36th Chamber
Footballguy
As did II enjoyed The VillageI thought it was pretty good for a rainy, wrap myself up in a blanket on the couch Sunday afternoon.
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Recently viewed movie thread - Rental Edition (1 Viewer)
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jdoggydogg
Footballguy
Did David Lynch really direct a public service anti-littering ad for New York City?
joffer
Footballguy
sorry to hear thatI enjoyed The VillageI thought it was pretty good for a rainy, wrap myself up in a blanket on the couch Sunday afternoon.
Chaka
Footballguy
Ditto.As did II enjoyed The VillageI thought it was pretty good for a rainy, wrap myself up in a blanket on the couch Sunday afternoon.
SofaKings
Footballguy
And they showed it on my flight to vegas friday. Ugh.
Dr. Awesome
Footballguy
I absolutely loved The Village until the twist. Such a dumb, lazy, and flat out stupid ending. Usually a bad ending will weaken a movie but not kill it completely. In this case I thought it was so awful the entire movie crumbled. Such a great buildup...then...that's it? Let's say one of the old timers walks to the ranger station. Bam, 5 minutes for the whole movie.
jdoggydogg
Footballguy
There must be some kind of rule wherein airplane movies have to stink.
jdoggydogg
Footballguy
The twist didn't bother me, but I don't disagree with anything you said.
cstu
Footballguy
I thought it was a good movie if you look at it as a long Twilight Zone episode.
cstu
Footballguy
Rats eat paper?
Maik Jeaunz
Footballguy
I didn't hate The Village, and the score is amazing.Ditto.As did II enjoyed The VillageI thought it was pretty good for a rainy, wrap myself up in a blanket on the couch Sunday afternoon.
Kenny Powers
Footballguy
Did people forget this is a M. Night Shalamalan movie?! That description is quintessential M. at its finest, and Ive yet to see The Village.
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
The Thing (2011):
Not as bad as I was expecting, but that is still not saying much. I think the movie went too early and often with the monster, and the CGI for the monster wasn't that great. It technically occurs before the events of the first one, but it really was a remake so it didn't feel as new as I was hoping. In the end this one was just average. 5/10
Forgetting Sarah Marshall:
This one has steadily grown on me after watching it a couple times.
Not as bad as I was expecting, but that is still not saying much. I think the movie went too early and often with the monster, and the CGI for the monster wasn't that great. It technically occurs before the events of the first one, but it really was a remake so it didn't feel as new as I was hoping. In the end this one was just average. 5/10
Forgetting Sarah Marshall:
This one has steadily grown on me after watching it a couple times.
jdoggydogg
Footballguy
It' s Lynch. Don't question it.
jdoggydogg
Footballguy
The more Russell Brand I see, the more I like. Get Him To The Greek is one of the funnier comedies I've seen over the last couple years.
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
Didn't like The Village at all, but I am the sick ******* that kinda liked Lady in the Water. 
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
I brought that one home tonight. I am pretty sure I have seen it before, but don't remember a thing about it.
Dr. Awesome
Footballguy
You know a twist of some kind is coming but let's make it reasonable. Sixth Sense? Whoah. The alien movie, what was the twist there? God working in mysterious ways? Not sure that's a twist but okay. I agree The Village is pretty reasonable if you think of it as a Twilight Zone episode. I was expecting more.
jdoggydogg
Footballguy
African Child!
Kenny Powers
Footballguy
Signs? The twist was aliens traveling light years or whatever to inhabit earth, a planet that is 75% water, yet water is what hurts them. Great twist!
I havent even seen The Village, but was just pointing out your description is pretty much N. Might's go to move.
jamny
Footballguy
Did you see his Arthur remake? I think I'm one of the few people that didn't think it was horrible.
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
As silly as that was, Signs >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The HappeningOne of his problems was by the time The Village rolled around, people were so expecting twists they were looking for it. Especially with that one, if you are looking for it, the twist isn't too hard to guess.Signs? The twist was aliens traveling light years or whatever to inhabit earth, a planet that is 75% water, yet water is what hurts them. Great twist!
Andy Dufresne
Footballguy
You think that was the twist?Signs? The twist was aliens traveling light years or whatever to inhabit earth, a planet that is 75% water, yet water is what hurts them. Great twist!
Signs doesn't even have a twist.
saintfool
Dead sexy
watched "mister foe" the other night. the kid from "billy elliot" plays a young man dealing with the death/suicide of his mother and runs away from his family. while away, he becomes in volved with a woman that looks like his mother. not great but still pretty good. great soundtrack.
jdoggydogg
Footballguy
Haven't seen it yet.'jamny said:
cstu
Footballguy
It's worth watching and I liked it better than the original*. Brand pulls off the likeable loser better than anyone and his relationship with Helen Mirren was great.*No Liza Minnelli
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Chaka
Footballguy
Carriers - I'm a sucker for post apocalyptic scenarios. This isn't a great movie and I am not sure it is even a good movie but it had some very good elements particularly when it came to the characters making difficult decisions. I won't give a strong recommendation but if you're in the mood for something post apocalypticky, and short (84 minutes) you could do worse.
Chaka
Footballguy
The White Ribbon - German best picture nominee from 2009. After I finished watching this film all I could think of was how I was hoping for more payoff from a long and not particularly exciting buildup. The pace is very slow from start to finish and the film is very long (144 min) and not terribly exciting. However it seems to have taken root in my mind and I find that I am thinking about it quite a bit over the past few days. The director really allowed the story of this town to develop and flow naturally and it had an extremely authentic feel. The resolution leaves you really considering the characters and their motivations and after more thought than I thought I would be giving this film after watching it I think I have drawn a satisfactory explanation for the events that occurred. While very slow (really it is) I think it is ultimately a fascinating and plausible character study of an entire village.
cstu
Footballguy
Watched A Separation last night. A damn near perfect movie. I have some minor issues with the plot but not enough to spoil the movie for me. Great complexity of the characters and no one was without their flaws (except perhaps the daughter who was caught in the middle). Tough to watch how backward the Iranian society and court system is though.
cstu
Footballguy
I need to watch this and have had it for a couple of years. Guess it's one of those movies that I have a hard time wanting to put on.
Chaka
Footballguy
Joyeux Noel - 2005 foreign film Oscar nominee tells the pseudo-factual story of events on the French front lines during Christmas Eve 1914 when many troops all up and down the lines took an impromptu pause from the slaughter to celebrate Christmas together. Apparently events similar to this actually occurred but the specific characters and events of this film are fiction. The story can't help but be compelling and the acting is often quite good but ultimately this film fell a little short of the mark for me. It suffered from lower production values and I think the storytelling could have been better. Some of the character relationships were difficult to follow and some of their quirks and scenarios felt a little contrived. And while I certainly understand from previous readings and study of history that the trenches of WW I were particularly hellish and gruesome I don't think that gives the director a pass on making that fact known to the an audience in 2005. I didn't really feel the oppressive nature and helplessness, that I associate with being in those trenches, that would make the impromptu cease fire all the more powerful. Still, despite it's flaws, it really is very interesting if for nothing more than it's concept.
Chaka
Footballguy
I was sitting on it for awhile too. It was a weird experience because while watching it I was occasionally bored, which is never a good thing, but when it was over I found it had really stuck with me. I love it when a film that makes me continue to think about it after I am done watching.
belljr
Footballguy
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jdoggydogg
Footballguy
Brand's entertaining enough for me to at least try anything he's in.
jdoggydogg
Footballguy
Kenny Powers
Footballguy
Yeah, watched this a month or so ago and liked it. Jamie Bell was good and his character was interesting, so was the girl's really. Overall just a fairly unique/interesting storyline.
Jutz
Footballguy
me tooDitto.As did II enjoyed The VillageI thought it was pretty good for a rainy, wrap myself up in a blanket on the couch Sunday afternoon.
Papa Georgio
Footballguy
M. Night takes a beating and I can honestly see why. He sets himself up by trying to out think the audience. The problem is just like with many TV shows we become familar with the formula. I like most of his movies. I really liked that in Devil he got away from the "formula" just enough that it wasn't a distraction or a parlor trick.
Kenny Powers
Footballguy
Havent seen The Village, but I would agree for the most part. Unbreakable was ok but left me unsatisfied really. I agree with Papa G with Devil though, it wasnt as MNighted up as his other movies but still had a twist. It was a pretty good thriller.'TexanFan02 said:
Bob Magaw
Footballguy
some thoughts on recent movies i've seen, and academy awards...
there was a definite french theme...
big winner artist (picture, director, actor, music?) was french production, director/writer & leads (actress wife of director)...
biggest garnerer of nominations (won for cinematography), scorcese's hugo, set in france and based in part on life of genius trailblazer of early cinema - melies...
midnight in paris by woody allen - won an oscar for best original screenplay...
spielberg's tin tin... used french comic as source material...
all except allen movie would be great family movies, imo, but more than that, and can be appreciated by adults...
artist was a composite of AT LEAST five sources that i could detect...
plot had elements that could have been derived from a star is born (former star's career hits skids, becomes involved with a talkie up 'n comer)
also singing in the rain (silent star's career on downward trajectory, while an unknown actress/singer sees her star on the rise...
biographical aspects of charlie chaplin, who resisted the onset of talkies (afraid that the universal elements of the tramp character as expressed in mime and pantomine would be irretrievably lost and his worldwide appeal damaged by the babel-like fragmentation of language... he was almost certainly the most popular and famous movie star in the world at the advent of sound movies ((jazz singer by al jolsen i think commonly cited as first in US - late '20s?)))... several years later, he released city lights as a silent movie... 5-7 years later in modern times, the only voices heard were in artificial situations like a factory intercom... and about a decade or more later, in another joke, in the great dictator, until near the end of the movie (when you hear chaplin in his own voice), in the dictator half of his dual role performance, he speaks gibberish, nonsense german... BTW, city lights and modern times were imo his masterpieces (and highly praised by heavyweight directors like kubrick and tarkovsky), but the gold rush was great, and the great dictator had its moments...
the dog in the artist has some similarities to that in tin tin...
an important later scene (film burning) could have been a page/chapter torn from the life of melies...
* some may have no interest in silent films as it seems like an antiquated, dated form... the artist does benefit from a contemporary sensibility in terms of pacing and editing, and even with relatively few inter-titles, it is so well done, there is never any point where the viewer would be less than clear on what is going on... i think i was primed to see this because after seeing a buster keaton retrospective on TCM in oct or nov (classics like the general, which orson welles called not just one of the best civil war films ever, but films period, sherlock, jr., our hospitality and steamboat bill), and around the same time the aforementioned city lights by chaplin, which might have been my first real exposure to the genre, i nearly instantly appreciated it and became a fan... chaplin had greater range, and was one of the first i think to mix drama with comedy (like in the kid)... keaton was a genius physical comedian... in some ways, some of the sight gags are funnier than virtually anything i see in contemporary comedies... instead of relying on special effects, keaton had to be ceaselessly inventive in stunts, and he was a fearless acrobat (jackie chan before jackie chan... not only did he do his own stunts, he did everybody's stunts!
)... there is a scene in steamboat bill during a hurricane where the front of a house (not just a facade) falls towards towards him, and narrowly misses crushing him to death by inches when he barely clears the window opening... this was an actual stunt, and i think the crew walked off at one point, because if keaton had missed his mark, or something had gone wrong, he definitely could have been killed...
** if anybody liked or is potentially interested in hugo, ebert's review alerted me to the fact that it included material about melies and the birth of modern cinema... i'm watching a doc called the magic of melies which delves further into the backstory, and it is pretty compelling... it could be of interest to anyone who holds an even casual historical curiosity about the birth of film... his techniques were pioneering, ahead of their time and later widely emulated... it also includes some of the earliest surviving shorts, some over a century old...
there was a definite french theme...
big winner artist (picture, director, actor, music?) was french production, director/writer & leads (actress wife of director)...
biggest garnerer of nominations (won for cinematography), scorcese's hugo, set in france and based in part on life of genius trailblazer of early cinema - melies...
midnight in paris by woody allen - won an oscar for best original screenplay...
spielberg's tin tin... used french comic as source material...
all except allen movie would be great family movies, imo, but more than that, and can be appreciated by adults...
artist was a composite of AT LEAST five sources that i could detect...
plot had elements that could have been derived from a star is born (former star's career hits skids, becomes involved with a talkie up 'n comer)
also singing in the rain (silent star's career on downward trajectory, while an unknown actress/singer sees her star on the rise...
biographical aspects of charlie chaplin, who resisted the onset of talkies (afraid that the universal elements of the tramp character as expressed in mime and pantomine would be irretrievably lost and his worldwide appeal damaged by the babel-like fragmentation of language... he was almost certainly the most popular and famous movie star in the world at the advent of sound movies ((jazz singer by al jolsen i think commonly cited as first in US - late '20s?)))... several years later, he released city lights as a silent movie... 5-7 years later in modern times, the only voices heard were in artificial situations like a factory intercom... and about a decade or more later, in another joke, in the great dictator, until near the end of the movie (when you hear chaplin in his own voice), in the dictator half of his dual role performance, he speaks gibberish, nonsense german... BTW, city lights and modern times were imo his masterpieces (and highly praised by heavyweight directors like kubrick and tarkovsky), but the gold rush was great, and the great dictator had its moments...
the dog in the artist has some similarities to that in tin tin...
an important later scene (film burning) could have been a page/chapter torn from the life of melies...
* some may have no interest in silent films as it seems like an antiquated, dated form... the artist does benefit from a contemporary sensibility in terms of pacing and editing, and even with relatively few inter-titles, it is so well done, there is never any point where the viewer would be less than clear on what is going on... i think i was primed to see this because after seeing a buster keaton retrospective on TCM in oct or nov (classics like the general, which orson welles called not just one of the best civil war films ever, but films period, sherlock, jr., our hospitality and steamboat bill), and around the same time the aforementioned city lights by chaplin, which might have been my first real exposure to the genre, i nearly instantly appreciated it and became a fan... chaplin had greater range, and was one of the first i think to mix drama with comedy (like in the kid)... keaton was a genius physical comedian... in some ways, some of the sight gags are funnier than virtually anything i see in contemporary comedies... instead of relying on special effects, keaton had to be ceaselessly inventive in stunts, and he was a fearless acrobat (jackie chan before jackie chan... not only did he do his own stunts, he did everybody's stunts!
)... there is a scene in steamboat bill during a hurricane where the front of a house (not just a facade) falls towards towards him, and narrowly misses crushing him to death by inches when he barely clears the window opening... this was an actual stunt, and i think the crew walked off at one point, because if keaton had missed his mark, or something had gone wrong, he definitely could have been killed...** if anybody liked or is potentially interested in hugo, ebert's review alerted me to the fact that it included material about melies and the birth of modern cinema... i'm watching a doc called the magic of melies which delves further into the backstory, and it is pretty compelling... it could be of interest to anyone who holds an even casual historical curiosity about the birth of film... his techniques were pioneering, ahead of their time and later widely emulated... it also includes some of the earliest surviving shorts, some over a century old...
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cstu
Footballguy
I really like Unbreakable - it's the only MNS movie I can watch more than once.
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
That's because he didn't direct it. He just wrote the story (not the screenplay) and produced the movie.
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011):
I have seen the original, but have not read the books.
Starting with the opening titles, something really rubbed me the wrong way about this movie. I just thought this one was too 'slick' looking, but didn't have the punch that the original had. It is beautiful for sure, and there are some amazing shots, but I guess I was hoping more for something dirtier looking from Fincher based on the topics of the story - something closer to Se7en and the fight scenes of Fight Club. This one looked more like Social Network.
I think I need to revisit the Swedish version, but I do remember feeling more tension from that movie while I watched it. I liked the creepiness, and really remember the scene when they construct the girl's reaction using the old photos, etc..
Also thought the flow was weird in this one. The way they cut back and forth between Craig and Mara made it hard for me to get into either character. I think this version of Lisbeth is a little more vulnerable, but that could have a bit to do with the age of the actress. Mara had more of a boyish/sexless quality a lot of the time. Thought she did a good job here. The last 40mins of the movie were a chore to get through as well. You have all the build up for the last 90mins about the mystery in the family, and then we jump back to a subplot that was glossed over for the climax of the movie. Also based on the end I think we were supposed to care about Craig and Mara's relationship a bit more than we did. That wasn't a focus in this film, so the end seemed more out of place. Again, that is probably more to do with the source material - seemed overly complicated and ultimately introduced too many characters, etc.. to care about. A decent thriller, but never manages to be much more than that. 5.5/10 Again, a great looking movie, but I am disappointed that Fincher is using his talents to make 2 more of these movies.
Also:
I have seen the original, but have not read the books.
Starting with the opening titles, something really rubbed me the wrong way about this movie. I just thought this one was too 'slick' looking, but didn't have the punch that the original had. It is beautiful for sure, and there are some amazing shots, but I guess I was hoping more for something dirtier looking from Fincher based on the topics of the story - something closer to Se7en and the fight scenes of Fight Club. This one looked more like Social Network.
I think I need to revisit the Swedish version, but I do remember feeling more tension from that movie while I watched it. I liked the creepiness, and really remember the scene when they construct the girl's reaction using the old photos, etc..
Also thought the flow was weird in this one. The way they cut back and forth between Craig and Mara made it hard for me to get into either character. I think this version of Lisbeth is a little more vulnerable, but that could have a bit to do with the age of the actress. Mara had more of a boyish/sexless quality a lot of the time. Thought she did a good job here. The last 40mins of the movie were a chore to get through as well. You have all the build up for the last 90mins about the mystery in the family, and then we jump back to a subplot that was glossed over for the climax of the movie. Also based on the end I think we were supposed to care about Craig and Mara's relationship a bit more than we did. That wasn't a focus in this film, so the end seemed more out of place. Again, that is probably more to do with the source material - seemed overly complicated and ultimately introduced too many characters, etc.. to care about. A decent thriller, but never manages to be much more than that. 5.5/10 Again, a great looking movie, but I am disappointed that Fincher is using his talents to make 2 more of these movies.
Also:
If you want to try to hide who the killer is, maybe not use the only other actor that people might recognize in the film as the bad guy? I think they should have have more no-namers as all the family members.
Chaka
Footballguy
Just watched this last night. I think your review is pretty spot on. While it has certain Bourne elements to it, I didn't see it as an action/chase film but more of a fairy tale as you describe. I enjoyed the girl being isolated in the arctic woods for her whole life being exposed to the real world in dramatic and immediate fashion. I also enjoyed the juxtaposition of the beginning and end of the film. There was one fight scene with Bana that was poorly executed (really looked like stage fighting) but other than that I thought the action was well timed, fast paced and exciting without being overwhelming. I thought Blanchett was great (no problem with her accent at all) and Saoirse Ronan looks to be a serious rising star. Also the Chemical Brothers soundtrack was excellent too. Whoever commented that Hanna had a Run Lola Run feel to it (which is not a bad thing IMO) was right.It was a fun film, if they make a sequel, which they could, I will watch it.
Someone commented that they didn't get the point of Bana's plan:
Hanna wasn't raised to be a well adjusted little girl. She was raised to kill the woman who killed her mother. Ronan getting caught and taken to see Blanchett was always the plan. After that was accomplished the plan was to reunite with her father. It's that simple, which I think is a good thing.
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Chaka
Footballguy
The Keep - This one was mentioned, by me I think, when we were discussing Michael Mann films earlier in the thread. I remembered enjoying this film when I was younger so decided to revisit it. Oof. IMDB says that Mann had 3h 30m of film but ended up chopping it down to 96m. I think this explains why the film has pretty much zero flow and regularly cuts from one major plot development to the next without explanation for the intervening time gaps. The resulting pacing and poor narrative really kills the film. The low special effects production values don't help either.
But darn it if I don't think that there is a really good creepy film in there somewhere, very, very deep. With all that extra footage I wonder what Mann would do with a director's cut. It's a shame that they couldn't do better with what could be an interesting story backed by such a talented cast (Ian McKellen, Gabriel Byrne, Jurgen Prochnow, even Scott Glen).
I would like to see this remade, maybe change the scene to present day Afghanistan.
But darn it if I don't think that there is a really good creepy film in there somewhere, very, very deep. With all that extra footage I wonder what Mann would do with a director's cut. It's a shame that they couldn't do better with what could be an interesting story backed by such a talented cast (Ian McKellen, Gabriel Byrne, Jurgen Prochnow, even Scott Glen).
I would like to see this remade, maybe change the scene to present day Afghanistan.
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cstu
Footballguy
Part of the country is French-speaking.
Leeroy Jenkins
Footballguy
I really liked Unbreakable. Could I have used more hero scenes? Yes. But that wasn't that type of movie.'TexanFan02 said:
