ARTHUR'S MOVIE RATINGS

I don't presume to tell you whether or not you're going to like a movie or not--people have different tastes and like different things. The main purpose with the ratings given for movies here is to give you an idea of whether or not you should see it in the theater, wait for it to hit DVD, or skip it altogether. So if you want to break it down...

*****: AMAZING! Everyone should see this as soon as they possibly can!
****: GREAT! Worth every cent to go see it in the theater.
***: GOOD! May or may not be worth seeing in the theater, but definitely a solid choice for a rental.
**: DECENT. Not a horrible movie, but it's not a bad choice for a rental.
*: BAD. Do not watch this movie. Well, you could, but I wouldn't advise it.

29 May 2011

The Hangover Part II

RATING:**** (4 stars)

Shortly after their adventure in Las Vegas, Phil, Stu, Alan, and Doug jet to Thailand for Stu's wedding. Despite precautions, mayhem ensues when they wake up the next morning and try to piece their night back together.

If you are looking for something wildly different from the first outing with the "Wolfpack", you won't find it here. What we get is actually not that different from a number of TV shows actually--something that is very formulaic but still enjoyable. In fact, you might even be able to match up the timeline between The Hangover and The Hangover Part II and find events happening at a similar time (the blackout, the twist, eureka moment), but it really should not detract from your enjoyment of the film as a whole.

Perhaps what the film does a great job is showing off many of the locations for the film. It also does a great job of *not* re-using much material from the first film. Plan on some serious laughs with the same kind of adult humor you got the first time around, and prepare for another set of memes to creep into pop culture for the rest of the year.

Trailer

17 May 2011

Priest

RATING:*** (3 stars)

A priest disobeys an edict from the church and goes out to hunt down the vampires who kidnapped his niece.

Priest is actually a pretty solid post-apocalyptic science fiction thriller, despite the lack of love from critics across the country. Paul Bettany and Karl Urban are the big players in this one, and both do a respectable job in their roles--Bettany as a man who has seen more and sacrificed more than most, and Urban as a confident, almost snarky villain. You might recognize a face or two among the rest of the cast (like Stephen Moyer of True Blood fame), but generally there are going to be a lot of faces you won't recognize.

Which isn't to say that this film is all blah. On the contrary, the soundtrack is quite good and the storyline is something between a comic book action plot and more conventional science-fiction fair. Despite the lack of anything thoroughly amazing, Priest offers an entertaining 90 minutes of good, old-fashioned popcorn cinema.

Trailer

08 May 2011

Thor

RATING:*** (3 stars)

When the mighty Thor is cast out from Asgard and sent to live among humans on Earth, he turns into one of humanity's most valuable defenders.

Starring Chris Hemsworth in the title role, Thor sets up another of Marvel's heroes with an origin story before giving us The Avengers in 2012. The Norse god of thunder's story is fairly straight-forward, with both timeline and character development alternating between light and extremely quick--which keeps his story as a single film instead of two.

Visually there is nothing not to love about the film. From the costumes to the backdrops to the action scenes themselves, you can tell the crew had fun working on the film and poured some love into the details. If the screenplay was as good that would have been nice too, but the love interest between Thor and Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) just seems too forced, and that is probably the fault of the pacing of the film more than anything else.

Because of the visual elements alone I would suggest catching Thor in theaters (if you don't mind the 3D surcharge), but otherwise there is nothing here that cannot wait until it hits DVD.

Trailer