Batch 2 of 2 for movies watched in January.

6. (944.) Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013)
The plot of this sequel dances around the moral conundrum inherent in the concept of processed food gaining sentience. Is it moral to eat a living thing? Cheeseburgers turned into spiders are our friends, but what about the cows that were slaughtered to make the cheeseburger? I don't mind moral messages in family movies — it's the American way — but I don't think you can make a movie that begs these sorts of questions without at least addressing them. This movie doesn't, and it felt like a cop out.

7. (945.) Starflight One (1983)
Network executive to Lee Majors: "We're making a movie about a super-sonic airplane that gets stuck in space: fuck science!" Whenever all of your characters have to act like idiots to progress your story, you've got a bad story.

8. (946.) Smile (1975)
This film depicts a bunch of people just trying to get through a week of life while holding a beauty contest. There's lots of comedy and drama, and most of the principals don't learn a damn thing. This is what life is really like.

9. (947.) The Ipcress File (1965)
This spy movie starring Micheal Caine uses visual style to great effect in spicing up what is otherwise a very un-glamorous spy thriller. I much prefer this sort of storytelling to what passes for spy action in the bloated corpse of the James Bond franchise.

10. (948.) A LEGO Brickumentary (2014)
LEGO didn't official produce this pro-LEGO documentary, but it might as well have. I don't mean to suggest that I'm anti-LEGO, but this felt more like a sales pitch than a celebration.

11. (949.) The Unholy Three (1925)
Three circus freaks band together to open a pet store with the intention of robbing jewelry from old men. The only problem I have with this silent film is the pacing: too many scenes of people "talking" in between cards telling us what they are saying. It was remade as a talkie a few years later, and I'd like to see if the addition of sound solved that problem.

12. (950.) The Green Berets (1968)
Wow! Let's all go fight the Viet Cong, those dirty bastards! I hadn't previously watched this because I'm opposed to war and don't really care for movies that glorify the experience, even if it is to stand up against those damn Commies. As pro-war as a movie can get, this really doesn't do real veterans any favors. I like the Duke, but I didn't like this.

More to come.

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