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

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Toy Story 3

I saw this with a friend in Disney 3D or whatever it's called, however due an eye astigmatism that is being corrected in surgery on the 13th, I was not able to experience it. Oh well, on to the movie.

Overall, I loved this movie. Although the lag time was incredible between this one and the second one, I think it was well worth the wait. The pace was good, the character development was good, and the general plot was good. The soundtrack was pretty fitting. Although one thing confused me: at the end of Cars, it has a tribute to the guy who did the voice for the truck, the caterpillar in A Bug's Life, and the pig in the first two Toy Stories. So how do they have his voice in this new Toy Story? Anyway, back to the movie.

Most people I've talked to agree that this is a very emotional movie, and I share their views. While many people I know cried or almost cried at the closing scene because of the final, happy ending that wrapped up the epic trilogy, I nearly cried of sadness, because after all they've been through, the toys will never see Andy again. (and that's not a spoiler because you know that it will happen from the very first scene of the movie) It truly is a very emotional experience. It was for me anyway. If you're a fan of the original two Toy Stories, you must watch this one. End of story. (Geddit?)

If I had to rate this, I'd give it a 9/10, because it's an awesome conclusion to a classic series. It's only not perfect because I couldn't come to grips with some of the characters. I HATED Lotso's guts, and that kind of detracted from the experience for me, since I don't want to hate anybody when I'm watching a toy movie. :D I'm thinking too much, I'd better stop now.

The A-Team

I just got back from watching this, and I loved it. When you go into a movie about the A-team, you want to see fast-paced action, lots of explosions, characters true to the originals, and nods and references to the original. This movie has all that and more. Some of the scenes and things the team do to get something done or save themselves are just awesome. The actors did a really good job in my opinion of staying true to the original characters, while adjusting to fit the modern day timeframe. Although Mr. T, the original BA, did not appear in the movie, BA's actor did a really good job in the role. The pace was good, the plot was great and complex but still followable, and the soundtrack was great. I was especially delighted that the soundtrack also had nods to the original in it. Overall I'd give this movie a 9/10, only not a perfect because...well, what if something better comes along? :D
 
告白 (Confessions) (2010)

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I had never heard of this movie before I entered the theater with my wife last friday. And during the first scene I thought it might be a feel-good movie about how a teacher finally connects with her unruly class. I was terribly wrong. But only in a good way. This movie is dark, gripping, and totally blew me away.

At the end of the semester the teacher announces to her class that she is quitting teaching. The class couldn't be more apathetic to her announcement. She then goes on to give her reason: It turns out that her 4 year old daughter who died in what seemed an accidental drowning in the school pool was actually murdered. The teacher has found out who did it: two of her students. Because they are two young to be prosecuted she decides to get her revenge and confesses in front of the class how she went about doing so.

(I want to tell you, but I should leave it as a surprise. But I oh so want to tell you! No, don't give everything away. Actually I can tell you this part without giving out the crazy ending...)

She injected the HIV infected blood of an acquaintance into the school provided milk cartons of the two students! And this is what she confesses to the class which, as you can imagine, erupts into chaos. This sequence opens the movie which then proceeds to show the confessions of the other people involved, and who find themselves involved, in this incident.

I am not a fan of art for art's sake when it comes to movies but this film pulls off the balance between film as storytelling and film as visuals. Dim lighting, flashbacks, slow-motion sequences, all fit in without ruining the flow of the film which races along at a quick pace until the climax.

Takako Matsu, probably my favorite Japanese actress, pulls off the role of the teacher superbly and by the end of the film you end up admiring her for her cold-hearted and callous decision making. The young actors and actresses who played the students also did a superb job, especially when you consider the emotionally charged roles they had to play.

9/10! (Go see this film! I'm currently reading the novel on which this film was based.)
 


El Topo (a.k.a. The Mole) (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1970) -- I'm not a big fan of Westerns, but this one has to be among the best ever, with the persmission of Mr. Sergio Leone. It's very artsy and a tad pretentious at times, but coming from a Latin American diector, it's nothing short of amazing; not only because of the subject and the plot, but also because of all it represents and what it has meant for pop culture since, having served as inspiration for the works of John Lennon, Yoko Ono, David Lynch, Samuel Fuller, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper, Bob Dylan, Marilyn Manson and Peter Gabriel, even further, this movie is supposed to have been the inspiration for the Genesis album "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway".

Aside from everything this movie has meant and speaking more objectively abut the movie itself, I'd have to say this is probably one of the most bizarre and impressive movies I've ever seen, featuring impressive characters, loads fo religious symbolism, extremely violent scenes and intense erotism, which becomes even more amazing when you realize when this movie was made and the state of the world back then. I don't expect a lot of people to know about Jodorowsky and much less have seen his movies and to be honest, this is only the third movie by him I've seen (The Rainbow Thief and The Holy Mountain are the other two), but I'd have to say this one's my favourite, if indeed the easiest to watch. He's only made seven films, so I'll make sure to watch other by him. 8.5/10
 
Driving Park
Toy Story 3

Although one thing confused me: at the end of Cars, it has a tribute to the guy who did the voice for the truck, the caterpillar in A Bug's Life, and the pig in the first two Toy Stories. So how do they have his voice in this new Toy Story? Anyway, back to the movie.
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The guy who did the semi/Red, Heimlich the caterpillar, Lenny the binoculars from Toy Story 1 & Wheezy from Toy Story 2 was Joe Ranft. He & Jim Varney (as far as I know) are the only 2 deceased actors from the series. Jim was succeeded Blake Clark for Slinky.

The man who plays Hamm is John Ratzenberger.
 
McLaren
The guy who did the semi/Red, Heimlich the caterpillar, Lenny the binoculars from Toy Story 1 & Wheezy from Toy Story 2 was Joe Ranft. He & Jim Varney (as far as I know) are the only 2 deceased actors from the series. Jim was succeeded Blake Clark for Slinky.

The man who plays Hamm is John Ratzenberger.
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Ah, ok. I must have confused the two. :dunce:
 
McLaren
The man who plays Hamm is John Ratzenberger.
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He is also the only voice actor to have a part in every Pixar film.

John Ratzenberger is made of pure win.

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Intolerable Cruelty (Joel Coen, 2003) -- The only Coen bros. movie I was missing from my list. Not as Murphy's Law as the rest but more of a romantic comedy that isn't very romantic. Clooney plays a lawyer who is become bored with his continuous success and falls in love with Zeta-Jones, who is a goldigger wife who lasts nothing with her husbands. All in all, it's kind of odd to see the Coen bros. branching out to such high profile Hollywood stuff, but the acting is good enough. The plot seems over-enthusiastic and fizzles a bit towards the end. Intolerable Cruelty is a take on the overdone battle of the sexes theme that has lots of sex appeal, but no romance. It seems to reach for the golden Hollywood age, but barely touches bronze. 6/10



A Serious Man (Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, 2009) -- A dark comedy drama about a man who watches his life unravel through multiple sudden incidents. Though seeking for meaning and answers he seems to stay stalled. It seems to poke fun at the whole Jewish community and the way the Rabbi is seen as the all-knowing entity, though I guess that image can be applied to all sorts of leaders, whether religious or not. I'm sure my lack of being Jewish made me miss some double meaning jokes here and there, but the overall message and Coen bros. style is there, but the movie's appeal is universal. It's the type of movie you ought to watch with someone and talk about it after. despite the character being such a lonely man, company is needed to discuss it. Still, it's not a movie I would recommend to the uninitiated. 7/10



Burn After Reading (Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, 2008) -- This is the Coen style I love! Seemingly unconnected lives come together in a major cluster**** of an event. Despite being about so many people, the main subject is about a disc containing the memoirs of a CIA agent ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous gym employees who attempt to sell it. What I liked best about this movie is that it actually makes you laugh at other people's miseries, and while that isn't a nice thing to do, this movie makes it worth it. Coupled with that, it has an amazing cast of excellent actors (George Clooney, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton [oh, look, it's in the poster]) who do a very good job at it. I'd even go as far as saying this is the funniest Coen bros. movie since The Big Lebowski. It's probably the best I've seen in this lot as well. 9/10
 
Tom Servo
Burn After Reading (Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, 2008) -- This is the Coen style I love! Seemingly unconnected lives come together in a major cluster**** of an event. Despite being about so many people, the main subject is about a disc containing the memoirs of a CIA agent ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous gym employees who attempt to sell it. What I liked best about this movie is that it actually makes you laugh at other people's miseries, and while that isn't a nice thing to do, this movie makes it worth it. Coupled with that, it has an amazing cast of excellent actors (George Clooney, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton [oh, look, it's in the poster]) who do a very good job at it. I'd even go as far as saying this is the funniest Coen bros. movie since The Big Lebowski. It's probably the best I've seen in this lot as well. 9/10
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You are the only person I've seen who seemed to have enjoyed this movie as much as I did.

Most folks only seem to say, "Wait, wtf was this movie supposed to be about?"
 
I own the movie and I still have no idea what Burn After Reading is about. It's entertaining though.
 
McLaren
You are the only person I've seen who seemed to have enjoyed this movie as much as I did.

Most folks only seem to say, "Wait, wtf was this movie supposed to be about?"
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You can add another one to that list. The scene at the end with the FBI CIA boss (or Juno's Dad) still cracks me up. Good write up Diego 👍
 
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Really? This is the second time I've seen it and I have to admit the first time I was completely lost. Here's my take on it:

I think it's little more than different domestic disputes about different things, but they're all interconnected. The Brad Pitt-Frances McDormand relationship, though not a sentimental one, is the most explosive and that one that adds spice to the rest of the movie, as well as being the main reason for the collossal cluster**** that takes place towards the end. Since Malkovich's character was a CIA operative, it's only a matter of 2+2 that the CIA assumes whatever happens to him must be the work of spies and thus, they feel the need to intervene. Especially since at the beginning of the movie he was downgraded to such a position that he quit and was extremely mad about it. Despite Brad Pitt having such a small part in it, his role was awesome. Now, I'm not going to say he 'made' the movie, but his part was key. And in general it's a very well-acted movie
 
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Watched the Losers yesterday:
5.5/10

For what it is suppose to be the film is good. An entertaining 1h37min of action packed with stereotypes of the 80's action movies. I think it's a cool movie to entertain (no brain needed)

Watched this 2 days ago:
Cop out:

Hillarious. Nearly crapped my pants. Again no brain needed but that would defy the purpose of such movies. Bruce Willis is as hillarious as in the whole nine yards. Just a little harder on the humor. Lov'd it
 


Fish Tank - Gritty Brit drama staring a first time actor (discovered mouthing off on a train platform). Young girl, bit of a loner, living in a rough housing estate with an uncaring mother and bratty younger sister has dreams of becoming a dancer. The only person who has any time for her is her mother's new boyfriend. The film begins to seem like it might become an upbeat story of a struggle for her to escape the 'ghetto' and make something of her life, but soon twists in too something more sinister and unsavory. A typical bleak low-budget British indie film with some great acting by a largely unknown cast. Although the story is good, it doesn't really take you anywhere and leaves you in quite a melancholy state of mind. 7.5/10
 
I read some great reviews of Fish Tank and have it queued up to watch it. Great to see someone slightly similar minded having liked it somewhat.



Def-Con 4 (Paul Donovan, Digby Cook, 1985) -- Funny how the movie doens't have any of the scenes in the poster, but hey. I remember watching this movie when I was a kid and thinking it was interesting, but so many years later I think I was an idiot. This movie is really bad. It's about three astronauts who are circling the Earth when WWIII breaks out. It could be a movie about the ethical feelings of these people who are in charge of launching nuclear missiles, but it's not. They eventually make it down to Earth and it's all a post-apocalyptic world (keeping in mind WWIII happened less than 2 months before). The acting is just sad, the props and SFX are worse and the pointless scenes are just too many. Oh look, I was snooping around for this movie and found it's in the Top Ten for Worst Sci-Fi movies. Battlefield: Earth isn't on that list, so I question its veracity. 2.5/10
 
Tom Servo
Really? This is the second time I've seen it and I have to admit the first time I was completely lost. Here's my take on it:

I think it's little more than different domestic disputes about different things, but they're all interconnected. The Brad Pitt-Frances McDormand relationship, though not a sentimental one, is the most explosive and that one that adds spice to the rest of the movie, as well as being the main reason for the colossal cluster**** that takes place towards the end. Since Malkovich's character was a CIA operative, it's only a matter of 2+2 that the CIA assumes whatever happens to him must be the work of spies and thus, they feel the need to intervene. Especially since at the beginning of the movie he was downgraded to such a position that he quit and was extremely mad about it. Despite Brad Pitt having such a small part in it, his role was awesome. Now, I'm not going to say he 'made' the movie, but his part was key. And in general it's a very well-acted movie
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I wasn't analysing it too much when I watched it the first time but enjoyed the performance and story. Pretty much agree with everything here including it being the CIA not FBI!

TheCracker
Fish Tank
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I've had that for a while but not watched it yet and might leave it for a bit longer, the last film I watched was The Road so I've had my fill of depressing for a while!
 
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Tom Servo
Well... it was the CIA. At one point they say they don't want those federal jerks waving their d*cks around or something like that.
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Yeah, that does ring a bell...it's been a little while since I saw it ;)
 
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Un Prophète (2009)

Superb film, excellent acting and a gripping story of a young French Arab guy who finds himself in jail and coping with a harsh new life. You're given nothing in the way of a back story, and this is used to powerful effect. Knowing nothing about what to expect from the film, events unfold with an equal sense of hope and foreboding for the main character - with moments that are genuinely affecting. I knew nothing more about the film other than the fact that the critics raved about it, and that it won the Grand Prix at Cannes (as well as being nominated for the Palm d'Or), but it still took me until the World Cup was all but over to get round to watching it. Excellent, and it may find it's way into by Blu-Ray library in the future. 9/10
 
Just rented and watched Law Abiding Citizen.

1 hour 50 minutes of a fairly decent thriller followed by 10 minutes of a cheesy action film ending. UGH.
 
Moglet
Just rented and watched Law Abiding Citizen.

1 hour 50 minutes of a fairly decent thriller followed by 10 minutes of a cheesy action film ending. UGH.
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I thought it was much, much worse.

I've seen:



Dan in Real Life (Peter Hedges, 2007) -- A widower finds out the woman he fell in love with is his brother's girlfriend, and thus starts a movie that seems to be set as a romantic comedy, yet is a family drama of the worst kind, especially when you have two comedians like Steve Carrell and Dane Cook who never even try to be funny, yet never really try to act well either. Carrell gets away with it a few times, but his success is shortlived. Juliette Binoche on the other hand, is a great actress and I wondered so many times how the hell she ended up in this trainwreck. Again, she has a noticeable accent and is very obviously not American, yet in the movie she is an almost all-American girl; severely miscast. The movie tried to hard to be heart touching and funny at the same time, and failed at both. There's a few laughs in it and too many attempts to jerk tears. Also, aside from those three characters, everyone else seemed so one-dimensional that it was just filler people. So nothing to watch here. 4/10



Great Expectations (David Lean, 1946) -- A humble orphan suddenly becomes a gentleman with the help of an unknown benefactor. This is a greatly acted movie with some fantastic cinematography (at the time); production design is also excellent. It is however, a movie that has not stood the toll of time, and seeing it now makes the movie extremely cheesy and some characters too effeminate (especially Alec Guinness). Though it certainly is a movie that must be watched because of the wonderful acting and the great adaptation it made of the Charles Dickens novel (I'm sure some schools have you watch it), it remains little else. 6.5/10
 
Tom Servo


Intolerable Cruelty (Joel Coen, 2003) -- The only Coen bros. movie I was missing from my list. Not as Murphy's Law as the rest but more of a romantic comedy that isn't very romantic. Clooney plays a lawyer who is become bored with his continuous success and falls in love with Zeta-Jones, who is a goldigger wife who lasts nothing with her husbands. All in all, it's kind of odd to see the Coen bros. branching out to such high profile Hollywood stuff, but the acting is good enough. The plot seems over-enthusiastic and fizzles a bit towards the end. Intolerable Cruelty is a take on the overdone battle of the sexes theme that has lots of sex appeal, but no romance. It seems to reach for the golden Hollywood age, but barely touches bronze. 6/10
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Though I actually agree with almost everything you wrote about this movie - I just loved it. I think it's an extremely funny movie with fantastic execution. No, it's not particularly romantic - and that's partially because you're supposed to laugh at all of the characters. The writing in this film is top notch. Zeta does a GREAT job in this movie. Clooney is always good. I very much enjoyed Gus Petch, Clooney's associate, Baron Von-Espy, Zeta-Jones's Ex-Husband, and especially Billy-Bob Thorton's character. Even the pool-boy and Zeta's girlfriend were solid. Wheezy Joe was from a part of the movie that was losing steam.

Overall, though, I liked the movie enough to buy it.
 
TBH, I've always liked Clooney's acting... I think he's an almost guarantee that the movie isn't bad, and this one is no exception. Billy Bob Thornton's acting was excellent and Clooney's assistant was very well executed, though he also acts as one of the really bad guys from Prison Break, so seeing him in this role was surprising.
 
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Where Eagles Dare - 1968 10/10

This is an awesome movie. Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood are a wonderful pair in this. This movie has everything you could want in a movie: endless action, suspense, cunning espionage, a castle in the Alps, beautiful and deadly women, comedy and amazing plot twists. It's even worth watching just to see Burton call Eastwood a punk.. and a second-rate punk, at that! :lol: :lol:

The mission is simple: parachute from a stolen Junkers 52, sneak past a village full of Waffen-SS troops and dobermans, find a way into an impenetrable castle atop a mountain peak, rescue the general before he talks and get out alive while blowing up the SS behind enemy lines. Of course, everything is not as simple as it seems. :D

The plot is excellent apart from a couple action sequences, but the pacing of the editing is superb and there are a few examples of "real-time" editing used to great effect in this movie.

This also has one of the most epic scores I've ever heard:

This film deserves more recognition than it has.
 
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