What movies have you seen recently?

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

There's a movies I wanna see thread?

sent from galaxy note 3

This one should suffice:

http://www.operationsports.com/forum...er-thread.html

[Cabke]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Or...instead of bumping a seven year old thread, we could maybe not make such a big deal about it and just talk about movies. I mean, that's what we're in this thread for anyways, right? Who cares if it's been recently watched?

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Or...instead of bumping a seven year old thread, we could maybe not make such a big deal about it and just talk about movies. I mean, that's what we're in this thread for anyways, right? Who cares if it's been recently watched?

I supposed because I see this thread as a way to read trusted posters' impressions of movies which they have seen, not something they just anticipate seeing. I've decided to give dozens of films a first look because of posts in this thread that struck my interest. I'm certainly not giving that trailer a look with it being posted in here; no one has seen it, and I couldn't care less about it when I entered this thread unless someone has.

Doesn't matter if that thread is old, anyway. He can make it new again. What happens if this thread gets old?

[Lieutenant Dan]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Watched 'The Birdcage' again last night. Nathan Lane, Robin Williams and Hank Azaria have pretty much never been funnier.

It still stands, for me, as one of the two funniest films I've seen, the other being 'Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie', which literally almost had me split a gut.

[UWfan206]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Ain't Them Bodies Saints - I hated it. Wasted 90 minutes of my life that I'll never get back.

Sent from the emerald city

[Baseballking888]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Planes, Trains and Automobiles: A good example of a comedy that proves that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong (Also works for National Lampoon's Vacation). Steve Martin is good as a frustrated father who wants to get home in time for Thanksgiving and John Candy steals every scene he's in. The infamous car rental scene and Candy lip synching to Ray Charles' The Mess Around are highlights for me.

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Home Alone: The Holiday Heist

This is the fifth installment of the franchise and was made for TV. As if that is already not enough to make you want to pass this up, the third film [although a guilty pleasure of mine] was mediocre at best and the fourth one was damn near unwatchable. Obviously we have been separated from Culkin's character Kevin McCallister and the Wet Bandits (Pesci and Stern) for quite some time now, and most people simply don't believe Home Alone should be made without those components.

This one is a bit different, though. It's not too traditionally cheesy in that the child (named Finn) doesn't seem too witty for his own good. In fact, he fits in perfectly with the mold of most ten year old boys in today's world: he is a gamer, and I think a site like OS can appreciate that very much. He games online, he games on handhelds, and he talks like he has a good head above his shoulders in terms of intelligence. So when he concocts the things that he does, there is a certain amount of credibility to it Yeah, there is a theme around the film involving the house being haunted so Finn is a bit... well, I bet you know where this is going... "boy who cried wolf" story kicks in where the noises he thought were from ghosts are actually burglars, and his family doesn't really believe him.

That aside, one thing that is important for the Home Alone films to have is the spirit of Christmas. I don't think Christmastime is simply enough to validate that idea or just saying the word, but honestly I think this ranks very closely to the first two films when it comes to the hearty warmth of good ol' Christmas cheer. Granted, it takes a bit of a modern day approach, but it still works. HA3 and HA4 weren't able to do that for me, so for them to bring it back was incredibly important.

The best thing I think this movie did was with the traps portion in the final act, and I'll explain why. First of all, as I explained earlier, I actually believe that this child is smart enough to do the things he has done and he is motivated enough to have done it all as well. Secondly, although the villains (with Malcom McDowell taking the lead) are always stupid, at least this time it wasn't them chasing a kid around a house. The majority of the time they are attempting to steal something from what they also believe is a haunted house, so everything that happens to them is their understanding that there is a curse preventing them from intruding. It sounds stupid on paper, but when you think about it so is trying to attack a kid and not being able to ever get him despite your best weaponry. They're also not out to hurt the child, so again... what they are unsuccessful in doing is a little easier to stomach in the "realism factor."

Speaking of which, the third thing that made this great was the traps would not have killed them. Even dating back to the very first one, all of these films seem to have several traps that would kill them immediately (or hurt them more than it shows, so to speak). For once, they are basically just being manipulated with moments of pain here and there. Yeah, they could have avoided walking into most of the things that they did, but for once I actually get that if vulnerability played a factor in this, that you're not sitting and waiting for a dumbbell to fall on their heads (hint hint).

In all, to dismiss this just because of the initial things I stated would be a sore loss for those who like the franchise for what it is: a child trumping some crooks with innocuous items around a house during the winter holidays. Although I would say, even if I were to make an argument that it simply isn't fair to compare it to the first two or mistreat it just because Culkin isn't the kid any longer (or that they are doing this as a money-grabber of some kind) does not mean that I would say this film would have gotten higher marks if it was a standalone film either, or if it was the first film of the franchise. You can take it at face value after watching it, and say it is what it is. I have a feeling you'll like it, though. Wouldn't hurt to give it a chance, especially since it's pretty quickly available online and it's just around that time of year. It gets a good grade in my book, even if it starts to fall flat in the seriousness department by the end.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Room 237 - This is a documentary about Kubrick's The Shining and goes over a handful of different analysis and views on the film. Its not very "in-depth" with each analysis, but its an interesting summary of the big ones. A lot of interesting ideas and tidbits throughout especially for the Kubrick fan.

[SPTO]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I never thought i'd see an extensive review on Home Alone 5....Good writeup though.

I'll have an old timey review up tonight and X-Men Origins: Wolverine most likely on Friday morning.

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I never thought i'd see an extensive review on Home Alone 5....Good writeup though.

Well that's the good thing about movie impressions I guess... you can't judge them by their movie (or the movie's cover), be it length or otherwise. Doesn't make it more substantial, but seeing that it was a children's movie it's easier to talk about.

But that's Blzer for ya anyway.

[nemesis04]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Just watched Stephen King's "The Mist" for the first time. There are three characters from the Walking Dead who where in that movie: Dale, Andrea and Carol. The movie was ok, nothing over the top.

[Mabster]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I watched Dog Day Afternoon the other day. Movie description on Dish: A loser robs a bank with his stupid buddy to pay for his lovers sex change.

I didn't know what I was getting into.

I young Al Pacino in 1975 was a treat to watch. The movie itself immediately starts off with the opening scene of the bank robbery. Straight into it, no back story, no nothing. All the back story comes once the robbery goes wrong and Pacino character (Sonny) is stuck in the bank surrounded by cops.

It's the 70s and times were so different then. As the story progresses a crowd forms outside the bank and turns into a protest against police brutality which portrays some of the civil unrest still going through the country from the late 60's. Sonny becomes a sort of folk hero with his antics including taking live calls from news stations and tossing cash into the crowd. He earns the respect of most of the hostages and his plan eventually evolves into some of the hostages willingly going with him when he flees the country.

Once Sonny realizes his plan has him leaving the country for good he arranges to talk to his wife and kids and his boyfriend. The interaction between him and his wife is comical cause she's so over the top dramatic and it's all about her.

The situation between Sonny and his boyfriend had to have been so controversial with the public back in 75 when the movie came out.

The way the whole story unfolds is a great tale. Instead of it just being a movie about a bank robbery gone wrong, you get this whole different ride while you learn why the robbery was needed and the emotions involved in Sonny's thought process while the **** is hitting the fan.

TL;DR In 1975, a married man robs a bank to pay for his boyfriends sex change. Job goes wrong immediately and man has to negotiate an escape from inside the bank while attempting to explain to his loved ones why he did it.

To top it off, it based on a true story and actual events. I didn't realize that till the very end.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

The Conjuring..........I don't see what the big deal was, it wasn't even remotely scary what so ever.

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

The Conjuring..........I don't see what the big deal was, it wasn't even remotely scary what so ever.

It wasn't that scary, unless it really is true.

It's vintage, though. Throwback. Well shot in that regard and was every bit as serious as it needed to be (with the exception of Officer Brad).

That is to say... classic horror movies aren't that scary then, either. They just are what they are, and they can be chilling based on what kinds of things strike your nerves.

[SPTO]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

And Sudden Death (1936)

Not a heckuva lot to say about this movie. This flick was completely a product of its time as it's basically an MGM Crime Does Not Pay short writ large on the dangers of speeding. That being said, as a time capsule it's interesting as you see that driving classes for those caught speeding and such haven't changed much at all as Randolph Scott's cop character related stats and figures, showed a film of car crashes and then led the students to the morgue to see dead bodies from crashes. Later on in the film you get to see roadside auto inspection by the police at its most embryonic stage.

In that regard it's a historical curiosity of a film. I wrote more about the plot in my blog and whatnot but this is the basic nub of it. This movie doesn't play well at all for a modern viewer but I think its warning about speeding/reckless driving probably played a lot better to audiences back in 1936. It's not a bad movie per se but it doesn't age gracefully.

* 1/2 stars