What movies have you seen recently?

[Cabke]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I just got back from an early screening of Lawless. I absolutely loved it. Tom Hardy was excellent, and Shia LaBouef was really, really good. I honestly couldn't say enough good things about it.

[thaima1shu]

I just got back from an early screening of Lawless. I absolutely loved it. Tom Hardy was excellent, and Shia LaBouef was really, really good. I honestly couldn't say enough good things about it.

Nice, I'm pretty excited for that movie. Definitely looking forward to it now

[Cabke]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Nice, I'm pretty excited for that movie. Definitely looking forward to it now

The story was great too. Gary Oldman was fantastic as usual, and Guy Pierce was about as good as I can remember him. I honestly couldn't tell you a damn thing wrong with the movie other than the audience I was surrounded by.

[goh]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Full Metal Jacket
The Blu-ray set looked spiffy so I bought it,not being sure if I've ever seen the movie but you can't really go wrong with Kubrick,far as I know anyway. I technically hadn't seen it but knew pretty much every line/story in it up until the end. This must be one of the most parodied/paid homage to movies ever. Thought it was pretty good overall and was shocked to find out Lee Ermey wasn't even nominated for an Oscar. Then was equally suprised to find out he was nominated for the Golden Globe but didn't win...until I found out who did win at least.

[Lieutenant Dan]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Full Metal Jacket
The Blu-ray set looked spiffy so I bought it,not being sure if I've ever seen the movie but you can't really go wrong with Kubrick,far as I know anyway.

Eyes

Wide

Shut

[Baseballking888]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Tower Heist-It was pretty good. Probably Eddie Murphy's best performance in years.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Dawn of the Dead (2004) - each scene was pretty predictable even without logic to be found within two countries. Still, rather enjoyable if not for the laughs alone. Its well done and gets the action started from the get go. A very slick production that only asks the audience to "just go with it" in relation of dramatic and story development. In no way does it replace the original, but certainly something warranted for ****s and giggles.

[dickey1331]

Marley and Me. It was really good. A lot better than I expected.


Do you really care where I sent this from?

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Goon. Actually pretty good. I thought it would be just over the top juvenile comedy, but there was actually a story to tell.

Expendables 2. Didn't think it would be possible to blow up more $%W@ than the first one, but this does EASILY. Action movie fan's wet dream.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

The Raid....saw it on Zune and was like hmm I don't remember this, let me watch it. Awesome movie. That little short guy was some thing else. Him fighting both brothers at the same time near the end was awesome.

[SPTO]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

As promised i've started on my project of watching the Matt Helm movies from the '60s starring Dean Martin:


The Silencers (1966)


Plot:

In this, the first Matt Helm movie, we see Matt Helm coaxed out of semi-retirement by an attractive ex-partner. It seems that the evil Big O organization has a nefarious plan called "Operation: Fallout." If this plan comes to fruition, Big O will explode an atomic bomb over Alamogordo, NM, and start WWIII. Only Matt Helm can stop them

The 1960s saw a craze for the super-spy genre led by the hugely popular James Bond films. Hollywood saw fit to respond to the Bond films by going the parody route rather than doing a straight ahead semi-serious alternative to Bond. (Actually that's overstating it a tiny bit as the Man from U.N.C.L.E. TV series and movie were somewhat more "serious") One of the more successful parodies of the Bond formula were the Matt Helm movies starring Dean Martin. The Matt Helm character was very loosely based on the hard boiled, often violent lead character of a series of books by Donald Hamilton. (which I hear are quite good. I'll have to find one of these novels one day) They totally mothballed the more violent aspects of the character and put him in a spy motif with a very laid back loungey Dean Martin style.

The movie was pretty cheesy and the first half hour of it was excruciating to go through but once you get past that the movie is somewhat decent in a kitschy '60s way. You know you were in for cheese with the stripping dancers during the opening credits and Cyd Charisse dancing around singing the theme song (but man did she look hot! Especially in the club scene in the movie proper. It's hard to believe she was 45 at the time.) then we get a very tedious set up to the plot and we first see Dino laying in a fancy bed with him singing a song in voiceover while dreaming of pretty women.

Once you get past that muckety muck the movie picks up a bit but here's where the truly lurid/cheesy thing comes in. If the Bond formula was "kiss kiss, bang bang" than the formula for this was 3/4ths kiss kiss, 1/4th bang. We often see Martin in compromising sexual positions and it's an excuse to see women almost totally nude. The setups often seem made for softcore porn once you think about it a bit. There are a couple saving graces to the film one of which is Dean Martin who was as cool as ever and despite the material he did have some gravitas. The other saving grace was Stella Stevens who played a klutzy ditz who was involved in the whole scheme of the Big O organization's plot though she herself wasn't a bad person per se. They really played up the klutzy, stupid girl aspect to her character to good comedic effect except for one scene where she's flailing around in the mud during a rainstorm.

The movie was pretty much by the book when it came to these things though the gadgets weren't all that great with a gun that reverse fires and jacket buttons that are hand grenades. I'm hoping the gadgets get ramped up in the other movies. There was one genuinely funny moment when Stevens' character puts on the radio and Sinatra's "come fly with me" is playing and Dino tells her to change it and we hear "Everybody needs somebody" to which he said "That guy can sure sing!" LOL.

So the movie was out there in terms of how they moved the plot around but it wasn't a complete farce like the two Derek Flint movies of the same time period. It tried to be somewhat in between crazy lampoonery and an alternative to Bond though i'm guessing the kitsch factor will be raised in the next 3 movies.

Oh and if you ever happen to see this check out the end credits where you see Dean laying on his bed with a bunch of women and he's kissing them then he buries his face in his hands and lets out a cry of "oh my God" as if he's saying "WTF am I doing in this tripe!"

2 out of 4 stars for the curiosity factor and the beautiful Ms. Stevens and Charisse.



NOTE: Before I get to the next Matt Helm flick i'll be watching an interesting 1973 telefilm version of the classic Double Indemnity. This TV production stars Richard Crenna and Lee J. Cobb and scripted by a young Stephen Boccho.

[sven]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Watched an enjoyed The Avengers last night.

[Baseballking888]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Real Steel: Aside from Hugh Jackman, Dakota Goyo, and a decent score from Danny Elfman, this film was a piece of scrap metal. (No pun intended).

[Cutter15]

Watched Premium Rush Friday night. It was infinitely better than expected. JGL can do no wrong in my book.

[daflyboys]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

The 3rd Underworld. So I have a question.

Spoiler

The chick was the other chick's sister (Selene?)? Where was she in this, even if played by a younger actress?

Decent enough. Victor was pretty notorious. The sword weapon in the opener. I'd take one.