Way back in February I did a post detailing the movies I saw back in 2011. Since we’re around two thirds of the way into 2012 and I’ve seen two movies the past few weeks, lets see where we’re at so far and give some brief thoughts.
The Hunger Games – I was curious what people were going on about and with all the hype, I was a bit underwhelmed. The story felt a bit contrived and predictable, and trying to figure out how this civilization got to the point where a blood-sport was socially acceptable had my mind travelling some rather dark paths (it’s not that I don’t believe the human race is capable of it, in fact history and human nature have proven quite the opposite, I was just trying to figure out how a future United States remnant might get there). It left me with no desire to read the books, but did have some interesting scenes in terms of spectacle. I’ll probably see the next two just to see where the story goes and maybe get some of the background I seem to be missing.
The Pirates! Band of Misfits – A fun little movie from the creators of Wallace and Gromit (which I’m a fan of), I was expecting more from it than I got. I’d put it squarely in the category of “amusing”, while I was hoping for “funny”. I remember thinking that there were several areas in the movie that could have been taken farther to be more funny. I should have saved this one for cable, but then I probably never would have found it.
The Raven – I covered this one in a blog post, so you can go look at that one if you like.
The Avengers – Surprised I didn’t have a post on this one, it was a lot of fun and my second favorite movie I’ve seen this year (the first, of course, being Dark Knight). The atmosphere was so much different though, so it’s difficult to make a direct comparison with Dark Knight (thus, I won’t). There were so many great character moments in this movie, and that’s what really drew me to it. Having seen all the prequels with the individual movies, the way they tied them all together really was amazing. I’m looking forward to the next arc and am particularly interested to see how they deal with the next big bad for Avengers 2 revealed at the end of Avengers (no, I won’t spoil it, because someone spoiled it for me and I’m not perpetuating that cycle).
Rock of Ages – And yet Rock of Ages got it’s own post. Go figure.
The Dark Knight Rises – Amazing. Such a phenomenal wrap up to an amazing trilogy. My only complaint, and it is so minor that I shouldn’t even quibble, is that, due to the structure of the story, there was a smaller percentage of Batman action in this one and a lot more focus on Bruce Wayne. Again, understandable considering the story, but I did find myself wanting a little more of Batman kicking butt. The movie had me swearing under my breath once or twice, particularly at the reveal of the twist, which I REALLY should have seen coming and made so much more sense in retrospect (again, not spoiling yet). The wrap up and ending were note perfect, a stellar ending to a stellar set of movies. I look forward to being able to see them all back-to-back at some point in the near future.
Brave – Pixar’s latest, and as a fan of Scottish culture I found it to be quite charming. A strong return effort by Pixar after Cars 2, which I found to be the most disappointing Pixar movie. The visuals were absolutely amazing, and really added to the depth of the story. I would easily put it into the upper third of Pixar movies, in my opinion (that would make a good blog post, remind me to do that one), although there were some issues I had with choices that a couple characters made (but I guess that’s how it’s supposed to work). I’m curious as to where Pixar goes from here. Oh! And the pre-movie short was spectacular as usual and had a giant smile across my face by the end of it.
I still have to see Spider-man, I’ll see if the cheap theater in Simi has it at some point in the near future. Going back through the releases this year, I saw quite a few movies that I went, “Oh, I wanted to see that,” but never did, so I’ll have to start looking for those on TV or On Demand. I enjoy movies for there ability to immerse you in a story and take you to different worlds, I just wish they weren’t so expensive. I’d probably make more time for them if they didn’t cost me an arm and a leg to see one.
Weight: 229 Loss: 11 lbs – Running Yearly Mileage: 258.1 miles (+4 miles)
Volleyball Match Record: 5-4 (13-14 Game Record, 6th place regular season)
Fitocracy Level: 23 ID: disciplev1
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Normally not my thing, I’ve read the first two hunger game books (the library dropped me off the queue for the third one after three months of waiting. Still have to reenlist). Anyhoo, the first one was really pretty good, as I remember, and wouldn’t take long to peruse for your answers. The second one felt like a bridge book.