Review the Movie You Viewed VII: We're Done, Professionally

[LMP]

You know what, I caught Land of the Lost at the dollar theater today and had fun with it. It opens with the '70s/'80s Universal logo, just like Drag Me to Hell did earlier this summer, and that's a big indicator of the tone of the rest of the film. It's a $100 million dollar B-movie, but with Ferrell, McBride, and Jorma from the Lonely Island riffing throughout most of the movie. There's a particular sequence that's in the trailer where Ferrell and the gang are running from dinosaurs and it's all hand-held that I really dug (and enjoyed in Cloverfield, too). It's fun, crude, doesn't take itself too seriously, but you can tell that everyone involved cared about what they were making, you know?

I can see where it failed (Ferrell oversaturation, looking too "kiddie"-like, etc...) but it's definitely something that'll catch your attention on cable a few years from now. Glad I didn't see it first run, but in a weak summer for comedies, it didn't fare too badly.

 

[No spoken words]

With the $$$ they spent to produce and market that film, it needed to be a whole hell of a lot better than a B movie.

And, am I the only person who never, ever finds McBride funny?

 

[LMP]

With the $$$ they spent to produce and market that film, it needed to be a whole hell of a lot better than a B movie.

And, am I the only person who never, ever finds McBride funny?

Oh, most definitely. I can't believe how anyone thought it would be a huge enough hit to justify that budget. Part of the problem was that it was mis-marketed, too, but not even that would've solved much of the problem. According to Box Office Mojo, Journey to the Center of the Earth only cost $60 million.

Probably not.

 

[Lancemc]

And, am I the only person who never, ever finds McBride funny?

 

[RedRocksU2]

Doubt

Great performances; Adams and Streep are great, but I will see any movie with Hoffman.
8/10

 

[joyfulgirl]

Whatever Works - Wow, that was just awful. Patricia Clarkson almost saves it but not quite.

 

[Pearl]

Twilight.

Yep, I actually bothered to see this movie. I wanted to see what the big deal was, since I know some people who adore the books and the movie.

All I can say is this movie is cheeeeeesy! Beyond cheesy! I don't know what words to use to describe how crappy it is. Stupid dialogue and lines ("You're like heroin to me"), ridiculous storyline, and the list goes on.

I thought it was so bad, I turned the movie off halfway. I turned it off during the scene where whats-his-name tells Bella that she's his "heroin" and she says, "Oh, I trust you!" and tries to kiss him. I felt like gagging watching that scene. Yeah, I know its just a movie and blah blah blah. But get real here! You know someone is vampire, is killing people all over town, is telling you he wants to suck your blood, and you're willing to love him?!

Cheese. Pure cheese.

 

[LMP]

Whatever Works - Wow, that was just awful. Patricia Clarkson almost saves it but not quite.

It's not one of Woody's better comedies, but I couldn't help but laugh whenever Larry David yelled at children.

 

[pgv]

This week I've seen -

Harry Potter (far better than expected, better than the others and no, it was never going to be the book. None of them are. But still - as a film, it worked. And the opening scene in London was absolutely stunning.)

Coraline (A film of two halves - the first bit really rather bland, the second 'scary' half absolutely terrifying. This is a kids film?! What the hell?! Wasn't as cohesive as The Nightmare Before Christmas and the soundtrack sucked. But a brilliant premise and the terrifying scenes with the 'other' mother made all the worse for being in 3D. Bravo.)

 

[LMP]

Coraline kicked into gear as soon as she went into the Other World for the first time. Hard to compare it to Nightmare, but it was still really effective.

 

[pgv]

I was so ridiculously bored before that - felt the dialogue lacking something, and the rest of it a tad too bland. I don't think it got truly interesting until her return to the real world and realising her parents were missing. And there was no point to the stupid neighbours at all (as much as I love French and Saunders doing the voiceovers.)

 

[Lancemc]

Coraline was pretty "meh" for me. Sure the other world was considerably more colorful and 'exciting', but I found everything about it pretty stale just the same. I'm not sure I've seen a less interesting story all year actually, at least in concept. I actually find the 'real world' stuff more satisfying ultimately, if only because it's refreshing to see something more natural explored in stop motion for a change. Of course I'm not really a fan of stop-motion to begin with, so there's that too.

 

[RedRocksU2]

Visually, Coraline was amazing.

 

[mad1]

I cannot wait to see

Fragments and The Lucky Ones

Im in the middle of watching Watching the Detectives, Marley and Me (yes, really), The Burning Plain, and some other movie with Rachael Evan Woods.

usually I get movies with my fav actor / actress in them.

ah well.

LOL!

 

[the tourist]

Friday the 13th (the new one) - Terrible. Absolutely terrible.

Gran Torino - good for the most part. Some really bad acting in places, though. But it's made up for by one of the other actors' usage of "honky."

 

[the tourist]

Quarantine - Good for the first 3/4ths. Almost a B. The ending kills it horribly though and drops it easily to a C or C-.

The Conversation - Nothing but love for this movie. Gene Hackman is brilliant, and Harrison Ford isn't so bad himself for a youngling.

 

[Pearl]

He's Just Not That Into You

I thought it was cute. Certainly a lot of scenes to relate to in the movie. Some of the characters were annoying, like Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Anna (Scarlett Johannson). But overall, a good movie to laugh with and at, and nod your head with in agreement.

8/10

 

[FitzChivalry]

He's Just Not That Into You

I thought it was cute. Certainly a lot of scenes to relate to in the movie. Some of the characters were annoying, like Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Anna (Scarlett Johannson). But overall, a good movie to laugh with and at, and nod your head with in agreement.

8/10

Uhhh, you forgot the best part of the whole movie: Bradley Cooper is MEGA HOTT! in it!

 

[Pearl]

He is good looking, but I wouldn't get too flustered over him. Maybe its because I thought his character was a douchebag.

 

[FitzChivalry]

He is good looking, but I wouldn't get too flustered over him. Maybe its because I thought his character was a douchebag.

Yes, his character was a total douchebag, but he was still very aesthetically pleasing to the superficial homosexual eye.

 

[U2Girl1978]

Saw Burn After Reading and You Don't Mess With the Zohan last night

Burn After Reading 8/10
Great movie by the Coen Brothers. It was a bit of a dark movie but really funny. Loved John Malkovich, Brad Pitt and George Clooney in it.

Zohan 7.5/10
This was a funny but also stupid and ridiculous movie. Some parts I cringed at and other parts I almost fell out of my chair laughing. The mother from My Big Fat Greek Wedding is in this movie and all I have to say is WTF did she do to her face. Yikes! It was hard to watch some of the scenes with her in it.

 

[U2Girl1978]

He's Just Not That Into You

I thought it was cute. Certainly a lot of scenes to relate to in the movie. Some of the characters were annoying, like Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Anna (Scarlett Johannson). But overall, a good movie to laugh with and at, and nod your head with in agreement.

8/10

It was good. I liked Ben Affleck and Jennifer Aniston together. Gigi was indeed annoying as hell.

 

[Saracene]

My Sister's Keeper - 6.5/10

I thought the movie often veered too much into treacle, with too many slow-motion montages, long glances and heart-tugging music. However, it was rescued by the strong performances by the girls playing the two sisters and solid supporting cast (Joan Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Alec Baldwin).

 

[mad1]

Life Before Her Eyes/A Life of Memories.



another pile of cack wasting the talent of a decent young actress Rachael, who really does save the movie in a way.

but with Uma in it, its like watching someone who aint acted in 10 years re-emerge on screen and die, for future roles.

this movie was a fuking mess.

 

[Reggo]

The Boondock Saints

I loved this movie. It was just all kinds of cool. Willem Dafoe gave a great performance, so did the guys playing the twins.

 

[Lancemc]

Harry Potter and the Blah blah blah

First off, I don't think any of the HP movies have been any good. Even Cuaron's film suffers from really awkward storytelling and "WTF-this-is-dumb"-ness. But prior to this, my favorite of the films was probably the last one, if only because shit actually happened in that movie that seems to mean something.

So yeah, this is easily my favorite Potter film yet, if only by the sheer virtue of not being complete rubbish. Most strikingly, the film is fucking gorgeous. Like "Holy shit, if this had a great screenplay and more talented direction it would be fucking breathtaking" gorgeous. Additionally, it's really funny. This is probably the first time I've watched one of these where the majority of the characters weren't just tolerable, but were actually compelling and entertaining. I lawled a bunch. Mostly because of Luna. She's awesome. Why the fuck isn't she in every iteration of this dull-a-thon?

Thankfully, this film felt as though it had some forward momentum for a change. It seemed as though things were happening with reason with a tangible threat just beyond the gate. Of course the whole thing still comes off as pretty haphazard, and I'm sure these film adaptations still fail to capture what seems like a fundamentally novelistic story-line. Thus I doubt any of them ever had much a chance of really being great. But one thing they really could have done here that would be made things a lot less trivial was at least give some kind of indication as to the relevance of being "the half-blood prince." I mean, it's revealed as though it's supposed to mean something, and I'm sure it couldn't have taken more than a couple lines of dialogue thrown in somewhere to give non-HP-readers at least some clue as to what the hell that means.

And Emma Watson rocks a pair of jeans.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Big internet high-five for that review, Lance.

 

[bono_212]

You know, even having read all the books, I was never too keen on the whole "OMG IT'S THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE!" thing. It was a really weak plot twist in a rather weak book. The movie version made it seem even more irrelevant.

That being said, yeah, the movie looked fantastic, somehow, even though the 5th and 6th books are the worst, they ended up the best movies.

 

[FitzChivalry]

And Emma Watson rocks a pair of jeans.

But not a pink, lacey, low-cut dress?

 

[Lancemc]

But not a pink, lacey, low-cut dress?

It's all in the jeans, man.