Movie Monday: Days of Future Past

The Hot Rock - ★★★★☆
Last time I said, "Now this was a great caper. In fact, it's a bunch of great capers, since if everything went right it wouldn't be much of a movie. The museum sequence is genuinely suspenseful and clever and terrific."

I mostly agree with me. The museum is still great, and the other sections have great bits, but maybe they're more surprise than suspense, since they didn't hit me as hard this time around.

Snowpiercer - ★★★½☆
It's one of my favorite things in a movie lately when I don't know what's going on, exactly. The plot is easy to describe, but the details and questions raised along the way make it interesting.

I worried this would stomp all over a train-related idea I started writing a while back, but then I found out this is based on a comic from 1982 and there are no new ideas. Finding out that comic book was French does make this Korean movie make a little more sense to me though.

Can't wait to see the American version where everyone lives!

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - ★½☆☆☆
This is the opposite of Captain America 2. I have nothing but complaints, with just a few saving graces barely sneaking in. If it were trimmed down to just the scenes with the Giamatti, it could have been a good animated short to include on the DVD of a better movie.

I would have never guessed there'd be a time when I was not excited about the prospect of a Spider-Man movie.

X-Men: Days of Future Past - ★★★★☆
I wasn't excited for this one; I don't like most of the X-Men movies, and the director of the old ones coming back seemed like a bad omen. But now, I'm pretty sure this one is my favorite of the bunch!

I think this movie's strength is the choice to not be penned in to exactly where the previous films left off. For like, a decade, I've told anyone who will listen how Spider-Man should be like the 007 franchise - change creative teams now and then, but just keep moving forward. Make references when appropriate or when feeling indulgent, but try to tell a new story each go 'round. You know, like a comic book?

I've read some absolutely idiotic articles this week by people who assume the X-Men have never had an adventure we didn't see on the screen, and they must be the reason why every time someone wants to tell us a new superhero story they feel obliged to serve up a new take on the origin first.

What this movie gets right is figuring that you either know who these characters are, or will be able to figure it out by watching the movie, and then telling a story about them. (What it gets wrong? Yet another comic book movie where we fly around in DNA in the intro. Yet another comic book movie with a plot point hinging on lost powers, even if it was a good take on it this time.)

#2,048: Psychos

Presented today Memento-style, in the reverse of the order viewed.

The Mist (Black & White Director's Cut) - ★★★★☆
My first time seeing the B/W version. It's been a while since I've seen any version, and happily I'd forgotten a lot of the middle of the movie. Got to watch it this time through the lens of the lovecrafty stuff I've been reading / playing more of lately, which also made it fun.

Psycho II - ★★★☆☆
I wasn't sure what to make of this one. The premise is almost like a comedy, with so many knowing nods and nudges and things to set Norman off, but it comes together as a pretty solid 80s horror. It feels neat to see what's become of the house and the motel and everything, even though of course it's all freshly built to make a movie. I have a little trouble squaring the events of this movie as things that "really happened" in the world of the original.

Psycho - ★★★★☆
I like watching a well-known classic like this (or maybe The Godfather) by trying to see it the way an audience did before it became a pop culture touchstone. You hear about the shower, not the seemingly conventional but still intriguing plot with the money. To a first-time viewer, Norman is lying because he's covering for his terrifying mother, not to stay out of jail himself. Maybe you even feel for him.

Psychos - ★★★☆☆
Seemed to me like this was really speeding along faster than I remembered. I assumed it was because of the intercutting capturing my attention, but no, it's actually shorter. The Hitchcocks I've seen lately, a lot of them could stand to lose 15 minutes, but somehow I don't think I'd have quite the same audience if I did it.

Definitely makes me want to go watch the original again, not just for the fun of seeing how this cut works. Probably not as excited to give the remake another chance.

In-Depth Review of Amazing Spider-Man 2

Finally, a movie with all the good looks and deep characterization of this trading card from 1995!

#2,046: The Trouble With Harry

How to Steal a Million - ★★★½☆
A fun little romantic comedy caper. The romance is in the style of the time, which is to say, two people who fall in love almost immediately and because the script says so. The heist was also in the style of the time, which is to say, pretty good! For some of my friends, this is the first Audrey Hepburn movie they've enjoyed. To them, I say five words: "Three words: Wait Until Dark!"

The Pink Panther - ★★☆☆☆
This one was a let down. Started strong, but becomes convoluted, confusing, and boring. I did like how Clouseau seems to be at least somewhat aware of how he's bad at everything, and the timing and staging on the scene with 6 people in the bedroom made me smile. Surprising ending.

Shadow of a Doubt - ★★★☆☆
2 for 2 on slow moving Hitchcocks with characters that fall in love instantaneously and delightful supporting casts. All the scenes with Herb are great. Ann too. Somehow, Santa Rosa doesn't look very 'small town' to me, which makes the fact that everyone recognizes Charlie kind of fun. I guess maybe I'm deciding that I liked the world of the movie more than the plot.

The Trouble with Harry - ★★½☆☆
I've known that the trouble with Harry is mostly, y'know, how he's kind of, well, dead, but the trouble with The Trouble With Harry is that it's not very good. I wasn't expecting it to be a comedy. There's some good lines in there, and it's pretty silly, but it's also too long, and hasn't aged especially well. It's not that it's topical, it's the attempts at bawdiness that would barely merit a PG rating today.

I feel fond of it now, now that's it's over, because the good parts were good, but there was also our disbelief that the movie could keep going and how often it did. I bet we could get 15 minutes out of it. The shared and accepted surreality of the world is something I think more movies could use.

Media Monday: Monument Valley Not a Monumental Value!

And also browser-based "idling" games!

- Choppin' Wood - ★★☆☆☆
I'm really into this kind of game lately. The balance of attending and then ignoring fits in just right with the jobs I've been working recently. There's not much to this one though. More theme but maybe less interesting than...

- DerivClicker - ★★☆☆☆
I collected all the things in this game. I don't think there's anything else to do. It's not as fancy as Cookie Clicking or Candy Box or Clicking Bad from last year, which it occurs to me now I never even logged. I guess I never got every last thing in Cookie Clicker though.

- A Dark Room - ★★★☆☆
The best of today's bunch. It was intriguing as I unlocked new things, and surprising as I kept forgetting I was playing and returned days later to find I had tons of supplies. Combat becomes a chore towards the end, but I finished this one twice.

- Monument Valley - ★★☆☆☆
It was a really shrewd move for the developers of this game to target the Apple and graphic design / tech nerd segment of the web, either instead of or in addition to the gaming press. I liked the one level that was a box that opens because I miss The Room, but I ended up disappointed in this one.

As far as I know, I don't mind the "non-game" game genre. These are games that are generally more of a walking tour of a (usually) lovely thing the developer has made to show you, different from a book or video in that there is usually some clicking or tapping involved to keep you engaged, but there are no real obstacles present to keep you from seeing all of the carefully crafted content. My blunder was not considering the non-gamer sources of the reviews and blurbs I was reading that promised 4+ hours of gameplay. After the first 45 minutes, when I thought we were just about done with the tutorial and intro levels and it turned out the game was over, I think I felt a little cheated over the relatively high price and small amount of content.