What Movies are you Watching?

[SierraLea]

I got my little sisters to watch Origin: Spirits of the Past Friday night, and they liked it. Plus, it was clean, so Mom couldn't bite my head off.

[SilverToast]

I watched Naho Libre. The comedy just gets to me! hahaha

[Crossfire]

Just watched a unique Second World War drama titled "My Way". I must say, I was really taken aback by the production quality. Sure, there a few scenes that are utterly unbelievable (the same can be said about the story, although it is based on real events) as well as several historical inaccuracies... but man oh man, was it interesting to watch the protagonists jump-ship to three different armies. If you like shows in the style of Band of Brothers, I'd definitely check this out.

[the_wolfs_howl]

Watched Men in Black 3 on a whim the other day, and found it surprisingly enjoyable! I'd only sort of liked the first two movies, so I was surprised at how much I loved this one. Definitely the best of the three. It was hilarious; so many great one-liners, and I can't believe what they got Emma Thompson to do I also really really loved the whole father-son theme running through the story; it was a great way to further the relationship between J and K.

I also showed Brother Bear to my roommates, who now know why it's my favorite Disney movie ever <3

[bigsleepj]

Watched Jacques Tati's Mon Oncle again after buying it on Blu-Ray. Still a great movie, but I prefer his other movies above it. The (UK) Blu Ray contains an alternate cut of the movie shot in English simultaneously with the French production, which should be interesting to watch.

I also watched Lincoln today. It was a pretty good movie, well made but I feel it does not have that certain something that makes it an all-time classic. Still well made, though.

[SierraLea]

I saw Paranorman over the weekend. A mediocre movie in every way, highly reliant of stereotypical characters. Absolute waste of time.

[Vii]

^ Funny, I thought it was really good. It could be that I was expecting the movie to be boring, though, and thus it pleasantly surprised me.

I watched Ice Age: Continental Drift last night. Nyeh. The plot was visible a mile away. It was kinda fun, I guess, but they really need to stop making these.

[Neane]

Waterloo (1970)

Goodness heavens, this has to be one of the most excessive films I've ever seen. It's the sort of movie that makes even a plebeian like me appreciate how serious business filming epics like this must have been in the pre-digital era when you couldn't just use a clone brush and turn 100 extras into an army of ten thousand. If you wanted lots and lots of extras for cheap, you hired the Red Army instead.

The film as a whole is nothing particularly memorable. Apparently only Soviet audiences got to see the complete four-hour version with politics and things like that. We decadent westerners only got a two-hour cliff notes version, which is basically just an excuse to have huge money-shot scenes with horses and cannons. Oh yes, and a short scene where von Müffling looks like Goldmember from Austin Powers 3.

[bigsleepj]

Waterloo (1970)

Goodness heavens, this has to be one of the most excessive films I've ever seen. It's the sort of movie that makes even a plebeian like me appreciate how serious business filming epics like this must have been in the pre-digital era when you couldn't just use a clone brush and turn 100 extras into an army of ten thousand. If you wanted lots and lots of extras for cheap, you hired the Red Army instead.

The film as a whole is nothing particularly memorable. Apparently only Soviet audiences got to see the complete four-hour version with politics and things like that. We decadent westerners only got a two-hour cliff notes version, which is basically just an excuse to have huge money-shot scenes with horses and cannons. Oh yes, and a short scene where von Müffling looks like Goldmember from Austin Powers 3.

I've heard that Waterloo is excessive, and that most people suggest the same director's 6-8 hour film version of War and Peace is better. And less excessive.

[the_wolfs_howl]

The Joy Luck Club - This is a family-drama sort of movie, about four Chinese mothers and their daughters. The really interesting thing was how the daughters ended up remarkably like the mothers in a lot of ways. It was a great story of strife and frustration, but ultimately reconciliation.

[Atria35]

The Joy Luck Club - This is a family-drama sort of movie, about four Chinese mothers and their daughters. The really interesting thing was how the daughters ended up remarkably like the mothers in a lot of ways. It was a great story of strife and frustration, but ultimately reconciliation.

One of the few times I prefer the movie to the book, except the book also has some fantastic (really fantastic) background on why it's called the Joy Luck Club and the stories about the girls.

[Neane]

Ofelas [Saami] Veiviseren [Norwegian]
The Pathfinder [English]
Norway, 1987



One of the best movies to come out of Norway, and not even "fully" Norwegian - as it is a movie made entirely by Saami peoples. It describes a classic good vs evil tale, a david vs goliath scenario, set around 1000AD of Finnmark, Norway.
Here a group of wandering, marauding Chudes (The villains in the movie are called "chudes", a finno ugric tribe based in Estonia, but when they speak they do sound unmistakably nordic, so it could be that "chude" in saami refers to any kind of foreign invader. This part has actually confused me since I first saw it. ) are approaching a tribe of peaceful Saami people, who are inexperienced with violence, and must suddenly scramble to escape.

The film was shot in Finnmark, in inhuman temperatures, many stuntmen abandoned their post, and had to be replaced.
Dialogue is sparse, and doesn't go around revealing the characters thoughts, instead allowing you to just take in what is happening.
The acting is great, and the story progression is humble but exciting.



WARNING: There is an American remake, which is about vikings instead of saami. AVOID THE AMERICAN REMAKE AT ALL COSTS!

[AndrewinIce]

I just watched 'Shuffle'. A no-doubt low budget film. It was Awesome! The acting was great, the dialogue was good, and it had a very intriguing story.
A side note, I found this movies handle of religion to be great. It showed the main character praying twice, and treated it respectfully both times, yet the prayer, his spiritual state, or religion as whole was not the point of the movie. The movie was great, and the end was tear-jerking and amazingly good!
It is on Netflix Instent Watch, so if you have it you can watch it for free.

[SierraLea]

I watched about half of Hotel Transylvania over the weekend, and it's killing me because I had to return it before I finished it!

[the_wolfs_howl]

Re-watched The Last Samurai. Love this movie so much! ^_^ So heroic and tragic.... It's a classic for me, because it was what originally sparked my interest in Japanese culture and language, before I even discovered the existence of anime.

I also watched 3:10 to Yuma, which was quite an exciting, engaging Western movie. I'll watch just about anything for Christian Bale

EDIT BECAUSE APPARENTLY NO ONE'S WATCHED ANY MOVIES THIS PAST WEEK:
Zombieland - I wasn't sure what to expect, because I find zombies terrifying and don't really understand the appeal, but it was so hilarious it counteracted the terror quite well. I loved the interactions between the characters, and of course Tallahassee was my favorite ^_^ I loved the trust and almost-family dynamics they built up between them.

[SilverToast]

I watched Shaolin Soccor on Hulu. It is so hilarious! If they ever make a dbz live action movie again they should do the effects with Freddie Wong.

[the_wolfs_howl]

Reincarnation - I think this is what it was called. It was a Japanese horror movie about a horror movie being filmed about a murder in a hotel, but all of the cast are actually reincarnations of the people who were involved. Most of it was just a bit creepy and interesting to think about, but some of the stuff at the end was downright terrifying.

Wreck-It Ralph - ^_^ Loved this movie. It was everything a geek like me could have asked for. There were all sorts of fun references to classic video games, and I loved the way some of the characters were animated to look like they were moving in the choppy way old games do. This movie also reached out and touched my heart, making me tear up towards the end. Pure Disney gold.

[SierraLea]

Star Wars 4,5, and 6. I loved a lot of the stories, but I don't like Luke's actor as much as I remember, and I totally wish we could take some of the effects from this movie generation and add them in, especially when Luke gets his hand cut off. He's totally holding the sleeve closed from the inside!

[Crossfire]

And here I am (as with many, many, other people) thinking that added CGI to the original trilogy would be a bad idea. Heck, it was a bad idea- I guess you didn't see the fan uproar when the blurays were released.


But enough ranting. I recently re-watched the 1986 Transformers movie. I think the dialog was the best part of the movie, most of it being "so cheesy that it's good".

"I've got better things to do tonight than die!"

"Did we have to let them detonate three-quarters of the ship?"

"Seeing as how they would have detonated four-quarters, I think it was a good choice."

"Ultra Magnus, a cursory evaluation of Decepticon capability indicates a distinct tactical deficiency!

"In other words, Perceptor...?"

"We're outnumbered!"

[the_wolfs_howl]

The Hobbit (the old animated one) - Wanted to show this to some friends, and we had a blast ripping it to shreds Such a bad adaptation XD

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events - Ahhh, I'd forgotten how much I enjoy this movie. I don't care that they've never adapted the entire series. This captures the core of the books, and that's what's important. (I watched with my Goth roommate, who was over the moon about the aesthetic )

[ClaecElric4God]

Just watched Rise of the Guardians. If you don't love and respect the Easter Bunny, you have issues. Jack Frost was cool, too.
Also watched Hotel Transylvania. Meh. Dracula saved the movie. I wasn't crazy about any of the other characters or the movie in general.
And The Hobbit. I...guess it's great? I wouldn't know. I was trying to make potato salad at the same time, so I only half saw it. Great graphics and all the important stuff. I have to say when I first saw young Bilbo I was ecstatic because I thought it was Pippin. I was like "What?! This is about Pippin? Yes!!"

[Crossfire]

And The Hobbit.

I was like "What?! This is about Pippin? Yes!!"

The Tolkien fan inside me is screaming for bloody murder.

[SierraLea]

I also saw the Hobbit, and can't stand the parts with Golemn. Could he get any creepier?

[Panda4christ:3]

^My friend freaked out at that too ^^

Re-watching Les Mis on dvd. Glad i saw this in theatre :>

[Atria35]

Pirates of Penzance. This is flipping hilarious!

[the_wolfs_howl]

I also saw the Hobbit, and can't stand the parts with Golemn. Could he get any creepier?

Sadface! That's my favorite part!

Anyway, I got to see Wreck-It Ralph in the dollar theater, and it was great to watch it again; I caught a lot more references and jokes this time through, since I wasn't paying as much attention to the story.

[SierraLea]

No movie is harder to watch than the Passion. And I just finished it.

[SierraLea]

Saw Rise of the Guardians yesterday, and really liked Jack. He's a very believable character. I love it when the bunny goes tiny! That is so cute!

I also finally got to finish Hotel Transylvania, and it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I do love the moments when Drak goes red and crazy.

[the_wolfs_howl]

Ringu 2 - Actually creepier than the first one

The Fall - Still one of my absolute favorites <3

[AndrewinIce]

I've been sick, so I've actually been able to watch some over the last few days.

The Grey-...A waste of time except for a well done dramatic end.
Evidence of Blood- Very good. Mystery thriller done very well.
The next Three Days- Pretty good. Not great.
The Dark Knight Rises- Amazing! Not going into detail, as it would simply take too long.