Stan's Movie Dump: May 2015

I continue to log more streamable movies than books, video games, or anything else. What gives? Anyway, here's May's haul.

Interstellar
Impressive and imaginative, but I have to co-sign with all the reviewers who didn't love the ending. If you dig Nolan, you'll like Interstellar.

Godzilla (2014)

This one got panned pretty heavily, right? I kind of liked it. I couldn't really get into the human element of the story but I thought it was a beautiful movie that properly depicted the scope and scale of Godzilla and the wake of destruction that enormous monsters would leave behind just by walking through cities.

Obvious Child

This was a simple and straightforward movie about an abortion. More specifically, it was about a young woman who gets pregnant, chooses to have an abortion, and then does in fact have an abortion. I thought the subject matter was treated respectfully and realistically; it wasn't played up for shock value, nor was there any melodrama over the morality of the decision. I've always liked Jenny Slate, though; your mileage may vary.

Virunga

Netflix billed this one as Blackfish for Gorillas in the DRC, and it absolutely wasn't that. Which is kind of too bad, since it was an impressive and horrifying documentary in its own right, but I mean, I came in expecting to see gorillas, and what I got was more of a horrifying blend of war and poachers and corruption and genocide and gorillas. Which is obviously a more meaningful documentary, but, you know - not the one I thought I was going to see.

Pitch Perfect 2

A real treat. Fun, silly, enjoyable. There was nothing of any substance here - just a talented cast dancing and singing and making hilarious jokes. Watch the first one, and watch this one too.

The Imitation Game

I think the fact that Alan Turing was gay was meant to be a big twist here, which is really too bad. For one thing, the slow-burn reveal only prevents an audience from connecting with the film's protagonist; whose point of view was this story told from if its main character's sexual orientation was kept secret? And for another - and pardon me while I put on my social justice warrior hat for a moment - it strikes me as so much more impressive and inspirational to hear a story about how a closeted gay man ended up helping the allies win World War II than to hear a story about how a World War II hero turned out to be a closeted gay man. All of that said, I enjoyed this movie way more than I thought I would, and it ended well before I was ready for Turing's story to wrap up. (And I mean that in a good way, as too many biopics nowadays just linger on and on and on.)

Pacific Rim

I'm still not sure what the hell to make of this one. On the one hand, I love that such a unique twist on the old monster movie concept was greenlit and created - particularly in such a franchise-focused era for major studios. On the other hand, I couldn't tell you five things that happened in the movie, and I only just saw it a week or two ago. So I guess maybe it's fair to say that I loved the idea on paper but was completely unimpressed by the final product? Look, I've got nothing here. Let's just move on.

Adventureland

Nothing to see here, really. A coming of age tale of sorts, set in the '80s. Sounds a little too familiar, right? Like, played out and boring, almost?

Bernie

Here's another one that ended way sooner than I was ready for it to end. Jack Black was really impressive here, but so was Matthew McConaughey, well before his vaunted McConaissance. I would not have guessed that Richard Linklater directed this, though. All in all, pretty good.

And so ends another installment of Stan's Movie Dump. Thanks again for checking in. See you in June, I'd guess!