Film Snob Edition BaD #18

On 02/25/2015 at 04:49 PM by asrealasitgets

With all this commotion about game length and references to juicy steaks and fat meals, I just appreciate the film experience a lot more sometimes. Films are often just about the same length and the quality varies from the skilled hands that made them and they all cost the same to watch or rent. With films, we either love them or hate, but even bad films with at least one good peformance or action sequence we can learn to love.

I think the Order 1886 looks phenominal and it actually worked to get me excited for 'next gen' games after watching some of the game play. I mean, can you imagine playing a Batman or Dark Souls game that looks like the Order! What about a gorgeous Metal Gear, Uncharted, or any RPG that we haven't seen realized yet? Yup. I'm excited for the possibilities.

But this is about Films I recently watched that were just the right length and pretty entertaining.

1. Grand Budapest Hotel

I love me some Wes Anderson. This film takes place in a hotel and stars Ralph Fieness as a concierge of a fancy hotel full of rich patrons. Without giving too much of the plot away, there is a murder mystery that implicates everyone and it has a very funny charm about the whole atmosphere and characters. Ralph has an assistant named Zero who is more the silent type and his protege who is training to be a lobby boy, while also serving as an accomplice. The movie is super stylish, as most of Wes Anderson films are, in it's 2D style and weird ass characters are all very quirky and interesting. Reminds me of Twin Peaks in a lot of ways. All around, a great film and great performance by Fiennes.

2. Birdman

I didn't love this film that much. If you haven't seen it, it's basically like what if Michael Keaton was on a reality show documenting his real life as he tried to make a comeback as an actor on Broadway after Batman. The film is full of pop-culture references and is poking fun at the super hero film genre that's taken over Hollywood as well as critique our obsession with social media and going viral. It's very pretentious and it's all filmed with a steady cam style like all in one seemless shot for the whole movie. Keaton is very good in this, but I felt like he was playing himself too much. Edward Norton is also very good as the asshole actor trying to upstage Keaton and Emma Stone is great as a whiny brat. If you're a fan of comic book hero movies and wondered how that sort of fame affects actors, check it out. I honestly didn't know what the movie was until I saw it. Great performances by all and very well directed. Maybe I'll grow to love it over time. I'm kind of lukewarm about it. Seriously, it's like a reality show movie with a lot of drama.

3. John Wick

Okay. This isn't an Oscar movie or whatever, but so what? I do live Keanu Reeves from Bill & Ted, to Breaking Point, Speed, Matrix etc. This movie is basically Kill Bill, except with guns instead of swords. It's a revenge movie which sets off after Russian gangters kill his dog in front of him in his home, and the rest is just Keanu on a bloody rampage and I quite enjoyed it. Not a lot of dialog, just shooting all the things like a video game. Dark and cool!

Okay, any other recommendations from Oscars or great movies from last year I should see? What does Pixlbit love about films?

jgusw

02/25/2015 at 05:09 PM

John Wick was surprisingly good. I didn't know anything about it expect for 1 trailer I had seen 6 months before. It was a good action movie. I saw Gone Girl. It was good too. I was expecting it to be overhyped crap, but I enjoyed it. The Raid 2 is good. Die Fighting was a neat action movie. And, Guardians of the Galaxy is now my favorite comic book movie. It's not the best movie of all time, but it's a lot of fun to watch. Oh, and for the feminist out there, In the Blood is a good movie. It's about a woman that tracks down her new husband (he was kidnapped) and kicks ass along the way. That chick scared me.

asrealasitgets

02/25/2015 at 05:18 PM

I keep my inner feminist in the kitchen where it belongs. I loved Guardians, but I really loved Days of Future Past and the last Captain America as well. I need to keep up with the Oscar films, as 2 of the best pic noms were great so far. I need to watch more of them.

02/25/2015 at 05:23 PM

I didn't like Cap 2 the 1st time I saw it. I thought it was boring and then I saw it again and liked it a lot. X-Men was good too. The violence at the beginning was awesome.

Super Step Contributing Writer

02/25/2015 at 05:14 PM

I hated Boyhood and unfortunately that was the only Oscar movie I watched. I want to see all three of these you posted about. Boyhood was just an hour and a half too long and I wish its focus had stayed on the parents.

What I love about film is how it can really hit me in the gut emotionally in a way other mediums haven't really. I love gaming, but I've yet to experience any that I find emotionally engaging on the same level as my favorite films.

02/25/2015 at 05:22 PM

Film and games arent comparable really. Film has been refined for almost a century and we are all trained to understand language of film, editing, etc. I do love a good film every now and then. Good films just don't come along that often anymore. We are all settling for mediocre, so there is tons of garbage like the Wii bargain bin and supermarkets, which also has terrible films.

02/25/2015 at 06:00 PM

They might not be comparable, but I consider them both capable of that kind of emotional engagement, just that video games have yet to do that for me yet.

02/25/2015 at 05:26 PM

A friend of mine hated Boyhood too. He says it wasted 3 hours of his life. One of the main problems he had with the movie was the transitions from year to year. I hadn't see it yet. I want to watch it so I can see how bad it is.

02/25/2015 at 06:01 PM

It's an acquired taste. I liked how "real" it was, but then it got "too" real and and starting feeling as mundane as real life.

Alex-C25

02/25/2015 at 06:16 PM

Except it isn't bad....

bullet656

02/25/2015 at 05:35 PM

I thought this was a great year for films. Personally, I loved Boyhood, although it's obviously not a film for everyone. I also loved the Grand Budapest Hotel. Some of my other favorites from the year are St. Vincent, Gone Girl, The Lego Movie, Tusk, Foxcatcher, and Guardians of the Galaxy. I'm sure there are some others that I am forgetting.

I still need to watch Birdman, Inherent Vice, The Theory of Everything, and Under the Skin.

02/25/2015 at 05:40 PM

I just realized that I forgot to mention X-Men Days of Future Past. Although I wouldn't put it in a "best of" list, I really enjoyed it. I've loved the X-Men comics since early childhood, but have never really been satisfied with any of their movies until I saw this one.

I also saw the new Hunger Games movie this year (along with the first two) and found it suprisingly good. I had initially dismissed them, but it turns out they tell a pretty good story.

02/25/2015 at 06:21 PM

As much as I like the Marvel film universe, I really love the X-Films more. I don't think that they are better, but they are darker and more dramatic the way the comics and animation has depicted them and I also think they are better acted. I love Fassbender, Lawrence and MvAvoy, as well as Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan and Hugh Jackman is Wolverine. It's a matter of personal choice for me not necessarily popularity.

02/25/2015 at 06:24 PM

The only Oscar nominated film I watched was Boyhood and I loved it to bits. I felt like I connected with the many of the situations described and it's a wonderful achievement in filmaking. I say it was 12 years in the making worth it and I kinda wish they had given atleast the director award to Linklater just for that. Though of course, I need to see Birdman and wish to do so next week.

As for other great films, Interstellar and Captain America: The Winter Soldier were my other favorites of last year.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

02/25/2015 at 06:34 PM

i haven't seen these. I haven't seen shit. But I want to! I love Wes Anderson, but I haven't watched his last three films. I just kind of lost the ability to sit through a movie. it's just too passive for me. I guess I'm more of a gamer.

avidacridjam

02/26/2015 at 02:04 PM

Essentials from last year: The Lego Movie, Boyhood, Under The Skin (not for everyone but worth a look), The Raid 2 (see the first one if you haven't, as this recaps nothing), Life Itself (excellent doc about Roger Ebert), Jodorowsky's Dune (excellent doc on a film project that never happened but mattered anyway), Gone Girl, Inherent Vice, The Guest, Locke, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Only Lovers Left Alive, How To Train Your Dragon 2, 22 Jump Street, Edge of Tomorrow, Interstellar, Chef, Noah, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Guardians of the Galaxy.

I love films for their own brand of immersion, for a kind of storytelling that is unique to its own form. I love the collaboration that goes into making films, how all these people and all these moving parts (script, set design, lighting, costumes, music, camerawork, acting, visual effects) can work together to generate a specific vision that can wrestle any emotion out of you. Whether they challenge you, validate a certain belief or worldview, arouse you or comfort you, film is an amazing art form and my favorite of all of them.

KnightDriver

02/27/2015 at 04:06 PM

I loved Grand Budapest Hotel. I got the sountrack too. I'm becoming a huge Wes Anderson fan now.

I really liked the Miyazaki film The Wind Rises that came to the U.S. at the beginning of 2014. So great!

PixlBit