What movies have you seen recently?

[Lieutenant Dan]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Young Frankenstein (again). "I"gor......the role Marty Feldman was born to play.

Amazing that they were able to get the original equipment from Karloff's "Frankenstein".

That's on my list for funniest films of all time:

In no order:

Young Frankenstein
Animal House
The Birdcage (Williams, Lane version)
Mystery Science Theatre 3000: The Movie

[BlueNGold]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

The Spectacular Now - I've been waiting for months to watch this and finally got to last week. Thankfully all that waiting paid off because it lived up to my expectations.

You could call it a cousin to (500) Days of Summer in that it's a similar core story of boy meets girl, which was why I was looking forward to it so much. It's not as unique as that movie was but it's still a very, very good movie with strong performances and a solid story. I was impressed with Miles Teller and I really hope that Shailene Woodley is being kept as the new Mary Jane in the third Amazing Spider-Man.

It's not too long of a movie either so it's worth a look if you're curious. If you're like me and enjoyed it as much as I did it's probably just a little too short.

[doubledeuceR6]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Zombieland - 3rd or 4th time I've seen it. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone , and Jesse Eisenberg are all great in this and a cool cameo by none other than

Spoiler

Bill Murray

.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Ride Along. Not terrible, but definitely nothing to write home about. There were a couple of truly funny moments...

Spoiler

I loved Gary Owen's cameo.

Yet another predictable buddy cop movie. You know exactly what you're getting with Ice Cube and Kevin Hart. That's either a good thing or a bad thing.

[SPTO]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Man of Steel (2013)

Sticking with the superhero movie theme for M.M.M. it seems. So in short, this is an amazing movie IF it wasn't a Superman film. The problem with this movie lies in its tone. I understand realism is important but ultra realism with a dark n gritty tone is just not Superman's style. They completely eschewed the superhero idea and went with this from the POV of an alien being living among us and doing good deeds. So you get the paranoia and militarist response straight away.

On top of all that you have Lois Lane being all investigative journalist and right in this movie she DEFINITIVELY knows who Superman is. This completely throws out the neat love triangle, human comedy of Lois loving Supes but thinking Clark is a dweeb while Clark wants to love Lois but on his terms as Clark.

The hope and inspiration that Superman embodies is given lip service but the feel is just not there at all. Superman also works when he's treated a bit tongue in cheek. There are TWO scenes where it's done and the 2nd instance (the "I think he's kinda hot" moment) is just plain ridiculous. Even the kindness and goodness of Superman is a bit askew here as he says "are you ok?" after saving someone in the midst of hell breaking loose and unfortunately Cavill delivers the line in such a limp way that it comes across as insulting and/or patronizing.

As for being completely realistic, they undermine it by General Zod being a MUAHAHAHAHAHA villain. They really missed an opportunity to make him somewhat sympathetic as we could've seen scenes of him talking to Supes about Krypton and it's great legacy. Talking to him of how they can recreate Krypton and bring it back to life. It would then set up a natural conflict/tension when it's revealed that Zod would only do this at the expense of killing humanity. This is done in the movie but it's presented in such a stark black/white ultimatum way rather than making Zod seem like a reasonable man and Supes trying to talk him out of it by compromising somehow. When Supes sees that there's no talking sense THEN you get into the crazy fighting and violence.

Now that doesn't mean I hated this movie because I didn't, I LOVED the first half where you really get to see Clark's journey of self discovery and trying to find his place in the world. The conflict of him wanting to do good and help society vs Pa Kent wanting to hold him back and be as much a person of earth as he can because there's no telling how the world would react to a super being such as Clark. The scene where Pa Kent dies vividly humanizes that tension as Clark could've easily saved Pa but because he respected what the elder Kent was trying to say he leaves him alone to try and save himself which in the end he couldn't.

Cavill does a good job in this though I think he captures Clark a helluva lot better than he does Superman. Michael Shannon as Zod completely steals the movie as even though he's one note you really believe that this is someone who will do ANYTHING to achieve his goals and seeing him go absolutely insane after he's been defeated fits in with how he's portrayed.

The SFX in this movie is just mind blowing. I love how Kryptonian tech is shown as this geo organic thing that makes use of the entire planet as technology. It's very well done. The fights are VIOLENT and is aided by the use of speeding up Supes, Zod and his crew as they completely make a hell on earth. The rag doll like effects of people/objects being thrown around further reinforces the sheer brutality of what's going on.


So yeah, this is a good movie and normally i'd give this a **** but as a Superman film it's only **. I REALLY hope the planned Superman vs Batman movie contrasts the personalities and personal worldview of the characters rather than uniformly being dark/gritty. That stuff works great for Batman but Superman is supposed to be bright and cheery. He's supposed to embody all that is good in humanity, not mired in a tough, ultra realistic world that crushes idealism.

[doubledeuceR6]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone - I know this movie didn't do well but being a Steve Carell fan I had to give it a look. Now I know why it didn't do well, right up there with Dinner for Scmucks for worst Steve Carell movie.

[areobee401]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Stake Land

Nice surprise. Vampire apocalypse film that actually worked. The director did an excellent job at creating a believable atmosphere that is nice to look at. 7/10

[NYJets]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Watched Wolf of Wall Street yesterday and 12 Years a Slave today. Both were amazing.

[SPTO]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Beau James (1957)

One of only two (more or less) straight dramas that Bob Hope ever did on the big screen. This is a fanciful romanticized (though more or less accurate) biopic on the life of former NYC mayor Jimmy Walker who was mayor during the Jazz Age and exemplified it during his time in office.

This was a perfect vehicle for Hope insofar as doing a drama as Walker was a larger than life persona who had a history writing songs for Broadway and was a showman of the highest order so there were tons of opportunities for Hope to do his thing. Indeed, those scenes were some of the best in the movie such as when Walker is first running for mayor and we see him singing in the different languages of the ethnic parts of NY and at the end there's a cute tap dancing number with a little girl in Harlem.

The movie revolves around Walker's associates being part of the Tammany Hall political machine and how they're corrupt to the core. Here is where the movie fudges with history a little as the real life Walker more or less knew and looked the other way when it came to the corruption. In the movie Hope isn't fully aware of the magnitude of just how rotten his administration is and he fights to clear his name when there's an investigation about said corruption. The main thrust though is the relationship he has with a young woman and how much of a furor it causes as Walker was already married (though it's pretty much a dead one) and he's seen gallivanting around with a much younger woman.

So that's where most of the dramatic tension is built up. I won't go into too much but you can read my blog entry on the movie if you'd like. I DO want to point out one other aspect of this movie before I give my rating. This movie is a loving tribute to the New York City of the '20s. It's not only evocative of the era but it shows the best aspects of the NYC of that period and unabashedly praises it. Much of this is in the form of Hope saying how much he loves the city and singing songs having to do with it. Hell, even the resolution to the film occurs at a New York City landmark!

All in all this was a very entertaining movie. It's the kind of thing Hollywood doesn't do anymore mainly because of cynicism and wanting to be brutally honest (in fact, I wouldn't mind a more detailed accounting of Walker's life) but it works here. Hope is very good in this though I wouldn't exactly say it's dramatic acting, it's also not mugging for the camera either.

I give this *** stars.

[Antec]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Just watched Filth.

I was reading a list of "best movies you probably didn't see in 2013" and it came up 1st. It looked interested so I gave it a go.

Wow. Loved it. Wasn't quite what I was expecting. Very different kind of movie. Had a little bit of everything going on. Dark comedy.

[Jr.]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Just watched The Five Year Engagement for the 7th time or so. Love this movie. Jason Segal and Emily Blunt have fantastic chemistry, and the supporting cast is great (Chris Pratt, Alison Brie, Brian Posehn, Mindy Kaling, Kevin Hart, etc). I'm a bit of a sucker for romantic comedies, and this is one of my favorites.

[BlueNGold]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Fruitvale Station - Not totally sure what to make of this one. I was looking forward to it when I listened to Bill Simmons' podcast with Michael B. Jordan. After seeing it though, it wasn't as great as it was hyped up to be. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad either. I guess I just expected a little more.

The actual story itself is pretty ****ed up though. I didn't really have much knowledge of what happened before seeing the movie.

[NYJets]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Watched Fruitvale Station today and I liked it a lot.

I've read some criticism that they did too much to make Oscar Grant out to be some great guy, but I don't see that at all. Thought they did a great job of humanizing him, showing him simply as a flawed human being.

[dsallupinyaarea]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I enjoyed Fruitvale Station and I thought they did a good job of showing Oscar Grant and his flaws.

[areobee401]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Cloud Atlas

I found the cast and visuals more impressive than the story itself. Solid job done by everyone playing multiple roles. The story wasn't interesting enough to warrant 3 hours. There is something for everyone though. Movie covers about every genre there is. 5.5/10