Glory's Sun

I watched two back to back..

The Black Dahlia: 3/10-- too long and drawn out, some basic cinematic errors, but .. scarlett johannson.. yummy.

Shortbus: 8/10 -- great flick. warning to anyone who is afraid of hetero/homosexual scenes/orgies.

MexicanOnABike

Clerks 2
After seeing the 1st movie, i thought this could be a worthy sequel but after seeing it, it just didnt feel like the same movie. I mean it could be called anything else and besides the 2 guys being the same, it's just a random movie.
I do not recommend it unless you're the type who wants to see all the kevin smith movies.
4/10

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Willravel

Children of Men: 10/10

This is the best real science fiction movie in the past 20 years. As one who grew up reading Clark, Asimov, Bradburry, and Herbert, I found this movie to not only be deeply moving but also tremendously nostalgic. I was instantly brought back to reading the stories that challenged reality's bounds, inspiring my imagination and effecting my very personality for my entire life. Children of Men is a profoundly dramatic, character driven epic of the journey of a man from a place of deep nothingness and sadness to a place of peace, and how it intertwines with a socio-politcal, bio-technological, and...I'm sorry, I just have to say that the kettle corn was really crappy....psychological realms of our existence. I don't want to give anything away, but I do have to say that this movie is not for the faint of heart. If you can't sit through movies like Saving Private Ryan, this may not be for you. Be prepared to be affected greatly.

This is a must see.

FlatLand Flyer

My Super Ex-Girlfriend

I thought the idea sounded good. Poor acting and script ruined it for me. Anna Faris looked yummy though, so I gave it 5/10.

Talledega Nights

John C Reilly was really the only decent thing in this movie. Not funny at all.

3/10

Glory's Sun

<b>Pulse</b>

1/10

Incredibly boring, poor cinematography, poor acting, horrible "special" effects.

The japanese version was wayyy better.

desal75

I saw the new Omen the other night. Very weak and not even scary.

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Grasshopper Green

The Pursuit of Happyness:
4/5. The beginning was sort of boring, I think the second half was much better. I don't know how close it really was to the main characters real life experiences, but hubby and I both left feeling very ungrateful for the things that we have. Will Smith does a good job, and so does his son. A great feel-good movie.

Blood Diamond:
4/5. For the most part, I loved this movie. It got mixed reviews, but I thought all the acting was great and the story was good too. The "message" about dirty diamonds was a little overwhelming sometimes, otherwise a great movie.

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Halx

Pan's Labyrinth

This is a really hard movie to rate. Its a spanish language film about a girl, Ofelia, who dreams up a fantasy while coping with living at the front of the Spanish civil war with her step father, who is El Capitan. Ofelia meets a faun who tells her that she is an immortal princess, but that she must complete 3 tasks to prove that she is pure enough to join her kingdom.

At first, you don't really buy it. The CG isn't as seamless as it can be by today's standards and the acting by the faun is on par with spanish soap operas. Then, something happens between the first and second tasks and it just clicks. You get sucked into the movie and the CG is no longer an issue.

There are 2 subplots running concurrently with the main plot, which means that there is not one wasted scene in the whole movie. Its got highly graphic gore that will make anyone cringe, along with some great acting by the main actors.

I cant give this movie a number. At the end, I couldn't bring myself to say, "What a great movie," even though I certainly was pleased. It was worth the high price of admission, though. There's certainly a lot of bang for your buck.

The critics call it an "Adult Fairy Tale" and I can agree with that. However, its not a date movie unless your partner loves violence and gore (like mine!).

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surferlove007

Eragon
9/10
I actually thought this movie was really suprisingly good. My dad asked me to go see it with it, so I agreed to spend quality movie time together. Movie was clean in content, good special effects, plus it has Rachel Weiz as the voice for the dragon...I totally love her.

Black Christmas
-10/10
I wanted to see this because I was curious...well my friends and I were bored so we went. This is the movie you see them making fun of in Mystery Science Theater 3000...so bad. It is full of sorority girls...and then some unloved weird kid who was shoved into the attic who then wants revenge and stabs everyone in the eyes. Yea..enough said. I walked out of that movie wanting two hours of my life back. Not to say I was expecting much anyway....

Mister Coaster

Alien Vs. Predator
OK, it's a "check your brain at the opening credits" type of flick. I thought it was actually well done from the aspect of how they took these 2 completely different series and tied them together. The fights between the Aliens & Predators were the best part. They definately took liberties with how quickly the aliens matured, because I remember them taking longer in the previous Alien flicks.
6.5 of 10

Spirited Away
An (apparently) very well received Anime. I found the charicters to be interesting art-wise, but rather flat otherwise. There was no real explanation as to how the girl got to the spirit world or why humans were so "bad." I would have stopped watching halfway through it, but I kept waiting for the big payoff, but it never really happened.
3 of 10

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Lady Sage

They said in the movie Alien vs. Predator that it takes longer in space because time slows down... The end was fabulous I thought.

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genuinegirly

Pan's Labyrinth 10 of 10. Incredible. Horrifying. Definitely not a children's movie. Heartwarming. Made me cry. er... yeah. Just walked out of the theatre. Maybe I'll write a better review when I'm not in shock.

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Coppertop

Children of Men - 90%

A great movie. I was certainly not expecting that much action. It does the science fiction genre justice. Kinda felt like Half-Life 2 with non-combatants thrown in. Who'da thunk City 17 was actually an English refugee camp?

Lady Sage

Dodge Ball 8/10

Hillariously funny, has a moral to the story, brilliant hair/makeup and costumes and a really warped sense of humor. Ben Stiller as a bad guy? Wow. Just Wow.

Just kidding, but not really. (Watch the movie and youll get the line.)

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shesus

8 Femmes (8 Women)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283832/

This movie was directed by the man who did Swimming Pool. It is a very fun, campy movie about 1 man who is murdered and 8 women who all have motives to have committed the murder. Campy is a word to remember because each woman has a song that is entertaining, but pretty silly and thrown in at strange times. Reminded me a bit of the scenes in 6 Feet Under when they would do that. I'm not sure if it is a movie the guys would like, but I enjoyed it for the mystery and silliness of it. Luckily, because it was a Christmas present from JJ and we had never seen it. But I loved Swimming Pool so much he figured since it is the same director and has Ludivine Sagnier in it there was a high chance I would like it.

8.5/10

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radioguy

the ringer - 6/10

it kept me entertained...the blonde was hot...the mentally challenged people were kinda cool.

Daoust

Little Miss Sunshine...

Well it was my turn to see this little flick that seems to be picking up a lot of attention and even Oscar buzz lately... and I gotta say, I think there's a lot of smoke here, but not much fire. I thought this film was good, not great. Collette's the star of the show and the little girl is a close second. Kinnear and Carell were good characters, but not far enough removed from what I would consider their comfort zone, even though Carell had the biggest stretch of a character to play. The writing in the film was good, the direction was a little choppy at times. Overall, this was a road trip movie that didn't do enough in my opinion to make it stand out as any different from other road trip movies... it couldn't do it on the strength of the script or characters alone.
I give it 6.5/10

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Halx

Aww how can you say that? Little Miss Sunshine was filled with great scenes, left and right.

Children of Men - 7/10
The best part of this movie was the cinematography. There were so many intense scenes that were seamless sequences without a single cut. You'll have to watch it twice to admire it. Another highlight for me was the soundtrack; every song had some vulgar, angsty line thrown randomly into it that would make me stop and just go, "Did I just hear that from the sountrack?" There is a lot of emotion infused into the scenes toward the end that help drive it through.

As far as the story goes, it was interesting, but it wasn't satisfying. There is no explanation done anywhere in the movie.. we simply have to take whatever we see as ... we see it. With a great performance from Clive Owen, everyone else in the movie is just going through the motions. There are a few comic relief characters who do their job well, but Julianne Moore and the rest of the "Fishes" are totally flat.

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shesus

Jian Gui (The Eye) 9.5/10

This was the second time I saw this movie and it was just as creepy as the first. Of course, I have a horrible memory and couldn't remember the ending. I love that sometimes.

And now it's going to be even more popular because America has again remade an Asian horror movie. Although I think this one is better that the original Ring, maybe not quite as scary as the original Grudge.

I feel sorry for the character in this movie, which I'm usually feeling that they are stupid because it is a horror movie. There is also a great twist. Watch the original and hope America doesn't screw it up too much in the remake if you don't like subtitles.

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Kadath

Children of Men - 9/10

After watching this movie I need a drink and a lie down. Unrelenting.

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mixedmedia

Hotel Rwanda

I started thread related to the viewing of this movie, but I wanted to leave a short review of the film itself, as well.

While certainly not a major piece of cinematic art (which is comforting, really, the subject matter doesn't warrant the fancies of a filmmaker's ego) I thought it was a very good film for relaying the horror of one of the worst exhibitions of brutality in the the latter half of the 20th century without resorting to either overt displays of violence or sentimentality. This was a respectful and purposeful film that succeeded on most every relevant level. I've always thought that Don Cheadle was one of the finest and most likable actors working today. I love his quiet and unassuming charm. This film is certainly the most outstanding example to date of his turning that charm to a near flawless and believable characterization. The film is populated with many other notable performances, as well, although I thought Nick Nolte and Joaquin Phoenix's performances were oddly unmemorable - perhaps for good reason - their roles were pretty utilitarian. If I were to turn any criticism to this film, based solely on a cinematic level, it would be that the dialogue in places is a little expository in that is used to tell us about the background of the Hutu/Tutsi conflict and events happening outside the hotel in awkward, unrealistic ways. But I can certainly understand the difficulty inherent in trying to tell a story like this from within such a limited perspective.

All in all I thought it was a very good film and I'll give it 9/10 stars.

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Lady Sage

National Treasure

5/10 A cross between Indiana Jones, Davinci code and some Silence of the Lambs humor. Completely unoriginal but it did have some very good moments.

Pan will tell you that I was calling everything ahead of time....still the "treasure" will boggle your mind.

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Mister Coaster

Inside Man

Pretty darn good. Well written and acted, fair action, lots of suspense. Denzel Washington is always worth watching, he's one of those actors that can make any movie better than the script. Good twists and turns, even though all the previews showed Washington shouting "This ain't no bank robbery!" so you knew there was going to be something more to the plot than the "robbery" ahead of time.

8 of 10

Lady Sage, I remember being pleasantly surprised by National Treasure. Nick Cage is VERY hit or miss, and I was predicting a miss on that one, but I actually enjoyed it pretty well. And yeah, the treasure room was really cool.

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mrklixx

I'm not sure I saw the same movie then, because I didn't find anything particularly vulgar or "angsty" about Deep Purple, King Crimson, John Lennon, or Donovan.

Agree with the 7/10 rating tho'.

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mixedmedia

ooh, no kidding...good soundtrack

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Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce

bookerV

Children of Men : 8.5 / 10

Great movie, but very depressing. They really do a fantastic job with atmosphere and realism in this movie...

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LoganSnake

Gattaca - 8/10. I really liked the movie and the cast includes some of my favorite actors.

Doom - 2/10. Pure shit.

The Punisher - 5/10. Cool action scenes, lame story. Good flick to relax to.

Pan's Labyrinth - 7/10. I'm not exactly sure why it's been getting rave reviews. I thought it was decent. Great fantasy scenes though. The Pale Man was beyond creepy.

Tristan + Isolde - ?/10. I fell asleep half way through. Girlfriend made me watch it.

That's about it for this week.

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shesus

I have had a campy, cheesy movie month. And I love it.

Murder by Death
This little 70s movie was so great and brainless. I guessed the 'mystery' before the others, but that's either because I read too many mysteries or the movie was that bad...in a good way. If you like Clue, you will probably enjoy this one. It's very similar in the fact that people are invited to a dinner party and trapped in a big mansion where a murder is going to take place.

Love campy, love Clue...gotta see it 9/10

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Grasshopper Green

I first saw Clue when I was a child...and I still laugh every time I see it. It's classic

Hubby and I saw "Letters From Iwo Jima" yesterday, and I really liked it because it gave me a perspective I'd never really had before, and gave me a small idea of what it might have been like for the Japanese soldiers defending their homeland. It made the "enemy" seem a little real, a little human...a little like "us". Don't see if it you don't like subtitles because except for a few brief scenes, the entire thing is in Japanese. 3.5/5

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MexicanOnABike

crank:
I'll definitely have to see this again just to see how fucked up this movie is.
imagine "speed" but replace BUS with HUMAN.(ok, not that similar but you get the idea). I thought the whole movie was a joke. nothing was taken seriously but it was still made with style. If you're a fan of the quick mindless action movies, check it out.
i rate it 7/10

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Rampage

The Illusionist starring Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, and Jessica Biel.

A supernaturally talented magician attempts to undermine the rigid social structure of turn-of-the-century Vienna by using his powers to win the love of his upper-class, childhood sweetheart in director Neil Burger's cinematic adaptation of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Steven Millhauser's short story. Though the ill-fated childhood romance between cabinetmaker's son Eisenheim (Edward Norton) and upper-class Sophie von Teschen (Jessica Biel) eventually resulted in the heartbroken young man leaving Austria to explore the world, his dreams of one day reuniting with the beautiful duchess never faded. Upon returning to Vienna fifteen years later as a talented and renowned illusionist, Eisenheim's hopes of a reunion seem dashed when he learns that Sophie is currently engaged to the Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell). As the tensions between the Eisenheim and Leopold elevate, urbane Chief Inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti) finds his sympathy toward Eisenheim growing despite his formal obligations to the powerful prince. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Fun story. Great acting. Beautiful to look at. 8/10

mixedmedia

Children of Men - 7/10

I wish I liked this movie more. I really wanted to love this movie.

While I admired its gritty realism and the performances of the two main characters (and, of course, Michael Caine - the only fleshly character in the whole film, afaic) this movie left me wanting. I wanted more characterization and less message (much less message). I wanted to understand more about these people and how they were affected, emotionally and psychologically, by the world they lived in. Not that I don't understand how they could go about their day largely without noticing the insanity around them. I understand the near-instinct we all have to rationalize our world in order to find the wherewithal to ignore the insanity and keep going. I don't know. I guess I felt I needed more backstory on the world they lived in. It seems a story more well-suited to a novel - perhaps it was one first, I don't know. If so, I'd be interested in reading it. As it was the instant immersion into this world without sufficient background felt a little like starting a new video game. And I just can't make those same concessions for film.

Somewhat of a spoiler:
Spoiler: And one more thing, the thing that bothered me most about this movie, why is it that human females were infertile but not animals of other species? This plagued me through the whole film. Perhaps someone with knowledge of a biological precedent for this sort of thing could enlighten me. My daughter thought that she had heard of this sort of thing happening with rodents and rabbits before, but she wasn't sure.

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Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce

roachboy

the whole of the 7up series (7 up, 7 up plus 7, 21 up, 28 up, 35 up)
you watch a group of 14 british folk appear on camera at 7 year intervals--starting at 7 years old---and talk about their lives and the previous film clips in which they appeared as part of their lives. they spend a considerable amount of time arguing with their earlier selves, or qualifying wht their earlier selves said. but as a whole, the series is very interesting and in some cases quite sad.
definitely worth watching.

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bookerV

Wicker Man. 2 / 10

This movie was BAD. There were a few parts where I laughed (hence the 2) but overall it was a complete waste of a film...

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roachboy

wait: are you talking about the remake of the wicker man or the original?
i assume the remake, as i cant quite imagine the original being dissed that way. it was such a willfully strange film and came complete with all the usual hammerfilm cheese, including christopher lee. what's not to like?
i havent seen the remake. the fact that it is a remake is a problem, and on top of that there's nicholas cage.....

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it make you sick.

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biznatch

I liked Cage in the Weatherman. I didn't see the Wickerman, but I predict 90% chance of suckiness.

MexicanOnABike

wtf? my post got deleted?

Children Of Men
I really enjoyed this movie. I thought it was well made and i think it's pretty accurate. I just wished they would have made it a bit longer with more indept characters. But it's great they didn't go too far with the explanations.
9.5/10

Spoiler: the animals don't have the same problem as the woman and it makes sense. when you get a cold, does your pets do as well? some viruses / disease are not going to affect animals and the other way around too. Plus, if it was genetically engineered, then it would only affect humans.
sorry for the bad spelling/grammar, i had a nice big post but it got erased so this is what you get.

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hagatha

Letters from Iowa Jema (sorry if I spelt it wrong, can't spell before noon).
Phenomenal, go see it.

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bookerV

I'm talking about the Nicholas Cage one. TERRIBLE!! Don't waste your time/money!!!

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mixedmedia

The Women - 10/10

This is one of my all-time favorite movies. Made in 1939. I've probably seen it more than a dozen times, but it never gets old. It has so many wonderful qualities. Glorious black and white photography. Lavish sets and costuming. A stellar all-female cast: Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Joan Fontaine, Rosalind Russell, Paulette Goddard, Mary Boland, Marjorie Main and little Virginia Weidler. (There is not a single solitary man present in this movie, not even an extra - which is amusing since the movie also happens to revolve around them, lol.) A fashion show in color (I love old movies with fashion shows!). Paulette Goddard in an adorable cowgirl outfit - hubba hubba! And even a catfight! MEOW!

This film was directed by George Cukor after famously being fired as director of Gone with the Wind. I've never been so happy to know that someone I admire was fired from their job. This film was tailor-made for Cukor who was known as "a woman's director" and has the breathtaking glamour and biting humor that he is remembered for in abundance.

Basically the crux of the film's plot questions how a "good" woman should react when she finds her husband is being unfaithful. Don't want to give anything away, but some viewers may find the film's answer to that question to be uncomfortably retrograde. But I like to keep in mind the times when watching old movies like these and not attach my own generation's values to them. Besides, I don't think the points made in this film are totally without merit. For either men or women.

I highly recommend this film to anyone who likes old classics. Even though it is not as well known as many others, it is one of the best of the best.

And did I mention Paulette Goddard in a cowgirl outfit?

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Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce