothing too much to complain about. All I wanted was a movie that could scare the shit out of me. And it did. FUCK. I turned the lights on like 20 minutes into the movie lol.

What are some other good jump-scare/horror kind of movies? I've seen this and Blair Witch Project, and I'm kind of hooked on them haha.

 

#LATE

Watch Grave Encounters 2!

[REC] is my favorite horror film evar. [REC] 2 is also good, but don't go near 3. 4 looks to be promising.

Noroi: The Curse is good, so is The Banshee Chapter. Not really a jump-scare horror movie, but Contracted is a disgustingly good movie - the lead actress steals every scene she's in.

 

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) - 3.5/5

Definitely one of the better MARVEL films to come out in a while. Enjoyed it a lot more than Thor 2 (worst) and Iron Man 3. It seemed much more cohesive in terms of its story and it manages to bridge gaps between the previous film and Avengers 1 in quite a seamless fashion. It was refreshing to see that a lot of the action sequences were restricted to gun fights and hand to hand combat, instead of stock alien threats pouring out of the sky and destroying buildings. Seriously, I'm tired of that shit.

 

Guardians of the Galaxy - 4/5 - Chris Pratt is a knockout. Groot & Rocket are awesome. Well-acted. Other than the villians, the characters are portrayed well. It's pure joy.

Especially the post-credits scene. (SPOILERS)

 

Guardians Of The Galaxy - 10/10

Another truly great movie for Marvel Studios. This was probably the most refreshing movie I've seen in years. The cast were all great, it was visually stunning, it expended the MCU immensely and was hilarious.

 

[REC] - 4/5

Pretty fucking good. Nice quarantine-infection story. The scares were done pretty well, and the typical "found footage" was good at keeping shots obstructed but still allowing the viewer to pick up what's happening. Nice ending scene.

Grave Encounters 2 - 3.5/5

I was interested in the things they built upon from the first movie. Still, they really could have gone a bit deeper into the story, but, it might have been held back to keep things mysterious- something I can understand. Something that hindered the movie slightly was the fact that the "thing that's fucking with us!" was already established in the first movie, which takes away that eerie feeling of not knowing what the main characters are up against. A good sequel, nonetheless.

 

Sharknado 2: The Second One - 2 out of 5

You'd think the acting couldn't get worse, but it does; however, thanks to a handful of cameos and getting right into the action, this is actually an improvement on the "so bad it's good" idea.

 

I rarely ever give out 10's. Hell, this might be my first one.

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Guardians Of The Galaxy - 10/10

Such a surprising, strange, and complete culmination of everything I've ever grown up with.

 

Guardians of The Galaxy - 10 for the comedy, 7 for the serious parts/battles.

 

The Raid: Redemption - 4.5/5

I don't know why I found this so damn enjoyable. I usually don't like just fighting movies. But this looked so damn good. Relatively simple plot, but enjoyable.

And the soundtrack worked like a charm most of the time.

 

Go watch The Raid 2 now bro. The fight scenes in the second one are even more crazy!