Roy Hersh wrote:I love Amelie, saw it again (4th or 5th time) two weeks ago and Tatou is fun to watch and darling. Thanks for the reco. WIll definitely check it out when I can find the time. Likely in October.
Hold the phone! You are no longer allowed to watch movies until after the fair ends. Now get back to work making more deep fried butter
Took your recommendation for Happenstance and quite liked it. A little hard to follow at times, but a few rewatchings cleared up any confusion. I will add my recommendation, as well.
I saw a movie in a theater this weekend for the first time in ages. It was picked by a relative and I had no idea what we were going to see. It was called, DEBT. Basically another Nazi hunting movie and even a strong performance by Helen Mirren couldn't help. I'd give it a "B" rating and I realize it did well at the box office this weekend, but it is flawed and moves rather slowly at times. Enough said.
If you thought The Human Centipede was over-the-top enough, The Human Centipede II is a worthy sequel. Seldom does a sequel do the original justice, but this one does. The casting is shear genius.
Some recent movies shown at (or considered for) our weekly Monday Night At The Movies:
Paul (2011) Nick Frost and Simon Pegg are at it again (Hot Fuzz and Shawn of the Dead) with a raunchy, irreverent alien (Paul) in a chase/buddy movie. Two English Sci-Fi geeks on a tour of UFO sites in an RV, and a real alien, being chased across Western US by a wild assortment of government agents and "ordinary" people. This is a falling-out-of-your-seat hilarious movie. Don't miss it. Of the three Frost/Pegg movies, I like this one the best by far. If you take a younger person, expect to be explaining some uncomfortable subjects almost continuously. This movie takes some serious pokes at things that people take seriously, and the language and humor is unrestrained.
Green Lantern (2011). This was terrible. Eva and I barely made it through our pre-screening. (We always watch our movies first; one show a week with our friends is too precious to waste on junk.) I think you would need a deep familiarity with the entire Green Lantern canon to understand it, and then there would be the risk that the movie did things differently than you have always visualized them. I didn't much care for the lead actors;the special effects were certainly flashy, but not compelling. This DVD went straight to my garage-sale box. (Bear in mind that I rarely like Science-Fiction - or Sci-Fi movies; I distinguish between the two - so it is possible that my prejudices are showing here. However, I frequently DO like based-on-comix movies, so maybe this movie really IS bad.)
Peter W. Meek wrote:Paul (2011) Nick Frost and Simon Pegg are at it again (Hot Fuzz and Shawn of the Dead) with a raunchy, irreverent alien (Paul) in a chase/buddy movie. Two English Sci-Fi geeks on a tour of UFO sites in an RV, and a real alien, being chased across Western US by a wild assortment of government agents and "ordinary" people. This is a falling-out-of-your-seat hilarious movie. Don't miss it. Of the three Frost/Pegg movies, I like this one the best by far. If you take a younger person, expect to be explaining some uncomfortable subjects almost continuously. This movie takes some serious pokes at things that people take seriously, and the language and humor is unrestrained.
I'll second this recommendation. It's a weird movie, but funny and totally irreverent. If you have thin skin for your belief systems, stay away. Really not suitable for children for the reason Peter mentions.
Gosling is a Hollywood stunt driver by day who moonlights as a wheelman. The premise sounds cool (I didn't fully summarize), and with all the sweet cars and chances for action available you'd think you're in for a good movie. Instead you get a movie that tries to be artistic with incredibly long pauses between the sparse dialog and has more "face" acting than anything.
The car chase scenes themselves show promise that they will be thrilling, but they never really deliver. If you have a weak stomach I'd skip by this one as it's shot in a David Cronenberg, in your face, blood and guts style where you see and hear the effect of every punch, kick, and bullet delivered to any of the unlucky characters.
The movie had a lot of promise, but pretty much fails in delivering the goods.
MONEYBALL about the Oakland A's team from the early 2001 period and how Billy Beane managed them to be in a position to win, with a measly payroll vs. the NY Yankees that was about 4+ times as large back then. Really well done with Philip Seymour Hoffman as the manager of the team and Brad Pitt playing an excellent Billy Beane. Solid A and now I get why all the press, none of which I was willing to read until AFTER seeing the movie. I don't think this would appeal to non-baseball fans though.
J. Edgar. I'm not a fan of Leonardo Decaprio as normally I think he's a bad actor. But this has to be the one movie where he seemed to finally get his acting skills in order. While she didn't get much attention in the trailers, Naomi Watts who played his long time secretary Helen Gandy, did a fantastic job both as the younger and older version. Overall I thought the producer did a pretty seamless job blending his "memories" of the past and with his "current" state. A lot was implied and left up to the viewer to interpret as they see fit which I liked, instead of forcing things down my throat. Now if only his secretary hadn't shredded all those personal files he had on people...if the walls could talk.
You must be kidding right? Ok, DiCaprio was a joke back in the day of Titanic, but since then has done some very fine work. Blood Diamond may not have been a GREAT movie, but Leo's performance in it, was certainly excellent, like him or not.
Roy Hersh wrote:You must be kidding right? Ok, DiCaprio was a joke back in the day of Titanic, but since then has done some very fine work. Blood Diamond may not have been a GREAT movie, but Leo's performance in it, was certainly excellent, like him or not.
Can't say I recall seeing that one, probably due to DiCaprio being in it I'll have to Netflix it and give it a go.
I heard Moneyball is similar to real life, but that they exaggerate the credit they give Pitt's character. As in the movie makes it seem like he was the only one building upon that particular philosophy when in reality there were more people involved and already fleshing out the ideas.
As for DiCaprio, I usually can't stand him. Every movie I've seen him in, except for Inception, he uses a whiny girl voice to let you know he's trying to act dramatically. The Departed was a big time offender of "the voice" because he's practically crying the entire movie. While I thought The Departed was good, I found it highly overrated, largely in part to DiCraprio's performance, and that most of the main players had bland performances, with all the supporting actors doing all the work.
Currently re-watching all the Coen Brothers' movies. Look them up; if you have missed any of these, see them! Comedies, dramas, thrillers, you name it. No two alike, but all exceptional.
The Ladykillers 2004 (remake of Alec Guiness movie)
Raising Arizona 1987
Barton Fink 1991
The Big Lebowski 1998
Blood Simple 1984 (remade as Chinese movie)
Burn After Reading 2008
Fargo 1996
The Hudsucker Proxy 1994
Intolerable Cruelty 2003
The Man Who Wasn't There 2001
Miller's Crossing 1990
No Country for Old Men 2007
O Brother, Where Art Thou? 2000
A Serious Man 2009
True Grit 2010 (remake of John Wayne movie)
Unlike many, I am not a Mel Gibson hater. I very much respect lots of what he's done on film, mostly as an actor and occasionally as a director. His flawed character aside, his film career is rather brilliant overall, a solid B+/A- in my opinion. I can easily separate Mel the film guy from Mel the tortured/twisted person who sometimes comes into focus in life, away from the screen. Anyway, tonight I watched Apolcalypto for the very first time. There were so many things I liked about the film, albeit it felt to similar to his role in Braveheart in many ways. Beyond that, it was a hard to watch but very enjoyable film. But the scenes which required the ultimate suspension of my belief system (arrow through his back and later a fatal shot through his lower throat ... and the character keeps on ticking and magically saves wife and kid ... come on. I hate when the last 5-10 minutes of a film ruins an otherwise excellent viewing. 85 points.
Cowboys and Aliens (2011) Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde (looking VERY alien). Silly actioner, with some interesting concepts and effects. Worth watching on a dull Saturday night, but a LONG way out of my top 100 movies. Eva thinks the acting was sub-par in addition to the plot deficiencies. If nothing else, the frisson every time they take a close-up of Olivia Wilde's face (she just looks VERY strange to me) may make it worth a couple of hours of your time.
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