Recently viewed movie thread - Rental Edition (3 Viewers)

[jdoggydogg]

This is odd:

John Hawkes to star in Jackie Brown prequel, sort of

In one of his increasingly more frequent non-total-creep roles, John Hawkes has signed on to star alongside Yasiin Bey (whom you're not supposed to call Mos Def anymore, like we went over) in an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's 1978 novel The Switch, the Rum Punch predecessor that first introduced the characters later seen in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown. Set 15 years before the events of that book and film, the newly retitled Switch—so as to avoid confusion with comedies where Jason Bateman sneaks his sperm into Jennifer Aniston—is being pitched as a sort-of Jackie Brown prequel, with Bey and Hawkes playing younger versions of Samuel L. Jackson's silver-tongued Ordell Robbie and Robert De Niro's short-tempered Louis Gara, and taking advantage of those actors' respective gifts for gab and growing a sleazy mustache. Leonard himself will act as producer, having given his blessing to a spec script from writer-director Dan Schechter that Schechter wrote as a gamble without asking for any permission, which suggests it must be pretty good. Hopefully it's also good enough to wrest the title away from that movie where Ellen Barkin is a man, because on that tangential note, there really are too many movies with "switch" and switch variances in their name. Heed our warning, children, as we must begin conserving immediately for the body-swapping comedies of the future.

I actually think this sounds pretty cool...Hawkes and Mos are both solid actors as well.

Jackie Brown redux

If Jackie Brown were a drug I'd smoke it.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Talk to Her:

What an interesting and tragic movie. However, something just didn't click with me and ended up not loving it. Couldn't quite put my finger on it, but something with the style of the movie felt a little emotionless, and I wasn't getting sucked into the film like I was expecting to. Still well worth a watch 7/10

Fourth Kind:

Been avoiding this one because I have an unfounded fear of alien abduction - Fire in the Sky really gets to me. I think subconsciously I was just avoiding this movie because it's junk. They should have gone one way or the other, but putting the movie side by side with the 'real' footage was really annoying to me. I was already bracing myself for crap with the cheesy intro to the movie about the case. Didn't think it got any better from there (which for me might have been a lucky break) 4/10

Tabloid:

Mr. Morris going back to the feel of Fog Of War - this time about a woman who is accused of kidnapping and raping her Mormon boyfriend in England. As with a lot of his docs, there are so many interesting people and real life is weirder than fiction. Not one of his best, but recommended viewing.

 

[Chaka]

50/50 - Good flick. I pretty much echo all the positive reviews in this thread.

Seth Rogan is a one trick pony but he usually chooses the right roles. The fact that he actually lived this film (it's pretty much a true story) and is playing himself makes it easier but I found his character very entertaining.

IMO Joseph Gordon-Levitt is probably one of the best actors going right now. Not sure why he isn't getting a taste of too many meaty man parts in major Hollywood productions (Inception being notable exception) but he seems to remain more in the indie set as a lead actor. Regardless, the guy has legitimate acting chops.

 

[Chaka]

Sherlock Season 2 - While this show certainly has some flaws (the resolution of season 1 and the cliffhanger for season 2 being notable among them) it is often so well written and acted that I am happy to overlook them. It is fast paced, entertaining and has a keen sense of humor which all help make it very easy to watch.

One thing to be aware of is that sometimes Benedict Cumberbatch (the only person for whom a name change to Sherlock might actually be an improvement) speaks at a very rapid pace which, when combined with the British accent, can make him difficult to understand. I don't find it that bad, and don't mind rewinding if I miss something, but YMMV.

 

[El Floppo]

So nobody is watching The Fades on BBC America?

 

[Chaka]

The Thing (2011) - Surprisingly I didn't hate it. It's one of those films that delivers what you expect no more, no less. Although one thing that makes no sense (as if anything in a film like this should make sense) is

Spoiler

If the Thing was alive and its spaceship was fully functional and it apparently just wanted to get on its ship and take off then why did it ever leave the ship after the crash in the first place? Or why didn't it just head back to it when it originally escaped the ice instead of going through the whole assimilation process?

And while it does a good job as a prequel of feeding into the Jon Carpenter 1982 version of The Thing

Spoiler

We get no resolution for Mary Elizabeth Winstead's character.

 

[Kenny Powers]

50/50 - Good flick. I pretty much echo all the positive reviews in this thread.

Seth Rogan is a one trick pony but he usually chooses the right roles. The fact that he actually lived this film (it's pretty much a true story) and is playing himself makes it easier but I found his character very entertaining.

IMO Joseph Gordon-Levitt is probably one of the best actors going right now. Not sure why he isn't getting a taste of too many meaty man parts in major Hollywood productions (Inception being notable exception) but he seems to remain more in the indie set as a lead actor. Regardless, the guy has legitimate acting chops.

 

[Kenny Powers]

This is odd:

John Hawkes to star in Jackie Brown prequel, sort of

In one of his increasingly more frequent non-total-creep roles, John Hawkes has signed on to star alongside Yasiin Bey (whom you're not supposed to call Mos Def anymore, like we went over) in an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's 1978 novel The Switch, the Rum Punch predecessor that first introduced the characters later seen in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown. Set 15 years before the events of that book and film, the newly retitled Switch—so as to avoid confusion with comedies where Jason Bateman sneaks his sperm into Jennifer Aniston—is being pitched as a sort-of Jackie Brown prequel, with Bey and Hawkes playing younger versions of Samuel L. Jackson's silver-tongued Ordell Robbie and Robert De Niro's short-tempered Louis Gara, and taking advantage of those actors' respective gifts for gab and growing a sleazy mustache. Leonard himself will act as producer, having given his blessing to a spec script from writer-director Dan Schechter that Schechter wrote as a gamble without asking for any permission, which suggests it must be pretty good. Hopefully it's also good enough to wrest the title away from that movie where Ellen Barkin is a man, because on that tangential note, there really are too many movies with "switch" and switch variances in their name. Heed our warning, children, as we must begin conserving immediately for the body-swapping comedies of the future.

I actually think this sounds pretty cool...Hawkes and Mos are both solid actors as well.

Jackie Brown redux

If Jackie Brown were a drug I'd smoke it.

Now that I think about it, Id guess Hawkes is in his mid-50's and Mos Def his early 40's, which I would think puts them very close to how old SLJ and DeNiro were when Jackie Brown was released.

 

[CBusAlex]

Bad Teacher sucked. I feel like the trailer lied to me about Jason Segel actually being in this movie.

 

[Kenny Powers]

Bad Teacher sucked. I feel like the trailer lied to me about Jason Segel actually being in this movie.

My friends keep telling me this is the best comedy from last year. I dont see how, but I'll get around to it at some point.

 

[snogger]

Bad Teacher sucked. I feel like the trailer lied to me about Jason Segel actually being in this movie.

There were a couple more moments than hangover 2.. But that isn't saying much..

 

[jdoggydogg]

Talk to Her:

What an interesting and tragic movie. However, something just didn't click with me and ended up not loving it. Couldn't quite put my finger on it, but something with the style of the movie felt a little emotionless, and I wasn't getting sucked into the film like I was expecting to. Still well worth a watch 7/10

Good movie. You know what I love especially? The lead actor is bald. Not shaved head bald, but losing his hair bald. No way would an American movie cast a bald guy for this role. This is one thing that many foreign films do far better than American movies: they cast normal-looking people.

 

[jdoggydogg]

Sherlock Season 2 - While this show certainly has some flaws (the resolution of season 1 and the cliffhanger for season 2 being notable among them) it is often so well written and acted that I am happy to overlook them. It is fast paced, entertaining and has a keen sense of humor which all help make it very easy to watch.

One thing to be aware of is that sometimes Benedict Cumberbatch (the only person for whom a name change to Sherlock might actually be an improvement) speaks at a very rapid pace which, when combined with the British accent, can make him difficult to understand. I don't find it that bad, and don't mind rewinding if I miss something, but YMMV.

Jealous! How did you watch this?

 

[jdoggydogg]

So nobody is watching The Fades on BBC America?

Should I?

 

[cstu]

Sherlock Season 2 - While this show certainly has some flaws (the resolution of season 1 and the cliffhanger for season 2 being notable among them) it is often so well written and acted that I am happy to overlook them. It is fast paced, entertaining and has a keen sense of humor which all help make it very easy to watch.

One thing to be aware of is that sometimes Benedict Cumberbatch (the only person for whom a name change to Sherlock might actually be an improvement) speaks at a very rapid pace which, when combined with the British accent, can make him difficult to understand. I don't find it that bad, and don't mind rewinding if I miss something, but YMMV.

Jealous! How did you watch this?

I got it off a private site, but it's on TPB. Season 2 was even better than the first. Episodes 1 and 3 were incredible but episode 2 was meh.

 

[Chaka]

Sherlock Season 2 - While this show certainly has some flaws (the resolution of season 1 and the cliffhanger for season 2 being notable among them) it is often so well written and acted that I am happy to overlook them. It is fast paced, entertaining and has a keen sense of humor which all help make it very easy to watch.

One thing to be aware of is that sometimes Benedict Cumberbatch (the only person for whom a name change to Sherlock might actually be an improvement) speaks at a very rapid pace which, when combined with the British accent, can make him difficult to understand. I don't find it that bad, and don't mind rewinding if I miss something, but YMMV.

Jealous! How did you watch this?

Link

 

[jdoggydogg]

This is odd:

John Hawkes to star in Jackie Brown prequel, sort of

In one of his increasingly more frequent non-total-creep roles, John Hawkes has signed on to star alongside Yasiin Bey (whom you're not supposed to call Mos Def anymore, like we went over) in an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's 1978 novel The Switch, the Rum Punch predecessor that first introduced the characters later seen in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown. Set 15 years before the events of that book and film, the newly retitled Switch—so as to avoid confusion with comedies where Jason Bateman sneaks his sperm into Jennifer Aniston—is being pitched as a sort-of Jackie Brown prequel, with Bey and Hawkes playing younger versions of Samuel L. Jackson's silver-tongued Ordell Robbie and Robert De Niro's short-tempered Louis Gara, and taking advantage of those actors' respective gifts for gab and growing a sleazy mustache. Leonard himself will act as producer, having given his blessing to a spec script from writer-director Dan Schechter that Schechter wrote as a gamble without asking for any permission, which suggests it must be pretty good. Hopefully it's also good enough to wrest the title away from that movie where Ellen Barkin is a man, because on that tangential note, there really are too many movies with "switch" and switch variances in their name. Heed our warning, children, as we must begin conserving immediately for the body-swapping comedies of the future.

I actually think this sounds pretty cool...Hawkes and Mos are both solid actors as well.

Jackie Brown redux

If Jackie Brown were a drug I'd smoke it.

Now that I think about it, Id guess Hawkes is in his mid-50's and Mos Def his early 40's, which I would think puts them very close to how old SLJ and DeNiro were when Jackie Brown was released.

I hope Surfer Girl is in the movie. "Louissssssss. Louissssssssssssssss."

 

[jdoggydogg]

Sherlock Season 2 - While this show certainly has some flaws (the resolution of season 1 and the cliffhanger for season 2 being notable among them) it is often so well written and acted that I am happy to overlook them. It is fast paced, entertaining and has a keen sense of humor which all help make it very easy to watch.

One thing to be aware of is that sometimes Benedict Cumberbatch (the only person for whom a name change to Sherlock might actually be an improvement) speaks at a very rapid pace which, when combined with the British accent, can make him difficult to understand. I don't find it that bad, and don't mind rewinding if I miss something, but YMMV.

Jealous! How did you watch this?

I got it off a private site, but it's on TPB. Season 2 was even better than the first. Episodes 1 and 3 were incredible but episode 2 was meh.

I can deal with "meh." Sherlock meh is still better than most other meh.

 

[jdoggydogg]

Sherlock Season 2 - While this show certainly has some flaws (the resolution of season 1 and the cliffhanger for season 2 being notable among them) it is often so well written and acted that I am happy to overlook them. It is fast paced, entertaining and has a keen sense of humor which all help make it very easy to watch.

One thing to be aware of is that sometimes Benedict Cumberbatch (the only person for whom a name change to Sherlock might actually be an improvement) speaks at a very rapid pace which, when combined with the British accent, can make him difficult to understand. I don't find it that bad, and don't mind rewinding if I miss something, but YMMV.

Jealous! How did you watch this?

Link

Do you live in the UK? Those are not U.S. encoded discs, are they?

 

[Kenny Powers]

This is odd:

John Hawkes to star in Jackie Brown prequel, sort of

In one of his increasingly more frequent non-total-creep roles, John Hawkes has signed on to star alongside Yasiin Bey (whom you're not supposed to call Mos Def anymore, like we went over) in an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's 1978 novel The Switch, the Rum Punch predecessor that first introduced the characters later seen in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown. Set 15 years before the events of that book and film, the newly retitled Switch—so as to avoid confusion with comedies where Jason Bateman sneaks his sperm into Jennifer Aniston—is being pitched as a sort-of Jackie Brown prequel, with Bey and Hawkes playing younger versions of Samuel L. Jackson's silver-tongued Ordell Robbie and Robert De Niro's short-tempered Louis Gara, and taking advantage of those actors' respective gifts for gab and growing a sleazy mustache. Leonard himself will act as producer, having given his blessing to a spec script from writer-director Dan Schechter that Schechter wrote as a gamble without asking for any permission, which suggests it must be pretty good. Hopefully it's also good enough to wrest the title away from that movie where Ellen Barkin is a man, because on that tangential note, there really are too many movies with "switch" and switch variances in their name. Heed our warning, children, as we must begin conserving immediately for the body-swapping comedies of the future.

I actually think this sounds pretty cool...Hawkes and Mos are both solid actors as well.

Jackie Brown redux

If Jackie Brown were a drug I'd smoke it.

Now that I think about it, Id guess Hawkes is in his mid-50's and Mos Def his early 40's, which I would think puts them very close to how old SLJ and DeNiro were when Jackie Brown was released.

I hope Surfer Girl is in the movie. "Louissssssss. Louissssssssssssssss."

Funny you say this as I was looking at Jackie Brown on IMDB today and clicked on Bridget Fonda because I was curious as to how old she was and came across this..

In 2003, Fonda suffered head and neck injuries when she drove her Jaguar over an embankment and off the Pacific Coast Highway. Later that year, she married Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman and has since retired from show business.

....had no clue

 

[cstu]

So nobody is watching The Fades on BBC America?

I watched it and wasn't a fan at first but it gets better as it goes along.

 

[Chaka]

Sherlock Season 2 - While this show certainly has some flaws (the resolution of season 1 and the cliffhanger for season 2 being notable among them) it is often so well written and acted that I am happy to overlook them. It is fast paced, entertaining and has a keen sense of humor which all help make it very easy to watch.

One thing to be aware of is that sometimes Benedict Cumberbatch (the only person for whom a name change to Sherlock might actually be an improvement) speaks at a very rapid pace which, when combined with the British accent, can make him difficult to understand. I don't find it that bad, and don't mind rewinding if I miss something, but YMMV.

Jealous! How did you watch this?

Link

Do you live in the UK? Those are not U.S. encoded discs, are they?

No. I live in Escondido which is just like the UK but with fewer Irish. The DVD player on my PC has no regional encoding restrictions (or it ignores them, or something like that).

 

[jdoggydogg]

This is odd:

John Hawkes to star in Jackie Brown prequel, sort of

In one of his increasingly more frequent non-total-creep roles, John Hawkes has signed on to star alongside Yasiin Bey (whom you're not supposed to call Mos Def anymore, like we went over) in an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's 1978 novel The Switch, the Rum Punch predecessor that first introduced the characters later seen in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown. Set 15 years before the events of that book and film, the newly retitled Switch—so as to avoid confusion with comedies where Jason Bateman sneaks his sperm into Jennifer Aniston—is being pitched as a sort-of Jackie Brown prequel, with Bey and Hawkes playing younger versions of Samuel L. Jackson's silver-tongued Ordell Robbie and Robert De Niro's short-tempered Louis Gara, and taking advantage of those actors' respective gifts for gab and growing a sleazy mustache. Leonard himself will act as producer, having given his blessing to a spec script from writer-director Dan Schechter that Schechter wrote as a gamble without asking for any permission, which suggests it must be pretty good. Hopefully it's also good enough to wrest the title away from that movie where Ellen Barkin is a man, because on that tangential note, there really are too many movies with "switch" and switch variances in their name. Heed our warning, children, as we must begin conserving immediately for the body-swapping comedies of the future.

I actually think this sounds pretty cool...Hawkes and Mos are both solid actors as well.

Jackie Brown redux

If Jackie Brown were a drug I'd smoke it.

Now that I think about it, Id guess Hawkes is in his mid-50's and Mos Def his early 40's, which I would think puts them very close to how old SLJ and DeNiro were when Jackie Brown was released.

I hope Surfer Girl is in the movie. "Louissssssss. Louissssssssssssssss."

Funny you say this as I was looking at Jackie Brown on IMDB today and clicked on Bridget Fonda because I was curious as to how old she was and came across this..

In 2003, Fonda suffered head and neck injuries when she drove her Jaguar over an embankment and off the Pacific Coast Highway. Later that year, she married Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman and has since retired from show business.

....had no clue

That's too bad. I like her as an actor.

 

[Chaka]

Funny you say this as I was looking at Jackie Brown on IMDB today and clicked on Bridget Fonda because I was curious as to how old she was and came across this..

In 2003, Fonda suffered head and neck injuries when she drove her Jaguar over an embankment and off the Pacific Coast Highway. Later that year, she married Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman and has since retired from show business.

....had no clue

That's too bad. I like her as an actor.

I prefer her as an actress.Wokka-wokka-wokka!

 

[saintfool]

Funny you say this as I was looking at Jackie Brown on IMDB today and clicked on Bridget Fonda because I was curious as to how old she was and came across this..

In 2003, Fonda suffered head and neck injuries when she drove her Jaguar over an embankment and off the Pacific Coast Highway. Later that year, she married Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman and has since retired from show business.

....had no clue

she did some jet li flick a few years ago. she played some whore, as i recall. bob hoskins can sign on to do a movie with jet li and i don't think it reflects poorly on him. fonda, though, i'm not so sure. worse still, i'm not sure who it reflects more poorly on, li or fonda?

 

[Kenny Powers]

Funny you say this as I was looking at Jackie Brown on IMDB today and clicked on Bridget Fonda because I was curious as to how old she was and came across this..

In 2003, Fonda suffered head and neck injuries when she drove her Jaguar over an embankment and off the Pacific Coast Highway. Later that year, she married Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman and has since retired from show business.

....had no clue

she did some jet li flick a few years ago. she played some whore, as i recall. bob hoskins can sign on to do a movie with jet li and i don't think it reflects poorly on him. fonda, though, i'm not so sure. worse still, i'm not sure who it reflects more poorly on, li or fonda?

Kiss of the Dragon, which was like 2001. Her last credit on IMDB was in 2002.

 

[Chaka]

Election - IIRC a lot of people say they prefer this film to Sideways (same director) I lean towards the latter. Election isn't bad and I certainly enjoyed but overall it fell a little short with me. It's quirky and funny and I enjoyed the characters. Witherspoon nailed her role and while I think Chris Klein is perhaps the worst actor I have ever seen he was well cast as a clueless jock with a good heart. It's worth a watch and I can understand why some would enjoy it perhaps more than I did.

 

[Chaka]

The United States of Leland - This is definitely a strong drama with a well crafted story but, like Election, it just fell short for me. I found myself disinterested in Gosling's character and I think it's maybe because I have seen American Beauty too many times. He just seemed to be a mirror image of Wes Bentley (Ricky Fitts from American Beauty). A highly intelligent, socially distant character who somehow manages to see the beauty (or the sadness as is the case in TUSoL) that seems to elude the rest of us pedestrian, mouth breathing masses. The character just didn't resonate with me.

Again I think it is a well told story with some great performances but it just never got a hook into me.

 

[Kenny Powers]

Election - IIRC a lot of people say they prefer this film to Sideways (same director) I lean towards the latter. Election isn't bad and I certainly enjoyed but overall it fell a little short with me. It's quirky and funny and I enjoyed the characters. Witherspoon nailed her role and while I think Chris Klein is perhaps the worst actor I have ever seen he was well cast as a clueless jock with a good heart. It's worth a watch and I can understand why some would enjoy it perhaps more than I did.

I think it also works because its almost feels like its Ferris Bueller having a midlife crisis.

 

[Chaka]

Election - IIRC a lot of people say they prefer this film to Sideways (same director) I lean towards the latter. Election isn't bad and I certainly enjoyed but overall it fell a little short with me. It's quirky and funny and I enjoyed the characters. Witherspoon nailed her role and while I think Chris Klein is perhaps the worst actor I have ever seen he was well cast as a clueless jock with a good heart. It's worth a watch and I can understand why some would enjoy it perhaps more than I did.

I think it also works because its almost feels like its Ferris Bueller having a midlife crisis.

If I wanted that I'd watch the Super Bowl commercial instead and save 100.5 minutes.

 

[saintfool]

Kiss of the Dragon, which was like 2001. Her last credit on IMDB was in 2002.

i wish that was the point of my post but, alas, it is not.

 

[jdoggydogg]

Funny you say this as I was looking at Jackie Brown on IMDB today and clicked on Bridget Fonda because I was curious as to how old she was and came across this..

In 2003, Fonda suffered head and neck injuries when she drove her Jaguar over an embankment and off the Pacific Coast Highway. Later that year, she married Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman and has since retired from show business.

....had no clue

That's too bad. I like her as an actor.

I prefer her as an actress.Wokka-wokka-wokka!

Ba dum pum.

 

[jdoggydogg]

Election - IIRC a lot of people say they prefer this film to Sideways (same director) I lean towards the latter. Election isn't bad and I certainly enjoyed but overall it fell a little short with me. It's quirky and funny and I enjoyed the characters. Witherspoon nailed her role and while I think Chris Klein is perhaps the worst actor I have ever seen he was well cast as a clueless jock with a good heart. It's worth a watch and I can understand why some would enjoy it perhaps more than I did.

I loved Election and really didn't like Sideways.

 

[ForteWillLeadTheWay]

Election - IIRC a lot of people say they prefer this film to Sideways (same director) I lean towards the latter. Election isn't bad and I certainly enjoyed but overall it fell a little short with me. It's quirky and funny and I enjoyed the characters. Witherspoon nailed her role and while I think Chris Klein is perhaps the worst actor I have ever seen he was well cast as a clueless jock with a good heart. It's worth a watch and I can understand why some would enjoy it perhaps more than I did.

I loved Election and really didn't like Sideways.

I think both of those films are outstanding.

 

[jdoggydogg]

Election - IIRC a lot of people say they prefer this film to Sideways (same director) I lean towards the latter. Election isn't bad and I certainly enjoyed but overall it fell a little short with me. It's quirky and funny and I enjoyed the characters. Witherspoon nailed her role and while I think Chris Klein is perhaps the worst actor I have ever seen he was well cast as a clueless jock with a good heart. It's worth a watch and I can understand why some would enjoy it perhaps more than I did.

I loved Election and really didn't like Sideways.

I liked Election more but Sideways was ok.

For me, it was about expectations. Had I found Sideways by accident with no hype, it would have been ok. But I don't think it came close to living up to all the critical praise.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Talk to Her:

What an interesting and tragic movie. However, something just didn't click with me and ended up not loving it. Couldn't quite put my finger on it, but something with the style of the movie felt a little emotionless, and I wasn't getting sucked into the film like I was expecting to. Still well worth a watch 7/10

Good movie. You know what I love especially? The lead actor is bald. Not shaved head bald, but losing his hair bald. No way would an American movie cast a bald guy for this role. This is one thing that many foreign films do far better than American movies: they cast normal-looking people.

I know I have been watching too much Arrested Development lately, but the other lead guy was reminding me of him the whole time.

Joking aside, that is a great point about foreign movies. A lot of the relationships feel more real because of that. Normal looking people. Here we have the knockouts with the dumpy slobs or everybody on the cover of a magazine in the romantic relationships.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Election - IIRC a lot of people say they prefer this film to Sideways (same director) I lean towards the latter. Election isn't bad and I certainly enjoyed but overall it fell a little short with me. It's quirky and funny and I enjoyed the characters. Witherspoon nailed her role and while I think Chris Klein is perhaps the worst actor I have ever seen he was well cast as a clueless jock with a good heart. It's worth a watch and I can understand why some would enjoy it perhaps more than I did.

I loved Election and really didn't like Sideways.

I think both of those films are outstanding.

This.

 

[Chaka]

Election - IIRC a lot of people say they prefer this film to Sideways (same director) I lean towards the latter. Election isn't bad and I certainly enjoyed but overall it fell a little short with me. It's quirky and funny and I enjoyed the characters. Witherspoon nailed her role and while I think Chris Klein is perhaps the worst actor I have ever seen he was well cast as a clueless jock with a good heart. It's worth a watch and I can understand why some would enjoy it perhaps more than I did.

I loved Election and really didn't like Sideways.

I liked Election more but Sideways was ok.

For me, it was about expectations. Had I found Sideways by accident with no hype, it would have been ok. But I don't think it came close to living up to all the critical praise.

Things like expectation, atmosphere and your state of mind have such a big impact on how one is entertained. I could easily see a situation where I would have enjoyed Election more than I did and Sideways less. I thought Election had a better ending but the whole set-up for Sideways struck a chord with me that seemed plausible and resonated with my life experience whereas I did not have the same type of connection with Election.

Lots of these variables come into play while watching a film.

 

[jdoggydogg]

Talk to Her:

What an interesting and tragic movie. However, something just didn't click with me and ended up not loving it. Couldn't quite put my finger on it, but something with the style of the movie felt a little emotionless, and I wasn't getting sucked into the film like I was expecting to. Still well worth a watch 7/10

Good movie. You know what I love especially? The lead actor is bald. Not shaved head bald, but losing his hair bald. No way would an American movie cast a bald guy for this role. This is one thing that many foreign films do far better than American movies: they cast normal-looking people.

I know I have been watching too much Arrested Development lately, but the other lead guy was reminding me of him the whole time.

Joking aside, that is a great point about foreign movies. A lot of the relationships feel more real because of that. Normal looking people. Here we have the knockouts with the dumpy slobs or everybody on the cover of a magazine in the romantic relationships.

Yes. And furthermore, it seems like every American movie stars some unbearable combination of Tom Hanks, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Julia Roberts.

 

[jdoggydogg]

Election - IIRC a lot of people say they prefer this film to Sideways (same director) I lean towards the latter. Election isn't bad and I certainly enjoyed but overall it fell a little short with me. It's quirky and funny and I enjoyed the characters. Witherspoon nailed her role and while I think Chris Klein is perhaps the worst actor I have ever seen he was well cast as a clueless jock with a good heart. It's worth a watch and I can understand why some would enjoy it perhaps more than I did.

I loved Election and really didn't like Sideways.

I liked Election more but Sideways was ok.

For me, it was about expectations. Had I found Sideways by accident with no hype, it would have been ok. But I don't think it came close to living up to all the critical praise.

Things like expectation, atmosphere and your state of mind have such a big impact on how one is entertained. I could easily see a situation where I would have enjoyed Election more than I did and Sideways less. I thought Election had a better ending but the whole set-up for Sideways struck a chord with me that seemed plausible and resonated with my life experience whereas I did not have the same type of connection with Election.

Lots of these variables come into play while watching a film.

I dig.

 

[jdoggydogg]

Election - IIRC a lot of people say they prefer this film to Sideways (same director) I lean towards the latter. Election isn't bad and I certainly enjoyed but overall it fell a little short with me. It's quirky and funny and I enjoyed the characters. Witherspoon nailed her role and while I think Chris Klein is perhaps the worst actor I have ever seen he was well cast as a clueless jock with a good heart. It's worth a watch and I can understand why some would enjoy it perhaps more than I did.

I loved Election and really didn't like Sideways.

I liked Election more but Sideways was ok.

For me, it was about expectations. Had I found Sideways by accident with no hype, it would have been ok. But I don't think it came close to living up to all the critical praise.

I had no prior expectations going into either one of them, other than random comments from friends to see one or the other. I didn't read any critical praise on either of them prior to seeing them, so this is pretty much my unbiased opinion. Of course, it's just that.

Certainly. It's my fault, as I read too many reviews.

 

[jdoggydogg]

Sherlock Season 2 - While this show certainly has some flaws (the resolution of season 1 and the cliffhanger for season 2 being notable among them) it is often so well written and acted that I am happy to overlook them. It is fast paced, entertaining and has a keen sense of humor which all help make it very easy to watch.

One thing to be aware of is that sometimes Benedict Cumberbatch (the only person for whom a name change to Sherlock might actually be an improvement) speaks at a very rapid pace which, when combined with the British accent, can make him difficult to understand. I don't find it that bad, and don't mind rewinding if I miss something, but YMMV.

Jealous! How did you watch this?

Link

Do you live in the UK? Those are not U.S. encoded discs, are they?

No. I live in Escondido which is just like the UK but with fewer Irish. The DVD player on my PC has no regional encoding restrictions (or it ignores them, or something like that).

Sweet. Am jealous.

 

[El Floppo]

fwiw, JD- yes, I am enjoying The Fades. It gets a bit brit-marble-mouthed at times, but has so far been worthwhile.

 

[Mr. Mojo]

The Thing (2011) - Surprisingly I didn't hate it. It's one of those films that delivers what you expect no more, no less. Although one thing that makes no sense (as if anything in a film like this should make sense) is

Spoiler

If the Thing was alive and its spaceship was fully functional and it apparently just wanted to get on its ship and take off then why did it ever leave the ship after the crash in the first place? Or why didn't it just head back to it when it originally escaped the ice instead of going through the whole assimilation process?

And while it does a good job as a prequel of feeding into the Jon Carpenter 1982 version of The Thing

Spoiler

We get no resolution for Mary Elizabeth Winstead's character.

Glad to hear that this is good. I have it on my Netflix list and am looking forward to watching it.

 

[jdoggydogg]

fwiw, JD- yes, I am enjoying The Fades. It gets a bit brit-marble-mouthed at times, but has so far been worthwhile.

Nice. I'll check it out.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Jerry Maguire:

I still find this movie borderline unwatchable. Sure the kid is cute and there are a few good scenes, but to get to those I had to trudge through a crap relationship between Renee and Tom, and I don't see the appeal of Cuba in this movie either (again, besides a couple scenes).

Twilight:

I don't even no where to begin. This is like watching a car accident, and I know I will have to put in the next couple just to see how bad it gets. I am curious if the books are this bad too.

 

[snogger]

Twilight:

I don't even no where to begin. This is like watching a car accident, and I know I will have to put in the next couple just to see how bad it gets. I am curious if the books are this bad too.

FYI - Unless you are a teenage girl..... it wasn't meant for you..

 

[Chaka]

Twilight:

I don't even no where to begin. This is like watching a car accident, and I know I will have to put in the next couple just to see how bad it gets. I am curious if the books are this bad too.

FYI - Unless you are a teenage girl..... it wasn't meant for you..

Not quite

 

[KarmaPolice]

Twilight:

I don't even no where to begin. This is like watching a car accident, and I know I will have to put in the next couple just to see how bad it gets. I am curious if the books are this bad too.

FYI - Unless you are a teenage girl..... it wasn't meant for you..

Not an acceptable excuse. Harry Potter wasn't meant for me, nor was Buffy the Vampire Slayer, etc. A bad movie is a bad movie, and this movie was terrible on all levels.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Twilight:

I don't even no where to begin. This is like watching a car accident, and I know I will have to put in the next couple just to see how bad it gets. I am curious if the books are this bad too.

FYI - Unless you are a teenage girl..... it wasn't meant for you..

Not quite