What movies have you seen lately? Now with reviews!Movies

[Delphic Reason]

Keep in mind although the trailer and the plot make it sound like a comedy, it's not really one. It has its moments, especially at the start when people make weird faces whenever Lars is hanging around with his doll, but the rest is pure, raw drama.

Sounds fantastic.

I rented it last night. Watching it later tonight with my better half.

 

[Diego440]

Try to stay away from the ban button, should you not like it.

Either way, I watched this one:



The Air I Breathe (2007) -- According to an ancient Chinese proverb, life is divided in four bases: Love, Pleasure, Sorrow and Happiness. This movie is basically made of 4 little stories, each treating (somewhat loosely) on those subjects. The movie will probably be enjoyed by GenXers who don't want a lot of explanation or logic in the drama. Personally, I thought it was crap and wouldn't recommend it, though the acting is well enough by some of th characters, most of them seem laughable. Forest Whitaker and Andy garcia do a good job, although Forest appears for about 20 mins. Kevin Bacon is so so, and the rest are just a big meh: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Brendan Fraser, Julie Delpy and Emile Hirsch. 4/10

 

[Delphic Reason]

Try to stay away from the ban button, should you not like it.

No need for banination today.

Very uniquely moving film. Very good suggestion. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

 

[Diego440]

Cool!

 

[Delphic Reason]

Just bought the boxed set for Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Tom Servo, this may be of particular interest to you). It was a pretty penny, but well worth it, for all the comedy gold contained within.

For those who do not know the formula that which is the backbone of MST3K, it is as follows:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094517/

I've been wanting this for a long time, and finally bit the bullett and laid down the greenbacks.

Movie Time!

 

[Diego440]

is this THE boxed set or A boxed set?

I only ask because I have about 3-4 boxed sets that feature about 4-5 episodes each, including a couple of specials like 'education shorts' and 'traffic and hygiene shorts', or something like that.

 

[Delphic Reason]

is this THE boxed set or A boxed set?

I only ask because I have about 3-4 boxed sets that feature about 4-5 episodes each, including a couple of specials like 'education shorts' and 'traffic and hygiene shorts', or something like that.

It's really all the little box sets joined together with plastic wrap. I had never seen them all together, and Circuit City (being in the dumps as it is) had it on sale for a hell of a deal. I just couldn't pass it up.

I'll be heading down the vault and into the movie chamber in T-Minus 20 minutes and counting. (Day off today)

 

[FoolKiller]

Just bought the boxed set for Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Tom Servo, this may be of particular interest to you). It was a pretty penny, but well worth it, for all the comedy gold contained within.

For those who do not know the formula that which is the backbone of MST3K, it is as follows:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094517/

I've been wanting this for a long time, and finally bit the bullett and laid down the greenbacks.

Movie Time!

Wow. I'm bringing beer.

Night before my wedding my best man and I got drunk and watched volume 1.

is this THE boxed set or A boxed set?

I only ask because I have about 3-4 boxed sets that feature about 4-5 episodes each, including a couple of specials like 'education shorts' and 'traffic and hygiene shorts', or something like that.

I have volumes 1-2. Is four the one that had Godzilla vs Megalon originally and then got recalled due to licensing issues?

It's really all the little box sets joined together with plastic wrap. I had never seen them all together, and Circuit City (being in the dumps as it is) had it on sale for a hell of a deal. I just couldn't pass it up.

I'll be heading down the vault and into the movie chamber in T-Minus 20 minutes and counting. (Day off today)

The real question is, have you, like Tom Servo and I, discovered Riff Trax?

Mike Neslon refused to allow the show being cancelled to stop him from doing what he does. Pay a few bucks and enjoy MST3K fun with your mainstream movies.

 

[Danny]

My Bloody Valentine

I'm gonna keep this short. This is a 3D (sorry, "Real D") effort from Lionsgate. The story is pretty tenuous and slow-moving, althought the plot twist can catch you unawares (the old garden path comes into play). The 3D effect is excellently done and they really make good use of it. Now for the really bad news. While the acting is ok for the most part, it's also fairly horrific in places. And this isn't helped by a script that could have been written by... well, by me to be frank. As a tour-de-force in what can be done with 3D cinematics, it's great. But as a film, it's pretty poor.

2/10

 

[Delphic Reason]

Wow. I'm bringing beer.

Wonderful! I'm partial to Belgium beers.

I have volumes 1-2. Is four the one that had Godzilla vs Megalon originally and then got recalled due to licensing issues?

I'm not at home, so I can't check, but I think you may be right.

The real question is, have you, like Tom Servo and I, discovered Riff Trax?

Strangely enough, I haven't. It sounds vaguely familiar. Where does one locate this?

 

[Steele_obsidion]

The last last few movies (with personal reviews) are as follows

It was a terrific movie i liked it a LOT, however i go back and fourth as to wither i like it or Casino Royale better but over all i give it an 8 out of 10.

This movie had me fooled, i saw the previews and thought wow, that looks good, but i know itll probably suck ehh ill see it anyways

BOYYYYY was i fooled. i saw it, and it was.. AWESOME. i loved it. and Liam Neeson did a great job kicking ass, and remind me, never **** with his kids. ever. 9/10

Now i love me some romantic comedy's. and this is one that is very well played out. Its your general story, a guy looses a girl, is torn apart, meets someone else etc etc etc. basically, it kicked ass. a lot of ass. i give it a 9/10. but i always rate romantic comedys high because im a sucker for a romance film, and Yugo's lol.

 

[Diego440]

Wonderful! I'm partial to Belgium beers.

Funny you should mention that... Leffe is my favourite. Leffe Blond, if pressed.

The real question is, have you, like Tom Servo and I, discovered Riff Trax?

Strangely enough, I haven't. It sounds vaguely familiar. Where does one locate this?

www.rifftrax.com

Actually, I'm almost banging myself on the head for not bringing this up earlier. RiffTrax is almost exactly like MST3K, though the key differences are that the movies lack the little characters at the bottom (like my avatar), mostly because what you download/buy is usually an audio track to play alongside the movie, although in some cases you can get the synced movie, though I'm not sure how legal or not that is.

The other difference is that the voiceovers aren't done by the same 3 people like in MST3K, but instead you'll get some of just Mike Nelson, another with Mike Nelson and Crow, and so on. There's also a few 'special editions' with guest stars. For example, the Rifftrax of Ocean's Eleven features Richard Cheese.

What I like best about Rtx is that, as opposed to MST3K, they make fun of more contemporary movies and movies you probably have seen before. Whereas I'd only seen the movies in MST3K through MST3K.

More to the point, FoolKiller actually made a thread about it in the Product Review forum...

 

[FoolKiller]

www.rifftrax.com

Actually, I'm almost banging myself on the head for not bringing this up earlier. RiffTrax is almost exactly like MST3K, though the key differences are that the movies lack the little characters at the bottom (like my avatar), mostly because what you download/buy is usually an audio track to play alongside the movie, although in some cases you can get the synced movie, though I'm not sure how legal or not that is.

Judging by the fact that you must pay a larger amount for the full movies and it is VOD instead of an owned download, I am guessing that it is legal.

More to the point, FoolKiller actually made a thread about it in the Product Review forum...

And I liked it.

 

[Solid Lifters]

Juno - I'm sure you know what it is, so no need to write up the usual.

Very funny movie and a lot different from what I imagined it would be. I like all the characters, too. A nice story that's well told. A bit simple, but that really never bothered me before, or now.

9/10

 

[555]

Bloodrayne - The usual Uwe Boll problems rapped in a pleasently entertaining film. There is so much wrong with this i can't be bothered to go into it all. But overall this is Uwe's "best" film.
6/10

He was a quiet man - A rather odd film this for both the leads. Christian Slater plays a dorky little loner & Elisha Cuthbert actually acts! It's a very good film this. I didn't understand the ending fully (neither did the 2 people i saw it with). and i would like to know if those were actually Elisha's boobs!? But very good film.
8/10

P2 - pretty good horror film this. Not the most imaginative, but good fun. And this is only the 3rd film ever to actually make me jump! And finally someone that uses there phone when it's all dark as apposed to a conveniant lighter.
7/10

JCVD - I'm not going to use the "Van damme shows off his acting muscles", because Van Damme can act, it's just recently in all his crappy STV film's everyone just thinks of him as a giant plank. Anyway JCVD is a very clever film. With some impressive long swooping shots, with the opening one up there with Children of men or Warrior King.
7/10

 

[Diego440]

Die Fälscher (a.k.a. The Counterfeiters) (2007) -- True story of the largest counterfeiting operation in history, set up by the Nazis in 1936, where they used the Jews to make British and American money, in order to break their financial systems. It's a war drama, but without the war. You get a lot of concentration camp scenes and hard to watch scenes about the holocaust, though it lacks gripping acts, save from the concentration on life in the special part of the camp where only the sounds of shouts and gunshots are what let the people know what's happening outside. I suppose there were no amazing revelations apart from the basis of the story but that was more than enough and I recommend it. 7.5/10



Ondskan (a.k.a. Evil) (2003) -- Swedish/Danish movie about a boy who is expelled from school for fighting. He ends up at a private boarding school where the senior students control the young ones in a pretty bully-ish way. Erik, the central character, stands up to the bullies and ends up paying a high price for it. It's a great coming of age film, but falls in the overrated category when you try to look beyond it at some deeper message. Director Mikael Håfström went on later to direct 1408, which was kinda lame. Evil is much better, though. 6.5/10



Le Scaphandre et Le Papillon (a.k.a. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) (2007) -- Back in college I took a course called Theology of Death, in which we didn't see much about theology, though a lot about death... the fear of it, acceptance and outlook. During the class, we had to read this book, and it was amazing. It's the true story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, who suffered a stroke and could only move his left eye. He had to communicate through his blinking eye (the method is quite simple, though tedious) and he managed to write a book... or rather, dictate it. The book is about his realisation about what he's in and living inside his body (or the diving bell) when in his mind he can be free (like a butterfly). The story is quite moving and I think they did a good enough job with the movie... I expected it to be more colourful, but that's because I read the book before. Still, it's very, very well taught, though don't expect a happy ending... thugh it may be if you understand the story well. Great movie, though as usual, the book is better. 8.5/10

 

[Diego440]

Blood Simple (1984) -- The Coen Brothers first feature film. I can say there's many, many cues noticeable throughout their later work, especially the 'everything that can go wrong will go wrong' rule. Other than that, the movie isn't as good as their later work, though it's not bad either. Just a bit ssslllooowwweeerrr paced. It's about a rich but jealous man who hires a private investigator to kill his cheating wife and her new man. But, when blood is involved, nothing is simple... deep, eh? Oh well. 7/10

 

[boiltheocean]

Bowling for Columbine.. ...again

 

[Solid Lifters]

The Cowboys - 1972 Starring: John Wayne, Roscoe Lee Brown, Bruce Dern, Colleen Dewhurst, Slim Pickens, Robert Carradine, more.

A cattle rancher, Wil Anderson (John Wayne), must get his cattle to market. However, no men are left to hire for his cattle drive on account of a gold strike pull them all away. Stuck, he decides to hire school boys to drive his cattle to market.

The boys are amazed to see their first black man, (Roscoe Lee Brown) who will be the cook on their drive. Before setting off, trouble gets started by a convict (Bruce Dern) who tries to lie his way into a job as one of the drivers, but gets shut down by Mr. Anderson for lying.

The boys learn their place as men while they get the cattle to market. Thus, leaving as 'The School Boys' and coming back as 'The Cowboys.'

Best Cowboy Western of all time. A MUST watch movie. 10/10


This clip will be a big spoiler, if you're interested. Watch at your own risk!

WARNING! Language may be offensive to some.

 

[McLaren]

I haven't seen that movie in a long time. Was a really good film. 👍
I think American Dad also did a parody of it in 1 episode.

 

[buickgnx88]

The Royal Tenenbaums

Watched this in one of my classes Monday and today. At first I thought it was going to be boring, but when they introduced the cast for the majority of the movie (you'll know what I mean if you've seen it), I knew it would be good. There was plenty of comedy, both blatant and subtle. The cast worked greatly and there were times where you actually felt for the characters. I admit that slower movies really aren't my thing, but this is one that was very enjoyable to watch. 9.5/10 from me.

 

[Diego440]

Raising Arizona (1987) -- yet another Coen Bros. movie, and counting this one I've seen them all except for Intolerable Cruelty. It's been at least 15 years since I saw it the last time and it's all there... I hadn't forgotten any scenes. It's a great movie if you're a Coen fan, but it draws very little from the others. Tries to be a comedy, but it's too dramatic, tries to be a family movie but it's too raw, tries to be something it's not, but it's still enjoyable. Funny to see William Forsythe in the role he's in, and one of the movies that 'made' Nicholas Cage. Still, it's alright 7/10



The Darjeeling Limited (2007) -- Seriously, where the hell did this movie come from? Directed by Wes Anderson (hear that, buickgnx88?), the style is very much what he's got us used to, with the seemingly unconnected (wtf inducing) scenes and very offbeat structure. It's a love it or hate i comedy, where the funny parts are comprised of the effect caused on the viewer rather than gags or one liners. The movie is about 3 brothers who go on a 'spiritual journey' to find themselves and get to know each other again... or something like that. It's enjoyable, though I found it to be very slow... keep in mind, I liked The Royal Tenenbaums. Still, it's pretty obvious Jason Schwartzman got the role because he wrote the screenplay, but I'm not sure he was the preferred roleplayer. 6.5/10



Das Leben der Anderen (a.k.a. The Lives of Others) (2006) -- Very, very good movie set in the DDR (Berlin), in 1984, where an agent of the secret police, conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives. I don't want to tell much more about it, but keep in mind it's #53 in IMDb's Top 250. 8.5/10

 

[buickgnx88]

Directed by Wes Anderson (hear that, buickgnx88?)

Yup, I knew that already!

 

[boiltheocean]

Lakai - Fully Flared

 

[Delphic Reason]

Lakai - Fully Flared

Fantastic production values. One of the most enjoyable skate videos I have ever watched.

 

[Diego440]

Le Violon Rouge (a.k.a. The Red Violin) (1998) -- I'm really marmitey on this movie. I've read the reviews and they all rave over it, yet I found it boring, predictable, b-movie acted and overall bland. There's this supposed 'curse' over a red violin, yet at no moment it's explained why it's cursed... the viewer is left to interpret, and that's alright. But it's not always cursed, so you're left scratching your head a few times. The music is alright if you enjoy violins, though I would've liked a bit more than violins, at least soundtrack-wise. 3/10



The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) -- This semi-Western movie is among the best non-Film-Noir Bogart movies, IMO. For the face value of it, it's a great movie which greatly deserves to be in IMDb's Top 250 (it's #52). But it's also a great psychological movie about what makes people happy and why... and it's also a deeper movie regarding trust and friendship. Great movie from any viewpoint. 8.5/10

 

[555]

Pride & Glory - This wasn't really what i thought it was going to be. The trailers made it look like an gritty action thriller. It's a drama. Normally i can adapt, but i really wasn't in the mood for this kind of film. And i just thought it was boring. I like Colin Farrel alot and Ed Norton (if clearly a bit "luvvy duvvy") is a brilliant actor, but this is far to long and very dull.
4/10

River Queen - STV action drama with (the luvly) Samantha Morton and (the quality) Kiefer Sutherland. Sam is good, but Kiefer has followed in his dads footsteps and is trying to do an Irish accent. Now he isn't as bad as his dad (in Virus), but it's laughable. Jack Bauer shouldn't sound like that.
Again like the above film this is just boring. I probably would have stopped watching this had others not been watching it with me.
3/10

The Air I Breathe - Another STV flick. This time with a very good cast and in my opinion a pretty good film. Why this went straight to dvd is beyond me. I think the cast alone (brenden frasier, andy garcia, sarah michelle gellar, kevin bacon, forest whitakker) would put bums in cinema seats. Anyway, this is very much like Crash. Little inter-twining stories. It's nice and short. But seems to rap up a bit to neatly. But i liked it.
7/10

Spooks Season one & two - Ok, i know these aren't films. But they are so good and each episode like mini films i thought i'd mention them.
This is either the 3rd or 4th time we have watched these (we have currently started Season 3 and are going to work are way through them all) and they are just as good even when you can remember whats coming, like the finale of Season one, which is still incredibly emotional.
I think after Adam Carter joins in Season 3, it's hard to like Tom Quinn as much, but he is still very good. But Danny & Zoe are the best 2 characters (after Adam).
Excellent series Spooks is! Frequently better than "24", mainly because it still manages amazing twists and turns and isn't afraid of killing off its cast.
10/10

 

[prisonermonkeys]

The International

When I read the basic outline of this film, I thought it sounded pretty good. I just got back from finding out that my hopes had been misplaced. The premise is that an international bank is trying to manipulate global conflicts by controlling the debt of each side fighting them. Ineresting enough, and I was willing to overlook the presence of Clive Owen as the man trying to bring them to justice.

I'll ignore Owen for the moment because I don't want to concentrate on him too much at this point. He'll get his turn later. Firstly, the film comes across as a pretty generic thriller. Aside from one mention of an investigation into white-collar crime, the whole thing follows the framework of a normal investigation: there is no tracing of money, talking with launderers, nothing to suggest this is a fraud investigation. In fact, for the first third of the film, the characters vaguely reference the bank's dirty dealings while waiting for something big enough to come along. Essentially, they're letting someone - an Italian politician - die. And from there on in, the investigation is something out of a police procedural. The film then abandons all pretext that it is a thriller with a noisy and very public shootout in the Guggenheim Museum. Why they were there is unclear, though I think it had something to do with the interesting architecture, as if the film was very self-conscious.

Now it's Owen's turn: in The International more than any other film, the man is quite clearly trying to be Daniel Craig. The first two acts are very Casino Royale, with its sinister-transnational-shady-finance overtones, but the second half is Quantum of Solace. I physically groaned when it was mentioned that Owen would have to "go outside the system" if he wanted a chance to do right.

One of my favourite scenes in Casino Royale is when Bond causes the distraction with the Land Rover, if only because of the way he flicks the car keys away as he leaves the scene of the crime. And he does it again in Quantum of Solace with a mobile phone. In The International, Clive Owen copies it almost frame for frame with an earpiece. His expression is almost identical to Daniel Craig's, as is his walk. But there's one minor exception: Owen is quite clearly acting. He doesn't have the charisma, the ability or the sheer nerve to be able to pull it off the way Craig does. As such, the next few scenes are ridiculous: Owen pursues his quarry through Istanbul with the kind of determined, purposeful, I'm-going-to-get-you-even-if-it's-the-last-thing-I-do walk that somehow catches up with his target, even though the man is running. I'd expect it from John Wayne if he were played by Sylvester Stallone.

Worse, the end credits make it pretty obvious that the entire two hours you just spent watching the film were all for nothing.

 

[Diego440]

The Air I Breathe - Another STV flick. This time with a very good cast and in my opinion a pretty good film. Why this went straight to dvd is beyond me. I think the cast alone (brenden frasier, andy garcia, sarah michelle gellar, kevin bacon, forest whitakker) would put bums in cinema seats. Anyway, this is very much like Crash. Little inter-twining stories. It's nice and short. But seems to rap up a bit to neatly. But i liked it.
7/10

Seriously, guy?

 

[555]

Seriously