Flags of Our Fathers - 8/10

I have nothing to say except I think I like Clint more as a director than as an actor, and I LOVE him as an actor...

Calender Girls 9/10
Howl's Moving Castle 8.5/10
Paprika 8/10

Battle Royale 9/10

Great flick. With so many characters to start with, you really get to see a wide range of emotions and reactions to the situation. I definitely recommend checking it out before they end up remaking it for the US.

Funny Games 8/10

Two nihilistic young men terrorize a family. Suspenseful, funny and slightly insane film. I could not take my eyes off the screen. Great pacing, acting, direction. There is toying with the audience which is either brilliant or pretentious, depending how you see it. I thought the manipulation was hilariously funny.

I watched that not too long ago, and didn't like it at all. So much that I deleted it off my hard drive immediately after watching it. I guess it just wasn't what I was hoping for... oh well.


Anyway, Appaloosa - 6/10 Nothing remarkable at all outside of Jeremy Irons. Viggo was cool, Ed was alright. I loathe Renee Zellweger.

Sunshine Cleaning 5/10
Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin. Too many loose ends. Very disappointing.

The Secret Garden 7/10
My daughter recently finished the book. So, we rented the movie. She enjoyed it. I thought that it was fine. Certainly better than most children's films.

I Love You, Man 7/10

Decently funny movies. There were parts where I laughed long and hard, but there were also a lot of parts where I didn't. Just the fact that Jason Segel and Lou Ferrigno are in it totally made it worth the watch for me, though!

Brazil
8/10
and very appropriate for modern times.

The hangover 8-10

Speak

Rating: 8/10

Summary (imdb): The teenager Melinda Sordino joins the high-school with a great feeling of rejection and becomes practically mute. Her school mates and friends call her "squealer", because she called the police during a summer party; she does not have communication with her mother, Joyce Sordino, who is workaholic and is permanently busy; and she has problem with a very radical teacher. She finds a great support with her art teacher Mr. Freeman and her school friend David Petrakis, and recalls her traumatic experience in the summer before school.

Comment: I always like to watch films of actors/actresses before they became super well known due to a popular movie series, like Twilight. And for those of you, who are film fanatics, probably have seen Panic Room, in which you will have noticed that Kristen Stewart plays Jodi Foster’s diabetic daughter. Speak is a decent film, but only improves with her interpretation of the character.


Mysterious Skin

Rating: 8/10

Summary (imdb): In 1981, in Hutchinson, Kansas, the eight years old boy Neil McCormick is sexually abused by his pedophile baseball coach and his deranged and promiscuous mother does not pay attention. Meanwhile, the also eight years Brian Lackey awakes from a brief amnesia of four hours with a bleeding nose, but his negligent father does not pay attention to the event. Brian grows-up believing he had been abducted by aliens, while Neil grows-up as a hustler. When Brian is eighteen years old, he looks for and meets Neil, who discloses dark innermost secrets of their past.

Comment: I was a bit uncomfortable when watching this film just because of the subject matter, but I was impressed with the Joseph Gordon Levitt performance. You may remember him in a hit television show called, Third Rock From The Sun, where he plays a quirky teenage alien, but I believe after this film (and many others, including Brick and The Lookout) he can be taken seriously as an actor.

Departures-many layered story that made me laugh and cry.
Ponyo-Very sweet movie. Even the little kids in the audience enjoyed it!

The Hangover may be the funniest movie I've ever seen. Outside of the first maybe 3-5 minutes, I was laughing almost nonstop.

10/10

I Love you Man - 4/10

Really was not funny, there were a few parts that had me laughing, but they were few and far between. I don't recommend this one, there are so many better comedies out there.

Gamer---- 5/10
action packed, but all through the movie I kept thinking of " Running Man "
entertaining with a feel good ending.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

Rating: 9/10

Summary: Naive and idealistic Jefferson Smith, leader of the Boy Rangers, is appointed on a lark by the spineless governor of his state. He is reunited with the state's senior senator--presidential hopeful and childhood hero, Senator Joseph Paine. In Washington, however, Smith discovers many of the shortcomings of the political process as his earnest goal of a national boys' camp leads to a conflict with the state political boss, Jim Taylor. Taylor first tries to corrupt Smith and then later attempts to destroy Smith through a scandal.

Comment: I am going to take you back to 1939 where films were in black and white and everyone was dressed in their best outfits just to go out for a walk. By the middle of the film, I was on the edge of my seat rooting for the main character to overcome all the obstacles that are thrown at him. Does he win in the end? Does he get the girl? I will not spoil it for you, but I enjoyed the film.

9

7.5/10. I really wanted to give this movie a 10. I was whooping in the theaters when I saw the preview before Harry Potter (much to my wife's dismay). Much to MY dismay, despite being a very cool concept and very well animated, the story just can't quite take it the distance. Well worth seeing and I'll be buying it for sure, but you can really feel that they were stretching a short into a feature. There's just not quite enough material so what there is ends up feeling a little...stretched.

District 9

I give it a 9 / 10. I can't say that I enjoyed it per say, because it's a brutal film, but I'm really glad I saw it. I guess i wasn't prepared for just how brutal a film it was.

Blessings!
Duskwynd

9 5/10

Visually stunning. Great concept. Great characters. Too bad the story sucked balls. Everything happened way too fast, the climax was quite underwhelming, and the ending made no fucking sense...

I was so very disappointed...
______

Adventureland 7/10

I really like the feel to this movie. Very real life funny. I enjoyed it quite a bit.
______

Watchmen 0/10

I finally saw it. I didn't like a single thing about it...

An entertaining film. Particularly prescient, though if the boy scouts helped a senator nowadays (as they did in the film), it would probably be something untoward.

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Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah during the sex scene was especially awful. For some reason it reminded me of the sex scene in Steven Spielberg's Munich. Very disappointing! We all should have listened to Alan Moore and avoided the movie.

I love you, Man - 4/10

I guess this is the curse of seeing tv stars on the big screen, but I can't see Jason Segel as someone else other than Marshall from HIMYM and Paul Rudd as Mike from Friends (ok, he's the exception). They both failed to convince me that they're someone else--especially Jason Segel (same thing with forgetting Sarah Marshall). There's some attempt at being funny, got a chuckle, but could've been a lot better with different actors, imo. I'd love to see John Cho in Paul Rudd's role. John's anger was more convincing in Harold and Kumar go to Whitecastle than Paul in I love you, Man.

Jennifer's Body 5/10

Summary: Nerdy, reserved bookworm Needy and arrogant, conceited cheerleader Jennifer are best friends, though they share little in common. They share even less in common when Jennifer mysteriously gains an appetite for human blood after a disastrous fire at a local bar. As Needy's male classmates are steadily killed off in gruesome attacks, the young girl must uncover the truth behind her friend's transformation and find a way to stop the bloodthirsty rampage before it reaches her own boyfriend Chip.


Comment: I was expecting an in your face horror film similar to Drag Me To Hell, but what I received was a weak trendy Hollywood horror film that was mildly entertaining.

I think Diablo Cody should leave the horror genre to people who actually know how to write a horror film.

The Class 7/10
A French film about a diverse classroom of 13-15 year olds. It won the Palme d'Or at Cannes last year. It held my attention, but it was a bit slow.

let's see what I've missed since I last posted here:

District 9
Awesome movie! I definitely recommend this movie as a must see and must buy!! this will be a highly rewatchable movie in my collection!
9.5/10


Crank 2: high voltage
I rented this last night because there was nothing else I wanted to see... I wish I had just downloaded this. It's an entertaining movie but nothing more. If you liked the 1st one, then follow up with this but if not, forget this movie.
6/10


Star Trek
As much as I like reboot to dead or boring series like batman, I wasn't sure this one would work. There is so much backstory to this universe that without doing what was done, it would have been impossible. Great acting from almost everyone and I can see many many sequels to come.
8.5/10 - possibly higher on lower depending on multiple viewings.


Inglorious Basterds
WOW! tarantino is back with is usual style! awesome! I speak french so for me, this was awesome. Keep in mind the movie is set in 1941-44 france and a few characters speak ONLY french. It made it extremely enjoyable for me to watch. If you like any of his movies, check it out! but be ready for subtitles.
a solid 9/10


Fan Boys
bad movie without any good acting. They couldn't even get the costumes right. there was some good jokes but this movie is like 8years late! not recommended.
4/10


Watchmen
This is even better on bluRay! If you have read the graphic novel of the same name, then this should be a no-brainer. GO SEE IT! GO RENT IT! GO BUY IT!
and if you haven't, well this is by far the best stand-alone super-hero movie of all time. It is extremely watchable. I just wish they had made it longer.
10/10


and more that I can't remember for some reason. I'll try to keep up my reviews as usual.

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I totally agree. It was ok, but nothing more. 4/10 is exactly what I give it.

Slumdog Millionaire - 4/4 stars

This movie is definitely deserving of a best picture win. I can't think of anything I didn't like about it. Spoiler: Salim killing the slum lord that took advantage of the kids was one of the best moments in movie history. The soundtrack was also amazing. I really liked how all of the actors and actresses that played the same people through time actually felt and looked like they were the same people.

9 - 6/10

The environment, the characters and all the visuals are top-notch (I especially liked the different types of vintage fabric each character was made out of...the detail was amazing), but yeah, the story suffered. Woefully short; they really crammed everything they could into an unusally short time span (79 minutes). Very rushed feel to it. This could have been an awesome movie.

What happens in Vegas 7-10
Angels & Demons 8-10

Fight Club 9.5-10
Last Samurai 5-10

Observe and Report - 6/10

I think my expectations were too high for this one. It had a few laughs but overall Rogen's character was just creepy.

Year One - 2/10
Typical annoying Jack Black crap. It was also really messy and not in a good way.

Fine. Call me way behind the times, but just this week I saw Sling Blade for the first time. Ok, now I know what all the hub-bub was about. It was one of those Netflix instant view movies, so I started watching it and couldn't drag myself away. It's a fascinating but brooding story that slow-burns with an inevitable sense of dread toward the climax. The music by Daniel Lanois was perfectly suited to the Southern atmosphere and the emotional content.

I'd rate it 5/5.

Paranormal Activity 10/10 -

My review is here: http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/tilted-...-activity.html

two movies of note this week:

Doubt - 7.5/10 - A very good film with fine performances. Meryl Streep is amazing as always. And no, I don't think she was a monster. (;)) Her frailties were too close to the surface for that.

The Visitor - 8/10 - I really enjoyed this poignant (if a little message-y) story about the way we treat illegal immigrants in post-9/11 America. With the added bonus of watching the very real and well-depicted journey to spiritual freedom of a good man locked down in an emotionally stunted prison of his own making for too long.

Capitalism: A Love Story - 9/10
Michael Moore may have gone a little easy on Barack Obama, but everyone else is rightly exposed. If anyone is to find any weakness in the argument, it does not diminish the point - and that is all I needed. Great work.

Kiss Me Kate 2/10

A 1953 film adaptation of a musical of the same name. Loosely based on the Taming of the Shrew starring Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson and Ann Miller. Awful. Just awful.

Pandorum - 5/10. A very interesting premise for a sci-fi flick poorly implemented. Decent sets and moody spaceship atmospheres...cheesy dialogue and screenplay.

Zombieland
9/10

wow, unexpected funny as hell and a good show. really enjoyed it. some good scenes and just made me want to come home and play Left4Dead and pretend I was Woody Harelson.

Dream Lover
7/10

Movie doesn't have a happy nice tied up ending. Very interesting for James Spader.

Alphabet Killer
6/10

Also doesn't have a happy nice tied up ending. A bit disturbing and disjointed, but watched it because Eliza Dushku is in it.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly -- 2.5/4 stars

This movie has 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and Roger Ebert gave it 4 stars (whose opinion I value highly) but man this movie sucks. The main character is boring, his life is boring, the film is filmed boringly, the cinematography is boring, his past life before he was paralyzed is boring. His story is great (a paralyzed man capable of only blinking his left eye), but the movie is just flat. I felt no emotion during the movie except for when his dad called him at the hospital. I was expecting a lot more from this movie. It is well made and has excellent acting so I will give it 2.5 stars which is right along the line of good and bad, but definitely on the bad side.

I Can't Think Straight - 11/10 - it's an love story (but not a chick flick) great film, pulls at all the emotions.

:lol:I know...but at least it features Ann Miller's legs.

We Own the Night - 7/10

In all honesty, I wasn't paying that much attention during some of this flick, but what I saw grabbed me a bit. I recorded it so I'll get another shot at it soon, but this is the initial score from what I noticed.