What movies have you seen recently?

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Finally saw Frozen, and it was awesome! ^^

Saw Avatar again for the first time in 4 years or so. Gotta say that, once I got past my initial infatuation with the movie's visuals, this film has not aged well for me. I just kept being distracted by everything that was trite about it, and in part this is due to other folks (mostly online) pointing out its flaws and clichés for my thick skull.

So in other words: blah.

Greystoke the Legend of Tarzan King of the Apes.
I really enjoyed it. I can now scratch it of my list of films I want to see.

Disgrace

A gritty kitchen-sink drama set in recently-post-apartheid South Africa. Apathetic twice-divorcee professor David Lurie unashamedly begins an affair with a student in order to inject some excitement into what he deems is now a half-life.

Shortly after being sacked, David relocates to live with his daughter in the rural Eastern Cape. From there begins a very difficult journey of personal redemption, and David coming to terms with a fast-changing country (though politics aren't the main focal point of the story, more of a social domino effect).

Brutally honest and unafraid of examining people for what they are in all lights (no real heroes or villain type-casting), I found Disgrace a difficult but very human engaging story. Great stuff. But not for the faint of heart - violence and socially-sensitive taboos make a major part of this.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part One)

The tail-end of the infamous Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, in which the titular character begins his journey to defeat the Dark Wizard Voldemort.

Unusual for me in the respect that I don't tend to watch that many popular mainstream movies but it was on TV and I was bored. Though I dislike how David Yates interpreted aspects of J.K Rowling's text starting from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and certain sacrifices had to be made for timing/continuity (not all of which are Yates' fault), I appreciate how well crafted and presented Deathly Hallows Pt 1 was. Though my attention waned in places (mostly whenever heavy CGI was implemented or whenever the Death Eaters appeared. I really don't like Helena Boham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange - I've seen her perform much better in other projects), I was very very impressed with Daniel Radcliffe's, Emma Watson's and Rupert Grint's acting, especially as they had to carry the movie mostly on their own -- it's a world away from their awkward early days starting out as eleven-year-olds, and I think all of them performed admirably. And Alexandre Desplat's more reserved soundtrack (used sparingly so the film scenes speak for themselves by actions alone) complimented the atmosphere much better than previous composers'.

Not a movie I could recommend anyone unfamiliar with Harry Potter though; a lot of Easter Eggs for fans would leave casual viewers somewhat cold. But then again, this is the tail-end of a decade-long franchise so it can be forgiven.

At any rate, I enjoyed it and I hope the second part continues the standard.

Chicago

Two murderesses fight for fame to avoid hanging in this musical taking place in 1920's Chicago.

Fast and Furious 6

Sixth movie in The Fast and the Furious franchise. Hobbs has Dom reassemble their team to take down a former British Special Forces soldier in exchanged for full pardons for them all.

12 years a slave.

Pokemon Origins

Technically it was a mini-series, but I figured I might as well count it as a movie because it had a total running time of 1 hr 30 min, which is the typical length of time for a movie anyway.

Now onto the actual review:

It's basically a love letter to those of us who grew up with the original Pokemon Red & Blue games. The story follows the games almost to a T, except for the final battle in which they threw in an element from Pokemon X & Y.

I thought it was incredible. The animation, voice-acting and characterization are all of a much, much higher caliber than the TV series. Its tone and characters are overall more mature than the TV series too.

All in all, if you grew up with Pokemon Red & Blue and want a high-quality, more mature Pokemon tale, then I highly recommend watching Pokemon Origins.

Anchorman 2!

I freaking loved it.

Hanna.
Such an underrated movie.

Saving Mr. Banks

I just got back from seeing this brilliant, yet sad movie, which tells the story of how Walt Disney convinced PL Travers, the writer of Mary Poppins, to allow him to produce the film adaptation of Mary Poppins.

The sad part of Saving Mr. Banks comes from flashbacks that depict PL Travers' childhood in Australia and how she coped with her alcoholic, yet loving father.

Emma Thompson gave a great performance as PL Travers and through her performance, made PL Travers one of the most likeable pricks in a long while and is definitely a lock for a Best Actress nomination. Tom Hanks was amazing as Walt Disney and could easily score a Best Supporting Actor nomination.