Upcoming Movies 2011

I'm surprised that Thor is garnering really favorable reviews as well.  (As of this post, it's rocking a RT rating of 93% with 46 reviews.)  The general consensus is that it brings a level of fun and smartness comparable to the first Iron Man movie.  Could be good.

I'm certainly enjoying Patrick Doyle's heroic main theme at least.

rein wrote:

I find it fascinating that The Fast and the Furious 5 is receiving mostly favorable reviews.  I am aware of no precedent for the fifth entry in a series being met with critical approval after the first four installments had been critically panned.

I wonder if this is due in part to an erosion of expectations as movies become ever louder and furious-er.

I went to see this earlier and absolutely loved it. It outshines most of the other movies in the series. Now, I like the Fast & Furious movies in general so maybe I'm predisposed to liking this but that also means it had nothing to do with any erosion of expectations, even though I thought the previous one missed the mark.

Fast Five is a crazy action heist movie. It's ridiculous, loud, messy and a massive amount of fun. It feels in ways like it's what the last one was aiming for but this one actually succeeds. The characters are great. They've managed to squeeze almost every character from the previous films in to this one and yet do it in a way that feels right. Everyone has something to do and they each get a few great moments. And adding the Rock to the mix was a touch of genius. He's having a lot of fun with the role and he's one of the only people on the planet who can make Vin Diesel look small.

And one of the things that really stood out in the movie is that, for all the ridiculous impossible action (physics has no part in this movie), it all looks real. If they used CG, they did it so sparingly I didn't notice. I have become so absolutely desensitised to CG and it totally unimpresses me. This action impressed. It had impacts. Hard hitting impacts.

I loved it.

The story is pretty much completely self-contained. Everything you really need to know is explained in the movie and it has a little recap at the start. You could go straight in to this one with no problem. And it's certainly a good one.

But, that said, one of the pretty cool things about this movie is that it brings together so many characters from the previous ones. The F&F movies have been quite different, often with different lead characters and, with Tokyo Drift, even completely different story types. So it's kind of cool to see how the movies evolved to get to this one, which brings them all together.

You could jump straight into it. If you don't think you'd bother watching all the earlier ones, go ahead with this and, if you like it, you can catch up on the others later. There are a couple of story points that obviously, five movies in, this would spoil but I don't think even those would kill the enjoyment of the earlier ones if you decided to go back to them later.

But you might get a bit more from it if you watch the previous ones first. If you do think you'd be up for a four-movie commitment first, that might be the way to go.

I'm not helping, am I?

Angela wrote:

The Fast and the Furious movies have managed to go under my radar up to this point

Sounds like your radar is functioning properly.

Just might tack Bridesmaids on to the likely to see list.  The so-called "Hangover for women" is getting stellar reviews over at RT, while Reelz punched up a Five Reasons in its favor.

With its release coming up this weekend I'm gonna call it and say that Green Lantern will be one of the biggest flops of the summer.

Angela wrote:

Adam Corn wrote:

With its release coming up this weekend I'm gonna call it and say that Green Lantern will be one of the biggest flops of the summer.

I still think it's too early to say.  But just because I wanna play devil's advocate, I'm gonna proclaim that it's going to exceed all expectations.

I mean that specifically in terms of box office by the way, not critical reaction.  I think the film is a tough sell and they haven't done a very good job marketing it (with the previews anyway) for opening weekend.  I do also think it doesn't look particularly great which means it won't hold up very well in following weeks.  And as Warners have apparently poured a ton of money into it that means it's got big flop potential.

But maybe DC have a bigger fan base for the character than I expect or it'll turn out to be good.

I'm going to a GL screening tomorrow - I'll leave some early impressions here after the show.

Angela wrote:

James O wrote:

I'm going to a GL screening tomorrow - I'll leave some early impressions here after the show.

Don't be shy!  Create a new thread for it.

Seconded.

Angela wrote:

Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol (12/16) - Too little is known on this one, but the prospect of Brad Bird (The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatouille) in the director's chair, and J.J. Abrams having a hand in the writing could mean great things.  Love that subtitle, too.

Adam Corn wrote:

Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol  - Will see this one based on the strength of the third movie, which was by far the best in the series.

We've got our first trailer for Ghost Protocol.  Thoughts?

Needs more Ving Rhames, methinks.

Angela wrote:

Sherlock Holmes 2 (12/16) - The more times I watched Guy Ritchie's first Sherlock Holmes, the more I ended up loving it.  I'm hoping the next one is as "fiercely intelligent", dense, and entertaining as its predecessor.  And hey, we're getting Mycroft and Moriarty!

The first official trailer for A Game of Shadows is up.  Ritchie's directorial fingerprints are all over this one.

Angela wrote:

The first official trailer for A Game of Shadows is up.  Ritchie's directorial fingerprints are all over this one.

Looks ok.  I'll probably see it.  I don't particularly care for the music in this trailer, though.  Ritchie's movies used to be so stylish and really used music to effect.  His "maturation" as a film maker sure has made him a lot less fun.

longhairmike wrote:

who else here is canceling netflix next month when they will begin charging 2 SEPARATE subscription fees. $7.99 for streaming, plus another $7.99 for sending 1 disc at a time.

I don't have netflix, but most of my friends do.  None of them use the disc service anymore.  Streaming is just too convenient.