Movie opinions thread (what have you seen, what did you think?)

Steve said:

Caught THE MIST last night. Heard a lot of good things about it and I must say it's the finest horror movie I've seen in some time... maybe since The Descent. In terms of raw emotion, great creepy monsters, and believable characters you develop a sense of attachment not just to them but to the movie itself. Great job by the guy who made The Green Mile and Shawshank Redemption

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Yeah man, I'm with you on this one. I thought the character development was very hasty in the beginning, and the score damn near ruins some key moments, but overall this is a very solid monster movie.

On the other hand, the monsters are fucking awesome (remember the big one?), and the effects are very good. If you're into this shit at all, I'd check it out. Hell, even Thomas Jane does a good job, so there you have it.

And I won't say a thing about it, 'cause I don't want to spoil anything, but the ending is... Intense.

Flawed picture to be sure, but thumbs up all the way.

Saw "Forgetting Sara Marshall" last night, although the ads around town have been pissing me off for weeks and the trailers made the movie look horrible. Really enjoyed it. Actually, enjoyed it more than "Super Bad" and "Knocked Up"... There were some amazingly uncomfortable/awkward scenes... mostly dealing with the main-character's musical he is writing. Definitely worth the praise it is getting from the reviewers.

The whole thing with Clint Eastwood and western flicks is awsome. I love The Good the Bad and The Ugly, 2 mules for sister Sarah is pretty cool too! my second favorite for sure!

Zebraman- Takashi Miike it appears has taken a complete opposite direction what with this film and The Great Yokai War. I guess family friendly films are the way to go after you have exhausted the gore/porn genre.

Good stuff though if you like sentai, comic book wackieness this is a no brainer. Sho Aikawa as a substitute teacher/self made super hero dissatified with his normal life = win.

Seriously this is entertaining stuff, check it out.

No country for old man is kind of good, I kind of hated how The main guy died, I guess it was used for a more definite shock to see him dead with no grand scene. So the movie was entertaining, but far from the hype I've heard of.

You gotta love that spaniard though, hes done so many great movies in spain, he's really gonna take america by fucking storm with his neardenthal looks!

HeartlessNinny said:

Sounds flawed, but worth seeing.

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That pretty much nails it.

I went back to the film festival yesterday and saw three pics:

Callas Absoluta: it was a documentary about the famous opera singer Maria Callas. This documentary was fairly informative, but not right for the big screen. It felt like something that would show on PBS, with low production values and a lack of performance footage (instead recordings coupled with photos and costumes). The sound on the reels they sent the film festival were just awful, magnified by the fact that sound was so important to the subject. 2/5 (not awful, but meh)

Son of Rambow: This is a very fun UK movie about two boys, one a member of the Brethren (an ultra-pious religious sect) and the other a wild truant, who decide to make a movie. Set in 1982, the sheltered kid has never watched TV or movies before, and he ends up watching a bootlegged copy of First Blood --it blows his mind and he becomes obsessed with making a movie where he's the "Son of Rambow". I got to meet the director and producer, who are also the pair that made the recent Hitchhiker's movie. 4/5 (it should hit American release in the next month or so)

Triangle: This is an interesting HK film that was done in a relay-format: directors Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam, and Johnnie To each directed 30 minute segments of the movie, which involves a complicated relationship between three associates who stumble upon a treasure. It has more of a serious tone, and is for the most part interesting. The film meshed together surprisingly well for three different directors/crews. I liked it. 3.5/5

I may catch two more films tonight.

Terry330 said:

Zebraman- Takashi Miike it appears has taken a complete opposite direction what with this film and The Great Yokai War. I guess family friendly films are the way to go after you have exhausted the gore/porn genre.

Good stuff though if you like sentai, comic book wackieness this is a no brainer. Sho Aikawa as a substitute teacher/self made super hero dissatified with his normal life = win.

Seriously this is entertaining stuff, check it out.

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I saw it at Best Buy but had heard it sucked, might pick it up since it was $16 bucks

on topic=

Forgetting Sarah Marshal
-Way better then Superbad & Knocked Up

Clerks 1 &2, Mallrats, but i can't be assed to write anything about that right now, but I liked them.

Charley Varrick (1973)

Very poor start, right into a bank robbery with characters you don't know and don't care about, followed by the least convincing corpse ever put on screen, but it gradually develops into a decent movie.

Dirty Harry (1971) is one of my fave movies, and 70s thillers a fave genre, so with Don Siegel directing this I really wanted to catch it. If you like Dirty Harry then this is an interesting one to see as it contains almost half the cast! Andy Robinson, John Vernon, Woodrow Parfrey, and last but not least, Albert Popwell.

Some odd photography and direction in places, but overall worth catching.

7/10

It also shares many similarities with the film I saw last night.

No Country for Old Men (2007)

Yep, another charasmatic killer chasing a bunch of money across the same part of America, only this time it is more like The Predator mixed with A Simple Plan.

Practically no story, and quite a few questionable choices in the narrative and plot, but even so I thought it lived up to the Oscar hype for once. Very intense, and pretty much awesome performances all round. Tommy Lee Jones didn't grab me that much, but maybe that wasn't his fault.

Possibly not a film I would watch again, but glad I caught it at the cinema.

8/10

Went back to the Festival yesterday, saw two flicks:

The Monastery: Mr. Vig and the Nun: Documentary about an old, somewhat eccentric Danish man (with full neck beard!) who owns a dilapidated castle and his attempt to have it turned into a monastery for the Eastern Orthodox Church, personified by some Russian nuns. The pacing is slow, but not too slow. It wasn't bad, I think it could've been better --the documentarian spent 6 years with Mr. Vig. Watchable. 3/5

Clash of Egos: Fun comedy with a great premise: a divorcee with a penchant for violence (having been in jail recently) gets custody of his kids for several hours and wants to take them to a movie. When they're unable to see the latest Harry Potter film, they end up trying out an incredibly artsy-fartsy Danish film titled "The Murderer" that they find to be complete nonsense. Angered, the father goes after the filmmaker, who is a pretentious, self-absorbed asshole --it results (from an amusing series of events) in him getting to co-direct/co-write the director's new piece, which is soon changed from "The Artist" to "Explosive Bomb" (which also happened to be the movie's Danish title). I think it would be a fun movie for film buffs. 4/5

Watched both of the Kill Bills the other day...decent but overrated. The final "showdown" with Bill was fucking lame. I'm not asking for a Matrix-Burly-Brawl type of thing, but at least have them go at it for a minute or two before the super-secret death strike. Also, Quentin is a complete douchebag. Wearing a shirt ABOUT YOURSELF to an interview? Seriously? That said, worth watching at least once, although I'd like to have seen them uncut and put together ala The Whole Bloody Affair...is that shit ever coming out?

I've got John Woo's The Killer, Hard Boiled uncut, and Sister Street Fighter collection coming in the mail, so that should be good times. I'm debating running out and grabbing the Axe-Kickin' edition of Kung Fu Hustle later, and I noticed that the Uptown Theatre is showing Blade Runner this Saturday.

Sexy Beast- lol I've seen it before but damn is it a good movie Ben Kingsly FTMFW!

Also best DVD menu ever?

Picked up The Orphanage on Blu Ray yesterday gonna check it out tonight.

Hey Kan I've noticed your on an asian movie kick check these out if you haven't yet:

A Better Tomarrow trilogy
City on Fire
Prodigal Son
Fight Back to School
Shogun Assassin
Lady Snowblood
Dragons Forever
Full Contact
Flashpoint
Knockabout

I'm sure you'll dig em if you haven't already seen them.

Hey, what did everybody think of the Namesake?

I liked it a lot...

Think it kind of got overlooked by just about everybody...

I know that Kal Pen isn't a great dramatic actor.... But it was a good movie...

Just finished up John Woo's The Killer...good shit. Overall a better movie than Hard Boiled, but what a goddamn bleak ending.

Watched Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny last night...

Watched Mysterious Skin last night instead of The Orphanage. Seriously fucked up shit right here folks. I knew it was a movie about 2 guys who were molested but christ this was something else for sure. Joeseph Gordon Levit of course was great but fuck was this a hard film to watch.

Billy Drago getting a back rub FTL. That being the least of the disturbing moments.

Shudder.

It made me feel icky all day after watching it.

Harold & Kumar 2 last night.

I'm a fan.

TonK said:

Harold & Kumar 2 last night.

I'm a fan.

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really i didn't care for it that much. i was a big fan of the first one, but i feel that this movie was trying too hard and that everything was too over the top and even sometimes too predictable. maybe i was just too high.

The Punisher (2004): Expected it to be beyond terrible but it was somewhat enjoyable. I'll admit that my knowledge of the comic origins are next to nothing, so I can hardly get comparative, but it was a decent way to kill some time and fairly bloody. The fight between Castle and The Russian was ace.

No Country For Old Men: Finally got around to seeing this. Great stuff. A lack of any real plot substituted for pure action was a good call. Chigurh was a fantastically ruthless and imaginative character that basically made the movie by himself. The Coen brothers keep on truckin'.

La Maschera del demonio (commonly known as Black Sunday/The Mask of Satan): I love Italian horror, so it's only natural I'm a Bava fan. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better opening in a horror film. Between this and Suspiria... that would be a damn tough call.

Enter The Dragon: Yep, Bruce Lee.

Simpsons The Movie: utter shit.
An American Haunting: complete shit.
Rescue Dawn: maybe the best film I've seen in ages. the photography and the acting pummeled me to pulp. timeless.



fuck hollywood, for the most part.

DevilRedeemed said:

An American Haunting: complete shit.

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One of our friends was telling us the same thing tonight at the grocery store.

Just got done with Kung Fu Hustle...fucking weird, but enjoyable.

street kings = training day lite.

laughably bad acting + story makes it somewhat enjoyable.

I watched "Baby Mama" today. I didn't really want to see it but I ended up enjoying it, mainly because I've liked Amy Pohler (sp?) since the Upright Citizens Brigade. Seemed like it couldn't decide if it wanted to be a Knocked Up-style comedy or a chick flick though.

There was one scene with Pohler's idiot redneck boyfriend who referred to a judge as "Your Highness" that made me laugh my ass off for some reason.

The Bank Job -

Really good, haven't cared about characters in a movie so much in ages.

Inside (À l'intérieur) - if you like violence and gore, then you'll have a blast with this bloody french flick. quick synopsis: pregnant french chick home alone on christmas eve gets stalked, attacked, maimed, "invaded" by a psycho lady. and she does this to everybody else that happened to stop by the house that night. hilarity ensues j/k. compared to the Saw/Hostel films that seemed to have gore just for the sake of gore, this flick just doesnt come across that way (but still quite brutal). the directors were supposed to be doing the remake of Hellraiser, but somehow got dropped from the project.

This Is England - set in the 80's, a 12 year old kid gets befriended by a group of skinheads, obviously in england. great movie. the story doesnt really focus on race as it's central theme. and it doesnt have a cliche Hollywood redemption kind of story going on (re: no preachiness, no "ive learned the errors of my ways" crap.)

Black House - K-Horror slasher flick. the "twist" shows up about halfway to 2/3rds into the flick, after that it seems like the movie just wont frickin end. worth renting if you're kinda bored with asian long hair horror.

From Beyond - the Re-Animator team makes another H.P. Lovecraft adaptation. very 80's sci/horror flick like the 80's stuff they'd show at SciFi channel or USA.

Them (Ils) - another french "horror" flick. had a good slow build up and then it just kinda ends. had potential. there's actually a Liv Tyler movie that's coming out that looks just like it called "The Strangers". hasnt been offcially reported as a remake but The Strangers trailer looks awful lot like it.

speaking of remakes, this movie hasnt been released on dvd here yet (i think the dvd for it just got released in Europe) but i'm waiting to see the spanish movie REC. i just saw that there's already a full trailer for the american remake called "Quarantine", and like all the recent horror remakes, it looks fking dumbed down. (another negative is the chick in the remake isnt as cute or chesty as the spanish chick in the original)