Rate The Last Movie You Watched

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

The Dark Knight - 8.5/10

This was an amazing story, with incredible acting. The things that brought it down (for me) were:
1) too much gratuitous violence and gruesomeness - don't get me wrong, Ledger played an absolutely psychotic Joker amazingly well. But sometimes, the violence he did seemed a bit out of character and just there for "shock" value. For example, the "magic trick" of making the pencil disappear is one of those that I thought was unnecessary, and somewhat out of character. I spent a good portion of the last 45 minutes of the movie looking at the screen through my hands.
2) the "Two-Face" story arc didn't quite make sense to me.

Spoiler

I never got into comic books, so I don't know the myth/story surrounding Two-Face's character, but I thought he was a villain with multiple appearances, so to have him introduced so briefly, and then killed, didn't seem to jive with what I thought I knew of the Batman mythology.

As one who doesn't know much about the comics, it sort of left me hanging and confused, with niggling questions.

Oh well. The movie scared me, but I still think it was well-worth seeing. If you haven't seen it yet, do so.

/tk

Both valid points, but I have something to say about each of them.

1)

Spoiler

Yes, the pencil trick maybe didn't have to be shown, but there is a difference between gratuitous viloence that is poorly done and unnecessary, and gratuitous violence that is really well done and actually enhances the film tremendously. I feel this is a standout case of the latter. Sorry, but I don't care how anyone puts it, that trick in and of itself was pretty damn cool and one of the funnier ways I have seen a guy "die" in a movie. Second, at the point that that entire scene was filmed (the collective scene with the bad guys in the backroom), the Joker had had an awesome scene in the bank, and that was about it. He hadn't really established his over the top greatness yet. IMO, that entire scene pretty much, from start to finish, elevated the Joker from simple mad man to brilliant villain, a standard Ledger than met the rest of the way. I think that entire scene, including the pencil trick, is pivotal to our view of the Joker and our enjoyment of the movie.

2)

Spoiler

Eckhart says he's ready to come back, so one of your basic assumptions in this one apparently is wrong (he's not dead).

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Both valid points, but I have something to say about each of them...

1) I can see your point. For me, the movie lost a few tenths for that, but I can understand that for others, it wouldn't. Each their own, for certain. Too much for me.

2) Yep, I saw that. I think the confusion I had with that entire plotline was more of why I gave it an 8.5 than the violence/gruesomeness. I'm not into the comics by a long shot, but given the dorky culture I live and work in, I knew just enough about the character to know his name, and be confused by the arc.

Spoiler

I guess we'll see how that all ends up playing out, though I doubt I'll be as interested in a new movie as others will be.

/tk

[Lorena]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

I spent a good portion of the last 45 minutes of the movie looking at the screen through my hands.

/tk

I'm gonna have to show Antmeister this post because I do the same thing when watching horror movies! Hahaha, must be a female thing, I guess.

[Lorena]

Cast Away - 6.5/10

Meh, it was watchable. The scenes with him stranded on an island were a little slow but don't know how they could have made them better. When watching movies I tend to over analyze stuff and in this movie, how is it that Tom Hanks didn't throw up in spite of having so much water in his system? Also, same scene, he comes off the boat without socks on and the scene immediately after, he takes off his socks.. huh? Inconsistencies.

But the movie as a whole was decent, I wouldn't watch it again though.

[SFL Cat]

Hancock 5.5/10

Kind of a letdown after Batman (and I know I'm in the minority when I say I still liked Ironman better than Dark Knight). Not a bad movie, but not a great one either.

[Lorena]

Originally Posted by SFL Cat

(and I know I'm in the minority when I say I still liked Ironman better than Dark Knight)

Yup, I liked Ironman better too.

[ISiddiqui]

Atonement - 5/10: Meh, just kind of describes it. Incredibly well acted by McAvoy and Knightly, but moved very slow and was pretty dull. Not sure why all the accolades for it.

[TCY Junkie]

I tried to get my 11 year old nephew to go watch Ironman but he wanted to go play this machine he could get stuffed animals out of instead. Batman could have been one of my favorite movies ever if I liked anything in it besides the joker. He is probably my favorite character of all time, but the movie isn't close to one of my favorites.

[RendeR]

Saw the Dark Knight on Thursday at a late showing.

10.0 flat out fan-fucking-tastic. This is the styling and screenplay writing that all comic book based films should aspire to. The cast is incredible (sans The rachel character as a whole) the cinematography was awesome and the pace was exactly what a superhero story should have...oh and one more thing:

crsbe080722.gif

[Neon_Chaos]

Rocky Balboa - 8/10

Saw it back when it premiered, didn't really think much of it. Saw it again last night, and I have to say... it's a great movie. Excellent cinematography, and Stallone just carries Rocky's emotional baggage so well throughout the entire film. Paulie was excellent. I overlooked the incomplete love story build, realizing that they really didn't mean to build any kind of love story there. This was all about Rocky, and it was great.

[samifan24]

The X-Files: I Want to Believe - 4/10

What was the point here? About the only redeeming quality to this film was being able to spend a little bit more time with Mulder and Scully. There wasn't really an X-file here and the small typical X-Files material in the story just seemed tacked on. The film didn't go anywhere and the story didn't build like I thought it might. I was never a die-hard of the series but I enjoyed it. I knew going in that this film was a stand-alone story with nothing to do with the alien arc from the series, but this film just seemed forced. I thought Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz could do better. The franchise deserves better.

[molson]

X-Files came in really under the radar - this movie was about 5 years too late.

[Buccaneer]

It was a low-budget movie.

[SFL Cat]

I enjoyed the first several seasons of the show...but then it became obvious that CC had NO idea where he was going with the main conspiracy arc of the show.

I thought the first movie was okay, but when I saw that a new one was coming out, I thought, "okay...the timing on this one is...random." I agree that it's four or five years too late.

Don't really think I'll put down the cash to see it in the theatre.

[MizzouRah]

Apocalypto - 8/10

Can't believe it took me this long to watch this one, really liked it!

[Mustang]

Charlie Wilsons War - 8/10

I give it a point bump just for Phillip Seymour Hoffman. I was more interested in the background story of Charlie Wilson's life... sure wouldn't think it would fly today.

[korme]

Step Brothers - I went in there knowing what to expect, which is basically Ferrell & Riley firing off one liners at each other for 1.5 hours. A lot of the jokes were hit or miss, but some of the things said were really funny. A bunch of cheap laughs I didn't need and it almost seemed to drag near the end, bad for a movie that isn't very long to begin with. If you like goin to the theatres, go see it, if you're picky, just wait for Pineapple Express. 6/10

[Lathum]

question about stepbrothers

were all of the funny lines in the commercials?

I found that to be the problem with Talledega Nights and it made it unwatchable.

[Karlifornia]

Originally Posted by Lathum

question about stepbrothers

were all of the funny lines in the commercials?

I found that to be the problem with Talledega Nights and it made it unwatchable.

Step-Brothers is non-stop "lines". For me went back and forth between lame and funny, with a tad more toward the latter. I give it5.5/10

[Easy Mac]

I'd give Step-Brothers a 7/10. I had no hopes for it and was really wondering why the wife wanted to see it. It was decidedly better than Talladega Nights, Walk Hard and Semi-Pro. Its not that it was a great movie, but you never really stop laughing at the absurdity and stupidity of everything done and said. If you go into it not wanting a logical plot like other Apatow-name-attached movies, then you should probably enjoy this a lot.

[korme]

Originally Posted by Lathum

question about stepbrothers

were all of the funny lines in the commercials?

I found that to be the problem with Talledega Nights and it made it unwatchable.

No, actually the funniest line to me was not said by Ferrell or Reilly (won't spoil it). It was a grade above TN, which I didn't really enjoy at all.

[sabotai]

3:10 To Yuma - I liked the movie ok through most of it, but I didn't like the last 10 minutes or so. I don't like when characters suddenly become unware of their surroundings and of the situation, like someone pressed pause on them while everyone is still running around (those who saw it probably know what I'm talking about). And the evolution of Crowe's character just didn't work, IMO. 6.5/10

Knocked Up - I was dieing laughing for the first 30 minutes, and then it just kinda fizzled the rest of the way. Some funny bits here and there, but I doubt I'll ever watch it again. - 6/10

Shoot 'Em Up - Told myself before I put the disc in to throw realism out the window. I told myself over and over again during the first 30 minutes "Forget realism, this is just a wacky fun action flick! FUN FUN FUN!" No, fuck you. This was awful. Everything about this movie was horrible, and that includes the action scenes. Just dreadful. 2/10

10 Items Or Less - A pretty good indie film with Morgan Freeman and Paz Vega (hottie!). It's about an actor (Freeman) that goes to a grocery store to do research for a role he's thinking of taking, and he gets himself involved in a cashier's (Vega) problems. Very well acted...but IMO some of the scenes felt a bit...hack-ish. Like the director was trying a bit too hard. 7.5/10

Gone Baby Gone - I heard a lot of great things about this movie, but every time it seemed to get going, the pace came to a grinding halt because a character needed to make some needless speech about something. It goes, it stops, it goes, it stops. It was a decent film, but I felt like there was a great movie in there somewhere....Ben Affleck needs to stick to acting. 6/10

[Johnny93g]

Originally Posted by sabotai

Ben Affleck needs to stick to Directing

Fixed it for you.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by Johnny93g

Fixed it for you.

Except you misspelled "everything but directing".

[Lorena]

Originally Posted by sabotai

Shoot 'Em Up - Told myself before I put the disc in to throw realism out the window. I told myself over and over again during the first 30 minutes "Forget realism, this is just a wacky fun action flick! FUN FUN FUN!" No, fuck you. This was awful. Everything about this movie was horrible, and that includes the action scenes. Just dreadful. 2/10

lol, that made me laugh. So what possessed you to watch it? I hope it wasn't my glowing review

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by sabotai

3:10 To Yuma - I don't like when characters suddenly become unware of their surroundings and of the situation,

Or become suddenly unaware they have a wooden leg. Looookit me, suddenly I'm a one-legged, old west Chow Yun Fat.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by Lorena

lol, that made me laugh. So what possessed you to watch it? I hope it wasn't my glowing review

Nah, I don't remember any specific review, just that it was described as a fun action movie. Plus I'm a huge fan of Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti.

Originally Posted by thesloppy

Or become suddenly unaware they have a wooden leg. Looookit me, suddenly I'm a one-legged, old west Chow Yun Fat.

I don't have as much of a problem with that. I'm sure when people lose a foot or something, they adapt and relearn how to walk, run, jump, etc.

But jumping from roof top to roof top...yeah, that's pushing it.

[rowech]

Vantage Point (5/10) -- I was entertained but can't help walking away shaking my head. Two major problems with the last half hour and the movie just falls flat at the end.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by sabotai

I don't have as much of a problem with that. I'm sure when people lose a foot or something, they adapt and relearn how to walk, run, jump, etc.

But jumping from roof top to roof top...yeah, that's pushing it.

Yeah, that whole ending was crap. The first hour and a half was spent kind of building up Crowe and Bale's characters, and slowly building the tension, and then they brought the movie to conclusion by spending the last 15 minutes shooting everything to hell, with all the subtlety of a Seagal flick (not that I don't love Seagal), and having Crowe's character repeatedly act completely contrary to everything he had previously done or said. The climax basically asked you to ignore the whole first 3/4 of the movie, except that was the good part.

[thesloppy]

Red Belt (2008) - 7/10 - This movie was a trip. Imagine if the writer of Glengarry Glen Ross (David Mamet) got some quality actors together (and Tim Allen) and they made a high-concept 'Karate Kid'. Well, imagine no longer! Like other Mamet work, there's lots of pithy stilted dialog, tragedy, and evil womens...but all shoehorned into a plot that is essentially more or less just a mature, convoluted 'Bloodsport' (but be warned, there isn't much actual fight action, like 'Karate Kid')

It really is kind of remarkable to see a modern, American martial arts movie with above average dialog and production values, Unfortunately, it kind of bounces around between success and failure, making it kind of frustrating. There were several large and small patches of the movie where I was able to 'buy in' emotionally, and then it would get shattered moments later. 'Rocky' is another obvious parallel, and while 'Redbelt' at times achieves levels of quality and realism beyond that of 'Rocky', it just as often delves into the same kind of melodrama and fight movie cliches, and ultimately comes up short in comparison, because 'Rocky' may be somewhat ridiculous, but it is completely consistent.

In the end, I liked it. Despite the fact that I'd seen lots of parts before in other movies, it still felt remarkably fresh to see that much effort and intent being put into a 'fight movie', and it made me realize I'd really like to see more people make an attempt to make more high-production-value martial arts flicks. On the other hand, it stumbled far too many times to be considered anything close to great.

[korme]

Natural Born Killers (1993) - Written by QT, he should have directed it. Oliver Stone sucks, I can't believe I sat through that mess for two hours. 4/10

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by korme

Natural Born Killers (1993) - Written by QT, he should have directed it. Oliver Stone sucks, I can't believe I sat through that mess for two hours. 4/10

Respectfully disagree. 8/10.

[larrymcg421]

Natural Born Killers

I'm with Groundhog. I'd even say 8.5/10. This was back when Oliver Stone was at his best and it features one of Robert Downey Jr's best performances, not to mention a very daring supporting role for Rodney Dangerfield.

[thesloppy]

I'm with Korme on this one. For my money, the best thing Oliver Stone was ever involved with was Conan the Barbarian. Natural Born Killers gave me a headache.

[thesloppy]

Marjoe (1972) - 8/10 - A fraud of an evangelist brings a documentary crew with him on his last Revivalist tour. An interesting doc that has probably gained a little something with age, as the hair, fashion, and slang of the early '70s just add to the surreal setting.

Last Hurrah for Chivalry (1979) - 7/10 - A pretty standard old school Shaw Bros/Golden Harvest Kung Fu flick, but also one of John Woo's early films, and you can see a lot of his style in its infancy here.

The Bad Sleep Well (1960) - 6/10 - A modern (well, modern at the time) revenge flick by Kurosawa w/ Toshiro Mifune. This was somewhat of a disappointment, it just fell a little flat. I love everybody involved, and I could see the inspiration for recent asian revenge flicks like Chan Woo Park's revenge trilogy, but it never managed to hook me.

Matando Cabos (2004) - 7/10 - A mexican crime/caper comedy. This movie was obviously trying really REALLY hard, and it looked absolutely terrific , but although I got the feeling they were trying for something along the lines of 'Pulp Fiction', but they ended up with something that was more 'Weekend at Bernies'. Most importantly, it was still plenty enjoyable.

Cloverfield (2008) - 5/10 - "ROB WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" "ROB WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" "ROB WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" "ROB WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" "ROB WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" "ROB WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" "ROB WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" "ROB WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" "ROB WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" "ROB WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Jesus. I felt like crushing a city after suffering through this.

Open Range (2003) - 7/10 - You know what? This wasn't all that bad. Certainly better than what I expected. There's nothing new going on here in terms of plot, and nobody was pushing any boundaries in terms of acting either, but it was solid enough.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by korme

Natural Born Killers (1993) - Written by QT, he should have directed it. Oliver Stone sucks, I can't believe I sat through that mess for two hours. 4/10

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Respectfully disagree. 8/10.

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

Natural Born Killers

I'm with Groundhog. I'd even say 8.5/10. This was back when Oliver Stone was at his best and it features one of Robert Downey Jr's best performances, not to mention a very daring supporting role for Rodney Dangerfield.

When Natural Born Killers first came out I loved that movie. I think I saw it 4 times in the theater. I had a poster, the CD, even bought a pair of those round, red John Lennon type sunglasses. I thought the movie was the mutts nuts. I was around 20 years old at the time and just really getting into film.

I have watched parts of it more recently and it just doesn't quite hold up anymore. I am not sure if it's because it's dated or I got older or what. Originally, I'd given it a 8.5 or 9, but my current rating would be down closer to a 5 or 6.

As for Oliver Stone, he is what he is. Platoon is great, but from Natural Born Killers on he sort of got a bit weird. I like JFK because of it's complete craziness. It's Stone at his best. That style quickly became less effective in his later works.

[rowech]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

When Natural Born Killers first came out I loved that movie. I think I saw it 4 times in the theater. I had a poster, the CD, even bought a pair of those round, red John Lennon type sunglasses. I thought the movie was the mutts nuts. I was around 20 years old at the time and just really getting into film.

I have watched parts of it more recently and it just doesn't quite hold up anymore. I am not sure if it's because it's dated or I got older or what. Originally, I'd given it a 8.5 or 9, but my current rating would be down closer to a 5 or 6.

As for Oliver Stone, he is what he is. Platoon is great, but from Natural Born Killers on he sort of got a bit weird. I like JFK because of it's complete craziness. It's Stone at his best. That style quickly became less effective in his later works.

I think he did Wall Street as well. If so, that was in the same area as Platoon for me.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by rowech

I think he did Wall Street as well. If so, that was in the same area as Platoon for me.

Wall Street was good. Talk Radio was pretty good as well.

Those were all in the pre-Natural Born Killers era, before Stone adopted that weird style of his. Well, looking at his filmography, I guess JFK was before NBK and really a precursor to his madness. It was slightly more coherent, but the signs were all there. He then went on to make Nixon, Any Given Sunday (enjoyable for what it is, but completely ridiculous), Alexander, and the World Trade Center (never saw it).

[ISiddiqui]

I am looking forward to Stone's upcoming W., seems like its more focused, which will allow a bit of crazyness, but not too mcuh.

[Pyser]

Originally Posted by korme

Natural Born Killers (1993) - Written by QT, he should have directed it. Oliver Stone sucks, I can't believe I sat through that mess for two hours. 4/10

thats not entirely accurate. qt's script was VASTLY different from how the movie ended up. i cant remember specifically, but i think it was all based in the courtroom and prison. stone went back and completely re-wrote it. what was filmed is not what qt wrote, and i think qt asked out at one point.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Pyser

thats not entirely accurate. qt's script was VASTLY different from how the movie ended up. i cant remember specifically, but i think it was all based in the courtroom and prison. stone went back and completely re-wrote it. what was filmed is not what qt wrote, and i think qt asked out at one point.

I have a copy of the original QT script (I told you I really liked this movie) somewhere. While there were courtroom sequences and some other sequences in the QT script that were cut from the original movie and Stone did add some scenes, quite a bit of QT's stuff made it into the final release.

Also, Stone did film the courtroom scenes and some of those other scenes (they are available on some special DVD release), but they were cut from the theatrical release.

[Mustang]

21 6/10

Tried to be the Rounders of the blackjack world. Was fine from an entertainment value, but drove me nuts from a gambling perspective. Their signal that a table was a high value was the equivalent of C3-PO standing on the dunes of Tantooine going 'Over Here!!!!'. Of course, had to throw in the big bad security guy that figured out what they were doing.

[korme]

Back to NBK, I agree Downey was excellent, especially near the end. But those flashes from color to b&w, to sideways camera angles, were just taking away from the story and annoying the shit out of me. If it would have been a normally filmed movie I'd have enjoyed it much more. I felt like I was watching Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas!

I've never seen JFK (I know, I know, but it's like 3 hours isn't it?), but I sure did enjoy Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July. But The Doors from '91 is eerily similar with that goofy ass camera style, but not as bad, because Jim Morrison was always on psychadelics so you have to be there with him - and that is also why a movie with wacky camera angles works if you're doing a film about hardcore drugs (see F&L in LV, or Easy Rider). But not here! One scene where they do shrooms, fine. But even making Tommy Lee Jones head turn into a monster for 1 second and then cut back to normal for example, was too much. I'm ranting.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

I like JFK because of it's complete craziness. It's Stone at his best. That style quickly became less effective in his later works.

Pretty much the same for me. I liked the style in JFK because the craziness all happened, if I remember correctly (it's been awhile since I've seen it), during what were essentially flashbacks. So I think the style worked there.

For Any Given Sunday, I hated it.

[Pyser]

i really enjoyed nbk. i think the thing to remember is its a satire.

[BrianD]

I've generally found satire to be an over-appreciated art form.

[DanGarion]

NBK was the biggest pile of shit I ever saw. I walked out in the first 10 minutes.

[samifan24]

In Bruges - 8/10

I'd wanted to see this film for a while but my Netflix account is currently suspended and Redbox doesn't have it. I rented it tonight via iTunes and really liked it. I liked the back and forth between the two hitmen and the ethical obligations contained therein. I also liked how the film made the city of Bruges almost an extra character, which I thought enhanced the film greatly. A good little film.

[ISiddiqui]

Charlie Wilson's War - 10/10: I think this is the first perfect score I've given. A great true story (showing that truth can be stranger than fiction) that was as funny as any movie I've seen in years. Had a great amount of hilarious one liners and was as quotable as a Monty Python movie. Perfectly casted and great pacing to the film. I strongly recommend this flick to everyone.

[Lorena]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

anyone on Goya's Ghost yet?

OK, I finally saw it.

Goya's Ghosts - 3.5/10

The movie was all over the place. The description I read on Netflix made it seem as if the movie was surrounding Portman's character but she was barely in it... I'd say maybe about 40 minutes out of 120 minutes tops. I do agree with you that Bardem was really good as was the poor tortured Portman. They did a great job with set design, costumes and makeup for they made Portman look terrible, strangely enough, I felt no attachment to her character.

EDIT to add: actually, I felt no attachment to any character. I just checked it out on RottenTomatoes and I'm shocked that a movie with an "all-star" cast made less than a million bucks. If you wanna see a glimpse of Natalie Portman half naked, then get it, otherwise, skip it.