Rate The Last Movie You Watched

[Julio Riddols]

I'm pretty intrigued about Beasts.. Not typically into the type of film, but this one seems to transcend barriers like that.

[Julio Riddols]

Miami Connection (1987) 10/10 - This movie is transcendant bad cinema. If you've seen 'The Room' or 'Birdemic', then you know what type of film you're in for. What you can't possibly prepare yourself for however, is the sheer awesomeness of the soundtrack, which will have you fist pumping like mad. One other observation to give you an idea here of what to expect.. While it felt like Birdemic and The Room were just hopelessly, apathetically bad, this movie feels like it is trying so damn hard and is so hopeful and upliftingly energetic that even as bad as it is, you find yourself truly loving the movie instead of seeing it as a novelty. It is seriously an amazing film.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Don't remember if I reviewed this on here yet, if you've seen this review before move along to the next one.

Skyfall: 8.5/10
I really enjoyed this movie. I thought the pacing was well done, there were some fantastic action sequences, a few great one-liners and a tremendous bit of homage to the series as a whole. Javier Bardem was freaking fantastic, and he and Craig played very well together. Why only an 8.5 you ask? Because I really didn't enjoy the direction the end of the movie took.

Spoiler

Seriously, James Bond does not get scared and make people come to him. And the Home Alone act at the end, while somewhat entertaining, was not very Bond-esque to me.

That being said, loved this movie.

Silver Linings Playbook: 6.5/10
I hadn't even heard of this movie, and my buddy who's someone who likes to see all the big Oscar hyped movies in the theater suggested we go see this tonight. Having no expectations, I was really intrigued by the first part of the movie. Bradley Cooper does a fantastic job of making his mental illness a very real thing that someone like me, who has no real experience with it, can relate to and understand. Jennifer Lawrence does a pretty good job as well, though not quite to Cooper's level. Plus, she's hot. Interesting to see Chris Tucker and Julia Stiles again as well. Danny Elfman's soundtrack was fantastic, as usual. I told my buddy about halfway through, "this feels like the darker, more real mental health version of Garden State." That being said...SPOILER ALERT...halfway through the movie it becomes apparent that they're going to go totally vanilla and make it into a cutesy romance, and it completely lost it for me at that point. I normally love me a feel-good, happy movie, but I was really digging the realistic look into mental health and how people deal with it on a day-to-day basis. As my buddy and I said on the way out of the theater, 'their relationship will last what, three days?' If I had known going in that I was getting your typical romance movie, and it wasn't a dude who invited me, this would get a higher rating because it was a solid movie. I just feel like it would have been better with a different ending.

[ISiddiqui]

Skyfall - 8/10: Good Bond flick with a well done plot and fun action scenes (esp at the end). A bit of slow flick in the beginning, but it tends to pay off. Craig and Bardem were both great and Dench, as she always does, shone in the role. Love the new Q and Ralph Fiennes was also pretty good as well. The Craig era has made Bond worth watching again.

Life of Pi - 10/10: Amazingly, amazingly, amazingly good. Oh my God this was a fantastic film. The visuals are stunning and I didn't even see them in 3D (I imagine there it'd be Avatar-esque). Some great acting all around and a wonderful plot which, surprisingly (because I never read the book), explored faith and God asking very interesting questions along the way. Did not feel like 2 hours at all when it was all said and done. This was probably my favorite movie of the year.

Spoiler

Oh, and I believe Story 1, FWIW. Apparently the author of the book says the real story could be either and its intended to be ambiguous

[stevew]

Liz and Dick 4/10
I love LiLo but sadly this movie was not bad enough to be good. I do wish we would have seen more of Lindsey as the big hair 60 year old Liz cause that actually approached where I wanted it to go. I'm really most excited about the commercials I saw for the upcoming Rob Lowe movie about Casey Anthony.

[chinaski]

City Island (2009) - IMDb

I almost turned this off after 30 minutes, but very glad I stuck with it. I never knew Andy Garcia was such a great actor, he's been overlooked by me.

Brilliant movie.
9/10

[tyketime]

My son & I are 2/3 way thru Lord of the Rings movie marathon at theater. First one started at 11:15. The Return of the King begins at 8pm. Extended Edition won't end until after midnight.

[chadritt]

Zero Dark Thirty - 9/10 - Really well done movie, i completely understand the awards it and Kathryn Bigelow are receiving. Lots of intense scenes.

ETA: Jessica Chastain and Jason Clarke are amazing. Chastain is certain for an oscar nomination and i would expect clarke to get one as well.

[molson]

Argo: 10/10

I'm liberal with my tens, but if a movie does exactly what it sets out to do and I have a lot of fun at the theater, why not. I'm a fan of movies that take place in interesting times and places, and pull of the vibe of what makes that time and place interesting. This did that, and it did tension really well. I was actually tense in the theater watching this, I can't remember the last time that happened. And it's been interesting to read a little more about the background of the events, the differences between reality and the movie, and the Idaho connection with one of the rescuees that had been covered in the media here.

[molson]

Originally Posted by stevew

Liz and Dick 4/10
I love LiLo but sadly this movie was not bad enough to be good. I do wish we would have seen more of Lindsey as the big hair 60 year old Liz cause that actually approached where I wanted it to go. I'm really most excited about the commercials I saw for the upcoming Rob Lowe movie about Casey Anthony.

I just heard them cover this one on the How Did This Get Made podcast....they thought it was a lot worse then you did, but they agreed that Lindsey was at her best as old Liz.

[ISiddiqui]

Lincoln - 9/10: Magnificently done. The acting was top notch, but you'd expect that with Daniel Day Lewis and Tommy Lee Jones. I was surprised as to how many recognizable actors were in the movie and some in small roles too. Everyone was great in their roles and they did a wonderful job making the time period come alive. Deserves all sorts of awards thrown at it.

Beasts of the Southern Wild - 7/10: When the movie ended, I wasn't sure what to make of it. But in discussing the movie and the plot over with my girlfriend, I saw more depth in it. There are some fairly deep themes that it probes. And the main kid actor was phenomenal. Also stands out because the cast looks like real people - not super beautiful looking "real people" - and it shows what abject poverty in the US can look like.

[Matthean]

Warrior. They did a good job building up both brothers without tipping their hand too much although near the end it was kind of, "oh ok, so he wins."

[Matthean]

Warrior. They did a good job building up both brothers without tipping their hand too much although near the end it was kind of, "oh ok, so he wins." I loved the film though.

[chinaski]

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) - IMDb

10/10. Knew nothing about it, except I always thought the book was for tweens. Its far from a kids movie and easily the most unexpectedly amazing film ive seen this year. I'll be watching this over for years to come.

[Pyser]

men in black 3 - 5/10. perfectly average. weird that will smith hadnt made a movie in 4 years. brolin did a great tommy lee jones. the rest was completely forgettable.

the joneses - 6/10. some demi moore/david duchovny movie about secret marketers who move to neighborhoods to get people to buy stuff. pretty predictable, but an easy watch.

in time - 3/10. i really like andrew niccol as a writer. not as much as a director. but this pretty much sucked through and through. it would be fun to do some sort of drinking game where you take a shot every time someone says the word "time", but youd be dead in 10 minutes.

[Julio Riddols]

All About Steve - 0/10 - This movie about an annoying crossword puzzle designer and an unlucky cameraman has no redeeming value whatsoever. Watched it because it came up on a podcast about movies so bad you wonder how they're made, and this movie fits the bill so well. There is no saving grace for it, it isn't even so bad it's good. It's like watching your biggest childhood hero shit himself on his deathbed.

[rowech]

Lincoln (10/10) -- amazing. DDL might be the greatest actor of all time. He was Lincoln from the very first moments. Tommy Lee Jones was fantastic. Spader was great. Sally Field was okay but felt she wasn't up to the task of the movie overall.

The Nightmare Before Christmas (7/10) -- had never seen this and just thought it was time to. As a movie it was good. As to how the movie was portrayed it was nothing short of phenomenal.

[korme]

Of course James Spader was great

[Buccaneer]

This is going to weird coming from me but I just got done watching Dark Knight Rises and I am still stunned. I didn't like the first one at all and while I thought Heath's Joker was one of the best performances of all time, that was the only thing I liked about the second one. This third one blew me away; great villain (I love his voice) and a reveal that I did not expect. It hit me emotionally when the ending from Tale of Two Cities was read, one of my very favorite quotes. This was, imo, the best storytelling of the three movies and one that will stay with me for a long time. 9.5/10

[Groundhog]

As I mentioned in the Batman thread, the only thing that annoyed me was the sudden time-jumps from one scene to the next, often with no explanation, leaving me thinking "huh, the cops have been underground for 3 months? The explosion just happened!". Bane, the reveal you mention, and the ending though all made up for it. I liked it overall probably a little less than the 2nd, but way more than the 1st which I don't rate all that much.

[ISiddiqui]

Django Unchained - 9/10: Fantastic Tarentino flick (but then again, I'm inclined to love Tarentino flicks). Waltz and Foxx are absolutely wonderful in their roles as is DiCaprio and Jackson. Any scene with Waltz, DiCaprio, and Jackson is brilliant as this is some of the finest acting you'll see all year. Great humor as well as some wonderful cinematography makes the movie a pleasure to watch all around. Probably the most linear of Tarentino flicks, the straightforward plot tends to allow for more character development than in other Tarentino films.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by rowech

Lincoln (10/10) -- amazing. DDL might be the greatest actor of all time. He was Lincoln from the very first moments. Tommy Lee Jones was fantastic. Spader was great. Sally Field was okay but felt she wasn't up to the task of the movie overall.

DDL absolutely nailed Lincoln, from everything I've ever read about Lincoln in firsthand accounts. Absolutely 100%. So much so that from like...every scene after that hokey "battlefield meet n greet" intro I literally like...forgot that I was even watching a movie. Just felt like I'd gone back in time and was watching real-Lincoln.

Fucking amazing.

[chadritt]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Django Unchained - 9/10: Fantastic Tarentino flick (but then again, I'm inclined to love Tarentino flicks). Waltz and Foxx are absolutely wonderful in their roles as is DiCaprio and Jackson. Any scene with Waltz, DiCaprio, and Jackson is brilliant as this is some of the finest acting you'll see all year. Great humor as well as some wonderful cinematography makes the movie a pleasure to watch all around. Probably the most linear of Tarentino flicks, the straightforward plot tends to allow for more character development than in other Tarentino films.

Loved the movie, it might be the best of the year, but I seem to be the one guy who wasnt a fan of Samuel L Jackson in it.

Spoiler

he alternated too much between an uncle tom character in front of everyone and SAM JACKSON when it was just him and his master. I thought that was a really strange choice and it was like he was two different characters

[CrimsonFox]

I haven't been as much a fan of Jackson as I used to. He used to be just cool. Now it seems he's TRYING to be cool.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by chadritt

Loved the movie, it might be the best of the year, but I seem to be the one guy who wasnt a fan of Samuel L Jackson in it.

Spoiler

he alternated too much between an uncle tom character in front of everyone and SAM JACKSON when it was just him and his master. I thought that was a really strange choice and it was like he was two different characters

Spoiler

I don't quite get your complaint here. That was the whole point of the character. He did the Uncle Tom act for appearances, but in reality was smart and ruthless.

[chadritt]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

Spoiler

I don't quite get your complaint here. That was the whole point of the character. He did the Uncle Tom act for appearances, but in reality was smart and ruthless.

Spoiler

it was more that he ceased to be a character to me and instead became SAM JACKSON!!!!!. I mainly mean the scene where it was just him and his master. I got that he was pretending for appearances normally but that scene felt like he went way too far the other way

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

As I mentioned in the Batman thread, the only thing that annoyed me was the sudden time-jumps from one scene to the next, often with no explanation, leaving me thinking "huh, the cops have been underground for 3 months? The explosion just happened!". Bane, the reveal you mention, and the ending though all made up for it. I liked it overall probably a little less than the 2nd, but way more than the 1st which I don't rate all that much.

I thought it wrapped up well, but the movie was a bit long and unnecessarily convoluted for my tastes. And I found Bane's voice annoying. He was more like a Spiderman villain (I've always thought Spiderman's villains sucked - Green Goblin, for example). I didn't hate Bane, but I did really dislike the voice.

Spoiler

Have they ever hinted as to whether they might carry on with JGL in a new series.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

Spoiler

I don't quite get your complaint here. That was the whole point of the character. He did the Uncle Tom act for appearances, but in reality was smart and ruthless.

What he said.

Spoiler

Stephen was supposed to be a smart and calculating slave. That's why house slaves are the as Django put it, the second lowest form of black - they step on other blacks to get where they are. The minstrel act was just for the benefit of other white folk. I mean look at the scenes where Stephen is in the kitchen, prior to revealing to Candie what is going on.

I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Samuel L. Jackson get nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar & perhaps winning, though stiff competition from Tommy Lee Jones for his role in Lincoln

[SteveMax58]

Originally Posted by Kodos

I thought it wrapped up well, but the movie was a bit long and unnecessarily convoluted for my tastes. And I found Bane's voice annoying. He was more like a Spiderman villain (I've always thought Spiderman's villains sucked - Green Goblin, for example). I didn't hate Bane, but I did really dislike the voice.

Yeah, I thought Dark Knight Rises was ok but did drag on a bit & hurried in other aspects (like the 3 month drag on the police bit...the best the military could do is shoot people trying to leave? wtf?).

Speaking of annoying voices...Christian Bale's batman voice is like listening to a child trying to talk like their dad or something. I get that its part of his attempt to keep anonymity but it just gets under my skin.

And I called the reveal pretty early on while watching (not sure if its the same reveal everybody is talking about...and I'm usually quite terrible at spotting things like that). Just seemed odd to give that much random airtime to somebody inconsequential.

[Autumn]

I thought Bale's Batman voice was fine in the first movie, but it just got so much worse in Dark Knight, and rather than dialing it back for the third they left it there. I'm not sure what they were thinking. That open mouthed thing he does in his mask when they zoom in on his face started getting really distracting too. I'm thinking, is this a parody?

[Suicane75]

In honor of it's Blue-Ray release.

The Room: 10.0 Out Of 10.0 Stars

Tommy Wiseau. It's not a name you're likely familiar with. And yet he may be the most brilliant man in Hollywood. He may also be the worst actor/director/writer this side of the folks who brought you Date Movie.

To explain what The Room is is like trying to explain the vast scientific workings of the Universe to a 3 year old. It can't be done. Is it a comedy? Is it a drama? Is it real? Is it a work? I don't know. And I don't really want to know. Much like the Universe I just want to bathe in it's existence and let it envelop me.

Two things are certain. It's a movie, and it's about 90 minutes long. After that, all bets are off.

The body of my review shall start by simply stating that The Room, as it stands, is a horrible movie. Maybe the worst movie ever made. But of all the low rent, atrocious, disturbingly detached from reality movies I've seen (and I've seen most of them), The Room stands head and shoulders above all of those in the glory of it's wretchedness. It's so preposterously awful that many speculate that it had to be intended to be such. The very idea that a human being capable of making a movie, which while not rocket surgery, surely takes some ability and humanesque qualities to achieve, could produce something so egregiously bad is a little hard to believe. The fact of the matter is that the laughs, when you think about it, play perfectly as jokes, they are constructed perfectly for derision and play sweetly into the hands of absurdity. On the other hand the dude could just be mildly retarded.

I'll tell you a scant few things about the film because if you're going to see it, it's best to know as little as possible going in. Not about the story, but about the flaws. The story itself is rather simple. It's a love triangle. Or maybe a love quadruple. Or possibly a love Octagon. The fact of the matter is that everyone loves Lisa.

The entire movie is pretty much played out in a single room or on a roof with a green screened background. There are softcore love scenes that play out as if a Hungarian watched Cinemax, thought it was the most romantic thing he ever saw and tried to recreate it. There are non stop laughs. Onscreen. Everybody laughs. At everything. Things that one would assume are integral to the story are brought up and then never mentioned again. Emotions are on full display. Love, happiness, hate, admiration and angst are prevalent, often by the same character, in the same scene, regarding the same target. It almost never makes sense. Tuxedos are worn. Pictures of silverware are on display.

In the end what it's about doesn't matter nearly as much as how it's what it's about, which I believe is what Roger Ebert has said is the entire point of making a movie. And that adage never rings any truer than with The Room. No movie has EVER been how what it's about, than what it's about, than this film. Whether this film was made this badly on purpose or not, as it exists in the 90 minutes you spend watching it, it is a most glorious experience. And the aftermath will continue to keep you thinking, even if you don't want too. I watched The Room with a friend who had much consternation about watching what I described as "the best worst movie". I've seen bad movies with her, I've heard her talk of bad movies before, she doesn't labor on them. But days after watching this movie which she insists was awful and left her with no residual feelings she will still randomly ask me what the Tuxedos were for. She blurts out lines from the film. I do not think this will change with time. Unfortunately for her I believe that this experience is now engrained in her head forever like a random groping on a train or a spider found crawling on her leg. To me the experience more closely resembles the warm smell of an apple orchard on an Autumn eve. But the point is the same, to watch The Room is to forever experience The Room.

Before I had watched The Room i knew a little about it by searching the web and watching some videos on YouTube. I believe I first heard about it reading a Bill Simmons column where he mentioned it as the best worst movie ever. I didn't delve too deep though as I did not want too much knowledge going in for fear that it would ruin it for me, which is I why I've tried not to reveal all that much about the contents of movie here. But after you watch The Room you owe it to yourself to find out more about Mr. Tommy Wiseau and the making of The Room. I half expect that one day he'll reveal that it's all been an act, only because I truly want the man to get the validation he deserves. Intentional or not, the end result of The Room is pure joy. And it doesn't matter how it got there.

[molson]

I've probably watched the Room 5 times, I've watched certain clips on youtube dozens of times, I've listened through the How Did this Get Made podcast on the room several times (it's how I got into that podcast), and I've watched the movie with the Rifftrax audio at least once, I've also played some sierra-adventure style video game about the room. I am unhealthily obsessed with that movie. The last step, of course, would be going to one of the live screenings, which I think still happen in L.A. (Also, the guy who played Mark is supposed to be writing a book on the filming of the room.)

[Suicane75]

I think he just did one around New Years somewhere.

[sterlingice]

Sadly not one of the Rifftrax on Hulu. It made my giddy to see that some of them are on Hulu now so my wife and I just watched Planet of Dinosaurs. It felt just like MST3K but I missed the inbetweens a little.

SI

[molson]

Also, that Nostalgia Critic guy has a pretty fun recap of the room on youtube. (Wiseau did a cease-and-desist against it at some point, which of course only made it more prevalent on youtube).

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Spoiler

Have they ever hinted as to whether they might carry on with JGL in a new series.

Spoiler

Maybe as Batman in the JLA movie but he's already being linked with the Guardians of the Galaxy movie. I still would prefer somebody else being Batman and JGL being Robin/Nightwing.

[Groundhog]

Dredd - 7/10

I actually thought this was pretty good, and Urban got Dredd down pretty well. The plot was something you'd find in your typical Dredd comic, which was great on the one hand (authentic), although non-fans of Dredd aren't going to enjoy it as much as it's hardly 'epic' in scope, being just a pretty standard action film.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Django Unchained: 10/10
If you like Tarantino, you will love this movie. It's filled with one-liners, gore and awesome. Christoph Waltz was freaking phenomenal. DiCaprio and Samuel L were great as well, and Foxx did a fine job as the bad ass. If you don't like Tarantino, then no, you won't like this one either. Move along.

[Julio Riddols]

Originally Posted by Suicane75

In honor of it's Blue-Ray release.

The Room: 10.0 Out Of 10.0 Stars

Now get your hands on a copy of Miami Connection.

[Qwikshot]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Django Unchained: 10/10
If you like Tarantino, you will love this movie. It's filled with one-liners, gore and awesome. Christoph Waltz was freaking phenomenal. DiCaprio and Samuel L were great as well, and Foxx did a fine job as the bad ass. If you don't like Tarantino, then no, you won't like this one either. Move along.

I agree. There was a delicate balance of humor and horror in this movie. But sometimes I think Quentin tries to be too clever for his own good, case in point...

Spoiler

I think identity and names were a big theme in this film. It's not just about Germanic lore, and a man going to rescue his wife.

Django means "I awake" with a Gypsy origin. Much like Django, Gypsies tend to roam, they have no centralized origin (one could say Romania but let's face, Gypsies have no true home.

King Schultz, who is a dentist which could be loosely at the time, considered a doctor (Doc Holliday was a dentist)...becomes Dr. King. Which is an interesting moniker, since I know another more prominent Dr. King.

I'll pass on Calvin Candie, it's pretty obvious, much like LeQuint Mining company has a root to Quentin Tarantino

But I recall dialogue in the movie as to how one gets their name, they were talking about Eskimo Joe, or Black Hercules, or even Broomhilda and its origin to a German folklore.
D'Artigen being the slave that is killed and it's relation to Dumas.

I also liked that Stephen, means "Crowned One", since by the end of the story it seems that he is the principle antagonist, though I saw his Keyser Soze ending a mile away.

All in all, it's going to help some theatre students with term papers, but there is more in there than just a story of rescuing a damsel in distress.

[Groundhog]

Watchmen - 7/10
I finished the comics yesterday morning, so I thought I’d finally watch the movie, which I got on DVD as a gift years ago. After finishing the comics I wondered how the hell they’d squeeze that into a movie... until I saw the runtime of the film! Stayed pretty darn close to the comics in many respects – more than I’d have thought – and I dug the use of animation for the Black Freighter scenes. My biggest complaint with the movie would be...

Spoiler

Veidt/Ozymandias got very little screen time up until the end, which made the “reveal” a lot less meaningful/surprising and people not familiar with the comics would hardly have been shocked. His character was one of the more interesting ones IMO and I’ve have preferred they just cut out the Black Freighter scenes entirely - even though they were quite good - to include more Ozy background.

[Chief Rum]

Having just finally watched Zero Dark Thirty, and unlikely to catch any remaining Oscar movies, it seemed like a good time to update all of the movies I saw in the past two and a half months.

Argo - 8/10

I want to give this a 9, but that would be saying it's as good as the last movie I saw, and I can't say that. But I did really like this movie. Affleck does great at recreating the time, at least as I recall it, and also bringing a perspective I didn't get (the adult), because I was just a kid at the time of Iran hostage crisis. It's a very tense movie, and the scene at the airport is just incredible, theater arm seat gripping intense. I don't know if Oscar just doesn't like Affleck being all young and successful and good looking and having no right to come back from doing a movie like "Gigli", but he deserved more recognition from them. I'm glad to see he got some at the Globes.

Skyfall - 8/10

I love me some James Bond, and Craig has re-energized the role for me. Although to talk about "realism" and James Bond is a little silly, the Craig films just feel more "real and gritty" then the other recent Bonds. I'm still kinda amazed they went the way they did with the ending. It was also nice to get a look at Bond's childhood--never even thought to think where a character like James Bond would come from. I think the Oscar talk was a little silly, but this was a popcorn movie from the viseral perspective, while also being much more thoughtful than a movie like this tends to be.

Lincoln - 6/10

I probably need to see this again on a day when I didn't get up super early on little sleep and then working all day. I did that for the Dark Knight Rises, too, and I was tired and didn't really like it much, until I saw it with fresh eyes months later. Same thing with Lincoln, I saw an 11 pm-ish showing after a long, long day of work, and maybe it will improve in my eyes when I see it again. But this was just boring to me. Very obviously angled for Oscar, like that was the goal, rather than telling the story of Lincoln in his last few months. I did think DDL did his usual high quality job, and I loved JGL in his role as well. Spader was awesome, too. I like Tommy Lee Jones, but I wasn't wowed by his character like most. And I wanted to kill Sally Field halfway through the movie. So there. Skewer me.

The Hobbit - 7/10

Hmm...I probably could even go down to a 6, but it's Jackson doing another LOTR world movie. Hard to drop it that far. It's definitely not in the league of the LOTR films, and I do wonder how they're going to drag this out through two more movies. This might actually be the best of the three, which is scary. That said, it is a visual splendor, as expected. It was mostly fun. The action never stopped, so it didn't feel like a three hour movie most of the time. I absolutely loved the riddles in the dark scene. Take that scene out of this movie, I think I might drop it to a 5.

Jack Reacher - 7/10

This is a hard one for me to gauge, because I am a big fan of the character and the series of books for Reacher. The first half of this movie is great, like 9/10 great. Reacher, outside of being a pipsqueak 5'6" guy instead of the massive 6'5" 250 MLB mofo from the books, is exactly the way he is in the books. I can't get enough of that character played that way. Second half of the movie, though, drops to a 5/10, because they abandoned any pretense of investigating and working the puzzle of the crime and turned it into a straight garden variety action flick. look, I like action flicks and Reacher the novel character consistently kicks serious ass. So I expected action. Plus, this book had a lot of action in it--not the way the movie did it, but it had a lot. So, not unexpected. But I just didn't like the way they handled it, and then Reacher did something in the movie he would never, never, never do--

Spoiler

he did the whole mano y mano thing with the main kickass bad guy at the end, a la Lethal Weapon--no fucking way he does that. He's the guy who gets the drop on you, and then just shoots you in the head and moves on.

--so it was hard to get past that. I'm hoping for more Reacher movies, but really also hoping if they bother to dot hem that they do them right, and closer to the books.

Les Miserables - 7/10

There was a lot to love about this movie. There are scenes in this movie that are just awesome to behold. And it's very emotional--there are plenty of times where you really feel for the characters and what they're going through. And, yeah...

Spoiler

...I did get choked up when Anne Hathaway's Fantine showed up in spirit form to lead Hugh Jackman's Jean Valjean away to Heaven (or wherever) at the end...

.

But, damn, this movie is long. I really felt the length of this movie. Every song felt like it went one chorus too long, and pushed its point one scene too far. And you had to pay attention, because unlike most musicals, there is almost no straight speech in this film. It is almost entirely sung, even generic speech stuff. So if you wanted to follow the story, you had to listen to the lyrics and what they were saying, or you were likely to miss stuff. Now do that for three hours. I came away impressed with the achievement and happy I got a chance to see it, but also equally happy I would never have to talk myself into seeing it again.

Django Unchained - 8/10

I think I said this in another thread, but the first two acts of this movie are awesome. And I'm not even a big Tarentino fan. I'm talking 10/10 awesome. Loved Waltz' character. Loved Django. At one point, I am thinking, this is the coolest movie ever. Then the third act begins, and Tarentino blows it like he usually does, by going way over the top, hammering his messages home with splattering blood everywhere, and so much over-acting, even Sally Fields' Mary Todd Lincoln would have looked like a blasé character. I would rate the third act a 6/10. About the best I can say for it is that it wrapped things up. It's too bad you can't just watch the first two acts and be happy, because you really need that third act to resolve what the whole point is behind the first two acts.

Zero Dark Thirty - 9/10

I could give this a 10. I in fact probably would, but that would be saying it's perfect, and like Jessica Chastain's character says at one point in the movie about her CIA superiors, "certainty scares" me, so I'll drop it to a 9, but really, it's 10. Just an intense, enrapting moviegoing experience. Don't listen to the politicking, or set yourself up as Republican or Democrat. Just watch it as an American, accept what you see and cheer for the removal of one of the most despicable human beings to walk the Earth. I am familiar with OBL's takedown, how that all happened, and this movie nails it. Chastain is amazing; I mean, like DDL amazing. Everything feels so real.

[Young Drachma]

Under New Management (2009): 5/10, Low budget rom com with two leads who actually have more talent than the cast surrounding them. Premise is sort of ridiculous. FBI agent investigates the mob and falls for the charismatic Wall Street hot shot nephew of a made man. Hot shot gets a deathbed wish from his uncle to take his aging mobster crew legit and he accepts. FBI agent hot stuff is on the brink of promotion and can make her career by investigating this crime family and taking them down.

Remember, this is a low budget flick. Lots of ridiculous things happen and at its heart, it’s a comedy with romantic overtones. Still, the two leads have chemistry that basically keeps this thing warm under the Sterno burner for the whole flick and since it’s on Netflix instant, you can skip if you find certain parts sort of annoying.

But all in all, it’s a silly but relatively entertaining flick worth adding to your list.

Liberal Arts (2012): 7/10, I liked the story arc, I enjoyed the rhetoric and the movie is quotable and yet…I hate the message. Not because there’s a place where he and this young woman really connect — they clearly have a superficial connection — but rather where he considers her agency and treats her as an actual person and not some object of youth or some vessel from which he gains knowledge and learns from.


Silver Linings Playbook (2012) 9/10, Jennifer Lawrence sold me. Her pursuit of Bradley Cooper’s character appealed because the awkward dude trope (yes, he has mental issues. Ok fine.) is hard for me to identify with in film, but that’s an entire article.

So about the movie. Jennifer Lawrence earned her Oscar within the first 45 minutes of this thing. I saw Beasts of the Southern Wild and while Quvenzhané Wallis made that film what it was, Lawrence is really the glue that holds this thing together with an ensemble where she easily could’ve been overshadowed.

Silver Linings Playbook is about real people who have real problems. It’s a sliver of time in their little world and I have to say that it starts slow, but it gets someplace and the place it gets to is a really beautiful one. I don’t have a predisposition against Bradley Cooper, but I’m never really sold on him and the purported chemistry with Lawrence who continually proves herself throughout to be too good for him.

Nonetheless, the accolades that it’s received is absolutely worth it. It’s truly an excellent film worth your time.

Seeking A Friend For The End of the World (2012): 8/10

The most succinct way to put my thinking on this flick is, it did a really good job of taking the zanyiness of the end of the world and showing the bevy of ways that people cope. Not just with that, but with their lives and the meanings contained therein. For all of the stuff we spend our time obsessing over, what would happen if you found that one day, it was going to be all over?

That’s a weighty movie and yet “Seeking a Friend” manages to add a strong dose of hilarity without trivializing it.

Django Unchained (2012) 3/10

I feel like Django Unchained was part-Western, part-Blaxplotation flick that did neither genre any justice at all. It was slow, meandering and downright boring despite the Tarantino staples like gore, swearing and throwing around the N-word like cupcakes at a 7-year old birthday party.

On some level, I feel like they did some things well like the costumes and the scenes, but the dialogue was boring and it felt a lot less like a triumph-revenge slave flick and more like a movie about white people connected to slavery. Maybe that was the intent, but it seems to defeat the purpose.

So in short, Django Unchained has been cited by many I know as a great flick. I’ve read some internet dorks calling it “The best movie they’ve ever seen.” I don’t know what sort of movies they’ve watched in their lives or what part of thing motivated to such frankly ridiculous feelings, but I can’t say enough about how poorly put together and thought out this film was.

Cloud Atlas (2012) 2/10

I feel Cloud Atlas would've been more enjoyable had I read the book. I found it ridiculously hard to follow and even harder to care about. It was no surprise me that they had to finance this one independently, because the commercial appeal in my mind never manifested itself.

I will have to revisit it some other time, maybe with a group of people. But...at first watch, I found it to be really unimpressive.

[chinaski]

Life of Pi - 10/10

Jumped ahead of Beasts of the Southern Wild for movie of the year for me. Simply amazing.

[Marmel]

Searching for Sugar Man (documentary)

8/10

The story of a musician named Rodriguez who released 2 albums that were complete and total flops....except in South Africa, where he became a musical legend, only he never knew about it.

Spoiler

Very cool story, but when you think about it, the real story is what a crook Clerence Avant is. The whole thing only happens because this asshole stole all the money coming in from South Africa.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Inception - 9/10: Holy crap that was amazing! Just a wonderful, intelligent, mind-bending movie. DeCaprio, Gordon-Levitt, and Page were incredibly in their parts (especially Leo) and the plot was just wonderfully written. Really made you think (during and after the movie) and loved how it was shot and done. Christopher Nolan does it again!

Finally got around to seeing Inception (wanted to after how much I liked DK Rises). I agree with everything my friend Imran said, including the score. Once the movie got going, I understood most of it and then used wiki to clarify some things.

[rowech]

Trouble With the Curve -- this could have been so good but turned into kinda blah at the end. I do think its worth watching as I liked Eastwood and the person who played the daughter. Thought they played well off of each other. Timberlake was good as well but the movie fell flat with the baseball stuff to me. I don't think they had anybody working on the movie with baseball experience. (5/10)

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Young Drachma

Cloud Atlas (2012) 2/10

I feel Cloud Atlas would've been more enjoyable had I read the book. I found it ridiculously hard to follow and even harder to care about. It was no surprise me that they had to finance this one independently, because the commercial appeal in my mind never manifested itself.

I will have to revisit it some other time, maybe with a group of people. But...at first watch, I found it to be really unimpressive.

They did a whole week on this one on the "Yo, Is This Racist" podcast and I tried to follow along without seeing the movie, but holy shit there seemed to be some absolutely insane themes going on. I'm probably going to have to watch it on DVD cause it just sounds that fucked.

[chinaski]

Originally Posted by stevew

They did a whole week on this one on the "Yo, Is This Racist" podcast and I tried to follow along without seeing the movie, but holy shit there seemed to be some absolutely insane themes going on. I'm probably going to have to watch it on DVD cause it just sounds that fucked.

Ive seen it once, and really had no idea what I had just finished watching. It does make me want to see it again though, I feel like the more I watch it the more 'ill get it'. But for 3 hours a shot, im not sure if I care.

[Groundhog]

I have no idea why I have never watched Inception again, after loving it at the cinema. It struck me as a movie that would be better the 2nd time you saw it too.