Paycheck 1.5 / 5

It was pretty bleh, but it drew me in enough that I actually paid attention to it.

amarcord

a sweet, lovely fellini film.

Spiderman 2... better than i was expecting. a creeper to an extent.
3.5/5

Farenheit 9/11... doco. fascinating. scary. good to watch.
5/5

Zaitoichi (2003): A superbly crafted action-comedy in a musical manner, definately a winner come DVD release time 4/5

the seventh seal

i thought it was pretty good
i haven't seen too many swedish movies
however, bergman was quite skillful

4/5

The Bourne Supremacy. The only thing keeping this movie from a deserving 5 is the damn handycam-like cinematography. Some portions of this movie are so jerky, it literally rapes the entire notion of "invisible style." Other than that, a perfectly good movie, with excellent character development, plot development, and a deep and enveloping story.

4/5

hellboy.
really hated it.
walked out on a dvd showing at a friends house.
because it really is the film it is making fun of.

The Seven Samurai

2/5

One of the most overrated movies I've seen since "Scarface". Easily twice as long as the story merits, terribly edited, only a few quality acting performances, terrible fight scenes....I just don't get what is so great or epic about this film.

Mulholland Drive
4/5

Its a brilliant movie, I think I get a little since I've seen weird movies before but...WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF!?

I'm starting another post on this movie

Ichi The Killer

Greusome, disgusting, pointless

5/10

winged migration.
amazing photography.
AWFUL MUSIC
the making of is interesting--disturbing for some reason.
AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL MUISC

50 First Dates : 9/10

The Triplets of Belleville.

I liked a lot of things about this film, including the animation style, the Grandmother and her love for her grandson, the music, and the hilarious dog.
I just didn't get some of the refrences, and it was little too long for me.

3.5 out of 5.

Hidalgo

I really liked the movie. Even though its a little too similar to Last Samurai and Dances With Wolves, I still liked. Just because its not original doesn't mean that its not good. The end of the movie was very moving and there was a lot of good action. Its kind of a feel good movie and sometimes those are good to watch.

7/10

the third man

3.5/5

good film noir with orson wells
in this movie, his character was talked about for about an hour before his first appearance...kind of a cool concept i thought
if i knew german, i would have had a deeper appreciation though

Borne Supremacy- 7.5/10. Decent movie, worth seeing if you like action/espionage flicks.

Belly- 9/10. One of my all-time favorite movies. Good story, amazing direction/cinematography, good soundtrack, original.

Human Traffic- 9.5/10. Another one of my all-time favorites. Man I miss London.

george washington.
interesting film, particularly in the use of music.
but the guy who made it wishes he was faulkner and there is only so much of that you can take, you know?

Japanese title: "Tengoku to jigoku" (1963)
... aka Heaven and Hell (International: English title: literal title)
... aka High and Low (USA)
... aka Ransom, The (UK)

High and Low - 9.5/10
A great Akira Kurosawa film starring Toshiro Mifune as Gondo, an executive shareholder in a shoe company that is in the middle of a stock manipulation scheme to takeover the company by the other 'holders, when his son is kidnapped and held for ransom.
Spoiler: Except they got the wrong boy. They took the chauffeur's son by mistake.
Will Gondo pay the ransom, or use his fortune to secure his job?
Watch the movie and find out.
I really enjoyed this movie, especially the police investigation aspect of it.
And Toshiro Mifune's acting, as usual, is awesome to witness.

----------------------

I also finally watched The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King today, and tonight. ;)
It was, simply put, superb. 10/10!! :thumbsup:

the color of paradise.

generally a cool film, beautifully shot, about a blind kid and his family. the village the family lives in is astonishingly beautiful. and because the main character is blind, the film makes interesting use of sound. it is basically a deeply religious film...

in this case this sensibility results in both moments of extraordarily balanced quiet--which are at times quite magical--punctuated by bizarre musical interludes.....i think there are moments when the film wants to give the impression of Big Illumination----this state of quasi-mystical vision is marked by everything slowing down and big goofy major chords being played by an orchestra hidden off camera, one that is much bigger than you could imagine.

and it is a shame. it is like the director does not trust the audience to follow the filmmaking and has to be forced into a cliche at critical moments. but it never reaches the levels of patronizing that are the particular "forte" of steven spielberg film.


another installment in our (extended) iranian film jag.

The missing: 8/10 a tad bit on the long winded side.

napoleon dynamite

probably better than most of the drivel at the cineplex
quirky and funny a la rushmore...although not quite as good
first movie from idaho i've seen in a while though

3/5


juliet of the spirits

fellini in color = superb visuals
he made this movie after 8 1/2
ending is somewhat ambiguous
this guy is becoming one of my favorite directors

4.25/5

The Secret Window

2.5 out of 5 stars.

Kinda neat but only becasue the ending wasn't all the expected. Otherwise it dragged a bit. Depp was good in it though.

"Taxi Driver" - 7.5/10

DeNiro is brilliant, though there really isn't much of a story. Stupid MPAA made them mute all the colors during the climactic shootout, which is a let down. DeNiro at his best for sure.

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
7/10

Very surreal. Funny, but the plot kind of just jumped into several outlandish scenes that were funny and unexpected, but also a little odd and out of place at the same time.

"The Fugitive" directed by John Ford starring Henry Fonda.
9/10

Great story, incredible visuals and camera angles. The dialogue isn't inspiring, but the acting is great. The location shooting really helps out the movie. I'd recommend this to any Henry Fonda or John Ford especially. A simply great film.

Collateral- Excellent movie, I really love the visuals, character development, acting, and the general story. Good if you are going into just expecting an action movie, or good if you want to see a well made movie. I was on the edge of my seat alot of the time.9/10
Supersize Me- I am always up for a good documentary. It was entertaining, and gave facts. I reccomend it. It is really good.
8/10

:)

The Bourne Supremacy. I liked it, a lot. 8/10.

21 Grams.
Big fan of Benicio del Toro, I also liked the way events were shot in reverse, then as the movie went on they showed you how things became the way they did. Very emotional movie, too, especially if you have kids...

8/10

On the Waterfront...

Holy crap!

Perfect film.

American Pie was just on TV! :D I give it a 9/10. Waaaaay better than the sequels tried to be.

Spiderman 2. Overrated.. 7/10

"the town is quiet"
crap.

Elephant- 7.5/10

Saw this movie at Blockbuster and had never heard about it. I saw that it had won some Cannes awards so I picked it up. I enjoyed it for what it's worth, but won't be seeing it again any time soon.


Master and Commander- 8.5/10

I usually wouldn't give a movie like this a good review like this, however I feel it largely deserves one. I waited to see it figuring it was going to be another "The Patriot" or another "Gladiator" takeoff; ie generally good but very formulaic. It wasn't this though. I really liked the anti-climactic story and feel it displayed the lifestyle very well. The music was amazing too ;)


The Manchurian Candidate- 8.5/10

I was semi-dragged into seeing this movie. I tend to stay away from Denzel Washington movies as of late seeing he's been used *so* many times. The movie was very interesting though. I guess I wasn't well informed, but it was totally different than what I expected, and I think this is generally the consensus for everyone as a few people even left early as they weren't expecting/couldn't take a semi-disturbing, intense film. I'd recomend seeing it, even if it's just because it's different than most blockbusters out these days.

IDENTITY - 3/10
What a mess. Every actor looked bored. It might have been funny if it tried to be campy, but it was dead serious.

2 hours lost forever...


THE GRIFTERS - 7.5/10
This was a good one, but Im done with John Cusack. He's no good. He seemed well-cast, but something about him drives me nuts. He's a punk who's pretends to be a tough guy and it just don't work.
Anjelica Huston owns this movie, as a smooth operating grifter who works for the mob. She just gets better with age. Annette Bening as Cusack's hooker-girlfriend-grifter...she can act her ass off, very impressed.

Nice, fast-paced drama/action flick.

Ring of Fire - Excellent. I really liked this one. The only thing keeping it from being superb is that I didn't understand why one of the groups in the movie hated on Denzel, despite his actions. Regardless, this one was really good, had some interesting twists, and wasn't overly complicated.

White Chicks - Average. It tries too hard to be funny. Too many akward moments with shrieking girls being blonde. Tries to teach life lessons, but ends up being about as successful as Jerry Springer's speech at the end of each show. The really muscular black man saves this movie. I can't think of his name right now, but he's really funny, and stands out as being the funniest aspect of the movie.

Garfield - Average. It's cute, and the animation is good. The story works, but the target audience is probably 13 year olds, which is probably why I didn't love it.

I-Robot - Mediocre. Will Smith worked out for this movie, and regardless of whether you care or not, you will know. Instead of following the movie, my friend and I counted the number of scenes in which Will's new tightened physique was shamelessly thrown at us. It was more than five.

Dodgeball - Excellent. I preferred Anchorman more, but Dodgeball is a great movie, and very funny. There are tons of references that can be used with friends after seeing it, and Ben Stiller plays a great role. It also has inspired the creation of dodge ball leagues all over the country, which probably says something about it's quality. Dodgeball and Anchorman were highlights this summer.

Anchorman - Superb. I really liked this one a lot. It had a lot of totally random humor, which I am really a fan of. It won't win awards, but it was really funny, and that is what I paid to see. This and Dodgeball were easily the two funniest movies I've seen this summer.

The Village - Mediocre. Left way too many questions unanswered, and I didn't "get" many things in the movie that I can't really discuss without spoiling.

Alien vs Predator - Average. I've never seen Predator, but I saw a few of the Alien movies. The action was there, as was some suspense, and the ending was decent.

I also watched the Chris Farley and Will Ferrel SNL Greatest Hits DVDs, and they are a blast. Very funny, and some great skits were selected.

Trading Places - Widescreen DVD - 10/10

This is the last decent movie thatr Eddie Murphy starred in. Not to mention Dan Ackroyd and the ever lushish Jamie Lee Curtis.

Kill Bill Vol. 2
Saw it at work tonight for the first time. MUCH, much better than the awful action heavy dreck that is 90% of Vol. 1, the story development was superb and showed just how much the first half was missing.
Good enough to stand on its own without suffering through Vol. 1 (the first movie in some time that put me to sleep several times waiting for plot development or anything decent to watch that never really does happen), but it does help with continuity just watching the first half once.

"Bad Santa"

Or was it "Badder Santa"? That's the what was printed on the DVD I got from Netflix, but having never seen the original in the theatre, I wouldn't know the difference.

Regardless, it was pretty fucking funny. The story with the kid was just nice enough to give the movie a little heart, but the insults that came out of that dwarf's mouth would make Richard Pryor blush. Classic lines in there....and where did they find that kid?

Stuck On You. Basic comedy flick, nothing too great. Didn't even laugh that much. 6/10.