New-to-me movies watched in May 2015

1. Secretary (2002)
2. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
3. Maggie (2015)
4. Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)
5. Lord of War (2005)
6. The Gruffalo (2009)
7. The Gruffalo’s Child (2011)

REVIEWS:

1. Secretary (2002)

So weird.

And awkward. Everyone in this movie is awkward.

And yet somehow it all comes together in the end. It works, much to my surprise.

James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal are fantastic. Their chemistry and ability to subtlety show complex inner emotions make this movie work. This movie would probably have fallen apart without them.

One a side note, I can’t help but compare this to 50 Shades of Grey, especially in part because of the similarities:
– Both movies feature a main love interest who is named Mr. Grey, wears suits, acts distant, is a perfectionist, and is into BDSM.
– Both movie feature a heroine who starts out very meek and childlike.

And in part because of the vital differences. Namely, Lee in Secretary becomes empowered by her relationship with Mr. Grey and essentially demands the BDSM, because she wants it. She has control and power in that way, getting exactly what she wants. While in 50 Shades, Mr. Grey demands entire control over her entire life and Anastasia is pressured into behaving and punished for not following the rules. Where the power is more equal between the two characters in Secretary, as opposed to shift of power in Grey’s favor in 50 Shades.

Anyway, Secretary is great, complicated, weird, and so interesting.

2. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

My little geek girl heart was mostly pleased. The movie had a lot going on with a multitude of new characters in addition to a multitude of old ones, which made things a bit messy. But this in no way took away from the fun for me and it was good to see the characters I love back again.

I have mixed feeling’s about how Black Widow is portrayed in Age of Ultron. One the one hand I agree with some that it’s nice to see some humanity brought to her character and on the other I agree with others who feel it could have been handled better

At any rate, though it wasn’t my favorite Marvel movie, but I had a good time.

3. Maggie (2015)

*watches trailer* Zombies? Apocalypse? Arnold? Looks cool.

Arnold brings his bitten and dying daughter home. Arnold has feelings and stares off into the horizon.

Soft light and deep meaningful music, while nothing happens.

Daughter goes off to a party with friends, where nothing happens.

Maybe if I have a shot of whiskey this will get better.

More staring meaningful into the horizon with a setting sun. Nothing happens.

Cinematically, nothing happens.

Oh, god, please at least take a bite or rip off her ear. Somebody DO something.

Final dramatic conclusion approaches and… nothing happens.

The end.

4. Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)

The sequel tried a bit too hard to be funny without as solid of a storyline. While the first movie seemed to upsete stereotypes, some of the humor in the sequel strayed into levels of casual racism that sort of disturbed me (something that often happens in world tournament storylines, where a culture has to be represented in under a minute).

Nevertheless, the movie was mostly cute and quite funny and the songs were excellent and fun, so it’s no surprise to me that this was a box office success.

5. Lord of War (2005)

Nicholas Cage plays a gun runner who has no qualms about how his guns are used in murders around the world. I felt like the movie was trying to say something interesting without quite getting there. And, though there were some intense moments, I was somewhat bored.

6. The Gruffalo (2009)

Based on a children’s picture book, this short animated movie follows the story of a mouse seeking nuts in the woods. The story is magical and unsettling, revealing the dangers to smaller creatures of getting eaten by larger ones. The animation is beautiful, as though the illustrations of the picture book were directly brought to life.

7. The Gruffalo’s Child (2011)

An adorable sequel to The Gruffalo. Didn’t have the same magic as the first, but still excellent.