Against the Crowd Blogathon 2016

We’ve been following Dell on Movies and taken part in a few of his brilliant blogathons for a couple of years now, and I was so happy to see in our Blogger feed that he was hosting his Against the Crowd blogathon again, this year in partnership with KG’s Movie Rants! We somehow missed last year’s edition so there was no way I was going to let that happen again. Especially so soon after watching a ‘must watch classic’ that I actually kind of hated, and have been too scared to review…

As always, a blogathon comes with a set of rules, and here they are in Dell’s own words:

1. Pick one movie that "everyone" loves (the more iconic, the better). That movie must have a score of at least 75% on rottentomatoes.com. Tell us why you hate it.

2. Pick one movie that "everyone" hates (the more notorious, the better). That movie must have a score of less than 35% on rottentomatoes.com. Tell us why you love it.

3. Include the tomato meter scores of both movies.

4. Use one of the banners in this post, or feel free to create your own.

5. Comment on this post, or on KG's Movie Rants with the two movies you intend on writing on.

6. Publish your post on any day from Monday August 22 through Friday August 26, 2016.

Even better, check out Dell’s original post here to find out more and to check out the other banners.

Let’s kick this off!

The Departed (2006)

Everyone loves The Departed, right? It’s ranked #42 on IMDB’s Top 250, and it features some of the biggest names in the movie industry, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg and Jack Nicholson to name just a few. There’s a cop who’s undercover as a gang member, and a gang member undercover as a cop, there’s backstabbing, deceit, lies, etc. I lost track of who was actually working for who very quickly, and boy was it a long movie!

Spoiler alert right now for the very few who haven’t seen this...was it really worth anything in the end anyway? I spent the last 20 minutes or so with my jaw on the floor because it was just such a ‘WTF’ moment. In fact, let me tell you a funny story. On the way home from our honeymoon, my husband and I couldn’t get seats next to each other on one of the flights, so we caught up at JFK once we landed. I asked him what movies he’d watched and he said he watched The Departed. ‘Ugh!’ I cried out in the middle of Departure Gate 18. ‘I hated that movie. Everyone just died in the end anyway!’. That’s the moment my husband told me he’d ‘started’ to watch the movie. He still had half an hour left. Sorry, love. He has since seen the ending, and explained (at length) the importance of it all. I smiled and nodded the whole time to make up for spoiling the ending like a jerk.

Taxi Driver (1976)
This is also listed on IMDB's Top 250 and a 99% rating on Rotten Tomatoes so it must be good right?  Every person I have spoken to who has seen this film has loved it and I just don't get it. I don't hate it by any stretch, I just didn't particularly enjoy it.  I think there is a chance that I am missing something that everyone else is getting because I don't understand why everyone loves it.

I have gone into depth in a full review on the blog previously so I won't ramble on too much about the ins and outs of this one but I felt like it took a long time to get into the real heart of the story and honestly in the last few scenes I actually started to enjoy it.  It just took too long to get to that point.  Maybe i'll watch it again at some point and give it another chance, who knows!

Chappie (2015)

So I went digging through the Rotten Tomatoes website for this one. There are plenty of terrible movies that I kind of liked, but not enough to defend publicly. Once I started scrolling through the ‘rotten’ movies, I was heartbroken to spot Chappie on the list! 

The plot is a little crazy, sure, and I know a lot of people hated on Ninja and Yolandi (I still don’t know who they are) but Chappie alone made me love his movie. I always have a soft spot for the underdog, and so Chappie was loveable from the very start as the cursed robot forever coming back damaged from every mission. Then he was given artificial intelligence, he gets excited about rubber chickens, and going for rides in the car. I’d like my own Chappie please, with the orange antennae and reject sticker and everything.

It didn’t have the political agenda that District 9 had, but I thought the lessons about how impressionable Chappie was in his ‘infancy’ were well thought out, and I’ll carry on defending this movie for as long as I’m a blogger!

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
I was not on the bandwagon with this one, I wasn't thrilled when they announced Ben Affleck as Batman and so I gave up on being excited.  I put it to the back of my mind, hardly watched any of the trailers and managed to completely miss it in the cinemas.  Therefore, I missed a lot of the negativity surrounding the film, I refuse to read reviews before making my own choices so all the negative reviews just went over my head.  

A few weeks ago, I decided it was time to watch it, so armed with a glass of wine and an endless supply of junk food, I prepared myself to be disappointed....and then I wasn't.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't the greatest film in the world but I thoroughly enjoyed watching it.  I like all the actors that were in it and it provided a fix for my latest Jesse Eisenberg obsession (thanks Now you see me 2!!).  I do have a full review to write up for this so I won't go into too much detail but I thought the story was clever pitching Batman against Superman (even if it was only for a short time) and the introduction of Wonder Woman. Considering I am more Marvel than DC, I really was surprised that I enjoyed it but I think my lack of expectations made it that much better.

Blind Spot Review: Rocky (1976)

Ah, it feels good to be back on the Blind Spot wagon! Earlier this month, Jenna and I watched Creed, and although we really enjoyed it, we both agreed we’d have probably found it better if we had any knowledge of the Rocky movies. So that’s how the original ended up on our Blind Spot list! If you fancy reading an abysmal attempt at us both trying to understand how boxing even works, check out our review of Creed here.

Rocky (1976) is the story of Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), a struggling boxer who works as a debt collector by day. When the undefeated heavyweight champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) looks to set up an exhibition match to give a newcomer a chance at fighting him, Rocky, the Italian Stallion is chosen, and thus begins Rocky’s training and the wedding march ;-)

I’m just going to go straight out and say it. I wasn’t expecting to love this movie. I wanted to watch it, don’t get me wrong, especially after watching Creed, but all I was hoping to gain from it was an understanding of the story. I was engrossed from the first few minutes, and was kind of gutted when it ended, which is unusual for me, 2 hours is normally the point that I start to give up.

Rocky is such a loveable character! This is a guy who goes from using intimidation tactics to collect debts to dropping by a pet store just for the chance to spend a few minutes with the girl who’s captured his heart. What a guy!  I didn't expect Rocky to be the character he was, i expected this big ol' hardman that never lets up so to see him fall in love and be all romantic was a pleasant surprise.

Watching Rocky and Adrian’s (Talia Shire) relationship grow was definitely a highlight for me. It reminded me so much of Adonis and Bianca's relationship in Creed, they've obviously really taken note from Rocky when making Creed.  A completely clueless Rocky asking Adrian’s brother what she liked to do, and then spending $10 for just 10 minutes on the ice rink with her just melted my heart. I even spotted the line ‘Why do I fight? Because I can’t sing and dance…’ which was on Adonis’ shirt in Creed! Mega proud of myself there.  

Like Allie, I didn't think I would be bothered by this movie but I really did love it.  I got very excited when I saw the 'Rocky' steps and even sent a photo to Allie.  In all honesty, I thought it would have ruined this film watching Creed first it had the same impact as if i had watched them the right way round.  I got so excited when I saw places in this that had been featured in Creed like Mighty Micks Gym.  I much prefer Stallone back in the day when I can understand what the heck he is saying and really loved the build up to the fight, I was adamant I knew what the outcome would be....I was wrong!

Then of course we had the famous music startup (which Jenna swears sounds like the wedding march, still does!) followed by Rocky running up the stairs which was nothing short of awesome. I can really see now why this is such an iconic movie! I was told it would really gear me up for going to the gym but I was in my pajamas finishing off a tub of chocolates from Christmas at the time so I can’t really comment on that.  I have been tempted to go to the gym of late, I didn't go after this however, I sat and ate a monster roast dinner! oops!

And then of course we had the final fight. Some of the tension was taken away from me because I knew the outcome, but when you watch a movie 40 years after it was released, I think you lose the right to scream ‘spoiler alert’ at someone!  Can you believe I didn't know how it ended, the movie has been out since before I was born and I have never heard a spoiler?!

I’m torn now between saving Rocky II for next year’s Blind Spot or just watching it next weekend…!  

Great start to the Blind Spot challenge, here's hoping the other 11 are as good!

Review: Taxi Driver (1976)

So the Blind Spot challenge has been a bit hit and miss for me, time constraints meant I missed the first two movies but I'm trying to keep up now.  Therefore, two weeks ago we arranged the movie night to watch our April movie - Taxi Driver.  As an contender for the Oscars Best Picture, I assumed it would be amazing.

The Blind Spot Series is proving to be a great way for Jenna and I to keep putting film nights in the diaries! This month we’re trying to be healthy so whilst Jenna cooked enough stir-fry to feed a wedding party (thanks for the extra lunch by the way!) I picked up some Weight Watchers dessert and headed to hers, armed with Taxi Driver on DVD. It proudly boasted its new ‘Wide Screen Presentation’, oh boy…

An unstable war veteran, Travis (Robert DeNiro) finds a job as a night time New York taxi driver to kill time after developing insomnia.  His obsession with Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) and his determination to save pre-adolescent prostitute, Iris (Jodie Foster) lead him down a dark and dangerous path.

It was so strange to see Robert DeNiro in this! I've never seen any of his older films so I had to keep reminding myself it was even him.

I feel like is should love this movie because it is so highly praised by so many people.  I have read countless reviews from both professional critics and the bloggerverse and I just don't understand it.  I just found it a bit boring, it was a interesting subject and a creative take on the effects insomnia can have on a person but it felt like it dragged. 

All the synopsis's I have found for this, imply that him being psychotic and his obsessions lead him to extreme violence, however this seems to take forever to get to and feels dragged at the beginning and the middle.  Now I know this won't be a popular opinion so please be kind :-/ but I just didn't enjoy it.  Once it gets to the latter part of the film, it starts to get interesting and I love the shoot out scenes and the hospital scene near the end.

After Pulp Fiction last month, I wanted to mull over this film for a while before I really made a verdict on it. Taxi Driver to me was like the 70's answer to Drive (although I realise that should actually be the other way round) and it took me several viewings to really appreciate Drive for what it was. I hated it the first time round. I wouldn't say I hated Taxi Driver at all, it was an interesting character story and I was never bored, but I wasn't thrilled either.

Maybe, I need to watch it again to get a better feel for the making of the film now that I know what to expect.  The actors were all great, without a doubt, one of the highlights being Harvey Keitel but I don't feel like there was much of a story to it.  The shooting, I guess was great when it was made in the 70's but now comes across a little bit cheesy to me.

I think I need a second viewing, too! Although it's going to take a serious amount of willpower to get round it it...

I hope I don't get too much of a battering for this but that's the point of reviews I guess, multiple opinions :-)

After 3 cracking Blind Spot films, maybe it was about time we had one I didn't love so much.