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Post by ZapRowsdower on Jan 9, 2008 2:23:38 GMT -5
There Will Be Blood (2007, Paul Thomas Anderson) Excellent all around. Looks like Daniel Day-Lewis etched his name on that Best Actor statuette, and passed the chisel over to Paul Dano so he can put his name on the Supporting Actor statuette. Also, fantastic cinematography - in a way, it felt almost like a Kubrick movie. The simplicity of the score was brilliant as well. It drags a bit towards the end, but ultimately it's a satisfying picture, and I will not be surprised if this takes the Oscar for Best Picture... I'll take it over the other two frontrunners - Atonement and No Country for Old Men. 9/10 I hate you for being able to see that. You have no idea. Haha, what part? |
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Jan 9, 2008 9:37:25 GMT -5
GRAND THEFT AUTO (1977)
A pair of teenagers attempt to drive to Vegas in a stolen car to get married, all the while avoiding capture by her spoiled rich suitor, and various other individuals who are trying to collect a reward offered by her father.
Ron Howard co-wrote, directed and stars in this low budget drive-in car chase flick which features lots and lots of car crashes. While I expected that, I also expected it to be funny or at least witty. It's really not at all.
Look for Clint Howard in his obligatory small part in his brother's fiilm.
If car chases and crashes are your cup of tea you'd probably do better to check out SMOKEY & THE BANDIT or CANNONBALL RUN instead. There's really nothing about GTA that makes it standout.
2/10
GALAXY QUEST (1999)
It's been a few years since I last watched this one and it's still pretty funny.
Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver & Alan Rickman star as members of the cast of a cancelled 70's sci-fi tv series who mistakenly find themselves on board a real spacecraft and in the middle of a war between two alien species. Numerous references to "Star Trek" and other sci-fi movies and tv shows. Sam Rockwell is especially hilarious as an actor who once had a bit part on the old show and is convinced that he'll be the one to get killed. Rickman is really funny, constantly rolling his eyes, as the trained Shakespearean actor who can't believe he is now stuck doing sci-fi conventions and store grand openings. Reminiscent of Leonard Nimoy, who once wrote a book titled, "I Am Not Spock!".
The effects and makeup are topnotch courtesy of ILM and Stan Wiston, but are cheesy, on purpose, whenever we see clips from the fictional tv show.
Underrated, but definitely worth watching.
8.5/10
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Jan 10, 2008 9:06:45 GMT -5
THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS (1955)
Roger Corman wrote this low-budget (What else?) car flick about a man who breaks out of jail to clear his name. Along the way he forces a beautiful girl driving a Jaguar to help him get to Mexico before he's captured, by entering a sports car race.
It is what it is, typical 50's drive-in fare featuring tough talking guys, groovy chicks and hot cars.
Not to be confused with the Vin Diesel movie of the same name.
5/10
THE RETURN (2006)
Pointless and boring thriller about a saleswoman (Sarah Michelle Gellar) experiencing the memories of someone else who was killed many years earlier.
Not scary or exciting and by the time the big revelation came, I just didn't care.
Snoozer.
2/10
WARGAMES (1983)
My comments in the "Movie Genre of the Month" thread.
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Post by Termination on Jan 11, 2008 3:15:20 GMT -5
Shoot 'Em Up (2007) (Blu-Ray)
HD Video - 10/10
HD Audio dts - 10/10
This is another title which has PIP. Don't know if this is New Line's first + don't know if it was encoded in the same fashion as The Descent. Just checked a bit of it out after the film. Man this movie is hilarious. It never takes itself serious. The video has some intentional grain & I counted only a few soft spots. The audio is crystal clear & surprisingly dialog never gets drowned out by all the gun blasts. The score & heavy metal mix really give all speakers a workout including the LFE. Dumb film, great disc.
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Jan 12, 2008 11:27:30 GMT -5
TERROR TRAIN (1980) TERRIBLE TRAIN was the title that writer Daniel Grodnick first wrote down when he got the idea for this movie and he probably should've left it that way.  Awful 80's slasher about a masked killer getting revenge on college students aboard a train. Bad acting abounds, even by reigning 80's "scream queen" Jamie Lee Curtis, the plot is derivative and the movie is really dull. Hadn't seen this one since the early 80's and now I know why. 1/10
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Post by Pulpmariachi on Jan 12, 2008 11:48:50 GMT -5
300 (Zack Synder) -- shallow, dumb, gratuitous, fake, and just silly. People are calling this a great visual feat, but "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" and "Sin City" both handle the visuals better, mainly because they're there but are not shoved in your face. The characters aren't developed, they are such a fullfillment of the archetype that they're stereotypes, though you don't want character development in a movie like this do you? Oh wait, I forgot how well Indiana Jones, John McClane, and Han Solo have been handeled. The constant fight scenes were over-stylized and that slow-motion/quick-motion cutting got annoying after awhile. It's as if Snyder and company decided to go for the cool-looking shots (all right, some of the still are pretty neat) but lost something iwhen tying them together for the story.
There was a reason I skipped this in the theater and I knew I should've have wasted my time with the DVD. D-.
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Post by Phoenix on Jan 12, 2008 14:37:12 GMT -5
Juno - wholesome indy movie, worth the hype.
8/10
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Post by Pulpmariachi on Jan 12, 2008 22:54:22 GMT -5
3:10 to Yuma (James Mongold) -- great neo-Western. Listened with the commentary; the guy knew what he was trying to do, even if at moments he came off a little...pompous? A-.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Jan 13, 2008 11:26:21 GMT -5
Beyond the Limits-Was expecting a horror film, not this Reservoir Dogs rip-off. Or, rather the first one was in this blood-soaked German anthology series, where a cemetery keeper tells two violent stories about the residents to a local reporter doing a story on the location. Part 1 is a man who has run afoul of a gang lord an his henchmen arrive to torture and kill him, who happen to do so during a dinner party. As expected, they take pleasure in doing so, resulting in an incredible orgy of blood and gore, which would've been outstanding had it only been a horror film as I expected. The other one was too weird for me to remember, and again I didn't get any horror elements from it, but again hyper-gory. Might be worthwhile if you're into those kinds of films and can stand the gore and the English dubbing of the German dialogue, though no review will be made.
3/10
Beneath-Just utterly, utterly dull. One of the most lifeless, meandering horror films ever. Even more incredulous was that it never seemed to know what it actually was. The beginning is a psuedo-creepy ghost tale about a mysterious figure haunting a creepy house in the middle of nowhere and targeting a young girl, only for the film to abandon it and spend more time on an insipid plot about another girl discovering that her sister's death wasn't the accident she thinks it was. In the meantime, she experiences strange visions that bring back the ghost story, but by then I just didn't care and the whole thing was pointless. No blood, no scares, no energy equals terrminably dull.
2.5/10
The Fly-See Movie Genre of the Month thread.
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Jan 13, 2008 14:17:41 GMT -5
THE TERMINATOR (1984)
My comments in the "Movie Genre of the Month" thread.
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Jan 13, 2008 20:59:57 GMT -5
TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (1991)
About ten years after Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) was first targeted for termination by a cyborg from the future (Arnold Schwarzenegger), another terminator has been reprogrammed and sent back in time to protect her son, who has been targeted by a more advanced terminator (Robert Patrick).
Action-packed sequel has everything that the original movie had, plus a much bigger budget and it looks like every dollar is on-screen. The CGI used to bring the new liquid metal terminator effects to the screen were truly groundbreaking and still hold up very well today.
Alongside GODFATHER 2, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and ALIENS (also directed by James Cameron) as one of the best sequels of all time.
9.5/10
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Post by Pulpmariachi on Jan 13, 2008 23:41:18 GMT -5
The Simpsons Movie (David Silverman) -- with commentary. Those guys talking about the Simpsons always provides some of the most entertaining and interesting commentary sessions. Also, the movie's about 15 minutes longer with it. Still gets that A+ from me.
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Post by slayrrr666 on Jan 14, 2008 11:18:21 GMT -5
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Post by Quorthon on Jan 14, 2008 12:02:22 GMT -5
TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (1991) About ten years after Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) was first targeted for termination by a cyborg from the future (Arnold Schwarzenegger), another terminator has been reprogrammed and sent back in time to protect her son, who has been targeted by a more advanced terminator (Robert Patrick). Action-packed sequel has everything that the original movie had, plus a much bigger budget and it looks like every dollar is on-screen. The CGI used to bring the new liquid metal terminator effects to the screen were truly groundbreaking and still hold up very well today. Alongside GODFATHER 2, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and ALIENS (also directed by James Cameron) as one of the best sequels of all time. 9.5/10 Robert Patrick stated that one of the harder things he had to do going into that movie was learning to fire a weapon without blinking--so as to maintain the "robotic killer" feel. I just watched Harry and the Henderson's and Lost Boys. |
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Post by LivingDeadGirl on Jan 14, 2008 17:26:55 GMT -5
The Illusionist 2/4- Pretty good, good performance by Paul Giamatti but I've seen much better from Edward Norton (American History X).
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