That's fine; I'm not trying to steer anyone away from the picture.  I'm confident that people here in BiMspace can share & respect different views in a civil manner.

I do understand the concept of an anti-hero, though, but there are movies in the genre of "garbage person movie" that I DO like.  (this is not a term I made up, but something my brother and his friend use to describe a collection of films with similar themes that they get together and watch all the time.  "Hey, come on over and we'll watch some garbage person movies!" they'll say.)  They were in a band together and even made a song "Sweet Iris" that had Taxi Driver samples.  Anyway, some of the movies in their collect of Garbage Person movies (again, not a term meant to insult the films) include, but are not limited to: Bad Lieutenant, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Falling Down, etc.  The characters seem to have nothing to lose.  Some of these movies have characters very much like Travis Bickle, but I actually enjoy them and the films themselves.  It's not just Taxi Driver, I actually don't find much interesting or worthwhile in most any Scorsese film, except for Goodfellas.

After seeing the movie which Quicksilver is better, Carousel?

If you like EDM (or EBM or whatever) in your soundtracks, the "Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles" animated TV series has it throughout!

I also love Daft Punk myself, except for his very mundane "get lucky" song.

Age Of Ultron
Bit unrealistic, I thought.

No, I really, really enjoyed this film. I went in expecting 2 hours of over the top action sequences, humorous exchanges, superheroes being superheroes, all jam packed between multiple plot lines and links to past and future films. It manages all this, without being excessive in any area. I would disagree strongly with the suggestion that most of the jokes fell flat, I think that says more about the viewer than the film.

Could it have done with an extra half hour? Yes, hopefully the extended edition will provide that. Is there a hint of deus ex machina? Yeah, sure. But for what this film is meant to be- a successor to The Avengers, a light-hearted yet complex, character driven superhero romp, full of heart, I think it does very well. Fox, Sony and DC may waver, but for now, the MCU marches on.

9/10

The Avengers (2012)

Perfect timing, too. Today is the seventh anniversary of the American release of Iron Man, and I was able to watch it on the day the sequel came out. I'll probably have to wait to go see Ultron, since it's already sold out in my city.

But, even though this movie doesn't quite come close to the awesomeness of Guardians of the Galaxy, or Iron Man, in my opinion, it's still incredible, and has a safe spot in my Top 3 Best Marvel Movies. Tom Hiddleston and Robert Downey Jr. both manage to steal the show, and the tracking shot towards the end is cool. Plus, the script is nice. But, this part...this part is what did it for me.

Absolutely hilarious.

I admit, it didn't quite live up to my expectations, and I'm not so sure the sequel will either. But, it's still pretty cool to see some great superheroes fighting generic aliens in a generic location.

Also, I managed to find a copy of Cap 1 at the library. Still haven't seen any of those.

9/10

Last edited by Mickey (May 2, 2015 (01:56pm))

Captain Phillips

A bit too much shaky-cam for my taste. While that looks really good in an action scene, or a scene of confusion, it is unnecessary in a scene where a character is driving a car, shaving, or anything like that. Other than that I liked it. I wasn't getting in to it for the first 45 minutes or so; but I didn't realize how much I had gotten involved in it until the end, when I cried.

Now, I cannot speak for it's historical accuracy. After the release of the film, some of the crew members came out saying that it was a dishonest representation of the actual event. However, the first mate stood up for the captain's account. Either way, the film was good, regardless of whether it actually happened the way they said it did.

8/10

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Overall, Cap 1 is a sleek and retro sort-of-prequel. And I'm still pretty pumped to watch Ultron and The Winter Soldier, as well as Civil War when it hits theaters in approximately 370 days...yep...I just counted that.

8.7/10

M*A*S*H: Good-Bye, Farewell, and Amen (1983)

It aired on my local MeTV affiliate.

This TV movie and final episode is by far and without question (in my mind at least, but millions who were an front of the set with me in 1983 agree) the greatest ending to a TV series that there ever was, or that there ever will be.  I think that anyone who is interested in film, especially regarding character development, should view it.  A few things to set up the story, for those who would like to watch this without seeing the series, which is all right to do:

Major "Hawkeye" Pierce, the unit's most efficient and recourceful surgeon, in the past few episodes leading up to the finale, was under psychiatric treatment for a nervous breakdown suffered under stress.  The movie opens with him in a mental ward.  Sydney, the psychiatrist, is a semi-regular character.

Corporal Klinger, the company clerk, spent the majority of the Korean war feigning insanity by dressing as a woman in order to receive a discharge.  He wants, more than anything, a ticket out of Korea.  Recently, Sun Lee, a formerly suspected North Korean spy held hostage under his watch, has been cleared of her suspicions and recruited Klinger's assistance finding her family, who are refugees.

Maj. Charles Winchester III is the company's most skilled surgeon, even more than Pierce, and not afraid to admit it.  He is haughty, sophisticated, and pretentious, with an apreciation for the finer aspects of the humanities such as fine literature and classical music, and a disdain for the "common".  (Though he has an out-of-character fondness for comic books and Tom & Jerry.)  He is my favorite character in the series.

There are more major characters and several supporting characters present in the finale, but events of the episodes leading up to this aren't required to "pick them up".

I cry several times every time I watch it.  During the final 20 minutes I become rendered into a blubbering mess.  For a sitcom, the finale's tone is much more serious, even shocking at times, but still funny in a more subtle way.

On a personal note, a snippet of the M*A*S*H theme song can be heard near the beginning of HOO episode 2.  It's my tribute to a series that is always in my mind as a guide/manual when I write my scripts.

Russian Ark
That was definitely worth watching. I'd been told that this all one shot (and not in a faked, Silent House way) but I was surprised at how fluid this all turned out to be. The camera weaves about so gracefully. I shudder to think how many rehearsals and takes there were for this film, but the hard work has definitely paid off.

Age of Ultron
Loved it, though it did suffer from having an hour shaved off (not that a mainstream audience would've necessarily been able to sit through a three and a half hour film). From what I gather from interviews with the cast and with Joss Whedon, the extra hour will solve some of the film's other issues too: there's a lot of setup for future films crammed into AoU, but in the extended cut it will have more room to breathe and feel less like it has been crammed in.

"Nothing goes down 'less I'm involved. No nuggets. No onion rings. No nothin'. A cheeseburger gets sold in the park, I want in! You got fat while we starved on the streets...now it's my turn!" -Harley Morenstein