I saw four movies in theaters this last year, so I thought that it might be fun to write short reviews for them, even though all but one of them is now available on DVD. Maybe this could be a way for you to figure out if you want to rent one of the films I saw.
Iron Man 3
This film pulls double duty since it's the second sequel to Iron Man and the first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since The Avengers. If you liked the first two Iron Man movies, you'll probably like this one, too (I still think the first one is the best in the series, but this one is at least as good as 2). It has a nice balance of action and humor, but also sees some nice growth for our protagonist, Tony Stark. One departure when compared to the first two Iron Mans is that there are super-powered villains instead of everyone getting their abilities solely from tech; make of that what you will. The movie isn't without it's plot holes, but they're not too hard to overlook and didn't get in the way of my enjoyment of the film.
Man of Steel
I have invested a lot of time in the character of Superman over the years, so when I saw this one, I went in really biased. However, I was happy with the final product. While not devoid of humor, this one was much more serious than Iron Man 3, but I think that worked in the film's favor. It's a character study of Clark Kent growing into his powers and learning to use them for good. There is some Messianic symbolism that's pretty heavy-handed, which I found distracting, but otherwise I have little to complain about. I liked the depiction of Krypton, I liked the villain's motivation for attacking Earth, I even didn't mind the fact that they got rid of Superman's briefs as a part of his costume. Christopher Reeve is still the quintessential Superman, but Henry Cavill did a great job and is easily my second favorite actor to portray the character. While I absolutely recommend the film, keep in mind that there's quite a bit of destruction caused by Superman fighting other Kryptonians - it was so over-the-top that I thought it was almost cartoonish (that happens when characters can juggle cars), though it works within the story and because the characters that are fighting are super-powered, the destruction was less violent than some other action movies that I've seen.
The Wolverine
I was a bit surprised when Ian asked if I wanted to see this one in theaters, since I was planning on waiting until it was released on DVD, but I thought it would be fun so I went. I point this out because I went in with really low expectations, which may be why I was so surprised with how much I enjoyed it. The story is a bit overly-complicated (just like a lot of comic books), but not so much that you don't have fun. The effects were nice, but the best special effect was Hugh Jackman. He really is a fantastic actor that even when things stop being realistic, he plays everything in a believable way, so you buy into it. This was one of the best X-Men films (which exist in a different universe than the Marvel films, due to licensing agreements), so if you liked the stuff that came before, this should be right up your alley.
Have you noticed a pattern? Up until this point, I only watched superhero movies. I suggested to Ian that we could all go see a movie together (like Frozen or something) when I visited for Christmas, so that I wouldn't have seen only comic book-based films in theaters last year. He made a suggestion for something for just the two of us to see together that seemed to be a good candidate.
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
This is one of those rare sequels that actually surpasses the original. This movie was very, very, very funny. Plot wise, it's the same story as the first one, just with some details changed. But the jokes are packed very tightly and come at you one after another and nearly all of them hit home. I imagine that most of the members of my audience either didn't care for or see the first Anchorman, so you probably won't like this one either. For both Ian and myself, however, it was fantastic.
Of the four movies I saw, my favorite will surprise no one: Man of Steel. The fact that I had such high expectations and I wasn't disappointed really proved to me that it was a good film. The biggest surprise was The Wolverine. It was a fun action ride with some nice sci-fi elements and good character development. The most fun I had with a movie was, hands down, Anchorman 2. It was such a ridiculous, over-the-top farce with jokes that refused to stop that I couldn't help but enjoy it. Iron Man 3 was the only movie I went to alone (Ian went with me to the others), so that feeling of awkwardness may have affected my enjoyment of the film. It was still fun, but it doesn't stand out quite like the others do.
Of the four films I reviewed, I would recommend all of them. Are there any films you saw this last year that you recommend?
No comments:
Post a Comment