What Did You Watch Today?

[TheRyno]

I showed my roommates Scarface, who have either only seen bits and pieces of it or not seen it at all. I like to think they enjoyed it, though probably for the wrong reasons as we tend to MST3K any movie we watch.

[Hellfire]

Shoot 'Em Up - 15/10

This movie was a 1 1/2 hour gunfight, and it was awesome. I feel like more of a man after watching it and I'm pretty sure that I had a hardon the whole way through. There were gunfights in cars, in airplanes, hell they were in a gunfight while having sex. Best movie ever, and anyone that says differently is a homosexual.

[TGC]

Children Of Men - 9/10

I am saddened that I waited almost a full year to sit down and finally watch this movie. There's not a lot I want to say about this, aside from the fact that the performances were spot on and brilliantly done. Clive Owen keeps showing why he might very well be one of the best actors of this generation, while Michael Caine reminds me over and over that when he actually cares enough to pick a good movie he is without a doubt one of the best actors of any generation. A very well told beautifully shot film that resonates with meaning well after it's over. Just a spectacular and utterly remarkable piece of filmmaking.

The Heart Break Kid - 5/10

A mostly unfunny film with rare moments that made me laugh out loud. "Cock me" and "do you have a pussy" were two of those really funny moments, if not a tad bit surreal as well. As per usual Ben Stiller plays a "lovable loser" that we're supposed to feel for and really connect with. The problem this time out is that about a third of the way in he becomes pretty unlikable, and by the final third of the film he has become someone that I'd rather punch in the face repeatedly than spend any amount of time with. Malin Akerman once again shows off those cute little boobies and actually acts, while Michelle Monaghan steals every scene she is in. The less said about Carlos Mencia the better. Finally, Jerry Stiller, Ben Stiller's real life father, almost makes the movie a 6/10 just by himself, but he's not in it quite enough. It's a Farrelly Brothers film, but sadly it's just not a very good film. I will admit I did not see the final two minutes coming, well not all of it at least, but that might be because by then I really no longer cared at all.

Waitress - 9/10

So far and by far the best movie I have seen all year. Adrienne Shelly's film is about a bunch of people in a small southern town interacting amidst the story of a lonely and unhappily married waitress in a diner who's really only good at one thing, making pies. Jenna, who is perfetly played by Keri Russell, quickly finds out she is pregenant from a night six months ago when her utterly unlikable husband Eddie got her drunk and nailed her. Enter Nathan Fillion as the new OBGYN in town who she quickly starts to embark on a very odd relationship with. With an eclectic bunch of characters played by Cheryl Hines and Andy Griffith, this movie is very much the epitome of an ensembl piece despite Russell being the star. Much like The Heart Break Kid above, there aren't a lot of likable characters in this movie, but they are all so real it doesn't matter. I've known people like these people, and they are all so very real and well thought out. Waitress is both hilarious, sad, charming, fun, and depressing at the same time, but all in all it totally entertaining all the way through.

iFILM: Deranged - 6/10

A very nice two man show based on a stage play and adapted for the screen in this very low budget film. The acting is less than fantastic, but I would be lieing if I said the characters and the story don't draw you in. There's not much I can say without giving away a series of pretty good reveals. In fact the synopsis for the movie gives far too much away. It's not the best movie I've seen this weekend let alone this month, but it's an enjoyable piece of small indy filmmaking.

Edited December 23, 2007 by TheGrinchComplex

[Baddar]

The Condemned - 8/10

Don't listen to Santino - I thought this was great. Then again, I've liked both See No Evil and The Marine ...even though I know lots of others haven't. I think this is probably the best WWE film that's been released so far.

I'd definitely recommend it.

[Slogger]

The Condemned - 8/10

Don't listen to Santino Santigo - I thought this was great. Then again, I've liked both See No Evil and The Marine ...even though I know lots of others haven't. I think this is probably the best WWE film that's been released so far.

I'd definitely recommend it.

Seriously can't wait for this one, Comes out halfway through next month.

[Pesci]

St. Trinians - we decided to watch it because of the amount of fit schoolgirls in it. I'm disappointed. They barely showed any flesh and almost every time it tried to be funny, it failed horribly. And it had these two annoying little girls in it who were supposed to be gangsters, and one of them quoted the doors line from The Italian Job, which just isn't on. One of them had the most annoying voice ever, as well. 3/10 (and that's purely for one line which had me laughing for a while), avoid at all costs.

[Timmoru Suzuki]

The Lost Boys 7.5/10

It is silly, and not a good film in any critical sense, but it's just good cheesy fun. For a while it was going to be an 8, but it goes slightly downhill towards the end with some slightly too silly set-pieces. Yes, I know the whole film is silly, but a little too often it tows the line between 'so daft its fun' and just being crap, and it does take a few liberties here and there. However, for mindless, chill-out fun, this is great, and I could see me mindlessy enjoying this film over and over. A bargain at £2.83, brand new!

The History Boys (probably a) 7/10

I'm not entirely sure what to make of this. After a very good opening ten minutes, it fails to capatalise on a good start, and never properly gets going. It seems to be trying to make comment on shitloads of topics such as sexuality, education, the randomless of life, class, people around us, inspiration, standards..... but never seems to know exactly what point it's trying to make on ANY of the topics. Its basically incoherent. It doesn't seem to know wether to be a simple comedy drama about some students being specially taught in preperation for an Oxford University entrance exam, or wether to be something deeper, and as such it feels flat on both fronts, and the last ten minutes seems added for no reason, and only highlights the vagueness of the films direction. Some of the dialogue is obscure and un-natural, but some works really well, and a few of the boys in the group of students have ZERO purpose in being there at all.

Also, Richard Griffiths is great in his role, and Stephen Campbell Moore is very good too. They play the two main teachers to the boys, and although a third teacher played by Frances de la Tour doesn't get half as much story or screentime, those three are the most rounded, and best characters. Occasionally the film does get some points across very well, and it's not a boring hour and fifty minute watch.

I think it could have been a great one-hour TV special comedy drama, based simply on the plot (the boys heading off to Cambridge), but it's been made in to a film, and was padded out with about 100,000 ideas that are never properly developed.

[GA!]

I'm currently working my way through the Hitchcock box set...

The Birds (1963) - 4/5

The Birds is awesome because its something you wouldn't see today. There's no ending, no explanation for anything that happens, and no real character development away from the cliche man and woman form a relationship thing. I feel this is a great example of how a director can make a film so much better, from the eerie (lack of) soundtrack to the characters portrayal of being just people instead of heroes who will eliminate those pesky birds. The modern audience would shit on this for lacking the comfortable conventions of a film.

Family Plot (1976) - 2/5

It's a shame Family Plot was Hitchcock's last film, because it wasn't great. The film is a comedy thriller, minus (in most places) the comedy thriller. While the narrative was solid, the film was very unbalanced. This was thanks to dodgy expositional dialogue, baffling actions to move the film along (the two 'heroes' talk to the man who tried to just tried to murder them, right before he tries it again; the crook's girlfriend tries to conceal the KO'ed reverend's cloak by opening the car, causing the reverend to fall out and thus reveal their plan) and uninteresting direction.

[Herr Matzat]

I am whatching Still Crazy right now. I remember seeing it for free in the cinema a long time ago, still a great great music movie.... to bad no one knows it (at least in germany)

[Thatz]

I saw National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets yesterday. It was an entertaining movie, but it was from being great. It's pretty much like the first one, they follow a lot of the same things. Yeah, a lot of it might be completely unrealistic, but I thought that it was fun. I like history, so I enjoyed seeing all of the locations and whatnot. The movie was interesting enough to keep me for the two hours that it ran, and it left open a possibility for a sequel, which I'd probably check out. So yeah, if you liked the first one, you'll like this. It's just as good (though it's not really better) even though it lacks what made the first one for me: Sean Bean. It's too bad he couldn't have made a cameo or something...oh well. A solid recommendation for National Treasure 2, I guess if I had to rate it I'd give it a 7 or an 8 out of 10. It's good if you want a film to just sit back and watch over the holiday.

[mattman1624]

Commando: Director's Cut

A very silly action movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a retired colonel who has to rescue his daughter from a South American dictator he overthrew. I say silly because this film does not take itself seriously. Some great action sequences, and lots of dead bodies.

So many great one liners in this film from Arnold. "Don't wake my friend, he's dead tired." "You're a funny man, Sully, I like you. That's why I'm going to kill you last." Hey, Sully, remember when I said I would kill you last?... I lied." And of course: "Let off some steam, Bennett!"

[Gongsun Zan]

The Condemned - 8/10

Don't listen to Santino - I thought this was great. Then again, I've liked both See No Evil and The Marine ...even though I know lots of others haven't. I think this is probably the best WWE film that's been released so far.

I'd definitely recommend it.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Mystery Science Theatre 3000: "The Horrors of Spider Island" - 11/10

Fucking great. I watched this, Tormented! and another MST3K film and this was by far the funniest of them. Sooo fucking good.

MURMUR MURMUR MURMUR.

[zero]

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

I'm not a huge fan of musicals, but I've always had an interest in Sweeney Todd and I was pretty excited (though not surprised) when I heard Depp and Burton were teaming up on it. Of course, I know this movie is going to spawn an annoying fanbase of 12 year old girls that shop at Hot Topic and think this is the new Nightmare Before Christmas, but it's still a really good adaptation. It's not for everyone, but if you're up for over-the-top gore and want people to be singing while murdering, this one's for you.

Superbad

My second viewing of this one. A lot of the jokes aren't nearly as funny the second time around, especially after they've been repeated every time one of your buddies thinks he's funny and calls himself McLovin every fucking time you're in public. It's almost as bad as people that still want to impersonate Borat. Still, while some of the jokes may not hit as hard as they did upon first viewing, the charm of the movie is still there and that's why this one still reigns supreme above all teen comedies of the last twenty years.

Black Snake Moan

FINALLY got around to watching this one and I was kicking myself in the ass afterward for not seeing it sooner. I cannot think of a recent performance that even comes close to Samuel L. Jackson's in this movie. He's fucking amazing and it is definitely his movie, though that is not a slight against Ricci and Timberlake who are both fantastic in their roles as well. Another movie that's not for everyone, but I absolutely fucking loved this one.

[Your Mom]

I recently saw Deathproof and that is not only the worst Tarantino movie I have seen but it may be the worst movie period.

[TGC]

The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe - 6/10

It took me forever to finally watch this, but on Monday I did and...wow that was dull. It took forever to get anywhere near interesting, and when it did I was more surprised at how less than exciting it still was. They took a good book and managed to make a completely boring and overly long snoozefest out of it. While there were some good scenes, all in all i was very disappointed. I will admit that the majority of the rating is for the spectacular specil effects and CGI that was on display. And if that is all it took to make a great movie then this would be a 10/10. Sadly that's no the case. Here's hopin they took the time to polish the script on the sequel coming this summer. Maybe I will finally get around to watching it in 2010.

[ROC]

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

I'm not a huge fan of musicals, but I've always had an interest in Sweeney Todd and I was pretty excited (though not surprised) when I heard Depp and Burton were teaming up on it. Of course, I know this movie is going to spawn an annoying fanbase of 12 year old girls that shop at Hot Topic and think this is the new Nightmare Before Christmas, but it's still a really good adaptation. It's not for everyone, but if you're up for over-the-top gore and want people to be singing while murdering, this one's for you.

Superbad

My second viewing of this one. A lot of the jokes aren't nearly as funny the second time around, especially after they've been repeated every time one of your buddies thinks he's funny and calls himself McLovin every fucking time you're in public. It's almost as bad as people that still want to impersonate Borat. Still, while some of the jokes may not hit as hard as they did upon first viewing, the charm of the movie is still there and that's why this one still reigns supreme above all teen comedies of the last twenty years.

Black Snake Moan

FINALLY got around to watching this one and I was kicking myself in the ass afterward for not seeing it sooner. I cannot think of a recent performance that even comes close to Samuel L. Jackson's in this movie. He's fucking amazing and it is definitely his movie, though that is not a slight against Ricci and Timberlake who are both fantastic in their roles as well. Another movie that's not for everyone, but I absolutely fucking loved this one.

Edited January 2, 2008 by ROC

[zero]

I recently saw Deathproof and that is not only the worst Tarantino movie I have seen but it may be the worst movie period.

Why do you wanna tear my heart out of my chest? Grindhouse (both of them) is my favorite movie of 2007 and possibly my favorite movie-going experience of all-time. And in my opinion, Death Proof was the better of the two movies, but I'm a sucker for a good car chase movie. And an even bigger sucker for Zoe Bell. It bugs me that they released the two movies separately on DVD because it was essentially everyone just admitting "okay, people did not get this at all."

Of course, a lot of Tarantino marks just come out and say, "well he was TRYING to make a bad movie" as an excuse, but that's not really the point either. Yeah, the whole Grindhouse experience was suppose to be an homage to old school exploitation films, but I feel like Death Proof was a great little movie. You just have these four chicks doing what chicks who haven't seen each other in a long time do and some sick fuck trying to kill them. To me, it is the most realistic slasher film ever made, but maybe I'm just nuts.

[Ruki]

Episode 16 (and some others) of Gurren Lagann are being a right pain in my arse. VideoLAN has decided it doesn't want to play, it sticks and them errors and closes down.

Jet Audio, Zoom Player, Media Player Classic are all out of sync and Windows Media Player doesn't work at all.

What the hell can I do?

VLC Media Player is your friend. It fixes all. And it does play .mkv

[stokeriño]

That is VideoLAN. >_>