Just Like Ol' Times

Years ago when I first started writing on here the main thing that I would write about was movies.  I used to watch a ton of movies, and so I'd give short little "reviews" of them after I watched one.  This was good because it meant that I had at least one thing to write about close to every day.  Now, however, I don't watch nearly as many movies as I used to, and when I do I really don't post about them.  This last week, though, has been a different story, and I've watched a number of things so I thought I would share.

The first one is Resident Evil: Extinction. The Resident Evil series is one of those rarities where they made a movie based on a game and it wasn't horrible.  I actually never played the games, but I've enjoyed the movies for some good old fashion zombie shoot 'em up entertainment.  I picked this one up on a Friday night where I had no intentions of doing anything other than sitting on the couch with a beer and a movie and just veging out.  I think that I prefer the first movie of this trilogy over the other two, but this one wasn't a let down.  While I wouldn't go giving this movie five stars or anything, it is worth watching if you enjoyed the first ones, or just are a fan of watching girls shoot zombies.  I figure that if you're really into the series that you would have seen this one by now anyway. While I wouldn't say that you need to have seen the previous movies to understand this one, it would at least help to explain a couple of things.  The movie can stand on its own, though, as I don't recall there being any major plot points that wouldn't make sense if you hadn't seen the others.

I was in a trilogy mood last weekend and the second movie I picked up was the Bourne Ultimatum.   I love the Jason Bourne series.  Many years ago, before the movies came out, a friend of mine had tried to get me to read the series, but I never got around to it.  Sadly, I still haven't, but I'm much more likely to after seeing the movies.  I figure that since books are usually better than the movie, and these movies were so good, then the books must be awesome.  I would definitely say that this movie is a true third installment, as in, you don't want to see it unless you've see the first two.  I like that in these movies that things stay fairly true, and there aren't a lot of over the top scenarios.  The action scenes are pretty exciting, and the plot isn't cheesy and really predictable.  I didn't used to be huge on Matt Damon, but this series has really made me like him more.  He does a great job playing Bourne.  If you have seen the first two, but haven't seen this by now, you should.  If you haven't seen any of the trilogy, you should definitely check it out. 

This Friday night was another didn't want to think, get a mindless movie based on a game night.  This time, the movie of choice was Hitman.  I have played a couple of the games in the series, but never the first one.  I think that I heard that the movie is based on the first game of the series, but I don't know for sure.  To be honest, I was not expecting anything out of this movie other than some bad plot, lame lines, and a bunch of shooting.  I was pleasantly surprised, though, that it actually turned out to be pretty good.  The plot was pretty decent, and not entirely without depth.  I wasn't sure what to expect from having Timothy Olyphant play 47, but he didn't do too bad.  There were certainly some parts that I don't think matched up too well with the game (come on, you lose points for having witnesses, you really shouldn't leave any), but from what I know of the series they did a decent job.  I'm not sure if one of the reasons I enjoyed this movie as much as I did is because I had such low expectations, or if it was genuinely that good.  My friends, whom I don't think had as low of expectations as me, and had never played any of the games, thought it was pretty good too, though.  There are definitely some fun action scenes, which was really all I was looking for.  The soundtrack also bears mentioning.  The game had a pretty nice soundtrack, and I noticed some of the same songs showing up in the movie.  They have some good music in there, though.  While I wouldn't say this movie is for everyone, obviously, it is a fun action movie.  Don't expect anything too heady from it, but it is definitely some good entertainment.

This next movie is just downright interesting.  It's this Korean movie called Green Chair.  My I saw it on my roommate's Facebook page so I got it for us to watch.  She didn't want to watch it with me, though, as she said it'd be too uncomfortable.  After seeing it, I can understand why she said that, but not sure if I agree.  The thing is, there's about ten minutes of opening story, then what feels like 30 minutes of them having sex.  The point is to demonstrate the intimacy and nature of their relationship, but that really could have been accomplished in significantly less time.  This movie definitely confirms my hypothesis that Korean chicks are crazy, though.  The story is that an older lady has sex with a younger guy, goes to jail because of it, and then gets out and he's there to greet her.  That's the beginning of it. The rest of the movie is how they are having this relationship, and the ups and downs of it.  There is also an inordinate amount of eating.  Pretty much, if the scene doesn't involve sex, it involves food.  Despite what my roommate thinks, I really didn't think that the sex was all that explicit.  I've seen worse in American mainstream movies.  That's not to say that a kid should watch this.  It's not rated here, but would definitely be a hard R.  While hardly a romantic comedy, there are a lot of things that are amusing, and I laughed a number of times.  There is also a lot that confused me.  I'm not sure if it's just a cultural thing, or what, but there are parts that don't seem to add up for me.  The end of the movie is especially odd.  If the director were to tell me that the end of the movie was all a dream, I'd think that made more sense than if he said it actually happened.  It just doesn't make any sense whatsoever.  My roommate doesn't agree, and thinks that it is cheesy, but completely real.  I don't think cheesy is the term I thought of when watching it, but rather WTF?  I can't say that I recommend this movie, but I also wouldn't discourage watching it.  If you want some more insight into how crazy ladies are, and don't mind a bunch of sex, then go for it. Otherwise, go ahead and pass.

The last movie I watched in the last seven days was No Country for Old Men.  This one had gobs of buzz made about it.  It won some awards, I think, too.  People I know that saw it all said it was great.  I figured I should check it out.  While I will say that this was a good movie, it is hardly deserving of all the accolades it has received.  The story was good, the acting was good, the movie was good, but it wasn't that good.  The end of the movie is definitely what got me. I don't like how they did it, at all.  I've got no problem with what the final outcome was, but how they got there really bugged me.  Things that I would have liked to see expanded upon are just brushed over.  Pieces of information are just left out.  I feel like they just flew over some things out that should have been included.  Up until that point, I felt like they were doing a pretty good job.  Don't think I'm trying to discourage watching it, though.  It is a bit on the violent side, though.  Javier Bardem does a really good job of playing a creepy psycho.  You really don't like him much at all, which I'm thinking is what they were going for.  All in all, I'd say that this is worth watching, but all the hype surrounding it is just that, hype.