Movie Review Thread

[Slug For A Butt]

Just seen The Number 23. It is the best film I have seen in some time.
Big thumbs up to Jim Carrey for a masterful portrayal of a man falling to pieces by paranoia. Nice twist in the plot, and a nasty aftertaste of something being just a little more than paranoia.

Also recently seen Outlaw. Sean Bean and friends set out to right some wrongs in society in a dark, violent manner that is becoming a trademark of British films recently. Liked it. It may not appeal to our American friends, but it is worth watching if you like gritty, believable violence instead of sanitised slaughter with big guns.

All time favourites of mine include The Sting, Dumb And Dumber, Angel Heart, Donnie Darko, The Village (remake) and Jacobs Ladder

My all time stinkers include Braveheart, Tankgirl, Psycho remake, The Magnificent Seven (inferior in every way to The Seven Samurai) and Four weddings And A Funeral.

[Fragony]

One huge recommendation for the sick puppy's under us. Or, how to make an effective horror movie without any horror. If it's anything, it's a family-drama. Absolutily fantastic acting, fantastic pace; you get the clue but it's no BAM but a hunch going to certainty.

'The Hamiltons '

A truly unique horror movie, or family drama whatever

gogo

[Spino]

Blade Runner - The Final Cut - This Saturday I took a trip to the Ziegfeld Theater to catch this wonderful film. Blade Runner is one of my top ten favorite films and the experience was made even more special by the fact that even though I caught the Director's Cut in the theater back in the early 90s this was my first time seeing it in a top notch theater and digitally projected in its 70mm glory. All I can say is wow... Seriously, just wow.

Prior to Saturday night I wasn't a believer in digitial projection systems but after Saturday night you can call me a convert. Back in the 90s I saw the restored version of Lawrence of Arabia projected in its native 70mm in a top notch theater and came away thinking it was the best looking film I had ever seen... until now. Speaking purely in terms of visuals and picture quality Blade Runner: The Final Cut is simply the best looking movie I have ever seen and a testament to Ridley Scott's extraordinary eye for framing and detail and Jordan Cronenweth's fantastic talents as a cinematographer. Technically speaking the experience was flawless; vivid colors, consistent picture quality and nary a scratch, smudge or speck of dirt to be found (or pixel for that matter). And, as you would expect from a digitally projected film, there was no trace of the famous 'cigarette burn' indicator on a single frame (the telltale dot that briefly appears in the upper right hand corner to warn the person running the projector to switch reels).

My only qualm with the film was Scott's insistence on keeping that incongruous unicorn sequence for the final cut.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The unicorn sequence is Scott's not-so-gentle way of implying that Deckard is a replicant. When taken at face value the logic behind this assertion sort of works. However when placed within the basic plot of the film and subject to the laws of the film's own fictional universe the argument falls apart miserably. Scott's heavy handed attempt at undermining the basic premise of the film smacks of hubris and seems to illustrate some contempt for the original material but that's for a another topic.

Even if you cannot stand Blade Runner or sci-fi movies in general do yourself a favor and catch this one on the big screen, you won't regret it.

[Kralizec]

The Remains of the Day
The story is followed through the eyes of the butler James Stevens (Anthony Hopkins, great performance as usual), who served an English aristocrat, Lord Darlington, throughout the thirties and fourties. Darlington was quite active in foreign politics, often receiving guests of various nationalities, trying to prevent the outbreak of another large war, what we now call appeasement. An important part of the film is the relationship between Stevens and the housekeeper, Ms. Kenton. Mrs. Kenton is probably just as proffessional as he but she doesn't hide her emotions or frustrations (such as when Darlington dismisses two housemaids because they're jewish), while Stevens always remains cold and distant.
Years later the war is over, Darlington is dead, Kenton has been gone for years and the mansion has a new owner, an American with more relaxed mannerisms. Under the pretence that the house needs more qualified staff, Stevens tries to contact Ms. Kenton again to see if she's willing to take back her old job.

Most of the story is told through flashbacks. The film really captures the atmosphere of an old English aristocratic household (or makes it feel authentic, anyway) during a time when the world is slowly sliding towards another world war. I give it a 9 out of 10.

[naut]

Turned on the TV today, and BAM!, Forest Gump was showing. It was really touching, and silly. Enjoyed it.

[Beirut]

Fantastic Four: The Silver Surfer

Gah! What a stinking pile of rotting and boring trash. Bleah! Even Jessica Alba didn't look good. The movie was boring, stupid, silly, badly written and acted, just trash from start to finish.

The Surfer guy did look cool and there were perhaps 45 seconds of neat effects, but the movie was terrible.

Did I mention it was boring, badly acted and horribly written?

One Star out of Five.

[doc_bean]

Letters from Iwo Jima

For some reason it just didn't grad me. Can't say there was anything really wrong with it, it just didn't click.

[Dutch_guy]

Turned on the TV today, and BAM!, Forest Gump was showing. It was really touching, and silly. Enjoyed it.

Love that movie, the part where he apologizes for 'ruining the Panther party' is hilarious. Also, Tom Hanks is great as Forrest.

[ajaxfetish]

I know I'm about three months behind the times, but I just recently saw it.

Transformers
Biggest problem with the movie: they couldn't decide on their target audience. Half of the movie seems designed for kids and half for adults. It's a show that I could see working well either way, but trying to do both at once didn't work. Most of the humor is directed toward a very young audience, I would say roughly 8-12. This includes especially the whole segment with the Autobots hiding from the parents in the backyard, or anything involving Sector 7. As a child, I would have been pissing myself in glee at the sheer hilarity. As an adult, I find it cheesy beyond all measure, boring, and a needless distraction from the plot. Other parts would either bore such young children or make their parents really nervous, such as the violence, the romance, and the remaining humor (e.g. the Mom's masturbation lines). Prime's moral statements and defenses of human potential again would be perfectly satisfactory for a child, but seem incredibly shallow and simplistic to me as an adult. This could have been a great kids' film. It could have been a great adult action film. It ended up being neither.

Other cons: the shallowness and inaccessibility of the main characters. There was no one I really identified with, empathized with, or worried about. Also, there was too much going on. Stories such as the lost soldiers in Qatar or the intrigues of Sector 7 or the female computer analyst could each have been the central plot of a movie. As it was, they were all side-shows which looked more promising than they were able to be in the time given them.

Pros: The action sequences were very nice, and the transformation graphics were superb. Visually the film was very rewarding. The idea of having your car choose you or come to your defense in peril is very cool (part of the appeal of the transformer concept itself). Also, it featured the A-10, albeit briefly. The heroin is easy to look at.

Ajax

[Mouzafphaerre]

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Great review there ajax! I urge you to submit it to imdb mate.

I saw part of Checking Out tonight on TV, with Peter Falk! He and Laura SanGiacomo make it a great movie single handed. Recommended!
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[sapi]

I know I'm about three months behind the times, but I just recently saw it.

Transformers
Biggest problem with the movie: they couldn't decide on their target audience. Half of the movie seems designed for kids and half for adults. It's a show that I could see working well either way, but trying to do both at once didn't work. Most of the humor is directed toward a very young audience, I would say roughly 8-12. This includes especially the whole segment with the Autobots hiding from the parents in the backyard, or anything involving Sector 7. As a child, I would have been pissing myself in glee at the sheer hilarity. As an adult, I find it cheesy beyond all measure, boring, and a needless distraction from the plot. Other parts would either bore such young children or make their parents really nervous, such as the violence, the romance, and the remaining humor (e.g. the Mom's masturbation lines). Prime's moral statements and defenses of human potential again would be perfectly satisfactory for a child, but seem incredibly shallow and simplistic to me as an adult. This could have been a great kids' film. It could have been a great adult action film. It ended up being neither.

Other cons: the shallowness and inaccessibility of the main characters. There was no one I really identified with, empathized with, or worried about. Also, there was too much going on. Stories such as the lost soldiers in Qatar or the intrigues of Sector 7 or the female computer analyst could each have been the central plot of a movie. As it was, they were all side-shows which looked more promising than they were able to be in the time given them.

Pros: The action sequences were very nice, and the transformation graphics were superb. Visually the film was very rewarding. The idea of having your car choose you or come to your defense in peril is very cool (part of the appeal of the transformer concept itself). Also, it featured the A-10, albeit briefly. The heroin is easy to look at.

Ajax

Have to agree here; the movie was an alright one if you had no expectation of there being a plot (which, as far as I can tell, there wasn't )

[Mouzafphaerre]

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At First Sight.
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[Mouzafphaerre]

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Stardust



It's a little bit predictive, considering one of the ends, but that doesn't hurt the least. A must see!
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[Kralizec]

Stardust is indeed great, I should havve written a review for that as well. Robert de Niro in one of his best roles yet

[Puzz3D]

Lust, Caution (2007) by director Ang Lee is advertised as an espionage thriller, but is actually a character study of a young woman who gets caught up in a resistance plot to assassinate a high ranking official in the collaborationist Chinese government in 1942 Shanghai. At 158 minutes in length, english subtitles and NC-17 rating (should have been R rated), this slowly developing film is not for everyone, but it's very well made with a lot of attention to detail. The tension builds slowly but steadily towards a very non-hollywood but believable resolution. Wei Tang, in her first film, gives an excellent performance as does Tony Leung who starred in In The Mood for Love (2000). The theme has some similarity to the films Purple Butterfly (2003) and Zwartboek (2006), but those films are more action oriented and have less psychological depth.

[econ21]

I belatedly caught the latest James Bond, Casino Royale, staring Daniel Craig. To my amazement, I enjoyed it. I liked the first few James Bond movies (Dr No, From Russia with love, Gold Finger), but then found them cliched, repugnant, camp, mindless and boring. The whole genre should have been sucked up into the void of 1970s trash, as far as I was concerned.

However, Casino Royale was rather fun. The action was fast paced, without being too absurdly over the top. Craig was arguably too ugly to play James Bond, but captured the physicality of the role very well. ("Shaken or stirred, sir?" "Do I look like I give a damn?"). Eva Green was the most interesting Bond girl for a long while, with amazing big Goth eyes and some nice dialogue skewering Mr Bond.

The whole plot was daft - why play poker with a terrorist financier rather than just nab him? - the villains under-written and the protracted ending rather weak. But given my terrible tilt against James Bond films as a whole, I would have to rate this one a marked success.

[Decker]

I just saw Lions for Lambs with Meryl Streep(spelling?), Robert Redford, and Tom Cruise. There's more too it than meets the eye. It covers a lot of aspects of the USA at the moment. From a top government official(Tom Cruise) representing the GOP(republicans), a TV reporter who, in the middle of the review, decides that she needs to report the actual "truth" all the while knowing that it probably wouldn't work because the media has become all about politics/ratings while not actually reporting the news (as in things that are against the norm).
Then there is the perspective of 3 students and Robert Redford's character. And out of these scenes and interactions, you are "given"(depends on how you look at this), 3 choices and how you are going to live and drive your life. 1 is to sign up for the military and go on the ground and literally fight so that when you come back, you have something to stand, experience, so that when you decide to do something about it, you have fought and bled for it. 2 is become some sort of official/activist who is doing something to change the what is going on in the country's government and or with its people. 3 is sitting on your ass and doing nothing.

I could go into more but then it'd all become backroom stuff or mostly my opinion. I'd suggest that everyone goes to see it even if some movie review guy says it was boring, old, bland, nothing exciting. It should be for you to judge and not for somebody else to decide if you should/shouldn't see it. IMHO, this is nearly everything that you should know little about what is going on in the country, media, politically, and individually(in a way), in a nutshell- with a good script, top notch acting, and long enough so that you do not become tired of it.
10/10

[Mouzafphaerre]

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Beowulf & Grendel. Great take on a part of the deathless story. Not a Beowulf movie per se, mind you, but not a 13th Warrior either.

Lions for Lambs. The best film...OK, one of the best, I've ever seen hitherto. Not your worn down Oliver Stone style left fist waving drama. Everybody can find something in it to his taste. The first time I acknowledge Tom Cruise a great actor, and place Robert Redford at the Pantheon, where Mery Streep already is.
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[Mouzafphaerre]

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I just saw Lions for Lambs with Meryl Streep...

Lions for Lambs. The best film...

I'm a dotard.
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[Puzz3D]

Gone Baby Gone (2007) is a crime drama adapted from a novel by Dennis Lahane and directed by Ben Afflick. Very realistic and well produced and directed, this complex story goes beyond the story itself and illuminates several moral dilemmas concerning the well being of children. There is considerably more character development than is typical of crime stories. The acting and screenplay is excellent with the characters very believably portrayed, and the Boston neighborhoods depicted are accurately presented. Definitely a serious film aimed at an adult audience. This may very well be best USA picture for 2007.

[Fragony]

Pan's Labyrit

Weird movie, it starts out as a war movie, and some violencescenes are just sadistic, want to see how it looks how a skull is crushed with a baton it's there dear god. No wonder the main character dives into a world of her own. But what she finds there is just as bad and horrifying and most of all alien. When it changes back you don't know what the worst one is. From there you are treated with a great story, very cruel! People wanting a vilain they can hate here's your thing. I would want to say better this and that but I have really nothing to compare it to because it is so unique. It is also one of the best movies I have ever seen. Everything is put together with such extreme care it's impossible not to apreciate the obvious effort to make it more then the usual thing. Nothing but utmost praise from here.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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I loved that one! Also what it's director says its spiritual prequel, Cronos.
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[Geoffrey S]

Just a few I've seen over the last few weeks:

Stardust. Must-see. An absolutely charming fairytale that doesn't take itself too seriously. Tempted to consider it a Princess Bride for a new generation. Different from the novel (far sweeter), but all that means is it has a place of its own.
Lucky Number Slevin. Smart. Better than expected, quite a strong plot with a nice style, let down a bit by the haphazard ending.
Mission Impossible 3. Dear me, that was awful. Worthless acting, a random plot, and it appears that all the budget went into hiring big names rather than making an impressive looking film. It's more like some awful tv-action series than the big movie it's meant to be.
Dark City. Not certain if I'd already mentioned this one, but it's now a personal favourite. No-one else that I know liked it, so be warned, but I loved the visual style and the ideas behind the movie. Some extremely memorable moments.

[Fragony]

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I loved that one! Also what it's director says its spiritual prequel, Cronos.
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//makes note

hehe Syriane, it's a bit cheap but ah well what the hell, entertaining it is and well made. Tries too hard to show complexity. Bonuspoint for iranian hotties.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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Stardust. Must-see.

Indeed!
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[InsaneApache]

Just got back from watching Beowulf. Rather silly but enjoyable CGI movie.

[Beefy187]

Children of men : Greatest Scifi I seen in ages.. Loved the setting in Britain too

Disturbia: Crappy ending.. I really enjoyed the rest so its a shame...

[Innocentius]

Elephant (2003)

One of the best movies I've seen. The camera work was very interesting, and since I'm a fan of great realism in movies dealing with real life/realistic events (i.e. not sci-fi, fantasy, whatever), be they based upon true events or fictional, I appreciated how silent, and sometimes slow, the movie was. Acting was nothing special, but it shouldn't be - real life rarely contains any dramatic lines, just everyday talk.

The best thing with the movie however must be that it wasn't preaching or anything. It just showed a series of events, end of story; letting the audience form their own opinion. The only letdown was that it wasn't any longer.

10/10

[Fragony]

Kick in the teeth that one.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Superbad: Vul-gar, with a capital V. But funny if you like that, and with good jokes even if you don't like that stuff. But still, real, real vulgar.

Wild Hogs: A fun comedy, kept up a good pace throughout.

Beowulf and Grendel (2005): This was a poor movie, due to the plot disfiguration. Basically a politically correct version of Beowulf that loses almost all connection to the original story. Grendel becomes a noble, almost righteous beast, while Beowulf is hardly more than an ordinary man, not the legendarily strong man of myth. They also add in a new character, the embodiment of the film's politically correct 'man is bad' theme; a fortune telling witch, who, unlike every other character, speaks with a very out of place American accent.

CR