Shoot 'Em Up: Raw, ridiculous, raunchy, racey, and roaringly entertaining. It is an absurd action-packed funny satire/spoof of the entire genre of action films. John Woo ain't got nothing on this crew! Many people and art-seeking critics may miss the obvious tongue-in-cheek humor and parodies, but don't let their knee-jerk reactions stop you from seeing this two hour adrenaline rush. By the way, it has an R rating for some serious reasons. Parents - get a baby sitter, please. I rate it a 10 for an over-the-top action parody.

I sooooooo wish I coulda seen "Shoot 'Em Up". Or even "The Brave One" (which is what my mother wanted to see). No. I couldn't use my free passes on either one. This left:
"Superbad"- mom couldn't handle the language in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin", so I figured she wouldn't be able to stand this. Even though I really wanna see it, too!
"Stardust"- Already saw it.
And...

"Dragon Wars"
I shoulda saw "Stardust" again. I wasn't really expecting much, but... DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was, at the very least, expecting some hot dragon-on-dragon action. Instead? I got a giant snake with flying mini-dragons against the military. The title (and opening narration) led me to believe that there was going to be two sides of dragons fighting each other! We don't even see the good dragon until the end of the movie! The special effects weren't all that great. You could definetly tell these guys were computer generated, but it wasn't too bad. The action was cool, I suppose. The action junkie in me did enjoy watching cars (& elephants) getting tossed around like toys. If only the stupid plot didn't get in the way! F

Song of Kong (1933). Quick! make a sequel! Robert Armstrong is back as Carl Denham, broke and being sued for the Kong disaster in NYC. What to do? Ship trip! Yeah, eventually back to Skull Island where Kong Jr. lives. Nice stop motion animation, extra cheese atop the plot and co-starring Helen Mack who went on to star in She, produced by the folks who brought us the original Kong. Haven't seen the original She film or its remakes in many many moons. Guess I'll have to hunt those movies down.

I caught Death Proof on DVD tonight. I didn't catch Grindhouse in it's original double feature format, but I somehow got the impression it would've played better that way. As a standalone movie, it was just okay.

Though it's probably the least interesting movie Quentin Tarantino has made, it was good for what was essentially a B-Movie. I've heard a lot of complaints about the dialogue, which I actually thought was good. My only beef was that the story was very flat. Even in Kill Bill, which was heavily based on grindhouse cinema, QT managed to delivered an intriguing story, even when you knew the outcome.

However, I did think Kurt Russell was a hoot, and both sets of girls had great chemistry together.

B-

I watched Disturbia on DVD last night. It was a slightly above average thriller starring Shia LaBeouf as a tethered teen under house arrest. After a week of boredom, he becomes a neighborhood voyeur, spying on the cheating husband across the street and the hot girl who just moved in next door. He also begins to suspect that his quiet neighbor is a serial killer. If this all sounds familiar, it's because it's pretty much lifted from Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. Director D.J. Caruso (The Salton Sea, Taking Lives) does add some modern technology (camcorders, webcams, camera phones)to the mix to help LaBeouf and his friends figure out whether or not his neighbor is up to no good. It's a fun popcorn movie, and I'd probably rate it higher if I'd never seen Rear Window, but it loses some points for originality.

B-

Watched "Death Proof" on dvd tonight. Naturally, I prefer this flick better when it's part of Grindhouse with "Planet Terror" and the trailers. I also have mixed feelings on this extended version. Oh well. On the bright side- Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

I watched The Lookout this afternoon, which I thought was a terrific flick. It's an interesting spin on the heist movie. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a kid who suffers from a traumatic head injury following a tragic car accident. As a result, he has trouble remembering things sequencing events. While working as a night janitor in a bank, he gets talked into helping with a robbery that doesn't quite go as planned.

A-

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:
I watched The Lookout this afternoon, which I thought was a terrific flick.

Completely agree with you. This is one of my favorite films of the year, which no one I know seems to have seen (yet, anyway). Great performances all around, especially by Gordon-Levitt, who was also amazing in Brick.

posted by crazed:Song of Kong (1933). (ahem, Son of Kong)

Politely sidestepping yr little spelling error, I'm thrilled to see one of my all time faves mentioned.
When they talk about the 'it' factor, well, this movie has the 'it' big time in my little world.
So crazed, What do ya think of the fathers starring flick, the original Kong?

As for recent films, (well, it did come out in the last 100 yrs ) holy hell!!; was I ever blown away by Eisensteins' Strike. (1924)
If you are looking for a compendium of filmmaking language at the very beginning of things, look no further. This guy almost single-handedly invented cinema as we know it.
Just for starters, check his chase scenes, watch any American action film, and you'll get an idea.

P.S. I too liked The Lookout a great deal, and quite enjoyed the Jet Li flick, War

Welcome back Ishy.

quote:

Originally posted by Ishmaels coffin:
posted by crazed:Song of Kong (1933). (ahem, Son of Kong)

Politely sidestepping yr little spelling error, I'm thrilled to see one of my all time faves mentioned.
When they talk about the 'it' factor, well, this movie has the 'it' big time in my little world.
So crazed, What do ya think of the fathers starring flick, the original Kong?

"Song" of Kong? Well, he was singing in misery when he was in the quicksand.

I love the original Kong. Better than the silly 1970something remake though on about the same level as the '05 version.

I just finished watching Zodiac. I'm not sure why avoided this for so long, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. For a film that was based on true events (movies which usually make me cringe), it was really suspenseful and full of plot twists. Fincher's visual style is great as always. I think it could've been tightened up a bit (it seemed liked Chloe Sevigny's character was a bit of a waste), but it's a minor quibble.

B+

The second film on tonight's double feature was Brick, which I heard a lot of positive buzz about. Visually, I thought it was very well executed. However, I thought once you took away the film's biggest gimmick -- a film noir set in high school where the characters still use noir lingo -- you were left with a pretty average detective story. But the gimmick didn't make the film any more effective, I think it was a distraction more than anything. I think I would've liked it better if the characters spoke normally.

I'd like to rate it higher, but I had trouble getting past the gimmick.

C+

Why didn't anybody say anything about "Death Proof" NOT HAVING any of the fake trailers?! I felt like an idiot when I told my wife all about them and they never showed up! I was actually looking forward to watching those again more than the movie itself! I take it they aren't going to be on "Planet Terror", either?

quote:

Originally posted by Monkey_Boy:
I take it they aren't going to be on "Planet Terror", either?[/b]

The "Machete" trailer will be with "Planet Terror" but that's it, far as I know. Betcha they're holding out on the remainder until "Death Proof" and "Planet Terror" are someday released togather as Grindhouse.

quote:

Originally posted by crazed:
The "Machete" trailer will be with "Planet Terror" but that's it, far as I know. Betcha they're holding out on the remainder until "Death Proof" and "Planet Terror" are someday released togather as Grindhouse.

I was just thinking about that the other day. With all of the money they lost, they will probably release a version of Grindhouse with both films and the trailers, the way they were released in the theatres. And it probably won't have any other special features since they will be included with the separate films.

When I got Death Proof I was looking to see if you could see the film version, with the missing reels and everything but they didn't include that either. So it looks like most of us will have three different versions of the movie in the end.

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:
I'd like to rate it higher, but I had trouble getting past the gimmick.

C+

Weird, since when did you start giving ratings?

Anyways, we saw Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets last night. It was an all right film, like the first one--which Columbus also directed--it was a little bit slow moving in parts and kiddish. Then again, the book does have a child-like point of view. Although the kids in the movie are supposed to be a year older, they felt like they were still the exact same age.

I am not going to drill the movie like a book purist would do but either way, it was enjoyable and interesting to see this directer and team of producers and screenwriters adaptation of the book. I am looking forward to seeing the third film. We will probably see that one today.

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:
Weird, since when did you start giving ratings?

I've always done it for films. I don't watch a lot of movies in the Spring and Summer months, so that's why it seems like I've been watching and rating more movies lately. I'm now catching up on stuff I've missed earlier this year, like Zodiac. I love film (and critiquing it), even if I don't watch as many movies as Mark or that ChrisFromAstoria dude, who seemingly watched about three films a day.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

This one is a tough one. They left out a lot of stuff from the book and a lot of it was stuff that made the book and the story so real, compelling and well, great. I think that a lot of people who have read the book and seen the movie would agree that they did leave out a lot. A lot of the foreshadowing from the book was missing here, a lot of the explanations in the end as well. It was sad that the original actor who had played Dumbledore had passed as well, his replacement seemed cold, frigid and unwelcoming.

All in all, as a stand alone film—not considering the book—it was still a really strong film. Alfonso Cuarón still did a great job of directing this film. Some of the angles and shots that he chooses are just executed to sheer perfection. He is truly one of our most talented and gifted filmmakers we have working today.

Well Shawshank Redemption was on TV again on Sunday night. Was to tired and drunk to get my ass kicked by some 10 year old on Halo3 so settled to watching this for the god knows how many time. Still love this film so much. Hoping most here have the maturity to agree and not think it's "cool" to dis it as overhyped tosh.