30 Days of Night

A friend of mine brought it over and it turned out to be pretty darn good. It's extremely gory, so if you have a problem with throats being torn out, heads being chopped off or any other such violence, I'd recommend you look elsewhere for entertainment. It definetly has a few scenes that have to be re-watched because there are some very quick moments that are just too cool (violence-wise)! Not a bad little comic-based vampire flick at all.

B-

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Easily would've made my top 10 if I'd had a chance to see it earlier in the year. A fantastic artistic achievement.

A

Just saw Kung Fu Panda over the weekend - it was actually WAY better than I was expecting! It's probably in the running for my favorite Dreamworks animated film of all time, right up there with Shrek; it's that good.

A-

The Incredible Hulk

I already figured I wouldn't like this movie, what with the way they kept putting down the 2003 version (which I quite enjoyed), but they truly dropped the ball on this one! They REALLY didn't understand what THE HULK is all about! They used the crappy television show's origin, robbing our "puny human" of a heroic choice! They didn't make anger a trigger for his change! In fact, they made it so that if his heart rate reached 200 bpm, he would start to change. Which means that he can't even have sex! They made him way too small! The Hulk used weapons! They actually had a moment where he was dazed and confused after getting thrown by the Abomination!

This movie was definetly a step down from the last. If you check out the "Comic-Based Movies" thread, you'll find that the director really talked up the action, but there wasn't that much more action than the last movie. He actually had THE NERVE to brag that there was going to be a "HULK OUT" within the first 3 minutes. Turns out it was in his origin story during the credits and you didn't see the Hulk, you saw his ARMS beating the crap outta the staff. You don't have a REAL "HULK OUT" until about 20 minutes in. I will type that the action was good, but whenever the Hulk ripped a car in half for a sheild and to use as weapons, it made me roll my eyes so I'll admit I didn't get to catch everything that happened.

The story wasn't that good either. I found myself looking at my watch several times EVEN DURING THE ACTION SCENES (and that should say alot about me and how I felt about this movie). It was just a drawn out plot of Bruce trying to cure himself and the army trying to get their hands on him. It's not much more than that.

I also didn't like the look of the Hulk. He looked MUCH BETTER in the last movie. When you see a muscle-bound man, it doesn't look like he's constantly flexing his muscles! He even looked dirty because of all the lines of "detail" layered into his skin. I suppose they were trying to please those who thought the last Hulk looked fake by enhancing the living crap outta this one, but they poured it on waaaaaaaaaay too thick.

In the end, I found it alright. I'll own it when it comes to Blu-ray (as I typed: "the action was good", maybe if I forget everything I know & love about the Hulk I could enjoy the action more), but I didn't enjoy it as much as I did the last one (which everyone apparently hated, so I guess I know how all of you felt now).

C-

Dang, Monkberry Moon Delight, I actually thought Night at a Museum was far better than I could have imagined and somewhere around a B.

I watched a couple of 1950s westerns on TCM last night; one was a time-filler, and the other was by plan.

The Tall Stranger (Thomas Carr, 1957) Grade: C-

Based on a story by Louis L'Amour and directed by a veteran of B-westerns, The Tall Stranger fits comfortably into Joel McCrea's late career filmography (29 of McCrea's final 31 films were westerns). It is somewhat pedestrian and obvious in the presentation of its plot, but its characters are occasionally more complex than you might expect. It involves a strained relationship between two half-brothers, some settlers on their way to California who are forced to stop on the land of the hot-headed brother (Barry Kelley), and the attempts by the level-headed brother (Joel McCrea) to reconcile with his sibling and try to stop a range war. Some of the action scenes are handled well, and Michael Ansara gleefully plays a Mexican rustler, but this is a film mainly to be watched by McCrea or western fans.

Westward the Women (William A. Wellman, 1951) Grade: B

This is a powerful, entertaining depiction of a wagon train from Missouri to California which is transporting over a hundred women from Chicago to California in 1851. Roy Whitman (John McIntire) has established a community of male farmers in a California valley, but the men need wives to be happy and make the community grow. Whitman hires trail boss Buck Wyatt (Robert Taylor), and together they go to Chicago to recruit "good women" who are up to the difficult journey and want to get married. After selecting 138 women, they take a riverboat down the Mississippi and organize their wagon train to head west.

Although it's not without humor, the trek is fraught with tragedy as many people are killed along the way, and eventually all that are left are Buck, his Japanese sidekick (Henry Nakamura) and the women survivors. The great strength of the film is that all the characters seem realistic and that the trip does take the time to show all the pain and suffering involved in such an undertaking, but hard work and perseverance do win out in the end. There are so many female sctors and characters who stand out that I can't mention them all, but Hope Emerson shines as the heart and soul of the group, Julie Bishop does well as a young pregnant woman who gives birth on the trail, and Denise Darcel adds some sexual tension in her love/hate relationship with Robert Taylor. This is one film which gets to its ending and deserves all the smiles and tears it illicits in the viewer.

quote:

Originally posted by EricG75:
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Easily would've made my top 10 if I'd had a chance to see it earlier in the year. A fantastic artistic achievement.

A

I totally recommend this film. My grade is only a B for the general public, but that probably relates to an A for more specialized viewers. Hey, Monkey, please watch this film and tell me what you think of it. I actually believe you will love it, and it may just blow you away based on your personal situation. I love you Monkey and eric and Frag, and I'm sorry that I've been gone for too long.

Die Hard 2- not my first time watching it but saw it again on hbo... really like the die hard series but this is definitely the weakest one B-

The Happening- not very good.. it did deserve a R rating but it had only one scary scene plus bad acting C-

Saving Private Ryan- believe it or not i just watched this movie and it was amazing... my favorite war movie and up there in my favorite movies of all time A

I love Steve Carell, and he got even funnier in Get Smart than in The Office!It's definitely a much better movie than the Love Guru and Myers.Although I really adore Jessica Alba and Timberlake always gets my attention, still the movie is full of lame jokes and old cliche.

Definitely choose Get Smart for the laugh of your week!

I thought I wouldnt' like the movie when I saw the trailer. Ledger's face gave me the creep with moldy makeup and highlighted red scar of grin. Not to mention his grungy hair and yellow teeth of a hound fresh out of hell. However, The Dark Knight is really a stunning follow up of the 2005's Batman Begins from Christopher Nolan. It is a great summer movie with feverish action, dazzling spectacle, and devilish fun, that you can't miss.

A

quote:

Originally posted by Sese:
I thought I wouldnt' like the movie when I saw the trailer. Ledger's face gave me the creep with moldy makeup and highlighted red scar of grin. Not to mention his grungy hair and yellow teeth of a hound fresh out of hell. However, The Dark Knight is really a stunning follow up of the 2005's Batman Begins from Christopher Nolan. It is a great summer movie with feverish action, dazzling spectacle, and devilish fun, that you can't miss.

A

This is interesing, how have you already seen this?

I finally got around to watching RAMBO.

With low expectations...it was pretty flippin' good. Gruesome and gory, with the smallest amount of storyline and dialog possible, I was entertained throughout. Unintentional hilarity was off the charts.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Checking Out, AVP Requiem, Iron Man.

It has been a very long time since I have posted here. For those of you that care, sorry. I haven't been really watching a lot of movies lately—at home or at the theatre. The last one I saw in the theatres was Iron Man and before that, who knows? There are still tons of movies from last year that I need to rent and I have seen many trusted people mention the butterfly film, I will get on that. Either way, I will post about a film I finally saw last night:

Shoot 'Em Up

This was one of the many films that I didn't get to see before I submitted my year-end list. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I am a long-time fan of Paul Giamatti and he was terrific, very funny and evil. Clive Owen also did a great job. The movie is filled with unbelievable stunts, comedy and even some heartfelt moments.

It's a lot more than just an "action flick" because the character's roles and feelings have a lot of substance to them. Highly recommended.

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:
There are still tons of movies from last year that I need to rent and I have seen many trusted people mention the butterfly film, I will get on that.

Me too. I actually went looking for it the last time we were at the rental place, but all I could remember was th "Butterfly" part of the title and gave up after I couldn't find it amongst the B's. I shoulda been lookin' in the D section! Oh well, next time. (Diving Bell & the Butterfly, Diving Bell & the Butterfly, Diving Bell & the Butterfly...)

I'm so glad you finally saw "Shoot 'Em Up" and that you understood what it was about, Frag-man. You don't know how many people I've tried to turn on to this movie, but once they see him kill a guy with a carrot and then slide through motor oil as he guns down every bastard in the room... all eyes begin to roll and many standup and call "B*LLSH*T!" I mean, c'mon! Can't you just have some good, bloody fun once in a while?! Clive Owen just oozed cool from his frickin' pores in this movie!

quote:

It's a lot more than just an "action flick" because the character's roles and feelings have a lot of substance to them.

I prefer the term "Awesome Flick". It seems to cover all the bases.

Pathfinder

Not very good at all. It tried to be awesome, buuuuuuut... it failed. Miserably. I didn't waste any money on it, only time, so I'm not too disgusted with myself. Some good points? It had that dude that took down 2 olyphants with a single spear in "The Lord of the Rings" (that is if you could consider him a good point) and a few cool death scenes. Can't possibly recommend this crap to anyone.

F

Why do I watch movies with Corey? This dude just seems to rent garbage like a mug! Well, it isn't really his fault, I guess. It's not like he enjoyed it or anything (not like my brother-in-law and... **SHUDDER** "Ultraviolet"), he just doesn't visit Metacritic to know what's up with what's out.

Out of pure boredom I watched I Will Always Know What You Did Last Summer. No joking, it was probably one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Ridiculous nonsensical plot and horrible acting. Avoid at all costs. Obviously

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Good gravy. You were right, Mr. F. If you wanna know anything about what I've gone through mentally (and somewhat physically), you only haveta see this film. Our minds were so much alike that we actually answered the doctors and nurses with the same comments because I've heard the EXACT SAME THINGS they were saying: "You have a condition that is very rare and that we've never dealt with before, but there's hope." We also had the same reaction upon first seeing ourselves after our ordeal. We even dealt with our situations in the same way: by escaping through our minds. He used his imagination, I became engrossed in movies. I broke down at the Father's Day and phone-conversation-with-his-father scenes because I really felt the pain they were going through and I also fear those 2 scenarios in my own life: getting to a point where all I can do is sit there as my children try to understand what happened to their dad and having a one-sided conversation with my son who's now worse off than I am. There wasn't a single moment where I rolled my eyes or thought "Oh, please. Like that would ever happen!" Never before have I seen a movie like this that was so believeable and hit so close to home. Wow.

A

Weird, the last two movies I saw were The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Shoot'em Up and I really enjoyed both of them.
The Diving Bell was amazing, it had everything for me: great story, beautiful cinematography, great acting, and it made a tragic situation seem almost uplifting without being cheesy (endless props for this movie).
Shoot'em Up at the other end was the most fun movie I've watched in a long time. An "awesome flick" indeed.

Saw Werner Herzog's Encounters At The End Of The World.

Anyone know where the musician's credits can be found? IMDB is useless.

I'm glad everyone is getting around to see the Diving Bell and the Butterfly, great film.

I saw Starting Out in the Evening, which I rather enjoyed. Its always a shame to me how a great movie like Starting Out in the Evening will be shown in so few theaters and go unknown and unappreciated by so many people. I also saw Persepolis at a friend's house, I wasn't sure about the animated feel of the film going into it, but it worked beautifully.

Finally working my to-see list from 2007 down.. Not too many more....

Le Samourai directed by Jean-Pierre Melville

A noir about a detective who lives an austere life, not unlike Japanese samurai of old. A French New Wave film, very well shot and very cool. Delon is the main character and plays an excellent stoic, hitman type. One of the best movies I have seen in a long time, it's just so damn cool from the dialogue (which there is little of), the French 1960s setting, the clothes, and even the cars. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in noirs or just good movies in general.

A+

Down By Law - Directed by Jim Jarmush

Not my favorite movie of his (Dead Man), but DBL is very well shot and stars Tom Waits and Roberto Benini (sp?). Shot all in black and white, the story follows three men who are busted by the cops, jailed, and escape from prison. A very arty movie, but with typically excellent dialogue and cinematography. I enjoyed this, but I could see how others might find it boring.

A-