The old movie thread: ratings and discussion' or some shiz

It looked too much like "JUMPER" for me to waste my time on. Maybe when it hits cable I'll put it on just to make fun of.

 

This opened today in SF.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie, and the performances of Renner and Mackie.

In a way, it almost seemed like a continuation of Blackhawk Down...not that it was like Blackhawk Down II, but there were some similarities...from it's depictions to some of it's characters (like Renner's and Bana's, including how both movies include scene's where they talk about why they do it).

The person who wrote it, Mark Boal, also wrote the story that inspired In The Valley Of Elah.

 

TOWELHEAD I rented this thinking it was mainly about racism and the struggles of a 13 year old arab girl trying to fit in a America's suburbia during the Golf war. Well, it has those themes, BUT the main thing about this drama is teen sex and pedophilia. The movie is brutal in these shocking despictions, but not graphic enough, thank God. The main character, Jassir (played by then 19 year old Summer Bisshil who looks like a real 13 year old) is the product of divorced dysfunctional parents (Maria Bello & Peter Macdissi) who are too involved in their own egocentric problems to really try to be good parents and leave poor Jassir mostly by herself to grow up in a cruel world she is not ready yet for. Mom sends Jassir back to her dad, Rifat(Macdissi in a memorable tour de force performance), once she discovers that her live-in boyfriend has been shaving the girl's pubic hair. Mom of course blames the girl and sends her away.:doh: Dad is no better than mom: a strict lebanese, but with acquired citizenship working at NASA in Houston, Texas, is a very complicated man and a worst dad.He loves his child, but he has zero parenting skills and when he tries, he turns into a beast. Next door neighborg, Vuoso (Aaron Eckhart) is a redneck army reservist anxiously waiting to be called to the battlefront...and to fuck his newly arrived 13 year old babysitter. The girl is like a bouncing ball between all these characters and her new boyfriend, an african-american kid (played by Eugene Jones who I wonder if he is related to Orlando Jones since he looks a lot like him). The movie was directed by Allan Ball of AMERICAN BEAUTY and SIX FEET UNDER fame. The movie is downright shocking. Is the stuff of nightmares you pray never happens to your loved ones. While not a perfect film, the performances and the events are worth watching and will be the theme of debate after you watch it with other people. 8/10

 

^^^saw it..why every movie about awkward teen girl end up w/ them been molested along the way...

 

yeah. even the denouement of the whole harry potter series hinged on a teen girl's molestation. child sexual abuse appears to be seen as the primal root of evil, the sort of "original sin" of modern times; prince of tides and all that.

 

I tried watching Punisher War Zone recently and didn't make it 20 minutes.

It's embarrassing how bad the attempts at making Punisher into a movie have been.

The Day The Earth Stood Still was very mediocre. There were some decent things to it, but overall badly lacking, and just another in a long line of annoying kid-side-kick movies.

Also watched Quantum of Soalce, the criticism that Bond was basically playing Jason Bourne seems kinda accurate...and while I was watching the opening chase scene I was thinking I'd already seen it in Royale. Could've been a lot better.

 

what?

which girl was that?

 

I liked PUNISHER WAR ZONE. It was better than my very low expectations. My beef with THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL is that since it is a remake of THE best science fiction film ever made, they should not had changed the plot so much so it could be significant like the original still is. By making it into another 'save the trees' 'earth day' propaganda film and by turning Gort, the guardian robot into million of tiny metal insects, really lost its punch. Also Keanu Reeves is still Keanu Reeves. He never comes close to Michael Rennie's Klaatu alien portrayal.



PUBLIC ENEMIES I'll skip the sypnosis since we all know John Dillinger's story. Michael Mann did a decent, but not great job here. Like THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS this one feels half-baked. It could had been a great movie. It is just an okay movie. Good, but not memorable. Johnny depp did a good performance as Dillinger. Christian Bale looks like a robot (maybe he was still in Terminator mode?). His character has no depht, no background, no nothing. He is just an Edgar Hoover's "yes, man", a boy scout who you wish Dillinger could put a bullet in his head. Heck, he doesn't even come close to Kevin Costner's Elliot Ness in THE UNTOUCHABLES. Neither does the film. There were many liberties taken from the story (no damn Lady in Red? just a "lady in white blouse & orange skirt":doh: Why change such an iconic, legendary fact? or it is never explained where did Dillinger got the 'gun' to escape from prison *we know he made it from a soap bar and black shoe shine, but the film mades you believe he had a real damn gun since it is never shown or explained where the 'gun' came from!*) While I was watching this film I couldn't help remembering how faithful the 1973 John Milius "DILLINGER" was...even Warren Oates looked like the real John Dillinger while Depp doesn't even resemble him a bit. Anyway, it wasn't a bad movie. I just wish it was better. 7.5/10

 

Twin Peaks-Season 1

Well I just got done finished watching season 1. I had it in my Netflix que for a while. And I have to say the first 7 episodes were pretty damn good. I was actually surprised by how good it was.

It's basically a story about an FBI agent who goes to a small town in Washington state to investigate a murder of a popular high school girl. Of course as the agent settles in,the facade that covers the town begins to fade around it citizens. I have season 2 in my que,so will report on that. It had some parts where David Lynch' ever too 'avant garde' style and scenes are too over the top and come off as just embarrassing and ridiculous,it is a damn good show so far.

Don't know how much rewatchability it has. Maybe it's something to whip out and watch ever few years,but don't think it's a show you'd watch all time.

8.5/10

 

KNOWING

GENRE: SCI-FI

SCORE: 6.5

PREMISE: A man gets a hold of a piece of paper with rows and rows of numbers on it. He figures out that the numbers show the dates of disasters/accidents and how many people die from them.

CRITIQUE: I must say I enjoyed this movie more than I expected. The story started out well but it was more like a 2 part movie. The first part was very good. It showed how the list was made and how it fell into Cage's hands. It then had a nice buildup of him dicovering how the list worked and actually seeing it in action. The 2nd part was not as good. It dealt with him finding an end of life event and trying to get away from it, while also finding out who the weird people were who kept visiting his son. (They turned out to be just who I thought they were). The ending was okay. If I had any one complaint it would be that the movie took to big of a sci-fi turn during the 2nd half.

RECOMMENDATION: Check it out.

 

Orphan: FINALLY Hollywood puts out a decent horror movie! Not scary, but it actually has a plot and decent story, which is more than can be said about 99% of horror movies put out nowadays. Kinda like the Bad Seed mixed with The Good Son, but with a twist(which you can kinda see coming if you pay attention, but isnt overly obvious). Nothing great, but at the end you'll at least feel like you werent cheated outta 10 bucks. 7/10

 

The Hammer - Adam Carrolla of all people, plays an aging former amateur boxing star who squeeks by working construction and moonlighting as a boxing instructor in a small yuppie gym. He decides to dedicate himself to boxing once again when he gets a chance to train with some Olympic hopefuls.

It's basically a light-hearted sports comedy without much of the schmaltz and sentimentality that comes with that genre. Carrolla is very good in this role and actually surprisingly adept in the boxing scenes.

They had a nice cameo of Jeff Lacy getting KD by Carrolla in one scene. ::

Much better then I had imagined it would be.


8/10

 

dumbledore's little sister. it was her abuse by local muggle boys that inspired dumbledore to embark on his world-saving career, and set off the rivalry between dumbledore and his mate, wasn't it?

 

This movie should have been 1.5 hours instead of 2, why would a couple still want to adopt a kid after they already have 2 is beyond me, i know they are grieving for the loss of their potential 3rd kid, but still...... they are stretching. And the couple in the movie arent likable, making the 2 hour runtime even more unbearable.

 

I know of couples who has five kids and then adopt a sixth one.:notallthere:

 

You know more than one?

 

A couple of documentary's open this week, in SF at least, that I'll probably end up watching...The Cove (at Embarcadero), and Kassim The Dream (at Roxie).

 

I am afraid of the Mission District, i used to go there every once in awhile, but i havent gone there in almost a year.

 

Funny People...Its about an hour too long but def funny in parts, sandler does well

 

AUSTRALIA

SCORE - Incomplete

GENRE - Drama

PREMISE - Some woman comes to Australia to stake a claim to her ranch and have her cattle driven. Circumstances lead to her and her friends having to join the drive.

CRITIQUE - I'm not totally sure if that's what it was about. It was kind of confusing. They attempted to use dialogue from the actors to explain what was happening in an attempted humorous way. Unfortunately they did it so fast and before you even really knew the character's names that they were referring to, that it all just was a confusing mess. This was supposed to be a comedic drama but I could tell the director was in over his head because his dots just weren't connecting the way they should have. All in all I got tired of waiting for the movie to get good as it never did and cut it off about an hour into it. Don't waste your time.





THE WRESTLER


SCORE - 6.5/10

GENRE - DRAMA

PREMISE - An old minor league prowrestler struggles with his finances, the closing in of his career and his life in general. He also deals with the struggles of an attempted relationship with a stripper and the broken relationship with his daughter.

CRITIQUE - Even though this was a low budget film it felt more like an HBO movie. The dialogue was very mediocre and there wasn't really much drama to it or even much of a story. All we really did was watch this guy have a few fights, work at a supermarket a couple times, talk to a stripper and his daughter a couple times, and that's it.

OVERHYPE POLICE - This was clearly overhyped by many of the poster's who've reviewed it IMO. I remember people saying how it should have received an Oscar or that at least Rourke should have. I disagree. Rourke did give a really good performance, but I don't feel the film was deep enough for either it or Rourke to receive an Oscar. I originally had no intention of watching this film due to my extreme hatred of prowrestling. Seriously I hate the sport. I actually had to stop myself from fast fwding the wrestling scenes. To be honest, had I not listened to the overflowing positive critques of others and skipped it, I feel I wouldn't have missed a thing, and I'm pretty sure I won't watch it again.

RECOMMENDATION - Skip it, unless you're a Wrestling fan.

 

The Soloist:



An interesting true life story of a former Julliard student with scizophrenia who's now homeless and playing a two stringed violin on the street. Then you have two top tier actors in the main roles. (Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr.)

The story starts out with Downey as a newspaper reporter looking around for a good story. He discovers Foxx's character who at one point mentions being a student at Julliard. Downey is naturally skeptical of this claim and after exchanging a few phone calls with an admissions counsellor finds out it's the truth. After that he starts on a serious of articles.

It seems like a can't miss combining the story and heavyweight talent. Unfortunately it comes out very flat.

The film tries to touch on various subjects including homlessness, mental illness, friendship and more. All of these topics aren't exactly new ground in films, and The Soloist doesn't go deeper or provide a fresh perspective. Really the only difference is that among the down trodden happens to be a virtuoso.

There are some very well done scenes however they are few and get lost in between a lot of low notes.
At various stages Downey's character narrates with quotes from his character's articles. I think reading all of the articles would have provided a more satisfying experience.

 

PUBLIC ENEMIES 6/10



Not crap, but a major letdown for what one expected from Depp and Mann. The movie wants to be a bit more psychological story instead of a regular gangster movie but it fails there and thus is neither very exciting nor deep. Depp acts well but even his main character does not get explained, and all other characters in the movie are just surface, we know nothing about their intentions or personalities. The action scenes repeat each other and the romance is very predictable

 

Wow. I may just pass on this. It sounds like many of the things I hate about a bad movie.

 

Sure. I grew up in Puerto Rico in the 60's when planned Parenthood wasn't a fad and ricans used to breed like rabbits. For example I have sixteen cousins, all from the same two parents.

 

G.I. JOE: RISE OF THE COBRA An overblown, massive, extravagant, monumental piece of shit. I have watched Saturday morning cartoons with a better plot than this big budgeted film. Sure it has lots of action (in fact it is almost non-stop action), but since there isn't a PLOT to tie it all together and the characters are just one-dimensional cardboard cliches with nothing to give the viewer a damn reason to care for them or hate them in the case of the bad guys, then all that action feels repetitive and pointless. The only good thing about the film: the chick in black spandex is smoking hot and can deliver her silly lines with a straight face. Also the white ninja asian dude has screen presence and could be the lead in a different martial arts movie. I was struggling to remain awake even though I watched it during the day. The ghost of Van Damme's "STREET FIGHTER" movie kept poping in my mind as I watched this awful film. Don't even waste your time on a dvd rental. Crappy film.:shit: 3/10

 

WATCHMEN

GENRE: ACTION/DRAMA/SUPERHEROS

SCORE: 8.5/10

PREMISE: In a parellel universe the US & Russia are on a definite colision course with nuclear war. The whole world is afraid and some of the US's retired hero's are trying to figure out a way to avert it while also trying to figure out who killed one of their own. You also have Dr. Manhanttan, a being so powerful he is trying to come to grips with his bordom of earth due to his near godlike power & knowledge.

CRITIQUE: I thouroughly enjoyed this movie. I thought the story was done well, the dialogue was good, the action and fight scenes were terrific, and there was even a twist at the end. Definitely gives The Darknight a run for its money and I give the edge to Watchmen. I also liked how these heros pulled no punches against their adversaries and likewise were overly violent when dismantling them.

RECOMMENDATION: A must see. I regret not seeing this in the theaters.

SPOILER ALERT: I had to throw this in.

BEST LINE OF THE MOVIE: After one of the hero's gets thrown in jail, he gets attacked but violently dispatches one of the jail birds who he put away and delivers this line: "None of you seem to understand. I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with me!"

 

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE The latest entry in the HARRY POTTER series is as usual entertaining, but falls short of the magical spectacle of the first two films or THE GOBLET OF FIRE my personal favorite. This one spends considerable time is showcasing puberty issues among hoggarts students and moves the relationship between two of the main characters just an inch: more a tease than the real full blown event that series fans salivate for. Oh, as a sideline story, there is something about a former student who called himself the half blood prince. The much publicized death of one of the series key characters looked more like a stunt than the real thing. Even though my daughter was in tears for the demise of this beloved character, I was not moved nor amused. The way it was filmed hinted a lot at 'resurrection in the next chapter'. Even if this is not the case, it could had been done more dramatic IMO. An ok movie in the series, but not among its best. 7.5/10




PONYO If you have children under the age of 10, take them to watch this film. They'll love it. Adults can appreciate the excellent animation from the japanese Gibbli studio and animator Miyazaki, Japan's Walt Disney (Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle) which comes as a refreshment from the usual Disney fare. There are certain scenes which are downright weird for a children's movie, but, hey, same thing applies to the classic AESOP and Grimm Brothers original tales. Storywise this is just another version of The Little Mermaid so don't expect much from it. An entertaining little film for small kids. 7.5/10



FANBOYS A very stupid movie and not very funny, but as both a STAR WARS and STAR TREK fan I did had a blast with all the movie quotes and references. Cameos by William Shatner, Billy Dee Williams, Carrie Fisher, Ray Park, Kevin Smith and others made it more enjoyable. The fact I find VERONICA MARS Kristen Bell extremely hot and she wearing a slave Princess Leia costume here, made the movie even more enjoyable. Best scene: the Star wars geeks take a detour from their quest to steal a reel of EPISODE 1 from the Skywalker Ranch in Marin County California to Iowa, James T. Kirk birthplace, 'enemy territory', just to cause trouble with Trek fans. They insult each other with movie references and "Is Trekker not trekkie!" "Han Solo is a bitch!" 'How do you say 'I am a douche bag in klingon?'" "No one calls Han Solo a bitch!" The ending was rather anticlimatic and they should had showed their disappointment after watching the film (ah, the power of George Lucas!). In a nutshell a must see film for "wars" fans, but everybody else can skip it. Real film rating: 5/10 my biased rating: 7/10

 

17 AGAIN Formulaic, predictable, harmless comedy with a little charm and not enough laughs. Is hard to believe that Matthew Perry turns into Zac Efron since they don't look not even remotely alike. Efron has true star charisma and does a decent job with the lousy script and direction he gets here. There is not a logical explanation why or how he was granted to turn into a teenager. The scene where his own teenager daughter tries to seduce him was downright unfunny (it tried and failed to emulate the BACK TO THE FUTURE classic near incest bed scene). Many scenes doesn't make much sense like the one where he insults on and on the school bully in the school cafeteria and inexplicably the bully lets him continue without answering single remark or just punching him in the mouth. Skip this one. 4/10



TYSON A well done, but not great documentary. It offers nothing new. I had trouble understanding some of Mike's narration, particularly when the director repeats the same narration on top of the one playing. For the people who had never watched a Tyson biography this might be very entertaining. For me it was ok, but more of the same. 6/10