Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Three masterpieces and a fun summer movie, in the opposite of that order:

Guardians of the Galaxy: Fun, I felt that it had some of the edge and uniqueness that was sorely lacking in The Avengers, which made it a lot more enjoyable and refreshing for me. The only big issue I had with the film was that it takes itself so lightly that the dramatic scenes (such as the opening scene) fall flat and feel hokey instead of doing what they're supposed to. I suppose I prefer it when humor is balanced with seriousness a little more adeptly.

The Thin Blue Line: A documentary by Errol Morris. I have seen several of his documentaries, I think this has got to be my favorite and will likely remain in my top 10 favorite films. Not necessarily because of entertainment value, but because it's such a compelling and well-told story. That this is achieved in the form of a documentary is amazing to me, and this film actually affected a real change with regard to the story it tells after it was released, which is a very cool thing to me in demonstrating what movies can do.

Amadeus: I've seen this many times, but it remains one of my favorite films, if not my favorite film. It can be a bit melodramatic at times, but it is all executed so exceptionally well that I feel it works. If you enjoy dramas and have not seen it, it's essentially my highest recommendation.

The Act of Killing: Like The Thin Blue Line this film achieves something incredible in telling a story in a documentary format. I just saw it today, so I'm definitely still processing, but it has to be one of the most memorable films I have seen in a long time. Not as masterfully cinematic and polished as The Thin Blue Line perhaps, but the scope of it leaves a lot to think about.

Yeah, The Thin Blue Line invented the convention of re-enactments which are pretty common in true crime shows now. But they were still so much cooler than any of that kind of thing I've seen in that they differed with the peoples' recollections.

Monsters university. (MU)

It was okay... Yeah... It was ok... This is awkward, So bye.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2

Most of what I liked about the first film is there again. Great animation. The animation on Chester V stood out in particular; it gave him a zen-like attitude. And of course, the imagery is great. Visually very well done. However, the film relied a lot on visual humor for cheap gags. It departed from the humor and style of the first film, in which I felt the sheer absurdity of the situations gave way to a lot of good, actually funny gags. There's not much of that in 2. Finally, one of the main messages of the film (that the "food monsters" are actually sentient creatures with a right to live) is kinda ruined at the end when Flynn goes fishing with his dad. If we're going with the film's message, fish are sentient creatures too, so why are the main characters who just learned this lesson going to go hook some fish and eat them? But they're sardines and delicious, plus it makes for great bonding time with Dad, so I guess it doesn't matter.

So overall, it was a movie I enjoyed watching once, but I'll probably not be watching it again.

I thought you had already seen this movie. You had made a joke a few pages back that you would never show kids Akira, unless you were feeling especially cruel.

Moonrise Kingdom

This is a great movie, Directed by Wes Anderson, you should go and watch it.

10/10

Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Another great Wes Anderson film, you should go and watch that too.

10/10

Lucy

Violent, Graphic and quite interesting, yet it is very unreal.

8/10

Guardians of the Galaxy

It's really good.  I liked it a lot.  There are great details everywhere.

Continuing to watch lots of documentaries in preparation for the production of ours!

The Unknown Known: I love Errol Morris's style, and Donald Rumsfeld is a great subject for a documentary like this. The reasoned, balanced approach of it makes all the agenda-heavy political documentaries out there feel childish by comparison.

Dear Zachary: I feel like this documentary has some flaws on a filmmaking level, but is pretty well-made. It's a good example of how documentary narrative can borrow from the structure of conventional feature films, much as The Thin Blue Line does. The material, on the other hand, really makes it special. I had heard lots of cheesy warnings about it like "bring tissues" but it still surprised me. The most emotionally devastating film I've ever seen. It's interesting how the personal, intimate scale of it achieves that kind of effect in ways that the epic scale of The Act of Killing does not, at least not to the same degree. I wouldn't even be comfortable recommending it for the most part simply because of how unpleasant I felt it as.