Sunday, July 12, 2015

The Weekly Movie Watch Volume 51

This week I watched Legion, (500) Days of Summer, 7 Days in Hell.

I watch movies every week and then write down my thoughts. Read my previous reviews!
My rating is simple, Watch It, It Depends, Skip it.

One bad granny in Legion
Legion - With an image like this you've got to watch it!
Legion (2010)
Watch Legion 
Written by: Peter Schink, Scott Stewart
Directed by: Scott Stewart
Starring: Paul Bettany, Dennis Quaid, Charles S. Dutton
Rated: R

Plot: 
Paul Bettany as the angel Michael and a few humans protect an important baby that will stop the end of the world.

Review:
The theology is nearly non-existent but the movie is entertaining. The movie attempts to include many cliches while setting a decent mood. The granny scene was perfect. You knew it was coming, but it was so well done. This scene alone makes the movie worth a watch. It feels like a b-movie. For a movie like that I can forgive cliche characters, guns that don't need to be reloaded, nonsensical plot points, mis-characterization of childbirth and childcare, ridiculous high speed crashes, and a lot of poorly shot action. It's not great cinema and it's not meant to be. The movie is entertaining in spite of itself.
It depends.


Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel in 500 Days of Summer
(500) Days of Summer - A refreshing take on relationships
(500) Days of Summer (2009)
Watch (500) Days of Summer
Written by: Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber
Directed by: Marc Webb
Starring: Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Geoffrey Arend 
Rated: PG-13

Plot: 
Summer played by Zooey Deschanel breaks up with Tom played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Tom tries to figure out where things went wrong as we see scenes of their relationship juxtaposing the end and the beginning.

Review:
I like the format of juxtaposing good and bad days in the relationship. The expectations vs reality sequence was superbly edited. There were a few really well edited moments. It detailed poignant moments in the evolution of a relationship. It provided a viewpoint of the the romantic and non-romantic and just how closely those paths touch. It's a movie that comments on relationships instead of just trying like so many others. I could have done without the narrator. It was heavy handed, even the voice was heavy.  It felt a bit long in the last quarter, but I really liked the ending. It's an ending that felt earned.
Watch it.




Kit Harrington and Andy Samberg in 7 Days in Hell
7 Days in Hell - Not only the title but how you feel while watching.
7 Days in Hell (2015)
Written by: Murray Miller
Directed by: Jake Szymanski
Starring: Adam Samberg, Kit Harington, Fred Armisen
Rated: TV-MA

Plot: 
A fictional documentary about a seven day long tennis match between two greats played by Andy Samberg and Kit Harrington.

Review:
Disappointing. So very disappointing. Movies seem to operate on the principle that when you run out of clever jokes, you resort to raunchiness. This 'movie' ran out of clever jokes ten minutes in. Being crass in an attempt to parade as a joke or for shock value is never funny to me. Samberg's character fit the tone of the movie, but Harrington's character was so one dimensional it felt like a placeholder for a real character they hoped to develop. The ending wasn't bad but the payoff for this movie didn't live up to anticipations.
Skip it.

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