Monday, September 28, 2015

Fall Film Challenge Update: What I've Watched So Far - Volume 1

About a month ago I decided to participate in a fall film challenge. I'll honestly be really surprised if I can manage to watch 25 movies in 3 months, but at least I'm having fun with it.

One of the reasons I was so excited about this challenge was the fact that it was something Eric and I could do together. Since he's been watching the movies with me, I told him he should get even more involved and help me with my reviews.

I'll tell you right now that these aren't thorough, IMDB worthy reviews. Maybe we'll get better at this after we write a few more of these posts ... Maybe we won't.

Either way, it was fun to get my husband a little more involved with my blog.

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1.  Paranoia - Watched 09/07/2015

My Thoughts: It's not really my type of movie, but it was pretty entertaining. It held my interest, and it wasn't a bad way to pass the time.

Eric's Thoughts: It was exciting and suspenseful. I really liked the technology, especially the "phone wallet thingy." I liked the ending even though I saw it coming.

Kristen's Rating: 3/5 stars - Liked it.

Eric's Rating: 3/5 stars - Liked it.

2.  Side Effects - Watched 09/12/2015

My Thoughts: This is a great example of the kind of movie I love. It was a little dark, and it had a really interesting twist. Rooney Mara was so good that it almost made me want to watch the American version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Almost. (But, let's be honest, I will never willingly watch the American version of a foreign movie.)

Eric's Thoughts: It was good and I liked the unusual story. I think the title was really fitting without being really obvious. I usually don't seek out this type of movie, but I really liked this one.

Kristen's Rating: 4/5 stars - Really liked it.

Eric's Rating: 4/5 stars - Really liked it.

3.  Zodiac - Watched 09/18/2015

My Thoughts: It's amazing that I hadn't seen this movie before, and thankfully it didn't disappoint. I've read a lot about serial killers over the years, but I really didn't know much about the Zodiac Killer. This movie made me want to learn more.

Eric's Thoughts: I like movies that are based on historical events, so this was right up my alley. I always wonder how much of it is factual, though. This was probably the third time I've seen this movie, and each time the investigators and reporters became more obsessed!

Kristen's Rating: 4/5 stars - Really liked it.

Eric's Rating: 4/5 stars - Really liked it.

Things I learned while writing this post:

1.  I'm much better at writing book reviews. I would be a terrible movie critic.

2.  We probably shouldn't wait so long to write these reviews. We wrote all of this in one night.

3.  Eric apparently thinks the Netflix rating system is really difficult to use. He says he won't finish a movie if he thinks it sucks (so basically nothing will get less than 3 stars), and it would have to be "really special" to get 5 stars from him.

4.  Eric doesn't mind spoilers in his reviews. I refused to write some of the things he said because it would completely ruin the ending for anyone who hasn't seen the movie.

5.  It's really hard to try to type someone else's stream of consciousness.

2 comments:

  1. I like the idea of combining yours & Eric's opinions on what you watch. Interesting that you both rated all the movies the same. Side Effects sounds interesting. Paranoia is on my list for this challenge as well. I'd seen Zodiac previously and thought it was good as well.

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  2. I've watched a couple of movies for the fall film challenge with one more definitely happening this week (The Martian) but I think I'm going to just quit the challenge completely. I haven't decided yet.

    The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was a great movie! Even my husband liked it and he can't stand those kinds of movies. If you've read the books, you have an advantage because they sort of combined the plots of the first two books into one movie. I haven't seen the original version because I can't stand subtitles. I want to watch my movies, not read them. I read enough.

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