The Darkest Hour

Haha this movie was so terrible!  I mean, my expectations were pretty much zero, and it still managed to be worse than that.  I couldn't even play the "who is going to die first, and who is going to survive" game because it was just so obvious right from the beginning.  Bad acting (laughably bad).  Bad editing (how many dips to black can be in one movie, seriously).  Bad scripting/plot/story (nothing made any sense).  It was a halfway decent premise, but the execution was lacking in every way possible.  As if I had a brilliant movie idea and then gave it to a drunk cross-eyed finger-painting monkey to write the script.

This movie was my darkest hour (and a half).  But don't worry.  The nuclear subs will save us all.

The Five-Year Engagement

This movie had potential that it certainly did not live up to.  What could have been a fun running joke about the utter ridiculousness that surrounds wedding planning was really just a droll boring plodding story that came off as more romantic drama than romantic comedy.  I counted three times the movie made me smile (at least one was because purely based on location, since parts of the film were shot in San Francisco), and two occasions where I actually laughed (one in reference to Chewbacca, and once to Cookie Monster).  It was not a 5-yr engagement, it was a 2-hr painful look on a bad movie choice by normally decent actors (Jason Segel and Emily Blunt).

I will give props to the last scene, but that is the only props I give on this film.

Miss Bala

Saw a trailer for this movie and it made me think of Maria Full of Grace, which was a really great film (both about beautiful young women who get caught up in the smuggling trade).  In comparison, if you only watch one I would have to say that Maria was better than Bala, but in essence although they have similar subject matter they are actually very different films.  The reasons behind the girls' choices and the morality is approached from opposite ends of the spectrum, from volunteer to forced participation.

For me this movie was missing something, but I cannot put my finger on exactly what that something is.  I think the problem was the main character, I didn't feel a strong attachment or caring towards Bala.  The film started off strong, and Bala did try to resist getting sucked in, but it always seemed to stop short when it could have pushed further.  But that being said, while the middle may have floundered around a bit the end was quite unexpected, in a good way!

Rango

The movie as a whole fell short for me but, as expected, simply the presence of Johnny Depp's voice can make things better.  His personable vocals adds a quirky humor to the title character Rango, and while there are other stars involved as well (like Isla Fisher and Abigail Breslin), none make quite the same impact as Depp.  A cute self-mocking "find-your-inner-strength" hero story this movie is fun for a just-recently-made-available-on-watch-instantly brainless watch one night after a long day at work.  And, at least to my untrained eye, the animation itself is pretty impressive.