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

[McLaren]

Deadgirl (Marcel Sarmiento, Gadi Harel, 2008) -- A very odd movie about two high school boys who discover an imprisoned woman in an abandoned mental asylum who cannot die, and she thus becomes their sex slave. Deadgirl is a neverending spiral of implausibility, but the fact that the makers were willing to push the envelope so far deserves some sort of recognition. I mean, this movie has a strong aberrant sexual content, extreme amounts of violence and nudity and a constant morbid feel throughout. This movie stands out amongst a score of other movies that don't really take any chances; it's thought-provoking, tense and nasty enough to be worth considering if you ever find yourself at a loss for a horror movie viewing one evening. 6.5/10

Saw this sometime last year & I saw it just for the reason you noted in your last sentence.

I previously thought the people behind it had to be some of the strangest people ever. Of course, I then caught The Human Centipede & Deadgirl doesn't seem so bad.

 

[Northstar]

Iron Man 2008

Tony Stark(Robert Downey Jr.) is a super rich weapons dealer who makes a suit of armor while in captivity, he than uses it for good. Downey is rather good in the role and is fairly convincing and the rest of the cast is rather good. Overall the special effects are good and seem fairly realistic. It has a nice flow and didn't feel like a 2 hour film, however it did feel a little hollow. It's a good quality comic book film though. 7/10

 

[Golfman]

Taken
New Clash Of The Titans
Death Race
Angels And Demons
Sherlock Holmes

Three out of the above I thought were good. The other two.....meh.
Guess which ones I thought were good, anybody?

 

[Touring Mars]

How do I list them in rating order? (I'm a blognorant)

The only way I can think of would be to tag each post with the rating, such that when you click on that tag, you produce a list of all posts with the same tag... but that would mean you'd have to manually re-tag every post.

 

[Diego440]

Saw this sometime last year & I saw it just for the reason you noted in your last sentence.

I previously thought the people behind it had to be some of the strangest people ever. Of course, I then caught The Human Centipede & Deadgirl doesn't seem so bad.

Someone actually recommended it to me

The only way I can think of would be to tag each post with the rating, such that when you click on that tag, you produce a list of all posts with the same tag... but that would mean you'd have to manually re-tag every post.

Gee, thanks for making my life easier

I do have all the 10s tagged as 10s, though.

 

[Diego440]

Les Triplettes de Belleville (a.k.a. The Triplets of Belleville) (Sylvain Chomet, 2003) -- A very odd animated movie about an elderly woman raising her grandson to be a cycling champion. The grandson gets kidnapped at the Tour de France and the woman goes into an adventure to rescue him. Everything in this movie is exaggerated beyond belief, so if you like animations with a touch of realism, stay away from this one. The movie is definitely not mainstream, and it's a rare gem that doesn't pretend to be anything else. It's the first PG-13 animated feature to be nominated for an Oscar, and despite being mostly in French there's maybe three words of it in the whole movie. 6/10

 

[niky]

Les Triplettes de Belleville (a.k.a. The Triplets of Belleville) (Sylvain Chomet, 2003) -- A very odd animated movie about an elderly woman raising her grandson to be a cycling champion. The grandson gets kidnapped at the Tour de France and the woman goes into an adventure to rescue him. Everything in this movie is exaggerated beyond belief, so if you like animations with a touch of realism, stay away from this one. The movie is definitely not mainstream, and it's a rare gem that doesn't pretend to be anything else. It's the first PG-13 animated feature to be nominated for an Oscar, and despite being mostly in French there's maybe three words of it in the whole movie. 6/10

Funny thing is... I've watched this movie, but I never knew the title until now. It's funnily surreal... and the fact that there's hardly any dialogue adds to the old fashioned feel. I started watching near the beginning (caught it on a French channel) and was compulsively stuck to the film all throughout. While it has its flaws, any film that can catch your attention like that deserves a 7/10 at the very least.

 

[Diego440]

While it has its flaws, any film that can catch your attention like that deserves a 7/10 at the very least.

Maybe we have different scaling methods. I've seen arguably good movies which I'll barely grant a 5.5, and some better ones that score around 7.5. For me it's also a matter of production method, cinematography, acting, sound and all that. While I think Triplets was alright, I wasn't necessarily moved by it. I didn't find it very interesting. Much like:



Le Planète Sauvage (a.k.a. Fantastic Planet) (René Laloux) -- A very odd animated movie by René Laloux, much in the style of The Masters of Time , being a very mindblowing animation from the early 70s and with some amazing (though rudimentary) animation techniques. The plot is very linear and easy to follow (even a bit predictable), but the world is so completely alien its bound to alienate some viewers. It didn't alienate me, but I found the story a tad boring and though the music is pretty cool during the first 20 minutes, it gets a bit annoying later on. Still, the imagination required to make it must've been pretty intense as well as the whole plot points and overall ambience. Did I mention what it is about? I didn't. The movie takes place on a faraway planet where giants rule, and tiny humanoids must fight for their lives and their equality. A classic metaphor of class struggles. 5.5/10

 

[Famine]

Just finished watching a cracking little movie. Never heard of it before, and am surprised.
It's called The Core. It stars Aaron Eckhart and Hilary Swank. It's about a group of scientists who have to build a ship to travel to the Earth's core to plant a bomb because it has stopped spinning, threatening the survival of the planet.
Didn't expect much when I seen it on the shelf, but something about it made me want to rent it.
Really enjoyed it. It reminds me of all those Doug McClure movies from the 70's when he travelled to lost worlds and the centre of the Earth etc.
A sleeper hit, if you will.
Anybody else seen it?

The Core is a terrible film. One thing that's important in science fiction is that you have equal parts of each - The Core was more sFICTION.

That said, I like it

I saw 2012 the other night. I thought it might be too intense for my liking, but I handled it pretty well.

It was pretty repetitive I thought. Earthquake, earthquake, earthquake, volcano, earthquake, earthquake, tidal wave, Africa, end. And the story could've been better. Though, the action really made up for alot of it's flaws. Very impressive movie to look at.

6/10.

2012.


Not remotely engaging in any way. The effects were nice to look at but I didn't care what they did because I didn't care if any of the characters died or not.

I mean at one point the dude is RUNNING down a run way after a 2 engined plane, gets in it and the plane takes off. Several seconds later the plane is passed at very high speed by a dust cloud which has suddenly sped up since the eruption several minutes before only for the plane to fly straight out of the dust cloud a few more seconds later as if it's thrust can deliver Mach 2.

3/10

The only reason I haven't created a Famine's Review thread for 2012 is that, when I watched it yesterday, I didn't reach the end.

It would have had significant resemblence to my review of Knowing anyway, just without the aliens.

Quick summary:
Plot set-up, character introduction.
Poorly-executed, implausible model/CGI sequence; John Cusack and family escape even more implausibly.
Poorly-executed, implausible model/CGI sequence; John Cusack and family escape even more implausibly.
Poorly-executed, implausible model/CGI sequence; John Cusack and family escape even more implausibly.
Poorly-executed, implausible model/CGI sequence; John Cusack and family escape even more implausibly.
Poorly-executed, implausible model/CGI sequence; John Cusack and family escape even more implausibly.
Ancillary characters killed off, everyone falls in love with who they're supposed to, almost entire population of Earth is dead.

It's hard to pull out a specific criticism of any particular escape. Though the concept of a Cessna 340 outrunning a pyroclastic flow from a supervolcano as mentioned above is quite a biggy.

As I said about "Knowing":

So what we have here is 2 hours of filler containing people I don't like and can never generate any care for as an excuse for a CG exploration of how gory you can make billions of people die. And the CG isn't that good anyway. [...]

Awful, awful, awful, awful film.

Summary in 10 words or less: Depressing dross made by frustrated serial killers.
Rating: Loose stools.

 

[Diego440]

Spalovac Mrtvol (a.k.a. The Cremator) (Juraj Herz, 1969) -- Czechoslovakian movie about a cremator called Kopfrkingl who enjoys his job at a crematorium in during the late 1930s. He also likes reading the Tibetan book of the dead, and espouses the view that cremation relieves earthly suffering. He eventually gets convinced by the surging Nazis to join the Nazi party and do so by murdering his wife and two children, who are half Jewish, which he does happily. The resulting movie is a highly gothic and very well filmed art-house flick about the offerings of a cremator to the dead and how he actually gives them freedom from life. Filming angles and cinematography had me thinking this is a 2000s movie, and to be honest I found little in it to justify it being over 40 years old. Definitely a rare gem that almost no one has seen, yet shouldn't be overlooked... if you can stand the disturbing nature of it. 8/10

 

[astrosdude91]

Saw Date Night:

Synopsis: Phil and Claire Foster are an average married couple living in suburban New Jersey. There life is stuck in a rut, the same thing every day. They decide to shake it up and head into Manhattan to dine at the hottest restaurant. But they reservation list is full, so they decide to steal the reservation of a no show, "The Tripplehorns." They are soon chased down by two mobster hitmen who think they are the Tripplehorns. Hijinks ensue.

Funny movie overall. Carrell and Fey make a great comedy duo. I am a fan of the Office and 30 Rock, so naturally I would enjoy this movie. I can't see Tina Fey as a mom for some reason though.

8/10.

 

[Diego440]

Synopsis*

 

[Neal]

Nah it is symposis, it's a simple synopsis

 

[Ibonibo]

Harry Brown:

Good movie featuring Micheal Caine., about a pensionar vigilante. If you liked Gran turino, watch this one

8.5/10

 

[Diego440]

Nah it is symposis, it's a simple synopsis

Did you go to school in Sumatra?

 

[Diego440]

Crónicas (a.k.a. Chronicles) (Sebastián Cordero, 2004) -- A suspense thriller about a reporter from Miami who travels to Ecuador in pursuit of a serial killer known as the "Monster of Babahoyo." My quasi-issue with it is that the movie is mostly in Spanish, yet John Leguizamo constantly speaks Spanglish gibberish about 80% of the time, making the use of subtitles almost a must. The movie deals a lot with the reporter's boundaries of morality in pursuit of a story, which is a very used up subject and the movie ends up on a very unsatisfactory note. Still, the bad guy is very good at being a psychopath, and the reporter and his crew are very good at being morally bankrupt. 4/10

 

[niky]

Just the scene of an airplane outflying a pyroclastic flow was enough to tell me I never wanted to watch 2012.

Maybe we have different scaling methods. I've seen arguably good movies which I'll barely grant a 5.5, and some better ones that score around 7.5. For me it's also a matter of production method, cinematography, acting, sound and all that. While I think Triplets was alright, I wasn't necessarily moved by it. I didn't find it very interesting.

True enough, it wasn't actually riveting and filled with characters you could feel for...

Personally, 7 is good but not great, 8 is recommendable, 9 is great, 10 is a classic.

5 is merely competent, 3 is unwatchable, and 1 is reserved for Disaster Movie, Epic Movie and their ilk (mind you... I give Scary Movie 3 a 5 or a 6...

Should try to catch the other one.

 

[astrosdude91]

Synopsis*

Whoops! How did I not catch that? I look like a right now!

Well, it's fixed now.

 

[Touring Mars]

The Road (2009)

Another Viggo Mortensen movie, and a film that I had been looking forward to alot (a mistake, I know!)... and although it is a pretty worthy effort, I was a little disappointed. The book is apparently considerably more grim and was written by the same guy who wrote "No Country For Old Men", but the film didn't capitalise on many opportunities to raise the tension and sense of foreboding that arguably ought to have been more prominent. The tinting and use of dark colours throughout the film starts to look more and more fake as time goes on. Also, the sound was very annoying... dialogue (such as it is) is barely audible, while even faint sound effects (mostly distant explosions and ominous rumbling) probably had my neighbours thinking the roof was about to fall on them, since I had the volume cranked up to 11... hence I had to switch on the subtitles, which were so huge it spoiled the visual aspect of the film somewhat. But my biggest gripe was that it simply wasn't scary or believable enough as a post-apocalyptic world with danger lurking around every corner. 6/10

 

[Famine]

True enough, it wasn't actually riveting and filled with characters you could feel for...

Personally, 7 is good but not great, 8 is recommendable, 9 is great, 10 is a classic.

5 is merely competent, 3 is unwatchable, and 1 is reserved for Disaster Movie, Epic Movie and their ilk (mind you... I give Scary Movie 3 a 5 or a 6...

Should try to catch the other one.

This is why I don't bother with number ratings. You see, to me, 5/10 is average (literally and by definition), but by modern ratings standards, anything less than 72% is bad (Amiga Power made fun of this 15 years ago - why it's still true escapes me).

Also, if 3 is unwatchable, how are there three possible ratings below it? Surely a 1 would be impossible to even put into the machine and a 0 would kill your family and burn down your house if you picked it up?

Of my Famine's Reviews, if I were to convert to a number rating (along with actual rating):

10 - Bad Santa (Watch this film. Do it. Now.)
10 - Star Trek 2009 (I have been, and always shall be, your friend)
9 - V for Vendetta (Nudging on excellence)
8 - Bubba Ho-Tep (Catch it if you can)
8 - Futurama: Bender's Big Score (Very funny)
8 - Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder (Banoffee pie)
8 - Lost in Translation (Expect a story)
7 - Mystic River (Worth your while, probably)
7 - Up! 3D (Another sterling job from Pixar, but it's no Wall-E)
6 - Runaway Jury (Better than watching Latvia vs Germany)
5 - The Day The Earth Stood Still 2008 (Porridge-flavoured fog)
5 - Futurama: The Beast With A Billion Backs (Just plain odd)
5 - The Medallion (Pap, but fun)
5 - Paycheck (Beats the hell out of "Red Water")
5 - S.W.A.T. (Meh)
5 - Welcome to the Jungle/The Rundown (It passes the time okay)
4 - The Accidental Spy (Watch Shanghai Noon again instead)
4 - Cellular without credits (Don't watch the credits)
4 - Futurama: Bender's Game (Distinctly confusing)
4 - The Hard Word (There's worse films, but don't bother)
4 - Quantum of Solace (Blunt Force Trauma)
4 - Supersize Me (Bit of a sour aftertaste)
4 - TimeCop 2 (It passes the time)
3 - 28 Days Later (The 20 minutes after Jim wakes up are okay)
3 - The Grudge (PAP)
3 - Kill Bill Pt. 1 (What a crock of ****)
2 - 2012 (Knowing, without the aliens)
2 - Scary Movie 3 (I just want to say good luck. We're all counting on you)
1 - Collateral (Paint something and watch it dry)
1 - Knowing (Loose stools)
1 - Madagascar (It was on DVD. I could turn it off) - bonus point for Penguin extras
1 - The Pink Panther (Inexcusably dreadful)
1 - Sin City (Execrable pile of smeg)
1 - Timeline (Utter, utter dross)
0 - Cellular with credits (HATE THIS BASTARD FILM)
0 - Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (War crime)
0 - Red Water (Complete and total load. I'd rather have my bell-end pierced)
0 - School of Rock (And I like rock...)
0 - Shark Tale (Dross. I'd rather die than watch it again)

Which, oddly, means I've reviewed 10 films above average, 20 films below average and six plain in the middle.

Must go watch (and review) some more good films...

 

[niky]

Strangely... despite our different view on scores... I would have rated many of those the same... (gotta catch Bubba Ho-Tep... ) ...except I actually liked Kill Bill Vol.1 and I would have given S.W.A.T a 4.

 

[Appie]

The Book of Eli (2010)


The book of Eli starring as the main character playing as a nomad in a post apocolytic world and it's believed he holds the last bible since the last war 30 years ago.

I liked watching the movie and the story wasn't very strong, but it was enjoyable. Like always Denzel Washington plays a really good role as the nomad and he was enjoyable to watch.
Gary Oldman played as the "villian" in this movie wich he performed. Sometimes he tried a bit too hard but it wasn't a big of deal.
Milla Kunis played the typical im dependable as soon se set one foot in the wasteland.

Overall it wasn't the best out there, but if u have an hour or two to spare then i recommend it you.

8.5/10

 

[Omnis]

I'm watching Batman and Superman Apocalypse now. The art and animation are just great. And it's kind of funny because all the girls look the same except with different colored features. All super smexy. Always liked how DC draws the girlies.

Also, everyone in Gotham is fat and and blue collar, and everyone in Metropolis has perfect figures and etc. Funny character design.

 

[Rue]

I watched Robin Hood on the plane yesterday and despite all the bad reviews I heard from people I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it (even if it was just Gladiator in the Midlands). Looking forward to the next one!

 

[mapko15]

love the beast its a car documentary about Eric bana and his falcon coupe its a great movie highly recommended

 

[TB]

Punctuation and capitalization is highly recommended, too.

 

[DK]

Scott Pilgrim vs The World
If you like video games, unconventional comics (such as the ones this is based on and Kick-Ass) and the perpetually nerdy Michael Cera, I heartily recommend this film. However, I should remind you that this movie is aimed at young people, so anyone who considers themselves middle-aged should skip this one. It's not over the top funny, and it has an awesome soundtrack that I can picture myself listening to while playing GT5. The characters are well thought out, and I can't seem to find any plot holes. Couple that with good ol' gaming nostalgia, and you have a movie for the young people. Just don't bring your grandparents.

Score: 8.5/10

 

[Omnis]

Isn't Anamanaguchi on that sound track? I freaking hate Michael Cera (he's the male version of Jennifer Lopez... he plays himself in all of his movies), but I'll see the movie sooner or later.

 

[theM3rcenary]

The Book of Eli (2010)


The book of Eli starring as the main character playing as a nomad in a post apocolytic world and it's believed he holds the last bible since the last war 30 years ago.

I liked watching the movie and the story wasn't very strong, but it was enjoyable. Like always Denzel Washington plays a really good role as the nomad and he was enjoyable to watch.
Gary Oldman played as the "villian" in this movie wich he performed. Sometimes he tried a bit too hard but it wasn't a big of deal.
Milla Kunis played the typical im dependable as soon se set one foot in the wasteland.

Overall it wasn't the best out there, but if u have an hour or two to spare then i recommend it you.

8.5/10

I loved this movie, awesome action scenes and a little twist at the end. I would give it a 9.2/10.

 

[Paulie]

I didn't see a movie, but rather a very long trailer for a new Mortal Kombat movie coming out, and they just completely killed the franchise, it looks very un-Mortal Kombat.