Recently viewed movie thread - Rental Edition (8 Viewers)

[FF Ninja]

Watched Never Let Me Go a month or two ago. Did not really make me think afterwards because it was so damn similar to The Island so that line of thinking had already been done. But instead of the lead female being Scarlett it was some frumpy British chick that also made her way into the romantic interest in Drive. She does absolutely nothing for me. At least Keira Knightly was in there. It was pretty well done, so if you hadn't already seen The Island I can see how it would stick with you for a little while. It was definitely going more for emotion than action, which The Island had plenty of.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Carey Mulligan is NOT frumpy.

Ok, maybe frumpy was the wrong word. I know there is a perfect word out there to describe her, but it is escaping me at the moment so let's just file her away under the general heading of "unattractive".

 

[KarmaPolice]

Watched Never Let Me Go a month or two ago. Did not really make me think afterwards because it was so damn similar to The Island so that line of thinking had already been done. But instead of the lead female being Scarlett it was some frumpy British chick that also made her way into the romantic interest in Drive. She does absolutely nothing for me. At least Keira Knightly was in there. It was pretty well done, so if you hadn't already seen The Island I can see how it would stick with you for a little while. It was definitely going more for emotion than action, which The Island had plenty of.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Carey Mulligan is NOT frumpy.

Ok, maybe frumpy was the wrong word. I know there is a perfect word out there to describe her, but it is escaping me at the moment so let's just file her away under the general heading of "unattractive".

 

[identikit]

Watched Never Let Me Go a month or two ago. Did not really make me think afterwards because it was so damn similar to The Island so that line of thinking had already been done. But instead of the lead female being Scarlett it was some frumpy British chick that also made her way into the romantic interest in Drive. She does absolutely nothing for me. At least Keira Knightly was in there. It was pretty well done, so if you hadn't already seen The Island I can see how it would stick with you for a little while. It was definitely going more for emotion than action, which The Island had plenty of.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Carey Mulligan is NOT frumpy.

Ok, maybe frumpy was the wrong word. I know there is a perfect word out there to describe her, but it is escaping me at the moment so let's just file her away under the general heading of "unattractive".

Waifish.

 

[El Floppo]

Oh yeah- I saw Drive too. On an airplane with crappy sound/headphones, so I didn't get to hear much.... but I guess I didn't need to hear much. I don't have anything to add to what others have said- filmed beautifully, well acted... I liked the sparsity of the writing and I like that so much conveyed through direction and acting rather than through dialogue. Story was intriguing, and I liked that the viewer is just kind of dropped into the middle of all the action and lives of the characters without learning much if anything about them. For me, the characters were interesting enough, even though not fully fleshed out, that it worked. It only suffers from it's title immediately associating this with the Faster Etc series... which it clearly isn't.

 

[El Floppo]

Watched Never Let Me Go a month or two ago. Did not really make me think afterwards because it was so damn similar to The Island so that line of thinking had already been done. But instead of the lead female being Scarlett it was some frumpy British chick that also made her way into the romantic interest in Drive. She does absolutely nothing for me. At least Keira Knightly was in there. It was pretty well done, so if you hadn't already seen The Island I can see how it would stick with you for a little while. It was definitely going more for emotion than action, which The Island had plenty of.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Carey Mulligan is NOT frumpy.

Ok, maybe frumpy was the wrong word. I know there is a perfect word out there to describe her, but it is escaping me at the moment so let's just file her away under the general heading of "unattractive".

Waifish.

A little, yeah. She's cute in a Meg Ryan kinda way, perky, charming, likeable without being overwhelming... would never call her "beautiful", but she's really... cute. "unattractive" is wrong.

 

[jdoggydogg]

Tried watching In Time with Justin Timberlake.

Made it about halfway through. I like how my wife described it. It's like watching James Bond for kids. The tough guys aren't tough. The evil guys (Pete from Mad Men!?! ) aren't evil and Timberlake isn't cool enough for a role like that. I know I'm getting old and this wasn't targetted to me but it was just bad. Good idea though!

I couldn't even make it 1/2 way.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

A little, yeah. She's cute in a Meg Ryan kinda way, perky, charming, likeable without being overwhelming... would never call her "beautiful", but she's really... cute. "unattractive" is wrong.

She's "adorable".

 

[El Floppo]

A little, yeah. She's cute in a Meg Ryan kinda way, perky, charming, likeable without being overwhelming... would never call her "beautiful", but she's really... cute. "unattractive" is wrong.

She's "adorable".

 

[Worm]

I thought The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was really good but I heard the Swedish version was better. Can anyone speak to this?

I'd say the Swedish version was better, but not by much. The English version was really very very similar.

 

[saintfool]

Oh yeah- I saw Drive too. On an airplane with crappy sound/headphones, so I didn't get to hear much.... but I guess I didn't need to hear much. I don't have anything to add to what others have said- filmed beautifully, well acted... I liked the sparsity of the writing and I like that so much conveyed through direction and acting rather than through dialogue. Story was intriguing, and I liked that the viewer is just kind of dropped into the middle of all the action and lives of the characters without learning much if anything about them. For me, the characters were interesting enough, even though not fully fleshed out, that it worked. It only suffers from it's title immediately associating this with the Faster Etc series... which it clearly isn't.

Now that I think of it, i kind of reminds me of that early Michael Mann flick "Thief" with James Caan.

 

[FF Ninja]

Watched Never Let Me Go a month or two ago. Did not really make me think afterwards because it was so damn similar to The Island so that line of thinking had already been done. But instead of the lead female being Scarlett it was some frumpy British chick that also made her way into the romantic interest in Drive. She does absolutely nothing for me. At least Keira Knightly was in there. It was pretty well done, so if you hadn't already seen The Island I can see how it would stick with you for a little while. It was definitely going more for emotion than action, which The Island had plenty of.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Carey Mulligan is NOT frumpy.

Ok, maybe frumpy was the wrong word. I know there is a perfect word out there to describe her, but it is escaping me at the moment so let's just file her away under the general heading of "unattractive".

Waifish.

A little, yeah. She's cute in a Meg Ryan kinda way, perky, charming, likeable without being overwhelming... would never call her "beautiful", but she's really... cute. "unattractive" is wrong.

"Waifish" is pretty solid. But not "cute". I mean, seriously, she looks like a gangly little boy. I thought, maybe I've really missed it on this one. People of the internet message board disagree. I thought maybe it was the hideous short haircuts she seems to sport all the time, so I googled "carey mulligan long hair" and, it helped (how could it not?!) but still a definite no go. I like em skinny so I could probably deal with it ( ) but I don't know what you guys see in her. I'm no Meg Ryan fan, but if they were both the same age, Meg Ryan >> Carey Mulligan

 

[Kenny Powers]

Tried watching In Time with Justin Timberlake.

Made it about halfway through. I like how my wife described it. It's like watching James Bond for kids. The tough guys aren't tough. The evil guys (Pete from Mad Men!?! ) aren't evil and Timberlake isn't cool enough for a role like that. I know I'm getting old and this wasn't targetted to me but it was just bad. Good idea though!

I thought I would like it. The general concept seemed cool. I didn't make it very far though after JT kidnaps the chick and their car crashes. Does it get any better conceptually? Was it ever explained why time had to be a currency to begin with?

I liked it. I give low budget movies like this (Equilibrium being another one) a lot of slack.I forget why time was a currency...but it doesn't really matter. I just file it under "McGuffin" and move on.

I havent seen In Time, but I never got the impression it was low budget...it is?

 

[Andy Dufresne]

I havent seen In Time, but I never got the impression it was low budget...it is?

Budget: $40,000,000 (estimated)Relatively low.

 

[Kenny Powers]

Adrien Brody was terribly miscast in Predators.

Just like he was miscast in King Kong, along with Jack Black.

Why do you say that?

Everybody does. Besides him not looking like he roids up and goes to the gym 5x a week, I dont get it. You dont have to be huge to be a mercenary. Action movies arent bodybuilding competitions

I don't think most mercenaries always look like they are about to cry.

Maybe there's a lot of onions in Predville

 

[jdoggydogg]

I havent seen In Time, but I never got the impression it was low budget...it is?

Budget: $40,000,000 (estimated)Relatively low.

I don't think that budget was the problem here. I was almost instantly bored, and I'd call that a script problem.

 

[Chaka]

Finally saw War Horse.

Liked it. Long movie but never boring. Good story.

Only complaint was it was a little schmaltzy in a few places.

Now, I haven't seen the movie. But isn't this like saying that Dawn of the Dead is a little bloody in a few places?

If you haven't seen it - how would you know?

Doesn't really matter because he's right.It's the schmaltziest piece of schmaltzy schmaltz that ever schmaltzed a schmaltz.

 

[identikit]

I thought The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was really good but I heard the Swedish version was better. Can anyone speak to this?

I'd say the Swedish version was better, but not by much. The English version was really very very similar.

I've seen the US version a couple times now.Liked it a lot.

 

[Chaka]

I thought The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was really good but I heard the Swedish version was better. Can anyone speak to this?

I'd say the Swedish version was better, but not by much. The English version was really very very similar.

I've seen the US version a couple times now.Liked it a lot.

They are very similar films. Each does some things better and worse than the other. While they are both very good films I don't think it is necessary to see both of them.

 

[Kool-Aid Larry]

Tried watching In Time with Justin Timberlake.

Made it about halfway through. I like how my wife described it. It's like watching James Bond for kids. The tough guys aren't tough. The evil guys (Pete from Mad Men!?! ) aren't evil and Timberlake isn't cool enough for a role like that. I know I'm getting old and this wasn't targetted to me but it was just bad. Good idea though!

I thought I would like it. The general concept seemed cool. I didn't make it very far though after JT kidnaps the chick and their car crashes. Does it get any better conceptually? Was it ever explained why time had to be a currency to begin with?

I liked it. I give low budget movies like this (Equilibrium being another one) a lot of slack.I forget why time was a currency...but it doesn't really matter. I just file it under "McGuffin" and move on.

time had to be a currency because it was a really hamfisted metaphor trying to be clever -- in a way, we invest our time making money, so the money we spend is basically the minutes of our life converted to currency.

 

[Mr. Mojo]

Finally saw War Horse.

Liked it. Long movie but never boring. Good story.

Only complaint was it was a little schmaltzy in a few places.

Now, I haven't seen the movie. But isn't this like saying that Dawn of the Dead is a little bloody in a few places?

If you haven't seen it - how would you know?

Doesn't really matter because he's right.It's the schmaltziest piece of schmaltzy schmaltz that ever schmaltzed a schmaltz.

What a schmaltzy response.

 

[Chaka]

Finally saw War Horse.

Liked it. Long movie but never boring. Good story.

Only complaint was it was a little schmaltzy in a few places.

Now, I haven't seen the movie. But isn't this like saying that Dawn of the Dead is a little bloody in a few places?

If you haven't seen it - how would you know?

Doesn't really matter because he's right.It's the schmaltziest piece of schmaltzy schmaltz that ever schmaltzed a schmaltz.

What a schmaltzy response.

If the schmaltz fits...

 

[FF Ninja]

Doesn't really matter because he's right.

It's the schmaltziest piece of schmaltzy schmaltz that ever schmaltzed a schmaltz.

What a schmaltzy response.

If the schmaltz fits...

Hahaha. Like jdoggydogg, I did not see the movie, but when the trailer is the schmaltziest I've ever seen then it is reasonable to assume the movie itself follows suit. I can't imagine a situation in which I sit through that movie. I'd rather watch Titanic.I just saw Underworld: Awakening on bluray. Kate Beckinsale still rocks the leather at age 38 as well as catwoman. Good for her. For those that haven't seen it, Rhona Mitra was wicked hot in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.

I saw someone else mentioned Jeff, Who Lives at Home. It wasn't bad, but please don't watch it expecting a comedy.

 

[NCCommish]

Doesn't really matter because he's right.

It's the schmaltziest piece of schmaltzy schmaltz that ever schmaltzed a schmaltz.

What a schmaltzy response.

If the schmaltz fits...

Hahaha. Like jdoggydogg, I did not see the movie, but when the trailer is the schmaltziest I've ever seen then it is reasonable to assume the movie itself follows suit. I can't imagine a situation in which I sit through that movie. I'd rather watch Titanic.I just saw Underworld: Awakening on bluray. Kate Beckinsale still rocks the leather at age 38 as well as catwoman. Good for her. For those that haven't seen it, Rhona Mitra was wicked hot in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.

I saw someone else mentioned Jeff, Who Lives at Home. It wasn't bad, but please don't watch it expecting a comedy.

Kate is all that.

 

[Stingdiddy]

Tried watching In Time with Justin Timberlake.

Made it about halfway through. I like how my wife described it. It's like watching James Bond for kids. The tough guys aren't tough. The evil guys (Pete from Mad Men!?! ) aren't evil and Timberlake isn't cool enough for a role like that. I know I'm getting old and this wasn't targetted to me but it was just bad. Good idea though!

I couldn't even make it 1/2 way.

I got through about half the movie last night on HBO. I was actually interested after the first 10 or so minutes, but, it quickly went downhill from there.

 

[NCCommish]

Tried watching In Time with Justin Timberlake.

Made it about halfway through. I like how my wife described it. It's like watching James Bond for kids. The tough guys aren't tough. The evil guys (Pete from Mad Men!?! ) aren't evil and Timberlake isn't cool enough for a role like that. I know I'm getting old and this wasn't targetted to me but it was just bad. Good idea though!

I couldn't even make it 1/2 way.

I got through about half the movie last night on HBO. I was actually interested after the first 10 or so minutes, but, it quickly went downhill from there.

Even my wife thought this kind of sucked and she likes just about everything. Which may explain our 24 years together as well.

 

[Kool-Aid Larry]

Tried watching In Time with Justin Timberlake.

Made it about halfway through. I like how my wife described it. It's like watching James Bond for kids. The tough guys aren't tough. The evil guys (Pete from Mad Men!?! ) aren't evil and Timberlake isn't cool enough for a role like that. I know I'm getting old and this wasn't targetted to me but it was just bad. Good idea though!

I couldn't even make it 1/2 way.

I got through about half the movie last night on HBO. I was actually interested after the first 10 or so minutes, but, it quickly went downhill from there.

Even my wife thought this kind of sucked and she likes just about everything. Which may explain our 24 years together as well.

nobody would give up a girl like that.

 

[jamny]

The more I watch older movies, the more I realize how amazing Brando was

 

[jdoggydogg]

Doesn't really matter because he's right.It's the schmaltziest piece of schmaltzy schmaltz that ever schmaltzed a schmaltz.

What a schmaltzy response.

If the schmaltz fits...

Hahaha. Like jdoggydogg, I did not see the movie, but when the trailer is the schmaltziest I've ever seen then it is reasonable to assume the movie itself follows suit. I can't imagine a situation in which I sit through that movie. I'd rather watch Titanic.

Hard to believe this is the same guy that directed Munich.

 

[jdoggydogg]

The more I watch older movies, the more I realize how amazing Brando was

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

The Long Good Friday

Wasn't expecting to like it, but was pleasantly surprised. Pretty decent British gangester flick, starring Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren, with a bit of a unsuspected ending 7/10

A young (and sinister) Pierce Brosnan.I thought it was a really good gangster flick. Hoskins' performance was not only great but he looks the part--he is shaped like a bullet.

The scene in the meat locker was eerie. You could see the faces of the actors turning red, so there were no special effects. They were really upside down.

 

[wikkidpissah]

The more I watch older movies, the more I realize how amazing Brando was

Then check out his "Mutiny on the Bounty". There are four signature performances in movie history - Streep's Sophie, Zero Mostel's Max Bialystock, Depp's Capt. Jack & Brando's Fletcher Christian - that are a sum of actor choices in which the artifice creates a new reality and are, therefore, the ones i most admire. The scene where he makes Trevor Howard's Bly (and i hear the two actors hated each other about as much as their characters) order him to go ashore & service the chief's daughter makes me weep with joy.

 

[Mr. Mojo]

The more I watch older movies, the more I realize how amazing Brando was

I was shocked that it was Brando in On the Waterfront. I had only seen him in films where he was old and huge previously. 5 star flick.

Best film before 1960 in my book.

 

[identikit]

Doesn't really matter because he's right.

It's the schmaltziest piece of schmaltzy schmaltz that ever schmaltzed a schmaltz.

What a schmaltzy response.

If the schmaltz fits...

Hahaha. Like jdoggydogg, I did not see the movie, but when the trailer is the schmaltziest I've ever seen then it is reasonable to assume the movie itself follows suit. I can't imagine a situation in which I sit through that movie. I'd rather watch Titanic.

Hard to believe this is the same guy that directed Munich.

Was such a great film.

 

[Kenny Powers]

The more I watch older movies, the more I realize how amazing Brando was

Then check out his "Mutiny on the Bounty". There are four signature performances in movie history - Streep's Sophie, Zero Mostel's Max Bialystock, Depp's Capt. Jack & Brando's Fletcher Christian - that are a sum of actor choices in which the artifice creates a new reality and are, therefore, the ones i most admire. The scene where he makes Trevor Howard's Bly (and i hear the two actors hated each other about as much as their characters) order him to go ashore & service the chief's daughter makes me weep with joy.

 

[jdoggydogg]

The more I watch older movies, the more I realize how amazing Brando was

Then check out his "Mutiny on the Bounty". There are four signature performances in movie history - Streep's Sophie, Zero Mostel's Max Bialystock, Depp's Capt. Jack & Brando's Fletcher Christian - that are a sum of actor choices in which the artifice creates a new reality and are, therefore, the ones i most admire. The scene where he makes Trevor Howard's Bly (and i hear the two actors hated each other about as much as their characters) order him to go ashore & service the chief's daughter makes me weep with joy.

Yeah, I'd say that list includes at least 50 performances.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Wrath of the Titans - 3/10

I figured "what the heck". I shouldn't have.

The story was boring and disjointed and the action scenes made no sense. Those involved should be embarassed.

 

[Kool-Aid Larry]

Wrath of the Titans - 3/10

I figured "what the heck". I shouldn't have.

The story was boring and disjointed and the action scenes made no sense. Those involved should be embarassed.

I'd expand that to include people who watched it

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Wrath of the Titans - 3/10

I figured "what the heck". I shouldn't have.

The story was boring and disjointed and the action scenes made no sense. Those involved should be embarassed.

I'd expand that to include people who watched it

Oh, I am. I am.

 

[jdoggydogg]

Wrath of the Titans - 3/10

I figured "what the heck". I shouldn't have.

The story was boring and disjointed and the action scenes made no sense. Those involved should be embarassed.

Silly movie, but I loved the lava monster.

 

[TylerRoseFan]

The Last Circus. Well it was...well...it was French, or some other language w/ subtitles. Basically a new circus clown who's trying to live in his dead father's shadow falls in love w/ a chick, runs away and goes "wild" living in the woods until he finally gets captured and has his revenge. Yep.

2/10

IIRC, a couple people were actually recommending this awhile ago...Hmmmm

Exactly. I watched it based on some of the recommendations. You win some and you lose some. I can see where the style of the film is interesting to some. It just didn't do it for me.

 

[TylerRoseFan]

Tried watching In Time with Justin Timberlake.

Made it about halfway through. I like how my wife described it. It's like watching James Bond for kids. The tough guys aren't tough. The evil guys (Pete from Mad Men!?! ) aren't evil and Timberlake isn't cool enough for a role like that. I know I'm getting old and this wasn't targetted to me but it was just bad. Good idea though!

I'm an easy mark for movies like this. I love the premise. I agree with every one of your points, but it still worked for me more than a snooze fest. I'd probably watch it again. Better than the average crapass movie that's released today. Not great, just better.

 

[cstu]

Extraterrestrial.

Wasn't sure about this at first but by the end I really liked it. I thought it was quite original and didn't follow a lot of stereotypes.

 

[cstu]

John Carter.

I couldn't get 5 minutes into this. I thought the CGI looked fake and turned it off. Worth giving more of a chance?

 

[cosjobs]

Extraterrestrial.

Wasn't sure about this at first but by the end I really liked it. I thought it was quite original and didn't follow a lot of stereotypes.

Sadly I missed this for its one week stint in Austin. Nacho Vigalondo directed it and his Time Crimes I considered on of the top 10 scifi of the last decade.

 

[cosjobs]

John Carter.I couldn't get 5 minutes into this. I thought the CGI looked fake and turned it off. Worth giving more of a chance?

I liked it okay for what it was. Saw it in the theater and I think that helped.

 

[Chaka]

John Carter.I couldn't get 5 minutes into this. I thought the CGI looked fake and turned it off. Worth giving more of a chance?

I can understand not watching a whole film but not even giving it more than 5 minutes makes me wonder why you even bothered to turn it on in the first place. Seems like you had made up your mind before you even started.ETA: IMO it was decent with moments of awful and moments of quite good. Certainly better than the biggest flop ever, which apparently it is.

 

[identikit]

Just finished watching the cytokine storm of a trainwreck flick 'Contagion'.

Was so alarmist, I expected to see Mr Ham come up in the credits.

Even Myett Daymn couldn't save it.

 

[packersfan]

Finally got around to watching "Shame" and I thought it was rather over-rated. I realize there's a tendency in these types of films to not spell everything out and for the most part I'm fine with that but there really was nothing which provided any groundwork for what Fassbender's character was going through. He was rich, good-looking, women pretty much threw themselves at him and yet we're supposed to think he's a wreck because he doesn't speak to his sister and he watches a lot of porn. There was no attempt at all to convey anything meaningful about why he was supposed to be a wreck. Just pointing out he isn't keen on relationships tells us nothing. Hinting but not confirming a possible incestuous relationship with his sister tells us nothing. I wanted to like this film because I like Fassbender and Carey Mulligan but when it was over I felt like it was a film that was trying to make a statement about something but had not real insight into what that statement should be or why I should even care.

 

[cstu]

John Carter.I couldn't get 5 minutes into this. I thought the CGI looked fake and turned it off. Worth giving more of a chance?

I can understand not watching a whole film but not even giving it more than 5 minutes makes me wonder why you even bothered to turn it on in the first place. Seems like you had made up your mind before you even started.ETA: IMO it was decent with moments of awful and moments of quite good. Certainly better than the biggest flop ever, which apparently it is.

I'll go back and watch it, maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it right then.

 

[Chaka]

John Carter.I couldn't get 5 minutes into this. I thought the CGI looked fake and turned it off. Worth giving more of a chance?

I can understand not watching a whole film but not even giving it more than 5 minutes makes me wonder why you even bothered to turn it on in the first place. Seems like you had made up your mind before you even started.ETA: IMO it was decent with moments of awful and moments of quite good. Certainly better than the biggest flop ever, which apparently it is.

I'll go back and watch it, maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it right then.

FYI I think some Jews were involved in the production.