^^ LOVE "Wig in a Box!" What a great movie!
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The Campaign (2012)
Meh. It definitely had its moments. I think the fiance enjoyed it more than I did.
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Butter (2011)
This was really cute. Surprisingly had some pretty risque parts. Olivia Wilde was delightful as always (heh), Jennifer Garner was hilarious, and Rob Corddry was surprisingly charming. Love Ty Burrell too - Great cast, come to think of it. Good little movie.
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The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Overall, I thought that this was a good movie. I hate to compare it to The Dark Knight, but it's hard not to - The Joker was such a charismatic and interesting villain (thanks to Heath Leger) and I actually did like Two Face... But Bane had a hard time living up to that... The fact of the matter is, while I was somewhat interested in his Origin story, he just didn't grip me as much as, say, The Joker did.
My distilled thoughts (folks have brought up some good points that I'll echo here) -
***HERE BE SPOILERS:***
The Good:
- Catwoman. Sorry, I have to absolutely disagree with the person who found her a waste of screen time. I thought that Anne Hathaway was mesmerizing, Cat Woman was fascinating, and I really liked the contrast of her Robin Hood vs. Bane's destructive anarchy. Though I have to agree, I don't think that there were many sparks between her and Bruce Wane, but I think that part of that could be the writing - While, yes, Bruce Wayne was clearly more human in this movie, I thought that Bale struggled with being pathetic but also being sexual - I found the sex scene to be sort of random and forced, as well as the Cat Woman kisses... I found Hathaway's feelings for Wayne more believable than his for her.
- Miranda (pre-"twist"). I thought that, of the three Batman movies, this one had the most believable, well-written, smart, and well-acted women. I thought that the previous femmes were weak and two-dimensional, and I'm tired of it. This movie had two incredibly strong female characters who were intelligent, believable, and likable. I really appreciated that.
- The "Human" Bruce. It was good to see a very human side to Batman, the side that is weak and has to rebuild himself. I thought that Bale was great (as usual) as Wayne (though his Batman voice still drives me insane).
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I just love him. I liked the character of Blake as well, though his character will also appear on my "Bad" list too. While Batman made a comment about him wanting to be an "everyman" hero, that's sort of hard to believe when he's essentially one of the "evil" billionares in the film. Part of his heroism is his wealth, so that, to me, makes it hard to believe that "anyone can be a hero." However, Blake, to me, was the try everyman hero, more so than Batman. No gadgets. No crazy costume. Just a man.
The stuff that irked me:
- The first 10 minutes of the film. I thought that opening with a massive airdrop that includes drawing blood from someone mid-air to be... A bit out of context. the film takes itself very very seriously and this scene was just really really out of place.
- Blake's knowledge of Batman. Someone else brought this up too - Why does Blake know so much about Batman? How is it that he figured out the Batman/Bruce Wayne connection and Gordon never did? I actually didn't take objection to the end of the movie, but what brought Blake there? I just found it sort of odd.
- The Miranda/Blake "Twist." I thought this was sort of silly and unnecessary. Not awful, but not really worth waiting three hours for. I get tired of the Good Guy Turned Bad trope, too, especially when it's tacked on like this.
- Bane's Speeches. I thought that Bane's incredibly well-spoken speeches were interesting but out of context and a contrast against this muscle. Of course, taking into account the "Twist" I suppose it can be justified, but I found it odd. I'm really conflicted as to how I feel about Bane. Definitely a bad ass, sure, but I appreciate the intellectual and charismatic villain over the Muscle. My $0.02.
- The Batman Voice. Ugh. Still irks me. Just. Awful.
- Run time. Good GOD was this movie long - Three hours is just TOO LONG for a superhero movie.
***/END SPOILERS***
All in all, I would say that it was a good movie. Doesn't make my Best Movie of the Year List, but it was enjoyable and I think a good end to the saga. Not amazing, but good. Also, I'm glad I didn't see it in the theater; would have been hard to sit through.
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The Baytown Outlaws (2012)
I thought this was just OK. There have been so many over-the-top quirky action movies out there and this one didn't really stand out. I liked our three anti-heroes, sure, and I actually liked how they bonded with their "mark," but it wasn't enough to make this one stand out. Not bad, just not amazing.
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Looper (2012)
Wow. One of the best modern scifi flicks that I've seen in a while and most certainly one of the best movies of the year. Really tight writing and acting, and a very solid, quality scifi story. Absolutely loved it. Highly recommended.