I actually sat through the entire feature film titled "My Life In Ruins" staring Nia Vardalos. Nia V is the chick from My Big Fat Greek Wedding. This current title was HORRIBLE! I've never walked out of a movie but I would have had I not been with a woman who wanted nothing to do with leaving early. Re-gawt-damn-diculous really... waste of time and 2.5 hours of life I will never get back. Two thumbs down and don't waste your money...even on the DVD!

The last movie I saw was Lucio Fulci's 1980 classic Zombie. A friend is putting on a series of B-movies at midnight, in partnership with a local movie theater. The first show was the original Deathrace 2000.

To give you a sense of what we're dealing with, with Zombie....
This was by FAR the highest-budget scene in the film. I think they spent most of their FX budget on that rubber shark.

Excruciatingly bad. It was only made bearable by the fact that I was in a theater full of people in full zombie drag.

Gran Torino 8/10

Fucking great story. Great fucking job by Clint Eastwood all around. Dragged a tiny bit...

I Love You, Beth Cooper 2/10

Just another teenage virgin story. There's really not that much going on in this movie at all. It did have a couple laughs, but you can just watch the trailer to see them all.

Year One 9/10

This movie is hilarious. Jack Black and Michael Cera make a GREAT comedic team. Seriously, the funniest movie I've seen in a long while.

Twilight - 1/10
All the traditional notions a vampire is thrown out the window and in come a bunch of pussified vampires. Lots of teenage awkwardness and cheesy dialogue overload. I was right to walk out the theater the first time but the gf insists we finish it last night. It was made bearable by us cuddling and "happy ending" :D

Harry Potter: Half Blood Prince
7/10

It suffers from the same problem that the last two HP movies have. Trying to cram those books into a 2 1/2 hour movie is becoming too hard and it shows in HBP. The whole movie just seemed to be a disjointed mess. It really could, and should, have been chopped in half into two 2 hour movies.
It gets an extra point because Alan Rickman is still fucking awesome.

Harry Potter: Half Blood Prince - 5/10

I had a really hard time getting into this movie. The whole time I was waiting with an "and thennnn?" feeling, hoping something would happen that would catch my interest. It fell flat for me. The ending was "meh" as well.

Powder Blue - 5/10
I didn't not like this movie, it just did nothing for me. The individual performances were nice, but the story was just a cheap knock-off of Crash. I admit that I only saw it to see Jessica Biel stripping and splashing her naked breasts with hot wax. I did get that. I liked it a lot. But the rest had no cohesion.

Hancock - 2.5/10
I should actually say: First half: 5/10, Second half: 0/10. This movie had SO MUCH potential on concept alone, but it lived up to almost NONE of it. Fucking horrible job by all parties involved.

Young People Fucking - 1/10
Maybe I am to blame. I assumed this was a documentary, based on the description and the name. Actually, its fiction of the same caliber that you get on Cinemax late at night.

That's it. I am done with Netflix's Watch Instantly service.

Thirteen days
Thirteen Days: Made in 2000, Stars Kevin Cosner and Bruce Greenwood. This 2 hr.15 min
movie tells the story when in October 1962 President John F. Kennedy and the White House
personel keep WORLD WAR 3 from happening. After the CCCP installs nuclear tipped military
rockets in Cuba, the President must act to bomb Cuba or have the Navy quarantine the island
with their ships. A good movie ,even if you know what happened at the end and remember
wondering in 1962 if WW3 was going to happen.

Gran Torino 2/10
Simplistic, emotionally manipulative dreck. Might as well have been Tom Berenger in The Substitute or Treat Williams in The Substitute 2. Thank God that Clint Eastwood was there to save those poor Hmong. Ugh!

And I like Clint Eastwood.... Blech!

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince 7/10

I was bored during the first half and found the story to be lacking. All the points are for the always beautiful cinematography, production, the amazing sets and locales and characterizations. Now I remember why I skipped #3 through #6. Or was it 5?

Wedding Daze
It was a little funny, it could have been put together better. But I enjoyed watching it.

Dragon Wars - 7/10

Korean movie, should be a B movie but it has A movie special effects... story was eh, expected more Dragon fights, but was still a neat movie. The extras on the DVD shed some great light on the director and how it was made, it wasn't all 100% CGI there were still miniatures and animatronics used.

Rear Window 8/10
For whatever reason this film has escaped me in the past, and I find myself a little disappointed that I didn't find it as awesome as it's been made out to be. It was still pretty good, but for "The Master Of Suspense"'s supposedly best film, the suspense didn't really seem to come until the last half hour or so, and there were absolutely no surprises whatsoever.

supposedly, is right...I've never heard 'Rear Window' described as Hitchcock's best film.

Well it's his highest rated on IMDB, 16th in the top 250 (not the best guide in the world I know), and regardless of whether it's his best or not, it's pretty highly rated by most. I expected more of it, having seen and loved several of his other films.

ah, gotcha :)

My favorite Hitchcock film is Shadow of a Doubt...but then I am prejudiced because it has two of my favorite actors in it - Joseph Cotten and Teresa Wright.

"Knowing" with Nicholas Cage. 5/10

I only paid $1.00 so only lost my time. Not bad, has its moments but entirely too long.

500 Days of Summer: 8/10

A delightful little film that plays with you expectatons about love stories. Some very funny bits, good acting and a solid premise. It loses some points for the end gag which is a little forced and unnecessary but certainly not enough to harm the experience.

Joseph Gordon-Lewitt has grown up a lot, looking a bit pike a young Heath Ledger in this movie. As a fan of 3rd rock and 10 things I Hate About You I was pleasantly surprised that I did not have any problem se him for this character instead of one o his previous iconic roles. Zooey, needless to say, looks fantastic, though she doesn't have to work very hard. Pretty much her standard quirky character.

The Hangover - 9/10
Incredible comedy. Every second of this movie was entertaining and every joke was funny. Good stuff.

The Haunting in Connecticut 8/10

A very good, creepy flick. Definitely one of the better horror movies I've seen lately. I was expecting it to scare the shit out of me, though, and it didn't.

Confessions of a Shopaholic - 5/10

Some funny moments but I can't get around the idea of shopping being an addiction. It also has the same feel as "The Devil Wears Prada." Mediocre acting, dialogue, plot. I'm not entirely convinced the relationship between the female and male lead.

500 Days of Summer 9/10

Pretty much agree with Frosstbyte's review, I really really really really like this movie. I saw a lot of myself in Tom's character, and I'd imagine so will a lot of people. Who's down for some karaoke at the Pirate Bar?

Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (Salò or the 120 Days of Sodom) 7.5/10

It wasn't terrible. It was graphic and gruesome, but nothing over the top. I wanted to see it to be shocked, and it did that, but only to a mild extent. Recommended if you're into watching movies strictly because they're hard to find or hard to watch, though I didn't have much trouble with either.

Heroes
Now I know this is not a movie but I have watched the full first session and half of the second in just this past week. My mom really liked heroes and I never watched. Now that I watched it I find that I really like the show. Me and my husband both like it and we never really like the same show unless it is on food network. :thumbsup:

I had always read about this film but never watched it. Pasolini was an interesting person.

Forever Strong 10/10

From NetFlix:
My NetFlix Queue got a little thin and I added this. Very good movie highlighting the importance of character. My wife even enjoyed it.

This is the only film of Pasolini's I've seen, and interesting is certainly one way of describing it. The woman hated it though, thought it was pointless... I actually got it pretty easily from Netflix if you're interested. No wait at all.

Mesrine: L'instinct de Mort (tr: Mesrine: the instinct of death) and L'Ennemi Public N. 1 (Public Enemy #1)

Mesrine is a two part movie about the life of French gangster Jacques Mesrine, with Vincent Cassel playing him.
Mesrine was not just your average gangster. He was known as The Man of 1000 faces, which is how he fooled people, and remained at large for so long:

http://static.guim.co.uk/Guardian/wo...67611-2203.jpg

When he robbed banks, he would quickly take care of the first one, then, with the police not far, he'd go across the street and rob the other bank.
He escaped from every prison he was incarcerated in, and even escaped in the middle of his own trial by planning it before his arrest.

The movie shows the gangster's early adulthood, when he was in the French-Algerian war, and his subsequent decision to not lead a regular civilian life. It then follows his first big crimes, his trip to Quebec and Arizona, with the law pursuing him, his return to France, and eventually the end of his "career".
Cassel does an excellent job. He's intense, charismatic, completely psychotic at times, and always dangerous.

The story alone is worth it. I don't understand how it's possible that I didn't know about this gangster a week ago. He's a legend.

I don't know what else to say about this film, except that you should see it. Wow.
10/10
Trailer: (in French)

pineapple express 4/10

I've been told that it's much funnier if you watch it stoned, but then again, that is also the case with "santa claus conquers the martians"

sounds great! I'll have to check that out.

I've seen it stoned, and it didn't do much to help. TBH, stoner humor isn't very funny. Of course, there's many weed jokes, and people being high, but it's nothing new or groundbreaking.
In my mind, this suffered from the same flaw as the Simpsons Movie. Too much action for what's supposed to be a comedy movie. If I want an action film, which often I do, I'll see an action flick.. and if it's cheesy enough, then being stoned will help. :D

The Great Buck Howard: 0/5

If you want to see John Malkovich play an egotistical, dickheaded, washed up magician in an unfunny, pointless, plotless film, then Buck Howard is for you.

WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS 7/10

It only gets such high marks as it's so different than the other Toho Kaiju movies.

Man Hunt: 8/10

Great Fritz Lang movie made in 1941. Solid story and acting and interesting to watch today and see the anti-Nazi sentiment and fear of the time.

Crossing Over 7/10

I watched The Prestige yesterday. finally. and while it was certainly entertaining, I found Christian Bale's and Scarlet Johanssen's accents to be rather flimsy and unconvincing. It kept taking me out of the story to marvel - couldn't they have gotten more/better coaching? Not good. Even Bowie seemed a more accomplished actor in comparison.
6/10

I also watched, You Can Count On Me. I enjoyed this one very much. Gave me an entirely new appreciation of Mark Ruffalo. Laura Linney I've always liked. And little Rory Culkin was excellent. Great film, great writing, great performances. Can't ask for much more than that in a Hollywood film.
9/10

Finally saw Wolverine (X-Men Origins) tonight - 5 / 10

Maybe I should've listened to the many complaints about this movie on the internet. Cool action sequences, and even though I haven't read many of the comics, I knew about a lot of the cameo characters and appreciated when they appeared. I didn't like how Wolverine's entire motivation for becoming Weapon X was because Spoiler: his brother Sabretooth supposedly killed his girl - it seemed really cliche.

The movie felt a lot like X-Men 3 - flat, empty story and characters thrown together just to get cool looking action sequences and sell lots of tickets.

Fast Food Nation: 7/10.

Pretty decent movie, spotlighting (satirizing) the greed, cruelty and corruption of the corporations which process and supply the meat to fast food chains in America. Cute cameo by Avril Lavigne. My question to the director/author: your critique is all well and good but how else are you going to feed 250 million carnivorous human beings to keep them from killing and eating eachother?

Lakeview Terrace was on Netflix Watch Instantly.
I thought what the hell, it doesn't look great, but Samuel Jackson screams in this movie (well, when does he not), so I'll give it a shot.

Not too bad I guess. From the trailers, I hadn't understood that ethnicity played a part in this movie. I just thought it'd be about the sheer horror of living next to a massive asshole who happened to be a cop. Turns out it's a racist massive asshole cop. And as he says so himself in the movie, "What are you gonna do, call the cops? I'll tell you who's shift it is." (paraphrase)

Since the couple that moves in next to him is interracial, that pushes his buttons, and the cop does everything he can to fuck with them.

It escalates and stuff. For me, it was very watchable. I couldn't help but be interested in what was next, what it would come to, and Samuel Jackson was perfectly creepy. The couple, however, isn't really likable.
Ending was a bit of a letdown, but there's not a thousand ways this thing can end. It just could have been done better.
6/10

The Last King of Scotland -- 3.5/4 stars

Forest Whitaker most definitely deserved the Oscar for his role in this movie. James McAvoy was great in it also but nothing like Whitaker.

The movie started off extremely strong but the last 1/4th of it was slightly less emotionally convincing. Great, great movie, very close to 4 star worthy. Had lots of memorable moments and I swear Whitaker is secretly a Ugandan considering how well he played that role and the accent.