What Did You Watch Today?

[MalaCloudy Black]

Iron Man. I still love it to bits, though imo TDK blew it out of the water. Still, it's like comparing apples and oranges. They're both delicious and awesome, just one more than the other (at least for me).

My only qualm is that the after-credits scene is not a special feature on the DVD. I don't want to fast forward through the credits to see that scene, I would prefer being able to select it from the Special Features menu. You know? Also, Ghostface Killah's cameo is awesome.

[Jimmy]

Gone Baby Gone - 8.5/10

It hit close to home, being from the UK and all, but the acting was pretty damn awesome, and the plot kept you truly involved. The whole message is fantastic, and the whole thing is moving. Damn well done job by Ben Affleck.

Made of Honor - 7.5

I like a good chick flick, and this one was entertaining. Nice plot, and some nice dialouge and some cool scenes. Nothing to complain about, just some good ol' fun.

[RoyWill Rumble]

I just got finished watching The Strangers, and it was quite fantastic. It's like the new-age Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The basic plot is that this couple is terrorized for one night by three strangers, then eventually killed. I won't spoil the end, because the end is certainly "Wtf?" It's very interesting, because nothing really gets solved. There's no vindication for the killers, no justification for their acts, and the movie is basically just watching a couple die. The build-up to it, however, is superb. Su-fucking-perb. This is how the build-up to all horror/slasher movies should play out. It's interesting that I found myself anticipating something gory every time I saw the killers, but all in all there was bloodshed only about five times in the entire movie. The anticipation and suspension in this movie is absolutely fucking awesome. The killers were unsettling. The whole thing was unsettling. You definitely get a "That was it?" feeling, which may be a let down to some, but for me it was great because the movie never bills itself as anything, but I kept on thinking there was going to be blood, or the killers would have some sort of motivation, or all would be righted. Nope. Just an unfortunate couple murdered. You almost feel kind of like an acomplice because you said through 85 minutes of this and the killers got not sort of punishment. They just up and left after the deed was done.

All in all, it turned me on my head a bit and made me think about how I watch horror/suspense movies and what to think. It's a rather unsettling thought that this definitely isn't out of the realm of possibility, too.

9/10, easily. Watch it.

[Jimmy]

Run Fat Boy Run - 7/10

It's an entertainnig affair, a good British film that's got a faily realistic fun story. You feel for Simon Pegg's character Dennis, and you come to dislike Hank Azaria's Witt. Run Fat Boy Run is basically just a bit of a fun film. It's a film you can easily watch and suits a relaxed Saturday night. Some good direction by David Schwimmer, to.

[TGC]

Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 7/10

If you liked Michael Cera in anything else he has ever done you should like him here, seeing as he plays every character the same way. Other than the fact that he is such a one trick pony (in a good way though) this is a pretty good pretty fun little film. It has some moments that are really good, and it has some ugghh inspiring moments, and it tries way too hard a number of times, but all in all it is a slightly above average RomCom that is smarter than your average RomCom.

[Jimmy]

Walk The Line - 9/10

I really loved this film the first time I saw it, but two years later it's even better. The acting in this Johnny Cash movie is fantastic Phoenix and Reece Witherspoon were on top form and came together to make a moving extremely well made film. The whole thing was damn fantastic from start to finish and it never dragged. I'd recomend this to almost anyone.

[MalaCloudy Black]

I'd recommend to anyone. Even my girlfriend, who doesn't particularly care for Johnny Cash, loved that film. It just makes my heart a little sad that she prefers Joaquin's versions of his songs to the originals, but anyway.

Bully - good out of ten. This movie's almost always on IFC it seems like and I finally sat down and watched it tonight because the DirecTV guide blurb for it made it sound interesting ("Teens kill a bully in the swamp."). And it was interesting. The basic plot is that a group of teens plot to kill an abusive peer, but after doing the deed everything unravels for them.

But holy crap, do people ever like getting naked in it. I wasn't keeping count but I'm pretty sure the main character, Lisa, had sex with her boyfriend Marty at least half a dozen times and then there were other times where it seemed very randomly placed - in one scene she's on the phone with someone and the scene starts with a look at the girl she's on the phone with, and then there's a totally random cut away to Lisa standing around her room on the phone, nude. It just seemed really unnecessary.

But all in all, yeah. Good film.

EDIT: And holy shit, it's based on a true story.

Edited October 6, 2008 by Cloudy Chance of PAIN

[RoyWill Rumble]

I'm starting my day off by watching Life Aquatic, and I already know how much I'm going to like it. I love this movie.

[Toe]

Dexter, Season 2

I just finished watching the second season. It was great. I love how the serious works comedy, suspense, drama, and even some romance together into one amazing package. The season finale was a little bit of a let-down, but overall I really enjoyed it. I am now left waiting for the 3rd season to come to DVD (which will be a long wait, because it just started showing on TV).

I highly recommend that everyone with at least 13 brain cells (that is one more then Batista) check out Dexter.

[Farmer Reil]

Tropic Thunder - 9/10

That's easily the best American comedy film I've seen for absolutely ages. I hadn't seen the trailers or anything, it was just a spur of the moment decision because my girfriend likes funny films, and films with explosions in... so... yeah, it seemed a winner. It was so much more than a winner. Jack Black was fantastic as usual, Robert Downey Jr. was awesome, Ben Stiller was far less annoying than he usually is (and the Rambo thing with the panda head still creases me up). That was a brilliant film. Tom Cruise was utterly unrecognisable, and hilarious (although I think he'd have to be A in order to be B ).

The only thing that pissed me off, was the fact that they were referencing a film I really want to see, that isn't even out yet.

I just watched a film, referencing a film that hasn't even been released yet. Not only that, but it's being released in fucking ICELAND on Friday, but not here until the END of NOVEMBER.

Fuck you, people who decide when to release films. Fuck you very much. Take a step back and literally FUCK YOUR OWN FACE!

Edited October 7, 2008 by Farmer Reil

[MyKILLv2.0]

Men in Black II 8/10

Hiliarious. Sure, it's brainless comedy, but Will Smith is awesome and Tommy Lee Jones is surprisingly funny when he has to be. The only qualm I had was that they should have gotten a hotter female to play the villian.

[RavenBlack]

The Seeker (The Dark Is Rising) - 7/10

This film could be called the epitome of the family-friendly genre. It's simple, at times utterly predictable, but in the end resolves into a warm, fuzzy happy ending. Casting Chris Eccleston as the main baddie = awesome.

[ONO]

Pineapple Express 4/10

Didn't like it at all. Cheap, dry humor. The audience seemed to like it, but I hated it.

Edited October 10, 2008 by Ringys LAAAAAAAAAAAAD

[Bigal]

I guess this is the place for this. I just ordered six TV boxsets:

The Complete West Wing (it's only 50 quid on Amazon; get it now)

The Complete Fawlty Towers

Family Guys Seasons 1-5

The Complete Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister

Peep Show Season 1-5

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

[Hellfire]

Eagle Eye - 2/10

Raped my brain. I don't want to think about it anymore. Don't see it.

[Jimmy]

City of Ember - 6.75/10

It's what you expect from a PG flick, it was fun, and has a nice warm plot. It's interesting and has the odd nice twist and turn, though the antagnoist isn't made clear, is it Ember, or is it the mayor. The character devolopment is slow, but the two main characters seem to have some nice chemistry. There's nothing really wrong with it, as its a fun little flick, but it's nothing to get to excited over.

[ROC]

The Happening - 3/10

And M Night fails again. The first five minutes felt like some of the poorest acting and dialogue in film history, and when Marky Mark comes on screen, that hardly gets much better. On one hand, I don't think the film was attempting to be scary as it's more or less "The Birds meets fucked up environment," but I don't need to tell you that The Birds crafts its suspense more effortlessly and that even the camp appeal of the death scenes are mitigated by the fact that the movie is strangely puritan in what it shows. There's few moments of gore, cursing barely shows up barring one instance of "goddamn," and the marital tension of the film revolves around the wife having a dinner with another guy, and Marky Mark claiming that he thought some pharmacist was hot (which he even admits he was lying about). Horrible waste of time (not that I didn't expect it).

[TheRyno]

Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure

I haven't seen this movie in a long time and forgot how awesome it was. It just reminded me how great the 80's were. A movie about two dudes going back in time in a telephone booth with George Carlin kidnapping historical figures so that they don't fail their history final exam and jeopardize the future by not being able to start a band whose music would go on to eliminate war and poverty would never get made today because it's just too great for anyone in Hollywood today to think of.

[GoGo Yubari]

W. - 6/10

Siiiiigh. This is just. Well. It' s okay. But only because good performances from Josh Brolin, Richard Dreyfuss, James Cromwell, Elizabeth Banks, and Jeffrey Wright make it okay. Oliver Stone, to be blunt, can't decide what kind of movie he wants to make. At some points it's just a straight biopic and then suddenly, bafflingly, it veers into over-the-top satire (the cringeworthy take on media coverage of the "mission accomplished" thing is really bad, as is the montage of explosion footage from the war). Beyond "lol daddy issues lol" Stone doesn't... really have a point to make, but some scenes do really work, as does the recurring theme of Bush finding solace in baseball which reaches a nice climax in the final scene where he stands alone in the imaginary ballpark. But the film was really in need of focus and refinement and it should have avoided the lame cheap shots it does opt to make for the sake of making them (shoehorning Bush's worst quotes into scenes where he didn't actually say them, including his choking on a pretzel for no discernible reason).

Like I said, though, by and large the acting is perfectly solid to good, with occasional moments of greatness (Richard Dreyfuss nails Dick Cheney, James Cromwell does... well, if you accept that he's not even trying to do an imitation of George H.W. Bush, he does a great job with the character he sets out to play, and Brolin's Bush manages to have depth beyond what the script often writes for him). The biggest, glaring exception is Thandie Newton's Condoleezza Rice, which is straight out of a sketch comedy routine with absolutely no depth given to the portrayal so instead she's just kind of an annoying, squeaky-voiced Stepford shrew. But solid acting can't save the movie, and this is really a Netflix rental at best, definitely not worth going to theaters for.

[ROC]

W. - 6/10

Siiiiigh. This is just. Well. It' s okay. But only because good performances from Josh Brolin, Richard Dreyfuss, James Cromwell, Elizabeth Banks, and Jeffrey Wright make it okay. Oliver Stone, to be blunt, can't decide what kind of movie he wants to make. At some points it's just a straight biopic and then suddenly, bafflingly, it veers into over-the-top satire (the cringeworthy take on media coverage of the "mission accomplished" thing is really bad, as is the montage of explosion footage from the war). Beyond "lol daddy issues lol" Stone doesn't... really have a point to make, but some scenes do really work, as does the recurring theme of Bush finding solace in baseball which reaches a nice climax in the final scene where he stands alone in the imaginary ballpark. But the film was really in need of focus and refinement and it should have avoided the lame cheap shots it does opt to make for the sake of making them (shoehorning Bush's worst quotes into scenes where he didn't actually say them, including his choking on a pretzel for no discernible reason).

Like I said, though, by and large the acting is perfectly solid to good, with occasional moments of greatness (Richard Dreyfuss nails Dick Cheney, James Cromwell does... well, if you accept that he's not even trying to do an imitation of George H.W. Bush, he does a great job with the character he sets out to play, and Brolin's Bush manages to have depth beyond what the script often writes for him). The biggest, glaring exception is Thandie Newton's Condoleezza Rice, which is straight out of a sketch comedy routine with absolutely no depth given to the portrayal so instead she's just kind of an annoying, squeaky-voiced Stepford shrew. But solid acting can't save the movie, and this is really a Netflix rental at best, definitely not worth going to theaters for.

Sigh. I didn't want the movie to be the parody that a friend said she thought it would be. (Which is interesting to bring up, because she's right wing based, so I assumed that any sort of show of the man's low points would be assumed as parody.) But eh, disappointing to hear. Guess I'll go see Sex Drive instead.

And there is reason for seeing Sex Drive. Apparently, Seth Green (playing an Amish man) gives Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz shit for his embarrassing nude pics. This might a good movie make.

Edited October 18, 2008 by ROC