GeddyWrox wrote:The new Lion King was the same exact story, but visually stunning. I'm not mad about paying $10 to see it on a big screen.
Toy Story 4 was pretty good too.
I was just "meh" on the new Lion King. I don't know why I was expecting something different, but I came away with the feeling of "yeah, I already saw that years ago".
I watched a couple other movies recently and thought I would share my thoughts:
Rogue One - Yeah, I was late to this one. But I was underwhelmed. I even fell asleep during part of it. It probably didn't help that I had heard the premise of the movie before I saw it, but I felt it was just average. And I get why the final scene was important, but the obviously fake Leia was disappointing. They could have done that both differently and better.
Love & Other Drugs - This was slightly above average. Good performances from Jake Gyllenhall and Anne Hathaway, and I was not expecting to see her naked, so bonus. The brother (chubby guy with curly hair, you'd know him if you saw him) also provides some welcome comic relief to a somewhat heavy story.
Hadn't posted on it, but I saw Once Upon a Time in Hollywood a couple weeks ago and looooved it
Re: Sharon Tate - not much of an actual character, but I was still really touched by her whole storyline. Seeing her enjoying the audience reacting to her movie, the fact that Tarantino used Tate's actual scenes instead of Robbie being CG'd into them, and then how they handle the ending. Everyone's first thought of Sharon Tate since the murders has been Charles Manson, and this is the first time I've been introduced to her as a real person in any way. The ending just pulls her out of that whole sick narrative, and it would be great if every murder victim could get that kind of treatment.
DiCaprio's character nailing his big scene might have been my favorite part of the movie, but I loved all the movie within in a movie stuff. His earlier conversation with the young girl is up there too.
I don't know if there's much to say about Pitt's character other than I enjoyed every scene he was in. Loved the early setup and later payoff with his dog.
Somehow it really brought home to me how much things have changed since I was a kid. My early memories are of the late 70's but on a practical level it's not that much different. Even movies that take place in the same time period are still mostly concerned about moving a plot, but I felt like this really wallowed in the unused time that used to be more common. Scenes like that one with Pitt on the roof and Robbie/Tate next door changing the LP on the record player, or him feeding the dog while heating up his macaroni. Even when we have to do those things now, there's a phone to occupy the waiting time. Then there's the fact that it's pre-cable and everyone knows and talks about the same TV shows. It was nice to sit in that for a while.