August Movie Datams!

So…August data. Barely tepid off the presses, I guess. I have already covered what I’ll now refer to as the season of my discomblogulation or “the epoch of slacking off.”  After some careful examination I decided to scapegoat my poor blogging habits on Judas Kiss, the film set ZRose and I worked on at the beginning of last month. In my defense, August wasn’t so bad for posting, but trip prep took over the last week of the month (aka the movie data compiling week), the trip was the week after, and then it took a while to get back into the swing of things…obviously.

Anywho, we didn’t see that many movies in August compared to other months, but the bonus of trip-taking is that we get to engage in our ritual last minute laundry/packing-a-thon. This entails ZRose and me in a mad dash to clean, fold, and cram as much as possible into our luggage whilst watching the best of our DVD collection. “Best” is very subjective here. Don’t go thinking that we had a rich and introspective Criterion collection weekend. I think we went with the best that we wouldn’t mind missing massive chunks of because we were folding clothes or making lists of travel minis to pick up at ye olde Target. As always, you can see exactly what we watched at the end of the post (after the jump). Keep in mind that August’s Pop Culture Club theme was about embracing your inner geek, so we tried to stick to fanboy/genre films as much as possible.

On with the show…

Movies, Genres, and Ratings

With the exception of five movies, I’d say we did a pretty good job sticking to our monthly theme of geekification. For some odd reason, ZRose was super geeked out about Percy Jackson, so it’s arrival on Blu Ray was a celebrated day at our household. I was all about Scott Pilgrim in August–reading the books, listening to the soundtrack, reading interviews, playing on the film’s website, and ultimately seeing the movie…twice. We also got to see RED, yes the Bruce Willis/DC Comics adaptation that is officially coming out on October 15. I love me a good test screening, and this was a pretty fun time (despite the scenes that weren’t quite finsihed–effects-wise). I should disclose my love for John Malcovich’s crazy-crazy ways, though. I’m excited to see it again to see what’s changed if anything, but in my eyes all the performances were well done. I also want to hit up some message boards to see how fans of the original comic feel about the movie. Have any of you read it?

Here are our picks for the best and worst theatrical releases of August, of the few we saw:

Junkie1: Scott Pilgrim & Piranha 3D, respectively.
ZRose25: RED & Piranha 3D.

Sorry, Piranha 3D, I just didn’t need to see about 90% of your visuals, and you weren’t funny enough to justify them or the 3D surcharge. But, Junkie1, it’s a throwback to classic campy creature/horror films! Yeah…I think it’s a throwback to covering up lazy writing with boobs, but to each his own. I’ll be sticking to Lake Placid-speed movies.

Guns don’t kill people…

Oh, The Other Guys. I am a total sucker for Will Ferrell’s humor so I was sold on this from the word go. Well, that my friends and I all like Mark Wahlberg despite his inability to be a good kisser (seriously watch some of his movies when kissing is involved–it’s almost Vin Diesel bad). Plus, Michael Keaton was fantastic in it–I officially need more Keaton in my life. The whisper fight and night of partying sequence were my two favorite scenes. Fun fact: To create the super slow-mo party scene the actors had to hold their positions for up to twenty minutes. So, go appreciate that Will Ferrell had to bite that old dude for at least a quarter of an hour.

I owe this movie so much more than a ho-hum, non-descript review. Not only was it the first in the pair of Eva Mendes movies we watched in August (though I’m not a huge fan of hers), but it also inspired ZRose to give me my favorite film-related gift to date: a wooden pistol affectionately named Pinocchio (because sometimes I wish it was a real gun). That said, it is painted a nice shiny black, so I think ZRose is just trying to get me arrested or shot.

August Movies (in order)

Green Zone
Ghostbusters (I finally saw it!)
Mixed Nuts (Hey, dickheads!)
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
*The Other Guys
Fantastic Four
Hellboy
The League of Extraordinary Gentleman (I always forget how bad this is, but I watch it regardless)
The Princess Bride (Mandy Patinkin is the bestest ever.)
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
*Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Chicken is not vegan.)
*Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Stephen Stills is my boyfriend.)
The Spirit (I never forget how bad this is, but I can’t stop watching it if I catch it on cable. See below.)
District 9 (So. good.)
*RED
The Spirit (I told you–I can’t stop!)
Hackers (Somehow, the hacking in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo seems more plausible)
Fanboys
Stick It
Pineapple Express (Item 9 exists!)
*Piranha 3D (Mr. O’Connell, I really didn’t want to see your penis…regurgitated.)
Lake Placid 3 (So. so. bad.)
Confessions of a Shopaholic
*Step-up 3D (Unnecessary 3D, party of 1.)
Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde, you cheeky f**ker. This adaptation was totally worth the wait.)
The Great Outdoors
Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls (Everyone loves a slinky…)

*Theatrical screenings