Movies By My Housemates Tastes

Here’s a little bit of background before I begin what may be another, when I decide to blog, regular entry series.  This is one of those instances where there is a person that I know who has a taste in movies that I cannot believe exists.  This guy lives in the same house as me.  Now, let’s call this guy Rupert.  That’s not his real name.  I just don’t want to tarnish his name.  The point of this semi-regular blog entry is that I am going to take a look at one of the movies that he says is good.  Whether that be a good or bad film, I am going to take a look at it.

First up on the list, I’ll go with the most recent that I have seen.  GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra.  This film stars greats such as Channing Tatum and Marlon Wayans.  As well as that chump (but not really) Joseph Gordon Levitt.  Also making appearances, Mr. Eko from Lost, Dennis Quaid, who has a career that doesn’t seem to be as good as it once was, Imhotep from The Mummy movies, and did I mention the Wayans brother that was in there?  What a great cast, right?

This is probably just going to sound like me ragging on a bad movie.  There were a couple things I found decent.  Ray Park was awesome with his martial arts.  As much as I don’t really like his movies (Ballistic is likely to be in one of these movies my roommate likes entries), I do appreciate his physical fighting presence.  He may be the only person I found half good in the movie.  Rupert seems to think differently, not knowing who Ray Park is, other than being Darth Maul, and commending Dennis Quaid and Channing Tatum for their performances.  I was left just smiling awkwardly and nodding while muttering under my breath that Channing Tatum is not a good actor.  I compared Channing Tatum to Paul Walker but with less charisma.  What do I get as a response?  “Hey!  I like them both.  They are good.”  Now, I’m one to indulge myself in Paul Walker movies, but I wouldn’t consider either of them good actors.  No Paul Walker movie was made watchable by Paul Walker.  No Channing Tatum movie was made watchable.  But Rupert thinks that they are.  I won’t deny him of his taste in actors.  I will disagree with his opinion though.

Rupert also says the movie looks good.  If looks good means closer to Birdemic than to Avatar, yes, GI Joe looks good.  I thought that most of the CG was poorly done.  It looked terrible at most times, from the military choppers to the mech suits.  It was bad.  I feel that I could have put out something better than that in a first year 3-D animation course.  Rupert insists that it looked good.  I think Rupert might be trying to smell his large intestine.

Rupert, how could you, in good conscience, recommend this movie?  I don’t understand.  I see nothing redeemable about it.  GI Joe is just what the action figure seems to be.  Flash, albeit not great flash, filled with nothing of any sort of intelligence.  A masculine excuse for entertainment.  Much like how the action figures were dolls for boys, the film was trash intended for the mass market.  Rupert, you have been sucked into the money machine that is Hollywood without thinking twice.   And you like the garbage that they are putting out.

Mind you, this is my opinion, that is Rupert’s.  I can’t really change his opinion.  However, I can scream and cry for spending my time watching a movie that wasn’t worth the waste of my life’s time to watch.  The thing is, through compromise, Rupert does get to pick the movie sometimes.  He was not watching this with me, I was watching it on my own.  But he said it was good.  I didn’t believe him, I watched it to see how bad the movie is.  But it makes me question his taste in film.  It makes me worried about what I will be subjected to watching when it is movie night and he is picking the movie.

Rupert is the source of all movie evil.  He is that person that I know who if he likes a film, I will likely dislike it.  If he really likes a film, I have a chance of liking it.  If he doesn’t like a film, I will really like it.  In this case, it was that he liked the film.  I should have known I wouldn’t like it.

On another note, what the hell was Joseph Gordon Levitt doing in this movie?  He’s better than this.  This is the guy who brought us 500 Days of Summer, 3^rd Rock From the Sun, and Inception.  (Haven’t seen Brick or 10 Things I Hate About You).  I know he can do better than GI Joe.  I know he can.  So why was he here?  Did he need the money that much?  Not only can this movie have bad actors, bad dialogue, a bad plot, and bad effects, but they also have to toss in a good actor who can’t use their skills?  This one casting point makes me hate you even more GI Joe.

I guess what I could finish this with is that there are many more movies I’ve witnessed that are bad.  I cannot pass the blame on many of them.  I’ve seen too many bad movies on my own.  When someone says they like the movies, and I see no reason to like them, I don’t understand.  I don’t like The Godfather, but I understand people’s liking it.  That’s different.  But if I ever heard someone say they liked Ghoulies 2, I’d be wondering how that could ever happen this side of hell freezing over and pigs flying through it naked at the same time.  It just doesn’t seem possible.

This is comparable to GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra.  I don’t understand what people can like out of this film.  There are so many bad things that are just bad that cannot be countered by the one or two semi-decent things within it.   Rupert is someone I don’t understand because of this.  I don’t understand what Rupert can latch onto in this film.  I don’t understand why the studios are making a sequel.  I don’t understand the existence of this film in the form it is in.

Now for the punchline of the whole GI Joe situation.  When I finished the movie, I said “I’m never watching that again.”  Rupert had the nerve to ask me “Why?”  I cannot believe he wanted me to explain why I found the movie to not be worth a second watch.  Hmmm...let’s see...Channing Tatum for starters.

I have finally realized how extreme this has been.  While Rupert likes GI Joe, I don’t.  Yet I’ve been ripping on him not understanding why he likes it, while he has been doing the same from his point of view to mine.  I guess that means I should end this entry into the blog.  Longest entry yet, I believe.

If you agree or disagree with either mine or Rupert’s points of view, feel free to comment in the blog.  I’ve always wanted to ask for comments.  I don’t care if I get any or not.  I just wanted to look like I wanted them.