Pop Culture Diary – May 24, 2011

[Warning; There be spoilers ahead!]

Some brief observations on what I’ve watched lately…

The Fifth Element

This is the one where John McClane goes into the future and blows up Nakatomi Plaza, right? Bruce Willis basically rehashes his Die Hard character in this movie that can’t decide if it wants to be an action flick or a comedy. It’s a lighthearted, amusing sci-fi movie with a little something for everyone, but it’s not one of my favorite Luc Besson movies.

A few observations: Gary Oldman was great, and his hair should have gotten its own line in the credits; Chris Tucker’s character makes me want to shut the movie off halfway through, but he redeems himself slightly towards the end, to the point where I can almost tolerate him; And, I don’t know who’s idea it was to cast Tommy Lister as the president, but he looks and sounds like a gangster straight from south central.

I’ve always been annoyed by the flying cars in this movie. It’s the 24th century, there are flying cars, so why do they look like 1940’s Ford coupes? The logic eludes me. I don’t know, I guess I categorize this movie like I would Beastmaster–if it’s on TV on a Saturday afternoon, I might tune in, but I won’t be buying the director’s cut Blu-Ray.

Twelve Monkeys

Continuing on a Bruce Willis kick this week, and with the end of the world nearing, I was in the mood for a post-apocalyptic movie, and Twelve Monkeys happened to be on the HBO.  Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis do their best to try for an Oscar by acting wild and crazy in the loony bin. Pitt is an absolute nut job while Willis just drools a lot. I’ve never been a big fan of insane asylum movies, so these scenes tend to drag for me.

Once Willis escapes from the asylum and kidnaps Madeline Stowe’s character, this is where this movie gets good for me. When he tries to deal with his time-traveling insanity, the sci-fi aspect of the movie really starts to gel and gets interesting.

I’m not sure where it is written that sci-fi movies need wacky characters with big glasses and harsh lighting, who speak with German accents, but it seems pretty common, and I wish they would stop.

This movie got me thinking about Madeline Stowe. remember her? Remember Unlawful Entry? She was all over the place in the 80’s and 90’s, but I can’t remember the last time I saw her in a movie. I miss her.

Predators

Okay, I waited a long time to see this one, primarily because I love the original so much. I didn’t think this one had a chance of being any good, but I was wrong, it’s a great popcorn movie. The action was intense, and Adrienne Brody wasn’t near as awful as I thought he was going to be. I’m all for Hollywood endings, and would have liked to see the last two standing make it off the planet, but you have to leave room for the sequels, I guess.

I thought the casting of this movie was great, with Laurence Fishburne, Topher Grace, Danny Trejo, and Walter Goggins. Each of their characters was well-suited for them, and the mixture of personalities was a welcome surprise.

This was an all-around mindlessly fun action movie. ‘Nuff said.

How to Train Your Dragon

I have two sons that are just getting to the age where dragon movies are fun and not nightmare-inducing. This movie has been on a continuous loop for a week or so, and I’m okay with that. This is a fun, fun movie filled with everything little boys (and their dad) could want in a dragon movie. The animation is superb and the action scenes are exciting and make you cheer out loud. How to Train Your Dragon should be in every boy’s DVD library. I love this movie.

Game of Thrones

This series is really picking up steam now. HBOGO offered next week’s episode for viewing online so I watched two episodes back to back and now have to wait two weeks to see what happens with poor Ned. If you haven’t seen episode 7 yet, be warned that you might not want to watch it with your mom in the room, if you know what I mean. HBO goes all Cinemax in this one.

Boardwalk Empire

While I’m shilling for HBOGO.com I thought I’d mention that I watched the first episode of Boardwalk Empire and was pretty impressed. I’m a sucker for a good historical drama, and if it’s helmed by Martin Scorcese, I’m in. Only one episode in, and I already have a vested interest in several of the characters and want to see how they fare. Steve Buscemi is well-cast as a gangster with a heart, but you know he’s gonna go ape shit at some point, and I can’t wait.

The Hunger Games

Okay, so I finished the first book in this trilogy and am scratching my head as to why this series has received the praise and hype it has. It’s entertaining, but nowhere near the ballpark of good literature with a message. I was expecting to have my mind blown but this just is not happening. Hey kids, if you want to have your socks rocked, go check out Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials Trilogy… and get off my lawn!

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Okay, so there’s my random update on what mine eyes have seen lately. Have you been watching anything good lately? Want to bash me over the head with a blunt instrument for the opinions I expressed above? Please don’t, but feel free to comment loudly below.