Passengers is one of those movies that interest you, and it would be better served if you looked at the audience score rather than the critics’ scores. A 30% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes would suggest skipping this one. However, a 70% audience score suggests something more. This was one of my most anticipated movies of the year. Plus, I try to see everything. But even I was skeptical when I saw how it was getting panned by so many different critics. Even my most respected site (Roger Ebert) only gave the movie 1.5 stars. But I talked to a couple of other people who go to the movies a lot, and they said, despite some holes, that they recommended it. The only thing I knew about Passengers going in (I never saw a trailer) was that it starred Chris Pratt (Jurassic World, Guardians of the Galaxy) and Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook, Joy) and that they were lost in space. And while I suppose there were holes in this movie, they didn’t deter my enjoyment of it. The parts that I found more troublesome than anything else were the personal emotions and the relationship between the two leads, and I didn’t even have a problem with that.
Continue reading Passengers (2016)
Category Archives: Morten Tyldum
The Imitation Game (2014)
The one movie of 2014 that I was not looking forward to seeing but knew I had to see was, without a doubt, The Imitation Game. I learned early in the year that this would end up being one of the movies to beat, but the trailer suggested it would be well-made, tell a great, true story, and also be incredibly dull and long. I was wrong. The first thing to point out was that this movie was only 110 minutes. I love a film that can tell its story in under two hours. I understand the standard tends to be closer to 2 hours and 15 minutes (with many movies pushing or exceeding 3 hours), but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Secondly, this movie was never dull. In the wrong hands, this movie is a complete snooze-fest. It was anything but. This is why I am ready to give Morten Tyldum a Best Director nomination without having seen some of the probably Oscar-nominated movies yet to be released (notably Unbroken, American Sniper, Selma, Mr. Turner, and Into the Woods). The only other nomination I have cemented is Richard Linklater (Boyhood). The direction in this movie was outstanding, and I am confident there will not be three better-directed movies in 2014 that I have yet to see.