Rate the Last Movie You Saw

[mhatchett]

Theli, Theli, Et Tu, Theli??

[srboone]

Jurassic World: "We didn't breed the Indominus Rex, we created it." At what point do you say to yourself "This is not a good idea. But it would make a great movie!"

[/I]Not as good as the original, but with Speilberg producing, it has some astonishing sequences. This is Pratt as an A-list leading man of standard action fare, not the wildly charismatic tornado of Guardians of the Galaxy and the gag about Bryce Dallas Howard's "ridiculous shoes" seems like an 80's anachronism (though she did wear them through the entire production and she says she learned to run in them quite well). It's exciting and suspenseful with some great looking dinos, but ultimately hollow. Love seeing B.D. Wong as the lead geneticist.

3.5/5

[Sock Monkey]

John Wick: I am neither a fan or a hater of Keanu Reeves, in fact I feel rather ambivalent about his acting for the most part. I'm also not the biggest fan of action movies, so adding those two together, it's probably not a big surprise that I didn't rush out to see John Wick in the theaters. Good word of mouth kept coming about the movie, so I eventually broke down and picked it up on DVD. Well, the good word of mouth is going to continue because I absolutely love this movie about a ex-hitman coming out of retirement to take vengeance on the criminals who killed the puppy his recently-deceased wife gave him as a gift. As a dog lover, I pretty much was like, "yeah, kill 'em, kill 'em all." Though this isn't just another run-of-the-mill vengeance tale, as the world-building is great, including The Continental, an up-scale hotel for criminals and assassins which is a safe haven from any kind of "business activities". Add a great cast that includes Willem Dafoe and Ian McShane and you have a heck of an action flick. Definitely check it out if you haven't yet. Grade: B+

[Dan Hocker]

John Wick: I am neither a fan or a hater of Keanu Reeves, in fact I feel rather ambivalent about his acting for the most part. I'm also not the biggest fan of action movies, so adding those two together, it's probably not a big surprise that I didn't rush out to see John Wick in the theaters. Good word of mouth kept coming about the movie, so I eventually broke down and picked it up on DVD. Well, the good word of mouth is going to continue because I absolutely love this movie about a ex-hitman coming out of retirement to take vengeance on the criminals who killed the puppy his recently-deceased wife gave him as a gift. As a dog lover, I pretty much was like, "yeah, kill 'em, kill 'em all." Though this isn't just another run-of-the-mill vengeance tale, as the world-building is great, including The Continental, an up-scale hotel for criminals and assassins which is a safe haven from any kind of "business activities". Add a great cast that includes Willem Dafoe and Ian McShane and you have a heck of an action flick. Definitely check it out if you haven't yet. Grade: B+

I loved John Wick. It didn't do great in theaters, but it seemed to have doubled it's budget, which is pretty good for a fairly small movie. I heard they where approved for a sequel, which I'm really looking forward to. I really want to see more in the the world they built.

[Sock Monkey]

The Battery: Ultra low-budget flick about two minor league baseball players who have survived the zombie apocalypse, but have to face the new world empty of civilization. The first couple of things about this movie that you have to come to terms with is that there is not action set pieces and while the zombies are an important part of the plot, the movie is light on gore. It's more of a character study of two guys who have taken opposite approaches to the end of the world: one who has accepted it and moved on and the other who still pines for what has been lost. As to be expected in low budget movies, the acting is spotty in places, but the script is better than what I had expected and the as the movie reaches its conclusion, there is a feeling of inevitability to the proceedings as if everything had to come to that point. The only problem I had was that it seemed as if the movie had ended three times before the credits rolled. Though it is hard to recommend as I don't think this will be everyone's cup of tea, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Grade: B

Starry Eyes: Sarah is an aspiring actress in Los Angeles looking for her big break that never seems to come. Every audition leads to disappointment and despair. Until she gets the chance to star in a new horror movie. What seems like her chance to headline a major picture from an established studio turns into something darker and more sinister.

Working as both a creepy movie about evil cults and body horror and as a parable about the soul-sucking nature of show business, Starry Eyes really is an example of what independent horror can do. There isn't a lot of surprises to the script, but what is there is smart and well-crafted. While a slow burn, when violence does erupt its brutal and intimate. Alex Essoe as Sarah does a fantastic job carrying the movie. Dark and creepy, it's well worth a look. Grade: B

[Sock Monkey]

I loved John Wick. It didn't do great in theaters, but it seemed to have doubled it's budget, which is pretty good for a fairly small movie. I heard they where approved for a sequel, which I'm really looking forward to. I really want to see more in the the world they built.

Yeah, box office numbers weren't huge, but they only had a $20 million budget which helped. I'm thinking that the sequel will wind up posting bigger numbers due to people catching this on DVD/Blu-Ray.

I agree about the world they built. I thought that what was so great about the script was that they didn't spell everything out for the viewer, just giving you enough information to understand some basic rules and relationships. It's not that they were vague or glossed over things because "it's only an action movie", but rather they respected the viewers intelligence that they could piece things together. I hope with the sequel they don't get bogged down in the minutia, trying to explain every single detail.

[markgunnells]

Saw Jurassic World. Not terrible, entertaining enough film, but it fails to live up to the original. I put it on par with the other two sequels, which is just okay. The characters were really bland here, and the chemistry between two characters was so non-existent that I was honestly surprised when they kissed because I hadn't really been aware they were supposed to be "falling for each other" during the course of the movie. Some of the subplots were just really silly. So it was an okay movie, it had some exciting moments, but it definitely wasn't a great film.

[srboone]

Just a note to remind everybody that July is Sharknado season. RiffTrax Live!:Sharknado 2: The Next One will hit theaters on July 9 and 16 with the premiere of Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! on July 22 on SyFy. So grab your chainsaws and get ready for really cheesy weather!

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[Tommy]

Just a note to remind everybody that July is Sharknado season. RiffTrax Live!:Sharknado 2: The Next One will hit theaters on July 9 and 16 with the premiere of Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! on July 22 on SyFy. So grab your chainsaws and get ready for really cheesy weather!

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I'll be there with my fins on!

[srboone]

Well, after 6 tornados touched down in the KC area last week, I headed out on Thursday night to brave the fiercest of all storms, the Sharknado.

RiffTrax Live!: Sharknado 2: The Second One: Part two of a four-part event those nuts from RT have dubbed "The Crapenning" (The Room, Sharknado 2, Miami Connection, Santa Claus and the Ice Cream Bunny). Not as spectacular an outing as previous riff jobs, but the evening still had it's grand moments. The movie lacks the suspense of the first film, but it is simply a better made movie. Barely. So thank god for Corbett, Nelson and Murphy doing their thing.

Some alarming moments from the evening were finding out that:

1). Norman (the star of several shorts riffed before main attractions) was dead--no more groans of ultimate despair from the everyman will be heard in the auditoriums.

2)."The sixth book in the Game of Thrones series will be mostly mutton recipes and lyrics from old Blue Oyster Cult tunes. Face it folks, he's stalling!"

Sharknado 2: 3.5

RiffTrax Live!: Sharknado 2: 4

[Dan Hocker]

I just got back from Ant-man. It was a pretty great movie, I highly recommend it. I'm not really good at assigning value, but I'd say it'd probably be in my Marvel top 5. It feels very different from most of the other Marvel movies. Different in a good way, I can't really put my finger on what it is that makes it feel different though. Also if you're someone who's into the post credits scenes this one has two so make sure to stay for those.

[Sock Monkey]

Ex Machina: Worth every bit of praise heaped on it, this movie is the rare exception of being able to not only compete with the hype surrounding it but exceed it. The performances are uniformly great. If the sci-fi elements are what is holding you back from checking this out, don't let it. This is one heck of a psychological thriller. Dark, thought-provoking, and clever, this movie is fantastic. It's a shame it didn't do well in the theaters. Here's to it having a second life on home theaters. Grade: A

[Theli]

I've been really wanting to see Ex Machina. Thanks for the review. To do well in theatres most of the time these days you gotta be action packed, thoughtless CG filled drivel.

[srboone]

Sharnado 3: Oh Hell No!: A step down in quality from the first two films. It seems that the filmmakers didn't know where to take the series, so they just threw in a bunch of wacky story ideas in hopes that one of them would work. That and a whole lot of celebrity cameo deaths (most of which look like crude Photoshop manips). The results are scattershot, but the film finally kicks as it manages to capture the silliness and insanity of the original film seconds before it ends. Oh well. But next summer, look for Sharknado 4 (as well as a RiffTrax Live presentation of SN3).

2/5. But if you liked the first two....

[TJCams]

Ex Machina: Worth every bit of praise heaped on it, this movie is the rare exception of being able to not only compete with the hype surrounding it but exceed it. The performances are uniformly great. If the sci-fi elements are what is holding you back from checking this out, don't let it. This is one heck of a psychological thriller. Dark, thought-provoking, and clever, this movie is fantastic. It's a shame it didn't do well in the theaters. Here's to it having a second life on home theaters. Grade: A

Pretty much sums it up. I finally got a chance to see it, and really enjoyed it. My wife though, did not. Sci-Fi seems to a guy thing in a lot of cases.... I did really enjoy Ex Machina - definitely going to be purchasing the Blu Ray one of these days.