I've been watching a BUNCH of movies lately. A brickton. Combine being a cheap bastard who doesn't want to pay two days of Redbox and it being too hot to do anything else and that's what you get.
I can't go into all of them, but here's what I remember from this Total Recall level of brain infusion:
The Host - I can't believe part of me was looking forward to this (probably because I like both Andrew Niccol and Saoirse Ronan) but it was so... there was so much that could have been done with the premise (I made a ton of notes), but strangely the movie I kept thinking of was "Equilibrium." It really hurt coming off of Pacific Rim because there was so much worldbuilding going on there and there was little to NO worldbuilding going on in this one. And it really needed like a proper active climax, the whole flick felt meandering and boring.
The Guilt Trip - Watched this with my ma, somewhat appropriately enough, and it was better than I thought it would be, though I wasn't expecting much. Streisand was certainly more restrained (I can't believe I just said those words) than something like Meet The Fokkers which I was honestly expecting this to be a reprise of) and she did little things that actually reminded me of my mom (the messages on the phone being the prime example).
Identity Thief - There's a huge action element to this that I don't remember being in any of the trailers, and I'm always happy to see Robert Patrick pop up. But I wasn't nuts about it. I think it was Amanda Peet playing Bateman's wife, and honestly, I would have loved a movie where it was those two on the run for some crazy reason (and not just for the potential homage to her "Whole Nine Yards" scene), she was so underused. And you know, I loved seeing Bateman with those daughters, but that's me being a total softie.
Frankie Go Boom - Speaking of Pacific Rim... here's a movie I'd never heard of before, starring PR's Charlie Hunnam and Chris O'Dowd (!) playing brothers. I don't want to give too much away but the movie involves O'Dowd's character, fresh out of rehab, taping his brother having sex and putting it online. And hilarity ensues. I liked it but there's ONE moment with ONE surprise guest star that I don't want to spoil for you, so don't watch any previews cause they'll give that away and it's such a great guffaw. But I will say there's also a scene in the credits so make sure you stick around for it.
Mental - Watching this now and enjoying it, an Australian movie with Toni Collette (aren't they all?) that's sort of like a demented Mary Poppins, Toni plays a somewhat psychotic woman hired as a babysitter for this group of girls after their mom is admitted to a mental hospital. And of course, the dad (who's also the Mayor of their town) is played by Anthony LaPaglia who I also love (I'm getting little flashes of 'Simon' from Frasier). I'm so glad I saw a trailer for this because I'd overlooked it so many times and it's the kind of movie I like: about normalcy being abnormal and fighting back at how much life sucks.