tethysdust

It seems like Hollywood loves gratuitous violence, and South Korea loves gratuitous sadness. The film was entertaining and really funny at points, but I don't understand why every Korean movie I watch has to be so sad.

The group of people who experience this unusual phenomena are kind of spiteful and dumb (the acting was fine, though). However, the situation itself is really cool, and I enjoyed seeing how they tried to come to terms with it. It's a good example of executing a clever SF idea on a lower budget.

Suspenseful movie about a small group of people trying to get a payload of gold (and survive) in an ancient submarine. Even one untrustworthy member in such a team can cause major problems.

The main characters are not particularly sympathetic--you first meet them while they're mugging someone, so the film initially seems to encourage you to hope for their comeuppance via alien invasion. The language was also pretty hard to understand, though subtitles help. It was full of very contemporary pop culture references, and parts of it were quite funny.

It's kind of a silly horror film, but definitely watchable. I felt like it was missing something to elevate it beyond the obvious, and I could think of a few plot twists that would have given it more emotional depth.

It's a very interesting (and apparently fairly accurate in many respects) representation of the scandal surrounding the outing of an American CIA agent's identity and the events surrounding the invasion of Iraq. Most of us probably remember a lot of the details from news at the time, but I think this neatly encapsulates the situation to preserve a sense of it for the future.

If you can accept the fantasy of the movie's central premise, it's really quite an interesting story. Adrien Brody was particularly good as the protagonist.

This one was not exactly what I expected--it is not really a James Bond-style story. Nikita was really something else. It also feels very firmly set in its time of history, in terms of style and music. It was entertaining, though.

A very well-crafted film that slowly unfolds the complex situation behind the central premise. I loved the soundtrack. It is also very French, so keep that in mind for cultural differences.

It's pretty funny, and very watchable. For much of the film, though, it's kind of slice-of-life conversations with a hit man, so it suffered a little from feeling like it wasn't heading anywhere.

An engaging thriller that features Samuel L. Jackson at the top of his game. I was surpised how tense it could be, even though it mostly took place in one office.

The movie started out okay, with a nice 60s setting and a decent slow-building creepy atmosphere. Then it just went full-out ridiculous, which completely destroyed any creepiness it had built up. I spent the last act of the film laughing and mocking the characters for behaving so weirdly.

It was less of a comedy than I expected, but also a very interesting look at the state of the American presence in Afghanistan. It points out that perhaps more attention should be paid to what is happening there now.

While this is a comedy about an elderly cat burglar teaming up with his robot caretaker, it's also a very sad story about declining cognitive ability late in life and the difficulties of caring for aging parents. It is an emotionally affecting film that finds its moments of levity.

If you want to watch a lot of bike chase scenes in New York City, this is the film for you! The plot is pretty simple, though, and the villain very cardboard.

This horror film is frightening, but also incredibly sad. The actors for the mother and child were pretty excellent. It had a deeper emotional resonance with the horror elements than most films in the genre.

Fun movie with an unusual premise. I appreciated that the sole female character was not simply included to give an opportunity for **** threats (of which there are none in the film), but was actually a member of the group.

Entertaining thriller that took some turns I did not expect. It seems very standard for the Liam-Neeson-action-movie genre, so it's a lot of fun if that's what you want to see!

This felt like less of a movie and more of a really long cutscene. It was cool to see a lot of the locations of WoW rendered so beautifully, but it lacked in character focus and story. If you haven't played any Warcraft games, you should probably pass on the movie (the writers clearly aren't considering you).

Interesting mash-up of some standard horror tropes with alien abduction. It had its tense moments, but it felt a bit incomplete by the end. It seems set up for a Dark Skies 2.

It felt kind of like 90s humor, which I prefer to the most common humor style today (e.g. body/sex humor). It has some slight nods to John Wick. I enjoyed it, though it is a pretty silly story!

Great film with a story that is more complex than you would usually see in Hollywood. Kept me guessing until the end, which I think is always a good thing.

This was an entertaining and unconventional thriller, but I can see how it would not be a hit in the political climate of 2016. It was a bit predictable in the end, but still worth watching.

The acting was pretty good, but the story felt like it was treading water. Also, it was completely unoriginal and predictable. Ultimately, it didn't feel like it had much of a point.

It had a very beautiful setting, nice camerawork, and brilliant execution. It is a bit slow, but this is one of those cases where the journey, not the destination, is the point. Also, it is quite gory at times.

In our modern world--where many people live in high-rise apartments without resorting to barbarism--this story doesn't really make any sense. It was the most poorly designed and managed building I've ever seen, and none of the characters behave like human beings.

I enjoyed the slowly revealed mystery and Odd's supernatural gifts. However, some of the side character acting was not amazing, and the ending was disappointing in clichéd ways.

It is a sweet and funny story of an underdog's journey to the olympics, despite all the odds. Eddie was very likable, and it was easy to want him to succeed. Also, I loved his mother's personality! It's pretty much what you would expect from the genre (no real surprises), but leaves you feeling happy.

I really enjoyed Moana. Some of the songs are still in my head days later (and I mean this in a positive way), and the animation and settings were beautiful. I generally enjoyed the sense of humor, and the story was exciting and optimistic.

This movie is completely ridiculous, and it features a fakey southern Nicolas Cage with impressive hair. It seemed like the whole second half of the film was continuous explosions. Entertaining, and definitely not demanding to watch.

A simple but entertaining disaster movie, where the super-aggressive giant shark is the disaster. Tension was high throughout the movie, and the lead gave a compelling performance despite having very little dialogue.

This was a much quieter and sadder movie than I expected, given Jason Statham. There is some action, but mostly the story seems to be about trauma and healing (well, and redemption, obviously).

I enjoyed the idea of the film, though the plot moved at rather a slow pace. The alien's language was interesting, and the human side of the story had a nice emotional payoff.

A conventional kind of ghost story, but executed in a very entertaining way. The story was suspenseful, and the excess of Kevin Bacon's enthusiasm was funny in a way that did not detract from the seriousness of the ghost mystery.

It raises interesting ethical and moral problems that are associated with anti-terrorism efforts in foreign countries and drone attacks. However, there is little in the movie aside from the consideration of the central dilemma, so it was over-long.

The visual effects and action are really good. However, there's not that much story and the characters feel empty. There are several gaping plot holes that you have to just accept. I enjoyed watching it, but I don't think it will be remembered as the height of Marvel.

I was not expecting much, since this is a kind of prequel to Harry Potter based on a fictional textbook. However, J.K. Rowling really did not drop the ball here. I love how she has brought the US wizarding world to life, taking into account a variety of real-life cultural differences between the US and the UK. There's a lot of imagination and a lot going on in this story, all while it introduces us to a new cast of interesting characters. I liked that the No-Maj character is not simply comic relief (though he is pretty funny).

It seemed at first like this would be a simple heist-gone-wrong story, but it ended up being so much more complicated. I couldn't always tell what was real and what was not, but everything is made clear by the end. Warning for nudity & violence, if that will bother you.

This is the first comedy movie that I have enjoyed in a long time, and it also had a optimistic and well-intentioned heart. I appreciated that it used its premise (Walter being imaginative and regretting his path in life) to craft a meaningful story without simply using it as a gimmick. This is the kind of movie that makes you feel happy when you've finished watching it.

A very good vampire movie, which is not a common thing. I liked the focus on the relationship between the mother and daughter, and the ideas on immortality and power.

I'd say this is more of a children's film than a family film. The jokes were a lot of body humor, and the plot was very simplistic. The high point for me was the actor who played the BFG himself, who was lovely. I wish they had emphasized his personal story a bit more, but I guess they thought that would have been too dark for children.

This was a fun "inverse-heist" film about a professional prison-breaker (Stallone) who is illegally trapped in an unethical private prison. The leads worked really well together, and the action & humor was nice. You might know already more or less how things will turn out, but I enjoyed watching work through it.

Gory sci-fi action movie, set in a bleak, overpopulated, post-apocalyptic future. Entertaining enough, but felt like the story could have been fleshed out more. For instance, the drug Slo-Mo seemed mostly to exist in order to give an excuse for the film's many slow motion shots. The action setup reminded me a bit of The Raid (heroes locked in an apartment block with an entire gang against them), but Dredd leans more towards gore than action.

An enjoyable sci-fi action film, even though it doesn't really bring anything new to the table. Also, I was a little puzzled by the aggressiveness of the company's militia, given that they were supposedly keeping a low profile.

The documentary gives an accurate look at the world of high energy particle physics. I think they did a great job in making the material accessible for a lay audience, and Monica Dunford was an excellent contact for communicating the experience of the Higgs discovery from a post-doc perspective.

This was a mediocre installment in the franchise. It was fun to see the young X-men, and I hope those actors stick around for future movies. I especially liked the portrayal of Nightcrawler. However, Apocalypse was a very boring villain, and a lot of the movie seemed to cut-and-paste ideas from previous films.

Sahara is an adventure comedy film, one with a ridiculous premise and an enthusiastic cast. Not exactly intellectual, but fun and undemanding entertainment for a pleasant evening.

This simple revenge story is an odd mixture of camp and seriousness. The violence is pretty intense, but the most impressive bit was the explosions (of which there are many).

Very entertaining film and I enjoyed the twists of the plot. There was one scene near the end that was too violent for my tastes, so beware of that if bloody violence bothers you. I would agree with what I had read before watching, that it is more fun if you don't know much about the plot going in.

The first part of the film was actually quite funny and satirizes attitudes about relationships in an absurd way. I think it would have worked much better for me as a short film. Once the first climax of the plot hit, the film lost my interest. I kept watching to the end, but it was just more boring and depressing story that wasn't really lightened anymore by the absurdity of the world.