Recently viewed movie thread - Rental Edition (2 Viewers)

[JZilla]

The Great Gatsby

Well, I think I liked it more than I expected to. Underneath all the cluster####ery and the pandering overuse of modern dopey kid music, the story was still front and center and of course the acting was great

 

[Kenny Powers]

The Place Beyond The Pines...I can understand the complaints Ive read from reviews of this here and elsewhere, and its usually the same few things because so much of this film was excellent, but I personally disagree with the complaints Ive seen most frequently. I am surprised by many disliking the last act of Pines. While I would agree its not as riveting as the first 2 acts, with how the storyline and the path of the main characters went, as well as the jump in time, I thought the final act fulfilled its purpose masterfully. Without it, the major themes of the first two acts - namely family relationships & the consequences our decisions have on them - would never have been fully realized. The last act to me is what takes this film to the next level and made it great. If Pines is only 90-100 minutes, it is instead just a well made character drama that ultimately falls short with its screenplay. Each act was about 45 minutes, and all of them took some time to really heat up. The last act was no different, and with a focus on newly introduced characters, naturally it took some time to build. While it is 2 hours15min, I didnt think there were wasted scenes here and I have a hard time understanding those who think this film wouldve been better if it was considerably shorter. Last but not least, the length of it also didnt bother me because this was carried by a strong ensemble cast. Gosling and Cooper will get a lot of credit and rightly so, but Dane DeHaan (Gosling's son) and Ben Mendelsohn really stood out in smaller roles, IMO. This will certainly end up being one of my favorites of 2013...4.5/5

 

[jdoggydogg]

Elysium

I must say that in 2013, seeing an R rated sci fi film is a bit of a novelty. This is more Robocop than Star Wars.

While the thinly-veiled stab at illegal immigration wasn't especially original, the lighting and art direction were pretty solid. Jodi Foster's accent is forced and completely unnecessary. That's the bad news. The good news is Elysium delivers some solid action and a couple great moments of gore.

See it.

 

[cstu]

The Story of Luke - 7.5/10

Admittedly this struck home with me since I have a kid who is on the autism spectrum, but I thought it was an excellent movie. The lead actor did a great job of realistically portraying an autistic person and I laughed a lot more than I expected to in a movie about this subject. The movie starts out a little rough since it takes awhile to figure out what is going on and there are some over the top performances but it got better after the first 20 minutes.

 

[badmojo1006]

Elysium

I must say that in 2013, seeing an R rated sci fi film is a bit of a novelty. This is more Robocop than Star Wars.

While the thinly-veiled stab at illegal immigration wasn't especially original, the lighting and art direction were pretty solid. Jodi Foster's accent is forced and completely unnecessary. That's the bad news. The good news is Elysium delivers some solid action and a couple great moments of gore.

See it.

Spoiler

The part where Kruger got his face blown off and then reconstructed was

 

[avoiding injuries]

Lawless-

Saw this last night because Tom Hardy has become an actor that I really like. This movie didn't do it for me. I kept waiting for it to pick up and get good, but it never happened. Even the dramatic scene at the end had me longing for more.

7/10 on IMDB and about 70% on RT.

I'd say 4/10

 

[El Floppo]

Good to hear that Elysium is worth a watch.

We just watched Oblivion last night. I haven't been following the thread too closely and not sure how it did in here, but I'm sure I'll take some heat on this- I completely enjoyed it. Has lots of flaws, sure- mostly with the writing (overall plot holes/conveniencies kind of things)- but I thought the general story was fun and the visuals were quite good; loved the art-direction, particularly the architecture of Tom's house. (house in the sky, not the lake).

 

[jdoggydogg]

Elysium

I must say that in 2013, seeing an R rated sci fi film is a bit of a novelty. This is more Robocop than Star Wars.

While the thinly-veiled stab at illegal immigration wasn't especially original, the lighting and art direction were pretty solid. Jodi Foster's accent is forced and completely unnecessary. That's the bad news. The good news is Elysium delivers some solid action and a couple great moments of gore.

See it.

Spoiler

The part where Kruger got his face blown off and then reconstructed was

Yeah, that was hardcore.

 

[Kenny Powers]

Good to hear that Elysium is worth a watch.

We just watched Oblivion last night. I haven't been following the thread too closely and not sure how it did in here, but I'm sure I'll take some heat on this- I completely enjoyed it. Has lots of flaws, sure- mostly with the writing (overall plot holes/conveniencies kind of things)- but I thought the general story was fun and the visuals were quite good; loved the art-direction, particularly the architecture of Tom's house. (house in the sky, not the lake).

Yes, Oblivion has its holes and throwbacks/ripoffs to other sci-fi flicks, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[Daywalker]

Saw The Intouchables

French film, a true feel good movie if you're in the mood for that type.

Totally enjoyable for me.

highly recommend this flick, they are making an American version since this version made over 400M overseas.

I enjoyed this as well. Nothing complicated, artistic or even that original, but a good story with fun characters that I felt a lot of empathy for.

Agree. I was laughing and smiling throughout. Could count the movies that did that in the past year on one hand.

 

[cstu]

The Iceman

How can you go wrong with Michael Shannon portraying a psychopathic hitman? Not entirely factual but a very engaging watch.

 

[SmoovySmoov]

my neighbor had three recs, he has eclectic taste, which i appreciate, added to my queue...

upstream color - i think this is the second movie from director of the impressive for underground time travel movie, primer...

i saw the devil - from director of old boy (?), about serial killer, revenge flick, sounds horror genre, may not be a good feelin family film...

enter the void - from the director of irreversible, which i've never seen in full, just the infamous scene (plot synopsis states hallucinatory odyssey of a dying drug dealer)...

second and third movies about 2:20, first closer to hour and a half...

i'll try and report my impressions after i see them... anybody else seen them (some movies you can't unsee - saw a few minutes of lars von triers antichrist, and it was sufficiently disturbing to get a sense this would be one of those movies i'd wish i could unsee! )...

I've seen Upstream Color and Enter the Void. I have I Saw the Devil in my queue. My problem is that while I love non-linear films that make you think, my wife only wants to see linear stories where everything is wrapped up nice and neat with a bow at the end. We watched Enter the Void together, and she hated it. She still gripes that it's the worst movie I have made her watch. I liked it, but felt it went on a little long. I watched Upstream Color by myself, and it's the best film I've seen in years. Beautiful and thought provoking. I want to watch I Saw the Devil, but I know it has to be when I'm by myself.

 

[jamny]

Mud:

Really liked this one. As others have stated, there are a lot of strong acting performances. I just had a little problem with the last 15mins or so, but it makes sense based on how some of the characters were presented. One of the best movies of the year that I have seen so far. 8/10

Yeah the acting was really great all the way round. The 2 lead kids were both outstanding (particularly Neckbone) and this is the first time I've ever seen Matthew McConaughey where I wasn't distinctly aware I was watching Matthew McConaughey, am pretty shocked that he actually had a good acting performance in him.

Couple issues I had:

Spoiler

The Ellis/May Pearl relationship subplot was super unbelievable and underdeveloped, film would have been much better off cutting the 10-15min of pointless screentime given to that. Also, the whole Ellis falling into the snake pit plot device was incredibly dumb and eye roll inducing, Jeff Nichols should have thought of a better way to show Mud cares about the kids than that.

I also don't get how Ellis was able to knock on Juniper's door twice in broad daylight without being noticed by 2 of the King's thugs that are supposedly watching her door 24/7, but whatever there.

Spoiler

Still quite liked the film though, and would prob give it an 8/10 rating myself as well.

Spoiler

Agree 100% with your spoilers. I think overall maybe there were too many characters running around and a few felt underdeveloped. I think May Pearl could have been dropped and maybe we could have done without actually meeting Juniper - maybe make that an offscreen character that Mud is trying to get to. Still a damn good movie, but I would say that I preferred Take Shelter from Nichols a little more. Something in that one connected with me differently. A younger KP probably would have liked Mud more.

With Nichols, Duncan Jones, Derek Cianfrance, Steve McQueen, et al, there are a lot of new directors to be excited about that are putting out some great films.

Spoiler

Agreed that Take Shelter is Nichols' best film so far. Not as action filled, but it's a tighter script than Mud and I think Take Shelter is the more poignant film, the ending to it keeps you thinking about the film long after you've seen it, whereas Mud doesn't really have that aspect to it. I also thought Nichols' first film Shotgun Stories was great too. He and McQueen's films are must watches for me as well.

Watched Mud over the weekend. Agreed that it was very good. 3/5 Also agree with both points in the spoiler.

btw - besides Michael Shannon from Boardwalk Empire, did anyone recognize that the brother of the guy that got killed is Mickey (heeheeheehee) Doyle from that show. I had to look to make sure after it was over. Also, it's amazing how different Shannon sounds compared to his role as Van Alden. He's really a good actor.

 

[17seconds]

The Place Beyond The Pines...I can understand the complaints Ive read from reviews of this here and elsewhere, and its usually the same few things because so much of this film was excellent, but I personally disagree with the complaints Ive seen most frequently. I am surprised by many disliking the last act of Pines. While I would agree its not as riveting as the first 2 acts, with how the storyline and the path of the main characters went, as well as the jump in time, I thought the final act fulfilled its purpose masterfully. Without it, the major themes of the first two acts - namely family relationships & the consequences our decisions have on them - would never have been fully realized. The last act to me is what takes this film to the next level and made it great. If Pines is only 90-100 minutes, it is instead just a well made character drama that ultimately falls short with its screenplay. Each act was about 45 minutes, and all of them took some time to really heat up. The last act was no different, and with a focus on newly introduced characters, naturally it took some time to build. While it is 2 hours15min, I didnt think there were wasted scenes here and I have a hard time understanding those who think this film wouldve been better if it was considerably shorter. Last but not least, the length of it also didnt bother me because this was carried by a strong ensemble cast. Gosling and Cooper will get a lot of credit and rightly so, but Dane DeHaan (Gosling's son) and Ben Mendelsohn really stood out in smaller roles, IMO. This will certainly end up being one of my favorites of 2013...4.5/5

I don't like introducing characters near the end of the movie whose sole purpose is to add a little more dramatic weight to what happened before. Doesn't flow well and comes off as a structural error, at least to me.

 

[Kenny Powers]

The Place Beyond The Pines...I can understand the complaints Ive read from reviews of this here and elsewhere, and its usually the same few things because so much of this film was excellent, but I personally disagree with the complaints Ive seen most frequently. I am surprised by many disliking the last act of Pines. While I would agree its not as riveting as the first 2 acts, with how the storyline and the path of the main characters went, as well as the jump in time, I thought the final act fulfilled its purpose masterfully. Without it, the major themes of the first two acts - namely family relationships & the consequences our decisions have on them - would never have been fully realized. The last act to me is what takes this film to the next level and made it great. If Pines is only 90-100 minutes, it is instead just a well made character drama that ultimately falls short with its screenplay. Each act was about 45 minutes, and all of them took some time to really heat up. The last act was no different, and with a focus on newly introduced characters, naturally it took some time to build. While it is 2 hours15min, I didnt think there were wasted scenes here and I have a hard time understanding those who think this film wouldve been better if it was considerably shorter. Last but not least, the length of it also didnt bother me because this was carried by a strong ensemble cast. Gosling and Cooper will get a lot of credit and rightly so, but Dane DeHaan (Gosling's son) and Ben Mendelsohn really stood out in smaller roles, IMO. This will certainly end up being one of my favorites of 2013...4.5/5

I don't like introducing characters near the end of the movie whose sole purpose is to add a little more dramatic weight to what happened before. Doesn't flow well and comes off as a structural error, at least to me.

In general, I agree, but this is almost like 3 separate short films if you will, wrapped into one. I thought the flow from 2nd to 3rd act was fine despite the time jump because of Cooper's aspirations. However, if they just continued where the 2nd act was going - or in another direction with the same characters - with more detail instead of having the final act, youre left with a film whose first 45 minutes would be, for the most part, useless. If they went that route, really the 1st act couldve just been the final bank robbery scene because Cooper knew nothing about Gosling's character, so that entire first act is rendered irrelevant to the film except for that scene in regards to the 2nd act. If you believe the final act and new characters was just to add dramatic weight, then I dont see why you wouldnt say the same about the 1st act had the film stuck with the path it was on.

As I said in my post you replied to, without the final act Pines would just be an above average character drama that is well made but with an incomplete screenplay. The overall key to the movie and what IMO elevated it was the storyline and what it conveyed to the viewer and made you think about. That picture was being painted in the first 2 acts, and completed with the final act.

 

[cstu]

Stand Up Guys - 6.5/10

Old man fantasy. I enjoyed it mainly for Walken's performance but I found Pacino annoying for the most part.

 

[cstu]

Pain and Gain

Didn't know anything about this going in and I expected something completely different. This was one of the most excruciating 'crime gone wrong' movies I've seen. Tough to put a rating on it, I'll go with 6/10 since the first half (before the crime) was entertaining.

 

[Yankee23Fan]

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Caught this yesterday or the day before on the tube. Such a good movie. Although I never realized, or to the best of my knowledge even considered, just how much blue/green screen work was done in that movie and how truly awful it is. I'm guessing that was near the beginning of that technology.

 

[Drifter]

Took the kids to see Planes this weekend. Decent enough but ultimately pretty damn lazy - a recycled version of Cars with little originality or heart. Given that my son will probably watch it 300 times when it comes out on DVD, I was hoping for something more of the quality of Wreck It Ralph. Lasseter was definitely lazier on this sequel than he was on others like Toy Story 3

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Caught this yesterday or the day before on the tube. Such a good movie. Although I never realized, or to the best of my knowledge even considered, just how much blue/green screen work was done in that movie and how truly awful it is. I'm guessing that was near the beginning of that technology.

Not really. It was just, like you said, poorly done. Which is strange considering who was involved.

 

[Kenny Powers]

Stand Up Guys - 6.5/10

Old man fantasy. I enjoyed it mainly for Walken's performance but I found Pacino annoying for the most part.

Yeah, I rated this similarly. Its basically just Walken and Pacino bull####ting and reminiscing for an hour and a half but that works for me.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Took the kids to see Planes this weekend. Decent enough but ultimately pretty damn lazy - a recycled version of Cars with little originality or heart. Given that my son will probably watch it 300 times when it comes out on DVD, I was hoping for something more of the quality of Wreck It Ralph. Lasseter was definitely lazier on this sequel than he was on others like Toy Story 3

Oof. Wasn't that Cars 2? The Cars movies were already the lowest of the low for Pixar movies.

I thought I heard that Planes was originally to be a straight to DVD movie, but they decided to release it in theaters?

Starting to worry about Pixar - they used to be must-see movies for me, but lately I have enjoyed the Dreamworks movies more over the last few years. I still think Pixar movies look better, but in my household with a 6 year old How To Train your Dragon, Megamind, and Kung Fu Panda get put in a lot more than the Pixar movies since 2008 besides maybe Toy Story 3. Turbo was fun, but not really original (son loved it), and I haven't seen The Croods or Monsters University yet.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Angel Heart:

Finally got around to seeing this one. A little dated, but a blast to watch. It had me at Lisa Bonet's nipples by the well. 6/10

Rocket Science:

By the guy who made the documentary Spellbound. Had a good premise, and Anna Kendrick in it, but it is planted firmly in that "quirkedy" genre that usually doesn't jive with me (see Anderson, Wes). I think there are some that would like it who are lurking around, but it wasn't for me. 4/10

Iron Eagle:

#### Yeah!!!

 

[Socrates11]

Iron Eagle:

#### Yeah!!!

Never gets old. Great soundtrack.

 

[Drifter]

Took the kids to see Planes this weekend. Decent enough but ultimately pretty damn lazy - a recycled version of Cars with little originality or heart. Given that my son will probably watch it 300 times when it comes out on DVD, I was hoping for something more of the quality of Wreck It Ralph. Lasseter was definitely lazier on this sequel than he was on others like Toy Story 3

Oof. Wasn't that Cars 2? The Cars movies were already the lowest of the low for Pixar movies.

I thought I heard that Planes was originally to be a straight to DVD movie, but they decided to release it in theaters?

Starting to worry about Pixar - they used to be must-see movies for me, but lately I have enjoyed the Dreamworks movies more over the last few years. I still think Pixar movies look better, but in my household with a 6 year old How To Train your Dragon, Megamind, and Kung Fu Panda get put in a lot more than the Pixar movies since 2008 besides maybe Toy Story 3. Turbo was fun, but not really original (son loved it), and I haven't seen The Croods or Monsters University yet.

Cars 2 wasn't CARS recycled at all. It was an original concept - it just fell flat. The original Cars is a decent Pixar film. Far from the top of the list but it was fine. I think Planes was always meant for theater release. The Cars 2 DVD had a Coming in April 2013 trailer.

If you haven't seen Wreck It Ralph, go get it. I think it's the best of the recent releases.

 

[jdoggydogg]

Took the kids to see Planes this weekend. Decent enough but ultimately pretty damn lazy - a recycled version of Cars with little originality or heart. Given that my son will probably watch it 300 times when it comes out on DVD, I was hoping for something more of the quality of Wreck It Ralph. Lasseter was definitely lazier on this sequel than he was on others like Toy Story 3

Oof. Wasn't that Cars 2? The Cars movies were already the lowest of the low for Pixar movies.

I thought I heard that Planes was originally to be a straight to DVD movie, but they decided to release it in theaters?

Starting to worry about Pixar - they used to be must-see movies for me, but lately I have enjoyed the Dreamworks movies more over the last few years. I still think Pixar movies look better, but in my household with a 6 year old How To Train your Dragon, Megamind, and Kung Fu Panda get put in a lot more than the Pixar movies since 2008 besides maybe Toy Story 3. Turbo was fun, but not really original (son loved it), and I haven't seen The Croods or Monsters University yet.

Seeing Monsters U Saturday. Will report back. Brave didn't get critical praise, but I liked it a lot.

Two animated films way under the radar that I highly recommend:

Dragon Hunters

The Secret of Kells

 

[KarmaPolice]

Took the kids to see Planes this weekend. Decent enough but ultimately pretty damn lazy - a recycled version of Cars with little originality or heart. Given that my son will probably watch it 300 times when it comes out on DVD, I was hoping for something more of the quality of Wreck It Ralph. Lasseter was definitely lazier on this sequel than he was on others like Toy Story 3

Oof. Wasn't that Cars 2? The Cars movies were already the lowest of the low for Pixar movies.

I thought I heard that Planes was originally to be a straight to DVD movie, but they decided to release it in theaters?

Starting to worry about Pixar - they used to be must-see movies for me, but lately I have enjoyed the Dreamworks movies more over the last few years. I still think Pixar movies look better, but in my household with a 6 year old How To Train your Dragon, Megamind, and Kung Fu Panda get put in a lot more than the Pixar movies since 2008 besides maybe Toy Story 3. Turbo was fun, but not really original (son loved it), and I haven't seen The Croods or Monsters University yet.

Cars 2 wasn't CARS recycled at all. It was an original concept - it just fell flat. The original Cars is a decent Pixar film. Far from the top of the list but it was fine. I think Planes was always meant for theater release. The Cars 2 DVD had a Coming in April 2013 trailer.

If you haven't seen Wreck It Ralph, go get it. I think it's the best of the recent releases.

Yeah, Wreck-it Ralph is great.

For my money the two Cars movies are the worst of the bunch for Pixar. I know am thinking too much about a kids movie, but the car/character stereotypes really bug the #### out of me.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Took the kids to see Planes this weekend. Decent enough but ultimately pretty damn lazy - a recycled version of Cars with little originality or heart. Given that my son will probably watch it 300 times when it comes out on DVD, I was hoping for something more of the quality of Wreck It Ralph. Lasseter was definitely lazier on this sequel than he was on others like Toy Story 3

Oof. Wasn't that Cars 2? The Cars movies were already the lowest of the low for Pixar movies.

I thought I heard that Planes was originally to be a straight to DVD movie, but they decided to release it in theaters?

Starting to worry about Pixar - they used to be must-see movies for me, but lately I have enjoyed the Dreamworks movies more over the last few years. I still think Pixar movies look better, but in my household with a 6 year old How To Train your Dragon, Megamind, and Kung Fu Panda get put in a lot more than the Pixar movies since 2008 besides maybe Toy Story 3. Turbo was fun, but not really original (son loved it), and I haven't seen The Croods or Monsters University yet.

Seeing Monsters U Saturday. Will report back. Brave didn't get critical praise, but I liked it a lot.

Two animated films way under the radar that I highly recommend:

Dragon Hunters

The Secret of Kells

Brave, wasn't terrible but I thought it lacked the originality that I expect out of Pixar non-sequels. Felt too much like like a rehash of most of the Disney movies that come out.

 

[badmojo1006]

Tonight I am going to see Riff-Trax (3 of the guys from Mystery Science Theater 3000). They will be putting their spin on "Starship Troopers" Should be fun

 

[FreeBaGeL]

The Place Beyond The Pines...I can understand the complaints Ive read from reviews of this here and elsewhere, and its usually the same few things because so much of this film was excellent, but I personally disagree with the complaints Ive seen most frequently. I am surprised by many disliking the last act of Pines. While I would agree its not as riveting as the first 2 acts, with how the storyline and the path of the main characters went, as well as the jump in time, I thought the final act fulfilled its purpose masterfully. Without it, the major themes of the first two acts - namely family relationships & the consequences our decisions have on them - would never have been fully realized. The last act to me is what takes this film to the next level and made it great. If Pines is only 90-100 minutes, it is instead just a well made character drama that ultimately falls short with its screenplay. Each act was about 45 minutes, and all of them took some time to really heat up. The last act was no different, and with a focus on newly introduced characters, naturally it took some time to build. While it is 2 hours15min, I didnt think there were wasted scenes here and I have a hard time understanding those who think this film wouldve been better if it was considerably shorter. Last but not least, the length of it also didnt bother me because this was carried by a strong ensemble cast. Gosling and Cooper will get a lot of credit and rightly so, but Dane DeHaan (Gosling's son) and Ben Mendelsohn really stood out in smaller roles, IMO. This will certainly end up being one of my favorites of 2013...4.5/5

I don't like introducing characters near the end of the movie whose sole purpose is to add a little more dramatic weight to what happened before. Doesn't flow well and comes off as a structural error, at least to me.

In general, I agree, but this is almost like 3 separate short films if you will, wrapped into one. I thought the flow from 2nd to 3rd act was fine despite the time jump because of Cooper's aspirations. However, if they just continued where the 2nd act was going - or in another direction with the same characters - with more detail instead of having the final act, youre left with a film whose first 45 minutes would be, for the most part, useless. If they went that route, really the 1st act couldve just been the final bank robbery scene because Cooper knew nothing about Gosling's character, so that entire first act is rendered irrelevant to the film except for that scene in regards to the 2nd act. If you believe the final act and new characters was just to add dramatic weight, then I dont see why you wouldnt say the same about the 1st act had the film stuck with the path it was on.

As I said in my post you replied to, without the final act Pines would just be an above average character drama that is well made but with an incomplete screenplay. The overall key to the movie and what IMO elevated it was the storyline and what it conveyed to the viewer and made you think about. That picture was being painted in the first 2 acts, and completed with the final act.

I liked it, and thought the length was fine. The 3rd act was almost a self-contained story where the main character has this mysterious dead-father figure who had a unique past. Only in our case, we actually got to see/know that dead figure which was a cool twist on that.

If it were shorter, it would have felt cheapened. It needed to be long enough for each act to really be its own story where you really got to know the main character of that act.

 

[Kenny Powers]

Took the kids to see Planes this weekend. Decent enough but ultimately pretty damn lazy - a recycled version of Cars with little originality or heart. Given that my son will probably watch it 300 times when it comes out on DVD, I was hoping for something more of the quality of Wreck It Ralph. Lasseter was definitely lazier on this sequel than he was on others like Toy Story 3

Oof. Wasn't that Cars 2? The Cars movies were already the lowest of the low for Pixar movies.

I thought I heard that Planes was originally to be a straight to DVD movie, but they decided to release it in theaters?

Starting to worry about Pixar - they used to be must-see movies for me, but lately I have enjoyed the Dreamworks movies more over the last few years. I still think Pixar movies look better, but in my household with a 6 year old How To Train your Dragon, Megamind, and Kung Fu Panda get put in a lot more than the Pixar movies since 2008 besides maybe Toy Story 3. Turbo was fun, but not really original (son loved it), and I haven't seen The Croods or Monsters University yet.

Monsters U was solid. Not as good as Monsters, Inc which is personally pretty high on the Pixar list for me, but its better than the Cars movies and Im guessing Planes. Im guessing your kid is the one the picks whats getting watched so I could see why Up doesnt get as many replays but I think thats the best Pixar movie since 2008, and easily better than everything besides TS3.

The Croods was okay but nowhere close to Wreck It Ralph or HTTYDragon.

 

[Kenny Powers]

Angel Heart:

Finally got around to seeing this one. A little dated, but a blast to watch. It had me at Lisa Bonet's nipples by the well. 6/10

Big fan. Maybe my favorite Mickey Rourke movie.

 

[Kenny Powers]

The Place Beyond The Pines...I can understand the complaints Ive read from reviews of this here and elsewhere, and its usually the same few things because so much of this film was excellent, but I personally disagree with the complaints Ive seen most frequently. I am surprised by many disliking the last act of Pines. While I would agree its not as riveting as the first 2 acts, with how the storyline and the path of the main characters went, as well as the jump in time, I thought the final act fulfilled its purpose masterfully. Without it, the major themes of the first two acts - namely family relationships & the consequences our decisions have on them - would never have been fully realized. The last act to me is what takes this film to the next level and made it great. If Pines is only 90-100 minutes, it is instead just a well made character drama that ultimately falls short with its screenplay. Each act was about 45 minutes, and all of them took some time to really heat up. The last act was no different, and with a focus on newly introduced characters, naturally it took some time to build. While it is 2 hours15min, I didnt think there were wasted scenes here and I have a hard time understanding those who think this film wouldve been better if it was considerably shorter. Last but not least, the length of it also didnt bother me because this was carried by a strong ensemble cast. Gosling and Cooper will get a lot of credit and rightly so, but Dane DeHaan (Gosling's son) and Ben Mendelsohn really stood out in smaller roles, IMO. This will certainly end up being one of my favorites of 2013...4.5/5

I don't like introducing characters near the end of the movie whose sole purpose is to add a little more dramatic weight to what happened before. Doesn't flow well and comes off as a structural error, at least to me.

In general, I agree, but this is almost like 3 separate short films if you will, wrapped into one. I thought the flow from 2nd to 3rd act was fine despite the time jump because of Cooper's aspirations. However, if they just continued where the 2nd act was going - or in another direction with the same characters - with more detail instead of having the final act, youre left with a film whose first 45 minutes would be, for the most part, useless. If they went that route, really the 1st act couldve just been the final bank robbery scene because Cooper knew nothing about Gosling's character, so that entire first act is rendered irrelevant to the film except for that scene in regards to the 2nd act. If you believe the final act and new characters was just to add dramatic weight, then I dont see why you wouldnt say the same about the 1st act had the film stuck with the path it was on.

As I said in my post you replied to, without the final act Pines would just be an above average character drama that is well made but with an incomplete screenplay. The overall key to the movie and what IMO elevated it was the storyline and what it conveyed to the viewer and made you think about. That picture was being painted in the first 2 acts, and completed with the final act.

I liked it, and thought the length was fine. The 3rd act was almost a self-contained story where the main character has this mysterious dead-father figure who had a unique past. Only in our case, we actually got to see/know that dead figure which was a cool twist on that.

If it were shorter, it would have felt cheapened. It needed to be long enough for each act to really be its own story where you really got to know the main character of that act.

I agree with all of this.

 

[jdoggydogg]

Tonight I am going to see Riff-Trax (3 of the guys from Mystery Science Theater 3000). They will be putting their spin on "Starship Troopers" Should be fun

Any fans of that show (or fans of humor writing) should absolutely check out Mike Nelson's Movie Megacheese. Hilarious.

 

[badmojo1006]

Tonight I am going to see Riff-Trax (3 of the guys from Mystery Science Theater 3000). They will be putting their spin on "Starship Troopers" Should be fun

Any fans of that show (or fans of humor writing) should absolutely check out Mike Nelson's Movie Megacheese. Hilarious.

It was Hilarious! Denise Richards took a beating. Biggest problem was they played a trick on us and we didn't get to see the shower scene <_< (But they did show a quick shot of Dina Meyer's bOOb ies.). But it was well worth it.

Looking forward to October, they will be doing the original "Night of the Living Dead"

 

[jdoggydogg]

Tonight I am going to see Riff-Trax (3 of the guys from Mystery Science Theater 3000). They will be putting their spin on "Starship Troopers" Should be fun

Any fans of that show (or fans of humor writing) should absolutely check out Mike Nelson's Movie Megacheese. Hilarious.

It was Hilarious! Denise Richards took a beating. Biggest problem was they played a trick on us and we didn't get to see the shower scene <_< (But they did show a quick shot of Dina Meyer's bOOb ies.). But it was well worth it.

Looking forward to October, they will be doing the original "Night of the Living Dead"

Jealous.

 

[drummer]

I don't rent movies anymore, but caught Sideways on HBO. Forgot how great this movie was. One minute of film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPxjR-CclGw

Is all you need to wash away the past of working with Don Johnson as a lead.

 

[Bob Magaw]

i saw the devil - from director of old boy (?), about serial killer, revenge flick, sounds horror genre, may not be a good feelin family film...

It's by the director of A Tale of Two Sisters (also worth seeing) and it's excellent.

Thanks for reminding me since I'd forgotten about his 'A Bittersweet Life'.

thanks for correction, not old boy director...

good, bad & weird (leone homage) got good reviews, supposedly biggest budget south korean film ever, queued that up...

i forgot his first american production was last stand with schwarzenegger... hopefully he translates better than john woo, who's hong kong action movies the killer and hard boiled were brilliant genre examples, but american debut face off was banal, imo...

bittersweet life sounds interesting, though not avail at neflix...

doomsday book is (streaming, too), he directed one of the trilogy of stories, about a robot boddhisatva...

watched i saw the devil... disturbing, the killer was somewhat reminiscent of javier bardem in no country... talented director, i had a little trouble with the suspension of disbelief...

also saw enter the void... the POV camera work at beginning was kind of off-putting (a forties noir called lady in the lake employed this in a gimmicky, cheesy, ham handed manner for a decent raymond chandler story, possibly for the first time... used to better effect in the first third of the bogart/bacall noir dark passage), but after a while the film rhythm and tempo became kind of hypnotic and mesmerizing... makes david lynch's mulholland drive narrative structure seem linear in comparison...

i started upstream color few times while on vacation for a few days, but didn't get very far (10 minutes?), but really liked primer, so am hopeful, interested in seeing what director carruth did with his second feature... i had a lot of anticipation for kevin kelly's second film and to see how his career would unfold, thought he was a director on the rise and worth following his career after brilliant debut donnie darko, but second feature southland tales was heinous, as bad as donnie darko was good, completely forgettable (third feature the box was a workmanlike adaptation of a new twilight zone story, but southland tales scarred me)...

 

[Bob Magaw]

Angel Heart:

Finally got around to seeing this one. A little dated, but a blast to watch. It had me at Lisa Bonet's nipples by the well. 6/10

Big fan. Maybe my favorite Mickey Rourke movie.

. me, too...

also liked early cameo in body heat...

diner

pope of grenwich village

barfly

johnny handsome

* harley davidson and the marlboro man... not so much...

sin city was a nice act of comeback casting (he had become sort of a caricature of himself) by robert rodriguez, sort of like his friend tarantino did for travolta in pulp fiction, pam grier and robert forster in jackie brown and the late david carradine in kill bill... sin city sequel (dame to kill for) scheduled for 2014...

 

[drummer]

Angel Heart:

Finally got around to seeing this one. A little dated, but a blast to watch. It had me at Lisa Bonet's nipples by the well. 6/10

Big fan. Maybe my favorite Mickey Rourke movie.

.me, too...

also liked early cameo in body heat...

diner

pope of grenwich village

barfly

* harley davidson and the marlboro man... not so much...

sin city was a nice act of comeback casting (he had become sort of a caricature of himself) by robert rodriguez, sort of like his friend tarantino did for travolta in pulp fiction, pam grier and robert forster in jackie brown and the late david carradine in kill bill... sin city sequel (dame to kill for) scheduled for 2014...

BECAUSE I'M INTERESTED IN YOU

I HATE EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU. WHY DO I WAN'T TO **** YOU SO BAD?

The problem with Rourke's career is that his coke habit affected his decisions, and his leading ladies were horrid actress' as well as his supporting cast's. He's a total hack. Barfly? He was channeling Snaggle#### his whole delivery. They disguised his horrid acting with better actors. When he doesn't have them, he is just as bad as Keanu or Ashton, who still aren't stupid enough to know not to #### up your career by screwing up your face.

ETA: just look at Eric Roberts. They must share the same plastic surgeon.

 

[Bob Magaw]

mutilated and horribly disfigured are not words you ever want hear in the context of your plastic surgery...

 

[sports_fan]

Kick ### 2

Missed the mark for me. Turk was decent. McLovin was not funny. The action is just ok. Typical plot with no real surprises. Not really worth seeing in theaters.

 

[Bob Magaw]

Also thanks for reminding me that Upstream Color is out. Added that, Holy Motors, and West of Memphis to my library list.

thanks for your references...holy motors on deck after upstream color... looks like it made a lot of best films of 2012 lists...

saw a comparison of upstream color I liked... a combo of terrence malick and david cronenberg...

speaking of the latter, rewatched scanners recently, probably my favorite of his after videodrome...

also rewatched dark city, a movie ebert championed, and one of about just a half dozen he did commentaries for (also citizen kane, casablanca, floating weeds, crumb, beyond valley of dolls - which he wrote screenplay for)...

 

[Daywalker]

History of the Eagles part 1 & 2.

Simmons does a great recap here: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9562051/the-eagles-greatest-hit

A by the numbers doc. on the rise and fall of a band. Done really well with tons of footage and access.

Would recommend to anyone regardless whether they are fans of the band.

 

[Gr00vus]

Saw Elysium last night. I found it not good, venturing into silly.

 

[Yankee23Fan]

I can click on ok right now and watch Olympus Has Fallen for 5 bucks..... But i usually trust andyd.......

 

[KarmaPolice]

But i usually trust andyd.......

Oof. Really?

 

[KarmaPolice]

Also thanks for reminding me that Upstream Color is out. Added that, Holy Motors, and West of Memphis to my library list.

saw a comparison of upstream color I liked... a combo of terrence malick and david cronenberg...

:boner:

Speaking of Cronenberg, anybody around these parts seen Cosmopolis?

 

[cstu]

Byzantium - 7.5/10

I'm not much of a fan of vampire movies, however I dug this one. It wasn't as good as Let The Right One In but it was pretty damn good. Just don't in expecting a lot of bloodsucking since there's barely any to speak of.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Amour:

Everything that I expected going in, but still hard to watch. Fantastic acting, and Haneke takes his time and doesn't let the viewer escape the situation for a minute. One of the surprises was that he tipped his hand with the first couple shots of the movie. This is why I watch foreign movies. This subject matter, especially this realistically done, makes us queasy as a whole and there is no way this is made in the states. Something makes me think I missed something at the end -

Spoiler

Was he just imagining his wife at the end, was he slowing killing himself, did he leave to go kill himself, etc.. As they were coming into the apartment in the beginning there was just the one body and he was nowhere to be seen, right??

One of best movies of last year, and honestly surprised there wasn't more debate on this one, seems like it was universally loved. 8/10