Flicks

[Gypsy-Vanner]

San Andreas - 8/10 I love The Rock even as that awful tooth fairy so him in a disaster movie like this is pure heaven. I mean sure, I had the occasional thought run through my head about the improbability of some of the scenes such as driving a boat in the freshly flooded city of San Francisco and not damaging the prop even though the 100 foot deep flood water is cluttered with the pieces of entire skyscrapers and stuff but it didn't take much away from it for me. Some of the CGI was totally spectacular, the flood was so impressive I watched that scene twice.

Iron Man 3 - 7/10 I didn't care much for the 2nd film but felt this was better than 2 and almost as good as 1.

The Amazing Spiderman 1 &2 - 7/10 I never got around to watching these because I really couldn't stand Andrew Garfield but both were on special to rent for .99 each from Amazon Prime so figured what the hell. I'm glad I did. I really liked them and think they were better than the Toby McQuire ones.

[thesalmonofdoubt]

God I loathed San Andreas - admittedly I watched it on the plane which is never the best place to see an effects movie .. but from the opening scene it was so crazy bog standard by the numbers predictable - like down to every single line uttered or camera wink.

I'm fine with pseudo sciencey fare when its backed by a good old action romp that does "Something" whether that be thrill or make you laff or gets you caught up in the action, but there was literally nothing new in any of this at all. By way of an example, I really liked 2014 and "Day after tomorrow".. both followed the same formula but brought either more spectacle or better scripting to the table.

It was your bog standard "Divorced Dad does his best - family shattered by previous tragedy that is foreboding of **something that happens later in the movie** .. Wife is hooked up with rich new man that leaves the ex out of sorts **stuff happens** parents do exactly what you knew they would do at the start of the movie .. Not only is the science implausible, but every single thing about the movie is ridiculous. I worried less about the props on their boat being damaged by the flotsam - but the simple fact that two people on a boat can point themselves towards the wreckage of a city of millions and millions of people armed with a "She's a clever girl, she'll know to head for a tall building".. the have the parents find said people just like that".
There was not a single note of exposition that didn't get used in the most obvious way - from our boy hero's "I'm an engineer so I'll save you from crushed car" to the "I built the tallest strongest building in the city so when the city crumbles - you'll know to use that as a safe hold".. to the "My dads a EMT so I know how to listen to the emergency channel"..

Ugh .. hated this - but glad you liked


To the others - generally agree with you Ironman 3 review although while I think it was much better than 2, I didn't think it was anywhere near as good as the first given it felt much less story telling as opposed to big effects for the sake of big effects.

And Spiderman - I agree it was much better than the Toby spidermans but by the time I got around to seeing this I'd pretty much lost interest in the entire franchise.

[Gypsy-Vanner]

I get what you're saying about San Andreas. I think any type of disaster film is a guilty pleasure of mine regardless of how terrible they are. I don't know why but man do I Love them!

Good point on Ironman, I hadn't seen the first one in a long time so I was comparing based on vague recollections but I watched it last night and you're right.

Yep, that's what I felt about Spidey too! I mean besides Andrew my motivation was zilch. Probably why I was entertained though is because I had exactly zero expectations.

[Gendo]

I'm confused; are you saying that Andrew was your motivation for wanting to watch the movies? Because I thought you just said that you avoided watching them because you couldn't stand him.

[Gypsy-Vanner]

I probably need a comma after his name? "I mean, besides Andrew, my motivation was zilch." I was commenting on his comment about losing interest in the Spiderman flicks since after Toby. I had no interest in seeing it even if Andrew hadn't been spiderman. That make more sense?

[thesalmonofdoubt]

I get what you're saying about San Andreas. I think any type of disaster film is a guilty pleasure of mine regardless of how terrible they are. I don't know why but man do I Love them!

Good point on Ironman, I hadn't seen the first one in a long time so I was comparing based on vague recollections but I watched it last night and you're right.

Yep, that's what I felt about Spidey too! I mean besides Andrew my motivation was zilch. Probably why I was entertained though is because I had exactly zero expectations.

I'm normally with you on the whole guilty pleasure thing and will happily put up with any number of factual errors and clichés in the name of a good old effects driven escape.. but from the opening scene in San Andreas the cheesy lines and utter predictability of the thing just pulled me out of the movie entirely and the effects weren't enuff to drag me back in.
Like I said tho - I watched this on a plane so, the screen (while quite a good screen - go business class!) .. it was a smallish screen and I was in the middle of a 15 hour flight, so probably not in the best of all possible humours.
I see its up for download, I may drag it down and watch it in the cinema with the kids to see if the effects make a bigger impression on me than they did on the plane.

[Gendo]

I probably need a comma after his name? "I mean, besides Andrew, my motivation was zilch." I was commenting on his comment about losing interest in the Spiderman flicks since after Toby. I had no interest in seeing it even if Andrew hadn't been spiderman. That make more sense?

Ah ok.