What movies have you seen recently?

[daflyboys]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

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.

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[SPTO]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

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:

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]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

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]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

The new Karate Kid. Good movie.

[Scott]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

The new Karate Kid. Good movie.

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

[Chef Matt]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

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

Yep that's how we watched it. I really liked it. As did the wife and kids.

[N51_rob]

Dispicable Me with the GF. Cute movie. Made her happy so....win!

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

[marshallfever]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

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. )

This is a Disney channel original movie, one if never watched though lol

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

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. )

Love this movie.

[Beantown]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

Love this movie.

Third best Disney Channel movie behind Brink/Johnny Tsunami

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

Third best Disney Channel movie behind Brink/Johnny Tsunami

I'll put Motocrossed in front of Johnny Tsunami. I'm also a sap for The Luck of the Irish for some reason, so it might be #3 for me.

[dickey1331]

I'll put Motocrossed in front of Johnny Tsunami. I'm also a sap for The Luck of the Irish for some reason, so it might be #3 for me.

I really liked the Halloween one where they have to save that Halloween town.


Do you really care where I sent this from?

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

The King's Speech

I went and saw it with my mom last night. It was one of those movies where on the surface looked pretty limited and slow-paced but I would find a silver lining in it that would intrigue me enough. That said, it met those expectations and was pretty dazzling cinema nonetheless. A movie with very little substantial material but a fine way to stretch it out into an Oscar-worthy screenplay.

Of the directorial moments I did enjoy, I was certainly not a fan of the off-center rule of thirds shots. Yes, they're used all the time in cinema, but the other way (as in, the character on screen will balance the shot by facing the other two-thirds of the screen, not the same third that he/she's on). I felt like it was an example of trying to be unique for uniqueness's sake, and when they varied it in height as well it became more annoying than anything else. I can perhaps find some artistic merit in it for some scenes, but there were other times where I couldn't exactly pinpoint it. It was rather egregious despite everything else I did like about the directing.

The music was exceptional, I was truly a fan! I still don't know what The Social Network was doing in the original score nominations, especially when I can name three movies that should have dominated it easily (The King's Speech, Inception, and How To Train Your Dragon). Great score and sound all around, this was really the deal breaker that kept me in the movie the whole way. Well, that and Colin Firth.

Now for a complaint with the MPAA. For anyone who has seen this movie, I would like to have an internal discussion on its rating. I know they use the F-bomb maybe over twenty times in the film, but if you saw it then you know where it was inserted, and why I think this movie should have been given a PG-13 rating. This was the only reason it got an R-rating, and it was used no differently than the way Robin Williams used the "s word" in Bicentennial Man, a movie with a PG rating. Not only does this lose me, but now supposedly they're going to re-release the movie next Friday with this stuff edited out for a PG-13 rating. I don't know, I think cutting this portion out of the movie really does take a lot out of it. I want to know other people's opinions on that.

Otherwise, an enjoyable, though not often replayable, film that in many ways I'm glad took over The Social Network in certain categories (a movie I find pretty overrated though I thoroughly enjoy).

[goh]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

Now for a complaint with the MPAA. For anyone who has seen this movie, I would like to have an internal discussion on its rating. I know they use the F-bomb maybe over twenty times in the film, but if you saw it then you know where it was inserted, and why I think this movie should have been given a PG-13 rating. This was the only reason it got an R-rating, and it was used no differently than the way Robin Williams used the "s word" in Bicentennial Man, a movie with a PG rating. Not only does this lose me, but now supposedly they're going to re-release the movie next Friday with this stuff edited out for a PG-13 rating. I don't know, I think cutting this portion out of the movie really does take a lot out of it. I want to know other people's opinions on that.

I haven't seen it but I can tell you that they're only allowed 1 depending on how it's used and I believe 3 is tops at best so 20 certianly wouldn't cut it. I looked up the scene,maybe it'll still be there just toned down? Here's the offical stance (included a part about PG):

The more mature themes in some PG-rated motion pictures may call for parental guidance. There may be some profanity and some depictions of violence or brief nudity. But these elements are not deemed so intense as to require that parents be strongly cautioned beyond the suggestion of parental guidance.

A motion picture’s single use of one of the harsher sexually-derived words, though only as an expletive,initially requires at least a PG-13 rating. More than one such expletive requires an R rating, as must even one of those words used in a sexual context. The Rating Board nevertheless may rate such a motion picture PG-13 if, based on a special vote by a two-thirds majority, the Raters feel that most American parents would believe that a PG-13 rating is appropriate because of the context or manner in which the words are used or because the use of those words in the motion picture is inconspicuous.

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently? Part 1

Okay yeah, because I know there are some movies like Ocean's Eleven and The Social Network that use the F-bomb twice and still have a PG-13 rating. I suppose I can see if there's a standard that automatically makes it an R rating, but let's be serious for a second and think if this is truly damaging for children.

I mean, we have a movie like Taken that is rated PG-13 which involves sex trade, drugs (though at a minimal amount, even though there are "shot up" visuals), and some pretty decent violence here and there. Even Titanic, which is deservingly rated PG-13 but *gasp!* there's nudity! I'm not saying it should be rated R because there was some real artistic merit for it, something which was nearly essential for the storyline. If you watch all of TKS, you will agree that this scene was also very essential for the storyline, and probably the lightest way to use the word.

Okay, they said it very many times... I just can't justify the fact that now Weinstein & Weinstein want to cash in on an opportunity to make it PG-13 by removing/editing this scene, demoralizing what Hooper originally wanted and making more money out of it this way. That alone is a reason to make the original cut PG-13.

EDIT: By the way, Bicentennial Man uses the s-word six or seven times in quick succession while maintaining its PG rating. I wonder how many they'll have to reduce it to for the PG-13 rating in TKS. I still think it needs a few of them IMO, it's a great scene especially when put into context with all the other scenes.