La Rafle, a French film about the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup, it is an excellent film, based on the true story of a young Jewish boy, I'd easily give it a 10/10 or two thumbs up, it was hard to watch in places, and incredibly sad, but a movie everyone should see.

Shaun of the Dead (2004) 9/10 zombie comedy

I just saw this movie for the first time.

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010) 7/10

Not bad, but I would have deleted some scenes (e.g. comic relief) and added more (e.g. battles).

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: 8.5/10

Harry Potter is on a dangerous journey that will not end well for many people. His last remaining family member, Sirius Black, was killed by Bellatrix two years ago at the Ministry of Magic and Dumbledore met his end by the half blood prince and ex-Hogwarts professor Severus Snape. With Dumbledore out of the way, Lord Voldemort’s only mission is to kill Harry Potter while Harry’s mission is to locate and destroy 4 horcruxes, each containing a part of Lord Voldemort’s soul.

If this doesn’t clue you in by now, this is a dark film with a seriously bleak and depressing atmosphere since everyone around Harry is in danger of being tortured or killed just for being associated with him. Wizard and witches of muggle descent are being imprisoned or killed because of their status and worst of all The Ministry of Magic is now controlled by Lord Voldemort and his cronies, making Harry undesirable #1.

I think one of the best idea’s that was integrated into the film was when Hermione read the Deathly Hallows story out loud for everyone at Lovegood’s house, but instead of just watching her read a book, they made that sequence into a short Tim Burton-esqe animation involving the three brothers and their encounter with death while she narrated the story.

And for those of you who have read the last book will get the subtle reference mentioned by Hermione when they entered Godric’s Hallow where she states “I still think we should have used the polyjuice potion to disguise ourselves”, which is what they did in the book.

Have I mentioned the sweet chase scene yet? No? Well, imagine The Matrix highway chase scene where Neo is fighting the numerous Agent Smiths and replace that with Harry and Hagrid fighting against the death eaters while driving a modified super-fast flying motorcycle through traffic.

Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) 6/10 is a silly comedy for guys along the lines of The Hangover. Three old friends and one new one are unexpectedly reunited on a skiing trip and they take a dip in the hot tub. Something magic happens and they are sent back in time to the 1980s. The three old ones were at the same ski resort as young men, and they soon find out that they need to mess around with the course of past/present events to prevent the future from going bad. It's stupid but passable fun for a zero effort watch and John Cusack always brings good vibes to anything he's in. Interestingly Cusack made Better Off Dead, high school comedy set in and around a ski town, in 1985, one year before the events of Hot Tub Time Machine are set.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994) 9/10. Everyone knows and loves The Shawshank Redemption including me but it still vexes me that it should be the world's favourite movie. It's been at the top of IMDB's top 250 for as long as I can remember (though it was briefly displaced by The Dark Knight - which is now at #10. That THAT film should be anywhere near the top 250 is a whole other issue). That Shawshank is so popular shows how reactionary the public generally is when it comes to movies. The film's a good one - a solid 9 - that pushes the right buttons at the right times but it isn't at all groundbreaking. I think a large part of what makes it popular is a combination of Stephen King's hazy nostalgic storytelling and Morgan Freeman's unhurried voiceovers (of which there are a lot). The first time I saw this film I couldn't stand Tim Robbins in it. I warmed to him on subsequent viewings but he's still very blank and cold a lot of the time. What struck me about Shawshank this time, and this is a very minor criticism, was how uneven it sometimes feels: lurching from blunt, unflinching and surprisingly real violence one minute to sweet, decidedly unreal sentimentality the next. Everyone in the cast does well and my particular favourite is Bob Gunton as Warden Norris.

Slumdog Millionaire (2008) 8/10. Not sure how or why I missed this when it was new, wowing everyone who watched it and winning every single Oscar in the world. I suppose I was probably just being a Grinch, preferring to harrumph to myself about such gushing and unreserved praise rather than actually bothering to see the film: cheeky plucky little slum children up against tremendous odds that somehow manage to come out on top? No thanks! I hadn't been impressed by anything director Danny Boyle had done since Trainspotting. However I liked Slumdog a lot better than I expected to even though it's very contrived and manipulative (and as subtle in its storytelling as an enraged daddy elephant is in his stampede). By the end though the outrageous story has built up enough steam that everything that happens feels justified and fine and though the ending's pretty clear from early in the film, just how it happens isn't as predictable as I thought it would be.

Michael Clayton (2007) 9/10. I started to watch this film thinking it was a period piece about Liam Neeson struggling for Ireland's struggling for independence. It wasn't that. That's Michael Collins. So I had no prior knowledge whatever of Michael Clayton. George Clooney is a fixer for a top law firm whose most senior partner (a brilliant Tom Wilkinson) has either gone quite insane or had a crisis of conscience at exactly the wrong moment. This felt a lot like one of the better John Grisham adaptations (The Firm, The Rainmaker, Runaway Jury) that don't seem to get made anymore and thanks to writer-director Tony Gilroy (writer of the Bourne movies) it's got a steely-cold life-or-death urgency usually missing from countroom thrillers. Plot ingredients bubble and some people die and eventually what results is a dénouement that some people have called a cheat. It seemed fine to me, rousing and satisfying and very VERY nicely handled by Clooney but perhaps I wasn't paying close enough attention to some previous important scene.

State of Play (2009) 8/10 is another thriller by Tony Gilroy, this time it's based around newspaper journalism and politics. Russell Crowe is the journalist and Ben Affleck is the politician. Rachel McAdams is a cub reporter at the paper! What was the last film to feature a cub reporter? The jaded newspaperman and the cub reporter is the sort of classic pairing we haven't seen since black and white days. These two make it work well in a modern way. Affleck is stiff and unsympathetic as the senator but he's sort of supposed to be. It's a pretty thankless role. There's a very good and funny turn from Jason Bateman playing some sort of witness. The plot has to do with modern-day conspiracies and some new military industrial complex and that works fine.

St Elmo's Fire (1985) 7/10. Gosh weren't the eighties funny! Look at their hair! Look at Rob Lowe's reckless earring, his saxophone and his devil-may-care attitude! Look at him fighting in the bar, look at him on the roof not caring about how high it is. Oh my god. This film is about some semi-rich fools who have graduated from a college supposedly realising that they can't dick around their whole lives. They each have to carve out credible careers in the eighties, they have to GET ON and figure out for themselves what it is they want, and they have go get it, goddammit! Can all of them figure out said BS before the film ends? Will Demi Moore survive being alone in a furnitureless apartment with the window WIDE open in wintertime before her friends (ALL her friends) can rescue her? Buhhhhhh...... ugk.

Rushmore (1998) 9/10. This is an ace film that everyone should already know about. It's set mostly at a prep school but if we're not being strict it can be called a high school comedy, I think. If so it's definitely in the top 5 high school movies. It's been a few years since I've seen it though and I managed to get through the whole thing thinking that Rachel Weisz was playing Miss Cross. It's not her. It's someone else. However, someone who IS in this film is child actor Mason Gamble, playing Fischer's best friend Dirk Calloway. Gamble starred with fellow child star Spencer Treat Clark in Arlington Road (1999). Treat Clark, of course, was Lucius in Gladiator (2000), asking what are the names of the horses on the armour. Lucious's mother in Gladiator was played by Connie Nielsen who also played Treat Clark's mother in Rushmore.

Ong-Bak (2003) 6/10. Do you like FIGHTING? You do? Then you'll just love Ong-Bak. This film is about 70% about fighting and about 30% chasing and stunts. The barest possible pretext for an excuse for some antagonism is set out at the start and then our hero Tony Jaa - a bit of a modern-day Bruce Lee - is off to the big city (Bangkok), to try to find something that was stolen from somewhere. The harvest rains will not fall until that artefact is returned to the village temple! The setup is barer than that of a computer game but that's fine. The fighting happens, the baddies are bad, and you can guess what happens in the end. I know this deal. I feel weary from having been here and done that. Where Ong-Bak falls down sideways is with the sidekick. I guess the thinking was maybe that Jaa didn't have enough charisma or star quality to carry off a big action movie by himself so a "comedy" sidekick was required. But WHAT an awful sidekick! There's no better way to say it: the guy's a c!!nt. He's hateful, abrasive, constantly deceitful and utterly craven. At no time is he funny or likeable. He's more like a bad guy's cringing henchman than the hero's ally. At times Jaa looks like he knows it too, and almost leaves the guy to whatever fate he definitely deserves. The action and stunts are impressive but before long I found myself longing for the light-hearted yet bruising silliness and large-scale destruction of a Jackie Chan film.

Splice.
I can't remember seeing a film more stupid that didn't have Hercules in the title. ever.

Funny People.
Started out promising enough with a lot of dark, biting humor from a comedian who thinks he's going to die and then, much to my dismay, segues disastrously into a 'lost love' melodrama when he discovers he's going to live. Much like life, I suppose, but still a bummer.

Harry Brown.
A good film with a message I am more than a little ambivalent about - vigilantism. No doubt the folks being hunted are bad, bad people - remorseless fucks actually. There is a character named Stretch played by an actor I've never seen before named Sean Harris that is one of the scariest characters I've ever seen on screen. His part is small, but it is the most remarkable performance in the film. Which is something considering it stars Michael Caine. The plot gets a little slapdash at the end which I didn't think was necessary. Worth watching, but very bleak.

Other movies watched recently:
40 Year Old Virgin - eh, got tired of it
Dark City - pretty, but ultimately disappointing
Lions for Lambs - Robert Redford. preachy. but I'll watch Meryl Streep in anything.
Everybody's Fine - Robert De Niro is charming, but it's sappy.
Taking of Pelham 123 - is what it is.
Book of Eli - the Jesus Apocalypse. ripe with fodder for real time heckling. skinny jeans are still in.
Julia - drunk and mean for two hours.
Clash of the Titans - uh, yeah. already forgotten.
The Hangover - we really enjoyed this movie. it's fun.
The White Ribbon - exquisite black and white photography. creepy children. ambiguous ending. what's not to like?
It's Complicated - even though it's Hollywood yuppie fluff, I enjoyed this film.
In the Valley of Elah - very good.
The Wolfman - goofy, but kind of fun.

there are lots of others, but I grow tired now.
I guess I seem hard to please, lol.

RED (2010).

features an all star cast. Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich to name a few. Willis is an ex black ops agent who is now being hunted by the CIA. He gathers his old crew for some old time action.

good to watch, but predictable at times.

6.5/10

Splice 4-10 & Red 7-10

The Losers .............sucked ,why can't one simply just stop watching a bad movie?

Ocean Heaven - 10/10

This is Jet Li's first movie in which he didn't kick any ass, and not even a punch is thrown. Rather, Li plays a dad, Wang who's dying from terminal liver cancer. Li has a 21-year-old son, Dafu, who's autistic. The film revolves around Li trying to find a place that will take Dafu in after he dies. Also during this time, Wang tries to teach his son how to take care of himself after he dies. What is shown here is Wang's constant uphill battle with his disease and him trying to teach Dafu how to do simple daily tasks. Dafu autistic so every task is a challenge for him, even the simple act of communicating to people around him proves to be problematic. But Wang is ever-so-patient in dealing with Dafu. Every tasks he tries to teach Dafu, you see him meticulously repeating the instruction again and again, breaking down line by line, word by word to make sure Dafu gets it. The process is painfully slow, and some times the audience has doubts whether or not Dafu actually learns something.

IMO, this is Li's best performance of his career. His portrayal of a caring, but dying dad is spot on. Every thing he does is believable. From the way he talks, to his demeanor, his facial expression, and even down to his heavy trodden gait tells you this is a dad who's been through a lot trying to raise his son. The actor who plays Dafu also turns in a superb performance as an autistic man-child, and the same goes for the excellent supporting cast. It's a tear-jerker alright. But the film ends in a manner so satisfying you don't mind being drag along in this long emotional trail.

Recently I decided to try to find and watch as many animated shorts as possible. From the 30s to the 60s or later most of the big Hollywood studios made dozens of short cartoons every year and lots of them can be found on Youtube. I'm starting with Warner Bros, whose Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes films are the most well known and best-loved shorts. Unfortunately Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and all the rest weren't there from the start and there's an awful lot of uninspiring, music-based, B&W shorts to get through first. I'm going in chronological order starting from WB's first animation, Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid (1929) watching only those that are immediately available for viewing on Youtube or elsewhere.

I've watched 53 so far, out of a total of 75 that WB produced between 1929 and 1933. Most of these have featured Bosko, the first WB's cartoon star. He's a perpetually good-natured black boy who loves to sing and dance and woo his girlfriend Honey. Whether or not they feature Bosko (most do) the early Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies are generally a test of patience to watch because there's no plot, proper characters or drama. Except for the first film, which served to introduce Bosko, it's just animation set to popular songs of the time that Warners owned. Watching these cheery, quaint, humdrum films, however, does afford the odd glimpse of an idea here, a visual trope there- which slowly developed into some of the iconic staples that later came to define animation and especially WB animation: the falling anvil, the railroad handcar, a u-pipe used to send bullets back where they came from.

Most of these films have started to merge into each other already so I'll just pick some highlights that I can remember. Characters in The Booze Hangs High get drunk which is always a good thing in a cartoon; Bosko the Doughboy sees Bosko fighting in the trenches of WWI; Lady, Play Your Mandolin has a catchy song; You're Too Careless with Your Kisses features arguing man and wife insects; Three's a Crowd has characters from books coming to life and fighting, as does I Like Mountain Music; Wake Up the Gypsy in Me is about the end of the Russian empire and features the mad monk Rice Puddin' incorrectly completing a jigsaw puzzle and then fleeing the Revolution. The best of these films was Bosko's Mechanical Man in which Bosko makes a robot in his garage to help with the housework which then goes on a furious rampage.

Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid (1929) 6/10
The Booze Hangs High (1930) 7/10
Sinkin' in the Bathtub (1930) 6/10
Congo Jazz (1930) 7/10
Box Car Blues (1930) 6/10
Hold Anything (1930) 6/10
Bosko the Doughboy (1931) 6/10
One More Time (1931) 6/10
You Don't Know What You're Doin'! (1931) 6/10
Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land (1931) 6/10
Lady, Play Your Mandolin! (1931) 6/10
Bosko's Soda Fountain (1931) 6/10
Bosko's Holiday (1931) 6/10
Ain't Nature Grand! (1931) 6/10
Dumb Patrol (1931) 6/10
Big Man from the North (1931) 6/10
Bosko Shipwrecked! (1931) 6/10
The Tree's Knees (1931) 6/10
Yodeling Yokels (1931) 6/10
Ups 'n Downs (1931) 6/10
I Love a Parade (1932) 6/10
Bosko and Honey (1932) 6/10
Moonlight for Two (1932) 6/10
It's Got Me Again (1932) 6/10
Crosby, Columbo and Vallee (1932) 6/10
Bosko at the Zoo (1932) 6/10
Bosko's Party (1932) 6/10
Bosko's Dog Race (1932) 6/10
Big-Hearted Bosko (1932) 6/10
Freddy the Freshman (1932) 6/10
Goopy Geer (1932) 6/10
A Great Big Bunch of You (1932) 6/10
The Queen Was in the Parlor (1932) 6/10
Bosko the Drawback (1932) 6/10
Bosko at the Beach (1932) 6/10
Bosko and Bruno (1932) 6/10
I Wish I Had Wings (1932) 6/10
Battling Bosko (1932) 6/10
You're Too Careless With Your Kisses (1932) 6/10
Bosko's Store (1932) 6/10
Bosko the Lumberjack (1932) 6/10
Bosko's Dizzy Date (1932) 6/10
Three's a Crowd (1932) 6/10
The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives (1933) 6/10
Bosko's Picture Show (1933) 6/10
Bosko in Person (1933) 5/10
I Like Mountain Music (1933) 6/10
Bosko the Sheepherder (1933) 6/10
Bosko's Mechanical Man (1933) 7/10
Beau Bosko (1933) 6/10
Bosko in Dutch (1933) 6/10
Bosko the Speed King (1933) 6/10
Wake Up the Gypsy in Me (1933) 6/10

44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out (2003) (TVM) 5/10. It's a totally pedestrian account of the most massive shoot-out the cops have ever had with the robbers. In 1997 two guys robbed a bank and came out shooting AKs. At first the cops' bullets just bounced off of the bad guys because they had very strong armour. Then the cops stopped by at a local gun store and borrowed some bigger guns like M16s. The bad guys ended up dead and everyone else lived, just like in the movies.

The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) 7/10 is about Che Guevara and someone else riding around Argentina, Chile and all the rest in the 1940s. Their journey is only sometimes interesting but there are some wonderful landscapes.

Downfall (2004) 7/10 is a film about what happened in and around Hitler's bunker right at the end of WWII as the Russian forces massed at Berlin's doorstep before eventually bashing the door in with their huge shoulders and boots. All the performances (all German), especially Bruno Ganz as Hitler, are good and Ulrich Matthes, playing Joseph Goebbles, is on the one hand particularly odious and malignant in a way that immediately suggests OTT pantomime Nazis, but on the other is very credible and belivable. Maybe Nazis really were like that but because they were real, it wasn't such a joke. The top Nazis gradually coming round to the fact that they've definately lost - or else denying it almost to the end as Hitler does - isn't as fulfilling as I had hoped. Germans fuming and shouting at each other for hours gets wearing and grates on the ears; there's no relief, and you know everything's doomed anyway. The most memorable part of this film and the most galling scene I've seen all year was when Goebbles and his wife kill their six children so they won't have to grow up in a world without Nazis.

Midnight Cowboy (1969) 8/10. Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman star for director John Schlesinger in the only X-rated film ever to win Best Picture. Voight is instantly likeable as Joe Buck, the naive happy-go-lucky Texan trying to make it as a gigolo in New York; Hoffman is instantly dislikeable as Ratso Rizzo, the degenerate heel Buck reluctantly shacks up with. The pair have good banter and both perform well but, as with so many of his other films, the earnestness and whining tone of Hoffman's delivery grates. There is a brilliant hippy party scene.

Apocalypse Now (1979) 7/10. People say this is the best war film so far. What a crock of shit. I only watched it again because I'm really in Saigon now and... shit. I'm still only in Saigon. It's an exercise in gross indulgence on the part of its director, Francis Ford Coppola, and its 'star', Marlon Brando. I can identify with weary, pissed-off Martin Sheen (Captain Willard) going on his bullshit mission because I'm equally weary and pissed-off trying to watch this film. I didn't even watch the extended Redux version yet there are still huge periods of time when nothing at all happens to drive the plot forwards. All of the characters are the merest sketches of characters with no backstory or reason for you to care about them. Dour and cranky Capt. Willard is the only link between the audience and the madness of the Vietnam War but you can scarcely identify with a man you know nothing about. Robert Duvall and Dennis Hopper both give pretty ripe performances in the first and last parts of the film respectively - Duvall comes off OK, Hopper comes off as a horrible man. He's not supposed to be a villain but he totally is one. But the worst is Brando. Look: this is what happens when you indulge such an ego as his. You end up with a huge empty box of nothing. Time seems to stand still during the last 30 minutes or so of this film - and I remember thinking exactly the same thing the other times I watched it. Apart from anything else it's completely uncinematic. Brando mumbling nonsense in the dark - well done everyone. Thanks. And yet it's all for nothing. Some people kill a cow? Good. If that's relevant or a metaphor I have no idea why or for what. I've seen this film, Redux and not, at least four times now and even still I don't know whether or not Brando gets killed by the end. I fucking hope so but I know I'm not ever going to watch it again to find out.

The Blue Max (1966) 8/10 is a WWI film on the side of the Germans starring George Peppard, stiff as a board, James Mason - unctuous! - and Ursula Andress (slinky). It's 1918 and the war is not going well for Germany. New fighter pilot and former infantryman Bruno Stachel (Peppard) is aggressively ambitious and cares only about winning the Pour le Mérite (AKA the Blue Max) - Germany's highest military order. His route to the medal is by shooting down twenty Allied planes. Things are complicated by devious General Count von Klugerman (Mason), his hot young wife (Andress) and his nephew, Bruno's main rival Willi von Klugerman (acted with excellent venom by Jeremy Kemp). I first watched this film by accident on TV one day when I had nothing to do and liked it for two reasons. Firstly its plot, which is a sort of rags to riches fantasy story about a naive young man realising his most heady dreams - but at the same time being manipulated by invisible forces. And the flying sequences totally blew me away. Before I watched it just now I hadn't seen it in a couple of years; watching it again, now I'm familiar with the plot, I found it a lot less engaging. Peppard's such a dull actor in this he cannot come close to making me really care about him so all that's left is Kemp and Mason - superbly realised but in the end they're two dimensional villains. (Even so, Mason is quite brilliant in the last scenes of the film.) The flying sequences are all brilliant - and they won't stop being brilliant even if you see this film a hundred times. There are no tricks: everything is real. Real pilots are flying those real bi-planes under really low bridges. Real sheep were placed in one scene purely to prove that there was no trickery: the plane really went under that bridge causing the sheep to scatter. Peppard's hollow acting and a rickety 1960s war film plot are a fair price to pay for some rousing arieal action and stunts, and brilliant villany by James Mason.

Home Alone (1990) 8/10. Kevin's mum (Katherine O'Hara) is an awful bitch. I hate the way she grabs the phone off of the French woman in Paris and shoves her away. "What? Why? Because you have a child at home in America that you forgot? Oh shit no, you go ahead and take the phone." And I think there are French cops standing by who do nothing. No wonder Americans have such a bad reputation overseas. In any real life situation she should shut up sit down and bite her thumb, and wait her turn for a flight back to Chicago on -Christmas Eve-, to go and see if Kevin's OK. Remember she doesn't know what's happened with Kevin. What happens only happens because it's a movie called Home Alone. She doesn't know it's a movie. BUT what happens is worse than her worse fears of what might happen to Kevin. After Kevin and the audience have had their fun in a torture-porn-tastic half hour of burnings, bruisings, maimings, spikings, crackings and bashings, beleagurered burglars Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci eventually catch up with Kevin, of course, and threaten him with the exact same damage he already did to them. An eye for an eye, etc. Pesci even wants to bite off every one of Kevin's fingers! UH-OH! I don't think Buzz's tarantula will save you from the biting, Kevin! OOUGH!

Piranha 3D (2010) 7/10
The Rainmaker (1997) 8/10
Pink Floyd The Wall (1982) 9/10
Notorious (1946) 7/10
The Boys from Brazil (1978) 7/10
Winter's Bone (2010) 8/10
Frozen (2010) 7/10
The Departed (2006) 8/10
The Other Guys (2010) 8/10
The Tortured (2010) 4/10
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010) 8/10
Windtalkers (2002) 6/10
Throw Momma from the Train (1986) 7/10
American Pie (1999) 7/10
Road Trip (2000) 6/10
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) 6/10
King Ralph (1991) 7/10
Gremlins (1984) 7/10
Hemo the Magnificent (TVM) (1957) 7/10
Shooter (2007) 6/10
A Time to Kill (1996) 7/10
My Little Pony: The Movie (1986) 6/10
American History X (1998) 8/10

Johnny Dangerously (1984) 6/10 is a crime comedy starring a cocky young Michael Keaton. Though still young, he's a retired mobster now running a pet store and via flashback he relates the farcial story of his life of crime to a young would-be shoplifter. It's very obvious lowbrow comedy of the sort that gets old quickly, but the prohibition-era setting puts one in mind of the old Warner Bros gangster films from the 30s and Johnny Dangerously shares a sort of quaint old-fashioned innocence with those films which is quite charming. Danny DeVito also stars, and as always he lights up every scene he's in.

Courage Under Fire (1996) 6/10 (SLIGHT SPOILERS) is a very serious mystery drama set in the military starring a stouter than usual Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan. I can't think of any female actor I like less than Meg Ryan. She's never failed to bring down and make worse any film I have seen her in. Here she plays a helicopter pilot in the US Army - Captain Karen Walden, who was killed in action during the Gulf War. With the war now over, Denzel Washington is the Colonel tasked with finding out if she should be awarded the Medal of Honor for saving the lives of her crew - which is a big deal because she'd be the first woman to get the medal. He spends most of the film tramping back and forth across America debriefing Walden's subordinates whose accounts of what happened are shown to us in flashback. Not all of them are reliable so we get differing versions of the same story, Rashomon style. It's not a very interesting story and the people in it are not likeable or engaging. I didn't care what really happened in Iraq - Meg Ryan was dead, thankfully - that much was clear - so it seemed an unnecessary and unfair imposition to have to watch her shitty acting again and again with slight differences. There was a glimmer of hope when a sergeant who was on the chopper (Lou Diamond Phillips) told his version of events, which had it that Walden was a coward and cried like a girl, and so didn't deserve the medal but - this being a large Hollywood war film made by Edward Zwick - that turned out to be a lie and the guilt of what really happened wracked Phillips' character so badly that he's driven - literally - to commit one of the most excellent suicides I've ever seen in a film. Not even Matt Damon, as a shifty Army medic, improves this painfully earnest but completely inconsequential film. Denzel Washington in the lead is pedantic and priggish and I found myself siding with his superior General Hershberg (Michael Moriarty), who tells him: stop beefing and muckraking and just finish the job already.

Valley Girl (1983) 7/10 is a high school comedy starring Nicolas Cage. He plays a boy from Hollywood who starts seeing a girl from the (San Fernando) Valley which is just over the hills from Hollywood but might as well be a whole other country. It seems that Valley girls go out with Valley boys (rich, vapid, preppy and blonde) or else risk ostracization by their friends. The Valley girl in question juggles Cage and Valley boy Tommy for a while before she must make a decision. The more I see Nicolas Cage the more I like him, especially in these early roles. In this film he's incredibly endearing: romantic, willful, compulsive but also vulnerable and wonderfully bashful at times. The film is showing its age much more than the contemporaneous Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) (which Cage also appears in briefly) and won't stand as many repeat viewings as that film but it is a very good-natured, easy to watch fantastical teen romance along the lines of Say Anything (1989), Endless Love (1980) and Can't Buy Me Love (1987).

I Love You Beth Cooper (2009) 5/10. This, on the other hand, is how not to make a high school comedy. To make such a film you need endearing young actors. You need a story premise that doesn't feel fifteen years old and you need a script that's not full of lines that are unfunny and that make no sense in the context of the scene. This is a very poorly written film. The actors are all totally charmless: the protagonist, played by Paul Rust, has gone through high school being a geek and never daring to speak to the girl he's obsessed with (Hayden Panetierre). In a desperate last minute attempt to make her notice him, he declares his love for her in front of the whole school - as well as insulting her frowning gorilla of a boyfriend and a lot of his other classmates. Paul Rust is like an unfunny George McFly - a totally inept, useless damp squib with the aggravating tendency that such characters often have of always saying the most inappropriate thing at the worst possible time. Rust has not a single ounce of charm to counter his many shortcomings, and Panetierre is horrible: she's a non-character, a pretty exterior with nothing beneath it but a fake bad attitude and a moronic 'wild streak' which, I think, is supposed to make her more attractive. It doesn't! Rather it brings to mind the woman terminator out of Terminator 3 (2003). The two of them, accompanied by one of his friends and two of hers, spend the movie fleeing from the gorilla and his buddies. Chaos, destruction, stupidity and other predictable stuff happens but it's not ever funny enough to laugh out loud at. See The Girl Next Door (2004) for this sort of thing done properly: with some edge, and with the essential weight that a decent actor in the lead can bring.

Hotel Chevalier (2007) 8/10
The Darjeeling Limited (2007) 7/10
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) 9/10
The Hills Have Eyes (2006) 7/10
Kids (1995) 8/10
High Plains Drifter (1973) 6/10

True Grit 4.5/5 - Generally speaking, I'm not a fan of the Coen Brothers but this movie was an exception. The acting was superb (by all involved, Matt Damon was hilarious), the story was engrossing, and the background was beautiful. If you like westerns, go see this. If you like Jeff Bridges or Matt Damon, go see this. If you don't care for the Coen Brothers, give this a chance anyway.

Tron Legacy - 8/10

Adventure, fun, a slightly suspenseful and glossy story with Jeff Bridges and some pretty people along with a killer soundtrack from Daft Punk. What's not to enjoy? If you look for plot holes, you'll find plenty. But still one of those movie experiences that won't be the quite the same at home. Or maybe I just adore Jeff Bridges.

Tron legacy: 4.5/10

I couldn’t connect with this film or any of the characters. If Flynn had the ability to destroy the virtual world, why didn’t he do this when Clu took over the city a 1000 cycles ago? Sure, it would have meant the end of his life and the virtual world he created, but it would have been better than sitting around his virtual apartment for twenty years doing absolutely nothing.

The idea of using a CGI Flynn for a younger version of Jeff Bridges may have been a good idea at the time, but the digital face couldn’t express emotion and it just looked out of place from the entire film.

And why was Jeff Bridges acting like, The Dude from The Big Lebowski? Through most of this film, Flynn was saying “Far Out” and “Totally Radical, man”, which is a major distraction from the stylish yet shallow film.

I enjoyed Tron (1982) because of the original story line and terrible special effects, but didn’t enjoy Tron Legacy because of the weak story, dialog, digital Jeff Bridges face and the conversion of a 2-D film into 3-D. They need to improve the glasses, otherwise I am going to wait until it is released on DVD.

That's the only one that makes sense to me. He'd been in the grid for over 20 years and was a techie genius hippie at that time.

The theater my daughter works at had all 3 options: IMax 3-D, 3-D and 2-D. 3-D is way too gimmicky and distracting for me so we saw it in 2-D. I highly recommend it.

Black Swan: 8.5/10

If a movie or an actor/actress were nominated for an academy award then I generally go into the movie with super high expectation that it fails to meet. Now, I am a huge fan of Natalie Portman, so my viewpoint of a film will always be from a subjective viewpoint. However, this film grabbed my attention from the start where I was drawn to a super emotional and anxiety ridden ballerina, Nina, who is obsessed with getting the moves perfect to the point of no return. While events are unfolding on screen, the audience is left to question whether what is happening is actually happening or if it is all in Nina’s mind.

I think this is one of Natalie Portman’s best performances because she morphs or blends in with her character that I no longer see the actress, but the character she portrays. If a movie can accomplish this then it had done its job.

Eastern Promises with viggo Mortensen - 9 out of 10, recommended if you haven't seen it, it's an older film, but great non the less

The King's Speech
Starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Helena Bonham Carter

9.5/10

I wanted this film to be flawless, but it wasn't quite there. It was oh so close. I will be surprised if Firth doesn't get an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of the stammering King George VI. I'll be absolutely flabbergasted if neither Firth nor Rush get nominations. Their onscreen chemistry was fantastic. Firth's performance was compelling, and not to mention heart-wrenching at times.

I implore you to see this. It's one of the best period films I've seen.

Viggo Mortensen is one hell of an actor. I just watched The Road last night and he was ridiculously phenomenal in it. How the hell did he pull up such strength to play that role?

The Road - 8/10. Viggo Mortensen delivers another superb performance. The movie got me engaged and forced me to think about what it means to be human. But it dragged on a bit long, and while I liked it, it wasn't entirely an enjoyable cinematic experience.

A few days ago watched 'African Queen' 1951 with Bogart and Hepburn how could you go wrong?

Just figured that I've watched 'The Polar Express' about 500 times in the last 3 years, my grandson loves the movie, and to tell the truth I still enjoy it.

I agree with this - it is nice to see a movie that doesn't rely on car chases and/or explosions to be riveting. Character acting isn't dead :)

Simon Says: 5/10

A typical horror film where a group of teenagers travel to an unknown area where they treat the locals poorly and are surprised when they are hunted by a mentally ill sociopath taking them out in hilariously violent ways. The acting is over the top, the dialogue is amusing and the story is average at best.

Why advertise a horror movie with Blake Lively when she is only in the movie for less than 60 seconds? Remind me never to travel to a small town and make fun of the mentally handicapped individual who will probably show up in the woods and chop off my head.


Harvest of fear: 3/10

A predictable story that probably should never have been made and quite surprised that anyone who read the script would take part in such a low quality film. The police, mayor and citizens in this small town are so dim witted that I am surprised the Harvest killer didn't invite everyone to a party and blow up the house. It would have saved time and reduced the film to 5 minutes.

The Path of Evil 2/10

I have no idea how Harvest of Fear received a sequel let alone get the same actors to play the same characters. Did they not see the first film? Did they not read the story? I thought the framed Harvest killer was killed in the end of the first film, yet here we see him alive and well in prison, which makes no sense. Actually, the entire film makes no sense since it follows the same format as the first one, but I guess the best part is that all of the characters from the first film are killed in this one, which prevents them from making another film.

Up in the air 9/10
Unique, interesting, and actually somewhat sad.

The Kings Speech - 5/5

It's been quite some time since I was wowed by a movie. The Kings Speech completely and utterly wowed me. Colin Firth was absolutely brilliant (all of the acting was superb, but he was just incredible). He and Geoffrey Rush played off of each other so well. The story was riveting and never faltered or slowed. I just can't say enough good things about this movie.

Finally got around to seeing the Blind Side. I was hesitant because I thought it would be over-rated and corny. Was I surprised! Sandra Bullock was great and the movie nearly brought me to tears (all right, it did one time). 8/10

Tron Legacy Imax 3D: 9.5/10

Th only problem was that I wanted some of the original music at the end credits at least.

The other small issue is that the light cycles didn't have jetwalls behind them anymore.

Avatar the last airbender: 4/10

After watching the animated series, I had to see the live action version to determine if it held up to the original. The movie followed the storyline, but they chose the wrong cast for this film. They did not fit well with their character's personality and their dialogue and conversations with each other seemed forced. The special effects were decent, but I felt air/water/fire/earth benders should have been faster with their moves. Like, if I had a super power, I wouldn't spend 30 second performing a super complicated move at a slow pace because I am sure my opponent would have killed me by then.

Skip the film and watch the animated series because you will definitely enjoy it.

True Grit- 7/10.

Decent movie. At times word for word and scene for scene from the 1969 John Wayne version. Other times it's much more dark and eventually sticks more closely to the original Charles Portis novel. I think Jeff Bridges did a better job with the Rooster Cogburn role then Wanye; while Kim Darby's Mattie Ross impressed me more then Hailee Steinfeld. Over all a decent movie and for me worth the time I spent watching it on-line.

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) 7/10 is a Western with Clint Eastwood. Josey Wales is minding his own business one day when the Civil War happens, and his family is murdered and his house burned down by a Union militia. Because of this he joins the Rebels and when they lose the war he refuses to disarm and pledge allegiance to the Union. His comrades do but are immediately murdered in cold blood by the bluecoats; Josey escapes and becomes The Outlaw Josey Wales, eventually teaming up with a crafty old Cherokee (Chief Dan George) and confronting his pursuers like only Clint can. It's not as stark and empty (and boring) as the Dollars films from the 60s and High Plains Drifter, but it still was a bit of a chore to watch at times as it feels quite long and has the sombre mirthlessness common to lots of 70s films.

Jawbreaker (1999) 4/10 is a dumb high school comedy whose main occasion for laughter is an accidental murder. Murder can be something to laugh about in a film given a good enough script, acting and treatment. This has none of those. As something to kick off the plot murder needn't even be particularly distasteful. It is here. There are no laughs. It does everything that Heathers (1989) did right, wrong.

Total Eclipse (1995) 8/10 is a pre-Romeo + Juliet, pre-Titanic, vehicle for Leonardo DiCaprio. Although aged 21 or 22 in real life, he plays 16 year old genius poet Arthur Rimbaud. A fantastically bald-wigged David Thewlis plays an older poet whom Rimbaud visits and manipulates. It's Paris and it's the 19th Century and yes: absinthe is quoffed, non-textbook lusts are statisfied, and behaviour is unpredictable and decadent and always bad. Leonardo is as brilliant as he ever has been since - always imperious but also allowing fleeting glimpses of his character's fragile core. (Not a film that you should watch with Boss Hog, Nobby and Gutrot.)

Other People's Money (1991) 7/10. Danny DeVito is 'Larry the Liquidator', a Wall Street Scumbag who loves to dick around with companies, buying up their stock for cheap and then cackling and rubbing his hands together while dismantling them with big $ instead of eyes. He bites of more than he can chew with Gregory Peck's New England Wire & Cable though, and the stage is set for a grand showdown at the company's AGM at which both of them give brilliant speeches. Danny DeVito has been a rock solid, totally dependable comic star since for ever and nobody but Peck could have given stubborn industrialist Andrew 'Jorgy' Jorgenson that gruff and pompous yet sympathetic dignity.

Mars Attacks! (1996) 5/10 and Independence Day (1996) 9/10. The story's complete bilge, there's no tension or drama and the effects look awful now so absolutely the only thing going for Mars Attacks! is its cast. And it's totally wasted as every single one of the film's characters is little more than a jokey cameo. Some of the stars have waned since 1996 (Glenn Close, Martin Short, Michael J Fox) while some have got bigger (Jack Black, Natalie Portman) - and some were always were huge and always will be (Jack Nicholson and Danny DeVito in their fifth and last collaboration as actors). I suppose the whole of Hollywood must have been clamouring to work with Tim Burton, who had probably slightly more credibility at the time than he does now. Regardless, every single actor in the film is wasted on a stupid character who it's impossible to care about. My favourite - no joke - performance in the film was Tom Jones playing himself. Independence Day has a less showy cast but a capable one that's used to bring life to characters who service a proper story. Again, the story is that aliens come to earth to fuck things up, big time, but it doesn't feel trite and deliberately outdated like Mars Attacks!. Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman and Will Smith all do great work and each of them strikes exactly the right balance between fun and seriousness that the movie needs. Pullman seems out of his depth sometimes as the President but I think that's intentional and he completely allays any doubts with his Independence Day speech. That speech, along with the USA saving the whole world (again) and those hilarious depictions of other nations trying to thwart the invaders have been a reason to sneer at and trash this film. It's easy to be cynical and laugh at it not with it, and say it's too jingoistic; I'll concede that it is that, but not too, and certainly no more so than lots of wartime propaganda films.

The Outsiders (1983) 6/10 was made slightly before Tom Cruise became a star with Risky Business - he's in this film but he's someone's brother, he hardly has anything to do and he's barely noticeable. It's a borning melodrama about rival gangs of youths in a small town in the 1950s and apart from Cruise being in the background the only reason to watch this is Matt Dillon's typically obnoxious character Dallas Winston.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) 6/10. Another one of Kevin Smith's would-be daring sex comedies, sounding like it was written years ago and looking like it was made no later than 1990. There are perhaps five or six funny lines but it's mostly people speaking to each other rudely, and unlikely things happening to facilitate the creaky plot. And, of course, stuff about Star Wars awkwardly crowbarred in wherever it will (won't) fit.

Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones (1980) (TV) 8/10 is a two part TV movie about Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple. Being a TV movie from thirty years ago this feels dated and the video quallity isn't up to much but Powers Boothe in the title role gives a riveting performance. Boothe was always one of those shady actors on the sidelines of my awareness - I knew about him and remembered him mostly because of his brilliant (and real) name. He always struck me as a man who got things done without needing to say very much. This part was his big break; he went on to star in Southern Comfort and Sin City, and he played Alexander Haig in Nixon. Jim Jones was a preacher who started his own church called the Peoples Temple in the USA in 1955. Over the next twenty years the church became more and more of a cult and Jones became more and more deranged and in 1974 he and hundreds of his congregation went to pioneer a new life in the 'jungle paradise' of Guyana. There Jones founded the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project - aka Jonestown - a self-sufficient commune patrolled by armed guards - Jones was paranoid about infiltration by the CIA and about treachery from within. In 1978 at the behest of concerned relatives of Temple members who gone with Jones to Guyana, a US congressman visited Jonestown with some journalists to see if there was any truth in rumours of people being held against their will there. The visit provided the spark to ignite Jonestown: the congressman was shot dead and more than 900 people at the commune committed a mass murder/suicide by arsenic poisoning, overseen by Jones, who then apparently shot himself. The film's first half shows Jones' childhood and early life in detail as he gets fired from the church he works at (for welcoming blacks into the congregation) and then builds up his own church. He's clearly a zealot but apart from that he seems to be a fairly decent guy, doing good deeds, helping poor people, and so on. As the years wear on and his popularity grows he becomes less nice. My only criticism of this film is that there's too sudden a change with not enough motivation. How does a genuinely devout man of God become a lecherous, vain and dishonest dictator? Just because a lot of people paid him a lot of attention? There was clearly something of a cult of personality about him and Boothe brings this across very well - he looks like an actual dictator from the 1970s, with his aviator shades, and his voice brings to mind both Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter) and the Darkness character in Legend (Tim Curry).

Everyone Says I Love You (1996) 6/10 is a Woody Allen musical starring him, Edward Norton, Drew Barrymore, Alan Alda and Natalie Portman. Some rich Manhattan people worry about themselves and their families. They speak to each other about these worries, and occasionally burst into song. The songs are entirely forgettable and without merit. Tim Roth shows up as a gruff newly released convict.

Twister (1996) 6/10 is about tornados and some daring, exciting, interesting scientists who chase them. The two chief ones are Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt. I have trouble buying someone as boneheaded as Bill Paxton as a scientist. He's also pretty wooden here opposite Helen Hunt. They have a whole band of supporting scientists who are supposed to be a ragtag band whose lives revolve around tornados and each other, and they include Philip Seymour Hoffman (never worse), Jeremy Davies, and a dickheaded Alan Ruck. What cameradery there is between these secondary scientists feels wholly artificial and I cringed whenever any of them said anything. I found myself occasionally rooting for the baddie scientist (Cary Elwes) with his convoy of black trucks, who's only bad because he's in the twister business for the money as opposed to a noble love of science or tornadoes.

Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) 8/10 is a lot more fun than its prequel Gremlins. Here the Gremlins are unleashed in a New York skyscraper where Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) now works, having moved from Kingston Falls to further his career. The building is HQ of Clamp Enterprises, a huge octopus of a corporation which seems to be taking over the world. It's a modern hi-tech building (for 1990) meaning it has its own intelligence which controls the doors, lights, heating etc. In Christopher Lee's laboratory at the top of the building the Gremlins are unleashed and one of them drinks a brain potion which immediately makes him very clever and able to speak (with the eloquent voice of Tony Randall). At around this point the film, which has been by no means sane from the outset, reaches its craziest. The Gremlins actually manage to stop the film itself, causing Hulk Hogan to get up from the audience and give them a piece of his mind.

The Miracle Woman (1931) 8/10 and The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933) 7/10 are a couple of old Frank Capra films starring Barbara Stanwyck. In the first she's a dissilusioned preacher's daughter who falls in with a conman and becomes a famous Miracle Woman - pretending to use God's power to cure people - and then she falls in love with a blind man who can't be cured because he's really blind which makes her question her life. The Bitter Tea of General Yen is set during the Chinese Civil War. Stanwyck arrives from America to marry her childhood sweetheart who's a missionary in China. But before they can be wed they get separated whilst rescuing some orphans. She's 'rescued' by General Yen (played by a whitey) and taken to his summer palace. What happens from this point is pretty vague and obfuscated, but certainly involves a degree of miscegenation which in 1933 must have been quite a daring place to go for a mainstream Hollywood movie.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) 4/10 is the latest and worst film in a very bad, very tired and very boring franchise. Watching any of these films always makes me wish I was watching Indiana Jones, whose films I also don't like except by comparison to these ones. Indy might be a dick and a swine but at least he looks the part and doesn't speak and act and look like Brendan Fraser. The best entry in The Mummy series was The Scorpion King because it starred The Rock instead. In Tomb of the Dragon Emperor years have passed and Brendan's wife Rachel Weisz has either left him or been magically changed into by some other (worse-looking, worse-acting) woman. They have a son and guess what? He's grown up to be an even more c!ntish archeologist than his father was. Of course the story requires Mum and Dad to come to China, where Son's doing some loud and arrogant digging, and help him out with some bullshit. Because both father and son are Grade A shits, there's a running joke where they try to out-do each other with their weaponry before fighting baddies. I wanted this senseless dick-swinging contest to turn out bad: perhaps Brendan would accidentally shoot off the top of his boy's skull, not killing him but making him a feeble, gibbering, dribbling retard still just about capable of shooting things but not of dinstinguishing between the baddies and his own awful family. Or maybe a faulty weapon would explode away both Brendan's tongue and his hair so he'd no longer be able to speak nor have his grievous centre-parting flop about to provide the only animation to his otherwise vacant face. None of that happens but such thoughts kept me amused during the endlessly weary fight scenes that are absolutely impossible to pay attention to or remember even a second after they finish. I think there were Yetis and Dragons in this film too, as well as lots of mummies. I can't definately remember; but I'm sure that IF there were, they were shit and boring and forgettable as Yetis and Dragons should NEVER be. It's just that kind of film. I knew that going in but I still couldn't help myself.

Also:

The Hills Have Eyes II (2007) 5/10
The Grapes of Wrath (1940) 8/10
New York I Love You (2009) 7/10
The Princess and the Frog (2009) 8/10
Never Let Me Go (2010) 7/10
The Strawberry Blonde (1941) 9/10
The Human Centipede (2010) 7/10
I'm Still Here (2010) 6/10
Green Zone (2010) 8/10
Greenberg (2010) 8/10
The Straight Story (1999) 8/10
The Hole (2009) 7/10
Love Actually (2003) 5/10
Narc (2002) 6/10
127 Hours (2010) 8/10
Empire of the Sun (1985) 8/10
The Road (2009) 9/10
Scott Pilgrim vs The World (2010) 8/10
Spider-Man (2002) 8/10

Love Ranch- 3/10- I stumbled across this while checking out on line movies. Who would have thought a movie about sex, drugs, boxing and ripping off the IRS could be so boring. At times I wanted to tell Joe Pesci "stop acting, find work elsewhere" and I like Joe Pesci, this is probably the first movie I seen of his I didn't like. Helen Mirren does an alright job in this POS but I expect better of her and even she couldn't carry this project. Sergio Peris-Mencheta, whom I've never heard of, does alright too. In fact the film seems more about his character, boxer Armando Bruza, then about the "Love Ranch" or the couple who run it.

Green Hornet - 7.5/10

Not a Seth Rogen fan, but found myself enjoying the action. The 3-D experience was better than expected and it was hysterically funny at times.


The Narrows - 8/10

NY kid born into the Mob trying to find his way out. Kevin Zegers is very good, and Titus Welliver was outstanding.

I watched "Killer Diller" last night.

I am always interested in the movies that have music as a theme. My all time favorite movie is "Brassed Off", so I figured I'd like this one too. My sister found it on DVD in a bargain bin for a couple of bucks and decided to give it a go for that price.

I really enjoyed it. The characters seem like real people to me. The story line is a bit predictable, and I wish there had been a bit more of a plot, but the interaction of the characters and the good music made the movie for me.

I give it maybe a 7 or 8 / 10.

Killer Diller - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wesley, (William Lee Scott) a car thief and musician sent to live at a halfway house on the campus of a Christian college meets Vernon, (Lucas Black) an autistic piano player in need of a friend. Together they team up with the struggling halfway house band to create the Killer Diller Blues Band.

Let Me In (2010) 9/10

This was quite an amazing movie. It's about a bullied young boy who befriends a young female vampire who lives in secrecy with her guardian in an apartment complex. It stars Chloe Moretz who stole the show in Kick-Ass, as the young vampire. The film is set in 1983 and it feels like it. It was very well written and directed. I loved this movie because it scared the crap out of me without all the big budget special effects that are there to just try and gross me out.

I watched this a few days ago. I'd seen Let The Right One In a month or so ago and loved it. They were pretty faithful to the original but the slight changes really made me feel different about the characters. For instance, You really don't get to see anything negative about Owen's father in this version. Abby also seemed more controlling than Eli(The vamp girl from the original.) There were other things too. I also liked the end pool scene better in the original. Just seemed cooler. :)

Overall, It was a really good remake. They really captured the bleak atmosphere of the original.
9/10 for both versions. (Original slightly better but could be because I watched it first)

The Illusionist 7/10

This is a french movie that was brought over, and the movie is a cartoon over a mostly musical score. There are maybe 20 words or less spoken throughout the course of the entire movie, yet it is still able to tell a story.

It was rated PG but there were definitely some elements of the movie that due to its French influence may not have truly been appropriate for young children without former warning to parents.

It was a refreshing balance between a foreign film needing large amounts of subtitles, a dubbed english track, or a pure english spoken movie.

I would say its worth seeing once.

Saw a remarkable movie recently thanks to Netflix called 'Moon'. If I had to give it a rating - which I am hesitant to do as these things are subjective - I would give it an eight out of 3. Crazy space moonbeams and moondreams, man. This one messes with your mind, but in a nice way.

"Lovely, Still" - a heartwarming PG-rated Christmas-y flick about adorable old people falling in love.

Throughout the bulk of the film, I was thinking of recommending it to my parents, seems like the kind of film they would enjoy. But in the ending we realize that the "bachelor" who falls in love with a neighbor woman is suffering from dementia. My parents have a difficult time with stories that involve dementia.

The Town - 8/10.

Hollywood yarn about a group of lying, cheating, vicious backstabbing Irish gangster punks. Lots of "beautiful people" in this one...pretty good nevertheless. The late great Mr Pete Postlethwaite gives a nicely menacing performance here. Those Irish don't mess around, at least not in the movies.

Red 7/10 Fun cast and good action movie made this very enjoyable. Helen Mirren is still looking fine at 65.

Winter's Bone 9/10 This was a well acted movie, with Oscar noms for Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes (who I enjoyed in Deadwood). It's about a 17 year old girl trying to locate her drug dealing father who has disappeared and if he misses his upcoming court date they will lose their house where she takes care of her two siblings and sick mom. Great movie start to finish.

Easy A 8/10 Fun and funny modern teen comedy that adults will enjoy.

Black Swan - 2.5/5.

Meh. The ballet parts were fun to watch, the crazy parts, not so much. I should have waited until it came to DVD.

Shutter Island: Finally got around to watching it, and while I can't grade how entertained I was, the movie captured my attention the whole way through. Both Di Caprio and Kingsley are excellent.

The A-team: Fuck you, Hollywood!! Flying a Tank? Barrel roll in a helicopter? This whole movie takes a massive dump on physics and I hated it for that.
The only nice part is when the dude from The Hangover kissed the foreign journalist: "I'm just gonna go for it." The rest was BS.

Just watched Easy A and liked it...but yes, it was fluff. But kinda cute and worth a chuckle or two with the spouse. If I was a parent I would definitley check it out and have dialogue with my daughter. Or son.

Wall Street 2, Money Never Sleeps. Pretty damn good - if you're in the mood to revisit the monetary crash of 2008. A unique view and yet, it had a few twists worth seeing. I'm still on the fence with Shiah LaBoef..he seems a bit too relaxed in scenes that require grit. Gordon Gecko (micheal Douglas) is always interesting to watch and he remains so unpredictable. I liked it more than I thought I would.

The Tudors, 4th Season: The best sequel ever. Even when we all know the history, this phase is presented extremely well and with an insight & nuances we were all hopng for but didn't think we'd ever see. The director was beyond insightful and this series was done with much care. Glad I watched the entire series and hoping that you will enjoy it as much as I did. Loved the actors and I'll miss ever one of them!~

The Hills Have Eyes II (2007) 5/10. Dumb, violent and not scary. National Guardsmen /women are on exercises in that part of Nevada where some A-bombs were tested after WWII. They get picked off one by one by deformed cave people for no better reason than because it's a horror movie. Seeing bad things done to the well-equipped but inexperienced National Guard brought to mind Southern Comfort, and because there's a lot of female action happening in caves The Descent occurred to me too, but this falls way short of those two films.

Paris, Texas (1984) 6/10 -SPOILERS- is a strange, slow German/French/British film drama film set in the USA. It was written by Americans, directed by a German and acted by Americans (Harry Dean Stanton in the lead, and Dean Stockwell), Europeans (Aurore Clément, Bernhard Wicki) and a European-American (Nastassja Kinski). The story is: a separated family is incrementally brought back together after the father is found wandering in the desert four years after vanishing. It's strange and a little unsettling to see European filmmaking sensibilities applied to such an inarguably American setting as the dusty plains of Texas. I can't think of any other films that start this slowly but then actually get even slower as they wear on. Everybody's acting, including the child's, feels heartfelt and sincere but there's just so much of it - and the straightforward not exactly predictable but surprise-free story doesn't seem to justify such wordiness. Things reach a frustrating head near to the end when, on a strange artificial set, Harry Dean and the estranged mother of his child both deliver a huge monologue to each other, which are emotionally charged but I found wholly tedious to sit through.

The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990) 7/10. Loveable walking hardon Andrew Dice Clay is Ford Fairlane, Rock N Roll detective, in L.A. who gets mixed up in a trashy bad taste 80s/90s plot about kidnapped musicians, blackmail, and special CD-ROMs containing secrets or incriminating things. There's a very unconvincing Koala who meets a sorry end and a hilarious graveyard chase in a hearse in which a (hot female) corpse somehow accidentally gets from the coffin into the front passenger seat and into a compromising position with Ford (who loves it of course).

True Grit (1969) 6/10. As this was remade last year by the blasted Coen Brothers, to predictable acclaim, I knew I'd need to see it sooner or later. I prefer later: because those brothers make films that are always smart and worth watching but usually without characters to like or care about. 1969's True Grit has an old John Wayne wearing an eyepatch and drawing out his lines as slowly as ever. This delivery sometimes grates, because it sounds anything but natural, during talkly exposition scenes early on but it's worth it to see him shouting "FILL YOUR HAND YOU SON OF A BITCH!" at Robert Duvall. That's such an iconic John Wayne line that I'm interested to hear Jeff Bridges's say it- though his Rooster Cogburn didn't win the Oscar like Wayne's did.

The Grapes of Wrath (1940) 8/10
New York I Love You (2009) 7/10
The Princess and the Frog (2009) 8/10
Never Let Me Go (2010) 7/10
The Strawberry Blonde (1941) 9/10
The Human Centipede (2010) 7/10
I'm Still Here (2010) 6/10
Green Zone (2010) 8/10
Greenberg (2010) 8/10
The Straight Story (1999) 8/10
The Hole (2009) 7/10
Love Actually (2003) 5/10
Narc (2002) 6/10
127 Hours (2010) 8/10
Empire of the Sun (1985) 8/10
The Road (2009) 9/10
Scott Pilgrim vs The World (2010) 8/10
When the Wind Blows (1986) 7/10
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) 10/10
Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre (2009) 5/10
Notting Hill (1999) 6/10
Red Dragon (2002) 7/10
Four Lions (2010) 7/10
Cliffhanger (1993) 8/10
Contact (1997) 7/10
Convoy (1978) 7/10
Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009) 8/10
Matewan (1987) 8/10
Best Worst Movie (2009) 7/10
Hero (2002) 6/10
Commando (1985) 8/10
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) 8/10
Catfish (2010) 7/10
Fantastic Mr Fox (2009) 8/10
The Blair Witch Project (1999) 7/10
Cyrus (2010) 7/10
The King of Kong (2007) 8/10
The Indian Runner (1991) 7/10
The Ghost Writer (2010) 8/10
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) 8/10
Bad Ronald (TVM) (1974) 5/10
Tres Dias/Before the Fall (2008) 5/10
Monsters (2010) 8/10
The Getaway (1972) 9/10
Neighbours (1952) 9/10
Mother/Madeo (2009) 9/10
Spider-Man (2002) 8/10
Spider-Man 2 (2004) 9/10
Spider-Man 3 (2007) 8/10
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) 7/10
Legend (1985) 9/10
The Man in the Iron Mask (1998) 8/10
Arlington Road (1999) 7/10
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) 8/10
Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939) 7/10
Benny's Video (1992) 6/10
No Strings Attached (2011) 7/10
Coraline (2009) 7/10
Star Wars (1977) 7/10
Mean Girls 2 (TVM) (2011) 5/10
The Quiet Earth (1985) 7/10
Hachiko Monogatari (1987) 7/10
The Ruling Class (1972) 7/10
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) 7/10
City Slickers (1991) 9/10
City Slickers: The Legend of Curly's Gold (1994) 7/10

Battle: Los Angles 7/10

As we have seen from countless alien invasion films, Earth is invaded by an alien species because our planet has something that they need. I will not disclose the reason why this alien species have invaded, but I thought the special effects and new form of aliens along with their technology to be amazing. However, the main characters in this story are a group of about 20 marines as they fight against the aliens. I found most of the marines in this story to be entirely too emotional and lacking any form of skills regarding their occupation. I mean, since they are in the military (marine core), one would assume they would be using stealth and not talking to one another while they are on their mission, but this group is loud, disorganized and inexperienced. I would really like an alien invasion movie where they skip the monologue or pep talk from the leader and concentrate their effort on destroying the enemy. Here is another tip, if you are the leader in the group and need to escape the city immediately, I recommend not taking a bus and driving on a highway. Why? The highways are the first to be destroyed in an invasion or attack so stick with side roads and faster vehicles.


The only reason I am giving this film a 7/10 is because Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez and Adetokumboh M’Cormack were the only actors in this film that portrayed marines as disciplined, organized and able to get through a war zone without crying like a little baby.

Astro Boy Good, kid-friendly fun, really fun premise and adorable execution.

.....You would be surprised at the typical Soldier, then. Soldiers are human, and therefore are not "YES SIR, NO SIR" drones...If they think you will get them killed, they won't follow you, nor listen to you....

I don't know. Maybe you're a marine and know the professionalism of the Marine Corps far more than I do, but AFAIK, my experience with soldiers is analogous with the soldiers' depiction in Battlefield: LA.

I give Battlefield: LA a 8/10. It was what I was expecting, a heart-pounding firefight against Aliens. I wasn't expecting any deep or emotional, like I Am Sam or Gattaca--I just wanted a rush from the firefight scenes, which the film did not disappoint. Was it a little fake? Yea....I mean...10 marines fighting through platoon sized elements, plus highly guarded areas...and AT-4s which acted like Stingers.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed it as a mindless action flick.

No, I am not a Marine, but I assumed they wouldn't be so fucking whiny as they are portrayed in the film.

Let Me In - 9 / 10

What a little gem! That's all I'm sayin ...



127 Hours - 7 / 10

I think this is either a love it or hate it movie. My daughter tricked me into seeing this one. The premise made me queasy, but Franco was quite good in the role.

Black swan
 

had a chance to see Blak Swan at the dollar cinema and found it quite good yet disturbing. It was to me a Hitchcock like thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat asking is this real or in her head. I still have no idea, but it doesn't matter. I spent the money to be enterained and I was, even after thinking seeing it and now just thinking about the questions I have. May have to go see it again. I give the storyline and the direction a B+, The acting a strong A. Overall it was an A- film for me. I highly recommend it.

Beastly

3/10

I was dragged to this one involuntarily... supposedly payback for Cloverfield. :P

A re-telling of Beauty and the Beast, one or two cute parts, but overall flat and predictable. Good-looking jerk is cursed, learns that true beauty is on the outside, finds love, and the curse is broken. No new twists to the story. The SO and I were both unimpressed. Your teenage daughter might like it. *shrug*

Battle: Los Angeles 8/10

Did not want to see this one, but found myself enjoying it despite a terribly lacking script. Kick ass battle scenes did have me on the edge of my seat throughout, Eckhart is always good and not bad to look at. Yes, the production was what brought the score up for me. Make sure you have popcorn. ;)

Paul 7/10

It was a good film for being free at the theater, and it was entertaining and I found myself laughing out loud many times.

Limitless. 9/10

Loved this movie! Thrilling, fascinating, thought-provoking, fun, so well-done. I'm already making plans to go see it again. :thumbsup:

House of the Devil - 9/10

Wow! Was I ever blown away by this one. Amazingly creepy and genuinely frightening at some points. I did not know what to expect as I was buying used movies and this was a freebie. Don't watch alone!

Sucker Punch 8/10

IMDB summary: A young girl is institutionalized by her abusive stepfather. Retreating to an alternative reality as a coping strategy, she envisions a plan which will help her escape from the mental facility.

Comment: If you are not a fan of comic book movies, beautiful half naked women, dragons, ninjas and nazi robots, then this film is not for you. I was entertained with the film, but the underlying theme in this story is how Baby Doll copes with her current environment, which is by imagining she is leading a group of assassins that need to acquire five items to unlock their freedom. In each mission, the group encounters 50 foot samurai’s, dragons, steam punk Nazis, and robots before they can acquire each item.

Blame It On Rio (1984) 6/10. This is a trashy, thrown-together old fashioned sex farce set in the tropical paradise of Rio de Janeiro. Michael Caine and Joseph Bologna are a couple of longtime buddies who plan to go on holiday together with their families but find themselves in Rio without their wives – because of Bologna's divorce and Caine's wife suddenly decides to go to Europe instead, at the last minute. With their wives elsewhere it's up to their daughters - Demi Moore and Michelle Johnson - to look after them and keep them out of mischief. But mischief is got into very quickly as no sooner do they reach the Cidade Maravilhosa, the one of the daughters that's not his own seduces Caine and continues to do so throughout the film despite his fatherly and mild-mannered protestations.

Time After Time (1979) 8/10. 1893: John Leslie Stephenson, who is really Jack the Ripper, is transported forward through time in H.G. Wells's time machine to 1979 with H.G. in hot pursuit. Stephenson, played by David Warner, flees in the machine simply to avoid the cops; but H.G. (Malcolm McDowell) is horrified because he's sure that the world in 1979 will be a utopia free of violence and everything else bad. Because of some spurious reason the machine is relocated geographically as well as in time, and ends up in a museum in San Francisco. After Stephenson exits it returns to London 1893, where H.G. fires it up again and brings it to San Fran a few hours later. For an oddball hybrid film forty something years old this moves at a fair pace and, aside from its basic premise, never feels too fatuous or artificial. McDowell is great as H.G. with his childlike wonder combined with a sturdy pragmatism that keeps the story going. His dialogue with Mary Steenburgen (who plays the reverse of her Back to the Future Part III character) is thoroughly believable thanks to her as much as to him. San Francisco locations are used brilliantly and one chase sequence particularly stands out. H.G. is after Stephenson soon after they reach 1979 and they're running through the San Francisco streets. There's a brief pause as they spy each other on parallel footbridges over a road. They square off, trying to stare each other down and then they're off again through the streets.

In Good Company (2004) 7/10 is a bad and forgettable title for an admittedly flimsy and very broad but still perfectly watchable comedy-drama. I'm always intrigued by depictions of the workplace in movies: when the script calls for a single scene a character's work it sometimes rings hollow, especially in comedies, and if the primary setting is a workplace it pays to get it right. There really aren't too many wholly workplace-based films - workplaces aren't exciting enough to set movies in - but I saw Up in the Air recently and that felt fairly authentic, and so does In Good Company. (Revolutionary Road also springs to mind as a film that absolutely nailed the workplace, and that was a 60s workpace. The Devil Wears Prada is the best example of a bullshit movie workplace I can think of.) Dennis Quaid is sometimes known as the poor man's Harrison Ford: the comparison doesn't really work for me as I was never keen on Ford but I get the idea. He's the poor man's Ford in that he plays roles one could imagine Ford passing up. He's less pissed-off and pissy than Ford and way more laid back, which makes him much more suited to light roles like this. Cast as Quaid's character here, Ford would be glaring and staring and scowling and cursing and you'd feel like any minute he might blow, and he would not be likeable. The film's set-up is that Quaid's new boss (Topher Grace) is, thanks to a corporate takeover, a go-getting dickhead half his age who has no clue about the job and (to add insult to injury) starts fooling around with Quaid's daughter, Scarlett Johansson. Grace's performance starts off feeling obnoxious, as is surely intended, and a little TOO light, even for this - like a sitcom almost - but as the film wears on and his character is inevitably revealed to be one of more substance and integrity than we initially supposed, he comes into his own. His incessant twittering caffeine-fuelled empty peptalk is just a facade, a defense mechanism automatically deployed at work that comes crumbling down whenever he's around Quaid's daughter. The soundtrack for In Good Company deserves a mention: at least one song does. For most of its running time the songs are modern acoustic totally throwaway almost irritating but not quite songs like Cannonball by Damien Rice. But then right near the end in comes Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel. I've been conditioned enough over the years by that song in the recut Shining trailer to think of it as a joke but here it works and is totally right for the "this character was down but now his life's getting back on track and is on his way to a happy ending" moment.

Firestarter (1984) 8/10. SPOILERS - Is there an endless supply of Stephen King adaptations? Surely not, but it seems like every other week I come across some mention of one I've never even heard of. There's loads of film adaptations and then probably as many again of TV movies and miniseries. Firestarter is about a little girl (Drew Barrymore) who has firestarting powers and is on the run with her Dad (David Keith) from government forces. Martin Sheen also stars as the suit running the operation, and George C Scott is a wholly evil Indian henchman with an agenda of his own. I approached this warily not expecting much but Barrymore (aged nine!) puts in an incredible performance and sells the whole thing. The finale has to be seen to be believed and is quite similar in scale and devastation as the ending of Commando (which was the director's next film). I doubt if any character so young has ended so many baddies' lives in so little time as here.

also-

Star Wars Return of the Jedi (1983) 7/10
Black Hunter White Heart (1990) 8/10
Gangs of New York (2002) 8/10
The Usual Suspects (1995) 7/10
Up in the Air (2009) 7/10
Tin Cup (1996) 7/10
Rango (2011) 8/10
You Only Live Once (1937) 7/10
The Brothers Bloom (2008) 8/10
The Grifters (1990) 6/10
Running with Scissors (2006) 6/10
War of the Buttons (1994) 8/10
The Italian Job (1969) 7/10

Sucker Punch 2/10

Amazing visuals -- girls and guns. What more can a man ask for? Unfortunately, the story was so bad that it ruined everything good about the movie (girls and guns). I've seen softcore porn with better character development. The only sucker punch was wasting two hours of my life watching the movie.

Source Code - 8/10

I really enjoyed this action-packed thriller with that blue-eyed Jake Gyllenhaal. Great story despite a couple of little plot holes.



Before The Devil Knows You're Dead - 8.5/10

Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke play brothers who take part in a jewelry store heist. Much drama ensues, so this is more of a thriller/drama than a caper film. The great cast also includes Marisa Tomei, looking very sexy, and Albert Finney as the father. I loved this one.

sucker punch 9/10

it was one long cool music video. i am not a special effects fan at all, but hot damn they were great, and with the music is was totally enthralling. even though the sfx became a bit repetitive, it was still super fun. i even liked the cheesy tips the old guy would give "and remember ladies, if you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything," and the like.

and what i really liked was the super twist ending, the "sucker punch" at the end. i DID NOT see that coming at all, and i liked it.

not big on dialogue, but it didn't need to be. pure bubblegum. nothing but fun. no, it is not a serious film, not big on plot or story or dialogue or cinematography. but it was a fun move with a great soundtrack. an excellent escape from real life for an hour and half.

Paul

- 6.5/10

- had some good chuckles but wasn't as good as - Shawn of the Dead or 'Hot Fuzz,'
- Also seemed too anti-Christian, like the comedy became a sub plot to the main theme of 'how stupid Christians are.'

Hanna - 8/10

This was a wire-to-wire action movie. Nothing complicated about it. It was very entertaining despite not being as intelligent as it could have been. A few unrealistic applications of physics nagged at me. Some bad accent work by Cate Blanchett. Inexplicable southern accent from a woman with a German last name. Still, I was entertained and engaged for the entire length of the movie.

I loved Source Code... I'd give it an 8.5/10 on the Noodlemeter.

But, The Killing Room had me up all night. I'd give it a 7/10 for the general moviegoer, but a 9.5/10 for the psych student who has an understanding of what REALLY went on in the MK Ultra experiments. Man, I couldn't sleep for hours. My brain just kept going. And then I dreamed of Phillip Zimbardo for the rest of the night.

Skyline 8-10, Battle for LA 5-10

Your Highness 5/10: A slightly amusing stoner comedy taking place in the Middle Ages and nothing exceptional stands out in this film besides Natalie Portman and Zooey Deschanel.

This. Although I might give it a 9 for the Chemical Brothers soundtrack.

Noodle - re: The Killing Room. I'm with you on that one. I saw it nearly a year ago and can still recall most of those scenes vividly. Psychological torture that I didn't want to watch but felt compelled to do so: the stuff of real nightmares.

Everything about this film screamed brilliance, I had high hopes for this film being a fan of Feudal Japan and a fan to Kurosawa's films but this film delivered extremely well. Where ROTK made tears trickle down my face Last Samurai brought be to a blubbering mess, this film really struck a chord within me and annot wait to see it again.

Skyline - 2/10

There was almost nothing even remotely good about this movie. SKIP IT!!!

Battle L.A - 7.5/10

What a fun movie! Its like a shitty version of Black Hawk Down full of aliens! I plan on getting this on Blu Ray and watching it all the time with my sterio cranked. Good times

Megamind - 3/10

I normally love cartoons like this, but this one was just dry for 95% of the movie. Very few funny jokes. I just sat there drinking and staring blankly at the TV up until this came on:

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog - 11/10

I LOVE THIS MOVIE!! I have watched it about 7 times now, and plan on watching it that many times again before the year is up. The singing is amazing, the cheese acting is amazing, the cheese story is amazing. The only problem with it is that it is not long enough, I want more!

Your Highness 3/10

The movie simply was not funny to me at all

-Will

Sucker Punch: -5 out of 10

This movie was pure crap. The best part of it is the bunny painted on the front of the mech. that's it. The sound track tells you all you need to know about it. It's nothing but horrible covers of good songs. Everything in the movie was done better by someone else. It's like they threw every bad movie cliche they could find into a blender and then had a retarded monkey piece it together. Punching myself in the balls repeatedly and then masturbating with a cheese grater would have been less painful then this movie was.

Your Highness: Just google Natalie Portman's ass and save yourself the time. Had a few parts that were funny, but spent more time face palming then watching the movie.

The King's Speech 9/10
How they made such a great movie based on a man with a stutter is a testament to all involved. Loved it. Colin Firth was wonderful.

Black Swan - 10/10

I could not have thought of a better way to contrast the duality of human nature. this movie completely captures the combination of the repression of instinctual and hedonistic urges and the urges themselves to create something beautiful. i could never get tired of watching the movie over and over again.

Scream 4-5/10

The fourth film in the scream franchise had an excellent idea and was executed well on screen until the two killers were identified, then the film made absolutely no sense. *spoiler alert* It would have made sense if you had two large individuals as the killers, but to have two 5'3 110lbs hipster high school students with no formal martial arts or hunting experience that could probably be over powered easily by anyone, as the killers, with no rational explanation as to why they are actually killing people besides "cause I am sick and tired of hearing about my aunt surviving the attacks from five years ago and now I want to super famous? is just weak writing (just like this review)

127 Hours 9/10
Great flick. Not a Franco fan but he was very good. After watching this I really still don't know if I'd be able to do what he did or if I'd just pass away. Shows you the lengths that people will go through to survive.

Temple Grandin, 2010 HBO movie 9/10

This is a biopic about an autistic woman who overcame the odds to become an expert in animal husbandry. She went on to design humane treatments of cattle in processing plants. Claire Danes is wonderful as the main character, Temple Grandin. As the parent of a child with autism, I really enjoyed this movie and how it approached at how they look at the world. It made me understand a little bit more what my daughter is going through and how frustrating and difficult it must be for her.

"Cemetery Man" - a mid 90s movie starring Rupert Everett. I'd give it something like a banana out of 10 because it made no sense, unless reviewed as performance art and even then, not a lot of sense.

Horror/Romance/Dark Comedy

Cemetery grounds keeper and his (apparently) retarded friend who maintain a cemetery in Italy where all the dead rise within a week of their death. It's a secret the two of them keep in order to not have the cemetery shut down (and thus lose their jobs). So, zombies rise, headshot, shovel to the head, a bus full of dead boyscouts invade the grounds keeper house, boom-headshot (x10). Zombie on a motorcycle. Main character goes insane (?). Flying head of a 12 year old in bridal veil sits in a broken television and sings folk songs. Beautiful woman keeps reincarnating. Discussions of impotence and purposeful rumors of sexual inability.

I'm still processing.

The kids are alright 9-10.

Get him to the Greek: good laughs spread out evenly throughout. I'd recommend it.

Revolver - 8/10
TL;DR The Matrix sans special effects and without all those pesky explanations
First half was one of the best action movies I've seen. Riveting without resorting to cheap tricks, stale formulas or shocking foulness. Interesting characters, solid dialog, bit of mystery and action. Good acting, cinematography, etc. A full five points for the first half.
Second half was a disturbing mind fuck. The sort of movie that tries to make you doubt your sanity or at least your world-view. Alice down the rabbit hole. I actually like that sometimes but I prefer to know it's coming. Also, while still decent this portion of the film was not as well executed. Serious props to Mark Strong as Sorter though, made me wish the whole thing was about him sometimes. On the whole, just a three out of five for the second half.
Then again I won't forget it.

The King's Speech - 10/10
Excellent movie. It's a period piece and a serious character drama which is usually not my favorite especially late at night. But it was so well done that I was spellbound in spite of the hour. It is very rare for acting to be so well done that I either find myself feeling I know those people or else wishing I did. And the story was handled just right too.

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog - 10/10
I almost took a point off because it is, after all, a musical. I usually can't even stand to finish musicals. But it was just too good to do that. I highly recommend it to anyone who is not bothered by a small amount of crude language.

Thor - 9/10

I freakin' loved it! Check it out in IMAX 3-D if you can for full enjoyment.

fast and the furious 5 - 8/10

great action scenes, plenty to keep you busy but wont win any awards. great movie for the boys.

I've seen quite a few recently... hard to "rate" them, so I'll just make do.

Insidious -- totally creeped me out but really fun to watch. A little Poltergeist-y, Hitchcock-y and Stephen King-y. We had the giggles at one point and there is definitely the Jig-Saw influence in one of the characters, but thoroughly enjoyable.

Thor 3D in XD... freaking awesome. S kept murmuring, "Meanwhile, in the Hall of Justice...." but overall really well done. It's always nice going to the theater and watching a movie in an easy chair with the audio optimized for every seat. The effects were so good that I was off-kilter for almost an hour since my vestibular-ocular responses were all wonked out from the 3D and audio experience, :D

Black Death (2010 or '11 version) -- at first we thought it was a bad SeeFee channel movie, but it totally redeemed itself and the religious aspect of the plague was entertainingly investigated.

Fast Five -- Hands down my entertainment favorite. But, I've been looking forward to it for a really long time. Cars, Diesel, and explosions. Hubba hubba.

13 -- Total mindfuck... completely loved it. Even has a little Statham in it but he's by far NOT the main focus. The guy in charge of the event is just sheer insanity.

Julia's Eyes (Spain) -- Again, total mindfuck. But completely and totally brilliant. The director and cinematographer did a superb job of setting the mood and I'll give away too much if I try to go into it, because it was that amazing.

Confessions (Japan) -- More mindfucking. Teacher, kids, intertwined stories of revenge. Amazing. Loved it. Really well done. The teacher gave me goosebumps at one point, she was so chilling.

Kill the Irishman -- Awesome Cleveland mob story from the 1970s. Crazy cameos kept popping up and it was really well done. Every movie we watched for awhile, we kept waiting for cars to blow up. Watch it and you'll know why :lol:

Hobo with a Shot Gun -- I made it 20 minutes in before I had to bow out. Worse than Black Devil Doll. Purely cheap, campy, gore... but completely over the top and weird. Did not like.

Not a fan of Let Me In or Takers, both were quite disappointing.
But Hanna and Source Code rocked. As did Ip Man and Ip Man 2, for the Wing Chun experience. Donnie Yen is The Man.

There's my last two weeks of movies :lol:

Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris. 10/10
*Spoiler Alert*


I've been a fan of Woody Allen since I saw Annie Hall. I love his use of dialogue, satire, and indie style. Actor Owen Wilson surprised me the most. He is usually type casted into arrogant womanizing male lead roles. In Woody Allen's film he plays a dreamer, a romantic and plays it quite well. Rachel Mcadams steps out of her comfort zone by playing his materialistic soon to be bride. They are complete opposites. While Mcdams character is concerned with living a charmed life in Malibu, Wilson's character is an idealist. He is nostalgic of the past and has a romanticized vision of Paris. He is so nostalgic he really has no interest in his present reality and wishes to live amongst the great writers and artists of the roaring 1920s.
Woody Allen manages to create a fantasy world without the use of special effects. Woody Allen is about story; great writing with a sharp wit. Anyone who enjoys classic American literature or Woody Allen's humor will enjoy this cinematic treasure. I would love to see this again.

Super 8 directed by J.J. Abrams and produced by Spielberg 8/10
*Spoiler Alert*

Super 8 is a hodgepodge of childhood sci fi/advanture films like E.T., The Goonies and even a bit of M. Night Shyamalan. It is evident this is something straight out of Spielberg's mind. I can imagine seeing little Spielberg running around with his super 8 camera in the 70s directing his childhood friends in a short film. I mention Sixth Sense because it is very slow moving in the beginning like many of M. Night Shyamalan 's films. The tension builds as you wait to see what lurks around the corner.

At the core of this film, it is about the characters rather than the alien infiltrating the small town of Lillian. The boy lead goes through a character arc and must overcome an obstacle no child should have to experience. This later helps this alien who has a psychic energy attracting many electronic and metal appliances.

Many themes are reoccurring from past Spielberg films. Daddy issues run rampant in "Catch Me in if you Can", "The Last Crusade", "The Crystal Skull", and "E.T." The heroine always has some issues with the authoritative figure and just like E.T. the military takes over and creates havoc rather than peace.
Super 8 has many great child performances by newcomers Elle Fanning(dakota fanning lil sis),Joel Courtney, Riley Griffiths, Ryan Lee, and Zach Mills. They are hilarious and reminded me of the Goonies gang.


Next on my list: Terrence Malick's Tree of Life.I have been waiting for this to come out for 6 months now.

Paris at Midnight...
If you love Paris and Woody, you will love this film...(probably have to see it twice not to miss some of the dialog)

X-Men - 7/10 Was a pretty predictable movie.. If you use to watch the cartoons growing up then you pretty much knew how the movie was.

Fast Five - 9/10 Always a favorite of mine..

Source Code - 5/10. Super boring. Figured out the whole plot when the train stopped for the first time. Acting was solid, movie was well made, but it was all just so predictable.

Thor 9-10

Transformers-Dark Of The Moon

Like the rest of the Bay movies, lots of action, explosions and ass kicking robots! Loved it for what it was. 7/10

Miller's Crossing ...again, for, like, the 83rd time. It's still one of my favorite movies of all time. I love the Coens; love the 1930s; love the twisted drama and craziness of old timey gangster warfare and double-crossing; and love the almost Shakespearean drama of the story. Plus, the absolute perfect '30s hardboiled dialog...

Verna: Shouldn't you be doing your job?
Tom: Intimidating helpless women is my job.
Verna: Then go find one, and intimidate her.

Tom [finding someone sitting in the dark in his apartment]: Hello Bernie.
Bernie: Hello Tom. What's the rumpus? How'd you know it was me?
Tom: You're the only one I know who'd knock and then break in.
Bernie: Your other friends wouldn't break in, huh?
Tom: My other friends want to kill me, so they wouldn't've knocked.

...Ach. I love this movie. 10/10

127 hours 8-10.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 8.5/10

(It all ended about four years ago. Seriously, the advertisement that states "it all ends" is rubbish. Anyways, that was a side rant.)

Does Harry destroy all of the horcruxes? Is he truly the chose one? Does he live or does he die? Is Snape truly an evil individual or is he fighting for the greater good? The questions listed are answered in the last film in the series, which continues with the trio still on the search to destroy horcruxs. If you have been following the series for the last ten years then I see no need to provide anyone with background of the story or characters. Hogwarts is where it began and will end for some of the characters in the series. The battle between OOTP/D.A./Professors/students against Voldemort, the death eaters, and the giants is so epic that you think there is no way Hogwarts or those fighting for the greater good are going to survive and some do not. The fight between Harry and Voldemort is so unevenly matched that when you see Voldemort kicking, punching and throwing Harry around like a rag doll that you just want to yell at Harry to stay down or give up. But, as we are all aware by now, Harry doesn't give up even if it is against a super powerful dark wizard that killed parents, uncle and friends. And you know who else doesn't give up? Neville Longbottom. What can I say about a shy kid who avoided confrontation for six years only to become the leader in the revolution at Hogwarts? This kid is a sword-wielding wizard bad ass who takes on the death eaters, Lord Voldemort and a giant snake without fear. The monologue he has at the end of the film while he is standing in front of Lord Voldemort and the death eaters is so moving that I felt like I was standing right beside him fighting for the greater good.

The series may have ended, but it will never be forgotten.

Donnie Yen's newest action flick, The Lost Bladesman - 2/10

This movie is a short story about Guan Yu's service under Cao Cao after he was captured, it's taken from one of my favorite book, Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Donnie Yen plays Guan Yu and right from the bat something is seriously wrong because Yen is too damn small to play the physically imposing Guan Yu. The film also deviates a lot from its source material for whatever the hell reason the people involved had in mind. For example, in the book Cao Cao is portrayed as cunning, scheming, and ruthless; in the film he's a righteous dude, albeit scheming, who works hard to save the empire and bring peace to the people. The Cao Cao in the book has tremendous respect for Guan Yu and would loooooove to have Guan Yu work for him, but he's not going to kow tow to Guan Yu and beg him to stay on several occasions. He has too much pride for that, and he's in a position of leadership so that would make him look bad to his subordinates. Similarly, Guan Yu is compassionate but he's also very stern and is all business. He would not be all buddy-buddy with Cao Cao as that would be disrespectful to his sworn brother and lord Liu Bei. He wouldn't hesitate to cut down any one who's in his way, and he wouldn't run from a fight either. So Cao Cao is enamored with Guan Yu and he showers Guan Yu with tons of gifts, of which Guan Yu either returns the gifts or donates to charity. But the film makers missed the most important gift, the Red Hare, which is a legendary horse known for its strength and speed. This horse helps Guan Yu numerous times on the battlefield is omitted from the story. There's no mentioning of him at all and Red Hare plays an important part in Guan Yu's life. Then you have some dumb side plot like Guan Yu being secretly in love with his sworn brother's betrothed and get all doll-eyed for her. The Guan Yu in the book wouldn't be bothered with nonsense like this. He has a lord to serve and an empire to save.

By now it should be clear that this movie is a failed endeavor. But to make it worse the film makers took the liberty to alter the actual plot itself. You find Guan Yu not actually crossing the Five Passes and slaying the Six Generals, a feat that he's famous for. Instead you see him wandering around the region here and there, and the gatekeepers commander stops him in his track with the explicit order to kill him. And Guan Yu actually hesitates to kill some of them. That didn't happen in the book. I can go on about the book-film comparison but i'll stop for now.

Other than numerous factual errors, I find the film to be a sloppy piece of story telling. Some scenes could've extended longer so the characters can finish their thoughts and some scenes should be cut short to spare us the silliness that has nothing to do with the overall narrative. An important theme that's down played in this film is loyalty. There's no character development as everybody is the same from the first scene to the last. Though, the only exception is the emperor, who, surprisingly isn't such a useless coward. He has some guts, somewhat of a mind of his own, and an ambition. But ultimately, he's an idiot and he deserves to have his authority usurped by Cao Cao.

So if you're looking for a respectable treatment of Guan Yu from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, look somewhere else. For a mindless action flick that's set in the late Han dynasty, this is tolerable fluff. That's the only reason why the film gets a score of 2/10.

Conspiracy

A joint HBO/BBC production.

The movie is about the decisions leading to the Jewish Holocaust.

9.5/10

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 2

Loved every bit of it and a little sad that it has ended so triumphantly. I will say, Alan Rickman is probably the best character in this movie.... so well acted...

Yeah. I won't necessarily say that I have strong feelings about the rest of the movie, but Rickman is absolutely brilliant. Every scene he's in comes alive.

I absolutely maintain that Yates is nothing special as a director, and Rickman is really the only actor who really rose above the pedestrian direction.

I think I have a strong investment in the movie because I really got "into" the books. I will say, the very end of the movie after the battle is over.... my fiance and I made fun of the movie, thought it was epic until that part.

I will say, I hope Rickman gets some recognition for his performance, he's been so good as the bad guy for so long (Die Hard, Robin Hood-Prince of Thieves.) I can't say enough good things about him.... and upon looking at Wikipedia, he's 65! I thought he was younger....

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Captain America-The First Avenger

It was a solid flick, and the fact that Marvel cut down on the American Propaganda and made it more of the little guy versus the bully was an excellent choice to appeal to a wider audience, and albeit, they also flaunted certain Patriotic tendencies that Captain America has.... such as the kicking chorus line of ladies.... with the Cap knocking out Hitler.... very well done, great action, all around a movie worth watching!

i watched the lincoln lawyer this weekend. i thought it was a pretty good movie. 8 out of 10