"Hitman"

I really enjoyed this movie! I've never played the game, so I probably didn't get any references, but I liked the story very much. I thought Timothy Olyphant was perfect in the role. (I barely recognize him without any hair!) He was always calm, cool and collected no matter what kinda crazy violence surrounded him. The story did seem to be borrowed from "Most Wanted" in that the main character is supposed to perform a hit, but ends up getting set up for it. (I'm not saying Keenan Ivory Wayans was the first to come up with this plot, but it's the earliest example I can think of at the moment.) Agent 47 also seems to have the same problem with women that Leon had in "The Professional" (however, I'm certain Leon's discomfort was due to the fact that, in his case, it was a 12-year-old girl!) This does bring up the question: When are we gonna get an assassin that's good at killin' and at lovin'? In spite of those little "problems", they still delivered a very good movie based on a video game and we ALL know how hard that (apparently) is!
B+


"Bridge to Terabithia"

I was very disappointed in this one. I had heard that it didn't have as much "fantasy" as the previews would have you believe, but it was only their imagination?! Where's the wonder in that? I kinda zoned out after I figured that out and just let my kids watch it. Then... the third act kicked into gear and just left me sad and confused. I don't wanna give it away for those who might enjoy it, but it really made no sense why they decided to go in that direction! I'm confused on what grade to give this movie because I didn't really like the beginning, but the end nearly brought me to tears. So, I guess I'll have to give it my one time grade of:
WTF(?)

High School Musical 2

Um, yeah, I, um, had to watch it with my class. But karma told me I needed to be frank and confess my viewing sins...so...oh dear god it was horrible....

I last watched Blades of Glory last night before I fell asleep.
It still will always make me laugh even though I've watched it in theatres and have it in my collection of dvds.
Haha.

Enchanted. Begins in an animated world where Princess Giselle (Amy Adams) is singing to her animal pals about her long awaited prince (James Marsden). Prince Edward's arrival on the scene is thwarted by his evil stepmother Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon) who sends Giselle down a well and into the real world. I really enjoyed the majority of the film. The only part I cringed at was the style in which they ended the film. Amy Adams does a fantastic job at keeping the film togather.

RFK Must Die. Excellent documentary from Shane O'Sullivan on the assassination of Robert Kennedy. Though much of the information given I'd read before, I liked how the film neatly divided the case in chapters which made things less confusing (as compared to JFK assassination films I've seen). Quite a few new interviews I hadn't seen or read, including Sirhan's older brother and some ex-CIA folk once involved in the Bay of Pigs operations. A good part of the film dealt with the possible "handling" of Sirhan who still maintains he doesn't recall shooting Kennedy. Were there ex- or current CIA operatives at the Ambassador Hotel the night RFK was murdered? O'Sullivan does a great job at asking that question and revealing footage of what could be three possible agents on the scene- agents who were hostile to the Kennedys due to their Bay of Pigs involvement. O'Sullivan admits to his doubts- he's not a nutball conspiracy theorist. Will anything come from presenting these new theories and ideas? Doubtful.

I just saw Spider-Man 3 for the first time. I know, I know, I'm behind on movies. I enjoyed it, but I thought it was nowhere near as good as the first two.

Once Flower selling girl meets busker boy and they make music togather. Simple storyline, filmed almost documentary-style. The chemistry between the two leads is the heart & soul of the film. A really sweet little film that surprised me by not surprising me. One of the best movies of '07.

I last saw "Shadowlands": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowlands_(film)
(Obviously that's a link with spoilers.)

It's a beautiful movie, set in Oxford, of C.S. Lewis' personal life. (Chap that wrote Chronicles of Narnia, for those of you who aren't familiar with the name.)

Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter (1974). One of the last great Hammer horror flicks. Horst Janson is Capt.Kronos, vampire slayer, a century or so before Buffy. He's assisted by his hunchback comrade Prof. Hieronymos Grost (who seems to be the brains of the outfit). The twist in this film: the vampires are out to draw the youth from their victims, not their blood. This is a nice laidback vampire movie with plenty of eye candy, especially in the gorgeous form of Caroline Munro. No wonder the Captain spends so much time in the barn with Munro (she plays Carla, a gypsy who is punished for dancing on a Sunday). Had this film been successful, Hammer planned a Capt. Kronos series. Ah well, probably for the best anyway.

I just got done watching The Kingdom and I watched Death Sentence 2 days ago.

I watched 28 days later. I also saw shooter. AWESOME movie! totally recommend it

"Commando" Director's Cut

There's only about 2 1/2 minutes of added footage and even though I've watched this movie hundreds of times, I DIDN'T NOTICE ANYTHING NEW! Well, I shouldn't type that. I believe you see more of the guy that gets his arm lopped off at the end. I don't remember a second shot of him writhing on the ground. I also thought a couple of reaction shots to when Matrix impaled 'em were new, but nowhere near 2 1/2 minutes worth. I guess I'll have to watch it with the commentary and have the director point 'em out. The wife was sayin' that this was a waste of money, but, of course, I disagree. The original version I had was in 2.0 Dolby Digital and the ONLY "special feature" was the original theatrical trailer. This one is in 5.1 Dolby Digital and has deleted scenes (they aren't the ones put back in the movie), a couple of featurettes and (as I already mentioned) a commentary. The featurettes are great! You have new interviews with some of the cast & crew and the original (hilarious) interviews with Schwarzenegger during production. So it's worth the 11 bucks Wal*Mart was sellin' it for!
Movie: A+ Level a fan should want to own this version: HIGHEST LEVEL POSSIBLE


"Armageddon" Director's Cut

I just had to watch this the other day since there are soooo many references to it in (and around) "Transformers". I've always liked this movie! Sure, it gets sappy in areas and some parts of the story are ridiculous (Okay... most of it is ridiculous!), but it has pretty explosions and a great cast! Man! I can't believe how young and sexy Bruce Will-- I mean, Liv Tyler was. I'm not saying she's old and ugly now, but her skin just looks great and she still has all of her hair in this movie. I don't really like how she shaved her head. Just not as sexy than his trademark bald spots. I can't wait to watch him in "Death Becomes Her", he's even younger! Ahhhhhh, Bruce Willis...
Bruce Willis+++

On Xmas eve I watched Bulletproof Monk. There was nothing else on, and I couldn't have been bothered getting off my arse to get the remote from my sleeping dad's hand even if there was. Plus I like SWS, so I thought I'd give it a watch.

Unspeakably awful. Utterly dire. In fairness it doesn't pretend to be serious, but it's not even entertaining in a "no brain required" fashion. Straight in to my all time top 10 worst films.

Last time I was at my folks' house, I watched Kingdom Of Heaven, which is hilariously diabolical. Think I'll start taking dvds with me...

"I Am Legend"

Loved every minute of it! My only real problem with the movie was the use of CGI for the bad guys. I wish they used practical make-up with CGI.

What's the problem with the ending? For someone who hasn't read the original story or seen any of the other movies, it was just fine.
B

And Now the Screaming Starts! (1973) Beautiful Catherine {Stephanie Beacham) has married into a cursed English family. Hubby Charles doesn't know what to do when Cath starts seeing ghosts of his grandpa (Herbert Lom). Finally he calls in a big city doctor (Peter Cushing) and as we all know, when Cushing is called in, the shit hits the fan. Severed hands that keep on killing, buxom babes, odd groundskeepers, ghoulish portraits, eyeless phantoms- all that cool stuff and more is shown here. Still, the film could have used more blood and some bare breasts and less book reading by the boring lord of the manor.

quote:

Originally posted by Monkey_Boy:
"I Am Legend"

Loved every minute of it! My only real problem with the movie was the use of CGI for the bad guys. I wish they used practical make-up with CGI.

What's the problem with the ending? For someone who hasn't read the original story or seen any of the other movies, it was just fine.
B

I just watched it an hour ago and I agree with the CGI thing. It looked pretty fake. I liked the creatures/mutated humans/zombies in 28 Days Later the best. But they are easier to kill. but I liked the "crazed human" idea. As for the ending, I didn't like it at all. I think they should've put a whole different spin on it, even if it didn't fit with the other films. There were also several slow/boring spots. I give it "just ok"

i am legend was dissapointing. i was nt expecting much to begin with but the first 15 mins had me going. citiscapes looked great all empty and apocalyptic. and then those mutated zombies came that looked like something out of a ps2 game and it was on its way down. the whole movie drowned when he wants to [spoiler]

   
commit suicide and the woman shows up.  there were a couple of scenes where i thought they were gonna turn it into a religious allegory, thank god they didnt

watched 'talk to her' for the first time and it was in my head for a week. i just watched it again - very impressive movie technically and dramatically. his use of music and color in the film is impeccable.

Also i checkd out lars von trier's first film 'element of crime' - great style and everything is this saturated yellow/orange tint. really interesting movie. i want to watch it again because the story is kind of disjointed through the use of voice overs and weird horse imagery.
cool movie to loose your head and get lost in.

how do u black something out on this site?

quote:

Originally posted by Monkey_Boy:
I can't believe how young and sexy Bruce Will-- I mean, Liv Tyler was. I'm not saying she's old and ugly now, but her skin just looks great and she still has all of her hair in this movie. I don't really like how she shaved her head. Just not as sexy than his trademark bald spots. I can't wait to watch him in "Death Becomes Her", he's even younger! Ahhhhhh, Bruce Willis...
Bruce Willis+++

quote:

Originally posted by rgautam:
watched 'talk to her' for the first time and it was in my head for a week. i just watched it again - very impressive movie technically and dramatically. his use of music and color in the film is impeccable.

Glad to see someone else that appreciates and loves this movie as much as I do. I think he is one of the best filmmakers (foreign or not) currently making films and like you noted, he does a great job of combining many elements to deliver one amazing package.

quote:

Originally posted by rgautam:
how do u black something out on this site?

When you open up the screen to post a message, next to the emoticon options, there is an option to change the color of the text. Simply select the black one and type your spoiler in there so that it appears like this and voila!

Paprika Japanese anime film from Satoshi Kon, the creator of Tokyo Godfathers and Millennium Actress. A device called the DC Mini allows doctors to enter & examine the dreams of their patients/clients. Then one day, a DC Mini is missing and chaos ensues. What could have been a very interesting movie is ruined by a mess of uninteresting, surrealestic (and dull) sequences. I didn't care at all for the characters here, which is unusual for a Satoshi Kon film where the characterizations make the movie (especially in his best flick, Millennium Actress). I sure don't see what the fuss about this film was about.

Eastern Promises

I enjoyed this movie, worth the rent. The plot was very original for the majority of the film. At a few points it may seem like your fairly standard 'Godfather rip-off' type, but it's really hard to do this type of mob movie without having those similarities and comparisons, so I don't really hold that against the film as a whole.

As far as the acting, Mortensen plays his part extremely well, which really aids in making the plot more convincing. I wouldn't be surprised if he got some awards for it, if he hasn't already. Supporting characters were nothing too special, but I couldn't really spot anything poor enough to take away from the believability.

The film is somewhat of a slow starter, but then picks up the pace a bit, about half way through. The final plot twist isn't revealed until literally five or ten minutes before the movie ends, which was a little disappointing. I think they could have taken the story further and gotten a bit more development going on before ending so abruptly. There were countless loose ends that they could have gone back as well, if only for the sake of closure. Did somebody say sequel?

Overall, I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5. At least rent it and give it a chance.