Burden of Dreams (1982)

          Essential plot rundown:  A documentary crew follows Werner Herzog as he films Fitzcarraldo.  I wasn't planning on watching this movie next since I haven't even seen Fitzcarraldo.  Actually, I'm not even sure how this got to the top of my queue.  But, Netflix was down, so I couldn't change it.

          This documentary can be described using two words:  interesting and boring.  It's always interesting to see what happens behind the scenes of making a movie, especially one as ambitious as Fitzcarraldo.  It makes you truly appreciate movies knowing what went into making them.  However, it also makes you wonder if a movie is worth all of the sacrifice made.  Herzog can be seen as a passionate person, following his dreams; or he can be seen as borderline crazy, doing pretty much anything to get his movie done.  I think he summed himself up pretty good when he said:  "Without dreams we would be cows in a field, and I don't want to live like that. I live my life or I end my life with this project."

          But, then again, it can be really boring.  After only 20 minutes, I found myself looking at the time.  But, the boringness is a good thing, because the documentary really captures what it was like during production.  They faced delay after delay.  There was a lot of downtime as the cast and crew waited for one thing or another.  And Burden of Dreams makes you wait with them.  So, it is a good thing as it evokes what it was like working on the film; but it is a bad thing if you have a short attention span.  However, at the end of the film, it says that there is a shorter version available somewhere.

          Overall, it is something you should watch if you're interested in how films are made.  Though, I'll probably only watch it once.  And, obviously, it contains spoilers as to how the movie ends.  Now, after seeing all the hard work and sacrifice, I'm excited to see how it translated to the finished product.

     But that's just my opinion...

The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)

          Essential plot rundown:  A couple must struggle with the consequences of one of them being a time traveler.  (Spoiler: it's not the wife).  I remember thinking this looked interesting when it first came out.  But I saw District 9 instead.  And then I heard it was a chick flick, so I never got around seeing it til now.

          To put it bluntly, the concept/idea is a lot better than the film itself is.  It takes the normal struggles of marriage and compounds it with the fact that Bruce Banner randomly disappears for unknown amounts of time.  Which, in and of itself, is a really interesting idea.  But, that doesn't really translate on the big screen.  This movie is based on a book so that might hurt it.  It is a lot easier to portray certain things in 800 pages of a novel than it is 160 pages of script.

          There were a couple of times where there were montages of their relationship getting worse.  And that hurt the film I thought.  You just can't just montage over this part!  This is the point of the movie!  So, it was a little hard to connect with the main characters.  My thought throughout the whole movie was I can see how that would be stressful or hard.  But, it should have been Wow, that sucks.  I feel so bad for you.  I could see that they were struggling, but I never struggled with them.  And that was the main problem of the film: they never took me on their journey with them.

          So, overall it is a decent flick, worth checking out.  It has a strong premise, but the execution was as good as it should have been.  Though, now I am interested in reading the book.

     But that's just my opinion...

Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus (2009)

          Essential plot rundown:  Contrary to what the title says, the movie is actually about a group of scientists trying to find a way to stop the two gargantuan creatures.  My friend recently purchased a dvd of low budget creature features.  And since he is terrified of sharks, I made him watch this once.

          First of all, this movie is horrible.  The plot is ridiculous, the acting is about as good as mine.  They also have this weird flashy editing thing going on, too.  The SFX look like they came from the mid 90s.  In fact, they only have like 3 animations of the shark, 2 of the squid and 3 of them together; and they use them over and over again.  Remember that scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail where that guy is charging the castle and he never gets any closer because they keep reusing the same shot?  Yea, that happens here.

Oh, and they use this shot like 16 times too.

          And second, it's a lot of fun to watch.  It was made by The Asylum, the company that brought you other classics such as 2-Headed Shark Attack and Snakes on a Train.  They seem to specialize movies that are so bad that they are fun to watch.  MS vs GO is the type of movie that you sit around and make fun of.  I often wonder who of the cast/crew knows that they are making a stupid movie and who thinks they are working on something serious.

     This CLIP captures the essence of the movie:  incredibly stupid but highly entertaining.

At one point the octopus grabs a submarine and gives it an Indian burn.  A helicopter randomly crashes into an iceberg.  A captain awesomely yells "Increase speed now!".  And, it turns out that the Asian scientist has huge triceps.

          So, I would recommend this movie to the people that enjoy crap.

     But that's just my opinion...

Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

        Essential plot rundown:  A man, down on his luck, finds a promising plant that ends up being too much to handle.  This movie was based on a musical, which in turn, was based on a 1960s movie.  I've always heard the name a lot, but never really knew much about it.  So, I decided to check it out.  And I'm sure glad I did.

          This was a really fun movie.  I loved everything about it.  The actors all did a good job.  The songs were catchy.  I don't have much to say other than it is definitely worth watching.  There are also some famous comedians in small roles/cameos that I wasn't expecting; so it was fun seeing them.  The best part, though, was when Steve Martin's character was introduced and his song.

          I was extremely impressed by the plant (Audrey II).  It was amazing to see it singing and have its lips match up with the song.  I was expecting it to be off; but it looked good most of the time.  But, the plant also made me a little sad.  As I was watching, I couldn't help but think that if this movie was made today, Audrey II would be CG, and wouldn't look nearly as awesome.

          So, overall, Little Shop of Horrors is one musical that is a lot of fun to watch.  A highly entertaining movie.

     But that's just my opinion...

The Bourne Legacy (2012)

          Essential plot rundown:  Bourne's replacement must look for drugs while people in an office look for him.  I wasn't a fan of the other Bourne movies (the 1st was the only decent one) so I wasn't too excited to go see Bourne Legacy.  (I would have rather saw The Dark Knight Rises again, but my dad wanted to see this).  But I was also curious as to how they would continue the story without Matt Damon, so we went.

          I did not like this movie.  I thought the beginning was super confusing.  (Though, that may have been my fault for I haven't seen the other movies in a while).  They start off talking about Bourne and Treadstone and YouTube, and because of this, they start killing off all of their agents.  The whole time I was trying to make the connection between this and the other movies.  I was lost for the first act of the movie.  But, then I just accepted the fact that they wanted everyone dead.  But I still don't know why.

          I also thought the ending was boring.  The last part of the movie is like a 30 minute chase scene.  I kept wanting to check my clock to see how much longer was left.  And it was anti climatic.  The chase just suddenly ended, and then 3 minutes later, the movie ended.

          And I couldn't see how this was connected to the others.  With the use of drugs, it felt like a different movie.  It seemed that they only used the Bourne title as a way to make more money.  But I thought that it could have been a stand alone movie.  I also wasn't sure when it took place.  Seeing that it's the fourth installment, I assumed that it took place after the other three.  But, I think it happens at the same time as either Supremacy or Ultimatum.  But, I wasn't sure.

          So, I was not pleased with this movie.  But, then again, I didn't really like the other ones either.  I imagine that if someone liked the others and remembered what Treadstone and Blackbriar (I think that's what it is called) are, then they might enjoy this movie.  However, for me, it wasn't my cup of tea.

     But that's just my opinion...