Pacific Rim. I heard shit reviews about it so I skipped it in cinemas. Only to watch it later on TV because it was on. I really wish I'd watched it in 3D!
OT: Probably Fury Road, like others have been saying. Mainly because:
They let the pregnant woman die. Usually in movies, if a woman is pregnant, she's got Plot Armor, and nothing bad will happen to her. She will of course, go into labor at the climax of the battle, because she always does, and then as the fight ends, and the silence settles, you will hear the little cry of the baby, and all is well with our heroes. Fury Road...NOPE, she dead! She horribly dead! It was a shocking surprise, and I actually appreciated the director doing something so unexpected.
I have weird netflix habits. Between cult horror/sci-fi movies from decades ago, kung fu movies fro. Hong kong and japan, weird foreign horror movies and american cartoons Netflix probably thinks I'm a serial killer.
Some movies that surprised me:
Solomon Kane-medieval fantasy loosely based on one of Robert E howards lesser known characters(creator of Conan the Barbarian). Really awesome movie about a man trying to atone for his sins. The ending feels more like God of War but still good.
13 assassins-Takashi Miike samurai movieabout 13 samurai attempting to kill a corrupt lord. Amazing story backed up by some of the best fight choreography I've ever seen.
13 Sins-a man is pulled into a game where he is awarded larger and larger amounts of money for doing terrible things to himself and others. How far would you go for $6 million?
Contracted-really to talk about the movies plot would spoil it. Go watch it you won't regret it. Maybe not during dinner.
Confession of Murder-cop drama from South Korea. How do you bring a Serial Killer to justice when the Statute of limitations just ran out? (Also apparently SK has a statute of limitations on murder? I was unaware. Anyone know if that's true?)
Blue Ruin. Somebody in the Netflix thread on this site recommended it. A revenge story that's true to life -- no ex-commandos, no exploding cars, just one average man at the end of his rope. Grit and blood and fear the way it should be, and (spoiler alert) nothing is really solved. Awesome.
Mad Max was quite good but I just can't jump on the best-movie-ever bandwagon. The other Max movies were low-budget grit. That was a big part of their appeal, at least for me. This one is a polished big-budget popcorn muncher which, while excellent as a summer blockbuster, does not fit the tone of the prior entries.
I was suprised at how good it was in a cheesy way! They literally cramped in everything that made the 80's, 80's into a 30 minutes length film. Also don't get me started on the soundtrack which I admit made me interested at that gerne.
UP. I've had a low opinion of Pixar since Disney bought it out and reduced it to a Cars Franchise factory. Seeing trailers for an old man in a balloon house didn't impress me in the slightest. Then I saw it...
O-O
It was, uh... Well, not quite what I expected. In a very, very positive way. Looking forward to the next Pete Doctor film, Inside Out.
The Nut Job. Yeah, it just recently premiered in Norwegian cinemas.
Every reviewer on the Internet has been shitting on this movie like it's some kind of contest, but the trailer looked just good enough that I decided to give it a shot - and I'm glad I did!
The story: In the middle of an ordinary American 1950s city is an idyllic park. The park is home to a varied group of creatures who value, above all, teamwork and unity. Gathering food for winter is thus undertaken as a group effort, with everyone contributing as best they can. The only real threat, at least that anyone can see, is the protagonist - outsider-by-choice Surly Squirrel, whose goal is to gather, on his own, a massive winter stash for himself.
This is a somewhat independent movie, so of course it's not going to look QUITE as polished as something from Dreamworks or Pixar - but the thing to keep in mind is, it's also not going to follow the same stagnant formulas that are slowly but surely becoming the norm.
The #1 'fashionable' complaint to make is that the protagonist, Surly Squirrel, is a complete and utter douchebag with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Surly is actually an antihero. He makes it abundantly clear in his opening monologue that he has no desire to be a hero, nor an accepted member of any community - he seeks only to survive, on his own terms. This is not only a refreshing departure from the kind of squeaky-clean heart-of-gold boyscout protagonist people seem to have expected - it is also exactly how a real-life squirrel would behave!
Surly eventually gets himself banished from the park after accidentally blowing up the communal food stash. In the process of adjusting to city life, he discovers the squirrel equivalent of El Dorado - a nut shop, its cellar stocked with more nuts than Surly will be able to eat in a lifetime. However, some residents of the park are on to him - and it soon becomes painfully clear to both parties that the only way anyone involved is going to benefit from the discovery is if they work together.
Incidentally, the nut shop is a front for a crew of gangsters who are planning to rob the bank next door, and the movie delights in drawing parallels between the bank job and the nut job. All the while, hilarity ensues as Surly happens to discover a far greater threat to the park critters' (and most importantly, his own) survival - and finds himself tangled up in a complex string of circumstances which conspire to force Surly (basically, the Bernard Black of squirrels) into the role of a completely unwilling hero who nobody trusts!
In theaters: Jurassic World... Outside of some unintentionally funny dialogue exchanges and heels, it left me pretty surprised in it's overall execution...
On TV (edited): Fun Size... I thought this PG-13 sexually-implied Nickelodeon movie was going to suck harder than the car in this movie that gets raped by a mechanical chicken in a pirate motif and, as it turned out, it's not that bad... especially when the movie focused on what "Spidey" was doing during the night... as well as the moment where a musket shoots a fried chickenbone off a "movie bully"'s hand...
On TV (uncut/unedited): The Grand Budapest Hotel... I already knew I was in for a treat given the director of the movie, but I was not expected a well-paced, hilarious movie about a story about a story about a story about a story revolving around Gustave H....
Other (with a group): The Last: Naruto the Movie... Without spoiling anything plot-related, I will say this: "Fuck yeah, Hinata!"
Pacific Rim for me. Expected the usual poor execution from the dark age of film, but even though the characters were dull and the real action came later, I have to admit it was fun and that I did end up going for the hero's.
Guardians of the Galaxy. Was expecting a brainless, goofy sideshow to Marvel's "serious" universe, full of Baysplosions, painfully self-aware Joss Whedonesque dialogue, and gross-out slapstick for the younger end of the viewership. It was actually a much deeper and genuine-feeling effort than some of the A-list superhero movies. Very pleasantly surprised indeed.
Hmm, going back a while on this, but I think it's Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr Fox. I was originally kinda creeped out by the way the characters all looked taxidermied, but bugger me if the film wasn't charming as hell, wickedly funny and looked great in motion.
Yeah it's no masterpiece, it's a "fun B movie" I guess, but I was expecting a sort of watered down PG-13 style movie with tame jokes and references to James Bond.
Instead it was super violent with tons of swearing and a campy, over-the-top, fun attitude and actual funny jokes. Much different from what I expected. It also had one of the best action scenes I've seen in years.
Also Dredd. Man, there's a movie I should have seen in cinema.
I agree on Kingsman. I'd already heard great things about it, but it still exceeded my expectations massively. Throughout the whole movie I was engaged and invested. Not once did I check my watch or even think about anything else than what was going to happen next. Perhaps the best thing about the movie was Taron Egerton. He's great in the movie, and just so charismatic and likable all I wanted to do was buy the guy a beer. Having great action and funny jokes didn't hurt either. If there's one thing I'd find fault in, it's that Roxy's character felt rather underused, not least because Sophie Cookson was frakking gorgeous. Think if the final fight had been a three-way between Eggsy, Gazelle and Roxy! Oh wait, that sounds wrong...
Dredd was a great theater experience. When the title card exploded on the screen I wanted to stand up and yell "PHWOOOOAARRRR!!" The 3D was used in a way I haven't seen since, and the part where Lena Headey falls on the screen and it fills with blood was unforgettable.
Hot Coffee.
It's a documentary on Netflix which is seemingly about the famous case of McDonald's having coffee burning an old woman's legs and suing for millions.
That's only the first 15 minutes. After basically everything you thought you knew about the McDonald's hot coffee case is put in a different light we're given a larger narrative about the American civil court system that will open your eyes.
I'm going to go with a completely off-beat answer, but Blade Runner.
Now, I already loved it. In fact, it's been one of my favourite movies of all time from the moment I saw it years and years ago. How did it somehow surprise me last week? When there was a reprisal of Blade Runner in theaters and I got the chance to see it on the big screen. And that, my God, that was magical. I did not realize how incredibly well that movie works in the cinema setting. I felt honoured to see that cinematic milestone in theaters.
As for actual new movies, I'm joining the Mad Max: Fury Road crowd here. Sure I knew it'd be great, but I didn't know it'd be that great. The last time I was even remotely that jumpy and excited and grinning at the movies like a little kid was during Pacific Rim. God I love movies.
Ravenbom said:
Hot Coffee.
It's a documentary on Netflix which is seemingly about the famous case of McDonald's having coffee burning an old woman's legs and suing for millions.
That's only the first 15 minutes. After basically everything you thought you knew about the McDonald's hot coffee case is put in a different light we're given a larger narrative about the American civil court system that will open your eyes.
Ex Machina. It looked like a typical sci-fi thriller with a generic "when do robots become conscious?" flavour. In practice, the movie is largely about long, weighty sci-fi conversations on the nature of humanity, consciousness and ethics. Plus they also address the one question that runs through my head whenever I watch these things; why do androids always look like sexy women?
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