Three Semi-Recent Quick Reviews

Okay, so I haven't written lately. And out of the blue, I got called back to work at the seasonal job with the state, so I'll be working five days a week through approximately May. With that and the travel time to and from work, it leaves me less time to procrastinate. But I really want to try and keep this going on some sort of regular basis.

I haven't seen many movies lately, but now that I'll have some spending money I'm going to make more of an effort there as well. Meanwhile, here are the three movies I've seen but haven't written about. I saw two just before Thanksgiving and the other the day after Christmas.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -- Part 1: Another of these franchises splitting the final chapter into two in order to squeeze every penny out of its fans. So there's lots of Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) agonizing over things and people but she's not really doing a whole lot. I was amused by the attempts to use her in propaganda films for the revolution, but this isn't what helped the first movie catch on. My grade: B-minus.

Interstellar: Looks great, well-acted, surprise guest star with an agenda, interesting premise (finding a new planet to colonize as Earth is dying somehow) but lots of WTF. I mean, society just gives up on technology? Can you imagine this happening to our smartphone/videogame/HDTV-obsessed society? And the science of it all just went over my head...although I figured out who the "ghost" from early in the film was so quickly I'm almost embarrassed. My grade: C-plus.

Into the Woods: I would like to have seen -- or see, if it's around somewhere -- the stage version, because I get the feeling the film version didn't do it justice. The fairy tale plots seemed very rushed to start, and once they converged, there was still quite a bit of movie to get through. Songs weren't bad, though. For me, on my personal scale of filmed musicals, it's not nearly as bad as Les Miserables but not nearly as good as Moulin Rouge. My grade: C-plus.

Catching Up On Movies

Remember when I used to go see movies, and then give my opinions of them? Those were the days. As part of this return to blogging, I present the movies I've seen but haven't written about. Grades for all, a few needed comments on some. Unfortunately, the 2014 portion of the list is rather barren, in great part because of my financial situation, which is pretty horrible at this time. So I'm not sure how many more films I'll see from here on out.

2013

The World's End: B-plus
Kick-Ass 2: D-plus (If I recall, the off-beat charm and humor of the first film -- in the midst of all the violence -- was gone from this one. Juvenile and stupid.)
Lee Daniels' The Butler: B (Based more loosely on the true story than it should have been, and some of the actors portraying Presidents were jarring.)
You're Next: C-plus (Very much a mixed bag, with some good acting but a ridiculous plot.)
The Conjuring: B (Very old school. Not like today's horror films at all.)
Don Jon: C-plus (I love love love Joseph Gordon-Levitt and this film was his baby. It just got old and dumb pretty fast.)
Gravity: A
Machete Kills: C-minus (Pretty disappointing. I had to watch the first film On Demand and that was over-the-top fun. This was more over-the-top dumb.)
The Counselor: F (I walked out of this pretty fast. I didn't even make it to the scene where Cameron Diaz humped a car.)
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa: B
Carrie: C-minus (So unnecessary. And setting it in the present, with smartphone videos and the like, didn't help.)
Thor: The Dark World: B (A little better than the first, which isn't saying much.)
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: B (Not as good as the first, which is saying a lot.)
American Hustle: B-plus
Saving Mr. Banks: A
The Dallas Buyers Club: B-plus
Frozen: C (So, so overrated! The film is overrated! "Let It Go" is overrated! The movie took forever to get started, the story wasn't all that exceptional. It's not that the movie and song are awful. It's just that they're not special. Why did people make such a fuss over it? Overrated!)

2014

Anchorman 2: B-minus (Again, had to watch the first On Demand. Not as good as the first, but a rather clever comment on the advent of 24-hour cable TV news and what it would become.)
The Lego Movie: A (Everything is awesome!!!!)
Muppets Most Wanted: B (It's like they're making minor changes and reissuing the first Muppet movies. First came the movie in which the Muppets get together (or get back together). Then there's the sequel where a Muppet is framed as a criminal. If they make another, expect the Muppets to hit New York City again.)
Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier: B-plus (Not only did this movie turn out well, but it rejuvenated the Agents of SHIELD TV series. It's a miracle!)
The Amazing Spider-Man 2: B-minus (Why did they reboot this so soon? And why is it not better?)
X-Men: Days of Future Past: B (This was very good in a lot of ways, but I think my expectations were raised by the pre-release hype.)

Quick Reviews: Too Many Movies To Count

That headline isn't true. The count is eight. Eight movies I've seen between February 19th and yesterday. And I'm not allowing myself to watch my Sunday night TV shows until I finish this. Plus, I'm sick of the ticket stubs sitting here, on the table, mocking me.

These are in chronological order except for the first one, which was a 2011 release...

The Descendants: Really fine. George Clooney excelled, as (almost) always. Not too much rang false with me in this. I put it into my 2011 Top 10. See which movie got bumped from the list here. My grade: A-minus.

The Woman In Black: Started out really dull and never truly picked up in intensity. Neat twist ending saved this grade from being worse. I'm really loving Daniel Radcliffe, though. My grade: C-plus.

This Means War: Ugh. My grade: D-minus.

Chronicle: Surprisingly good. I can do without the silly "found-footage" genre, though. As if at every remotely important point in a story there's always -- ALWAYS -- someone with camera filming away. My grade: B-plus.

Silent House: Elizabeth "Not A Twin" Olsen shows signs of talent, but this...thing...was a joke. I figured out pretty fast what was going on. Thisclose to an F... My grade: D-minus.

21 Jump Street: As I tweeted after I saw it, I'm stunned by how good it was. There may be hope for Channing Tatum after all. My grade: A-minus.

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax: Nice adaptation, though I'm not sure the message didn't get muddled by all of the added details and characters, not to mention the songs, which didn't enchant. My grade: B.

The Hunger Games: Didn't wow me like I expected, based on the reviews and viewer comments. The take on "reality" television was eerily accurate to the point that I was aggravated, because that's what most "reality" television does to me. My grade: B.