Review the last movie you viewed (NO LISTS) II

[RedRocksU2]

I saw that Lance.

6/10 I thought that the Oscar performance by FW was good, but not great.
The fact that the journalist is completely fiction, ruined it for me.

 

[Lancemc]

Ended up not renting TLKOS afterall.

I did rent Almost Famous, Mullholand Drive and Munich.

Just watched Almost Famous

8.5/10

Famulous film. It was just completely engaging and lovable. Seems like the kind of movie I could see a thousand times and never tire of it.

 

[FitzChivalry]

28 Weeks Later . . .


Having thourougly loved "28 Days Later . . . ", and been euphoric at the comeback of Danny Boyle, I was very reticent to see "28 Weeks Later . . ." The trailers for the film did nothing to pique my interest or get my hopes up.

That being said, I can say that I really enjoyed "28 Weeks Later . . . " and found it very entertaining. Oddly enough, I found this film more saddening than scary or macabre. There are a few heartwrenching scenes in this film, that had my eyes dewing up with tears. The story is simple, but tight. The action swift. The hand-held camera jostling gets a bit out of control at times and too disorienting for its own good. The characters never really reach the fully fleshed-out third dimension and are fairly stock, yet, they are developed enough that you care and want to see them through.

Is it as good as its predecessor? No. It never gets as psychologically dark or as scary as the first. But, like "Aliens" after "Alien", it's a good, fast-paced thrill ride that doesn't add much development to the franchise, but doesn't damage it or leave a bad taste in your mouth either.

 

[Lancemc]

Munich - 8.5/10

Probably the best thing Spielberg's done since Minority Report if not Saving Private Ryan. Beautiful film if only a little cold. But that's sort of the idea. Really powerful either way.

 

[got_edge]

Schindler's List?

 

[Lancemc]

Schindler's List?

...came out in 1993. So I stand by my statement.

 

[namkcuR]

Little Manhattan 10/10

A film about two fifth graders falling in love(or whatever love can be at that age) for the first time. His parents are divorced but still living together and her parents are rich. It is narrated by the boy Wonder-Years-Style and he is written as very intelligent(as is the girl - they are both written accurately as Manhattan children). So basically via the voiceover you get a mixture of sweet childlike ponderings about first love and biting, bitter remarks about love filled with cynicism beyond his age.

The voiceover narration is without question the best part of the film. There are just some great quotes...

One of the first times he has contact with the girl, when his class is told to 'pair up':

"Oh, the painful dance of pairing up. 20 seconds of pure torture!"

When he goes into a dress store with her:

"Is there anything worse than dress shopping? I would rather have my toenails peeled off one by one with pliers than spend five minutes in the dress store."

Trying to schedule a date with her around her karate/cello/etc lessons:

"Geez it was easier scheduling Arab-Israeli peace talks than making a date with this girl!"

On their first date when they hold hands for the first time:

"Never had I been so keenly aware of the ability of my palm to manufacture sweat."

While they are stuck waiting, with his mother's date, to leave his apartment for their date:

"Is there anything more excruciating than you and your date and your mom's date all hanging out with absolutely nothing to say?"
(His mother's date says 'Don't do anything I wouldn't do, okay kiddo?' and ruffles his hair)
"Okay, that's more excruciating."

And reflecting on it all:

"Love is an ugly, terrible business practiced by fools."

That's just the tip of the iceberg.

 

[No spoken words]

Just watched Last King of Scotland.

Took maybe 5 minutes for me to forget I was watching Forrest Whitaker and to just sort of feel like I was watching Amin himself. Whitaker was amazing.

Enjoyed the film, but, his performance is what will stick in my head much more than anything else.

 

[Saracene]

The Italian - 8/10

A Russian film about a 6-year-old boy growing up in an orphanage, who is about to be adopted by an Italian couple (hence the title) but decides instead to track down his birth mother who had abandoned him. A bleak yet strangely hopeful film with an absolutely winning and natural central performance.

 

[LMP]

Escape from New York.

I'm a sucker for John Carpenter movies. I find them immediately enjoyable and genius due to the fact he usually worked on a shoestring budget. This movie is no different. Not only is this vision of the future totally crazy, New York as a prison island, but it introduced quite possibly one of the greatest badasses in the history of movie badasses, Snake Plissken. This movie is just fun to watch, that's all there is to it, and it gets added points for having Isaac Hayes as a villain who has chandeliers on his car. This is one of Carpenter's best behind Halloween, Big Trouble in Little China, and The Thing, go see this movie. That being said, I take away some points because it is a little dated (landing on the World Trade Center by plane) and the version I watched was not the remastered version, which I bet is amazing.

***1/2 out of *****

Escape from L.A.

As I stated above, I loved the first movie, so I was excited to see this movie. Essentially, it's a retread of New York, but in L.A. with cooler special effects and explosions. That's really it. Plus, Steve Buscemi was in it, so I was expecting someone to go "SHUT THE FUCK UP, DONNIE!" and that didn't happen. This movie's alright by itself, but is inferior to the original.

**1/2 out of *****

 

[Lancemc]

On The Waterfront - 10/10

A timeless classic. It's considered one of the best films ever for good reason.

 

[Lancemc]

Mulholland Drive - N/A

My first forray into David Lynch. What a dissaster...

I rarely turn films off without giving them a fair chance. Hell, I'll sit through any slop just to say I saw it. But I turned this film off after the first 21 minutes. Not saying it's BAD. Just hear me out.

I've read a lot about David Lynch online, all the heated debate and heated praise for the man. I knew what I was getting into, and I had a feeling I would either love him or hate him. Turns out I hate him. Not saying he's a terrible director, I can see what he was going for. I just didn't care to watch it. Whether it was intentional or not, I just couldn't stand this film's photography/cinematography, the dialog, or the god-awful acting I was seeing (Though Robert Forster is always excellent, and probably was in this as well).

Basically, I knew my taste for this director would come down to style rather than substance. The substance might be there, and probably is given his enthusiastic fanbase. I just can't sit through a 2 hour+ film from 2001 that looks like it was filmed in the 80's. If that's a superficial thing to say, well, damn straight. The film buff in me says I should give him a fair chance, but there's no way I can convince myself to sit through the rest of this movie.

 

[cdisantis83]

I just finished Children of Men, which has left me fairly ambivalent. The intensity was incredible- the childbirth scene especially so- and Clive Owen's perfomance very strong, as usual. I did feel, however, as though the ending eschewed the looming question- i.e., the effect of the child on a disintegrating society. Generally, I applaud films that avoid conventional endings, but I do feel that, in this instance, the viewer needed to have some sense of whether Theo's efforts were ultimately rewarded.

8/10

 

[got_edge]

Thanks for the tip on Little Manhattan up there.

 

[jimmmm]

Spiderman 3, absolutely fantastic!

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

I watched Smokin' Aces this afternoon. I didn't expect to love it, but I hoped it would be a Tarantino-esque mix of violence and comedy. There was a lot of violence all right, but far too much of a plot and way too many characters packed into a 90-minute movie. The cast included a lot of big names, from Jeremy Piven to Ben Affleck to Alicia Keys and Common (who gave the two best performances of the movie), but most of the characters were completely cliched, and the screenplay wasn't well written enough to poke fun of those cliches. There were a few mildly entertaining parts and the ending was surprisingly good, but this probably isn't worth renting. 3/10

 

[Lancemc]

Pan's Labyrinth - 8/10

Been waiting to see this for a while. After hearing a lot of mixed reviews I really wasn't sure what to expect. Turned out to be a lot better than I thought it would. Everything from the art direction, photography, make-up, score, sound design and acting was absolutely gorgeous. The characters were all really wonderful, especially El Fauno and Mercedes.

Basically I really loved almost everything about the film. I'm just not too sure what I think about the story. I mean, it was good for sure... just not sure how much I liked it. I think I'll have a clearer opinion about this movie in a couple days. It could use a few days to digest. But I'd definitely recommend it.

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

Now that I'm done with school, I have more time to make use of my Netflix subscription. Yesterday I watched Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and today I watched Alpha Dog.

I liked the use of animated sequences in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and the way that the songs filled in so much of the back story. This is one of those movies people have been recommending to me for years, and I'm glad I finally got around to seeing it. It's campy and over the top in some places, but I cared a lot about the characters, too. 7/10

I liked Alpha Dog more than I expected to. It's loosely based on the true story of one of the youngest people to ever make the FBI's most wanted list. Emile Hirsch stars as drug dealer Johnny Truelove, with Justin Timberlake, Bruce Willis, Sharon Stone, and Ben Foster among the supporting cast. When an associate fails to pay up, Johnny kidnaps the guy's fifteen-year-old half-brother. The boy is glad to be away from his smothering parents, though, and enjoys the party lifestyle that Johnny and his crew introduce him to. Things go bad, though, when Johnny finds out he and the others face life in prison for kidnapping the boy.

The character development was excellent, especially of Timberlake's character Frankie near the end, but there were too many characters, and the plot took awhile to get going. All and all, though, an entertaining movie. 6/10

 

[corianderstem]

Hedwig ...

I love the soundtrack.

 

[VintagePunk]

Lady in the Water - 8.5/10

I liked this a lot. The first 20 minutes or so were a bit slow, but otherwise, it was an engaging story full of wonderfully quirky characters, and gorgeously shot. I don't understand the poor reviews it got. I'm wondering if many were due to the film critic's character, and the one character's commentary about his arrogance.

Godfather I - 9/10
Godfather II - 8.5/10
Godfather III - 6/10

In the past few weeks, I've also watched The Godfather trilogy for the first time ever. Being a huge fan of mafia movies and the Sopranos, I can't believe it took me so long to see this series. Like virtually everybody ever, I agree that the first two were amazing, and the third one kind of meh, due mostly to Sophia Coppola's wooden acting.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner - 7.5/10

For a movie whose social commentary seems shockingly archaic seen in the context of current times (interracial relationships? Oh noes!), this was really good. It was Hepburn and Tracy's last film together, and they both gave great performances. A piece of trivia I read after viewing it - in the final scene, Tracy gives a lengthy speech, while Hepburn looks on, in tears. Her tears were apparently real, brought on by knowing that it was the final scene of the last movie they would ever do together - Tracy was terminally ill, and he passed away just a few weeks after filming finished. Poitier exuded class, as usual. The naive optimism of the female romantic lead, Katharine Houghton, was kind of cute and endearing, although on a different day, it could have been a little annoying. A groundbreaking movie for it's time, and still worth watching.

 

[LJT]

^Um interracial relationships still tend to cause shock and trouble today, it is still quite rare for people to marry outside of their own race....it isn't such an archaic notion that people would have major issues with it.

 

[Justin24]

Pirates of the Carribean 3. 3hrs of time wasted. I was bored to tears. The monkey was the only highlight of the film.

 

[VintagePunk]

^Um interracial relationships still tend to cause shock and trouble today, it is still quite rare for people to marry outside of their own race....it isn't such an archaic notion that people would have major issues with it.

Not in my corner of the world, but this isn't FYM, so I'll leave it at that.

 

[U2girl]

English Patient: refreshed my memory on this one. Not necessarily a fan of this type of movies, but top notch acting from the cast, especially Kristin Scott Thomas and Ralph Fiennes. Very good film, 9/10.

I watched my first Leone movie (in full) with The good, the bad and the ugly. Nice dialogue and surprisingly witty for a western. One of my favourite music themes in movies too. I will look out for more Leone in the future. 8/10

Dr Strangelove: I think the third Kubrick movie I watched after Odissey 2001 and The Shining. Hilarious parody on cold war and atom bomb. Peter Sellers steals the movie with his three roles. 10/10

 

[Lancemc]

U2girl, I'd strongly suggest you check out Once Upon A Time In America.

Far and away my favorite Leone film. In a way the ultimate gangster film. Clocks in at nearly 4 hours, but it flies by. Lots of GORGEOUS photography and cinematography, and a surprising number of twists and turns. Unique chronology structure. Overall just fantastic.

 

[U2girl]

I planned to watch Fistful of dollars and For a few dollars more first, to complete the trilogy with The good the bad and the ugly.

I think I remember watching some of Once upon a time in America. Is that the one with DeNiro and James Woods ?

 

[Lancemc]

I planned to watch Fistful of dollars and For a few dollars more first, to complete the trilogy with The good the bad and the ugly.

I think I remember watching some of Once upon a time in America. Is that the one with DeNiro and James Woods ?

Yeah, that's the one alright.

But you can't go wrong with The Dollars films either. Hope you enjoy.

 

[LMP]

Hot Fuzz

Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost can do no wrong. This is the best spoof since well... Shaun of the Dead. Hey, American "spoofers," take notes from these guys. I absolutely loved this movie. Best part was the Romeo and Juliet scene, I was dying of laughter when they made fun of the DiCaprio shitfest. It does clock in at about 2 hours and has a slow first half, so that hurts rewatchability, but it's still too much fun not to watch again.

***1/2 out of ****

 

[Daddysgonnapay]

"Chicago" is on tonight!! I LOVED that when I saw it in the theater!

 

[anitram]

Iraq for Sale.

9/10. Very concise and brief (barely over an hour long) documentary about private contractors in Iraq, the shocking profits being made while the workers are dying by the hundreds. Quintessential war profiteering film - very, very well made.

Dreamgirls

7.5/10. Jennifer Hudson was that good. The rest of the movie was fine, enjoyable enough as a musical, but not fantastic. Beyonce couldn't act her way out of a wet paper bag.