Fury

AKA Call of Duty 2: The Movie.  The plot is thin and in some ways predictable, but this was quite an entertaining film.  Some incredible battle scenes.  Well, that's about it.  Recommend.  CYA.

The Big Short

Well, I think it's time for a dumb comedy or a stupid action film as these Oscar Nom's are starting to take the "fun" out of movie watching.  The Big Short is an interesting film, labelled a comedy, I found very few laughs outside of the celebrity cameo's to explain the economic housing crisis of the mid to late 2000's.  The film while very informative, was just simply subject matter I'm not that interested in, which, as the film points out, proves I'm part of the "the problem".  Numbers numbers numbers, I didn't understand all of it, but enough to see what happened during the 2008 economic crisis.  Remember "The Wolf of Wallstreet"?  Well take all the maniacal behaviour out of that film and focus completely on the stocks, that's what you're left with with The Big Short.  If you're a victim of the crisis, a numbers guy, an investor, heck, even a realtor, you'll probably really like this film.  If you're a sheep like me when it comes to finances, you're going to feel really bad after watching. For education?  Recommend.  For entertainment?  Pass.

Seinfeld: Season 7

Season 7 was Larry David’s last season with the show and with it, came some of its most memorable episodes.  This season is equally great, I’ve given up trying to review Seinfeld, but if you’re wondering, yes, it still holds up.   Notable episodes from season 7 include, “The Soup Nazi”, “The Rye”, “The Gum”, “The Secret Code (BOSCO!), “The Bottle Deposit” and of course, Susan’s demise in “The Invitations”.  We see a lot more of J. Peterman this season which is always fun.  Great show.

The Imitation Game

The Imitation Game, what I thought was going to be a dramatic thriller, turned out to be quite a somber affair.  Another 2016 Oscar Nominee, I’ve had this one on my Netflix list for a while.  I’ve started just playing movies with my wife in the room so we don’t sit there deliberating for a half hour in regards to what to watch.  If she likes it, she’ll close her laptop and join, otherwise she’ll just keep on surfing.  The laptop closed for this one.  Yet another WWII movie, this one’s quite a bit different, as it takes you far far from the battlefield to a group of “scientists” attempting to break the Enigma code.  The primary protagonist is fighting some personal demons and they’re played out as the movie jumps to different time periods in his life throughout the film.  It was easy to feel sorry for Benedict Cumberbatch’s character, but difficult to relate.  To talk on that subject any further would land me in spoiler territory.  It’s a well-made film and worth a look.  Recommend.

Trumbo

As I continue to work through last year’s Oscar Nominees I’ve come to realize that I’ve been spoiled somewhat.  Watching all these well recognized films back to back to back to back will do that I guess.  So while Trumbo was a fine film, I can’t help but criticize and say “but not as good as Bridge of Spies”.  So taking the film on its own merits, it’s a good movie.   Our political landscape seems to be all kinds of crazy these days, but this movie proves that things were equally strange back in the early 50’s (albeit completely flipped as of where we are today).  Bryan Cranston plays an unconventional communist who is considered the “best in the biz” in Hollywood when it comes to script writing.  His political views find him blacklisted, so he becomes a ghost-writer to maintain his family’s needs.  Ah good ol’  Cranston, always taking care of his family.  I thought it was okay, but I would have been just as well off having not seen it.  In the end, I wouldn’t really recommend it.  If the subject matter interests you, then you just might LOVE it, but for now I say, pass.

The Martian

Another Oscar nominated film albeit completely snubbed, which came as a delight to me.  I didn’t particularly care for The Martian.  The film, nor the character, but primarily the character.  I’ve never been a huge Matt Damon fan, all but dismissing the Bourne movies as a franchise, I’m not saying I’m “right” there are millions who love them, I’m just not one of them.  I’d heard great things about the film, and the premise seemed interesting enough and I’d wanted to see it for some time.  The movie does a good job of breaking down the science behind Damon’s survival and the rescue, I just didn’t care for Damon’s character.  If you’re stranded alone on a planet with no hope of rescue for 4 years, and that’s IF they determine you are alive, are you really going to be so full of one liners and smart ass remarks?  I know they left you for dead, but they thought you WERE dead.  Get over yourself.  Now that I think about it, the whole cast grinded me, I could go on but it’s not worth it.   Pass.

Actually, just leave him there.

Bridge of Spies

I’ve been trying to knock off the movies on my Netflix “list” for some time, around this time last year I put all the Oscar nominated films on my list, but they always seem too “heavy” to put on, then, when I do, I usually end up thinking “that was really good” … and Bridge of Spies?  That was really good.   This is your modern Spielberg movie with a few impressive special effects sprinkled throughout to make this much more than what appeared to be a courtroom drama based on the description on Netflix.   I really don’t want to spoil anything, but while it’s heavy on drama, it’s light on court.  It has espionage, witty dialogue,  a nice variety of locations and most importantly (to me anyways) characters that are likable.  It’s good, watch it.  Recommend. 

The Jungle Book (2016)

Disney is remaking a bunch of their animated features into live action films, a sentimental cash grab on the surface to get [now] parents to take their kids to see the movies they loved.  I must admit, I've never seen any adaption of the Jungle Book in it's entirety, so this was all pretty "new" to me.  As a standalone movie, it's really good!  If you can get over the fact that the animals talk, and are able to have  a suspension of disbelief there's a lot to like here.  I got a vibe of Life of Pi from this movie, but that could be simply because of the heavy use of a CG tiger, they don't share anything thematically. Recommend.

The Fundamentals of Caring

While I'm a pretty big fan of Netflix original series, I've never seen one of their movies.  This one looked pretty good though, it had a recognizable name (Paul Rudd) that isn't Adam Sandler.  It's a nice story about a PSW, a good time kill really.  I can't say it affected me in any way, it's a weird buddy road trip movie, a sentimental "Tommy Boy" if you will.  Lots of F Bombs though. Still overall,  recommend.