What movies have you seen recently?

[jeremym480]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

The Cabin in the Woods - Awesome movie. It started a little slow, but once it got going you are in for a ride. I could easily go watch it again, but I'll probably just wait and pick it up on Blu Ray instead.

Iron Man 2 - I loved the first one. The second one was just blah. I'd liken it to the first Transformers and the second Transformer movie. Except I'd say that Revenge of the Fallen is a little better than Iron Man 2. Honestly, I wouldn't sit through either again.

[SPTO]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I'm in a westerns mood lately so I watched one late last night

The Last of the Fast Guns (1958)

Here's the storyline:

A rich, dying Easterner hires gunfighter Brad Ellison to find his brother and heir in Mexico. En route, it becomes clear to Ellison that his is a dying profession. At a remote rancho, Ellison enlists ranch foreman Miles Lang to help him search the hills where the missing man is rumored to have lived. They find nothing ...except that someone wants to kill them; and Ellison becomes wrapped in a maze of double crosses.

This isn't a bad movie at all. It has the feel and flavor of a film noir even though it's filmed in color. I could easily see this in an urban setting. The script is very well written and i'm impressed that they laid off on using ethnic stereotypes which often plagues old westerns.

There's a twist to the story that some may see a mile away but the film is still good enough that it's not too bad of a distraction. The acting however, left a little to be desired. I don't know if they were going for a staccato crime/film noir style delivery but all the actors, even the sturdy Lorne Green and Gilbert Roland sounded a bit clipped in their delivery which made it sound kinda wooden. It didn't help that the lead in this flick was some B movie guy by the name of Jock Mahoney.

Nevertheless, the movie is enjoyable and the payoff while a bit disappointing makes a lot of sense. So this is a above average B type western which I give 2 1/2 stars out of 5.

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Race the Sun

Another 1996 film with Halle Berry, James Belushi, and Casey Affleck. It basically reminded me of Cool Runnings/October Sky, where a group of Hawaiian high school science students enter a solar car racing event in hopes to qualify for the world tour event in Australia. The tone had a bit of Soul Surfer flare in it as well, but I also say this in realization that Cool Runnings is the only film which came out before it.

Anyway, it was kind of one of those cheesy/inspirational stories that you would see on Disney if it weren't for the PG-13 rating, but it's also based on a true story either way, so you can't fault it too much. Not the worst movie ever, but too cookie-cutter generic to be good either. I think the other three films I mentioned "did it better" anyway.

[Leon]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Barveheart. I've seen this flick many times but this is the first time I'm watching it on blu-ray and it's pretty outstanding. The end scene always makes me emotional.

Crazy Mel needs to go back to Braveheart Mel. For all his dickish ways recently, we can't deny his acting and directorial talent.

Also, I just noticed that Lord Commander Mormont (Game of Thrones) is in this movie. He was like Tom Sizemore in a war movie in this one - taking hits everywhere but he just keeps on chargin'.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Kill Bill Vol. 1 - To me, this feels less like a "Tarantino movie" and more along the lines of "any other movie." Not to say that blends into Hollywood or that Tarantino's "trademarks" aren't present, but this is a big movie and notably the first shift from low budget to what we saw with Inglorious Basterds. With that said its hard to separate these two "movies" when they were intended to be the same movie (damnit Miramax). The first volume seems to go more for pure style in the action sequences than satisfying anything related to the story other than #1 and #2 were both at the chapel. The fight with O-Ren and the 88s is awesome and I really love how the fights are sequenced. The first boss battle followed by a round of pure ***-kicking and sword slashing that feels like a celebatory break in tension. Then of course the showdown.

The style, being a Tarantino movie, is full to the brim. There's the obvious kung fu hallmarks, but even the western/cowboy tropes are here as well, which is basically what these movies are. The soundtrack is also great and its hard to pinpoint where the old classic tracks stop running and RZA's production begins, which is a testament to just how fluid not only the soundtrack is, but the film(s) as a whole with everything flowing together and building atop each other nicely.

The Godfather - This is like a comfort movie to me now. It is amazing that outside of Al Pacino, that some of the other stories/performances are almost hammy and over-acted. Anyway, the thing that stuck out to me most this time was Michael's ascent to power, but not in the traditional way. It makes a point early on to draw make the separation of "legal" power and true power. Father and Son want the same thing, but both are naive in their simplistic view of what they want and how they think they can do it. The cafe scene is always awesome.

Kill Bill Vol. 2 -I really wish Miramax would release a "Super Duper" Collector's Edition and put Kill Bill together like Tarantino intended, because while Vol. 2 is slower paced, it builds the story and characters more. Bill and Beatrix are great together on screen and David Carradine's presence is felt even when he isn't there. I love how the movie begins and ends similarly, with The Bride basically taking out one parent at the presence of a child. Anyway, I think I might favor this half more since there's more being developed and resolved in this part than the first half.

[bomberooski]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Saw Safe House on Friday night and I really enjoyed it. Of course I had heard some people hating on it when it first came out so I went in with low expectations.

Thought Ryan Reynolds and Denzel were money. The story was kind of obvious but that was fine with me for an action movie. Gunfights, car chases and some hand to hand combat mixed with some political tomfooler = winner for me.

[areobee401]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Took advantage of the free preview of Epix last night.

The Lincoln Lawyer
The soundtrack for this film caught me by surprise. It did a good job helping build Matthew Mcconaughey's character. There wasn't really anything not to like about the movie. Strong cast and the story never became sidetracked or boring. The added bonus of seeing Marisa Tomei on the television never hurts.
7.5/10

Middle Men
Now this is my kind of flick. You get organized crime, lots of nudity, violence, and plenty of touchy subject matter. The movie follows the life of Jack Harris. Basically he helped create the way people view porn on the internet. Well worth the 90 minutes of my viewing time.
6.5/10

Winter's Bone
Easily the best movie of the night. Absolutely loved the way they were able to project mountain life. You get sense of the community and almost feel as though you know them yourself. Jennifer Lawrence does a fantastic job in the lead role. You really do come away from the film feelings for the characters.
9/10

[Buckeyes_Doc]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

J. Edgar: The acting was incredible. The actors had to cover nearly 50 years and the makeup, behavior, speech, movement was spot on and noticeably different from their 20's to the older years. I felt like this movie could of been more powerful. Something was missing from making it a great movie. If you're a fan of historical dramas I recommend this movie.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Shaolin. Very good martial arts movie. Jackie Chan has a minor role. Easy recommend.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

J. Edgar: The acting was incredible. The actors had to cover nearly 50 years and the makeup, behavior, speech, movement was spot on and noticeably different from their 20's to the older years. I felt like this movie could of been more powerful. Something was missing from making it a great movie. If you're a fan of historical dramas I recommend this movie.

I really wanted this to be a great film, but it just never happens. Its long, not well paced and frankly nothing "major" ever happens or is accomplished by the time the credits roll. As you said most of the things are very strong, but there's "something" missing. Maybe they tried to cover too much? There are a ton of stories they simply brushed against that they would have been more interesting as films themselves. Plus, there really is a lot of commentary in this film that could fill 3 films and I think that hurts the pacing too. In the end it felt like going through a family photo album rather than a personal journal.

No matter the case its worth at least one viewing.

[thaima1shu]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I really wanted this to be a great film, but it just never happens. Its long, not well paced and frankly nothing "major" ever happens or is accomplished by the time the credits roll. As you said most of the things are very strong, but there's "something" missing. Maybe they tried to cover too much? There are a ton of stories they simply brushed against that they would have been more interesting as films themselves. Plus, there really is a lot of commentary in this film that could fill 3 films and I think that hurts the pacing too. In the end it felt like going through a family photo album rather than a personal journal.

No matter the case its worth at least one viewing.

I pretty much felt the same way, particularly the bolded. I kept waiting for something ... interesting to happen, but nothing ever really materialized. I'm usually never bored with movies, but this one just felt so slow that I couldn't maintain interest. Sat through the entire movie, but really have no desire to ever watch this again.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Which is sad because a big stretch of the film is really amazing and J. Edgar has a ton of interesting material to work with, but it just all gets bogged down by the total weight of the film.

[marshallfever]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Chronicle- 8.8

I remember hearing the hype for this movie. And it did not fail, the movie was awesome. I didn't expect some of the stuff that happened to happen though. And now hearing that they're making a sequel sort of intrigues me.

[Buckeyes_Doc]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Retreat

Eh, it was decent. Good acting, but it was one of those movies where the characters lacked common sense and made idiotic decision after decision.

[Chrisksaint]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

The Muppets

An amazing movie, everything about it was great. It was very funny, seemingly a good kids/family movie, solid acting from everyone involved. A lot of nostalgia from the older movies, along with several parts where I rewinded in order to catch some of the little things or hear something again.