What Did You Watch Today?

[brenchill]

Paths Of Glory [1957] - 7.5/10 or ***3/4

Stanley Kubrick

Kirk Douglas' performance was outstanding. This is one of the greatest anti-war films ever made and the end scene with the german girl gave me goosebumps. Everything you would expect from a Kubrick film and more.

[Jimmy]

Juno 9/10

Like many I really enjoyed the plot, the movie, the acting and all the characters. Brilliant little indy, I really enjoyed this. I would recomend it to anyone really.

Jumper 8/10

I was expecting good things from this movie and I got them. Jumped builds up the story and the characters well before getting into some reallt good action parts. It definitely warrants a sequal.

[brenchill]

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada [2005] - 6/10 or **3/4

Tommy Lee Jones

If this would of been a 90 minute film instead of a two hour attempt at an epic, I probably would of given it an 8/10. The story also would of worked dramatically better if the villain (supposed villain, anyway) would of been more of an asshole, I actually felt sorry for him instead of hating him for killing Melquiades (Which was by way of accident anyway ). Very macabre, but worth a viewing.

Edited February 17, 2008 by butchchill

[stokeriño]

I'm not sure how much of the following constitutes as spoilers, so I put the whole thing in tags just to be sure.

Jumper 5/10

Spoiler: Click here to view

This is not a film. It is a feature-length pilot for a TV series.

You can talk about leaving a film open for sequels, but you should at least make the film stand alone in its own right. As it was, Jumper was entirely a 'setup' kind of film, and not a great one either.

1. Kid discovers he has the powers.

2. Kid pisses about with said powers.

3. Scuffles with bad guys (during which time the girl gets briefly kidnapped, natch), which are inconclusive.

4. Return to #2 for future repetition.

It doesn't help either, that Hayden Christiansen probably couldn't get any more unsympathetic if he put on a Vader helmet and comically yelled "NOOO". Throughout the entire movie the kid is selfish and, as fellow Jumper Jamie Bell points out with regularity, stupid. Put it this way: he calls 'normal people' "chumps" at the start of the movie, and fails to really progress from there. His redeeming features are supposedly his love for one Rachel Bilson (I say 'love', but other than being all teenage-crushy, expressing himself with little more than grunts, and getting her into all the trouble in the first place, there's not much going on there) and the fact that he decides not to kill the bad guys. Since when did that kind of thing become an acceptable standard of character development in films? If anything, the only development comes at the end when his girlfriend stops thinking he's weird and starts joining him in pissing about with his powers. Marvellous.

The setup for the world they live in and the good/bad guys dynamic mainly has to ascertained from Samuel L. Jackson talking about how Jumpers "should not exist" and "only God should have those powers" - essentially implying that they're religious nutjobs, as if the name 'Paladins' didn't do enough - but really the depth of it all is neatly summed up in a few short sentences from Bell: "Paladins kill Jumpers. I kill Paladins. End of lesson." After all, Samuel L. Jackson is a mean bastard, right? What more do you need to know?

Oh and the jumping special effects are all very nice, but nothing that would prompt a "whoa" in this day and age.

I read another review somewhere which said "it's one of those films that makes a very good trailer, but really suffers when you have to sit through more than an hour and a half of it", and I pretty much agree with that. It fails to bring anything special to the table in terms of graphics or plot, and a number of the actors (Christiansen in particular) serve to just drag it further into a pit of mediocrity.

Edited February 17, 2008 by stokeriño

[brenchill]

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford [2007] - 8/10 or ****

Andrew Dominik

Why this isn't up for best picture at the Oscars I'll never know. I found it far more gripping than No Country For Old Men in every way. I loved the narration throughout, it had a documentary quality to it while still feeling like a throwback to the films of yester year. Casey Affleck was great and he should be up for a best leading actor not supporting at the Academy Awards. Casting Brad Pitt as Jesse James was also a masterstroke in a role that needed charisma, ruthlessness and also a sympathy to his plight.

[ROC]

I'll put this in spoilers, since I think I've revealed about half the plot, but I doubt I've revealed much.

Charlie Bartlett - 4.5/10

Spoiler: Click here to view

It pains me to think that a movie that is supposed to speak to my generation and talk about the problems and battles of teenage life...turns out to say nothing different about teen life. Charlie Bartlett blares out its pill-popping sentiment like somebody trapped in 1999, where the characters are stock cliches instead of three-dimensional characters. You have your typical "depressed kid" who only shows one emotion, your school bully who *surprise* did nerdy things when he was younger, and your football team captain who is scared of his dad. Anton Yelchin, who plays Bartlett, manages to not pull off the transformation from uber suit-wearing geek to uber suit-wearing cool kid well at all. Not to mention, the relationship he has with Kat Dennings (most famous as Catherine Keener's daughter in the 40 Year Old Virgin) seems to have no basis. It's basically he does a zany performance in a recital that she's at and trickles the fire alarm and that is all. Not to mention, any movie that wastes Robert Downey Jr. and Hope Davis is just shameful. Massive disappointment on my end.

Edited February 17, 2008 by ROC

[AboveAverage]

The Nines - 7.5/10

An almost impossible movie to describe...Ryan Reynolds shows his versatility, as he's terrific in this serious role. The Nines tells three seperate stories with the same actors, whose lives seem to mysteriously overlap and coincide. Placing it in a genre is difficult...you could say its a drama, or a thriller, or sci-fi. It covers everything from the existence of God, to the creation of the world...to how difficult it is to get a TV pilot picked up. All I can say is I recommend it.

[brenchill]

Rain Man [1988] - 7.5/10 or ***3/4

Barry Levinson

I think everyone knows how great Hoffman was in this film but Cruise was great, too. Every five or six years we get a reminder (With films like Rain Man, A Few Good Men, Interview With A Vampire and Collateral) of how good an actor Cruise is. I'm glad Hoffman made the choice to play the role of Raymond as an autistic instead of being mentally handicapped. The way Cruise portrays Charlie's hard shell beginning to crack as he shows empathy for his brother is awesomely subtle. Hans Zimmer's score really adds to things, too.

Blood Sport [1988] - 5/10 or **1/2

Newt Arnold

I think splitting hairs on this one would be stupid. For some reason I'd never got around to watching this even as a kid. I enjoyed it, I would of rather have seen Van Damme's buddy die though to give him more reason for revenge against Bolo. Some of the fights and different fighting styles were pretty cool.

Edited February 21, 2008 by Butch and Cassidy

[Gongsun Zan]

3:10 to Yuma 7/10

Eh, I didn't like the ending. I understood it, but it just seemed too forced to me.

[brenchill]

A bout de souffle (Breathless) [1960] - 8/10 or ****

Jean Luc-Godard

An amazing film that had the same groundbreaking quality as Citizen Kane in my opinion. You can really see, even from the very first scene, how Tarantino became inspired by Godard as the film is beautifully and uniquely shot and pushed forward primerally through regular everyday talk. Any film with Bogart references is cool in my book, too.

[mattman1624]

Appleseed: Ex Machina - 6.5/10

The animation was incredible, as this was released in theaters in Japan, but the story was only average. I saw this at Wondercon on Friday night. The movie doesn't come out on dvd and blu ray until the eleventh of March.

Justice League: The New Frontier - 8.0/10

Saw this tonight at Wondercon, and it comes out next week on dvd. There was a lot cut from Cooke's original story, but it was still very enjoyable. If you haven't read the comic book first, watch this, then the comic book.

[Maxx]

C.H.U.D.- Beyond a rating

Oh CHUD, you hilariously bad movie. This is possibly the least horrifying horror movie I\'ve ever seen, as every time someone is about to be killed, the film cuts to other characters. John Goodman has a cameo, jump cuts are plentiful and the best character is a nameless guy who never says anything, just appears, acts like a dick twice and smiles after each time. Its an experience, and it features two actors that would later reunite in two Home Alone films.

Edited February 25, 2008 by Maxx and Associated Lint

[Timmoru Suzuki]

Cloverfield 9/10

It may be Marmite in film form, but I like Marmite and I enjoyed Clovefield a lot. Just brilliant, though I can see why some folks haven't enjoyed it.

[Mr. X]

Rush Hour 3

After seeing the first two movies I knew what to expect but besides the scenes with the French taxi driver, it never really did much for me. This is a prime example of you get what you expect and nothing more. 5/10

American Gangster

A solid performance by Denzel in this fun look at the Ghetto life in the 1970s. While it takes a look at the darkness surrounding the time period I feel like the essence of said time period and the gangsters/drug epidemic were captured in a way that did justice to the twisted story of Frank Lucas. 8/10

Unbreakable

Seeing that this, relatively unknown to me, movie with Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson was in a bargain bin I had to pick up. After having it on my shelf for awhile and I heard from someone that since I like Heroes that this movie would probably up my ally and it turned out that this is a movie I enjoyed. I think the last 30 or so minutes really caught me and the wrap up wasn't garbage and made the experience worth while. 8.5/10

Edited February 26, 2008 by John Jackson

[zero]

Vantage Point

I went in expecting a smart conspiracy movie, instead I got a season six-quality episode of 24. If you shut off your brain, there's a decent enough action movie, but that's about it. Despite having an absolutely stacked cast, the movie fails to deliver on just about every level.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Gargoyles Season 1 - 10/10

Fucking fantastic. This is, hands down, my favourite cartoon ever and my pick for one of the best cartoons of the mid 90's. Season 1 is a little slow, but Weisman & co. were just getting into the groove and the show picks up pace ten-fold in season 2. That's not to say that season 1 isn't great too; it is. With episodes like Deadly Force that deal so delicately with gun violence, I don't think it can be bad.

[brenchill]

Falling Down [1993] - 8/10 or ****

Joel Schumacher

It's weird to think that the same man who directed both 8mm and Falling Down was also capable of running the Batman film franchise into the ground with Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. It's a film that I'd recommend to anybody because it has everything. Douglas is amazing as the edgy, paranoid sociopathic madman who goes by the name of D-FENS. Robert Duvall also puts in a great performance as a cop who begins the film under the thumb of his wife and eventually tells her to fuck off as he goes in pursuit of the one man crime spree in the form of a former military defence worker wearing a white shirt and a tie. The film also has one of my favourite scenes ever in it when Douglas turns a sub-machine gun on the workers of a fast food restaurant after they refuse to serve him breakfast due to him being 4 minutes late for it. Great all-round entertainment and a great ending when Duvall eventually tracks down Douglas' Madman.

[Docpepper]

Grindhouse Presents Planet Terror - 10/10(*****)

From the beginning mock previews till the end credits. this movie is one of a kind awesome and has bumped devil rejects down to number two on my all time favorites list. I have high expectations for Death proof which I'll be watching next Saturday

[Gongsun Zan]

Alien Resurrection: 7/10

I'm probably one of the few people out there who likes this movie, but a few scenes really drag the movie down. Still way better than the piece of shit that was Alien 3 though.

[MalaCloudy Black]

The Debarted, last night's new Simpsons. I don't know if it was because I watched it with someone or not, but it seemed a lot better than most recent episodes.