Movies

Netflix finds: But I’m a Cheerleader

Posted on by GumballsPlaysGames

But I’m a Cheerleader is a 1999 satire about a high school cheerleader who is sent to a “gay to straight” camp by her parents. The problem? She was straight, or so she thought. (Of course sending someone to such a camp is a problem in the first place and the film works to poke fun at such ‘gay to straight’ and anit-gay thinking).

I discovered the film on Netflix last night and it was absolutely amazing! It sort of reminded me of Empire Records for some reason, but the characters in this film are absolutely amazing and the way they interact with and learn about each other is just heartwarming. The movie made my smile throughout and left me with a good feeling.

One of the most amazing things about this film is the song “Glass Vase, Cello Case”. This song gave me goosebumps when I first heard it and it still does as I listen to it over and over again. It’s very powerful and the moments in the film in which it plays are just as powerful and moving.

I highly recommend adding this film to your Netflix queue, it’s well worth the watch.

Seeing Warm Bodies

Posted on by GumballsPlaysGames

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I’m seeing Warm Bodies this evening and I’m quite excited to
see this unique take on the zombie genre. It’ll be nice to see a lighthearted, warm zombie movie a week before the return of The Walking Dead.

I’ll be sure to post my thoughts on the film later on. I’m keeping this post short as I’m posting from my Kindle Fire HD.

Up next: Beasts of the Southern Wild

Posted on by GumballsPlaysGames

I was browsing Sundance selection trailers and came across this one and it simply blew me away! I can’t wait to watch it this weekend, but until then I wanted to share the trailer. The film is nominated for 4 Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actress) and I certainly hope it wins a few because it definitely looks like an amazing movie.

Recently Watched: To Rome with Love

Posted on by GumballsPlaysGames

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Last night I watched To Rome with Love which features a cast filled with great actors, including two of my favorites: Jesse Eisenberg and Ellen Page. The film follows several stories of love, cheating and self discovery, all taking place in Rome. Each of the individual stories is well told and together they make for a great story that is more about Rome and life lessons (growth maybe?) than one individual story (if that makes any sense).

At least 70% of the dialogue is spoken in Italian with subtitles, and the beautiful language makes the film all the more enjoyable. It’s a very happy film and the soundtrack fits perfectly, with “Amada Mia, Amore mio di El Passador” (below) played all throughout the movie.

I definitely recommend watching this movie. It’s a great date night movie!

In theaters: Promised Land

Posted on by GumballsPlaysGames

Promised Land is in theaters everywhere today (it had previously been in limited release) and I’m quite excited to see it. The story looks great and Focus Features movies are always great. Focus Features have produced / distributed many great films including Coraline, 9, ParaNorman and more recently Anna Karenina (currently in theaters). I look forward to seeing Promised Land soon.

Atlas Shrugged Part 2 tomorrow!

Posted on by GumballsPlaysGames

One day I saw Atlas Shrugged Part 1 (trailer below) on Netflix and had never heard of it, but decided to watch it. I watched the movie on my Kindle Fire while sitting in the library at Sheppard AFB, Texas (while in tech school) and I could not tear myself away from the screen. I could’ve gone back to my room to finish it, but I couldn’t find the power to hit the pause button, I was that entranced by the movie.

 

Atlas Shrugged is a novel by Ayn Rand published in 1957 which is being made into three movies. Part one was released last year, and was considered a box office flop (it also has a 11% rating on Rotten Tomatoes). Fortunately this didn’t prevent the continuation of the story as Atlas Shrugged Part Two is in theaters tomorrow. I’m more excited for this movie than any other movie coming out this year, and from the trailer (below) I can tell it won’t disappoint.

Sony Streaming Player

Posted on by GumballsPlaysGames

Last week I picked up a Sony Streaming Player (the n200) for $79.99 at the Bx (you can find it cheaper on the internet). 

The box is pretty small and lightweight but it can do so much. When you turn it on (after initial setup) you’re greeted with a clean and simple menu with a variety of content providers available including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Crackle, Vudu and Pandora radio (there are many more but these are the ones I use). I previously used my Xbox as a media player and it worked, but one problem I had is that if I wanted to go from Netflix to Hulu it was time consuming to switch apps. The Sony streaming player loads pretty quickly and if you leave it in standby mode it powers on quite quickly as well.

The video quality is great (via HDMI) and I haven’t had any hiccups at all. Nothing ever gets blurry or slows down to load (this probably depends on your internet connection, but when I use Netflix on my Xbox at times it seems to be loading and will go blurry. It doesn’t do this on the Sony player).

Since purchasing this box I’ve discovered Vudu which was a service I hadn’t previously used. It allows you to rent and purchase movies, just like Amazon’s store, however Vudu claims to have the most HD options of any service and so far this seems true. It also has an HDX option which is even closer to blu ray quality than standard HD (and in some cases HDX and HD are the same price, so it’s really up to how much bandwidth you want to use). HDX looks awesome, I’m not a huge video or audio buff so I can’t really tell the difference between HDX and blu ray.

What’s also cool about Vudu is that it has some movies from independent studios available to rent BEFORE the movies are even in theaters (for example I rented Take This Waltz which hits theaters later this month for about $11 in HD for a 48 hour rental. The movie stars Seth Rogen and was very good, one of my favorite movies of the year already). It also has some movies that are currently in theaters (again usually from independent studios).

You can buy movies and stream them at any time which I enjoy. I’ll probably make a separate post about it, but I hate physical media, I’m in love with digital and cloud storage media.

In the end I’m very happy with my purchase. Sure my Xbox could already do most of what the Sony player does, but I find the Sony streaming player to be faster and more convenient.

 

Valentine’s Day movies

Posted on by GumballsPlaysGames

So tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and if you’re looking for a movie to watch to get in the romantic mood I thought I’d share two of my favorites.

First is (500) Days of Summer. This film is one of my favorites in any genre, but it tells a really good love story…sort of. In reality (500) Days of Summer is about two people falling in love and then out of love and the period after this relationship, all taking place within 500 days. The story is sad, but ultimately the film ends on a happy and uplifting note.

Second is Happy Thank You More Please. This movie has a great indie fill with a soundtrack of “hip” indie sounding music that is hard not to love. The film, in my opinion, is simply about life with an emphasis on love and happiness. It tells the stories of several different people and focuses on love, friendship and the importance of a positive attitude.

I’d also like to add Juno and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist for good measure. That is all 🙂 Happy Valentine’s Day eve.