Last Movie You Watched V. 1.0

[Scoobz0202]

I really enjoyed the performances in The Fighter as well. Christian Bale is just unreal. From the opening scene with the interview on the couch I knew he was going to be on a whole different level. Amy Adams was great as well.

I guess if I had to find a flaw... the boxing matches were pretty bad. Not that Wahlberg looked bad, but the fact that he gets absolutely pounded for eight rounds and then with a quick one-two it's game over. I'm not into boxing, so maybe that's common. Heck, maybe that's how his match was in real life. But when I was watching I just thought, "Really?" The final match was sort of like that as well.


But outside of the boxing scenes, the movie was fucking fantastic.

[NorvTurnerOverdrive]

snowed in weekend moviepalooza

social network 9/10

reminds me of an argument i once had with my gf about gilmore girls. i said the show was ridiculous because, 'people don't talk like that.' to which she responded,'you have to pretend dumb people don't exist.' fair enough.

ghost writer 0/10

made it about 12-15 min. the acting made me so angry i wanted to anally rape roman polanski in a hot tub with jim belushi's stupid fat head.

moon 5/10

heard someone raving about sam rockwell's performance and checked it out. meh. glorified made for tv movie.

let me in 9.5/10

indifferent to horror. don't like vampires. hated cloverfield. expectations were in the basement. that said, holy fuck it was awesome. if this flick doesn't win the cinematography oscar a huge injustice will be done. the kid ruined the road for me but rocked the house in this one. checking out the swedish version tonight.

[DataKing]

snowed in weekend moviepalooza

let me in 9.5/10

indifferent to horror. don't like vampires. hated cloverfield. expectations were in the basement. that said, holy fuck it was awesome. if this flick doesn't win the cinematography oscar a huge injustice will be done. the kid ruined the road for me but rocked the house in this one. checking out the swedish version tonight.

I haven't seen the remake but I'd be interested to know how the two compare, since I saw and enjoyed 'Let The Right One In'.

[terpkristin]

ghost writer 0/10[/B]

made it about 12-15 min. the acting made me so angry i wanted to anally rape roman polanski in a hot tub with jim belushi's stupid fat head.

HAH. For all the good actors it had in it and the good premise of the story, both the book and the movie were quite a letdown. In all fairness, the book wasn't really a letdown until the end, but the movie failed on so many different levels.

/tk

[sterlingice]

snowed in weekend moviepalooza

social network 9/10

reminds me of an argument i once had with my gf about gilmore girls. i said the show was ridiculous because, 'people don't talk like that.' to which she responded,'you have to pretend dumb people don't exist.' fair enough.


My wife: "Life would be so much better if Aaron Sorkin wrote all the dialog"

SI

[NorvTurnerOverdrive]

checking out the swedish version tonight.
let the right one in 9/10

oh... ohhhh. crazy how one little detail changes both movies massively(although it's ambiguous in the us version it's certainly implied). then after some wiki research to fill in the blanks from the book, fuck me. goes from tragic romance to the saddest goddamn thing i've ever seen.

i think i like the sanitized american version better. but the swedish version is far, far more disturbing.

[thesloppy]

let the right one in 9/10

oh... ohhhh. crazy how one little detail changes both movies massively(although it's ambiguous in the us version it's certainly implied). then after some wiki research to fill in the blanks from the book, fuck me. goes from tragic romance to the saddest goddamn thing i've ever seen.

i think i like the sanitized american version better. but the swedish version is far, far more disturbing.


I've seen the Swedish version and not the American one, but I was intrigued by what you said, not remembering anything particularly noteworthy, so went to look it up on Wiki to discover that Eli was a dude! A castrated vampire, living with an old pedophile.

Somehow I managed to miss that entirely. I mean I surely noticed the flash of full frontal nudity of a 12 yr old, but I musta missed the disfigurement, as I was already awash in "WTF?!?" and wrote it off to Swedish weirdness, and I sure didn't wanna rewind it, to check it out in detail.

That certainly changes the context.

[Pyser]

I've seen the Swedish version and not the American one, but I was intrigued by what you said, not remembering anything particularly noteworthy, so went to look it up on Wiki to discover that Eli was a dude! A castrated vampire, living with an old pedophile.

Somehow I managed to miss that entirely. I mean I surely noticed the flash of full frontal nudity of a 12 yr old, but I musta missed the disfigurement, as I was already awash in "WTF?!?" and wrote it off to Swedish weirdness, and I sure didn't wanna rewind it, to check it out in detail.

That certainly changes the context.

is he a pedophile? i just assumed eli is OLD, and had recruited the old man caretaker in the beginning of the movie the same way she recruited the boy to be her new caretaker.

i suppose if i read the book this would be cleared up, but i didnt.

[Surtt]

I really liked True Grit but there were scenes in the film that seemed very out of place to me. And I did not like the ending much. Not the very ending but theKickback knocking her down a cave of snakes and all that that entailed.It felt shoe horned.
I'm sure it was supposed to be something Freudian, especially after she ended up being a spinster, but not sure what.

[NorvTurnerOverdrive]

is he a pedophile? i just assumed eli is OLD, and had recruited the old man caretaker in the beginning of the movie the same way she recruited the boy to be her new caretaker.

i suppose if i read the book this would be cleared up, but i didnt.
Håkan serves Eli, whom he loves, by procuring blood from the living, fighting against his conscience and choosing victims who he can physically trap, but who are not too young. Eli gives him money for doing this, though Håkan makes it clear he would do it for nothing if Eli allowed them to be physically intimate. Eli keeps the money in several boxes, along with a variety of different puzzles. These, apart from a few items of clothing and food, are all that fill the apartment. After several failures to acquire enough blood for Eli, Håkan offers to go out one last time if they can spend the night together. With the caveat that he may only touch Eli, they agree, but it is stipulated that Håkan must get the blood first.

wiki'd from the book and whether that was intended in the movie i can't say but it was certainly implied.

the story is tragic but when it becomes, 'vampire eunuch pretends to be girl to perpetually lure in lonely men as caretakers' it goes from sad to evil. just fucking kill yourself and stop with the endless murder and ruining peoples lives.

[stevew]

Salt 6.5/10

Plot was pretty crazy, but it worked. I watched the unrated extended cut, which is supposedly different than the theatrical.

[samifan24]

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - 4/10

I loved the quirkiness and the fact that it was so different--up to a point. Some of the fight scenes felt like they really interrupted the rest of the movie. I wanted to like this one, too.

[Bad-example]

Casino Royal (1967) - 4/10
I didn't think it was possible that this spoof could be worse than the more traditional version of a few years ago. I was wrong. There were some funny parts but ultimately this move was a total clusterfuck. Five directors worked on this one and man, it really shows.

[DaddyTorgo]

I never saw The Blind Side when it came out, but man it's one heartwarming story.

[ntndeacon]

How Green was My Valley(1941)-9/10
Another Ford masterpiece.I am kinda working my way through the best picture winneers and this was the next up. I loved following through the years in Wales. Walter pidgeon was great too!

[Groundhog]

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - 4/10

I loved the quirkiness and the fact that it was so different--up to a point. Some of the fight scenes felt like they really interrupted the rest of the movie. I wanted to like this one, too.

Ditto.

I think we're the only two people in the world who didn't love this.

[Alan T]

Ditto.

I think we're the only two people in the world who didn't love this.


three (four counting my wife).


I thought it was ok, but it was way more overhyped by everyone than it was worth. I went in expecting something great, and it was barely ordinary.

[tarcone]

Gone in 60 seconds (1974) - 3/10

What a huge disappointment. I remember this coming out when I was around 7 years old. I didnt get to see it. But lots of car crashes. Man, as a 7 year old. I was on board. Always wanted to see it. All my years. I still remembered wanting to see it. The new version came out. But I knew there was no way it matched the old version. Mind you, I never saw anything about the old version. Just what I thought I remembered. Then I found it on netflix. So I put it on the list. It finally came. 36 years after it came out. And I wanted to see it. 36 years of anticipation.
Man, it just wasnt good. Terrible acting. The car crashes were not good.
There were a couple of funny moments and on e kind of cool car moment. And a classic ending. But overall, I should have waited another 36 years.

[Mountaineer]

The Green Hornet 7/10

Should have been an 8/10, but I had to deduct 1 point because it was overpriced for me when I saw the 3D version. Do not waste your money on the 3D version of this movie.

I loved the old lady jokes about Cameron Diaz.

[Sgran]

The Deer Hunter 5/10

What a mess of a movie. Another case, from what I've read, of an asshole director who really needed someone to stand up to him and say "cut at least 30 minutes from this movie." There are some powerful moments of the film and the A-list actors do what they can, but in general it's unsatisfying and choppy. It's funny, because it felt to me like it was adopted poorly from a long novel, so I was surprised to learn it was an original script. I guess we're supposed to appreciate the fact that it was the first anti-war film set in Viet Nam, but it didn't really address any of the issues associated with the war itself. I liked that the characters were shown as flawed even before they set out, but having said that, I hate dimestore psychology and this movie had it in spades. Very disappointed in this "best picture".

[tyketime]

Soul Surfer - 7/10

The Tyke family went to see Soul Surfer last night. The quick synopsis is that this movie is based on the true story of a 14-year-old girl, Bethany Hamilton, who was a successful junior surfer. Her left arm was bitten off by a shark, and how she dealt with the aftermath, I was very entertained. I thought the movie did a great job of conveying how we define who each of us is as a person.

Now as it turns out, the Hamiltons are very religious, and the movie includes a fair amount of that. In fact, I had just read an article over the weekend where the Hamilton's "fought" with the movie studio to strike the right balance of faith portrayal in the movie. Link is here (http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/12/soul-surfer-opens-after-fights-over-depicting-faith/).

When I got home, I decided to read some of the reviews. I was surprised by the amount of negativity that this movie invoked in the critics. Many felt it was too preachy. (As a side note, while I was raised Christian, I actually feel more akin to the Unitarian Universalist set of beliefs. I also married a Jewish woman so we are an interfaith family.).

Without getting into the whole religion debate (unless we absolutely have to go there), I wonder if the same film was made, but the family was Jewish or Muslim, and they portrayed the equivalent scenes along with readings from the Torah or the Qur'an, whether the critics would have been as negative? It just struck me as odd that when you see a movie that is based on a true story, and by all accounts kept it real most of the time (stay for ending credits to really understand that point), why would you then object to that being included in the film?

[Honolulu_Blue]

[rec] - 8/10

I got this off Netflix many months ago. It sat on my shelf, like most of my Netflix DVDs, for months. I finally got around to watching it a few weeks ago.

It's a great horror movie. One of the best I have seen in a few years. It's Spanish, so there are subtitles. I think it's best described as a mix of "Blair Witch Project" - given that it's one of those first person/lost footage type films - "The Descent" - in terms of the claustrophobic atmosphere - and "28 Days Later" - in terms of the monsters.

The setup is pretty simple. The host of a Spanish reality show called "While You Were Sleeping", which apparently about night jobs or something, and her camera man are shooting an episode in which they follow a fire department around for an evening. There is a call to the fire department that there is a woman stuck in her apartment, so the host, the camera guy and two firemen respond and... mayhem.

There was a shot-for-shot U.S. remake called "Quarantine". I never saw it.

This film was excellent. Quite scary. Fast paced. Well done. And the thing at the end was the stuff of nightmares.

[Schmidty]

American Splendor - 9/10

I saw it quite a while ago, but I'm glad I watched it again. It reminded me how much Paul Giamatti kicks ass.

Oh, and Toby is hilarious. "Revenge of the Neeeeeeerds". And the wife comparing it to the "I Have a Dream Speech".

Great movie.



(That was the worst and most poorly written movie review ever, but I'm too lazy to fix it)

[JediKooter]

Tron Legacy - 6.5/10

Finally saw this. I wasn't as disappointed as I thought I would be, but, still a couple gripes.

Gripe 1: When Sam gets sent to the grid, there's virtually no transition. The original Tron had a great transition from the real world to the computer world.

Gripe 2: Good lord the effects used to make Flynn look young was absolutely horrible. Unless the shot was using heavy shadows or was not a close up, it completely took me out of the movie.

Not a bad plot over all. Acting was good in most places. Olivia Wilde was nice to look at. I actually enjoyed the sound track for the movie. A little disappointed with the ending, but, I think that is based on my preconceived notion on how I thought it should end.

I would have ranked this a seven or seven point five had the effects of young Flynn not been so bad and distracting.

[stevew]

Tron Legacy - 6.5/10

Finally saw this. I wasn't as disappointed as I thought I would be, but, still a couple gripes.

Gripe 1: When Sam gets sent to the grid, there's virtually no transition. The original Tron had a great transition from the real world to the computer world.

Gripe 2: Good lord the effects used to make Flynn look young was absolutely horrible. Unless the shot was using heavy shadows or was not a close up, it completely took me out of the movie.

Not a bad plot over all. Acting was good in most places. Olivia Wilde was nice to look at. I actually enjoyed the sound track for the movie. A little disappointed with the ending, but, I think that is based on my preconceived notion on how I thought it should end.

I would have ranked this a seven or seven point five had the effects of young Flynn not been so bad and distracting.

I'm about where you were rating wise. I thought the plot/writing were really bad, but I didn't mind the rest of the elements.

[JediKooter]

I'm about where you were rating wise. I thought the plot/writing were really bad, but I didn't mind the rest of the elements.

It definitely could have been better. How? I'm not sure, maybe include more things from the first Tron? There were no 'blue' colored characters in Tron Legacy, like there were from the first one. The first movie felt more like I was in the computer world. This one, not so much.

[Pumpy Tudors]

The last movie I saw was Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. I would give it a 4/10, as I found it to be confusing at times, and I deducted like 4 points because there weren't any dongs in it.

[stevew]

It definitely could have been better. How? I'm not sure, maybe include more things from the first Tron? There were no 'blue' colored characters in Tron Legacy, like there were from the first one. The first movie felt more like I was in the computer world. This one, not so much.

I never watched the first one.

[JediKooter]

I never watched the first one.

I really liked the first one. I recommend it. Plus, you can see why Kevin Flynn acts the way he does in the second one. Warning though, the look is vastly different.

[sterlingice]

I thought both Trons had the same basic problem- the plot is really shallow, even for an action movie. They both have excellent sound, good and distinct visuals, and mediocre action movie acting. I really like them because of the sound and visuals but, at the end of the day, they plot just isn't deep at all so you can only do so much with it.

SI

[JediKooter]

Well, they are Disney movies. :)

The first one was very entertaining to me, plus it was pretty original and believe it or not, groundbreaking at the time. I can deal with thin plots as long as it's entertaining, which the first one definitely is. The second one, was not as entertaining as the first though.

[sterlingice]

Sure and I enjoy both- but I mean shallow even for a generic movie. There's very little plot, very little character development- even most action movies try to throw in some generic plot twist or two. I suppose they tried in the second (tho if you saw the first, you knew to be looking for it all along). Again, still enjoyed, but can spot the problems

SI

[JediKooter]

I think you bring up a good point. I think we all see movies in a different way (no pun intended), that's why I think some people can't stand the Godfather because they talk too much, while others love it. Tron Legacy had potential, but, didn't live up to it.

[Swaggs]

I saw an interesting movie on demand last night and thought I'd post about it.

After.Life -- 6.5/10

It is kind of hard to give a summary without spoiling things, but the basic premise is that a young woman (Christina Ricci) has a fight with her boyfriend (Justin Long) and then dies in an auto accident as she is leaving him. Liam Neeson plays the mortician that is preparing the woman's body and they are able to communicate, with her obviously having trouble accepting her death and him helping her "make the transition" (in his words). There are some dark twists mixed in and it has a new twist on the somewhat familiar story.

In any case, if you like horror and dark movies, it is worth watching. It has some issues, but I enjoyed it and was pretty surprised by the ending (well, picked up on it maybe like 75% of the way through).

[Groundhog]

Watched a bunch of movies this past weekend.

Thor 3D - 8/10
I thought this was a strange choice of comic character for a movie, and during the first 10 mins I thought I was right as it looked real tacky, but as soon as Thor comes to Earth, I was sold. Enjoyable little movie, with a surprising amount of comedy that really helped to camp up the character and setting. Nothing world shattering, but I would watch again. Hemsworth and Hilldeston (Loki) were both solid.

The Town - 8.5/10
I know this was a pretty big movie at the time of release, but I really didn't know anything about it when I hit play. Enjoyable action flick.

The Mechanic - 4/10
About what you'd expect really. Ben Foster was a very odd choice for his role... not very believable, especially when he suddenly turned into a world class warrior after what I imagine was only a matter of weeks. And...


... a very unsatisfying ending. Foster killing Statham's character in revenge of his father, only to then also get himself killed by Statham post-mortum was a nice conclusion to the movie - and, after reading wiki, keeping with the original 70s version of the film. To then have Statham survive however was typical Hollywood BS that made no sense re: the story, and no doubt just came about because someone at the studio thought that the audience wouldn't like it if the lead died.

The Eagle - 7.5
Probably deserves a point or two lower grade, but I dig the Roman UK setting. The decision to have the Romans speak with American accents was also a bit odd considering the efforts to make the Northern tribesmen speak Gaelic. I hope it wasn't supposed to link the invading Romans as invader US political BS.

[JediKooter]

13 Assassins - 9/10

Great movie. That is all.

[Matthean]

Thor IMAX 3D. Save your money on the 3D. It's only really shown in Asgard and that's roughly half the time. It's a solid 2nd tier movie though and my initial reaction is around an 8.

[Neon_Chaos]

Anyone seen Fast Five? Great popcorn flick. They really outdid themselves with the shit they pulled off. Oh, and stick around til the credits end.

[DataKing]

Something for the Tolkien fans out there...

http://www.fathomevents.com/originals/series/lordoftherings.aspx

[fpres]

Exam (2008) - 8/10 -- 'Invigilator' is my new favorite word.

Moon (2009) - 10/10 -- Sam Rockwell makes this film. Very enjoyable.

[Matthean]

Exam (2008) - 8/10 -- 'Invigilator' is my new favorite word.

Moon (2009) - 10/10 -- Sam Rockwell makes this film. Very enjoyable.

Exam I think was a recommendation from a site I look at. An 8 is about right. I wanted to rate it higher, but couldn't justify it. I know some people didn't like Moon, but I think it might have been around my second favorite from that year.

[Dreghorn2]

Ditto.

I think we're the only two people in the world who didn't love this.

No you're not.

[rowech]

Wife wanted to see Bridesmaids so off we went. It's funny and I laughed several times but it's amazing how different a sense of humor men and women have. The theater was so loud at parts you couldn't hear the next lines and somehow it wasn't on the lines I considered the best. In addition, Kristen Wiig is sneaky hot.

[StrangeWay]

I agree with the 10 for Moon, amazing movie.
JUst watched My Blue Valentine- made me wanna slit my wrists but I guess that's cuz the acting was so good. Not a feel good movie by a long shot.

[SegRat]

I really enjoyed the performances in The Fighter as well. Christian Bale is just unreal. From the opening scene with the interview on the couch I knew he was going to be on a whole different level. Amy Adams was great as well.

I guess if I had to find a flaw... the boxing matches were pretty bad. Not that Wahlberg looked bad, but the fact that he gets absolutely pounded for eight rounds and then with a quick one-two it's game over. I'm not into boxing, so maybe that's common. Heck, maybe that's how his match was in real life. But when I was watching I just thought, "Really?" The final match was sort of like that as well.


But outside of the boxing scenes, the movie was fucking fantastic.

If that match was exaggerated, it was that Ward through more punches in the movie than he actually did in the fight. I remember watching that fight. Ward was throwing 2 to 5 punches a round. The ref warned him the last 2 rounds saying if he didnt start throwing punches he was going to end the fight. Middle of the last round of the fight, Ward had not thrown any punches. Then out of no where he throws 2 punches and the guy dropped like a rock. I have never seen anything like it and I watch a lot of boxing. After the fight Ward was jumping around like a mad man. I still cant believe how that fight turned his career around.

[terpkristin]

Finally getting around to watching Scott Pilgrim. Getting HBO for GoT has meant that I've ended up watching more movies.

Enjoying it so far, will probably rate it a 7 or 8 out of 10. Really what notches it up to 8 is the Zelda music in the transitions...

/tk

[terpkristin]

Dola,
Also watched He's Just Not That Into You courtesy of HBO. It's scary how much of my own disastrous dating life I see in it but also of some of my friends...the married couple in particular remind me of my best friend and her husband.

Also I like that it takes place in Baltimore.

/tk

[JonInMiddleGA]

PotC: On Stranger Tides - 7/10

The 2nd half of the movie saves it to a degree but roughly the first half was painfully bad. 1st portion was spent jumping from one so-so action set piece to the next, like watching a very extended preview reel. The conclusion, while very predictable in most ways, at least managed to tie the poorly developed story elements together so that it felt more like the earlier installments in terms of plot. Also seems likely that it was heavily edited, almost glaring in at least one case, just to get down to the 2:21 run time.

My rating is almost certainly influenced by having seen it in 2D for $5. If I had paid the $12-$16 for it I'd feel very ripped off.

[Matthean]

In addition, Kristen Wiig is sneaky hot.

She also wrote the the screenplay for the film.

[DataKing]

Pot Zombies (2 / 10): A Troma film about marijuana that turns people into green, glowing-eyed zombies. 'Nuff said.

[JediKooter]

Fast Five - 6.5/10

I have to admit, not a bad movie over all and this is not the kind of movie I would usually go out to the theater to see or see in general. Heck, I haven't even seen any of the previous installments in the franchise.

Lots of nice eye candy, including the cars. A bit too much over acting by The Rock, as he seems to be stuck in Saturday Night Live mode and that brings the movie down a few notches.

Over all, I don't think I wasted 10 bucks on my ticket.

[larrymcg421]

If that match was exaggerated, it was that Ward through more punches in the movie than he actually did in the fight. I remember watching that fight. Ward was throwing 2 to 5 punches a round. The ref warned him the last 2 rounds saying if he didnt start throwing punches he was going to end the fight. Middle of the last round of the fight, Ward had not thrown any punches. Then out of no where he throws 2 punches and the guy dropped like a rock. I have never seen anything like it and I watch a lot of boxing. After the fight Ward was jumping around like a mad man. I still cant believe how that fight turned his career around.

Here it is:

<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9yzxKAqA6uw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[JediKooter]

PotC: On Stranger Tides - 7/10

My rating is almost certainly influenced by having seen it in 2D for $5. If I had paid the $12-$16 for it I'd feel very ripped off.

Nailed it.

I would think that in the second decade of the 21st century that film makers would try and be a bit more creative with the technology by now instead of using the same 1950s 3D gimicks.

[Buccaneer]

I think they would but movie-goers does not want to pay $12-$16 for a ticket.

[JediKooter]

Exactly. Why pay that much for a ticket to see technology and techniques that are over 60 years old?

[Buccaneer]

I was making the point the other way around. If they choose to use more modern (expensive) technology, they would force the theatre to charge more than $12-$16 for all movies. (Not having been (nor care to go) to a 3D movie, I don't know what they charge now). My point is that they are trying to keep costs down and profits (as they are) up and since the public don't want to pay much, less expensive technology will have to be employed.

[JediKooter]

Ah, I see what you're saying. My main complaint is: I'm not paying that extra money to see the same gimmicks that Hitchcock was using in The Birds. I don't expect anything like the Holodeck from Star Trek, but, I would have thought that by now they could have come up with something a little bit more immersive than throwing pies at the audience.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Inglorious Basterds - 7 / 10

Yeah, I'm late in getting around to this one but well worth the time to watch, at least if you're a fan of QT's work. The somewhat lower rating comes from a thought that I couldn't quite shake while watching the movie: if you didn't know who QT was or what he does, this would be very strange stuff indeed, bordering on the ridiculous at times.

That said, the casting was absolutely remarkable. Both main Germans were ridiculously good IMO, the Englishman as well. Cameos ranging from Rod Taylor to Mike Myers were nice enough & avoided distraction.

Less gore & less language than the average Tarantino movie but that didn't hurt anything. It's almost fun to watch his work at this point just to catch his various signatures & this was no exception. I wouldn't recommend it as a first film of his to see but if you enjoyed the previous ones then this ought to work just fine.

The Story of Anvil - 8.5 / 10

Another late to the party movie for me, at least as far as watching it in one sitting. I'd watched bits & pieces during the hundreds of airings on VH1 but never really sat through it for long stretches. The description "a real-life Spinal Tap" is certainly apt, although I think that's what had me kind of avoiding the movie for so long & leads to the somewhat lower-than-the-critics rating from me. If you're a fan of the genre this is almost painful to watch, the absurdity of the European tour, the certifiably insane marriage that takes place afterwards (and was notably never touched upon again in the movie), the sad to the point of being pathetic existence of guys who really do seem to deserve a better fate in life. It's almost too much for me as someone who appreciates what these guys do, although knowing what happens to/for them in the five years since this was filmed helped ease that enough that I could finally watch. At times it brought to mind the sadness that went with watching parts of Decline of Civilization, Part 2. I'm okay with musicians not having perfect lives, it's just more than a little depressing to see so much of the misery I guess. It's a movie that's probably made better by knowing both the future as well as the backstory of how/why it was made, certainly neither takes anything away from it.

[Dreghorn2]

[quote=JonInMiddleGA;2476654]

The Story of Anvil - 8.5 / 10


Excellent recommendation and really (i guess) what this thread is all about.

Very very good, talk about reality TV, it doesn't get any more 'real' than this.

Brilliant editing by the filmmaker makes this documentary an outstanding watch, really enjoyed it.

[OldGiants]

Wife wanted to see Bridesmaids so off we went. It's funny and I laughed several times but it's amazing how different a sense of humor men and women have. The theater was so loud at parts you couldn't hear the next lines and somehow it wasn't on the lines I considered the best. In addition, Kristen Wiig is sneaky hot.

I had much the same experience as you. Wiig's mother (And my wife and I both had to wait for the credits to see the name Jill Clayburgh, "Oh, yeah!") talking about running AA meetings despite never having taken a drink in her life had me in stitches, but the rest of the theater was quiet.

As to Wiig being sneaky hot, could the 'sneaky' part be that the other women in the movie were largely unattractive? The bride, in particular, was everyday ugly. The chick from 'The Office' was her usual cute self, but the others were all well below Hollywood par.

[JediKooter]

Pirates of the Caribbean on Stranger Tides - 7.5/10

Slightly over 2 hours, so some people's attention spans may not be able to handle a movie this long. Not a whole lot of slow moments, the mermaids were hot, the dude who plays Blackbeard did an excellent job, story wasn't bad, and the end definitely left it open for a part 5.

I did not see this in 3D and quite honestly, didn't feel that I missed a thing. The story is decent enough to hold its own without the need for 3D.

[stevew]

While, not a movie I've seen, I didn't think this required its own thread. So...

They are fiming the (totally unnecessary) re-make of "Red Dawn" in Detroit. Between the tax credits available to filmmakers and the fact that Detroit already looks like a city that has been invaded by a hostile force, it's a good choice.

A large part of whatever they are filming is going on about a block from where I work. Over the last three days, there have been a number of sporadic explosions and sounds of small arms fire that can be heard (and sometimes felt) from my office. They also have made up one of the buildings across the way to look like the occupying force's (the Chinese) local police station.

I think I will head over and take a closer look during lunch.Any thoughts on how they replaced the Chinese with the North Koreans? I guess you can't be a movie baddie if your country has money to spend.

[Groundhog]

Any thoughts on how they replaced the Chinese with the North Koreans? I guess you can't be a movie baddie if your country has money to spend.

Here's an early shot of the North Korean navy:

http://www.celebmunk.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/homemade-submarine_011.jpg

[JediKooter]

Haha!!!

[Honolulu_Blue]

Any thoughts on how they replaced the Chinese with the North Koreans? I guess you can't be a movie baddie if your country has money to spend.

As to how they did it? I think they must just do all the editing digitally. It's a pretty stupid idea. Even the idea of China occupying America or the Russian/Cuban alliance in the original occupying America is far fetched, but North Korea? They are a tiny country with no real military power. As the picture above illustrates.

[Qwikshot]

Hangover 2

More of the same . It you enjoyed Hangover, you'll find the same plot line in Hangover 2 and therefore, it'll be quite enjoyable to you. This ain't a thinking man's movie, this is a sit back, tune out and just enjoy. There are a few laugh out loud moments. The camraderie between Galifinakis (who's even more unhinged here), Ed Helms and dreamy Bradley Cooper (my wife thinks so anyway) is nice and does make for an easier suspension of belief on things (though certain things that do occur during the movie make me question heartily how a wedding could take place afterwards). Remember this movie takes place in Bangkok so expect some humor to come from that. Mr. Chow makes a reappearance and does seem to steal the scenes he's in.

Hangover 3 is now in pre-planning stage, next location is Amsterdam.

[Matthean]

dreamy Bradley Cooper (my wife thinks so anyway)

So she's into guys who look like emus? :P

[Groundhog]

X-Men: First Class - 7.5/10

I was victim of the hype as it didn't quite measure up to what I was expecting. I have no problem with them changing the characters up - Shaw being a former-Nazi in particular is a fairly big change - nor with the make-up of the intial X-Men squad which, again to put it mildly, is rather different from the comics. I understand they are forging their own alternate Marvel universe.

I guess my main problem with the film is that they just tried to cram so damn much in. It felt like 3 hours of film edited down to 2. Definitely enjoyable though, and the tie-in to WWII and the Cold War was pretty cool.

It's sort of a reboot within the X-Men film world too, because we watched X-Men 1 when we got home from the cinemas last night, and a few things no longer make sense, two points stuck out for me in particular:


1) The first X-Men film is about the emergence of mutants and people's reactions to them. This is basically what First Class is about too, and I find it hard to believe that, 30-odd years later people still would be so clueless about mutants.
2) In X-Men 1, Xavier isn't aware of how Magneto is blocking his mental powers, despite the origin of the helmet (and Xavier being very aware of it) in First Class.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Bridesmaids 8/10

Very solid comedy. I really enjoyed it. Right up there on par with the "40 Year Old Virgin" and the other Apatowesque comedies. The ladies more than held their own. I definitely liked it more than "The Hangover."



As to Wiig being sneaky hot, could the 'sneaky' part be that the other women in the movie were largely unattractive? The bride, in particular, was everyday ugly. The chick from 'The Office' was her usual cute self, but the others were all well below Hollywood par.

Wiig is sneaky hot. Very much so. As for the rest of the cast. Rose Byrne, the actress who played Hellen, is hot and definitely on Hollywood par, if not above it. I agree, though, the other bridesmaids weren't all that attractive. Then again, it's a comedy. It's not like the leading/supporting men in most comedies are all that hot. Ben Stiller? Zack Galafinakis? Jonah Hill? Michael Cera? Seth Rogen? Definitely all below Hollywood par in terms of hunkiness I would imagine.

[JediKooter]

Super 8 - 7.5/10

Saw this last night and I really enjoyed it. Not an Oscar candidate, but, still very entertaining.The kids did an excellent job and played their parts very well. The movie will definitely remind you of early 80s movies like The Goonies and others, which isn't a bad thing in my opinion. I'd actually go see this movie again. I wouldn't take kids younger than 10 to go see this movie as it may be a bit too intense for them in some parts.

For those who are nit picky about every last detail, demand complete adherence to the natural laws of the physical world or don't understand that fictional movies are for entertainment purposes, you probably will hate this movie.


Hangover 2 - 6/10

Not a bad movie overall. Somewhat of a rehashing of the original, but, it still got some laughs out of me. Mr. Chow is hilarious in every scene he's in. This isn't Schindler's List or the Godfather or anything like that, it's just a movie you go to the theater, buy some popcorn and a drink and relax for a couple of hours and laugh a few times. Which is exactly what I did.

[rowech]

Super 8 - 7.5/10

Saw this last night and I really enjoyed it. Not an Oscar candidate, but, still very entertaining.The kids did an excellent job and played their parts very well. The movie will definitely remind you of early 80s movies like The Goonies and others, which isn't a bad thing in my opinion. I'd actually go see this movie again. I wouldn't take kids younger than 10 to go see this movie as it may be a bit too intense for them in some parts.

For those who are nit picky about every last detail, demand complete adherence to the natural laws of the physical world or don't understand that fictional movies are for entertainment purposes, you probably will hate this movie.


Hangover 2 - 6/10

Not a bad movie overall. Somewhat of a rehashing of the original, but, it still got some laughs out of me. Mr. Chow is hilarious in every scene he's in. This isn't Schindler's List or the Godfather or anything like that, it's just a movie you go to the theater, buy some popcorn and a drink and relax for a couple of hours and laugh a few times. Which is exactly what I did.

Pretty much right on for Super 8. It's a good, but not great movie. You will feel like you've seen a lot of it before but it's worth seeing, especially with your kids if they are 10-15 years old.

[Swaggs]

Catfish - 7/10

Finally caught this one on cable last night. The premise is that it is about a 20-something photographer in NYC who becomes involved with the family of an 8-year old painting prodigy (she paints his photographs) that live in Northern Michigan. As it progresses, he becomes friendly with the little girl's mother and develops a romantic relationship with the girl's sister. The relationship is documented (beginning after a few weeks) by his brother and roommate (who are filmmakers). There is, of course, an interesting twist at the end (more like from about a 1/3rd of the way through, but it develops more and more).

I enjoyed watching it, but I am probably penalizing it a point or so because the trailers made it appear considerably darker than it turned out to be. Still, a decent cable or Netflix watch.

[Groundhog]

Super 8 - 9/10
I really enjoyed this one. Yeah, it was basically Goonies in 2011, but that's not a bad thing. These were the sort of "kid's movies" we used to get when I was young, rather than this Spy Kids crap of the last decade or so.

[Julio Riddols]

Cedar Rapids : 8/10 - Ed Helms is classic Ed Helms in this one, and John C Reilly is excellent. Very funny movie about an insurance salesman (Helms) from a small town being sent on his first trip to a big city for an Insurance Salesman conference. All kinds of funny shit happens, and every character in the movie is great in their own way. Theres even a naked hug with Red from that 70s show. Can't miss.

The Loved Ones: 10/10 - From Australia, one of the best horror movies I have seen. Very original in my opinion, and thats hard for a horror movie to do. I was cheering at the end, and was satisfied immensely by the events that unfolded.

House Of the Devil: 9/10 - Another awesome horror film, filmed in the style of an old school horror flick, but very tense and creepy the whole way. a surprise, considering it sounded like a cheesy piece of shite based on the title alone.

Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil: 10/10 - See this. Simply put. I haven't laughed this hard in a while. Horror turned on its head.

[Neon_Chaos]

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

7/10

Saw it on 3d. The script was dumbed down from 2, it ran about 30 minutes too long, but I still had an awesome time.

[Matthean]

The script was dumbed down from 2

Well there's a ringing endorsement. :lol:

[Easy Mac]

Super 8 - 9/10 - Fuck, if this movie had come out when I was 10-15, I would have had a completely different life. Goonies and ET came out when I was an infant, and movies had changed by the time I was the age of these kids. I LOVED this movie more than any movie I've seen the last few years. The last quarter of the movie dragged a bit, but the first 3/4 of the movie was so spectacular that I didn't care.

Battle: Los Angeles - 2/10 - Man this was bad. I really wanted to like it, but the characters were so boring and annoying, that I just checked out on the movie early.

Paul - 6/10 - It was a fun time. Enjoyed Pegg and Frost, but it was just uneven.

And yes, I watched 3 alien movies in 1 day, completely by accident as well.

[Kodos]

I also thought Super 8 was fantastic. Best movie I have seen in a long time.

[ISiddiqui]

Just saw Super 8 tonight and loved it! But I haven't put up a bunch lately:

Thor - 6/10: It was ok, I guess. Perhaps if this came out before XMen1 or Spiderman 2, I would be more up on it. But it was just kinda pedestrian now. The fact that it is just a background story for his character on The Avengers movie next year comes through fairly clear.

X-Men: First Class - 9/10: Loved it! Just wonderful casting and acting. And the parallels with the gay rights movement are obvious, but make the movie better instead of worse. They did a great job the origin stories of the XMen and brought the old comic costumes back :D.

Midnight in Paris - 9/10: A brilliant Woody Allen movie, full of wit and whimsy. Loved the "magical" element and the casting of those people was just perfect. It really was done so well and the message was absolutely brilliant and, IMO, necessary for a wideswath of people who look with nostalgia to the 50s or 60s these days.

Super 8 - 8/10: Excellently done movie. I love the early 80s style action movies, where they don't show you the baddy right away, but allow the action and tension to build and build and build before the payoff. The kids were casted just right (and I KNEW I recognized the girl, because she's Dakota Fanning's younger sister and looks very much like her... esp in the eyes) and Kyle Chandler can't do anything wrong, IMO. They just don't make movies like that anymore and its a shame.

[JediKooter]

Transformers 3 - 8/10

I would have given it a higher rating, but, Megan Fox's replacement was just weird looking and irritating. Some funny moments in it and the voice of Sentinel Prime did a damn good job. Highly entertaining movie all in all and that's my number 1 requirement of any movie I see.

I'm glad I did not see it in 3D. There wasn't one scene that I can think of that would have benefited from being in 3D. I mean, unless you like the tired 1950s gimick of things flying at you.

Bonus (for me at least): My cousin was in it, he had maybe a grand total of 30 frames of screen time. Still cool to see though.

[korme]

Weird looking? Wow

[JediKooter]

She has a really weird looking face. Body is fantastic. Face...not so much.

[molson]

Super 8: 8/10

Thanks for the recommendation FOFC, this might have been under my radar if not for reading about it here. It really was a throwback, I had that post-movie "that was fun" feeling I associate with childhood. And with that, I don't mean to degrade it as some kind of "popcorn flick" - these days a lot of bad movies get that pass, "hey, it was a fun summer movie." This was definitely better than that.

Tree of Life: 6/10

Ambitious and unique and I liked it but I just didn't quite connect with it. I liked the poetic aspects - the montages, I liked the acting and the depiction of 50s family life - but those two elements just didn't mesh up for me to where I had any kind of real reaction to it.

[Honolulu_Blue]

She has a really weird looking face. Body is fantastic. Face...not so much.

I agree. I find her face very weird looking and really not that attractive. Her face is like some mish-mash of attractive features that should come together very nicely, but just don't at all.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Captain America: 8/10
I really enjoyed this movie, but as has been noted earlier in the thread, I'm quite easy to please. I also didn't read the comic books, so I have no idea how true to the story they stayed. I would have given it a higher rating, but all I could think about throughout the movie was "This is what Star Wars would have looked like if it were set in 1940's Europe." Not at all a bad thing, but definitely strange.

The movie was much funnier than I anticipated (I love Tommy Lee Jones in roles like this), and the one-liners were crisp and delivered well. Not sure I enjoyed the ending, but I see why they did it.

[stevew]

Super 8 8/10 Took my 12 year old with me to the theatre, I think I enjoyed it more than she did. I like how it was a kids movie, but the kids weren't the typical "look at how funny i am" retarded stuff that you see now.

[ISiddiqui]

Captain America - 7/10: It was good, but overly silly at times. I thought the casting was good (esp Tommy Lee Jones) and the one liners were pretty sharp. Enjoyable, but an appetizer for the 2012 Avengers movie.

[sterlingice]

Aren't we to that point with everything except maybe the first Iron Man: everything else has seemed like an appetizer or prologue for the Avengers movie (Iron Man 2, Thor, Hulk with Ed Norton, and now Captain America). Inevitably, it has to be some sort of letdown, right?

Sadly, I've bought in to the hype as well and I can't help but worry about how bad the Avengers movie won't be able to live up to me watching 5 mediocre to pretty good movies as a prequel to it.

SI

[ISiddiqui]

I think the only reason I saw Thor at all was because of the Avengers movie... which is probably exactly what they were going for.

[Groundhog]

I'm sure they will make the usual mistake of trying to treat all characters equally within 90-120 mins runtime, especially considering it's a "name" actor for all of them.

[Julio Riddols]

The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle - 9/10 - I really was very pleasantly surprised by this film. The great intro drew me in, then the first thing that happens (When the guy opens the message in a bottle) hooked me. After that it was a long and increasingly funny ride til a somewhat sloppy ending.. But overall, very unique and entertaining and pretty damn funny.

As for the synopsis: A young idealist who seems to have a new religion every week gets a job as a janitor and then he and his fellow janitor cohorts take part as guinea pigs in a cookie taste test.. Well, there is more to these cookies than meets the eye. A trippy journey ensues, culminating in one of the more bizarre experiences possible.

[Julio Riddols]

Oh, forgot a couple..

Win Win - 9/10 - Classic Paul Giamatti role in this film. Synopsis from RT: Paul Giamatti headlines writer/director Tom McCarthy's comedy drama centering on a beleaguered attorney and part-time wrestling coach who schemes to keep his practice from going under by acting as the legal caretaker of an elderly client. Mike Flaherty (Giamatti) thinks he has discovered the perfect loophole to keep his practice in business. But his brilliant plan hits an unexpected hitch when his client's troubled grandson shows up looking for a place to stay. With his home life in turmoil and both of his careers in jeopardy, Mike quickly realizes that he'll have to get creative in order to find a way out of his current predicament.

Black Death - 7/10 - Solid film starring Sean Bean, this movie is like Lord of the Rings meets The Wicker Man.

The Adjustment Bureau - 8/10 - I am a fan of Philip K. Dick, and this is probably the best film made based on one of his works. Very interesting premise, and not cheesy like it could have been. Lots of action with little violence and some decent laughs in places.

[DataKing]

Aren't we to that point with everything except maybe the first Iron Man: everything else has seemed like an appetizer or prologue for the Avengers movie (Iron Man 2, Thor, Hulk with Ed Norton, and now Captain America). Inevitably, it has to be some sort of letdown, right?

Sadly, I've bought in to the hype as well and I can't help but worry about how bad the Avengers movie won't be able to live up to me watching 5 mediocre to pretty good movies as a prequel to it.

SI

I have faith in Joss Whedon.

[sterlingice]

I have faith in Joss Whedon.

I have hope but he is hopelessly overrated. Fortunately, for Iron Man 2 and Thor, I saw them at the $2 theater here in Indy and Hulk I just saw on FX one of the last couple of weekends. So the money invested isn't too great

SI

[Honolulu_Blue]

I have hope but he is hopelessly overrated. Fortunately, for Iron Man 2 and Thor, I saw them at the $2 theater here in Indy and Hulk I just saw on FX one of the last couple of weekends. So the money invested isn't too great

SI

Joss Whedon is appropriately rated.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Captain America - 6/10. I didn't hate. Didn't love it. It was actually a very dull, by the numbers movie. I zero emotional engagement with anything that was happening on screen. I liked the casting. I thought Chris Evans did a great job as Cap. Tommy Lee Jones was good, but he was just playing Tommy Lee Jones. I thought they captured the spirit and essence of the character pretty well. His fight scenes were fine, but still the movie really didn't stir me in the slightest.

I am looking forward to the Avengers movie. I just can't wait to see how they try and make all of these various disparate characters and powers work together: Hulk, Thor, Cap, Iron Man. Should be fun, though it will probably be a bit of a mess. Just too much.

Still, I think it's in good hands. Whedon is directly responsible for some of my favorite "shows" of all time in Buffy, Firefly, Angel and Dr. Horrible. His run on "Astonishing X-Men" was also fantastic. While I am a proud Whedonite, I am not a slavering fanboy. I didn't think "Dollhouse" worked all that well. Still, Whedon has provided me some of the best characters, dramatic, comedic and emotional moments on TV. Hopefully he can be successful with "Avengers."

[JediKooter]

Cowboys and Aliens - 6/10

Not a bad movie overall, just not quite what I was expecting. Not as action packed as I thought it would be. Ford and Craig were good in their roles. Something was missing though, that I still haven't really been able to put my finger on, that I feel would have brought the movie up to the next level. It may have been the script, however, the acting wasn't bad and the visuals were very good.

I'm not sure how well this movie is going to do at the box office. It's no Super 8. I had no problems with the mixing of the genres, since I love westerns and sci-fi, which made it easy to suspend my disbelief.

I think maybe one of the problems I had was the reveal of the aliens. I understand they didn't want to slow the pace of the movie, but, the reveal that the aliens were on earth was too in your face, in my opinion. Unlike Close Encounters, there just wasn't that mysterious feel to it.It was literally, BOOM, aliens are here!

[Groundhog]

Captain America - 7/10
I hoped for better, but it was still enjoyable, if a little long. Tommy Lee Jones definitely bumped it up a grade or two, even if he was just being Tommy Lee Jones. I usually rate Hugo Weaving but he was the weak link here, though the issue was more the character he was playing than his acting IMO.

Black Death - 6.5/10
Thanks to Game of Thrones I'm on a bit of a Sean Bean kick, and he plays the gruff warrior in this film pretty well, although with a good dash of dark, medieval piety. I think this was a pretty solid enough idea for a movie, especially given the main theme is religion. It handles it evenly enough, and it was pretty enjoyable in parts, but I thought it came off looking a little cheap/low-budget at times to its detriment. The epilogue was an unexpected turn to the tale, but felt a little tacked on and out of place. Definitely worth watching if you enjoy the medieval setting.

[stevew]

Source Code- 8/10 Skeptical about any movie that would feature Jake Gyllenhaal, but it was actually really good. Plus I really like Vera Fermiga. Don't know if they will ever make a sequel, but I'd be into it.

[Scoobz0202]

Source Code- 8/10 Skeptical about any movie that would feature Jake Gyllenhaal, but it was actually really good. Plus I really like Vera Fermiga. Don't know if they will ever make a sequel, but I'd be into it.

I enjoyed the movie till the end. Just seemed like a cop out.

[Julio Riddols]

Blood Simple - 9/10 - Have the Coen brothers ever made a bad film? I submit that they have not.

[Pyser]

Blood Simple - 9/10 - Have the Coen brothers ever made a bad film? I submit that they have not.

i submit that you have not seen the ladykillers

[Landshark44]

I just took my boys to see "Rise of the Planet of the Apes".....

We all thought they could have spread the action sequences out a little. A little too much plot in the first hour, and then everything cool happens in the last 15 minutes. It was OK, I was kind of hoping for better..

[Groundhog]

Rise of the Planet of the Apes - 9/10

Gotta disagree, I loved this. I'm a huge fan of the original movies, and this far exceeded my expectations. Loved the nods to the original films as well.

[Julio Riddols]

i submit that you have not seen the ladykillers

Ok. I will agree it wasn't on par with the rest of their work.. But it wasn't total shit either. Nice submission though, it was forgettable enough that I had forgotten it.

[wade moore]

Rise of the Planet of the Apes - 9/10

Gotta disagree, I loved this. I'm a huge fan of the original movies, and this far exceeded my expectations. Loved the nods to the original films as well.

I'm with you.

[JediKooter]

Rise of the Planet of the Apes - 7/10

Not a bad movie. Not a great movie though. The movie earned a lower score due to the special effects. Long story short, too video game-ish than natural looking, in regards to how the apes moved.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

Hobo with a Shotgun - 3/10

Winkingly bad 70s exploitation homage. No amount of winking made it worth anything, though.

[Logan]

Crazy, Stupid, Love - 9/10 (if you're being forced into it by your woman); 7/10 (on it's own merit)

A movie titled like this that actually ends up entertaining is a massive hit for me. Great cast, plenty of legitimate comedy, and a couple nice surprises towards the end. Points lost because it definitely got a little long in the last third, plus one storyline just being too weird for me.

[tyketime]

The Help - 9/10

I read the book and thought it was excellent. The movie was phenomenal! An incredible cast that is sure to score an Oscar nomination or two (I hope the Academy is looking at you Viola Davis). At times, the movie will make you laugh, angry, and sad. As far as I recall, the movie remains quite faithful to the book. The Tykes highly recommend it!

[stevew]

Hobo with a Shotgun - 3/10

Winkingly bad 70s exploitation homage. No amount of winking made it worth anything, though.

I finally gave up when the camera man made him eat glass. I'm sure I missed more carnage from that point forward but it was just so awful. I couldn't even hold out until the title became true. Still love Rutger Hauer tho.

[terpkristin]

Watched Space Camp today. Even as improbable and campy as it was, for pure nostalgia I'd give it a 7/10.

/tk

[Vince, Pt. II]

Drive - 6?/10

I'm going to have to revisit this rating, as I'm completely unsure of how I feel about this movie. It was not at all what I expected...though to be honest, I didn't give the movie much thought until we went. I went in assuming there would be a lot of driving and cool stunts. There wasn't. There were numerous excessively long pauses in the dialogue that crossed the line from dramatic to awkward, in my opinion. The movie is also gory to a nearly gratuitous degree; most, if not all, of the scenes in which gore happens (and there are several as the movie goes on) it seems to be completely unnecessary. It would have been the same movie with the gore happening off-screen.

That being said, the soundtrack was a bit different, and I enjoyed it. And the cinematography impressed me as well (disclaimer: I know next to nothing about cinematography). There did end up being a couple (I think exactly two) car "chase" scenes that were somewhat impressive.

Long story short - not what I expected, good story, weird pauses in the dialogue, excessive gore, good soundtrack and cinematography. Might bump it up to a 7 after some reflection, but right now I'm still trying to digest the difference between what I expected and what I got.

[Matthean]

Drive is one of the movies that critics love, but movie goers are lukewarm on. I'll likely see it via Netflix.

[Vince, Pt. II]

I honestly think that if I see it again, I'd like it more.

[albionmoonlight]

Caught Hot Tub Time Machine on Nexflix this weekend.

Really funny film. Just the right amount of taking itself seriously.

"It's so black. So impossibly black." Good stuff.

[Chief Rum]

Moneyball-- 8/10

And I might be underselling it. It's not an exciting movie or nothing, but it's an interesting watch. I think Brad Pitt did a good job with it, too, enough so that I eventually got over the fact that he's way too good looking to be Billy Beane.

It's not the kind of movie you lump with other well-liked baseball movies, like a Bull Durham or Field of Dreams. It's a different sort of movie. So not sure where to put it in among that group. I think those movies are more fun and/or emotional. Given its analytical subject matter, I think it's appropriate the Moneyball is abit heady and quieter, more introspective, although the script does a good job of humanizing the process Beane goes through in introducing sabremetric analysis to organizational baseball decision-making.

I also think it had an even bigger impact for me personally because I root for a team that was the antithesis of Beane's Moneyball A's teams, and that team in fact won the World Series in the year the film focuses on. So a bit of irony there.

I would recommend it for thinking man's baseball fans.

[rowech]

50/50 (8/10) -- Was a little slow in parts and some scenes felt a bit forced but overall, I thought it was a really good movie in showing someone go through cancer but at the same time keep their humanity. Joseph Gordon-Levitt should get an Oscar nomination for it.

[Matthean]

The Town. Ben is working on carving himself out a nice career as a screenplay writer and director. Somewhere in the 9-10 range just because at first glace I can't recall anything bad standing out.

[Suicane75]

I'm with you.

My take on Rise Of The Planet Of Apes is that it's a really badly written, hacky story, but told and shot marvelously. If that makes any sense.

And the moment
When he says "get your hands off me you damn dirty ape" I groaned and rolled my eyes only to think "Nooooooo!!!" was the coolest movie moment I've seen in a long time, just a split second later.

[JediKooter]

The Thing (Prequel) 4.5/10

This would have probably gotten a 6 out of 10, but... I can't forgive a major continuity error.

I actually rather enjoyed the performances by the Norweigan cast and the others, except for Eric Christian Olsen - IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0647638/) . Just a horrible actor (at least in this movie).

What did I like? It definitely had some scary moments for sure, that's hard to do nowadays. It was shot really well in my opinion and the story itself wasn't that bad. I'll leave it at that as to not give away anything.

As for what I didn't like? I'm sorry, but, a good portion of the digital effects just weren't up to snuff. I think I would have prefered the in camera practical effects like in the 1982 The Thing much better.

Now for what it is hidden in the Spoiler tag above...
They didn't blow up the space ship!! They didn't do it! WTF!?!?!? They included all these other continuity easter eggs all throughout the movie and left out one of the biggest plot points in the 82 movie! Had they not missed that, this movie would have been a solid 6 or 6.5, but, they completely dropped the ball.

As for the special effects...a lot of them just looked flat and out of place image quality wise. You could tell they were fake. Some (very few) were done very well. The rest just looked way too video game-ish and flat (2D flat) like someone just photo shopped the effects in.

At any rate, I'd recommend this as a 'wait for it to come out on video'.

[molson]

50/50 (8/10) -- Was a little slow in parts and some scenes felt a bit forced but overall, I thought it was a really good movie in showing someone go through cancer but at the same time keep their humanity. Joseph Gordon-Levitt should get an Oscar nomination for it.

I liked that one too. As good an actor as Gordon-Levitt is, I think Seth Rogan made this work by keeping things from getting too serious/insufferable/pretentious. For some reason I think the emotions of fighting cancer came through more clearly because you could see it through the eyes of the crass and profane Rogan - that made it more real somehow. I'd agree with 8/10.

Also,

Moneyball, 7/10.

I would have enjoyed it more, of course, if they delved more into the operations of running a baseball team, and the philosophies employed by Beane and the A's,, but I understand they needed to go for mainstream consumption and I still enjoyed it. Still, it's not much of a narrative story - the big moment is the 20-game win streak, which really (as the movie even admitted in one line), is just a pretty random circumstance, and it doesn't even really do what the A's accomplished justice (and I don't even worship Beane as much as some). In the theater, I actually heard kind of a gasp/slight laughter when they lost to the Twins at the end. It was like, "really, all that, that whole story, and they still couldn't win in the playoffs?" Though, as a Sox fan, I enjoyed the use of 2004 world series win to "prove" the success of moneyball, and the depiction of John Henry was amusing.

[spleen1015]

Real Steel 7/10

My kids took me to see this yesterday for my birthday. I thought it was pretty decent for what it was. For whatever reason, I liked the robot boxing sequences a lot. I want my own bowing robot.

Some of it was definitely over cheesy, but I expected that.

[Chief Rum]

I would think a bowing robot would be kinda boring.

Now, a boxing robot on the otherhand...

[fpres]

Paranormal Activity 3 (7/10) -- It seemed a little forced at times, but it still provided some chills and it did answer most of the questions I had from the first two films. If you've seen the first two PA movies, it's probably worth checking this one out.

[Julio Riddols]

Melancholia - 8/10 - One of the coolest endings and most interesting premises I have seen.. Beautiful to look at, but the story itself sort of just meandered along building up to the finale. The kind of movie that makes you ask questions and think about what you just saw.

Red State - 7.5/10 - I really liked this one, even though its an action thriller by Kevin Smith which you might not think he can pull off.. But he does and the preacher character is one of the most memorable characters I have seen recently.

Crazy Stupid Love - 8/10 - Pretty solid comedy/drama. The interaction between Gosling and Carell is really good even if it is a bit reminiscent of 40 year old virgin. Also, a little screentime for Marisa Tomei is always a plus.

Drive - 10/10 - Outstanding. Gosling has become an actor I will be watching for in the future. This movie is so much better than the title might imply. Intense.

[Young Drachma]

Margin Call (2011) - 24 hours in the Wall Street Crisis. Really engrossing. Slow, but a good watch and a great cast.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Lars and the Real Girl: 5/10

I don't like it when the description on a movie's DVD case makes the movie seem funnier than it is. The movie was fine, but I think I laughed out loud twice, and the description really billed it as a comedy. I mean, I got what they were going for, but it wasn't what I expected. This is one of those movies that I can say I've seen, but I doubt I'll ever want to watch it again.

[Julio Riddols]

The Woman - 8/10 - If you can make it through the first 20 minutes or so you will be rewarded with a pretty wild flick. It is pretty gory and pretty far fetched, but very unique. Kind of a horror/suspense mix.

A Perfect Host - 9/10 - Watching Niles Crane play a character like this was a treat. Its about a guy who commits a robbery and while on the run decides to go into a strangers house to hide. Turns out this stranger has some secrets that are a bit more than the thief bargained for. Great twist at the end.

[moriarty]

Unknown (not the Liam Nielson one) - 8.5 / 10

Sometimes a movie really catches you by surprise. I knew nothing about this movie, but picked it up as a Netflix recommendation (yes, I didn't cancel despite the Qwikster debacle).

Here's what it says on the back of the envelope "Five men wake up in a locked-down warehouse with no memory of who they are. They are forced to figure out who is good and who is bad to stay alive."

Early on we learn that 3 men are kidnappers and 2 are kidnappees, but since no one has any memory ... no one knows whose side they are on. Adding to the suspense is the rest of the team is returning soon and will likely kill the kidnapees. Do they all work together to escape? Do they wait it out and take their chances? Whom do you trust?

The cast is surprisingly strong (why haven't I heard of this movie?):
Greg Kineear
Bridgette Moynahan
Joe Pantoliano
Barry Pepper ... and more.

Ultimately the 'reveal' comes a bit too early for my liking, and not sure how I feel about the end ... but I'm a sucker for these amnesia/suspense/whodunit type thrillers and you can definitely find worse ways to spend 90 minutes.

[ISiddiqui]

The Muppets - 9/10: Fan-freaking-tastic. Just excellent pacing and story with great songs. The camoes are great and a great trip down nostalgia boulevard. A lot of really, really clever jokes (which will likely go over younger kids heads). Jason Segel is really making a great name for himself as lead actor and writer.

[Scoobz0202]

J. Edgar - 9.9/10

Damn near perfect. If Leo doesn't win best leading actor they should stop giving out the awards.


I really need to get to the theater to watch this. I watched the trailers countless times and set out to watch it, but I got busy with moving and didn't get to. Though I confess that i often times too easily to not watch a movie due to certain reviewers opinions. I've seen more then a few reviewers say it was underwhelming. But, I am a huge Leo fan whom roots hard for him to finally get that fucking oscar. I should just go watch the damn movie already.

[Swaggs]

The Muppets - 9/10: Fan-freaking-tastic. Just excellent pacing and story with great songs. The camoes are great and a great trip down nostalgia boulevard. A lot of really, really clever jokes (which will likely go over younger kids heads). Jason Segel is really making a great name for himself as lead actor and writer.

I thought Segel was really good hosting SNL last week.

[Autumn]

We took the kids to The Muppets and all really enjoyed it. I actually thought the editing was a bit off -- the editing of the trailers was much better, the comedic pacing better, etc. But it was certainly a ton of fun, and an audience pleaser, people were clapping after the numbers. The jokes about us old fogies were funny.

[Matthean]

RE: Muppets

I only had an issue with some of the songs. The rap was...stomach turning for me. I loved pretty much the rest of the movie.

[stevew]

Machete:7/10.

Some of the scenes were pretty inspired. Of course it is way way over the top, but it works. Trejo is almost always good. Jessica Alba and Michelle Rodriguez were surprisingly tolerable. At times it swerves into heavy handed theoretical immigration debates. But it realizes that we really just want to see hilarious graphic violence. It's on Cinemax this month if you wanna check it out.

[Vince, Pt. II]

The Muppets - 9/10

Loved it. The rap was indeed stomach clenching, but it was short enough that I chuckled a little at the end of it. Cameos were great, pacing was great, story was great, music was great. Would watch it again.

[samifan24]

Horrible Bosses- 8/10

To be honest I wasn't expecting much from this one but found it pretty funny. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Charlie Day was hilarious and made the movie for me. Jennifer Aniston was surprisingly good, too. This was the best "hard R" I've seen since The Hangover. Worth a Redbox rental at least.

[molson]

I really need to get to the theater to watch this. I watched the trailers countless times and set out to watch it, but I got busy with moving and didn't get to. Though I confess that i often times too easily to not watch a movie due to certain reviewers opinions. I've seen more then a few reviewers say it was underwhelming. But, I am a huge Leo fan whom roots hard for him to finally get that fucking oscar. I should just go watch the damn movie already.

The two big critiques I've heard are: bad makeup, and lack of a coherent story. I didn't have any problem with either one. Was the makeup bad? I don't even really know. I guess we're pretty spoiled by special effects and maybe it wasn't 100% realistic, but whatever, it's fine a production that in a lot of ways, would work as a play. As for the lack of a coherent story, that's probably true, but it's something different - a sweeping biography. It doesn't have one specific connecting theme really, but so what, neither did the John Adams HBO mini-series. It's that kind of biography, which aims to give you a ton of information about the guy's life, from which you can find your own narratives.

[DataKing]

J
The Muppets 10/10

Movie of the year. It hits every mark perfectly, the cameos are phenomenal, the storyline is brilliant, and the acting/dancing/music is fabulous. That might the most fun I've had in a theater in my life. People actually started swaying to the music for one song.

Mah Na Mah Na...

[sterlingice]

The Muppets - 9/10

My wife and I saw it on Monday. And, for some background- I wasn't a huge fan growing up but was familiar with them.

You know what- I'll start with the bad. As someone said above (Autumn, I think), the editing needed help as it ran a bit uneven - there was no need to go back to Smalltown and, in general, some of the emotional moments towards the end were not nearly as clean as in the first half. Also, the music was a disappointment, I thought. The musical scenes were well executed but the new songs themselves were positively mediocre and the rap was just bad (mostly tongue in cheek, I know). And some of the cameos were just random. If the editing was better, this is a 10 without question.

Everything else, the movie did really well. It's ridiculously emotionally manipulative- like Toy Story 3 level- and in a good way. It's a heartfelt movie made for our "modern" time. I mean, really- imagine trying to pitch this to a modern movie exec: "So, an evil oil baron wants to destroy a puppet theater and the only thing they can do to save it is to pull together and put on a telethon. There is no foul language and just good clean fun but parents and kids will both like it." What decade do you picture that being from? That's the 80s, not now, and it's good to see some of that make a comeback (I'd argue the most recent Rocky had more heart than a movie from the 2000s should, too).

Segel and Adams play very well with the Muppets- mostly one dimensional characters but the idea was to have the Muppets steal the show and it worked great. It's a cliche story- everyone's fallen on hard times and there's some guilt and everyone needs to be gathered back together for a comeback- but it /is/ the Muppets story and fits them perfectly. Some of the gags were awesome (travel by map, the montage and Ralph's story, etc) and most were at least a little funny. They get huge kudos for pulling off quality humor all while never once venturing into the crude and dirty jokes that seems to pass for humor now, even with younger audiences. Even the maligned fart shoes worked: the first joke "hey look, fart shoes" was a throwaway gag but it was seamlessly woven into the movie later on "not now, Fozzie", which was one of the funnier lines. And there was a decent amount of humor for the parents that wasn't spoon fed to kids- I really miss smart humor where you have to be paying attention.

So, in short- it was warm and touching but also smart and funny without being crude with only some mediocre editing. The world needs more movies like this.

SI

[Matthean]

The rap was...stomach turning for me.

Learned something that kind of smoothed over some things.

Tex Richman actually reveals that as a kid, the Muppets performed at his birthday party. The problem is, Tex was physically incapable for laughing, which caused the kids at the party to laugh at him instead. This was also why, after Gonzo nails him in the head with a bowling ball in the ending, you see him laughing... Gonzo actually managed to remove the block, and this is also why kept saying "Maniacle Laugh", because he literally could not laugh.

[Julio Riddols]

I thought Segel was really good hosting SNL last week.

Andre the Giant ordering ice cream.

Tabloid: 8/10 - A documentary about a girl who meets a mormon guy and follows him to England that takes some interesting and awesome turns along the way. It focuses a lot on how the tabloids reacted to her story. Shes like the female Forrest Gump in some ways. Really interesting stuff.

Martha Marcy May Marlene - 7/10 - Went into this expecting to really really like it, but the ending made me mad as hell. It builds and builds and builds and there is no payoff at all, but the acting was outstanding.

50/50 - 9/10 - Loved this film all the way through. Funny, serious when it needs to be, and sweet as well. An amazingly pulled off cancer-comedy feel good film that will make you want to hug your lady and thank your friends for being friends.

[Atocep]

Arthur Christmas - 8/10

Surprisingly a very good movie. At no point did I find myself thinking the movie was dragging on too long, which is rare for me when the boy picks a movie to go see. Just an all around solid holiday film that's very clever at times.

[Matthean]

War Horse. I have seen some mixed/negative reviews on this and to be honest, I can see why. It doesn't take a risk and it's so scripted you virtually see every move coming a million miles away. Everything fits so darn nearly perfectly together I'm actually kind of surprised one minor plot line isn't tied into the end in a way for the complete super mega happy ending. Oh, it's beautiful as hell and the production of it is top notch as Spielberg is doing his best to make it as Oscar friendly as he knows how. Too bad it's completely forgettable. Highlights include the personalty of the horses. No really, they outdo any human actor and one scene between two soldiers and War Horse.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - 7/10

I literally finished reading the book last week, and was looking forward to the film. I think they did a pretty good job of adapting it from the book, although there were a couple changes I didn't understand the necessity for. It starts pretty slow, though that should be expected with this sort of film. They do a good job in the middle of the movie building tension and getting you invested. Where they really killed it, though, was the big reveal at the end. It came across...flat. You're building the suspense up for the entire movie, and the payoff is severely lacking.

Spoiler tags for those who have read the book:They changed the scene in which Prideaux meets with the supposed Russian defector from the woods to a random coffee shop - I thought that the change was unnecessary and contributed to the slow start of the film. While opening with him ditching his tail in the clothing shop, forcing the driver at gunpoint to walk to the cabin dressed as him and then a helter skelter run through the woods ending with him being shot would probably not have set the suspenseful tone as well, it would have gotten people invested a lot more quickly. Also, there's a scene near the end after everything is largely wrapped up where George goes home and finds Ann there, and I was very annoyed at it.

[Buccaneer]

Time for my annual movie catch-ups

Cars 2 (7/10) - Cars 1 is my favorite Pixar movie of all time. I thought Cars 2 was a lot of fun but pretty stupid (as in shallow story and lacking the charm of Cars 1). I love Mater but not in huge doses.

[ISiddiqui]

The Adventures of TinTin - 9/10: So much fun! A great Indy-esque story with great characters and voice acting and MY LORD, the animation. Everything just worked together and it included one of the greatest chase scenes I've ever seen, in any type of movie. Also was pretty funny.

Sherlock Homes: A Game of Shadows - 6/10: Great acting and casting, but just gets a bit dull and dragged out in the middle. The first was way better, but this is decent enough.

[Grover]

The Adventures of TinTin - 9/10: So much fun! A great Indy-esque story with great characters and voice acting and MY LORD, the animation. Everything just worked together and it included one of the greatest chase scenes I've ever seen, in any type of movie. Also was pretty funny.


Yes! Went and saw this today, absolutely fantastic.

[sterlingice]

Time for my annual movie catch-ups

Cars 2 (7/10) - Cars 1 is my favorite Pixar movie of all time. I thought Cars 2 was a lot of fun but pretty stupid (as in shallow story and lacking the charm of Cars 1). I love Mater but not in huge doses.

Just saw this over the holidays, too. I think I'd rate it a 7, too- low for Pixar. But the first Cars movie is one of my lower rated Pixar movies, too- just a lack of depth all around. I was happy they didn't just sequel-ize this one and went in a different direction. But, it's still pretty shallow and I think the Cars movies hit at a slightly younger demographic that I'm a big fan of (I tend to like the age 8~10 stuff as opposed to the 5~7 this seems geared towards).

SI

[Pyser]

Tree of Life

uh, what? 6/10 i guess. was pretty at least.

[Julio Riddols]

Rare Exports - 9/10 - An excellent re-imagining of how Santa came to be and what he is, in a Finnish film.. Some sparse bits of comedy, strong thriller overtones, very original idea. Got a teeny bit cheesy at the end, but overall it was one of the more unique films I have seen recently. Leave it to the Finnish to produce a holiday film unlike any other.

[Buccaneer]

Watched Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. I'm not sure how I rated the first 3 but it would go something like this: 9.5/9/6. For fourth one, probably a 5.5 if it wasn't for Penelope Cruz, which brings it up to a 6.5. Seems bit of a boring movie with Depp et al simply going through the motions.

[RainMaker]

Thor (6/10) - A little too much CGI and I didn't like the "love" story, but overall it was a fun movie and had a good storyline to it. Just needed to spend less time on Earth.

[rowech]

Fanboys (6 or 7/10) -- Have a rough time deciding if I liked this movie just a little bit or a lot. Lot of great lines for a fan of Star Wars but I still think it should have been better.

[sterlingice]

Watched Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. I'm not sure how I rated the first 3 but it would go something like this: 9.5/9/6. For fourth one, probably a 5.5 if it wasn't for Penelope Cruz, which brings it up to a 6.5. Seems bit of a boring movie with Depp et al simply going through the motions.

I need to rewatch the first three of these. I felt the third was better than the second but I've only seen each twice. The first might as well be a 10 in my book- one of the most fun movies I can recall seeing.

SI

[stevew]

Blue Valentine 9/10
All too realistic portrayal of a disintegrating marriage. At times, this hit way close to home. Both of the leads, Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, were amazing. More than just the typical vehicle thrown together to attempt to get some acting nominations. Really liked the way they layered together the story using past and present.

[korme]

Blue Valentine 9/10
All too realistic portrayal of a disintegrating marriage. At times, this hit way close to home. Both of the leads, Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, we're amazing. More than just the typical vehicle thrown together to attempt to get some acting nominations. Really liked the way they layered together the story using past and present.

Couldn't agree more

[larrymcg421]

Blue Valentine 9/10
All too realistic portrayal of a disintegrating marriage. At times, this hit way close to home. Both of the leads, Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, we're amazing. More than just the typical vehicle thrown together to attempt to get some acting nominations. Really liked the way they layered together the story using past and present.

Yeah, I thought this movie was amazing. I love how the time shifting was used to reveal things that give you a different perspective, like when Gosling was pissed she was talking to that one guy, he seemed like an asshole. But then later you find out exactly why he would be so pissed.

[gstelmack]

Cowboys and Aliens - 6/10

Not a bad movie overall, just not quite what I was expecting. Not as action packed as I thought it would be. Ford and Craig were good in their roles. Something was missing though, that I still haven't really been able to put my finger on, that I feel would have brought the movie up to the next level. It may have been the script, however, the acting wasn't bad and the visuals were very good.

Saw this last night, and I'd go a bit higher, maybe 7.5. I don't understand the folks that rip Ford for "mailing" this one in to collect a paycheck, I thought he played his character perfectly. I was really enjoying it until near the end:


I still don't get why no one even tried to pick up one of the wrist weapons off an alien. The whole battle outside the ship was just a collection of cliches, and it didn't look like they had an actual plan despite Ford's character's alleged grasp of tactics.


but overall a pretty good watch, and of course well set up for a sequel set at some point in the future, when the aliens come back to find out what happened to their scouts, and no one on earth remembers they were here. Unless that's what Independence Day was all about...

[JediKooter]

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol 7/10

Not a bad movie at all. Simon Pegg was pretty good and added a really comedic element, but, wasn't over the top or distracting. All of the actors did a really good job except for the actress that played the female team member. Her facial expressions and acting looks like she went to the Dwayne Johnson School of Acting.

I don't want to give too much of it away, but, it was an entertaining movie that doesn't have too many slow parts. There's definitely some over the top scenes that aren't reality based, but, it's a fictional movie and that doesn't bother me.

Other than that one actresses performance, I'd recommend it as a 'Go See it" movie.

[stevew]

The Kids are All Right 7/10

Some really good acting performances by the leads. Benning and Moore are almost always excellent. I was somewhat bothered by the plot, however. I'm not sure that the depiction of Moore as a Lesbian who just needs a good dicking was entirely accurate. I understand that life is complicated, of course. I know the movie was written by a lesbian, but it almost seemed like the story teetered on male fantasy at times.

[stevew]

Twelve 6/10

I'm a bit of a sucker for the teens without parents genre. This movie is in a similar vein to something like Bully or Alpha Dog. Semi solid performances by the male lead(Chace Crawford) and 50 cent was pretty good. A bit too heavy handed on the Keifer Sutherland narration in my opinion.

[Chief Rum]

Note: this movie comes out tomorrow and I have not seen it, but...

Red Tails...

So, lemme get this straight. They took a perfectly excellent actual American history story of reference (the story of the Tuskegee airmen) that would make a great drama that could be done with the proper weight and within the context of overcoming the racism of the times, and made a popcorn, shooter flick out of it?

Really?

"Shocker" #1: This is not currently rating well among critics (despite a good cast)

"Shocker" #2: George "Not My Fault Star Wars is Dead" Lucas was involved.

(P.S. I think there actually is a drama--by HBO?--about the Tuskegee airmen, so I guess I could go get that if I want to see the story done right)

[Honolulu_Blue]

Note: this movie comes out tomorrow and I have not seen it, but...

Red Tails...

So, lemme get this straight. They took a perfectly excellent actual American history story of reference (the story of the Tuskegee airmen) that would make a great drama that could be done with the proper weight and within the context of overcoming the racism of the times, and made a popcorn, shooter flick out of it?

Really?

"Shocker" #1: This is not currently rating well among critics (despite a good cast)

"Shocker" #2: George "Not My Fault Star Wars is Dead" Lucas was involved.

(P.S. I think there actually is a drama--by HBO?--about the Tuskegee airmen, so I guess I could go get that if I want to see the story done right)

Some scenes from the trailer make it look like a Tracy Jordan film from "30 Rock", like "A Blaffair to Rememblack", "Sherlock Homie" or "Who Dat Ninja".

It's disappointing that such a cool real life story couldn't get better treatment.

[k0ruptr]

The Descendants 8/10 - New George Clooney flick based in Hawaii covering some difficult topics to cover in Hawaii. He plays land owner lawyer guy who's wife has a boating accident and he's trying to decide whether to sell off a massive piece of property on Kauai that was passed down through the generations from Hawaiian Royalty. It is pretty damn good.

Dirty Girl - 8/10 - very under rated comedy about a teenage girl in HS in 1987. Shes the dirty girl who ends up teaming for a cross country adventure with a kid in her class and a bag of flour named Joan.

I loved it, I thought the acting was pretty amazing, not easy parts to play and the story was fantastic!

Juno Temple, Jeremy Dozier and Milla Jovovich star.

[Chief Rum]

The Descendants 8/10 - New George Clooney flick based in Hawaii covering some difficult topics to cover in Hawaii. He plays land owner lawyer guy who's wife has a boating accident and he's trying to decide whether to sell off a massive piece of property on Kauai that was passed down through the generations from Hawaiian Royalty. It is pretty damn good.

Heh... I have read the story synopsis for this (haven't seen it yet), and your description about what this movie is about veers sharply from that synopsis right after "wife has a boatong accident". ;)

Although I don't doubt the property bit is a part of the story.

It would be kinda like describing The Natural as the story of a young baseball player who's career was derailed by a tragic injury, only to have the player work hard to overcome the tragedy to eventually fall in love and move to a farm. ;)

[k0ruptr]

true. they did an excellent job on the story and the property bit. Hawaiian land is kind of a touchy subject still so I found it interesting.

[sabotai]

(P.S. I think there actually is a drama--by HBO?--about the Tuskegee airmen, so I guess I could go get that if I want to see the story done right)

Yes, there was an HBO movie with Cuba Gooding Jr and Lawrence Fishburn about the Tuskegee airmen. I remember watching it a long time ago, but don't remember much of it. I'll have to give it another watch.

The Tuskegee Airmen (TV 1995) - IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114745/)

[chinaski]

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. 6/10
I think I need to watch it again. Superb acting, but I just thought the story was mind numbingly boring.

[rowech]

Yes, there was an HBO movie with Cuba Gooding Jr and Lawrence Fishburn about the Tuskegee airmen. I remember watching it a long time ago, but don't remember much of it. I'll have to give it another watch.

The Tuskegee Airmen (TV 1995) - IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114745/)

The one thing I hope Red Tails will do is get people to watch The Tuskegee Airmen. Was fantastic.

[Buccaneer]

The Wrestler - 9.5/10 - Just got around to watching this, knowing previously about Mickey's performance, and thought it was amazing.

[stevew]

Adventures of TinTin. 8/10
Way more fun than many action movies. On par with any Indy-style movie, although I would say it is a notch below Raiders or Last Crusade. Possibly should have gone for the PG-13 cause it was probably too violent for a PG.

[Matthean]

This could go in the Netflix thread but I felt like it went there. I saw The Evil Dead. Raimi directed the hell out of that two cent budget. Even for a cult classic it came across even better than expected which is more than I can say for the other cult classic type of films I have been watching. It would be interesting to see what would of happened with Bruce if he went more serious roles versus the B-movie stuff. Not saying he had huge potential, but it feels like he was kind of wasted doing the campy type of stuff.

[CrimsonFox]

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind 9/10- Awesome performances from Sam ROckwell and George Clooney with a hell of a script from Charlie Kaufman. Love all the spy stuff as well as his TV fantasy stuff. Was Clooney's first directing job. Have watched this many MANY times.

American Splendor 10/10 - Don't know how I missed this over the years but finally watched this. So inriguing. I had to watch it several more times that week including with commentary. Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis and Judah Friedlander all give awesome performances. Such a weird and fun movie...like instead of a reality show, it's a reality movie. Pekar's actual appearances make it really neat as does all the cartoons done OF the characters in the movie.

(which led me to watch...)
Sideways 8/10- I'd hesitate to say my favorite wine movie as this is the only one I think. Heh. But another Paul Giamatti movie I like a lot. Maybe a little overedited at times but the performances are awesome.

[korme]

SUPER (2011) - 4/10
Ummm, what the hell was that? Rainn Wilson is a guy who recently loses his wife, and turns into a super hero. A super hero who assaults a ton of people and is more of a criminal than anything. It's kind of funny, so it's not completely lost. Extremely graphic.

[Butter_of_69]

I have this DVR'd right now... your description is making me want to remove it.

I'll throw the last 4 I've seen in here:

The Last Exorcism - 7

The "mockumentary" style was fine here, but I guess I am tired of it as a genre. This was almost a cross between that and a "found footage" thriller... for reasons that become obvious about halfway through. I still don't really understand what was going on at the end. And there is a lot of good, creepy build-up... while the payoff comes fast and doesn't make a whole lot of sense. So that was disappointing.

Best Worst Movie - 7

This is a fun documentary about Troll 2, which is universally considered one of the worst movies ever made. The detail that the movie goes into to show you just how bad it is is fairly amusing. But it is somewhat odd to see such a horrible movie celebrated as it is throughout much of this film. It is heartwarming, in a sort of "Moonlight Graham" way to see the main character here (and of Troll 2) being a devoted dentist in a small Alabama city. It is a little off-putting to see him pushing the movie so very hard through the middle of it, but then a bit satisfying to see him sort of rebel against it a bit in the later stages. The movie does a good job of using him as a gateway into the movie itself... I mean, if he's the star and he KNOWS it was horrible, then it is ok to laugh about it now.

I have to admit, I never really saw the value in sitting through a really horrible movie (unless I've got like the MST3K gang commenting or something). It just seems like a horrible waste of time. But obviously there are thousands upon thousands of people who don't agree. Kudos to the filmmaker for presenting both sides of things... meaning that there are some people involved who don't embrace it being viewed as a flop, including the horribly deluded female lead from the film who actually compares it favorably to Casablanca, and the film's Italian director, who blames all of the film's misfortunes on the cast.

The Vow - 5

I didn't hate this movie, but I didn't think it was very good. I left with an overall positive feeling (as you probably should from a romantic comedy released at Valentine's Day), but the movie made me work hard to get there. The male lead does a pretty good job overall. But aside from the female lead, every single other character is about as flat as you can get. There's the evil ex-boyfriend, the controlling parents, the vapid old friends, the hipster current friends. Pair all that with making the female lead nearly as unlikeable as you can get in the middle stages, and the film has a hard road back for itself. I will give it credit for not making it all rainbows and baskets of puppies and kittens, but at the same time, it also gives the female lead too easy of a road back into her old life... basically there is one event that begins the old transformation, which is a little too easy of a choice to make. But hey, I expected to give this a 2, so I was pleasantly surprised in that respect.

The Ides of March - 9

A fun movie for a Democrat who was an old political science major. All the actors in it are just perfect. You can see the transformation in Ryan Gosling's character from wide-eyed idealist, to narrow-minded selfish... ist. I'm sure there's a word for it, but it's not coming to me.

Plus, let me add to the praise for Blue Valentine... I thought that was the best movie of 2010.

[Groundhog]

Chronicle - 6.5/10

I was impressed by the adverts and intentionally avoided Rotten Tomatoes so I wouldn't know what the general consensus on this movie was. I walked out thinking it was an excellent idea for a story, but the execution was heavy-handed and the handcam style of shooting was distracting and not neccessary. So yeah, I'm pretty shocked to find out that pretty much everyone absolutely loved it.

Michael B. Jordan looks like a superstar in the making however.

[Grover]

Win Win 9/10
Don't know if anyone else here has seen this, but it's a drama/comedy starring Paul Giamatti, Amy Strong and Alex Shaffer with excellent supporting roles from Jeffrey Tambor, Burt Young and Bobby Cannavale. Giamatti plays a struggling lawyer and volunteer high school wrestling coach who makes a bad decision while representing a man suffering from dementia (Young). Shortly after, the man's grandson (Shaffer) enters the picture and everything changes.

I don't want to give too much away, but the movie is very funny when it needs to be and very touching at the same time. I kept seeing previews for it on Cinemax and thought it would be a straight-out comedy from what they showed, but that was not the case.

I highly recommend the film.

[Suicane75]

Agree on Win Win. I thought the kid was excellent and Giamatti was strong as usual. I really like that they didn't try to make everything black and white. Burt Young is always fun to watch as well.

[samifan24]

Drive - 10/10

Just fantastic. I don't want to give anything away. Just see it.

[spleen1015]

I saw Red Tails this weekend because my kid wanted to see it.

It sucked.

-10/10.

[sterlingice]

I saw Red Tails this weekend because my kid wanted to see it.

It sucked.

-10/10.

I'll ask the dumb question as Lucas seems to be going almost wholly for the kids market these days: did your kid like it?

SI

[spleen1015]

I'll ask the dumb question as Lucas seems to be going almost wholly for the kids market these days: did your kid like it?

SI

I say kid. He is 19 and he liked it. He also thinks Flyboys is a good movie, too.

[Matthean]

I'll ask the dumb question as Lucas seems to be going almost wholly for the kids market these days: did your kid like it?

SI

What do you mean these days? :devil:

[Honolulu_Blue]

Aliens (1986) - 10/10

I watched "Aliens" the other night for the first time in a while. Lady H_B had never seen it or "Alien", so we watched both of them about a week apart. Prior to last night I have probably watched "Aliens" well over 20 times. It's one of my favorite movies of all time and possibly my second favorite behind the original "Star Wars". It still holds up incredibly well today. We watched the "extended version", which adds a lot of great additional scenes. The sound of the pulse rifles and motion sensors are still two of my favorite movie sound effects ever.

[Grover]

Aliens (1986) - 10/10

I watched "Aliens" the other night for the first time in a while. Lady H_B had never seen it or "Alien", so we watched both of them about a week apart. Prior to last night I have probably watched "Aliens" well over 20 times. It's one of my favorite movies of all time and possibly my second favorite behind the original "Star Wars". It still holds up incredibly well today. We watched the "extended version", which adds a lot of great additional scenes. The sound of the pulse rifles and motion sensors are still two of my favorite movie sound effects ever.

I have been in love with this movie ever since I was about 8 years old. I originally had a VHS copy that was recorded from the local FOX station that I wore out by the time I was 12 or 13. Easily my favorite from the series. Everything about this movie is awesome.

Wish I still had all the Aliens action figures I had when I was a kid. Those things were great.

[CrimsonFox]

M Night Schalyaltyukdnfgaldkthja d's Lady in the Water - 1/10 Couldn't make it through it. Shut it off out of boredom. Love Paul Giamatti's stuff but anything he does and says is overshadowed by utter crap overdirection.

Good Night and Good Luck - 8/10 George Clooney costars and directs his 2nd filme here. Solid film totally! Great genre piece. Clooney loves noir and does it VERY well (he had a similar style to Confessions of a Dangerous Mind). Great performances by Clooney, Jeff Daniels, Patricia Clarkson, Robert Downey Jr, and the lead David Strathairn! History is boring but Clooney makes it very compelling.

[Izulde]

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind 9/10- Awesome performances from Sam ROckwell and George Clooney with a hell of a script from Charlie Kaufman. Love all the spy stuff as well as his TV fantasy stuff. Was Clooney's first directing job. Have watched this many MANY times.


Funny enough, I was just thinking about this movie yesterday and how it's my favorite movie that I keep forgetting about and is probably somewhere in the ranks of most enjoyed movies of all time.

[stevew]

Drive 8/10?

Pretty hard to rate, as I really enjoyed a lot of it. But I also felt like it could have been like 2 times as long and I would have liked it more. Somewhat of a Heat type vibe to this movie, and to be honest they had the framework to exceed that movie but they didn't. I felt like it had the vibe of a once a decade type movie, but something was just missing. Some sort of a "B" story would have elevated this to the top.

I'd wager a sizeable amount of money on Gosling winning an Oscar within the next 5 years. He's pretty much in that type of zone right now.

[ISiddiqui]

The Artist - 9/10: Just a wonderful silent film. They really got it right with perfect casting and a fun old-timey plot which involved the move from silent films to talkies. I remember reading that a lot of silent film actors couldn't make the leap, because it takes a very different skill set to be a silent film actor than it does for talking films. For actors used to talkies to go back to exaggerated motions for silent films has to be quite a feat. Utterly charming.

[rowech]

Ides of March -- 5/10 Found it boring. Premise was good but the lead sucked. Ryan Gosling continues to be a horrible actor. Probably won't ever give him another chance to earn my dollars.

[weegeebored]

Drive 3/10 -- I don't understand why a lot of people like this movie. It tries to be artsy, I guess. Fail there. It tries to be Tarentino or Mann-like in parts. Fail again. Gosling tries to play...I don't know...a kewl dude? The mysterious loner? A tough guy with a big heart? He just comes off as a big bore with flat affect, so epic fail there. Based on the opening scene I thought this had a chance, but only that scene and Bryan Cranston are anything good about this movie. Come on -- Albert Brooks as a bad guy? :banghead:

[Matthean]

From what reviews I have seen, Drive is a love it or hate it type of movie.

[korme]

rowech, dude are you kidding me? Watch Half-Nelson or The Believer. Gosling is a hell of a young actor.

[chinaski]

rowech, dude are you kidding me? Watch Half-Nelson or The Believer. Gosling is a hell of a young actor.

Both great. Murder by Numbers, Lars and the Real Girl and Blue Valentine are other fine examples of how talented that dude is.

I thought Drive was easily top 3 best of 2011.

[cubboyroy1826]

I will weigh in on the Drive was dreadful side. I really like Gossling and agree he is a very good actor who is going to win awards in his career. I thought that Drive started off great but could just never get into it.

[stevew]

Transformers 3- 7/10

Easily better than the 2nd film. To editorialize for a second....how fucking violent was this film? I can't believe this got a PG13. Optimus was ripping the faces off his enemies and killshotting enemies that tried to surrender. Obviously these are "robots" but they are also living creatures according to the movie storylines. I probably just don't take things the right way, but this is a borderline grind snuff film.

[Groundhog]

The opening scene of Drive is amazing, but I agree with the others who though it failed to build on that. Was pretty much just a standard action movie after that.

[Scoobz0202]

I thought the first scene was brilliant as well. I see I'm not alone in that.

Gosling's great. I thought it was a really good movie. I do think the first 75% - 80% was better then the end, though. Something was lacking in the end and I'm not really sure what. I thought it was very good, but there was "something" that prevented it from being great, imo.

[Groundhog]

The 'problem' I have with Gosling is that I just can't buy him as a tough guy. He looks like a nerdy type of dude who has hit the gym, perfect for the nice-guy romantic comedies and super getaway car drivers, but not as convincing when he is beating thugs to death in elevators.

[Grammaticus]

Drive 3/10 -- I don't understand why a lot of people like this movie. It tries to be artsy, I guess. Fail there. It tries to be Tarentino or Mann-like in parts. Fail again. Gosling tries to play...I don't know...a kewl dude? The mysterious loner? A tough guy with a big heart? He just comes off as a big bore with flat affect, so epic fail there. Based on the opening scene I thought this had a chance, but only that scene and Bryan Cranston are anything good about this movie. Come on -- Albert Brooks as a bad guy? :banghead:

I took it as a modern day attempt to copy the man with now name / fist full of dollars movie, but in a different genre. Didn't live up to that classic, but it was a pretty entertaining movie.

[Chief Rum]

The thing I liked about Gosling in Drive is that he isn't the typical action star--he's a borderline psychopathic killer who has retained just enough humanity to kinda make some acceptable decisions. I mean, his cold and quiet acting in this one is pretty damn chilling considering the level of killing he is doing.

Normal action stars don't pull that off.

[korme]

It's the polarizing level of acting. Either you take it as acting with zero personality (bad), or intense acting with an amazing amount of concentration (good); the equivalent of saying so much with so few words

[weegeebored]

The thing I liked about Gosling in Drive is that he isn't the typical action star--he's a borderline psychopathic killer who has retained just enough humanity to kinda make some acceptable decisions. I mean, his cold and quiet acting in this one is pretty damn chilling considering the level of killing he is doing.You see him as chilling; I see him as a regular guy with flat affect. Chilling would be Nicholson in The Shining, Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs, or Bardem in No Country for Old Men.

Gosling may be a fine actor, I don't know. But in this role he was awful. He may have acted well -- maybe he's affable in real life -- but his character was bland and that did not help this movie which had a borderline screenplay to begin with.

[Young Drachma]

Ides of March -- 5/10 Found it boring. Premise was good but the lead sucked. Ryan Gosling continues to be a horrible actor. Probably won't ever give him another chance to earn my dollars.

I don't think Gosling was bad, as it was the story itself was just half baked. Gosling was pretty solid in Drive I thought. Of course, he didn't have to talk much in that flick. :)

[Young Drachma]

Being Elmo: It's the documentary of Kevin Clash, the guy who voices Elmo. Shows how he came up through the ranks as a puppeteer literally in his parents backyard. Fun story from start to finish. It's finally available on Netflix instant if you haven't caught it yet, worth checking out.

Safe House: Overall a pretty tepid flick. I mean, you know if Denzel is playing a bad guy then the bad guy will probably have some kind of humanizing component to him. This was basically what happens here. It wasn't a terrible flick, the action was well paced and stuff. Just wasn't especially rousing. Worth renting, not sure it's worth seeing in the movies though.

In Time: Implausibility aside, it wasn't the worst movie in the world. Timberlake won't even be mistaken for an action star anytime soon, but...I tend to like dystopian sci-fi flicks and so, while it wasn't especially memorable...it was good fodder for time killing (no pun intended.)

[rowech]

I don't think Gosling was bad, as it was the story itself was just half baked. Gosling was pretty solid in Drive I thought. Of course, he didn't have to talk much in that flick. :)

Maybe I haven't seen him in the right movies because as far as I can tell his entire acting portfolio consists of --

1. Looking stoic when he's in scenes on his own

2. Looking stoic in scenes when he's with someone else

3. Speaking as little as possible for fear of having to give voice inflection.

[Grover]

Apocalypto 8/10

Finally saw this, as I was skeptical to see it to begin with, but wow. Very visually impressive movie with non-stop action.

[Young Drachma]

Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (2009)

It's on Netflix instant. It's a student film that was made into a full-length feature. Shot in 16mm b&w film rather than digital, there are stylistic homages to a different era of film, but it's not an anachronism. Not what I anticipated at first, but enjoyable if you're into the art-film musical. They blew their entire budget hiring the Bratislava Symphony to perform the score.

Well regarded by most pundits, but pretty hit or miss amongst casual film watchers you'll probably either love it or hate it.

[korme]

Wanderlust (2012)
First half - 10/10
As far as comedies go, I haven't been this close to tears in some time. It was absolutely outstanding, laugh wise.

Second half - 5/10
The plot was a little predictable and to drive the story forward the jokes had to come fewer and further between. However, Paul Rudd looking in the mirror (without giving it away) was probably the funniest part in the entire movie.

Overall, a good movie for what it was.

[stevew]

Birdemic:Shock and Terror

Pretty much impossible to rate, since this is one of those it's so bad it's good movies. I'd fast forward for the first 45 minutes, cause it takes forever for the birds to attack. But when they do....it's amazing. On Netflix.

[Grover]

X-Men: First Class 8/10

Easily the best of any of the X-Men films to date. Might be my second favorite super hero movie to Dark Knight.

[Julio Riddols]

Birdemic:Shock and Terror

Pretty much impossible to rate, since this is one of those it's so bad it's good movies. I'd fast forward for the first 45 minutes, cause it takes forever for the birds to attack. But when they do....it's amazing. On Netflix.

Watch the Rifftrax version of it.

[ISiddiqui]

Hugo - 7/10: It was good, but I think I expected much more. It was a fairly slow moving plot, but some good acting and fantastic visuals. Was surprised to find out that one of the characters was actually based on a real life person. In that regard, especially, the movie was well done putting the fictional story of Hugo in that real life story.

[stevew]

Watch the Rifftrax version of it.

I've heard that's great. They broke down the movie with Weird Al on this week's How Did This Get Made? podcast and it was glorious.

[molson]

Jeremiah Johnson - 7.5/10

Very random movie choice for a weekday night, as I try to fill in some gaps in my 1970s movie knowledge. Robert Redford in a western/survivalist movie based on the life of legendary 1800s mountain man John "Liver-Eating" Johnston. A big commercial/critical hit that's kind of been forgotten - I feel like there's a lot of good 1970s movies which had the same fate, so I'm trying to see some of them. Beautiful scenery, simple story, solid watch.

[Grover]

Currently in the midst of watching Hard Candy, has anybody else seen this? Ellen Page is phenomenal in her role.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Currently in the midst of watching Hard Candy, has anybody else seen this? Ellen Page is phenomenal in her role.

Yep.

Hard Candy
7/10

It was an interesting twist on the who pedophile/cyber-stalker as predator theme. I found some of it a bit far-fetched and over-the-top, but the two leads were excellent. I think there were 5 speaking roles in the entire movie, three of which have about a total of 3 minutes of screen time.

Ellen Page (who played Kitty Pryde in X-Men 3) was really, really impressive. I thought Patrick Wilson (who's been tabbed as Night Owl in the Watchmen movie) was excellent in a pretty thankless role. I have to say, knowing he was going to be Night Owl distracted me throughout the whole movie. (I think he'll make a great Night Owl, but he was a little young and far too fit to play him., but he had the right look and solid acting chaps).

Between the solid performances of the two leads what the director did with color in the film, there are just a ton of very vibrant primary colors throughout (I'm sure there was a rhyme or reason to them, but I'd have to watch it again to pick up the pattern), it was decent enough.

[Matthean]

Currently in the midst of watching Hard Candy, has anybody else seen this? Ellen Page is phenomenal in her role.

First role I saw her in. I loved the film.

[spleen1015]

The Usual Suspects - 7/10

I've had many people tell me this is a must see movie. I have always heard a lot of hype and after seeing it, I don't get what the hype was all about. It wasn't a bad movie, but it was a great as everyone seemed to make it out to be.
Maybe the hype lead me to look for the big reveal because I figured Spacey was Keyser whatshisname long before the end.

[Karlifornia]

The Woman In Black - 8/10

A superior ghost story that has an actual story. It's moody, atmospheric, has it's share of good jumps, and actually has a solid ending.

[thesloppy]

Jeremiah Johnson - 7.5/10

Very random movie choice for a weekday night, as I try to fill in some gaps in my 1970s movie knowledge. Robert Redford in a western/survivalist movie based on the life of legendary 1800s mountain man John "Liver-Eating" Johnston. A big commercial/critical hit that's kind of been forgotten - I feel like there's a lot of good 1970s movies which had the same fate, so I'm trying to see some of them. Beautiful scenery, simple story, solid watch.

Good flick. Have you seen McCabe & Mrs. Miller? '70s western from Robert Altman, with kind of a similar flavor, and one of my absolute favorite movies. Like you say about Jeremiah Jonhson, it's a flick that has kind of fallen into that gray zone...tons of acclaim and popularity at the time, still well known to anybody with even a small interest in movies, yet 9 out of 10 people have never heard of it.

[sterlingice]

The Usual Suspects - 7/10

I've had many people tell me this is a must see movie. I have always heard a lot of hype and after seeing it, I don't get what the hype was all about. It wasn't a bad movie, but it was a great as everyone seemed to make it out to be.
Maybe the hype lead me to look for the big reveal because I figured Spacey was Keyser whatshisname long before the end.

I felt the same way honestly. Too many years of The Outer Limits always has me on my meta-fiction guard when going into a movie. I can't always guess the twist but something like this was easy

SI

[rowech]

I felt the same way honestly. Too many years of The Outer Limits always has me on my meta-fiction guard when going into a movie. I can't always guess the twist but something like this was easy

SI

I always felt Primal Fear did a much better job of hiding the ending. I was flored by the end of that movie. Just total shock.

[BillJasper]

Went to see John Carter. Decent flick.

[Groundhog]

Went to see John Carter. Decent flick.

Yah, saw it yesterday. Enjoyable action/sci-fi which at least attempted to have a storyline too. I was surprised at the stretches of non-action to be honest, not that it bothered me but it might bother others. Probably a 7.5 out of 10 for me.

[BrianD]

The Usual Suspects - 7/10

I've had many people tell me this is a must see movie. I have always heard a lot of hype and after seeing it, I don't get what the hype was all about. It wasn't a bad movie, but it was a great as everyone seemed to make it out to be.
Maybe the hype lead me to look for the big reveal because I figured Spacey was Keyser whatshisname long before the end.

People have to be careful with recommendations for this movie...or any movie that has a twist to it. If you know to look for it, you can often find it before the reveal. If you don't go in expecting it, the storytelling will take you down a very logical path before it pulls the rug out from under you. If a review/recommendation alerts you to a twist, it has already been spoiled.

[Logan]

People have to be careful with recommendations for this movie...or any movie that has a twist to it. If you know to look for it, you can often find it before the reveal. If you don't go in expecting it, the storytelling will take you down a very logical path before it pulls the rug out from under you. If a review/recommendation alerts you to a twist, it has already been spoiled.

Spoiler regards The Usual Suspects specifically...

To me, even if you could somehow predict that Verbal would end up being Soze (despite no hints at that at all throughout the movie beyond the name, if you happen to know Turkish), the "reveal" of Keaton being Soze should elicit some reaction, no? And, again IMO, the more impressive "twist" isn't that it ends up being Verbal, but the revelation of the story being invented in the office and then debating what really happened and what didn't.

[Qwikshot]

The Long Goodbye - Robert Altman version

Someone was talking about Jeremiah Johnson which I love though its a heartbreaking story, I mean, the guy goes off the grid, just to in someway become more in touch with people only to lose it all again is kind of hard to watch, but damn if it wasn't beautiful to watch.

Someone else chimed in with McCabe and Mrs. Miller which brings us to Robert Altman. I love MASH, but the Long Goodbye while not as good is a pretty entertaining movie. Not so much a mystery but a great fish out of water piece where Elliot Gould actually seems to be Marlowe in the 1970's. It's a pretty enjoyable flick and it's funny to hear Gould yell that he's going to call Ronald Reagan to complain about the police (then governor of California) and then see a cameo by a famous future governor of California as without any lines intimidator.

It's on netflix instant right now.

[BrianD]

Spoiler regards The Usual Suspects specifically...

To me, even if you could somehow predict that Verbal would end up being Soze (despite no hints at that at all throughout the movie beyond the name, if you happen to know Turkish), the "reveal" of Keaton being Soze should elicit some reaction, no? And, again IMO, the more impressive "twist" isn't that it ends up being Verbal, but the revelation of the story being invented in the office and then debating what really happened and what didn't.

I do think that is the more impressive twist. Early in the movie someone comments that crimes are generally not all that complicated and if you think you know who the criminal is, you are going to find out that you are right. The whole movie provides a good exception to the rule, but the way the story is told and the growing complexity which encompasses the cops knowledge as that grows really hooks you into the story. You think you know who is in charge, but you don't.

[spleen1015]

Tron Legacy - 6/10

I've been sick since Friday with Bronchitis, so I've been watching some movies on cable.

I liked the special effects of this movie a lot. The story was so so. Olivia Wilde was pretty nice to watch throughout the movie.

[sterlingice]

I loved the visual style to it- very pretty. Was about as deep as the original Tron was, which is to say "not very".

SI

[stevew]

I liked the movie too. Was probably a 6 or 7/10

[Grover]

Mulholland Dr. 10/10

Hadn't seen this in years. Just an absolutely surreal, beautiful, twisting film.

The girl on girl ain't bad either.

[Grover]

Celda 211 - 10/10

Spanish movie about a prison riot and a guard who has to pose as a prisoner to try and survive. Incredible film.

[stevew]

Young Adult-8/10

Flew under the radar, but Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt were really great. Most of the laughs are brutally funny. Jason Reitman keeps making great movies.

[larrymcg421]

Mulholland Dr. 10/10

Hadn't seen this in years. Just an absolutely surreal, beautiful, twisting film.

The girl on girl ain't bad either.

I'm actually not much of a Lynch fan as I prefer narrative cohesion in my films, but this one is so compelling that I can't help but be drawn in.

[stevew]

Girl With The Dragon Tattoo(american version) 7/10
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo(original version) 8/10


Fincher's on his A game as a director and did a really good job making his version of Girl. However, it's so similar to the original version and I think that is probably why he did not achieve greatness with this film. I don't think it was particularly a good idea to be so true to the original movie and book once you adapt the language to English. We end up with a fancier big budget version of the original film.

I would have preferred to maybe see this version set itself amongst the New England elites. I much preferred the original girl from the sweedish verison, and I have no idea how Rooney Mara got nominated for an oscar here. Some of the elements to the story, especially the libel part, really don't make much sense in a story for an American audience. The original version is subtitled, but I found that it was pretty easy to follow along.

Anyways, if they use Jaws in any of the new Bond movies, they absolutely have to get the one huge guy from the Dragon Tattoo sequels to play him.

[Grover]

One thing I can say about the American version... Reznor and Ross' soundtrack was phenomenal. Though I would expect no less from them.

[stevew]

Yeah, i bought that one How to Destroy Angels song after watching the movie.

[Matthean]

I always felt Primal Fear did a much better job of hiding the ending. I was flored by the end of that movie. Just total shock.

Finally broke down and saw it. A big +1.

I'm actually not much of a Lynch fan as I prefer narrative cohesion in my films, but this one is so compelling that I can't help but be drawn in.

I think I liked the film until the end were he went, "I need to remind people it's a David Lynch film." It just felt like far too random stuff tossed at the viewer in rapid session to where I have zero clue what it meant.

[Matthean]

The Hunger Games

I never read the books so I had little to go off of. It's solid. I think it works as a self contained film but knowing there are two more books certainly points as there being more to come. I think I only really had one issue with the film.


I never could buy into the love triangle. The female lead simply couldn't sell me on the idea that she was falling for the other guy. I know her character was emotionally distant, but I was waiting for the moment where her emotions lightened up for the other guy, and it simply never happened. Even if part of it was due to the severe nature of the games, she still was emotionally withdraw after it.


Pulling John

John Brzenk is the undisputed king of arm wrestling. Not only has he had a reign of nearly 25 years but in arm wrestling winning your weight division means going for the overall title regardless of class. John has made his name as being the guy in the lowest class beating even the heaviest of guys. He's nearing retirement and wondering how long he can go. The two other main arm wrestlers are a outspoken brash redneck American, who is raw but talented, and a 270lb. Russian who is the current standard for Super Heavyweight.

<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xgjShXQGSAk" allowfullscreen="" width="560" frameborder="0" height="315"></iframe>

Card Subject to Change

Documentary on indie wrestling that's done on the regional level. It covers one regional promoter and a just about every type of wrestler from the guy who is doing his first match, to the talented guy who is stuck, to up-and-comers, and the old guard who are past their prime. FYI, The one extreme hardcore guy does have a scene that is rather graphic.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uvJxhrwqpSw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Following

Christopher Nolan's first film. It's short and as usual is more of a thinking person's film. I took some time to warm up to it, but once it started it click I enjoyed it a lot.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5q8bBAKNSA8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Jens Pulver: Driven

MMA fighter who is nearing retirement and on a losing streak. Jens had a difficult life growing up and he absolutely wears his heart on his sleeve so he's pretty much crying during a number of parts. It was a nice emotional counter to the Pulling John doc. It was partly interesting to watch the weight loss part just before weigh in. I think he was given 3 days to drop 15lbs. and then a day to drop 6. It was funded on a Kickstarter Project (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gregorybayne/jens-pulver-driven-a-documentary-film-about-a-le)

College

1927 silent film featuring Buster Keaton. The opening part made me question why I was watching it as the premise of the film is pretty asinine. Once the scene moves to college things get better, and I slowly pick up on more and more of the physical comedy and then finally the name of Buster Keaton clicks. I did like in it in the end.

Harold and Maude

Just an odd little film. I would almost classify it as a dark comedy even if it wasn't. The Cat Stevens soundtrack felt completely out of place but in a way it added to the dark humor of it. I can see why it's a cult classic, but I'm not really sure how good I would say it is. Harold's pranks were my favorite parts.

[Autumn]

I know I'm late to the party, but I just watched Green Lantern with a friend who had it on HBO or some such. I expected it to be bad, but I was surprised what kind of bad it was. The visuals on that movie were horrendous! Not just like poorly done CGI, but everything about every shot in that movie looked really low budget. It looked exactly how I would expect a SyFy movie or a BBC production to look. I have never seen a Hollywood movie, particularly a tentpole big budget production, look like that. I can't even imagine how that happened. The music was noticeably horrendous too. They did spend a lot of money on this thing, didn't they? Unreal.

[larrymcg421]

The Hunger Games

I never read the books so I had little to go off of. It's solid. I think it works as a self contained film but knowing there are two more books certainly points as there being more to come. I think I only really had one issue with the film.


I never could buy into the love triangle. The female lead simply couldn't sell me on the idea that she was falling for the other guy. I know her character was emotionally distant, but I was waiting for the moment where her emotions lightened up for the other guy, and it simply never happened. Even if part of it was due to the severe nature of the games, she still was emotionally withdraw after it.


In the books, she's actually putting on an act so Haymitch can get her some sponsors. Her feelings are confused at best. The love triangle is more important in the 2nd book.



College

1927 silent film featuring Buster Keaton. The opening part made me question why I was watching it as the premise of the film is pretty asinine. Once the scene moves to college things get better, and I slowly pick up on more and more of the physical comedy and then finally the name of Buster Keaton clicks. I did like in it in the end.

I actually didn't like this one much at all. I'm not a huge Keaton fan and this is one of his lesser efforts. The 1925 Harold Lloyd film The Freshman is much, much better.

[Matthean]

RE: Spoiler

It's kind of what I assumed.

RE: College

I was watching clips of him afterwards and I came to the conclusion College was one of his lesser films. I still want to look for some other ones but there's not a huge need.

[korme]

Harold and Maude is great

[Grover]

Harold and Maude is great

+1 one of my favorites.

[sabotai]

I was watching clips of him afterwards and I came to the conclusion College was one of his lesser films. I still want to look for some other ones but there's not a huge need.

My favorite Keaton movies are The Navigator, Steamboat Bill Jr. and Sherlock Jr. Can't go wrong with any of those. I don't think I've got around to watching College yet, but looking it over, it does look like a straight rip off of The Freshman, which was very good (although I'd say Speedy was my favorite Harold Lloyd movie).

[k0ruptr]

Win Win - 7.5/10 - I really enjoyed this movie, starring Paul Giamatti as a lawyer/HS wrestling coach/funny family man. Trying to make ends meet he takes on a guardianship of a client, but not as honest as he could be. Things get a little crazy as the clients grandson/wrestling phenom shows up out of no where.

IMDB link:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1606392/