Last movie impressions - Page 11

Li-Ion · 05-17-2011, 03:31 AM

Unknown
I already figured out the plot twist when watching the trailer, thus the plot was not all that surprising to me. It's a well made action movie nonetheless with a couple of good jokes and car chases in between. The car chases were a bit weird though, since they were shifting gears all the time for no apparent reason. I didn't count but it appeared to me that Liam Neeson shifted up 5 times when accelerating from 40 to 60 kph, which I found a bit excessive to say the least. What I do like is that pretty much all of the German speaking folks are German or Austrian actors. That's not standard for international movies and I often have to cringe when I hear spoken "German" in movies that play in German-speaking countries.

JLB1987 · 05-17-2011, 04:05 AM

Rain Man

The story of selfish businessman Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) and the autistic brother he never knew he had, Raymond Babbitt (Dustin Hoffman). This film probably needs no introduction, but I only watched it for the first time last night.

Brilliant film. First of all, the acting by everyone is great. Hoffman does a wonderful job of portraying a man who doesn't understand the real world (and isn't really understood by anyone), and Cruise's performance is just as good.

The film isn't full of sentimentality, which is something I was afraid of (I loved how Cruise's character was an asshole to Raymond throughout much of the film, but Raymond always got the better of him), which makes the genuinely touching scenes ever more satisfying. I don't mind admitting I nearly started crying during the scene at a motel where Raymond describes the day he left to go live in the care home (in a completely factual manner, of course- "January 12, 1965. Very snowy that day. 7.2 inches of snow that day. ") Equally satisfying is the relationship that is slowly built between Charlie and Raymond, with Charlie often not even realising that he cares until a situation crops up where he has to admit it to himself.

Overall, I thought this was a great film. 8/10

crackajack · 05-17-2011, 04:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Li-Ion

What is todays sketch standard then?

funnier?

Quote:

The Life of Brian is a wonderful example of British humor.

I did not like it much, yeah. Same with The holy Grail and Erik the viking is just unbearable.
Those are always kind of stuck in between absurdity and realism, often resulting in pure silliness, in a cheap "sweded" movie style, jokes are stretched way too long (e.g. biggus diccus), so it hits hardly any note right for me.
But i like Clockwise or A Fish Called Wanda so i won't stay away from British comedies only because i "dislike" the most famous, imho very average, though not at all bad, ones.

QXZ · 05-17-2011, 04:47 AM

Just got done with Wordplay (Patrick Creadon, 2006) about an hour ago. It's a documentary about not only the makings of the New York Times crossword puzzles. Sprinkled about are come celebrity interviews -- including Jon Steward and President Bill Clinton -- but this film focuses on a handful of crossword fans, and the film makes its way to the 2006 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in New York.

I love me a good crossword puzzle -- especially one I can complete -- and Wordplay is actually a pretty fun ride. There are even a few play-along moments (such as "Doberman Doctor [3 letters]") that keep the interest level high.

A must-see film for anyone. Even more highly recommended for those who has even the most remote interest in crossword puzzles. I'm giving Wordplay a very solid A.

frogofdeath · 05-20-2011, 09:40 PM

Saw The Social Network for the first time. Not sure what all the hub-bub was about. I feigned interest the majority of the movie and my wife fell asleep half-way through.

Li-Ion · 05-21-2011, 04:43 AM

Scott Pilgrim Versus The World
Lame, lolz <random 8-bit sound>
I found myself checking the watch quite often, to see when the movie is finally over. Thats usually a bad sign. I don't really "get" the movie I'm afraid. The protagonists are all unlikeable twats with the social skills of a rock under water. The random video game references made me sad since in a video game I can at least mash random buttons and do something. Here I was doomed to watch SP play himself in a series of boss fights that would have been more interesting if it would have been Mortal Kombat. Since I usually have to say that a game had a good story for a video game, I could also say SP has a good story for a video game. As a movie it falls flat.

Fast Five
Ha, we didn't see that one coming! After Vin Diesel and the Rock both realized nobody takes them serious as serious actors, they team up to create Frankenstein's monster of car movies. If you are someone who enjoyed the first two F&F movies you will probably also enjoy this one. If this is your first F&F movie you might leave the theater confused and traumatized by Vin Diesels mighty forearm. It plays in some alternative universe where you are some kind of superhero as soon as you're able to drift a car around a corner very fast. The illegal street racing angle has all but disappeared. Instead they're now in the organized crime business which copies elements from oceans eleven, without touching it's class. That said it's a surprisingly entertaining movie that knows it's just popcorn entertainment and never tries to be more.

RandomRob · 05-22-2011, 10:39 PM

Frost Nixon -

Indifferent except for I liked Langela's characterization. Thought Sheen's part made Frost seem much more of a amateur and wuss-puss than he was IRL. I thought the after the fact commentary by the actors portraying real people talking about real events was stagey and annoying. And the David and Goliath subtext was hamhanded and stupid.

Typical Ron Howard dreck.

Bornie · 05-24-2011, 06:08 PM

Unknown (Liam Neeson)

I have just arrived home after watching this movie. I was curious because, althought I presumed it wouldn't be a masterpiece, I had heard that the director of the movie was from Barcelona (my hometown) and I had never heard anything about him.

Well, what about the movie? Good enough if you want to have a good time enjoying a thriller with the right ingredients: Car chases, fights, unexpected twists, and quite an interesting story, above all. Anyway, the movie gets even better if you have pop corns and a big-sized coca-cola, if you know what I mean.

The kind of feelings that the story offers make me think about the movie "Minority Report", but in a real environtment and including convenient amnesia effects on the main character.

crackajack · 05-30-2011, 09:10 AM

Horton hears a Who?
Loved the whatever animal it is Katie character, and also the other figures. It was enjoyable throughout, but the story felt a bit hollow.

Li-Ion · 05-30-2011, 09:32 AM

Four Lions
British comedy about suicide bombers. As funny as it is disturbing. Crackajack should not watch it, not funny enough

Instead of only pointing at the wannabe suicide bombers the movie is taking the piss out of everyone involved. Including law enforcement and parallel societies. The blu ray also includes a couple of short interviews which are quite interesting.

frogofdeath · 05-30-2011, 01:58 PM

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 - fell asleep half-way through, not due to the movie, but rather being extremely exhausted. Then went to bed without seeing the ending! Oh well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by crackajack

Horton hears a Who?
Loved the whatever animal it is Katie character, and also the other figures. It was enjoyable throughout, but the story felt a bit hollow.

I'm assuming you mean the more recent, computer animated version? The original animated film is true to the book. When movie studios decide to make/remake Dr. Seuss books, they really should just stick to the source material - that's why the original animated versions are so well done.

Li-Ion · 05-30-2011, 02:04 PM

Oh yeah, completely forgot: also saw the Hangover 2 yesterday. It's pretty much the same movie as the first, just with a monkey instead of a baby and in a different city. Oh well...

JLB1987 · 05-30-2011, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Li-Ion

Four Lions
British comedy about suicide bombers. As funny as it is disturbing. Crackajack should not watch it, not funny enough

Instead of only pointing at the wannabe suicide bombers the movie is taking the piss out of everyone involved. Including law enforcement and parallel societies. The blu ray also includes a couple of short interviews which are quite interesting.

That's by Chris Morris, I think. Keep meaning to see this film, the guy is a genius- Brass Eye is one of my favourite comedy shows ever, and Jam was pretty damned good.

RandomRob · 05-30-2011, 06:31 PM

Harlan Ellison: Dreams with Sharp Teeth

Interviews with the author and friends. Just a fantastic portrait of the man. Thumbs up.

QXZ · 06-01-2011, 01:01 PM

Two quick shots.

Kung-Fu Panda 2 (Jennifer Yuh, 2011)

I consider 2008's Kung-Fu Panda to be a big pile of "eh", but I really enjoyed this sequel much more than I was expecting. This time, Po (the titular panda) and his colleagues are out to keep kung-fu alive by preventing a diabolical peacock from conquering China. KFP2 has more fun with the characters action and the characters than the first film did, which results in a much better film. I'm giving this one a B+.

Office Space (Mike Judge, 1999)

Mike Judge's satire of office life. The laughs were very few for me, but I can't honestly say I hated it; it's just not my type of film. It's a C -- nothing more, nothing less.