What movies have you seen recently?

[mestevo]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Went and saw The Internship.

Overall I liked it, but it really was like a 2 hour advertisement for working at Google. I'd probably hate that a little more if I didn't work at Zappos where we have kind of a spectacle of a workplace going on ourselves. Being involved in the interviewing and hiring process made me look at some of the stuff in the movie in a different light.

[SPTO]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I died a thousand times (1955)

Plot summary:

After being released from prison, notorious thief Roy Earle is hired by his old boss to help a group of inexperienced criminals plan and carry out the robbery of a California hotel.

This is a remake of the Humphrey Bogart/Ida Lupino High Sierra (1941) with Jack Palance and Shelley Winters playing their roles. It's an extremely faithful remake with only the smallest of changes.

When it comes to faithful remakes that offer little difference to the source I tend to look at the acting and the overall feel of the movie and this is where it falters a little bit. Palance is great as Roy Earle in his interactions with the inexperienced gang (one of whom is a dark haired Lee Marvin!) but when it came to the softer stuff (the subplot with the clubfooted girl and befriending her family and the relationship with Winters) he doesn't quite have the sincerity that Bogart seemed to have.

The rather unusual magnanimous actions of Earle to help the young girl's family and his falling in love with her comes across as a bit trite in this rendition of the material whereas in the Bogart movie you could tell there was chemistry and can see why he gave his money away to pay for her surgery. As for the relationship with the gal in the gang played by Shelley Winters in the remake....Well her character is more of a loser in this movie and Winters does a great job of portraying that but Palance just doesn't make the audience think he's totally invested in her after being rejected by the young girl whereas there was always a connection between Bogart and Lupino.

This is not to say this is a bad movie because it isn't, it's different in tone mainly because Palance doesn't give of himself too much emotionally so when we come to the ending

Spoiler

when he is killed and Winters says that he's free you aren't totally feeling the emotional release of seeing a tortured criminal who finally never has to worry about being on the run again.

I will say though, the subplot with the little dog Pard was somewhat better in this movie than in the original as Palance treats the dog as a criminal would at the beginning but soon comes to value the dog's company but it isn't as overdone as the original.

So this rendition lacks the emotional punch of the original film and the acting while more or less on the same level of the original film falls flat a bit because Palance can't carry the emotional heft as he's a lot cooler than Bogart's Earle. I give this about a 2 1/2 stars due to those defects. if you haven't seen the original seek it out and watch this for comparison at some point.

[goh]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

You realize that he trained both Batman and Obi Wan Kenobi....it's more than believable.

He's also a Chuck Norris clone.

[AuburnAlumni]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

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Awesome..as always.

[Matty Aqua]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I seen Fast & Furious 6 last night!...Great action packed movie!...10/10 for realism also!..

[BlueNGold]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Went and seen The Internship last night.

Going in I was expecting it to be pretty terrible. It's definitely not a movie I'd watch twice and it's extremely run of the mill in terms of story structure but despite that, it has its moments. Funny enough, it wasn't even really due to Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. Their 4 team members actually had funnier spots, I thought.

I wouldn't recommend going to see it in theaters, especially with the other movies that are out or coming out, but it'd be a decent rental.

[~LiverpoolRed~]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Watched "The Grey" with Liam Neeson last night. I thought it was pretty good. I always enjoy Liam Nesson he is such a bad***

Liam Neeson stars in producer/director Joe Carnahan's tense adventure thriller about a group of tough-as-nails oil rig workers who must fight for their lives in the Alaskan wilderness after their airplane crashes miles from civilization. With supplies running short and hungry wolves closing in, the shaken survivors face a fate worse than death if they don't act fast. Dermot Mulroney, Dallas Roberts, and Frank Grillo co-star.

[SPTO]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Hell on Frisco Bay (1955)

Plot Summary:

When ex-cop Steve Rollins is released from San Quentin after five years, his only thoughts are of revenge on the men who framed him for manslaughter. Back in San Francisco, his quest for the truth brings him up against ruthless waterfront gang boss Victor Amato.

This is a very good late period Alan Ladd film but boy oh boy does he try to sabotage the movie! Ladd plays the Rollins character in such a stilted and wooden way that it just drags the movie down every time he's on screen. Luckily the 2nd half of the movie has very little of Ladd and instead deals with the goings on of Victor Amato played by Edward G. Robinson. Robinson was EXCELLENT in this film and unlike most villains he's pretty well rounded which makes a decision of his towards the end of the film even more chilling. He's a tyrant of a waterfront boss but there's some ounce of humanity to him in his family life.

Character actor Paul Stewart does a great job as Robinson's right hand man Joe Lye. Again there's complexity in his character in that he's often used to gun down people who makes life difficult for Amato but at the same time he seems to be a religious man who often prays to God.

In a lot of ways this movie works better as a Robinson film than it does as a Ladd film and as I said before the movie wisely focuses on that aspect rather than on Ladd throughout the 2nd half of the movie. Ladd's character is also a bit of a douche in that he hates his wife for leaving him even though he made it clear he didn't want to see her while he was in prison. For her part she stayed faithful for him for 3 years which is a lot more than he probably deserved.

This gets about 2 1/2 stars mainly due to Ladd's turgid acting but everything else is top notch despite the material being done before and a bit better. The movie has elements that remind me a bit of On The Waterfront but the main influence is the gangster movies of the 1930s.

[allBthere]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Taken: this was an awesome movie. Liam Neeson was a straight bad ***.

I'm scared to watch part II as I've heard from you guys it wasn't that good.

I liked it, don't expect a standing ovation and you'll be aight lol

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Mama

The problem with many modern supernatural horror movies is it seems like they're just making up **** as they go. From the story to the scares, as if they don't need to have any coherence or sense of logic, they insert themselves onto the camera frame or in post-production, and voila! Somehow it supposedly comes together as a film. Mama is no exception to this kind of horror filmmaking.

I'll give it up for the child actresses, they did a fine job doing whatever the hell they were supposed to do. Jessica Chastain was okay as well, and definitely did a different take compared to anything else I've seen her do.

The premise just wasn't there, though. From beginning to end, you were kind of just there along for a sloppy ride. Sure it had spooks, and sure some of the supernatural effects were downright gaudy (in actually both good and bad ways), but I'm guessing this film had too much Hollywood panache to be conveyed in the right light. Considering I got it from Redbox, there is a commentary track and an original short by Guillermo del Toro that I would have loved to experience, but they aren't available on this disc.

I nodded off a couple of times in the first bit of it, but rested up and found the energy to finish. As it stands, it was kind of a lame duck. I had higher hopes, and unfortunately was pretty let down.

[Lieutenant Dan]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Really hot around here, so pulled 'The Day After Tomorrow' DVD off the shelf last night

Very enjoyable flick with a heart, and even more importantly, that movie actually makes you feel cooler on a hot day while you watch it.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Snitch. Pretty good drama/action movie with The Rock. Was nice to see him taking on a little more challenging role.

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Really hot around here, so pulled 'The Day After Tomorrow' DVD off the shelf last night

Very enjoyable flick with a heart, and even more importantly, that movie actually makes you feel cooler on a hot day while you watch it.

My favorite Roland Emmerich film. I have okay hopes for White House Down in the entertainment department, but like you said, TDAT actually had a lot of heart. He seems to have lost that in his most recent films.

I also think TDAT has the best effects of any of his films. 2012 had dreadful effects (though a lot of them).

[Lieutenant Dan]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

My favorite Roland Emmerich film. I have okay hopes for White House Down in the entertainment department, but like you said, TDAT actually had a lot of heart. He seems to have lost that in his most recent films.

I also think TDAT has the best effects of any of his films. 2012 had dreadful effects (though a lot of them).

Agreed, TDAT is my favorite film of his as well. Keeps the cheese to a minimum and was well paced, great heart and more interesting characters.

'2012', while I love Cusack, just didn't move very well, and the characters were kinda hollow. I really cared about the characters in TDAT.

[rspencer86]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Mud. This has a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, and the trailer reminded me a little of No Country for Old Men in that the cinematography was beautiful (staged on the rivers of southeast Arkansas rather than the vast emptiness of West Texas) and the characters were interesting, so I had to go see it.

It was OK, definitely did not live up to the hype. There were long stretches where not much happens, and the story was full of holes.