Once again, I strive to squeak in an update under the wire and leave no gap in the monthly archives. I have actually quite a lot to talk about, but I’ll limit myself to movie thoughts for now. That, in itself, is still quite an undertaking, as I managed to visit the girlfriend and we saw 4 movies in theatre in 8 days.
Megamind
I had low expectations for this movie. When the trailer first debuted forever ago, I was immediately dismayed at the similarities with Despicable Me. (Note that this was before either movie was released—I was dismayed at the seemingly-similar premises.) I was also dismayed at Will Ferrell’s involvement, as I have tended to be irritated by his movies, though I may need to reconsider that assessment as I have quite enjoyed several of his more recent movies.
Anyway, point is I had low expectations. However, a few people I knew saw it and said it was good, so off the girlfriend and I went, and I was really pleasantly surprised. Apart from both being about the villains, Megamind and Despicable Me are quite different films, and while I enjoyed the latter, I think Megamind was the better of the two. Indeed, Megamind was one of the better movies I’ve seen this year.
It doesn’t quite reach Pixar quality, but the writing and jokes were clever, and there were some delightful visuals. And, most pleasantly, the movie actually surprised me in a couple of places. As a result, I’d probably put it above all the other non-Pixar CGI movies I’ve seen, with the sole exception of How to Train Your Dragon, which was also really good. Anyway, Megamind is a good movie, and I highly recommend it.
RED
No, not the colour. Acronym. For “Retired, Extremely Dangerous”. Based on a comic by Warren Ellis. Most of what you know can be summed up with the following: action movie starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, and John Malkovich. If you can’t tell whether RED is something you might enjoy based on that, I’m not sure anything else I can say will help.
Anyway, the aforementioned cast star as retired spies. When a team of commandos tries to kill Frank Moses (Willis), he reunites with old friends to find out why. Wackiness ensues, where wackiness equals lots of entertaining gun battles with actors not usually found in the action genre.
The plot is a little weak but vastly entertaining, and the action scenes are well done. While I have seen better movies, RED certainly satisfies. Recommended if action movies are your thing.
Skyline
We saw this sci-fi movie because it was the next one playing, and because some of the trailers looked kind of cool. Unfortunately, the coolness did not persist outside of the trailer. Skyline was quite dissatisfying.
It is like the illegitimate love child of Independence Day and Cloverfield, where we have an alien invasion, but see it from the point of view of regular people trying to survive. As such, we never really find out what is going on, and our heroes, such as they are, stand little chance. It’s a pretty dark and depressing movie, and while they almost did something interesting with the ending, they pushed it too far, took it in the wrong direction, and gave it a non-ending instead.
You don’t need to actively avoid this movie. It had some cool bits and all, but it’s not really enough to command your full attention. It’s the sort of thing you might watch if it’s on TV while you’re doing something else, or on an airplane. So I give this one a big, “Meh.” My viewing companions were not nearly so kind in their opinions, so be warned.
Morning Glory
Morning Glory is a comedy—or possibly a dramedy, though I am loath to use the term—starring Rachel McAdams and Harrison Ford. It is not a romantic comedy, though there is some romance in it (not between the two leads). It is just a funny, well-done movie.
McAdams plays an eager young TV producer given a chance to try to revive a failing morning talk show. She manages to bully Harrison Ford’s character—a legendary news anchor who is a miserable, grumpy bastard—into working on the show, but has little time to wring cooperation out of him and improve the show’s ratings. Wackiness ensues, where wackiness equals zany news bits, neuroses, Harrison Ford being an ass, and further delights.
The movie has solid writing, is not entirely predictable, and is quite cute to boot. It is thankfully not rife with cliche and rehashed storylines, and while it’s not ridiculous over-the-top side-splitting funny, there is no shortage of laughs. A good movie, and recommended if you’re in to general (non-gross-out) comedies.