Monster 8/10

A really good movie, but disturbing as hell.

Extra points for doing something I'd never thought possible. They managed to have a scene with Christina Ricci and Charlize Theron buck naked making out and it was disgusting. I feel so cheated.

"Barely 18"

Very nice film, cinematography is wondeful. Acting is sufficient. Warning though... it gets a bit messy at the end.

Salvadore,

Reminded me of why I want to dance on Rappin Ronnie Reagan's accursed grave. Brutal, violent, depressing, but that's what happens when people sponsor right wing death squads...

Geurreros

It was nominated for an academy award for best foriegn film but I can't really tell why. Great cinematography and good performances, but the 'war is hell' message of the film was pretty cliché. Though, it was interesting to see a war movie on the Balkans War. 4/5

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

**** out of 5

Harry is growing up fast and with him, the movies are too. Just as this book intoduces darker themes, the movie and it's new director bring in darker and more adult themes. The story from the book is very intricate and book readers will no doubt be pissed that certain things are left out.

Aside from that and a couple of long winded scenes, the movie is really great. Now bring on Goblet of Fire.

Paycheck- 6.75/10

This movie really wasn't as good as I expected. I first figured it would suck when I heard it was a Ben Aflek/Uma Thurman film. Then I heard the story was done by Phillip K. Dick (Blade Runner...) and got excited. Then after seeing it, I realized it was simply a good story but a shitty movie still. Go figure...
I hope this gets remade one day, it's got tons of potential. I just felt like it was holding my hand the entire time. Using no-name, unfamiliar actors alone would have increased the suspense that the it tried to achieve. Who cares if they'd have to cut the budget, the story would still carry itself if done correctly.

Thirteen
8 out of 10.

This was a damn good movie. The only reason it got an eight was I didn't like the way the camera moved around so much in some scenes. It worked in some instances, but the best thing about the movie was the acting. It was very emotional, and I really got into the movie. I'm sure not all 13 year olds act like this, but don't watch it thinking that it represents all of them. Evan Rachel Wood gives a HELL of a performance.

Elephant

SPOILER sort of - unless you know what the movie is about, then it's not, not that it would spoil the movie


I couldn't feel for the characters, there wasn't enough to them, I guess it was supposed to be a realistic as possible, but I cannot sympathize with characters that I have watched go through 20 minutes of their normal lives, and feeling for people is part of being involved in a a situation like the one portrayed, it didn't really put me there, like i think it was supposed to, i could come up with more indepth recreations in my own head, there just wasn't enough there for me to get into it

watch bowling for columbine for the seconds of security cam footage from the actual columbine shooting, that is what this movie tries to be

Saved

6 out of 7.

Really funny, after having a lot of friends that all of a sudden became uber-conservative, it's scary how much this movie reminded me of them. It's not especially offensive, and really quite funny. A kind of different spin on the Teen Movie. Macaulay Culkin was actually pretty cool, Mandy Moore was cast perfectly, and Jena Malone just does it for me.

Dodgeball: A Underdog Story

4.5 / 5

That movie had me laughing so many times I lost track, WELL worth the 6.50$ opening price!

Torque

Rented it and watched it earlier today. Very bad movie and just glad that I wasn't the one who paid to rent it.

I watched 28 Days Later tonight and found it a little urrgghh for my liking. Call me a wimp if you will.

4/10

Elle, you're a wimp!!
just kidding


i saw Touching the Void this morning... ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.

doco style, mind blowing cinematography... and what a story!!

i've read two of Joe Simpsons books (including touching the void) and i have to say i really didn't like him (him, not his writing) very much... but this doco changes things significantly.

as a guy who has climbed mountains (not quite in their league though mind you) this both terrified me... and inspired me...

what an amazing story.



11/10.
GO SEE IT!!!

I just watched "The Killer" by John Woo. It was probably one his best films and I give it 8/10.

It was also good to see a young Chow Yun Fa- he rocks!

last movie i watched was in the army now

8/10

what the fuck happened to pauly shores career though.. :O

Yeah, Bundy....picture me flippin' the bird, baby. I cannot dig zombies, I don't care what you call them!


I took the kidlets to see Shrek 2 today. Laughed a lot. Thought Puss In Boots would be a bit nastier than he was, but it was still a riot.

8/10.

A Few Good Men
Just saw it for the first time in it's entirety, a good movie, not a great one, but good. It was nice seeing the defense prepare their entire defense, and while there were a few minor technical errors the movie had everything you could possibly want in a movie. The best thing being, no huge over-the-top hollywood love story thrown in where it didn't belong. 8/10

Predator
One of the greatest action/thriller movies of all-time in my opinion. Besides having one the greatest movie characters of all-time, the movie also maintains suspense by not even showing the Predator until almost halfway through the movie. 7/10

High Fidelity
Not quite a top 5 movie, but Jack Black steals the show in his breakout movie. 7/10

Bad Santa -the R-rated version

I have no idea what could be in the un-rated version of this movie, cause they sure didn't pull any punches. Billy Bob is one messed up Santa, but damn was this movie funny.

9/10 -for volume and quality of laughs

The non unrated version is much better, funnier

Saw Scarface on the weekend for the first time (not sure how this one slipped through the gaps for this long) top movie.

5/5

SnOnP

The Last Samurai was the last new movie I saw (Saturday) and I was extremely surprised and impressed. Excellent movie, I highly recommend it.

9.5/10

I saw Shallow Grave (1994) again last evening, and it gets 8 out of ten for me.... Brilliant thriller made on an absolute minimal budget, great story, great cast and last but not least... a good, (and a bit dark) sense of humor. Too bad it has got a few plotholes.

Bad-er Santa - 3/5

Requiem for a Dream - 4/5

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (remake) 7/10

Terrible plot, tons of "now why the hell would they open THAT door" type stuff. Knew when the jumpy moments were going to come.

Only reason it got a decent score is cause of it's decent effects/cinematography.

Bad Santa 3.5/5

It was really really funny. I liked it. I loved the fat kid. It was crass and poignant at the same time. Rare. Good movie over all.

The Butterfly Effect 8/10

city of god

best movie i've seen in several years
cool story and cinematography

5/5

Big Fish. 9/10. What a sweet film.

King Arthur

8/10 Good movie. Very entertaining, but I never really got to know the characters. A bit more background would have been nice.

King Arthur: WTF was up with the lame-o editing? The action scenes looked terrible. I don't much care for what seems to be the current standard of action editing. When they chop things up so much I get the feeling they're trying to hide something: like how bad the action really is, or how dissimilar the stunt doubles are to the regular actors. That said, it was good to see Horatio Hornblower get some more work.

9.8 of 10

Spider-Man 2: Need I say more?

This movie kicked ass.

Joe Somebody...
2 out of 5... very predictable yet still mildly entertaining.

farenheit 911.
i dont know about this film. there were elements i thought worked really well (the opening--using the sound of 911 rather than the image--we have become desensitized to the images, but not to the sound, it seems) and the general politics were good (i opposed the war in iraq)
but i am not a fan of moore in general---and then other things that i did not really like or understand, like the function of the huge segment about the saudis and the bush family---what was the actual argument moore was making? that arabs are evil? ---and the sentimentality of the sequences focussed on the mother from flint whose son was killed in iraq....

the orwell quote at the very end was great, however.

"the fog of war"---interesting interview with robert macnamara, interesting psychological document--bad film--goofy editing, goofy segue choices--terrible phillp glass music. just terrible.

Butterfly Effect: 3/5

tin drum---a curious, complicated film. i think i need to watch it again.

thanks to Nancy's reccommendation, i tracked down the Kitano version of Zatoichi...

bloody fantastic.

5/5...

Last movie I saw was King Arthur,

7/10 Not bad, could have used about more of a story. Battle scenes where a bit choppy.

ok, so i just saw HERO...

brilliant. cinematography was mind blowing. action was spectacular. actors, all of them, were fantastic (esp Maggie Cheung).

i love this film.

5/5

King Arthur

I was a big King Arthur/Lancelot/Camelot fan as a kid. While others were playing Cowboys and Indians... I was the great Knight Lancelot killing dragons and rescuing damsels in distress. Needless to say, I was looking forward to seeing this movie. Due to my high expectations I was let down by the movie's storyline. While the movie is decent, it is just missing some things to make it a great movie. The plot is too predictable, but then of course it is hard to make a plot twist in a "historical" movie... unless you are Michael Moore - then you can alter facts at will.
I give this movie 3/5 stars.

The last movie i actually watched was pulp fiction again for the hell of it. I had just gotten back from Germany on a business trip and a friend of mine asked me in the middle of it if it was really true about the "royal with cheese" and for all of you that don't know yes it is indeed a royal with cheese but i can't tell you how to spell cheese in german so i'll get back on that one.


Anyway 4 out of 5 loosing one point for the basement scene which i still find highly disturbing to this day. lol:eek:

City of God. Excellent, excellent movie. Go watch it. 9/10.

Farenheit 9/11

ummm I have yet to look into it to find out how much is total caca... so I'm going to suspend judgement

first impression though..... 3.5/5

There was some stuff that they just threw in there.

However

Spoiler: "We don't need no water let the mother fucker burn..... burn motherfucker... burn"

^Classic

'Along Came Polly'.....romantic comedy with Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston. Overall a little contrived and unbelievable, but it had some funny scenes, and Ben Stiller is always good for a laugh.

Edit: forgot to rate it....6/10

Spiderman 2

It's been said before... "Best superhero movie ever"

simply stumendous 9.5/10

Same here. I give it the same rating.

I briefly glimpsed at "Charlie's Angels, Full Throttle" for about 10 seconds. It was awful.

3/10.

Saved- Funny and thought-provoking at the same time. the mostly young cast did an excellent job
9.5/10

Cold Mountain

Movie seemed a little slow, and I ended up predicting how the movie would end about halfway into it. A little bit different angle on the Civil War stories, but depressing as hell. Especially if you watch the deleted scenes on the DVD.

7/10

I just saw Badder Santa (director's cut). I thought the premise was absolutely hilarious and BB thornton was perfect in the role. I just wish they would have fattened the plot a bit more with another more substantial storyline.
....2.5 out of 5 stars

The Last Samurai - 10/10
Very good movie in my opinion.

I enjoyed your well thought out and absolutely appropriate non-esoteric review. I agree with you 100%. Very well done indeed, even with the the "Dances With Wolves" rip-off comparisons (media critics). EXCELLENT historically accurate period piece.

super size me

2.5/5

it was interesting but i got fidgety at times.
somewhat predictable, slightly sensationalized

Office Space

Again.

I had forgotten how funny this film was, and did some serious laughing which I needed badly! Clever, funny, simple premise and spot on with the office politics stuff.

8/10.

My Cousin Vinnie

10/10

It was one of the best movies ever!

Never Die Alone - 6/10
Seemed pretty short, and the acting wasn't that great. My opinion of course.

Around the World in 80 Days

8/10

It was better than I expected. But Jacky Chan needs to retire.

Pulp Fiction- 9/10
Excelent movie..It was the first time I have seen it...i guess it was kind of confusing..but the filmmaking was excelent..everything in the movie was done, and there for a reason. Tarentino is a genius.

Just bought Princess Bride dvd

10/10

a classic and has everything from giants to sword fighting...cant forget about the R.O.U.S's!

blow up

an excellent film.
seriously, an excellent experience.

i watched it on dvd, which also had an amazingly stupid commentary version. no need to boather with it, unless you find yourself mystified by the film. and even then....

Starsky and Hutch - 4/5
Shade - 4/5
Spartan - 4/5

I've watched them within 24 hours... so.

All excellent movies for what they are. The card tricks in Shade are fucking amazing.. and they have this little featurette in the special shit that elaborates more on it. For a first-time director, it was pretty well done.

Spartan, some movie with Val Kilmer about some chick that gets stolen etc. Good movie, excellent dialogue.

Starsky and Hutch, funny, funny shit. DO IT!

Paycheck 1.5 / 5

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

amarcord

a sweet, lovely fellini film.

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

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

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

the seventh seal

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

4/5

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

4/5

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

The Seven Samurai

2/5

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

Mulholland Drive
4/5

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

I'm starting another post on this movie

Ichi The Killer

Greusome, disgusting, pointless

5/10

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

50 First Dates : 9/10

The Triplets of Belleville.

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

3.5 out of 5.

Hidalgo

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

7/10

the third man

3.5/5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

the color of paradise.

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

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

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


another installment in our (extended) iranian film jag.

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

napoleon dynamite

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

3/5


juliet of the spirits

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

4.25/5

The Secret Window

2.5 out of 5 stars.

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

"Taxi Driver" - 7.5/10

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

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

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

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

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

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

:)

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

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

8/10

On the Waterfront...

Holy crap!

Perfect film.

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

Spiderman 2. Overrated.. 7/10

"the town is quiet"
crap.

Elephant- 7.5/10

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


Master and Commander- 8.5/10

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


The Manchurian Candidate- 8.5/10

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

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

2 hours lost forever...


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

Nice, fast-paced drama/action flick.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Trading Places - Widescreen DVD - 10/10

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

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

"Bad Santa"

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

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

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