What movies have you seen recently?

[SlimKibbles]

I watched "She's Out of My League" this past week. It actually wasn't bad. There were some funny parts in it. I think I was more drawn to the story because I can totally relate to the main character, unfortunately. Well, yeah, I was also drawn to Alice Eve as the lead actress too. That lady is gorgeous.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Limitless

Pretty good. Wasn't a big fan of the Hollywood ending but it kept me entertained. Felt a lot like Next (with nic cage)

[mgoblue678]

Just watched John Carpenter's The Thing on Netflix. I had never seen it before, mainly because it was made before I was born, but I can see why it is considered a classic scifi/horror film. Thought it was fantastic and the special effects hold up fairly well considering it was made in 1982. Loved the ending and how it is somewhat open ended. Some of the scenes were just downright freaky.

I would place it right up there with the Alien and Aliens as the best scifi/horror film I have seen. Wipes the floor with most of the more modern movies in the genre.

[daflyboys]

Quote: Originally Posted by mgoblue678

Just watched John Carpenter's The Thing on Netflix. I had never seen it before, mainly because it was made before I was born, but I can see why it is considered a classic scifi/horror film. Thought it was fantastic and the special effects hold up fairly well considering it was made in 1982. Loved the ending and how it is somewhat open ended. Some of the scenes were just downright freaky. I would place it right up there with the Alien and Aliens as the best scifi/horror film I have seen. Wipes the floor with most of the more modern movies in the genre.

Although now just simply seen as a 50's horror flick, that version with James Arness scared the crap out of me. Later, when watching it, I actually liked it more for the realistic banter back and forth between the characters. But I think it probably has one of the coolest title openings to a movie and glad they didn't change that for the 80's version. I welcome a remake with today's tech.

To the first :25 (cant embed): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAWqJpRFLwE

Apparently a prequel or just a flat out remake is being done? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0905372/plotsummary

But this is supposed to be the new Russell?? Please not a female lead for this. It's not Alien. And I don't want dudes in the making of Fried Green Tomatos either

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Changing gears... recently rewatched Goin' South with Nicholson...... hilarious.

[SPTO]

I watched two movies that you'd be hard pressed to believe was watched by the same person but they were! Although it made for one weird double bill:

Yogi Bear (2010)

Curiosity got the better of me and I finally watched it to see how badly they would butcher Yogi. It actually wasn't THAT bad. The movie is definitely geared towards the little ones but is tolerable enough for parents/adults. Justin Timberlake does a great Boo Boo but Dan Aykroyd's Yogi Bear was a bit off. He comes CLOSE to matching Daws Butler but not quite. It's a shame he didn't listen to the tapes of Butler that fans sent him.

So while it's okayish it's not any great shakes of a film. There is one really genuine funny moment for me when Yogi and Boo Boo are leaving Jellystone to find Ranger Smith and Yogi nearly gets himself killed trying to hop onto the train only for them to see that the train makes a stop at Jellystone! LOL

So, harmless kiddie fare though the animation technique with the live action didn't work too well as you can tell they're blue screened on quite a bit. Overall I give this about 1 3/4th stars which is roughly equivalent to 4 out of 10. I think the kids would see this as probably an 8 out of 10.


Next up I watched a fascinating one man performance by Philip Baker Hall called Secret Honor (1984) The movie was produced and directed by Robert Altman when he was a professor at Michigan. Anyways, it's a 90 minute monologue delivered by Nixon talking about his life, Watergate, the people who made him etc etc. I liked how there was this connection made between Nixon and the Bohemian Grove. If you know your conspiracy theories of the One World Government/illuminati you know who those guys are. So I find it interesting that a politician was being squarely connected with them as early as the mid '80s. Anyways here's a wiki entry on the plot of the film which I think explains it better than I could:

Quote:

A disgraced Richard Nixon is restlessly pacing in the study at his New Jersey home, in the late 1970s. Armed with a loaded revolver, a bottle of Scotch whisky and a running tape recorder, while surrounded by closed circuit television cameras, he spends the next 90 minutes recalling, with rage, suspicion, sadness and disappointment, his controversial life and career in a long monologue. Nixon's monologue often veers into tangents, often concerning his family, the people who made him powerful or the people who took him out of power. Nixon recalls his mother fondly, Dwight Eisenhower with hatred, Henry Kissinger with condescension and John F. Kennedy with a mixture of appreciation and rage. When Nixon gets frustrated or enraged at the person he is thinking about, the monologue often becomes disjointed; the passion overwhelms Nixon's ability for words. If he veers too far off topic, he tells the person who is supposed to transcribe the tape to edit out the whole screed back to an earlier, calmer point. Throughout the monologue, Nixon's description of himself changes. Sometimes he calls himself a man of the people, saying that he could succeed because he had known failure, just like the average American; he broods on his humble beginnings and the hard work he put in to rise to the top, and all the setbacks that he endured and overcame. However, the times when he talks about his own ideas and accomplishments in flattering terms tend to be brief, and they often bleed into self-pitying rants about how he is an innocent martyr, destroyed by sinister and hypocritical forces. Similarly, he can be self deprecating or otherwise reflect a low self-image, but he rarely focuses on his own faults for long, preferring instead to blame others. In the film, he denies the relevance of Watergate and claims that he never committed a crime. He emphasizes that he was never charged with a crime, therefore he did not need or deserve a pardon. He feels that the pardon he received from President Gerald Ford forever tainted him in the public's eyes, because to get a pardon he must have been guilty. However, in the end Nixon admits that he has been the willing tool of a political network he alternately calls "the Bohemian Grove" and "The committee of 100". The alleged interest of the committee is the heroin trade with Asia, although he followed them rather out of a lust for power plus some belief in their willingness to bring democracy to Asia. However, after the 1972 vote he received new orders from them: they wanted Nixon to keep the Vietnam war going on at all costs, then go for a third term in office, so they can continue their business with the president as their strawman. Nixon further explains that at some point he decided that he didn't want to go down in history as the president who sacrificed thousands of American soldiers for drug money, so he himself staged the Watergate scandal to get out of office against the massive public support. So in the end, he again puts the blame on others: on the public that supports him although — or even because — he is a scam artist and a petty thief, just like the majority of them, as he sees it.

Philip Baker Hall does a pretty good job of playing Nixon though he falls down to levels of parody and overacting a few times by and large though, he captures the essence of Nixon and there are times where he sounds EXACTLY like Nixon did.

This wouldn't play well to some people but for me I give it about 3 stars.

[goh]

I watched Motocrossed. It's about a motorcross rider that gets injured then his sister cuts her hair and fills in for him while their dad tries to find a new rider. Was what it was. (Made for TV family movie. )

[Chef Matt]

The new Karate Kid. Good movie.

[Scott]

Quote: Originally Posted by chefdad

The new Karate Kid. Good movie.

I'll have to check this one out, saw it was available on netflix for instant watch.