Mama Mia = a BIJILLION and 1 out of 10!!! :)

Burn After Reading - 8/10

My first Coen brothers film and I liked it. It didn't make any god damn sense in the traditional style of story telling but that's fine with me. There's plenty of odd humor and hijinks to go around. Spoiler: Brad Pitt was funny as expected but he entered the movie a bit late and died a too early. I want to see more of him.

God is great, I'm Not

Story: Michèle, 20 years old, feels terrible after having broken up with her boy-friend. She meets Francois, who's a veterinarian and jewish. Michèle decides to convert into Judaism because she has to believe in something, if not in someone.

Comment: The overall story was decent, but didn't really go in any direction. I thought Francois acted childish and immature while in a relationship with Michele, who just wanted to have a stronger connection with his faith.

Not Audrey Tautou's strongest performance, but I have been a fan since her performance in Amélie.

Rating: 6/10

Sex and the City Movie... OK for you guys, here's a summary.
Cell phone conversation
Dinner conversation
Sex focusing on guy's butt
Cellphone Conversation
Sex focusing on guy's butt
Dinner conversation
Sex focusing on guy's butt
Cellphone Conversation
Dinner conversation
Seriously, How many dinner conversations can you stuff into a movie!? No wonder Kim Catrall(yumm.. Porky's..) was getting fat by the end of the show! Oh wait was that a spoiler? Who cares, Every woman in the world has already seen it and no man is actually paying attention to the movie..

On a lighter side, Leatherheads was pretty funny. It was slow but I liked it. Especially Stephen Root's character. I just wish he was in more of the film.. George Clooney and John Krasinski fit together pretty well too.

Cinema Paradiso

Story (imdb.com): A famous film director returns home to a Sicilian village for the first time after almost 30 years. He reminisces about his childhood at the Cinema Paradiso where Alfredo, the projectionist, first brought about his love of films. He is also reminded of his lost teenage love, Elena, who he had to leave before he left for Rome

Comment: This is such a beautiful film.

If you are a fan of films, then you will definitely have a strong connection with the main character. He has such a passion for movies that when he was a young lad, he decided to be a projectionist from 10 years of age until his mid 20’s. Toto (the main character) didn’t choose to be a projectionist, it was part of him, a “calling” or his "first love"

Rating: 10/10

Burn After Reading: 8/10 - Just plain brilliant comedy of errors that slaps conventional storytelling in the ass and tells it to keep up.

Black Christmas (2006): 3/10 - Bad, bad, BAD movie. The producers should be ashamed. Oh, and the twist is that there is no twist. Brilliant.

976-EVIL: 6/10 - 10,000 times better than expected. Stephen Geoffreys needs to get his ass back into some prosthetics.

976-EVIL II: 6/10 - Great B-grade horror like the first. My only problem is the villain isn't sympathetic in the least and the characters are much more forgettable than the first movie's.

A Better Tomorrow II: 7/10 - Not nearly as great as the first, but infinitely better than Broken Arrow.

Alright. The movie festival in my town just ended today.
here are the movies ive seen with a rating by me. Click on the Title to go to the movie's IMDB's page.

Gomorrah
This follows the story of about 6 people linked with the Camorra mafia in italy. It's not your usual gangster movie but it really shows you what the mafia does in that part of the world. Very violent movie.
Italian with english subtitles.
Rating of 8 out of 10


Blindness
I didn't really want to see this one but my gf convinced me to check it out. It started out like a low budget movie and it seemed like it wasn't gonna get better but once they reach the "prison", it really picks up. The basic story is: someone goes blind without any physical damage to his eyes. It then spreads like a contagious disease. I felt like the acting was good and the overall camera was good but the blurs on the big screens made me want to stop watching. I really recommend this if you like "end of the world-type" of movies.
Rating of 8 out of 10


Animation shorts
9 short animated films. 1 stop motion, 1 3d, 1 computer animation with sand animation, and the rest were low end drawings. there was also 1 which to me wasn't animation. nice effort but nothing worth recommending or buying.
I was really disappointed this year.
Rating of 5 out of 10


[Rec]
Now here we have what I now consider my favourite horror movie. The quick synopsis is: A tv journalist is filming some firemen for a tv show when they're called to a disturbance. once inside, things get bad. I cannot recommend this one enough.
Spanish with english subtitles.
Rating of 9 out of 10

Humour Me: Afternoon of shorts
This was essentially 15 shorts from around the world. All dealing with comedy.
I was really happy with these ones. a few had a bad punch line but most shorts were great!
About Face 9/10, Ascension 7/10, get off my land 6/10, Golden Egg 6.5/10, Hot Dog 8/10, How much to you love me? 8.5/10, I am Bob 7/10, No Coke 7/10, Occupations 5/10, Souvenir 9/10, The Heist 7/10.
mixed english/french with english subtitles
Overall: Rating of 8 out of 10


Waltz With Bashir
This one is a documentary about the war in Lebanon in the early eighties.
This is done like a flashback/documentary all in animation. I really enjoyed this one. If you get a chance, check it out.
hebrew/german with english subtitles.
Rating of 8.5 out of 10

If you can't see my signature, then click HERE to see how I rate my movies

Burn After Reading - 2/10

I liked Fargo, but didn't see Brother Where Aret' Thou'?, so I guess I'm 1 for 2 on Coen brother movies. Burn just wasn't funny for either my wife or I... can't really explain it but it got nothing more than a smirk from either of us. Perhaps we were just having an unfunny night.

Man on Wire - 10/10
Documentary about tightrope walker who walked on a line between the two WTC towers in 1973. I highly recommend this one. Its an inspiring (true) story about defiance, dreams, luck, and determination.

Pathology 7/10

I didn't expect much from a direct to dvd psychological thriller but this was actually a pretty solid movie. Basically follows a Doctor(Peter Petrelli from Heroes(sorry dude you shoulda changed your name when you moved to hollywood)) that gets pulled into a game of murder by his co-workers.

I saw a few documentary about him on discovery channel but this looks like a great movie. He was actually suppose to come to my town to walk between 2 smoke stacks but it was too windy.... anyways, that's what I heard. I wouldn't mind seeing Man on Wire.
-----Added 21/9/2008 at 10 : 02 : 01-----
edit: I think it was a different person. oh well.

Agreed. This is one of my favorite films of all time and I feel it is highly underrated. Absolutely beautiful film. Wonderful pacing and lovely movement.

Did you see the director's cut as well? It is an interesting take.

People, go rent this film now. It is a gem.

11/10

Young & Restless in China

It checked in on 9 people every few months over the course of a few years. It looked at what they were doing with their career, their aspirations, their emotional state, their love life, their quality of life... In other words, their daily lives. I read a whole lot about China, but this documentary made it seem a lot more close to home. Very very good.

Scream - 8/10

Great, great, GREAT film. Whenever Jamie Kennedy is funny, you know something magical has happened.

Scream 2 - 7/10

Solid sequel. The original surpasses it greatly, but whatever. The movie admits early on that sequels are generally worse than their predecessors.

Ghost Town - 7/10

Very funny, however far from original film. Had some solid emotional moments and the directing was handled very nicely by Mr. Koepp.

Speed Racer - 8/10

Got it on blu-ray and watched it with my latest lady acquaintance and actually stopped with what I was doing to watch some of my favorite scenes. I love this film.

The Incredible Hulk - 6/10 - Just forget the first Hulk by Ang Lee ever happened. This was better than expected, actually entertaining.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall - 9/10

Just watched the unrated version.. Oh man... It's possibly the funniest movie I've seen in years. Any guy that can go from Kristen Bell to Mila Kunis with about 10 un-named hotties between them has to be doing something the rest of us don't know about.. Or maybe he's also the movie's writer... Russell Brand's character wasn't as annoying as I thought he was going to be. I actually liked him. Especially when Jonah Hill was on screen with him.

Turistas 4/10

not even gyrating brazillian hips and boobies could have saved this movie

You dont mess with the Zohan 7/10

This movie was one huge 'yo mama' joke, but it made me laugh with its classic stupidity. PS adam sandler, if you ever read this, I will never forgive you for what you were wearing in the beginning!!!

American Gangster - 8/10

Sure, it's historically inaccurate, but damn if it didn't keep me entertained. This was a great crime saga, as directed by that king of kings, Ridley Scott.

The Fast and the Furious - 6/10

The cars were nice, the action was nice, the acting was on-par, and the story was godawful. Still, I was only in for the action.

speed racer 8-10
hellboy 2 7-10
stuck 6-10
war inc. 5-10

Cash Back 8/10

Nice little movie. Plenty of nudity, but wasn't "dirty". The story was good, with entertaining characters and good acting.... What more would you want?

Eagle Eye - 7/10

Ludicrously unbelievable, but if you can look past that and just enjoy the ride, it's a fun rollercoaster ride and contains more flying, crashing cars than I've ever seen before. Think of it as your worst technological nightmare.


Hard Candy - 8/10

Parts were difficult to watch, although there's no gore, but superb performances and much controversy will follow.

Across the Universe. 6/10

i liked how they incorporated certain aspect of that era into the movie Spoiler: like the marry pranksters and the roof top performance

but, for some reason, the movie just lost me at times. it could be the lack of sleep, it could be the drugs wearing off, hell i dont know.

ill watch it sober again one of these days and do a re-review.

oh, yeah.

some of the music was done well...but not all of it. for some reason it bothered me that others were doing Beatles tunes.

alright, time for me to catch some potential z's

Eagle Eye - 7/10

Almost had it, but between the pedestrian plot and the terrible ending, could have been a whole lot better.

The Midnight Meat Train - 9/10

Instant classic. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, which rarely happens and needs to more often.

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People - 6/10

Very disappointing albeit hilarious movie. The plot was just too predictable for the subject matter.

Religulous - 9/10

Bill Maher was brilliant in presenting a comedy for Atheists and hopefully an eye-opener for Theists.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Play List

Comment: I have been a big fan of Michael Cera since Arrested Development and although he has been type-casted to portray an awkward shy teen with an interest in indie music, I still like what he is doing. I thought Cera and Kat had excellent chemistry and the movie’s soundtrack is fantastic.

Rating: 9/10

Plot (from RT): Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist is a comedy about two people thrust together for one hilarious, sleepless night of adventure in a world of mix tapes, late-night living, and, live, loud music. Nick (Michael Cera) frequents New York's indie rock scene nursing a broken heart and a vague ability to play the bass. Norah (Kat Dennings) is questioning pretty much all of her assumptions about the world. Though they have nothing in common except for their taste in music, their chance encounter leads to an all-night quest to find a legendary band's secret show and ends up becoming the first date in a romance that could change both their lives.

How to Lose friends and alienate people

Saw it today. I'm a fan of Simon Pegg, and he is equally funny in this as his other movies. The story was interesting, acting pretty good, dialogue good, pacing good, nice soundtrack, somewhat predictable ending (it's all pretty predictable, isn't it?) but still, a solid movie. Kind of a devil wears prada for guys, with the love angle for chicks. 8 out of 10. I can't give it a 10 out of 10 because it wasn't super cream my jeans awesome, I don't need to see it again.

Fear - 7/10

Surprisingly good obsessive lover movie from 1996. Mark Wahlberg, despite his lack of kissing ability, stood out nicely as the psycho and ate up a fair share of screen time. Reese Witherspoon was OK, and William Peterson as her father kicked ass (especially at the end, fucker must have been quite the football player). The roller coaster scene is classic. Recommended, despite a generally unfavorable rating on IMDb.

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

5/5

Let me get this out of the way, I am a huge fan Thompson.
Anyway, Gonzo. Dr. Thompson really led quite the life, and this film focus's mainly on his writing of Hell's Angels, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and Fear and Loathing on the Campain Trail '72.
It also features the major people in his life, from a section devoted to Stedman to Pat Buchanan, from Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone, to both his wives and some fantastic readings of Hunter's work by his good buddy Johnny Depp

Religulous - 5/10
I shoulda waited for HBO.

Better Off Dead - 8/10

Absurdist comedy at it's best. "I WANT MY TWO DOLLARS!"

Funny Ha Ha - 3/10

I'll man up and say I have yet to actually finish this "film", but halfway through I already know I can honestly give my rating. I'm all for artistic films and I'm all for plot-less, character-driven films, but this is just ridiculously lazy. Not to filmmakers: you have to put in some amount of effort beyond the script if you want the film to feel real or, for that matter, good.


And Hal, what's with the Religulous hate?

Quarantined

I enjoyed this film because of the super diseased cannibalistic individuals that attack at super speed in the apartment complex. The film was shot similar to Cloverfield, but the camera was more stable and when the camera man is running, you can still see everything.

I found one of the main character's rather annoying around the end, but I am sure I may have the same reaction if I were in a similar situation.

Several tips to survive in a building that were infected with a super unknown virus where people turned into zombies are:

1. Equip yourself with a weapon and take your time getting to each location. If you are impatient and think you can take out 5 beings at one, you will die.

2. If a zombie is running after you, run the other way because they are super powerful and you are not.

3. Carry a flashlight.

4. Keep night vision goggles in stock.

5. Stay away from glass doors and open windows.

6. If anyone is infected and have not turned into a zombie, kill them before they kill you.

Rating: 8/10

Well it was bad.

No Country For Old Men - 10/10

I read the book about a month ago, and I don't know how the movie could be any more faithful. The Coen's created a 2 hour masterpiece that was almost exactly how I imagined the story when reading it. Fantastic.


Saw IV - 3/10

I really liked the original Saw, thought Saw II was pretty meh, but thought Saw III was pretty decent. Saw IV was the worst one so far. If nothing else, you watch these movies for a) the Traps and b) the Twist. Saw IV had the worst traps and the worst twist. My faith in Saw V is waning.

That's a shame. I guess the should have left it at a trilogy. Like you, I liked 1, hated 2 (because it didn't stick to the "saw" M.O.), and liked 3 again (because they explained why 2 sucked ;) ). Maybe Saw has "Star Trek movie Syndrome", where the odd numbered ones are the better ones.

well Saw V has some explaining to do, because the twist at the end is completely out of left field.

Body of Lies - 6/10

I wanted to love it but not even the good, not great, second half could make up for the slow and boring (I actually fell asleep) first hour of setup. DiCaprio's starting to earn my respect, though.

burn after reading 3/10

recognisable names. some funny scenes, but just didnt do anything for me. didnt really get me involved, and i didnt care much about the storyline because i knew at some point the individual stories would collide. definately not Crash!

acting was mediocre. cloony playing a paranoid loony just didnt fit. i didnt mine brad pitts character. unexpected, but was ok. i expected a lot more out of john malkovic too, although he was probably the strongest character in the movie.

plot - confusing ramble that ended too quick. everyone walked out saying "was that it?"

3/10 - 2 of them to john malkovic.

Quarantine

9 out of 10.

I was conned into seeing this by my brother. I assumed it would be another horror movie with creepy imagery and a ridiculous, thrown together at the last minute plot. But I was really surprised.

This movie scared the shit out of me. I can't remember the last time a movie had me on edge for such a sustained period of time.

Funny Games
9.5/10
It's a remake of a 1997 movie.
This movie would be pretty depressing and perhaps too weird if one did not understand the point of the film. It's a critique and examination of how violence is portrayed in movies today. The two antagonists(Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet) do a very good job of being overly creepy and truly disturbing. In fact, one of my favorite aspects of this movie is the acting; Naomi Watts and Tim Roth portray true anguish like I've never seen. The only reason I couldn't give it a 10 was Spoiler: there is about a 20-25 minute sequence after the "villains" kill the 10 year old son of Naomi Watts and Tim Roth where the two just cry and be miserable together that, in my opinion, could have been cut short, but then again, perhaps that was a point the film maker was trying to make.
Overall great movie, and you have to keep in mind that it is not just a thriller for thriller's sake; it has a point, and to enjoy this movie to its fullest, and not just get turned off by it, you have to remember this point: violence is portrayed gratuitously in our movies, instead of there being any sort of emotion attached to it. Sometimes it is much more necessary for the impact of a character's death if the on-screen death is not glorified. The on-screen death should not be the movie's "reward" for that character's death, rather the implications of that character's death and how it affects the environment of the movie should be the point of that death.
ok, said death way too many times there, but hey in this movie (and you'll see why), it's appropriate.

deathrace 8-10