What movies have you seen lately? Now with reviews!Movies 

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Can someone tell me if Paranormal Activity is just another Blair Witch, or is there an actual movie here?


SRinc.
'Where the Wild Things Are' literally scares the 🤬 out of me, those humongous creatures, with the talking, and walking, and blinking, and moving, and if you can't tell I have no idea of what the movie is about :sly:. I'm sure it's a great kid's or family time movie, but the 'munsters' freak me out.
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Wow, the book was a standard for elementary school reading when I was younger. I am definitely wanting to see it.
 
@Maximumattack: Cool 👍

@FoolKiller: I read Keef's review and told my workmate who likes horror movies and we watched the trailer. It looks Blair Witch-inspired but scary all the same.

I was also talking about this with my workmates. Blair Witch really scared me, but it was because when I watched it I thought it was real. Until a few days later I still believed it was actual footage found by someone in the forest. Yeah, I was gullible; but the marketing campaign of the movie was excellent (even had a few documentaries going on and the alleged families protested). It was only through IMDb that I found it was not.
 
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Couple's Retreat 👍👎

Didn't really want to see this one in the theater, but circumstances being what they were - I ended up seeing it.

The movie had its funny moments. Most of the characters are likeable enough, and there were some well thought-out jokes and funny situations. I laughed out loud quite a few times and really enjoyed some of the scenes. That being said, the movie really botched the ending quite a bit. It's very predictable and fairly unrealistic. The movie isn't about that, though, it's about laughs, so it didn't stop me from enjoying the film. But it prevented the movie from being really solid.

I should also mention that the movie contains infertility-related drama. Folks who happen to be in the process of dealing with that issue may not want to expose themselves to it.
 
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Raging Bull (Martin Scorcese, 1980)

Perhaps one of the best performances by one of the finest actors of all time, De Niro's performance as Jake La Motta is easily the highlight of this movie. Rated in the top #100 movies of all time by IMDB, I had very high expectations... and although the film looks fantastic, and De Niro (and Pesci) are both superb, I reckon it will take a bit of time to warm to this movie. Telling the true story of La Motta's successful career but troubled private life, the film is surprisingly subtle and low key. As a character study, it packs a hell of a punch, but it isn't even my favourite Scorcese film, not by a long way...

8/10
 
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FoolKiller
Can someone tell me if Paranormal Activity is just another Blair Witch, or is there an actual movie here?
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I thought Blair Witch qualified as a decent film. I've seen much, much worse.

Keef pretty much gave Paranormal a top score, my rating for it in this thread was right there, too. I created its own thread, so I posted my take on the movie, but I don't think no one even saw the thread. :lol:
 
a6m5
I thought Blair Witch qualified as a decent film. I've seen much, much worse.

Keef pretty much gave Paranormal a top score, my rating for it in this thread was right there, too. I created its own thread, so I posted my take on the movie, but I don't think no one even saw the thread. :lol:
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I saw your thread after I posted my question. The thing is that Blair Witch got similar acclaim, but after the first viewing it became painfully apparent that it was boring.
 
I probably did mention boring, slow, something along that line a couple times in that thread. :lol:
 
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2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

"Too long". "Too boring". But it's still one of my absolute favourite films of all time. As I mentioned when I bought the film, it's great on Blu-ray, but not perfect - but the fact that this film was made in 1968 more than accounts for the few visual shortcomings of the film. What makes the film so brilliant (IMO) is in Kubrick's masterful technique and how he can produce a movie that is part wonder and part horror at the same time. The music selection throughout is perfect and has become legendary in its own right, but the moods Kubrick is able to create with the music alone is amazing. The Blu-ray comes complete with a few spells of black screen - indeed, the movie starts with almost three minutes of nothing, except for the haunting soundtrack building in the background. The famous opening sequence then follows, and sets the scene for the rest of the film - with little dialogue, Kubrick lets the visuals, the music and the suspense do most of the talking.

The other aspect that makes this film unique is Arthur C. Clarke's amazing vision. Indeed, it is hard to call alot of this film "science fiction" - it is more like "science prophecy". The sheer scope of the film is quite amazing - from our origins, our intellectual evolution ("The Dawn Of Man"), our ultimate fate, our desire to confront the mystery of the unknown, our place in the grand scheme of things and the discovery of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, moral questions relating to the creation of Artificial Intelligence, questions about the nature of consciousness itself, space exploration (the film was made before Man even set foot on the Moon!), not to mention the bold prediction that Russian and American scientists would one day share space on an international space station in orbit around the Earth (made in the middle of the Cold War, no less), it is all pretty remarkable and thought-provoking stuff - most of it is very realistic, and indeed alot of it has since come to pass.

Above all this, the film is still jaw-droppingly beautiful and awesome to watch. And HAL is perhaps one of the most interesting and complex characters ever conceived. 10/10
 
2001 is one of those movies I could watch over and over again... in fact, I'd have it as background video, projected on a huge wall and playing all the time so I could watch bits and pieces of it every hour
 
Dude, now you're freaking me out. As I was watching the film last night, I had the idea of having the film playing on my TV as a 'virtual painting' when I have my mates round for an Xmas party in December... interestingly, I used to go to a nightclub (when I were a lad!) where they did this exact thing but with 'A Clockwork Orange'...
 
The idealist in me says we're long-lost brothers. The realist in me says we're equal freaks :odd:
 
I love 2001, especially on Blu-Ray. It is a gorgeous film, but I feel it could have had the exact same effect if Kubrick had shortened the opening blackness (I actually forgot about that and thought my PS3 was messed up at first) and the space warp sequence (I fell asleep and woke up 20 minutes later and it was still going). Those two sequences felt like artistic flourishes that went beyond adding to the film. Compared to the novel, where Clarke explains what is going on at the end, it feels like Kubrick was trying to make the audience feel too insignificant to understand the magnitude of what happens.

2010 follows that up well though by making it clear that no one understands the magnitude of what happened. It is comforting to see the main characters looking just as confused about the events in 2001 as the audience.

But if not for Kubrick's approach one has to wonder if the film would be as beautiful as it is.
 
While it is one of my favorite films, I remember being very frustrated with the first time I saw it. It was just so unconventional compared to anything I had seen before, it really didn't make much sense to me. I had much different take on it, after I had few 'film' viewing under my belt. :D
 


Gwoemul (a.k.a. The Host) (2006) -- Korean monster movie with an amazingly high budget and was pretty well known (apparently) not too long ago. With that said, I have to say the SFX (for an Asian movie, mind you) are really good especially when you compare it to that Takashi Miike movie about an alien (forgot the name). Also, the soundtrack is amazing. With all this, there's only two very important flaws in this movie: The first is that it's too long... it's a monster movie and there isn't really that much to tell in it, since the origins are spread out in the first 10 minutes and by the 35 minute mark, everything that is supposed to happen, happens. After that it's a very lengthy, slow and boring march toward the 'final scene' which takes about 7 minutes. The second flaw, and this isn't really the movie's fault, is the dubbing. I had the luck to only find the English-dubbed version and it's complete crap! The voices are like those of the English-dubbed episodes of Best Motoring but with a higher degree of whining and a stupid quantity of f-words. The movie isn't really bad, but those two flaws, especially the dubbing really killed the movie for me. 6.5/10
 
Monty Python and the Holy Grail 1975 Comedy Staring: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Michael Palin

King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table go on a quest to search for the Holy Grail. Along the way, hilarity ensues.

Never watched it before now. Well, at least not completely. I've seen bits a pieces. Very, very funny. Especially the bunny. The boys and I had to rewind that scene several times.

Tim: That's the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on!
Sir Robin: You tit! I soiled my armor I was so scared!
Tim: Look, that rabbit's got a vicious streak a mile wide! It's a killer!
Sir Galahad: Get stuffed!
Tim: He'll do you up a treat, mate.
Sir Galahad: Oh, yeah?
Sir Robin: You manky Scots git!
Tim: I'm warning you!
Sir Robin: What's he do? Nibble your bum?
Tim: He's got huge, sharp... er... He can leap about. Look at the bones!
King Arthur: Go on, Bors. Chop his head off!
Sir Bors: Right! Silly little bleeder. One rabbit stew comin' right up!

I should have watched this sooner. It's fantastic. 10/10

Life of Brian is on tomorrow. Haven't seen that, either.
 
I'm still waiting for my shrubbery, path and herring. :guilty:

Curse you, Roger.
 
The dialogue prior to that one posted really made me laugh out loud...

"what? Behind the rabbit?"
 
Got a couple of movies from Netflix recently.

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The Wicker Man - (6/10)
I kept waiting for the scary occult stuff to just jump up and grab me, but no. Not even a "Why is it so quiet?" DA DUM!!!! "AHHHH! Wait, that's just a broom," moment. Every tense moment just ended with a dud. There was nothing remotely interesting until the end. And I got the version with the "Alternative shocking ending." How boring was the non-shocking ending version? For reference:
Nicolas Cage is the sacrifice and the whole thing was a ploy to bring him in and prepare him. They tie him up, knee cap him with a sledge hammer, dump bees on his head, and then burn him alive inside The Wicker Man, having his own daughter start the fire. The end.


On the other end of the scale:

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Milk - (8.5/10)
I can't confirm its historic accuracy as I wasn't even born at the time. Accurate or not this was a very good political drama regarding an everyday homosexual who gets into politics in 1970s San Francisco to fight for gay rights to prevent them from being fired from jobs, kicked out of apartments, and beaten in the streets by cops. The story was interesting and the movie was good, but I didn't like the way it was supposed to be told via Milk's "in the event of my assassination" recording. It added little, if anything, other than to break up the story and give narration that wasn't necessary. From what I can see it avoided condemning or condoning anyone involved, except Dan White. You see the overly religious groups pushing against them, but it also addresses the liberal sexual behavior and drug use that scared conservatively minded people. There is even a scene devoted to Harvey cleaning up his act in order to not be overlooked as some crazy deviant. It also doesn't shy away from just how out of hand the crowds became, with Harvey and his friends having to act fast to prevent rioting and arrests and working with police to arrange quick demonstration permits. Nor did it shy away from Harvey playing politics by trading votes and arranging for demonstrations to end by his showing up to negotiate a truce.
 
Just a quick question (and completely off topic) in the movie Milk, does the actor Diego Luna play a gay boyfriend?

I swear, all Diegos in American movies are either ultra gay or ultra casanovas.
 
Tom Servo
Just a quick question (and completely off topic) in the movie Milk, does the actor Diego Luna play a gay boyfriend?

I swear, all Diegos in American movies are either ultra gay or ultra casanovas.
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Is this your way of coming out of the closet?
 
Tom Servo
Just a quick question (and completely off topic) in the movie Milk, does the actor Diego Luna play a gay boyfriend?

I swear, all Diegos in American movies are either ultra gay or ultra casanovas.
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Sorry to disappoint, but he is often referred to as "the first lady" by Milk's friends. But he only shows up about midway through the film.
 
Tom Servo


Gwoemul (a.k.a. The Host) (2006) -- Korean monster movie with an amazingly high budget and was pretty well known (apparently) not too long ago. With that said, I have to say the SFX (for an Asian movie, mind you) are really good especially when you compare it to that Takashi Miike movie about an alien (forgot the name). Also, the soundtrack is amazing. With all this, there's only two very important flaws in this movie: The first is that it's too long... it's a monster movie and there isn't really that much to tell in it, since the origins are spread out in the first 10 minutes and by the 35 minute mark, everything that is supposed to happen, happens. After that it's a very lengthy, slow and boring march toward the 'final scene' which takes about 7 minutes. The second flaw, and this isn't really the movie's fault, is the dubbing. I had the luck to only find the English-dubbed version and it's complete crap! The voices are like those of the English-dubbed episodes of Best Motoring but with a higher degree of whining and a stupid quantity of f-words. The movie isn't really bad, but those two flaws, especially the dubbing really killed the movie for me. 6.5/10
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I thought this was a pretty good film. I don't know if the American version was shorter or what, but I had no issue with the length of this movie at all. The poster look so serious(especially the blondie), I was like "hey, I gotta check this out... oh, wait!". :lol:

On the dubbed languages, I'll comment on the translation I'm somewhat familiar with: Japanese to English, English to Japanese. With almost certainty, it's going to be off. Sometimes, not even close.

You are (at least)bilingual, so you already know how it goes. Some words, phrases, etc., they might not make any sense in another language. But even taking that in consideration, most Japanese/English translation I encounter in films, they are either way off, or look like they were translated by a robot.

I recently rented a dvd called "GTO: The Movie". Japanese flick, based on a manga series. Some of the jokes in there, they made me laugh my butt off. But I can't begin to imagine how American viewers might enjoy the dialogues in movie, unless you grew up over there. I'm thinking Hollywood comedy flicks must be a nightmare for the translators in Japan. lol
 
Although I really like Asian films, there's one thing I really dislike about many of them and it's that there's always a characters who's abnormally dumb and more often than not, that character plays a major role in the movie. I really dislike stupid characters.

Anyway, paid a visit to my older movie library and just watched:



Lenny (1974) -- Biographical drama about comedian Lenny Bruce, whose groundbreaking, no-holds-barred style and social commentary was often deemed by the Establisment as too obscene for the public and got him into a lot of trouble; by today's standards, it probably wouldn't amount to much, but probably the main inspiration for The People vs. Larry Flynt. In general, it's the story about a tragically misunderstood man and his attempt to free society from the evils of political correctness. Very well acted by Dustin Hoffman, though it's a typical 1970s movie in the sense that it is grim, bleak and pretty depressing, also I'd say Raging Bull took some tips from this movie in the whole B&W=depressing scenes. But it's still an admirable movie. Funny how Lenny Bruce died in 1966 and it wasn't until 2003 when the State of New York granted him a posthumous pardon for his arrest on "obscene performance". 7.5/10
 
Touring Mars
18798166.jpg


Raging Bull (Martin Scorcese, 1980)

Perhaps one of the best performances by one of the finest actors of all time, De Niro's performance as Jake La Motta is easily the highlight of this movie. Rated in the top #100 movies of all time by IMDB, I had very high expectations... and although the film looks fantastic, and De Niro (and Pesci) are both superb, I reckon it will take a bit of time to warm to this movie. Telling the true story of La Motta's successful career but troubled private life, the film is surprisingly subtle and low key. As a character study, it packs a hell of a punch, but it isn't even my favourite Scorcese film, not by a long way...

8/10
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Yeah it's a good movie, I actually wanted to see it mostly for Joe Pesci, De Niro and Pesci together is always great 👍
 


District 9 (2009) -- This movie is awesome on so many levels! Not going to go into it since I'd probably be echoing almost everyone else here. 10/10
 
Hell yeah, Tom! 👍


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Awesome movie! I didn't care that it was not like the original Transformers, partly because I have never seen or read it, but the sheer action in this movie is awesome! However, I do have some difficulties with understanding the start of the movie. How can so many Decepticons be on Earth without arriving unnoticed? Surely the Autobots knew of this all along and would have informed others? I mean, the movie starts and the place is all over Decepticons. It just felt weird. And a big Decepticon is floating just outside of our atmosphere and NASA never saw the thing hanging there? Other than that, this movie was awesome. The forest scene with Optimus was easily the best scene out of the entire movie. Optimus is just so badass. Although Megatron nearly finishes off Optimus in the first movie, Optimus seems to own Megatron all over the place in that scene. And on top of that, he takes on 2 more Decepticons at the same time, and still kicks ass! Little bit weird, no? Oh well, it was great to see Optimus be so ruthless, especially near the end. The final battle could have been a little bit more epic though. The Fallen acts all cocky and tough, but when Optimus arrives he just gets a blade shoved up his ***. Still, epic movie!
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