What Movies are you Watching?

[Cognitive Gear]

Double Indemnity- This is a wonderful Noir film. The story, characters, and dialogue are all spot on. Watch it.

The Bicycle Thief- Beautiful, touching film. I don't know why I was apprehensive to watching it. Somehow I had the impression that it wouldn't be good.

The Thing From Another World- Being a huge fan of the horrorfying 1980's remake, The Thing, this was a very interesting experience. A lot of it was quite cheesy, but if you can get past that there is a pretty solid movie, even if it is propaganda. It was quite interesting to see a lot of the fiction tropes used today in their early forms.

Kiss Me, Kate- I like musicals. I did not like this one.

[Atria35]

Because of all the talk about it, LoTR: Fellowship, extended version. I love this soundtrack. Oh, man, I also love this movie. A bit slow, but EPIC.

[Cognitive Gear]

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner- Wow. This movie will be added to my collection as soon as it is possible. I absolutely loved it.

Rear Window- I love this movie. The amount of excitement that can occur within such a small space is astounding.

Breathless- This was a very interesting take on Noir. I get the feeling that it wouldn't strike most people as such immediately, but all of the tropes are there. I'm not sure what else to say, it wasn't a favorite, but it was quite good.

[wildpurplechild]

Pirates: On stanger tides.
It was stranger. I liked it, but I feel that there was possibly too many things were unexplained, or you just had to say "oh it's just magic," and move on. In the first movie they turn skeletal because they are cursed, but in this one[SPOILER] Black Beards power is unexplained, as well as his 'zombie' crew. Also is there going to be another one after this?[/SPOILER] I did enjoy the movie though, and Jack is still funny even after the 4th movie in the pirates saga.

[Htom Sirveaux]

My girlfriend and I are watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy. First movie down, two to go (probably within the coming week).

Also is there going to be another one after this?

Honestly I hope not. I didn't even think Stranger Tides was necessary at all.

[FllMtl Novelist]

Watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 1 last night. (Really long title. XD) I was surprised at how... disjointed it felt. And slow. I could get into why I think it's slow, but I doubt anyone wants to read that. XD I hope the last movie is better.

[mkalv]

This morning, I saw Green Lantern. It was actually enjoyable, just not as good as Thor or First Class.

[FllMtl Novelist]

Battle: Los Angeles--A really intense and enjoyable movie. It seemed to never slow down with bad emotional scenes. (While there were emotional scenes, they weren't dragged out to the point of being annoying.) I liked it, but I'm not in a hurry to watch it again.

The Warrior's Way--So bizarre... And bad, but in a funny way. XD I was startled, though, by the two almost-rape scenes that weren't even hinted at in the rating (if they had, we probably wouldn't have watched the movie). That was annoying. >_<;

[Edward]

I just watched Inception. It was a very entertaining movie, and I hope to buy my own copy sometime, but certainly was not as 'intellectual' as some people seem to think it is. It wasn't even all that complicated of a plot, to me. I was actually more confused by bits of dialouge that I couldn't hear clearly than the plot itself. XD

I also might see X Men: First Class tommorow or sometime soon, so I will update this post once I see it.

[MomentOfInertia]

Watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 1 last night. (Really long title. XD) I was surprised at how... disjointed it felt. And slow. I could get into why I think it's slow, but I doubt anyone wants to read that. XD I hope the last movie is better.

Long slow dialog sequences interrupted by brief confusing action scenes. some plot elements were not very well explained I thought, and I have no idea where that bit with them dancing happily to the radio then being all emo as soon as the song ends. at least the picked a good spot to break the story off.

Battle: Los Angeles--A really intense and enjoyable movie. It seemed to never slow down with bad emotional scenes. (While there were emotional scenes, they weren't dragged out to the point of being annoying.) I liked it, but I'm not in a hurry to watch it again.

A very good action movie, excellent effects.
[quote]The Warrior's Way--So bizarre... And bad, but in a funny way. XD I was startled, though, by the two almost-rape scenes that weren't even hinted at in the rating (if they had, we probably wouldn't have watched the movie). That was annoying. >_<]
Exactly.

[Nate]

Went and saw Cars 2 tonight. I thought it was a pretty solid movie. I wouldn't put it near the top of Pixar's best films or anything, but I can't for the life of me figure out why the movie is being so universally reviled. Maybe people just hate Larry the Cable Guy or something? I mean I think he's annoying too but it really doesn't affect the movie much.

But yeah, it was extremely competent, fairly exciting...it was entertaining. Plus it had Michael Caine as a spy car, that's awesome. The only sad thing was hearing Fillmore, the VW bug speak (had to look up his name). He was voiced by George Carlin in the original, who is of course dead now, and while the voice still sounds decent, I couldn't help but remember Carlin and it took me out of the moment a bit.

[SincerelyAnomymous]

Went and saw Cars 2 tonight. I thought it was a pretty solid movie. I wouldn't put it near the top of Pixar's best films or anything, but I can't for the life of me figure out why the movie is being so universally reviled. Maybe people just hate Larry the Cable Guy or something? I mean I think he's annoying too but it really doesn't affect the movie much.

But yeah, it was extremely competent, fairly exciting...it was entertaining. Plus it had Michael Caine as a spy car, that's awesome. The only sad thing was hearing Fillmore, the VW bug speak (had to look up his name). He was voiced by George Carlin in the original, who is of course dead now, and while the voice still sounds decent, I couldn't help but remember Carlin and it took me out of the moment a bit.

I didn't like how Shrek4 got slam-dunked either. The humor wasn't the best, but the story was one of the best in the franchise.

I hear the main critique is because of the story. The first Cars is a lot deeper.

I've just seen On Stranger Tides and Madea's Family reunion. Both were good, both were funny and both had the deep story they needed to have.

[Nate]

The first Cars may be deeper, but deep is not a synonym for "good" so that doesn't make sense that it would be slammed for just that. Besides, who says every movie needs to be deep anyway? It's just bizarre that people are slamming on it just because it's so vastly different from their other films.

I mean I can recognize and appreciate awful and dumb films. I love Kung Pow, but it's not a good movie. The Room is a wonderfully horrible film that is so much fun to watch because it is so terrible. So it's not like "I enjoyed this but recognize it is actually bad." I honestly don't understand why people are slamming this film. I guess every movie has to be pretentious and condescending to be a good movie according to critics.

[SincerelyAnomymous]

The first Cars may be deeper, but deep is not a synonym for "good" so that doesn't make sense that it would be slammed for just that. Besides, who says every movie needs to be deep anyway? It's just bizarre that people are slamming on it just because it's so vastly different from their other films.

I mean I can recognize and appreciate awful and dumb films. I love Kung Pow, but it's not a good movie. The Room is a wonderfully horrible film that is so much fun to watch because it is so terrible. So it's not like "I enjoyed this but recognize it is actually bad." I honestly don't understand why people are slamming this film. I guess every movie has to be pretentious and condescending to be a good movie according to critics.

I'm sorry, deeper is not what I meant.

The story needs to at least be something that's good. The story is just about Mater being mistreated and Lightning eventually deciding to "stick by him no matter what". Compared to most Disney films, it's not really that good.

Though I do like the comedy and action scenes I see

[Radical Dreamer]

The first Cars may be deeper, but deep is not a synonym for "good" so that doesn't make sense that it would be slammed for just that. Besides, who says every movie needs to be deep anyway? It's just bizarre that people are slamming on it just because it's so vastly different from their other films.

I mean I can recognize and appreciate awful and dumb films. I love Kung Pow, but it's not a good movie. The Room is a wonderfully horrible film that is so much fun to watch because it is so terrible. So it's not like "I enjoyed this but recognize it is actually bad." I honestly don't understand why people are slamming this film. I guess every movie has to be pretentious and condescending to be a good movie according to critics.

From some of the reviews I've read, it seems the critics aren't so much saying that Cars 2 is a bad movie as they are saying it's a well-done action movie that doesn't strive to be much more than that. The thing about Pixar is that they have, time and again, exceeded everyone's expectations for what an animated movie should be. So the standard for every movie Pixar puts out is really high, just because they have a really fabulous track record. The fact that they released Cars 2 as nothing but an action/comedy film doesn't mean it's a bad movie, it just means that people have come to have really high standards from Pixar, and when it's "just" an action/comedy, it's good, but everyone knows Pixar can do and has done better. Then again, I haven't read all of the reviews, so I could be missing something. Either way, I think saying a movie has to be pretentious or condescending for critics to like it is going too far. Nothing about Pixar's previous films is pretentious or condescending]Patch Adams[/i] the other day. I liked the messages it sent, and it had a few good scenes, but on the whole I think it was a poorly done movie (or at least mediocre). A lot of the acting was pretty flat, and even the messages I liked were too straight-forward and a bit too heavy-handed to be taken seriously. XD

Also, I watched Source Code, which was a pretty good sci-fi movie! While I liked Moon better, this was definitely one worth watching. I recommend it!

[Riggidig]

Just came back from seeing Kung Fu Panda 2 (2D version) in the cinema. Very entertaining film (obvious setup for a third film at the end though).

[Scarecrow]

Well the other day I saw Tangled. It was really good for a Disney CG film. I wasn't completely blown away by it but I did like that it reminded me of the Little Mermaid - Lion King Disney era. Which is a good thing. And I loved the animation. I'm not usually a fan of the CG kid movies... there's usually something missing that they just don't match traditional animated films. But this seemed to get it. The facial expressions, the weight of the characters and their clothing (most CG animated movies, their cloths bend all awkward but this looked really good).

Anyway it was pretty decent and it does give me hope for Disney's next animated endeavor as there were some things they didn't quite get right here. One was the songs. It was like... they tried to sing but never really did. Needed some good songs or don't bother. Don't go halfway and make half songs The other thing I didn't like is it started out very annoying. Like a Dreamworks animated film. You know the annoying humor that is supposed to make the little 5 year olds laugh. They dropped this quick but I was worried when the movie first opened. I can not stand Dreamworks films or anything that is geared towards little kids usually because they have that... well just watch the movie cause it's hard to explain. But when the thief guy is kind of narrating at the beginning. I thought it would have been so much better if they just got a real narrator like in Beauty and the Beast opening, and cut the stupid lame humor. But yeah I'm looking forward to see where disney goes next.

Yesterday went and saw The Green Lantern. Meh, just like any other superhero movie. I thought it was going to be better judging by the second trailer and I thought it was going to be more of a space epic kind of thing and it wasn't. It was mostly on earth and it was just another dumb superhero flick. The only thing I really liked was the part where she figures out it's him and asks "You think I wouldn't recognize you just because you're wearing a mask and I can't see your cheek bones?" That was a relief. I thought they were going to play it stupid and she wouldn't know who he was even though it was obvious. But anyway, yeah I never care to see another super hero movie as long as I live. I thought this one was going to break the mold a bit but nope...

[ich1990]

Recently I have seen Secondhand Lions, Hellboy, True Grit, and others I can't remember at the moment.

I just watched Inception. It was a very entertainting movie, and I hope to buy my own copy sometime, but certainly was not as 'intellectual' as some people seem to think it is. It wasn't even all that complicated of a plot, to me. I was actually more confused by bits of dialouge that I couldn't hear clearly than the plot itself. XD.

That is because you aren't looking closely enough. The movie actually has more "layers" than are shown in the standard storyline. If you want a hint, pay attention to the top at the start of the movie.

[Edward]

That is because you aren't looking closely enough. The movie actually has more "layers" than are shown in the standard storyline. If you want a hint, pay attention to the top at the start of the movie.

I suppose I could watch it again, considering that we can't send it back to Netflix until tommorow. I'll be sure to look for deeper meaning, thanks.

[KhakiBlueSocks]

I just finished "Battle Los Angeles"...

Yeah...umm...

I would've done better giving the $1 I spent at the RedBox to the little kid in the library who knew all the national flags. THAT was more interesting than this movie. It was like watching "Independence Day" gone tragically wrong.

[ich1990]

I suppose I could watch it again, considering that we can't send it back to Netflix until tommorow. I'll be sure to look for deeper meaning, thanks.

No problem. Inception is a great movie not because it is a great movie, but because it is a logic puzzle inside of a great movie. The sad part is not many people notice the logic puzzle, which is the true genius of the story. A second hint, if the first isn't enough:

[spoiler]Cobb's kids don't age or change clothes throughout the movie, despite a significant amount of time supposedly passing.[/spoiler]

[bigsleepj]

I recently watched Waltz with Bashir, a complex, layered documentary made in the form of an animated film. Despite dealing with an event I know nothing about (Sabra and Shatila massacre) in a war I didn't know had happened (the Isreali-Lebanon-PLO conflict of the early 80s) the movie fascinated me despite graphic violence and nudity (don't ask). The movie does not pepper the viewer with facts or attempts to explain the conflict, but is just people talking about an ugly, confusing conflict that ended with a brutal massacre. Not everyone's cup of tea, but if you're up to it then the movie can be quite devastating.

Just to reititerate, this movie really for 'adults only'.

[Cognitive Gear]

The Graduate- This is truly a great coming of age tale. It was even better on this second viewing.

Jaws- A mass-appeal blockbuster that's also a good movie? I wish that there were more of these.

Vincent This is a short animation done by none other than Tim Burton. It was... Burtony. Yet again, I find that his earlier work is better than his later.

Blood Simple- The first Coen Bros. movie is also one of their best. It's quite interesting to see how this movie is sort of a Neo-Noir film.

[Htom Sirveaux]

Yesterday was movie night with the girlie. We saw Super 8. A decent alien monster rampage-type movie by J.J. Abrams, the director of Cloverfield.

[the_wolfs_howl]

I saw Prayers for Bobby, which is about how a boy's family reacts when he tells them he's gay. This is something I can tell I'm going to be wrestling with for a long time, especially since the Christians in the movie were either portrayed as overbearing, bigoted Bible-thumpers or just...weak and had nothing to say. Because of my personal struggles with virtually every aspect of this movie, I can't really say whether I liked or disliked it, nor can I recommend anyone watch or not watch it. At least I can say that Sigourney Weaver is an excellent actress, as usual.

I also saw Gifted Hands, which is a much easier true story to take. It's about Ben Carson, the first surgeon to successfully separate Siamese twins (and keep both twins alive). It was very inspirational, and the way they treated Ben's faith was like a breath of fresh air after Prayers for Bobby. I was afraid they weren't even going to mention it.

...But I think I'm ready to watch some fiction now ._.

[bigsleepj]

Blood Simple- The first Coen Bros. movie is also one of their best. It's quite interesting to see how this movie is sort of a Neo-Noir film.

I loved that movie. I thought it was rather clever, and was a good debut for the Coens.

[ShiroiHikari]

Saw Transformers 3. It had most of the same problems that the other movies in the series did, just with fewer attempts at "humor".

[Scarecrow]

Sucker Punch... it wasn't that bad... I really didn't get the beef with this movie at all. People said it didn't make much sense but I really didn't think it was that complicated. And it was really entertaining. I will admit there were some things I would have done differently. And I thought there were ideas that I thought would have made good fantasy movies on their own if you built a whole story for it (each of Baby Dolls "dances" for instances... each time I was like, why didn't they just take this idea and make a movie out it? I would have liked to see a whole movie about robot zombies and stylized war with giant mechas).

Maybe I was expecting it to be so bad after all I heard about it that I actually liked it more than I would have if I didn't hear anything bad about it. But I don't know it was a fun action flick. I think Zac Snyder needs to get paired with an imaginative writer like Neil Gaimen or something... Zac is like half of the yin/yang. He's got the visuals down, he's just not the best writer. He needs something well written that is also insanely imaginative so he can go crazy with the visuals.

[Edward]

The Matrix-It wasn't as good as I was expecting it to be, but still a good movie 4/5

Chocolate aka Fury-A fun martial arts film about an autistic girl named Zen who has an acute sense of hearing and the ability to learn martial arts just by watching people fight. Her friend Moom finds a book with a list of all the people who owe her mother money. After that, Zen goes around beating up all the bad guys who owe her mother money and taking it to pay for her mother's chemotherapy, and eventually confronts the main bad guy. And the fact that the dialogue was all in either Thai or Japanese, with some Engrish, made me enjoy it even more. 5/5

[Radical Dreamer]

Saw The Tree of Life this afternoon! A beautiful film packed with symbolism and metaphor, and one that I will be thinking about for a long time. XD I'd love to see it again. XD