What movies have you seen recently?

[Cabke]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Holy God. Do you like anything? Oh wait, Kung Fu Panda...

[marshallfever]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Final Destination 5, worst out of the bunch. Truly a horrific film. The acting was terrible, the special effects were just as bad and the deaths were laughable. The only cool thing is the way they tied it to the other movies.

5.3

[daflyboys]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Man On Fire. Denzel's best imo.

[SPTO]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Land Raiders (1969)

This is a bit of an unknown and in some ways unique western. I never thought i'd see a western starring Telly Savalas of all people! Unfortunately for me I just never cottoned onto the film. The flashbacks and the somewhat tepid pace kept me at arm's length. Nonetheless it was pretty unique which i'll get into after the plot summary:

Ruthless Vince Carden (Savalas) dominates the Arizona-territory town of Forge River and buys the scalps of murdered Indians. He has driven his brother Paul (George Maharis) from his home, and this leads to the total disillusionment of his wife Martha. (Arlene Dahl) Haunted by the mysterious death of a girl he had loved, Paul ends his wandering and joins a wagon train heading for Forge River; with the train is Kate Mayfield, (Janet Landgard) who is returning home after years of school in the East. Paul and Kate are the sole survivors when Apaches attack the train, in reprisal for a slaughter staged by Vince's men. Vince uses the Indian attack on the train as an excuse to lead the raid on a defenseless Apache village, which sparks a massive assault on Forge River.

So what is it that makes this unique? Well it's the simple fact that this was a '50s style western with '60s sensibilities. In fact, the look and feel of this movie was so rooted in the '50s style that if it wasn't for a brief scene of nudity I'd swear it came from that decade. This isn't all that surprising as the movie was directed by Nathan Juran who is probably best remembered today for directing seminal drive-in sci fi classics but he also directed a couple Audie Murphy westerns. At the same time this was a very '60s movie by the end of it with the Apache's finally getting their revenge after being slaughtered and being treated like trash throughout.

Despite the fact that I didn't really like this I will say that Savalas was his usual charming self. The guy wasn't exactly the greatest actor in the world but he had charisma oozing from his pores so the setting and his charm kept me invested in the movie.

(2 out of 4 stars)



Widow from Chicago (1930)

This is an early film starring Edward G. Robinson. He didn't get top billing in this but he was key to the movie's story and was the heavy. This was a vehicle for Alice White who is forgotten today. Here's the summary:

Vice lord Dominic (Robinson) has brought Swifty Dorgan (Neil Hamilton) east to do a job for him. When Swifty appears to have died falling from a train, detective Henderson impersonates him hoping to get into the mob. When he's killed his sister Polly (White) poses as Swifty's widow and gets a singing job at Dominic's nightclub. Then the real Swifty shows up.

BTW yes, that's THE Neil Hamilton that played Commissioner Gordon in the '60s Batman TV show.

Anyways this is a really good movie especially for the era it was made in. You'd think Polly would be up the creek when the real Swifty shows up but that's just when the movie starts to get interesting. I won't go into all the details of what happens but needless to say she gets the real Swifty to play along with her as husband and wife. There's a couple plot twists here and there that lead to the conclusion of the movie and it's all quite unpredictable.

White does a fairly good job in her role. There's a sauciness to her portrayal of Polly that screams "sass" but at the same time there's a fragile and vulnerable quality to her which works to her advantage in scenes where she has to be emotional. This movie was before Edward G. Robinson really hit it big but even before Little Caesar Eddie G. had a huge presence on the screen. As for Neil Hamilton....He was merely serviceable.

The movie does show it's age especially in the beginning where the acting is VERY theatrical but it does settle into a good rhythm and the fact that this was a pre-code film there's more leeway for unpredictability and for interesting situations.

A bit of a novelty compared to most movies today but fairly good IMO

(3 out of 4 stars)


Next two movies (tentatively) The Devil with Hitler (a short film) and Godzilla Raids Again (the Japanese cut)

[gopadres]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Kung Fu Panda 2

Loved it. Some neat fights and thought it was funnier than the original. The ending battle also better. However didn't find the core story to be as good. Also a very good blu-ray but that was expected.

I really enjoyed this as well...better than the first. Rented it, but will own it on bluray.

[SidVish]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

The Debt was solid entertainment. If you like spy thrillers I would recommend it.

[Leon]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Fast Five - Finally got around to checking this out since it had surprisingly good reviews for a "Fast and the Furious" movie. Definitely the best movie in the franchise and I liked that it's not car porn anymore and has moved into heist territory. The final car-chase, while pretty unbelievable, was very enjoyable and plain cool to watch.

Book of Eli - How can you go wrong with "My Man..." (Denzel)? The first thing that struck me was the color tone of the movie, very striking and fits the post-apocalyptic world the movie is set in. Seeing Denzel as a badass bible preaching mother****er with that sword and how visceral the shots were was a joy. While the story wasn't groundbreaking, its use of the bible as a weapon (not literally) sets it apart from your run-of-the-mill action flick. Plus, Mila Kunis.

[Buckeyes_Doc]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

The Debt was solid entertainment. If you like spy thrillers I would recommend it.

I would also recommend it. I watched it this week and enjoyed it.

Other movies I watched recently:

The Sitter- Good comedy. Jonah Hill is hilarious as usual.

Bridesmaids- I found it very funny. I'm not sure why I heard so many negative reviews.

[Buckeyes_Doc]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Our Idiot Brother - Really likable movie. It's not a laugh out loud comedy, but it has a good story and characters. Paul Rudd is excellent in his role.

[savoie2006]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Super 8...I enjoyed it, but it wasn't GREAT or anything.

[Luna01]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

The Adventures of Tintin, like it.

[daflyboys]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Another vote for "The Debt". It's what a movie should be.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Home Alone

Spoiler

You can't go wrong with this one. I tried watching Home Alone 2 recently and while I really enjoyed that one as a kid, I just don't see the appeal anymore. Home Alone 1 is just a fun, decently smart ride. Its funny how many *******s can be in one family.

Christmas Vacation

Spoiler

Honestly, I have really only seen this once all the way through. I've seen random scenes millions of times on tv, but when it comes to actually putting in the movie and watching it from start to finish my count is quite low. Another fun Christmas movie that is basically one hilarious scene followed by another. Not much else to say, but its a glorious thing when Cousin Eddie steals a scene.

Inception

Spoiler

I hadn't seen this since it was in the theaters where I actually saw it twice. It is amazing how much story Nolan weaves in throughout the film and how much his striking visuals compliment the story. I know much has been said that this is ultimately a con/"bank robbery" movie, but in a lot of ways I found it relating to the spy-thriller genre, especially the way Limbo is set-up and the overall role of Mol.

I will never understand the people who can't follow this film as it is pretty straight-forward. It is ambiguous in a lot of ways (the ending notwithstanding), but there's never any real confusion about the layering of the dreams.

Aside from the spy-thriller vibe, the biggest thing I picked up on was exactly how much Hitchcock Nolan tapped for this. From the wardrobe, to some of the scenes (Leo's chase scene especially), there appeared to be quite a bit of that classic Hitchcock vibe going on.

[nemesis04]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

While going to see Sherlock Holmes, I saw the trailer for "The Dictator", lol:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CgbhyjuhbX8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[DJ]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Home Alone

Spoiler

You can't go wrong with this one. I tried watching Home Alone 2 recently and while I really enjoyed that one as a kid, I just don't see the appeal anymore. Home Alone 1 is just a fun, decently smart ride. Its funny how many *******s can be in one family.

Christmas Vacation

Spoiler

Honestly, I have really only seen this once all the way through. I've seen random scenes millions of times on tv, but when it comes to actually putting in the movie and watching it from start to finish my count is quite low. Another fun Christmas movie that is basically one hilarious scene followed by another. Not much else to say, but its a glorious thing when Cousin Eddie steals a scene.

Inception

Spoiler

I hadn't seen this since it was in the theaters where I actually saw it twice. It is amazing how much story Nolan weaves in throughout the film and how much his striking visuals compliment the story. I know much has been said that this is ultimately a con/"bank robbery" movie, but in a lot of ways I found it relating to the spy-thriller genre, especially the way Limbo is set-up and the overall role of Mol.

I will never understand the people who can't follow this film as it is pretty straight-forward. It is ambiguous in a lot of ways (the ending notwithstanding), but there's never any real confusion about the layering of the dreams.

Aside from the spy-thriller vibe, the biggest thing I picked up on was exactly how much Hitchcock Nolan tapped for this. From the wardrobe, to some of the scenes (Leo's chase scene especially), there appeared to be quite a bit of that classic Hitchcock vibe going on.

So many great lines from Christmas Vacation. That and A Christmas Story are two must-watch movies this time of year for me.