What Did You Watch Today?

[LittleDaniel]

Duck Soup - I ended up liking this a lot more than I thought I would. This is my first exposure to the Marx Brothers, and for some reason I didn't think I would like them. Wrong! I can definitely see Chico's fake Italian act getting kind of old after a few movies though. Even Zeppo was serviceable! I was expecting him to be kind of shit, and he definitely doesn't match up to his brother's developed personas, but he was perfectly fine as the straight man in his scenes. I'd love some recommendations for other Marx Brothers movies if anyone has them.

Into the Woods - My high school put on a production of this musical. I didn't particularly like it. However, I chalked this up to it being a production at a school not particularly known for their theatre department. But, no. Its just the musical itself. Don't get me wrong, some of the performances in this were great, especially Bernadette Peters as the Witch. The problem, I think, with this is that the first act is far too long and the ending is far too final. Like, I get that the second act of the play is about after the "happily ever after," but if you want to do that I don't think you can have a first act that is as long as most movies nowadays. Plus, the actual end of the first act feels so much like all the strings are tied up (again, I get that its supposed to be a fairy tale) that it feels like I'm done with these characters. The only semi-cliffhanger that I can recall is that the Cinderella character throws away one of the magic beans which eventually leads to what happens in the second act. However, this feels like such a throwaway gag (or bean) that it doesn't feel important at all, so there's nothing drawing me back to the second act. When I saw it for the first time at my high school, I almost left during intermission because I thought the play must be over!

Oh well, at least it has gotten me in the musical mood to go see Les Mis soon!!

[Josh]

I really need to see all of Into the Woods at some point. The concept intrigues me.

[LittleDaniel]

Ha, it is on Netflix if you want to check it out. I'd be interested to know how you feel about it, since it seems like it was well-liked critically.

[Josh]

Netflix! Good to know.

[zero]

Bernie

Really bizarre, sad and oddly sweet. Jack Black deserves an Oscar nom.

[Owen]

Being John Malkovich

Usually, I am not a big fan of fantasy films.. but this film is definitely one that I love. The whole cast play their roles brilliantly and the concept, although odd, is absolutely brilliant and unique. If you haven't seen this film, I would, without a doubt, say that it is worth a watch.

[LL!]

Django Unchained was super entertaining, but way too long. And Quentin Tarantino really needs to stop putting himself into his own movies. He's distracting and terrible. I liked it quite a bit, though. And much like Lincoln, needed more Walton Goggins.

[ROC]

On the impetus of GoGo's raves and its placement in the Top 50 TV Shows thread, I've watched up to the third episode of season two of Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23. Krysten Ritter is just fantastic and the James Van Der Beek casting is as great in practice as it is in conception.

And like GoGo, I'm a gigantic fan of "Shorty's Got the What What."

[Walker]

Pitch Perfect

Delightful. I came out of the cinema with a big smile on my face. Good job all-round. My only criticism was that the two main guy characters totally did not need to be there, Anna Kendrick didn't need a love interest and that was evident by how it came across like an afterthought.

Life of Pi

A lot better than I thought. Visually stunning.

[Nick Adams]

Saw The Guilt Trip yesterday, and it's just proof of why Barbra Streisand has had such a varied and successful career. She's perfect here, and being paired with Seth Rogen shouldn't work, but it totally does. Sure, some of the movie is just pure product placement, but considering the basic impetus for the whole plot, that's just something that was going to happen either way. Worth seeing if you've got some spare time.

[Sousa]

I finally watched The Dark Knight Rises last night. Pretty excellent, particularly the last hour or so, but jesus christ does it take forever to get going. It's the worst of the three, but I think that speaks to the quality of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight more than the last one.

[reyrey619]

I watched Looper the other day and thought it was great. That kid might be the best child actor I've ever seen.

[Nick Adams]

Getting around to watching Terry Pratchett adaptations from the BBC. The Color of Magic/The Light Fantastic was definitely a good adaptation, Hogfather worked well enough, but Going Postal really just took the premise of the book, diverged from it widely, and then came back to the plot at the end.

I wish they'd done more with the golem part of the plot in Going Postal, personally. It might have been better if they'd just stuck with the book - although admittedly it would mean that there would be only material enough for a movie as opposed to a miniseries like the others.

[reyrey619]

Ruby Sparks- I figured I would really like this given how I'm a sucker for quirky indie rom-coms, and this did not disappoint.

The Expendables 2- Pretty much the exact opposite of Ruby Sparks, but equally as good. I liked the first a bit more, but this one was cranked (no pun intended) to the max. I hope they just keep making these movies until they die.

Skyfall- Definitely the best Bond movie I've seen, though I've only seen 6 of them. Bardem was fucking amazing. I'd be down for Craig to return in another film as he's been consistently great in all 3.

[LittleDaniel]

I had a busy day today!

Les Miserables - Oh my god Russel Crowe you need to get the fuck away from musicals. I mean, maybe the fact that you can't sing wouldn't have been so glaring if the rest of the cast was so amazing. Give Anne Hathaway all the Oscars. This is a definite must-see if you like musicals...or, hell, just see it.

Heathers - ahahaha what?

Mulholland Drive - ahahaha what?

[MalaCloudy Black]

Heathers is great.

[Walker]

Cloud Atlas - I admire the effort, but it some point it just became a bunch of stuff. However, Hugo Weaving in drag!

[LittleDaniel]

Heathers is great.

I didn't say I didn't like it! It was just very bizarre when you go in expecting a random 80s teen comedy. And then that bizarreness amped up when we watched Mulholland Drive right afterwards.

[LL!]

Argo. Now that's a fine fine movie. Everyone should watch that. Affleck is now 3 for 3. What a good lad.

[ZJ Penn]

Off to see Gangster Squad tomorrow and Les Miserables the day after. Both at the expense of Jack Reacher. Im 99% certain this is the right call.