What Movie Did You Just Watch? ...Rises

[Dr Frankenollie]

I just watched 1996's Fargo for the third time. It's absolutely brilliant.

[Goliath]

Oh, I'm sorry you didn't like it. I feel like you were convinced you didn't like it before you saw it, though.

Why would you think that? I had thought I'd like it, due to the positive reception it has gotten on UD. But it didn't even feel like a Disney-movie. Not that all Disney-movies have to be the same. I like Lilo & Stitch as much as Rapunzel or Peter Pan, so I like different types of movies. But not Bolt.

[jpanimation]

Well I'll admit that I went into Bolt still pissed about the Sanders thing and it didn't help that the movie ended up being soo mediocre, as if they followed the generic family film playbook. I then re-watched it on Blu-ray when I had some time to clear my head and it didn't help my perspective of the movie. Really sad since American Dog was soo interesting and Bolt is soo...plain.

Bridesmaids (2011) 6.5/10 - It was decent. I liked Kristen Wiig's character and found myself laughing pretty hard during parts. Unfortunately the pacing was off and the movie was just too long. Many of the story points just overstayed their welcome. If this was about a half hour shorter it would've been a much more enjoyable movie.

[BelleGirl]

Midnight in Paris

This Woody Allen movie is really funny in the good sense! Allen's take on time travel is refreshingly different from most movies that tackle this subject. Through his adventures in Paris in the roaring twenties(in which he meets famous artists like Picasso, F. Scotch Fitzgerald, Dali and Ernest Hemingway) an American writer (Owen Wilson) learns that the reason he's not happy isn't because he lives in the wrong era, but because he's engaged to the wrong person. Thanks to Ernest Hemingway...

[SillySymphony]

Rating based on a 5 star method.

The Smurfs (2011) ✰✰ :
Utter Smurffy fluff. Save yourself, go watch Enchanted instead.

The Princess Bride (1987) ✰✰✰1/2 :
Next year is the 25th Anniversary of The Princess Bride. I used to not care for this movie. After seeing it a few times with friends it's rubbed off on me. It's cheesy, but in a fairytale way, it doesn't try to force itself to be more. The classic quotable lines are what will make this film live on.

Corpse Bride (2005) ✰✰✰✰ :
My kind of "scary" movie. Watched it with my sister and we were laughing so hard. Favorite scene is the "Remains of the Day" musical sequence. I haven't watched/listened to any commentaries, but The Skeleton Dance (pictured in my siggy) had to be an inspiration for that scene. <img src="http://www.msn101.com/content/emoticons ... 1329V8.gif" border="0">

PotC: On Stranger Tides (2011) ✰✰✰ :
Solely a Johnny Depp movie. This whole film rides on his shoulders, not even the attempt of a James/Sirena storyline works for me. He's great at his character and all, but I've seen enough of him and want other memorable pirate characters.
And I'm mad that the mermaids behind-the-scenes is only on the 3D combo pack. Is it available or something similar to see anywhere else online?

[jpanimation]

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) 6/10 - Well, I’ll give the series this much; it’s consistent...in being progressively worse with each installment. This one started off great and remained so until Jack landed on Blackbeard’s ship (or when the plot started). From there, it took a nose dive into the super corny and bland from which it never recovers. I was hoping Blackbeard would finally be a grounded villain (after all the gods and cursed monsters of the other installments) but instead they gave him a magic cap that can control ships, some zombie minions, the ability to shrink ships and put them in bottles, working voodoo dolls, and the worst offense of all; he has absolutely NO personality. At least the other villains had loads of personality and some kind of tragic backstory to help you buy into their character. Blackbeard has no depth and is no fun. There are many magical elements like the mermaids that feel forced and don’t really belong in this series (not to mention they seem more like the Sirens of greek myth than mermaids). Then you have the bible banger and his romance with the mermaid, which is just a completely underdeveloped waste of the audience’s time. Hell, most of this movie just feels like a waste of our time as no one in the picture really feels like they truly want to get to the fountain of youth and their isn’t really any drive behind anything happening. Everyone one just feels so detached from the plot that you quickly loose interest. On a final note, the character of Angelica was just wasted potential.

I would hope that after this mess they would quite making these movies and remove all references to them from the classic Disneyland ride but that would be asking too much. Money money money!

Horrible Bosses (2011) 6/10 - I really don’t know what to say about this movie. It wasn’t terrible but I feel it never really went anywhere. The characters were all one dimensional, which I guess is to be expected for a comedy but this one just happened to have a ton of A-listers in it that have played FAR more interesting roles. It was less predictable then I thought it would be but also less funny then I thought it would be (considering the cast). Nothing really stuck with me.

[PixarFan2006]

Child's Play 2 (1990) - This was on one of the Cinemax movie channels last night, so I decided to watch it since it is still the month of Halloween (despite the fact I have it on DVD). It's an okay sequel to the first Child's Play. There are a few one-liners but they keep it at a minimum (unlike the others, where they go overboard with the one-liners and wisecracks). I did not watch the whole thing though, so I missed the climax. If you want to see a sequel to Child's Play, watch this one and maybe Child's Play 3 if you want silliness. Avoid Bride of Chucky and Seed of Chucky though.

[Dr Frankenollie]

I've recently watched Tim Burton's Batman and Severance, a British horror-comedy. Both owe great thanks to a specific actor in each movie (Jack Nicholson for Batman and Tim McInnery for Severance); without these actors, neither movie would have been as compelling and memorable as they are. Batman has great music and great visuals but has some pointless and slow-paced scenes that even the film's director dislikes; Severance meanwhile had great juxtaposition of humour and gore, although was hindered by a few lacklustre actors and a weak first quarter. I expect to put full-length reviews of these movies up on my blog either later this week or next week.

[Linden]

Oh, I'm sorry you didn't like it. I feel like you were convinced you didn't like it before you saw it, though.

Why would you think that? I had thought I'd like it, due to the positive reception it has gotten on UD. But it didn't even feel like a Disney-movie. Not that all Disney-movies have to be the same. I like Lilo & Stitch as much as Rapunzel or Peter Pan, so I like different types of movies. But not Bolt.

I remembered you saying you hadn't seen it because you were upset about Chris Sanders' replacement. Seemed like a fair assumption to me. As for a positive reception on UD, I haven't noticed that. I think there are only three of us on here who actually like the film, not just think it's okay.

[BelleGirl]

Great Expectations 1946 - on DVD

The classic adaptation of the Dickens classic by David Lean!
I'ts not entirely faithfull to the book, but which adaptation is? The version by David Lean is a masterpiece in itself. A good restoration of the film on this dvd too. Though John Mills was actually too old for the part of the adult Pip, he acts well. Pity there aren't much bonus features: only one old trailer and some stills from the set.

[Goliath]

[Bolt] I remembered you saying you hadn't seen it because you were upset about Chris Sanders' replacement. Seemed like a fair assumption to me. As for a positive reception on UD, I haven't noticed that. I think there are only three of us on here who actually like the film, not just think it's okay.

I think you've mistaken me with somebody else. I don't know much about Sanders' involvement, other than he was supposed to direct it and they got him off the project due to creative differences. That's all. I've seen more than a few people giving positive reviews of Bolt on UD.


Goodbye Solo (2009)

I'm sure I would have liked this one a lot better, had I been able to keep my head with it for the entire duration of the movie, but my mind kept wandering off. Not the movie's fault, it's just that I'm rarely in the mood for films lately as it's hard for me to concentrate on them. Anyway, it's a short movie about an unlikely and sometimes reluctant friendship between a taxidriver from Senegal and an all-American grumpy old man with more than a few secrets and a suicidal plan. The ending is sure to have great impact on anyone actually paying attention to it.

[Lazario]

Time to get back on the horse, movie-watching wise:



Mortal Kombat (1995 / directed by: Paul W.S. Anderson)



What can I say? I enjoyed the movie as a teenager. I still enjoy it now. The flaws are obvious: the idea of this movie is just plain silly. The video games are gory and you know a Hollywood action-adventure movie made for kids in the 90's can't show us that. Instead, they load on the character stereotypes from other New Line action-adventure movies: calm but semi-hip Asian guy (seriously: it was a New Line requirement in the early to mid 90's), cocky, pompous, wisecracking, good-looking white guy, sexy chick, and - I forget where this came from - monsters who talk and are actually among the only serious characters who aren't cracking jokes. Kinda a grown-up version of Three Ninjas / Surf Ninjas. The casting is... about 70% successful, with Bridgette Wilson being at least a great look for the part of Sonya Blade, Trevor Goddard is especially good as a very briefly seen (and dispatched of) Kano, Robin Shou as Liu Kang is kinda wooden but has quite a lot of energy during the scenes where he gets the snappy one-liner, and Linden Ashby as Johnny Cage and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung (sans AWFUL game-quote closeups) being the best cast. Christopher Lambert as Rayden... man, are there words? He's not exactly terrible. He is just having too much fun being the God of Thunder and Light. He's supposed to be all-powerful lord and master of just about everything in the Earth Realm and he has a strange habit of doing any ridiculous little thing to get attention. The CGI in his eye sockets and which appears at his finger tip whenever he says "I don't think so" put him over the top already, but he also has to wag his tongue (ala- Jack Nicholson in The Shining), laugh like he's getting some kind of sexual pleasure out of it, and physically... he looks like he probably thinks this is a bad joke. Bad instincts is the phrase I'm looking for. Yet, it is just so well shot and edited, so fast paced and no b.s., so sleek and slick, that you end up enjoying almost every last moment of it. Which I did. I even sat through the entire end credits. All 9 minutes of them. It's a bad movie. But a VERY well-made one.




The Babysitter (1995 / directed by: Guy Ferland)



Joel Schumacher produced this, which should really tell you something ahead of time. Alicia Silverstone is incredibly cute, only occasionally as seductive as her character is supposed to be, and Nicky Katt is incredibly intense but- what's it worth? Very little. One of the biggest problems is the damn music. No one is going to recognize the actual songs, they're very cliched, and the score... could not possibly be more out of place and inappropriate for any scene. For one, it's dated. Very old fashioned and "classy" for an R-rated 90's teen movie about 3 guys getting drunk and trying to rape a babysitter (they even put a very obvious flute in the mix!). Two, if you did hear it anywhere in the 90's- it's in a family film. I promise you, the second you hear it, your ears will squirm. The other problem is just that you don't give a damn about anything going on. The mother and the children are completely unlikable. The dialogue and situations are just mind-numbing. The narrative is literally crushed under the weight of about 3 dozen "dream" sequences that try to screw with the movie's sense of reality. I guess the ideas aren't as bad as the writing and the music. Maybe it could have worked if these things were fixed.

[SillySymphony]

Watched 9 movies in the past 10 days, which mainly consisted of my 1st (still in progress) HP marathon.

Ratings based on a 5 star method.
[Green = First viewing] [Red = Harry Potter]

Project Nim (2011) ✰✰✰1/2
HP...Sorcerer's Stone (2001) ✰✰✰1/2
HP...Chamber of Secrets (2002) ✰✰✰1/2
HP...Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) ✰✰✰✰
HP...Goblet of Fire (2005) ✰✰✰
Jurassic Park (1993) ✰✰✰✰
The Lost World - Jurassic Park (1997) ✰✰✰
Leap Year (2010) ✰✰✰
HP...Order of the Phoenix (2007) ✰✰✰

[Lazario]

The In Crowd (2000 / directed by: Mary Lambert)



Teen trash. Which I dug out with the intention of making it the first thing I did for this new YouTube project I'm trying out. But... it's quite a bit better than I remembered. As a psychological thriller, it's laughable. For awhile. It fares worse the more it focuses on Sarah Jessica Parker-lookalike Lori Heuring's "awkward transition" into working at her doctor's country club while being the target of "pranks" by rich cretins (the perfect environment for a recovering violent obsessive who has no money, "doctor"). Even though it belongs to the Jawbreaker / Gossip club, it wants to be more like Wild Things. And... this is where it gets interesting. Well, almost. The "anything goes" sexuality felt natural throughout most of Wild Things where it's forced here (and in Tamara, although I appreciated the gesture in that one). But Susan Ward is a lot more convincing in every mode of her domination of... well, every single person here she screws. She's downright intense and even pulls off the slasher-styled climax. Basically, she's the reason this movie has a leg up on Gossip and plays considerably smoother than Jawbreaker.

[Goliath]

RocknRolla (2008)

This was one cool movie, but it won't be everybody's cup of tea. If you liked earlier Ritchie films (L,S&TSB and Snatch.) or the things Tarantino has done (though this is much milder), you'll like this one as well. It's a movie with lots of sub-plots and a very large cast of characters; yet it's still very easy to follow what's going on, which is a hard thing for a director to pull off. There's no characters to really care and/or root for, as they're all in some way corrupted or just plain evil, but that's not important here. It's about the way they all trick each other and how cleverly everybody gets their come-uppance for double-crossing each other. It's filled with great and funny dialogue; it had me in stitches a few times. The ending is particulalry great.

The Thief of Bagdad (1940)

I had wanted to see this one ever since the makers of Aladdin cited this as a big influence on their work. Now I can see why they said that. The atmosphere and design of the world of the movie is very reminiscent of the Disney-movie (or, should I say, the other way around). The film is pretty entertaining up until an hour into. It starts to drags once Abu finds the Genie in the bottle. The film has not aged very well, either. The effects are very outdated and the performances of all lead actors are stiff and wooden. Certainly doesn't live up to its reputation.

[dvdjunkie]

The Hard Way (1991) DVD

If you want a really good action/comedy, then this is your cup of tea! Directed by John Badham (Blue Thunder) and starring Michael J. Fox, James Woods, and Steven Lang (Avatar, Terra Nova), this is about a movie star (Fox) who wants to do more than Indiana Jones-style movies and wants to learn about law enforcement. So he has his manager (Penny Marshall) arrange for a "ride along" with Woods in New York City. It seems that he lands in the middle of a criminal investigation of a killer (Lang) who always phones the police to let them know where is going to do his next deed. Filled with car chases, and lots of laughs, this movie has it all, and if you don't blink your eyes you will see Christina Ricci in one of her first roles.

On the Junkie Meter I will give this one a strong 3 1/2 stars based on its re-watchablity.

[TheValentineBros]

Puss in Boots.

Love that movie!

[SillySymphony]

Finished HP marathon. Well, technically haven't seen 7.2 again (will be 3rd time), but have it and plan to.

Ratings based on a 5 star method.
[Green = First viewing] [Red = Harry Potter]

HP...Half-Blood Prince (2009) ✰✰✰
Puss in Boots (2011) ✰✰✰1/2
HP...Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (2010) ✰✰✰
Enchanted (2007) ✰✰✰✰
An American Tail (1986) ✰✰✰
Shanghai Noon (2000) ✰✰1/2

[Dr Frankenollie]

Yesterday I watched Amelie and on Friday I watched Falling Down. I put a review of Amelie on my website, but not one for Falling Down as I didn't have time.

It was my second viewing of the latter film, and now I like it all the more. Michael Douglas is obviously great, but Robert Duvall also gives a commendable performance and makes a somewhat standard cop character compelling. There are also several darkly humorous moments, like when Bill pulls out a machine gun within a parody of McDonald's, and when he destroys a public telephone later. When I first watched it, I felt that it would have been superior as more of a black comedy than a drama, but now that I've seen it again it seems to be a stronger movie because of the darker scenes and the subtle signs of Bill's abusiveness towards his family.

[dvdjunkie]

Beverly Hills Cop (1984) Blu-ray

Forgotten how vile the language was in this movie, and that is why it got the "R" rating and not for any other reason. How many times you can use the "f' bomb in a sentence doesn't make you more intelligent than the next guy. Wow!!! Aside from that, this is really a very good movie and really launched the career of Judge Reinhold and solidified the fact that Eddie Murphy can act and be funny at the same time. With a great supporting cast that features Ronny Cox, John Ashton, and cameos by Paul Reiser, Bronson Pinchot and Damon Wayans, this movie doesn't skip a beat from the opening sequence that finds Murphy undercover trying to snag a crook that buys illegal cigarettes to the brutal killing of his best friend Mikey. One situation leads to another which leads to a shoot-out in a Beverly Hills mansion in the film's climax. This movie is very re-watchable and on the Junkie Meter gets gets a solid 4 stars for the entertainment value - would have gotten a 5, if not for the language.


This is Spinal Tap (1984) Blu-ray

Rob Reiner's salute to Heavy Metal makes this comedy film a treasure to have in one's collection. With a cast featuring Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer as the members of this faux-rock and roll band, the film is done in documentary fashion and never fails to milk a joke to the breaking point. This film invented the "rockumentary" and has outlasted most of the bands that it mocks telling the story of an ill-fated American tour of an aging "over-the-hill" heavy metal band. I thoroughly enjoy this film each time I watch it, and with the release on Blu-ray it will be even more of a joy to watch. On the Junkie Meter this film gets a solid 5 Star rating.