Random Movie Day

Random Stack of DVDs

Throughout my life I have partaken… partook… partaked… indulged in movie marathons. Sometimes there is a theme to them but mostly they are just a random grouping of movies that I have wanted to see or whatever looked good on the video store shelf. I have been long overdue for one of these days.

Over the last half of the last year, if you haven’t noticed, I have been slacking on the updates. My real life has gotten in the way of my passion. The good thing about this is what now my real life has allowed me to get. Because I have been working so much I have accumulated bonus monies, so I got to treat myself to a few new toys. Because I have no actual life to speak of (i.e. going out, having a social life etc…) I decided to update my home theater system. I bought a whole new 7.1 THX certified surround system, Blu-Ray player and the piece de resistance a new 60” flat panel TV.

I. Love. It!

A good friend, who installs such things for a living, came over to hook everything up and make it work. After a couple days of playing with all the settings on the receiver and TV I have everything set for optimum awesomeness. Now having extra time on my hands I figured I was primed to have a random movie day.  Here is what I watched:

 

Groundhog Day

First up is one of my favorite comedies of all time. This is a tradition I have been doing for many, many years now where I watch the Bill Murray classic on its namesake day.  It never fails to make me laugh. I find myself quoting this movie almost daily. Granted I rarely have original thoughts and speak almost exclusively in movie/TV quotes or song lyrics.

 

 

 

Iron Man

This happened to be on after I watched Groundhog Day. Iron Man is one of a long list of movies for me, that if it is on, I will get sucked in and watch it. RDJ is brilliant as Tony Stark. Looking back at the source material, he really is nearly the only person who could pull off that character. Jon Favreau proved that you can take a comic and turn it into a film if you understand, love and enjoy the genre. Also make a crap ton of money on top of it. Funny how that works; you make a good movie, people will go to it and you will make money. Something to think about 😉

 

 

 

This Means War

Many friends had told me that I needed to see this movie. I had wanted to see it when I first heard about it. But the issue of too much stuff and not enough time reared its ugly head. After having now seen it, my friends were right. It is funny. It has good action beats, quick, smart banter and a decent soundtrack. McG did a good job tying everything together. I am not the biggest Reese Witherspoon fan. She should have never won the Oscar for playing June Carter in ‘Walk the Line’. She was good, but it was such a weak category that year.  Besides if Joaquin Phoenix didn’t win and he should have, she shouldn’t have. I digress… *puts away his soapbox* In this Reese plays off Tom Hardy and Chris Pine very well. Not to mention the chemistry between Chris and Tom. Hard to believe, after seeing this movie, Tom Hardy is the same guy who plays Bane in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’.  I would say watch it. And this scene is just adorable.

 

 

 

New Year’s Eve

Yet another attempt to make an American version of ‘Love Actually’… although it wasn’t bad but ‘Valentine’s Day’ was a better attempt. It had a couple strikes against it before it even started; I am not a fan of Sarah Jessica Parker and I really dislike Katherine Heigl. KH just doesn’t seem to have any chemistry with anyone she performs with on screen. This was no different. Loved the Josh Duhamel and also the storyline with Seth Myers and Jessica Biel was entertaining.

 

 

 

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

This book series has been everywhere the last couple years. I still have not attempted to read the Stieg Larsson books; I will someday. As far as the movie goes… it wasn’t bad. Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara and Stellan Skarsgård all played well together. There were good action beats and for the majority of the film it kept flowing. Only a couple hits for me. The ending was a bit drawn out. It was now LOtR: RotK but it did drag a bit. The other hit was the movies predictability. I saw everything coming. Overall it was pretty good. A bonus find from the movie is the cover done by Karen O featuring Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of the Led Zeppelin classic “Immigrant Song”. It is one of the better LZ covers I have heard.

Here is the title sequence that features the tune:

 

 

 

The Five-Year Engagement

I needed a palate cleanser after the last film so I went with this. I like Jason Segel. He has an innocence and sincerity that he puts into his characters. It is why his Muppet Movie was good. I have enjoyed everything of his I have seen. This one wasn’t bad. It had its good comedy moments, but like the previous movie I watched it was a tad predictable. If you are someone who can turn off that ability in your brain, you will love this. For that I recommend checking this romedy out.