THE TAKE AWAY

2013 Movie Recap

See Part 1 here.

The Heat
Do not see The Heat. I don't care if you think Sandra Bullock hung the moon. It is the crassest, most vulgar movie I've seen in a long time. The fact that I laughed through the whole thing does not matter. It's a terrible (terribly funny) movie that you should not watch.

Lone Ranger
For pity's sake, why is the Lone Ranger getting such poor reviews? Because Johnny Depp's Tonto isn't quite as manic as Captain Jack? I just don't know. I loved it. It's a solid tribute to the TV show with added surreal twists, which just made it awesome.

No matter that I'm now afraid of the bunnies that hop past my office window…

Red 2
Marvin: If there's one thing I know, it's women and covert operations.
Frank: Marvin, that's two things.
Han Cho Bai: No, grasshopper. It is not.

I was worried that Red 2 would turn out like Ocean's Twelve (not because of Catherine Zeta Jones). But it was a solid movie. Half action, half mystery, half relationship counseling. Byung-hun Lee's Korean assassin was a good addition, and Anthony Hopkins, as always, was perfect.

I think John Eldredge will not be too long in adopting this movie into his curriculum. Women like to be delighted in, but they also want to be part of the adventure--something that Marvin recognizes while Frank doesn't. At the same time, men love to live adventure with their woman. Sometimes the most romantic gesture in the world is to buy your girl a gun.

The Wolverine
I'm almost as big a fan of Wolverine as I am of Iron Man. This was a good flick, but I can't say too much about it without giving away the plot. One thing we couldn't figure was how could Logan remember Yashida if in between the present day and World War II he was shot in the head by Stryker? But Dev figured it was possible he was just going along with things; he didn't show any serious remembrance until he got to the place where he'd met Yashida, and it's likely he was just starting to remember then.

The romance was…interesting. There was a nice resolution to the Jean Grey thread, but I don't quite get the rest. He fell for both Jean and Kayla when all he knew was they were pretty—before he found out they were also powerful. But Mariko was soooo young-looking (the actress is 28) and spoiled, I couldn't understand why he fell for her so hard and fast. Or why he even had to go there. It would have worked just as well if she were Rogue's replacement instead of Jean's. But my confusion with that part may be the fault of the editing more than the story itself.

Between now and the end of the year, I'm looking forward to The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, possibly Elysium, Gravity, and Thor. But they're all minor diversions before the final three finally get here: Ender's Game, Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

Yes, a very good year for movies. Which was your favorite?

Image Credit: derrickcollins; "Film Real (57/365)"; Creative Commons

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Published 8-13-13