Catching up on some flicks, and stuff.

Yeah, yeah, I've got tons of excuses for not going to movies lately. But I've managed to see a few, and  here's what I have to say about them.

SOURCE CODE - Pretty terrific. The logic falls apart a bit by the end, but at that point I was so invested in the characters that I didn't care so much about logic. Duncan Jones makes great Outer Limits-esque storylines into compelling and awesome movies. (Loses points for not having as memorable a score as Moon).

HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN - Like a demented Troma flick that never was. Rutger Hauer does a great job portraying the titular hobo, and I mean that in no sarcastic terms whatsoever. He really gives a great performance. Probably best I've seen all year thus far. The movie itself is bloody and nihilistic, and would feel right at home in the early 80s alongside Troma's War. Worth checking out, just try not to let the color timing talk you out of it. (PS- The Plague OWNS!)

THOR - The stuff in Asgard was like watching the greatest 70s prog rock album cover come to life! Chris Hemsworth gives a star making lead performance as Thor (The diner scene alone is proof enough of this) and I look forward to seeing more of him as this character. The rest of the movie was pretty entertaining as well, though the Asgard stuff was certainly more compelling than the Earth-bound stuff. I was happy that it didn't feel like another 2 hour Avengers commercial (Iron Man 2, I'm lookin in your direction...) Plus any movie that has Natalie Portman AND Kat Dennings, yet manages to have an even hotter woman in the form of Jamie Alexander, who kicks Frost Giant ass, is alright by me.

PRIEST - This movie is like the inbred offspring of Underworld, Blade, and those crappy 20 minutes of Judge Dredd that took place in the wasteland. (As opposed to the crappy 80 minutes that took place in the major city). Hero of the blog KARL URBAN manages to be the only person (aside from the production designer, actually) that's having any sort of fun, and as such, any scene that doesn't feature him suffers greatly. This is a movie I wouldn't be surprised to find on How Did This Get Made. Yet, it's not so horrible it's entertaining, although it toes that line...

X-MEN FIRST CLASS - What a fun movie this turned out to be! I've been bitching and moaning about how the marketing for the film has focused way too much on showing almost everything, set piece wise (a claim which I still contend happened) but the result was far better than I was expecting. Terrific performances mostly all around, especially from McAvoy, Lawrence, and Fassbender. Only exception is January Jones, who is downright terrible, but is at least pleasing to look at in her underwear (which is practically the whole time). But they make up for it by casting EVERY awesome character actor to play minor parts, like James Remar, Ray Wise, and MICHAEL IRONSIDE! It felt like an old school Bond flick (Kudos to the composer for appropriate flavored tracks).

SUPER 8 - Unabashedly love this film. I can understand why people might not like it, and I can certainly understand the "Enough with lens flares, JJ" arguments, but quite frankly, I thought this was great. The kids were great, the nostalgic feel was pitch perfect, the kids filmmaking experiences is just as authentic as Son of Rambow's. Perhaps even more so. I may actually go and see this again in theaters. Just a great time. Can't recommend this enough.

On the video front, I recently caught The Mechanic (great Statham action flick, which means it's a pretty entertaining modern day Cannon flick), Due Date (rarely laughed, found it mean spirited and kind of obnoxious, actually) and I don't know if I mentioned this before, but Drive Angry is absolute shit.

Also, I've been mildly obsessed with the show Friday Night Lights, which I found dramatically compelling, but the continuity errors regarding the time of day/days of week, day/night, as well as the shaky cam editing can get a little obnoxious at times. Otherwise, it's great, although season 2 is getting a little crazy, but we'll see.