Yes, we did come out of this movie and spend a good 45 minutes discussing all the huge, gaping, ridiculous holes in the plot.

I enjoyed the watching of it DESPITE ALL THAT. So. Award-winning? No. Logical and well-done? No. Enjoyable anyway? Why, yes.

Also there are lots of visual (and otherwise) ties to previous movies in the franchise, especially noticeable since V. and I had just (re)watched Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection over the previous week in preparation.

Beautiful, amazing costumes, particularly for Charlize.

Beautiful set design, art direction, filming, special effects, etc. Some really visually stunning moments.

Lame plot, bad dialogue when there even was any, and then it.just.ends.

Enjoyable, enough.

Not as good as: Ironman (1).
Better than: Ironman 2. Thor.

Has Gwyneth Paltrow given up shoes? I couldn’t figure out why she was barefoot in both her scenes in this movie.

Ignoring the actual few and far between tie-ins to the game of Battleship, which were actually the best parts of the movie and used so sparingly you almost didn’t notice them:

This was the schmaltziest, most sentimental, ridiculously attempting-to-pull-at-your-heartstrings action film you will ever see. The minute that group of WWII soldiers starts to walk across the deck? COME ON, NOW.

Sadly not very good at all.

I say sadly because hello a) SKARSGARD, b) Peter Berg, c) Taylor Kitsch, d) Liam Neeson, e) sailors, f) ships, g) aliens. Those are all things I like.

So. Let’s see. I enjoyed this movie while watching it but in discussing it afterward with my fellow viewer who had NOT read the books, it really seems the movie’s a bit THIN. Certain scenes ONLY MAKE SENSE — or have a very important part of them that only make sense — if you’ve read the books and can say “oh, well that’s because of X thing not shown in the movie.” So that’s one problem.

And the choices they made around certain plot points, particularly those toward the end of the film, mean that while this was an adequate movie of book 1, it will be nigh impossible to make even adequate movies of books 2 and 3.

I liked the mood and tone, I think they got some of that stuff right. But I think they got enough stuff wrong that it’s only adequate. And I think they’ve screwed up the avenues that would have allowed them to do a decent job going forward

Perhaps some of that is because I reread the book right before I saw the movie. (And then came home and reread books 2 and 3.) But if it can’t stand up to that kind of scrutiny, then it doesn’t work.

Since you already know, I detested Bridesmaids, you must not be surprised to hear I equally detested this?

Part of it was my fault, though: I went to this movie wanting to see a movie about someone like, say, Ben Wyatt, that sweet adorable man from Parks & Rec (played by Adam Scott, of course). I did not go to it wanting to see Adam Scott play a crass jerk. So basically I was bound to not be a fan based on my own expectations.

Yes, the dinner party scene was some wonderful writing and outstanding acting. But what resulted from that scene really should have been very different, in my opinion. So I do blame the movie for some of my disappointment. Heh.

I hate hate hate hate the crass response of the last line of the film so so so so much. Blech.

This whole “women can be crass too! SEE! SEE HOW CRASS WE CAN BE!” movement is SO not what I want to see at the movies. OR ANYWHERE. (And FYI unlike much of the world, I hate the boy versions of those movies just as much. Yuck.)

I believe this movie was shot a few years ago (2005?) but just released.

There were some decent performances but it’s a bit of a mess. Seemed like two (or even three) completely different movies all smushed into one. (For example, the mom’s dating storyline could easily have lifted right out of the movie.)