What movies have you seen recently?

[daflyboys]

Friday Night Lights. (again). Sorry, but Remember The Titans can't hold a candle. Tremendous cinematography, let alone the story line (yes, I know it's not exactly how it happened).

[goh]

The Rise of the Planet of the Apes

I felt terribly misled on this one. This is also one of those times if you've seen all the trailers you've seen the movie. Though that's where the mislead is because you think there's more but no. It was ok I guess.

Spoiler

Also turns out the apes didn't really have anything to do with the takeover,they just wanted to get to the woods. It was the ALZ22 that killed the humans. Maybe that was known already. My knowledge of the original is pretty much limited to...

If you did see it in the theatre and enjoyed it don't hesitate to pick up the blu-ray,very nice sound and video quality.

Kung Fu Panda 2

Loved it. Some neat fights and thought it was funnier than the original. The ending battle also better. However didn't find the core story to be as good. Also a very good blu-ray but that was expected.

[Cabke]

Holy God. Do you like anything? Oh wait, Kung Fu Panda...

[marshallfever]

Final Destination 5, worst out of the bunch. Truly a horrific film. The acting was terrible, the special effects were just as bad and the deaths were laughable. The only cool thing is the way they tied it to the other movies.

5.3

[daflyboys]

Man On Fire. Denzel's best imo.

[SPTO]

Land Raiders (1969)

This is a bit of an unknown and in some ways unique western. I never thought i'd see a western starring Telly Savalas of all people! Unfortunately for me I just never cottoned onto the film. The flashbacks and the somewhat tepid pace kept me at arm's length. Nonetheless it was pretty unique which i'll get into after the plot summary:

Quote:

Ruthless Vince Carden (Savalas) dominates the Arizona-territory town of Forge River and buys the scalps of murdered Indians. He has driven his brother Paul (George Maharis) from his home, and this leads to the total disillusionment of his wife Martha. (Arlene Dahl) Haunted by the mysterious death of a girl he had loved, Paul ends his wandering and joins a wagon train heading for Forge River; with the train is Kate Mayfield, (Janet Landgard) who is returning home after years of school in the East. Paul and Kate are the sole survivors when Apaches attack the train, in reprisal for a slaughter staged by Vince's men. Vince uses the Indian attack on the train as an excuse to lead the raid on a defenseless Apache village, which sparks a massive assault on Forge River.

So what is it that makes this unique? Well it's the simple fact that this was a '50s style western with '60s sensibilities. In fact, the look and feel of this movie was so rooted in the '50s style that if it wasn't for a brief scene of nudity I'd swear it came from that decade. This isn't all that surprising as the movie was directed by Nathan Juran who is probably best remembered today for directing seminal drive-in sci fi classics but he also directed a couple Audie Murphy westerns. At the same time this was a very '60s movie by the end of it with the Apache's finally getting their revenge after being slaughtered and being treated like trash throughout.

Despite the fact that I didn't really like this I will say that Savalas was his usual charming self. The guy wasn't exactly the greatest actor in the world but he had charisma oozing from his pores so the setting and his charm kept me invested in the movie.

(2 out of 4 stars)



Widow from Chicago (1930)

This is an early film starring Edward G. Robinson. He didn't get top billing in this but he was key to the movie's story and was the heavy. This was a vehicle for Alice White who is forgotten today. Here's the summary:

Quote:

Vice lord Dominic (Robinson) has brought Swifty Dorgan (Neil Hamilton) east to do a job for him. When Swifty appears to have died falling from a train, detective Henderson impersonates him hoping to get into the mob. When he's killed his sister Polly (White) poses as Swifty's widow and gets a singing job at Dominic's nightclub. Then the real Swifty shows up.

BTW yes, that's THE Neil Hamilton that played Commissioner Gordon in the '60s Batman TV show.

Anyways this is a really good movie especially for the era it was made in. You'd think Polly would be up the creek when the real Swifty shows up but that's just when the movie starts to get interesting. I won't go into all the details of what happens but needless to say she gets the real Swifty to play along with her as husband and wife. There's a couple plot twists here and there that lead to the conclusion of the movie and it's all quite unpredictable.

White does a fairly good job in her role. There's a sauciness to her portrayal of Polly that screams "sass" but at the same time there's a fragile and vulnerable quality to her which works to her advantage in scenes where she has to be emotional. This movie was before Edward G. Robinson really hit it big but even before Little Caesar Eddie G. had a huge presence on the screen. As for Neil Hamilton....He was merely serviceable.

The movie does show it's age especially in the beginning where the acting is VERY theatrical but it does settle into a good rhythm and the fact that this was a pre-code film there's more leeway for unpredictability and for interesting situations.

A bit of a novelty compared to most movies today but fairly good IMO

(3 out of 4 stars)


Next two movies (tentatively) The Devil with Hitler (a short film) and Godzilla Raids Again (the Japanese cut)

[gopadres]

Quote: Originally Posted by goh

Kung Fu Panda 2 Loved it. Some neat fights and thought it was funnier than the original. The ending battle also better. However didn't find the core story to be as good. Also a very good blu-ray but that was expected.

I really enjoyed this as well...better than the first. Rented it, but will own it on bluray.

[SidVish]

The Debt was solid entertainment. If you like spy thrillers I would recommend it.