Friday, January 25, 2013

Mini Movie Reviews: The Lucky One, MIB III, Bourne Legacy

Here's a few movies I've recently watched at home on DVD that I thought I'd report on quickly.


The Lucky One
Starring: Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling
Genre: Romance

I guess I take these Nicholas Sparks movies with a grain of salt, and go into them knowing they'll be sappy and romantic. So, when I'm in the mood for such a thing, I'll watch! And then of course, I'll usually find them to be just perfect, for what they are. And besides, I'm good to watch Zac Efron in most anything these days. There I said it.

The story is pretty simple. A soldier in Afghanistan I think, finds a picture of a girl in the rubble after a fight. When he returns home, after barely surviving other close calls, he wants to find this girl to thank her because he believes the picture was his good luck charm and saved his life. So, of course, he manages to track her down, and then ends up working for her at a pet boarding place and doesn't tell her about the picture  He sees what's going on in her life, becomes involved and falls in love. But things are complicated. As they always are!

So I must have been in the mood because, in the end, I enjoyed it. The plot was simple, the love story was good, the ending a bit convenient. But overall, I enjoyed it.

MIB III
Starring: Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones
Genre: Science Fiction

I enjoyed the first movie a lot. The second one was just okay. So with this third one, I wasn't expecting much and haven't really cared about seeing it. But we got it for Christmas and I was pleasantly surprised with it! The story is actually quite thought provoking and touching.

We go back in time with this one because the Will Smith character has received some info that let's him know that his partner's life is in danger, so he must save him. He then learns a lot about this younger version of his friend that explains a lot of things. He also learns a secret that he never even imagined would be part of the deal. It changes his whole outlook on life.

In the end, I really enjoyed this one!

The Bourne Legacy
Starring: Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weisz
Genre: Action Adventure

Well, so I didn't know what to think about a Bourne movie without Matt Damon. So I didn't rush to see this at the theater. Very skeptical. However, wow, this other dude that I'm not familiar with at all, was great! I appreciated that they gave him is own character and didn't try to have a new guy play Jason Bourne. But, the action scenes were breath taking and there was even lots of Parkour that I'm now so "familiar" with! All that rooftop jumping? Awesome.

In this movie, we learn that there were more enhanced people like Jason Bourne. But now they've decided all of these guys need to be destroyed. One guy manages to elude them and comes to a particular doctor to get help. I enjoyed seeing a bit of the back story of how these super assassins were created in the first place. Interesting stuff.

Bottom line: I actually quite loved this one!


Movies I'm hoping to watch at home on DVD in the near future:

Premium Rush
Pitch Perfect
The Words
Skyfall (as soon as it comes out)

What have you been watching lately? And, what would you recommend?

20 comments:

  1. The Lucky One was just a "meh" for me. The main actress irritated me with her overblown scenes. Superior Blythe Danner had a really boring role.
    I liked The Bourne Legacy after I started to figure out what was going on.

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    1. Megan: It took me awhile to understand what was going on in Bourne too, but all those movies are like that for me. I feel so stupid sometimes!

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  2. I really, really want to see MIB and Bourne! I tend to gravitate to those with more action, so The Lucky One is not high on my list. My hubby and I saw Skyfall around Christmas and loved it! It was one of the ones with Daniel Craig that I actually enjoyed! (I'm not too keen on him as Bond!)

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    1. Tif: I really love the action movies too, and I'm with you on the Daniel Craig thing. He's not my favorite...so since you liked that movie, maybe I will too. :)

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    2. Judi Dench may have been a huge reason why I liked it though! She was brilliant IMO!

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  3. I'm not really interested in any of these movies. I try to stay away from anything Nicholas Sparks. The Bourne one looks ok though.

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    1. Kami: you should try the Bourne one and see what you think. What movie have you seen lately that you LOVED?

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  4. I am a fan of Weisz and Renner was the perfect choice for carrying the weight of Bourne expectations. I thought the pacing and sound was off, but they had some great action sequences.

    we've been thinking about MIB since we saw the other two, why not. and the effects usually get better and better, but now you have me actually looking forward to catching this one.

    ~L

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    1. L:I hope you like it! (MIB) And yes, I think I may become a Renner fan if I see more of his movies. Hey, wasn't he in Avengers? I just realized that! Yes... I'm a fan! :)

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  5. I really liked the new Bourne flick. Renner..hubba hubba ;) MIB3 was way better than I expected. Josh Brolin was amazing as a young K :)

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    1. Jennifer: Hubba hubba! And Josh Brolin was so good I thought it was TLJ made up to look YOUNGER. How'd they do that??? :)

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  6. I didn't mind The Lucky One. It's not a movie that I need to see more than once, but yes, the ending was very convenient.

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    1. Marg: I think those movies are fun, like I say, when you are in the mood for some sap.

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  7. I hadn't intended to see MiB III in the theater because of how awful the second one was but a friend invited my wife and I and we were pleasantly surprised. It has a good emotional through line that makes it a worthwhile film in its own right and a good close to the trilogy.

    I enjoyed Bourne Legacy too. I didn't think it was quite up to par with the Damon films, but then I'm a HUGE fan of that trilogy (consider it one of the best movie trilogies ever made) and so nothing was going to live up to those, but this is one I was not disappointed by in any way. I'd love to see them do a trilogy with this character that brings him and Bourne back together. My only complaint about this movie is that I was pretty annoyed with what they did with the Pamela Landy (not sure if that is how her name is spelled) character.

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    1. Carl: So... remind me... which character is that? I'm too lazy to go look her up! :)

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  8. We liked MIB3 a lot more than the 2nd one, too. Still didn't top the first one (I still laugh every time I watch that scene where they are driving upside down) but I liked how the past tied back into the first one.

    Haven't seen the new Bourne movie yet, but I haven't seen anything with Jeremy Renner that I didn't like. He even helped me get through the last Mission Impossible movie (well, and Simon Pegg, too). Will have to pick this one up.

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    1. Lisa: I have yet to see the last Mission Impossible, and I'm curious. It's worth a Redbox rental, right?

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  9. Oh I'm a huge Jeremy Renner fan and he kicked butt as Aaron Cross. Those blue eyes! The intensity! I loved that it was going on concurrently with the last Bourne movie -- it tied them together quite well but I didn't think it was as good as the Damon movies. The stunts (especially at the end) seemed too over the top.

    And MIBIII was surprisingly good and touching ,wasnt it?

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    1. Jenners: Aren't the stunts always over the top? That's a Bourne movie!

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  10. SPOILER!!!

    She is the blonde FBI character who Bourne helps take the whole thing down by the end of the third Bourne film. I was really peeved that they then cheapened all that in this one by starting out the film showing that they turned the tables on her instead. The only thing that would salvage that for me is if in the next couple of films they bring Jason back in with this character to clear Landy's name.

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