Movie Review Thread

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Just watched the Shawshank Redemption. It's a decent movie, but I'm amazed that it's #2 movie of all time on imdb. I can think of hundreds of better movies, it's about 7/10 I'd say. Half an hour too long and waaaaay to sappy. There was sentimental voice over during the scene in which he was being anally raped I kid you not. Three guys are kicking him and god knows what else and morgan freeman's voice comes on: "I'd like to say andy put up a good fight and drove the anal rapists off, but that would be a lie, in fact he's being raped right now which makes you wonder why I sound so happy"

*spoilers*

I also found it amusing that there were only 3 or 4 "bad" prisoners in the prison and all the others were just good guys, the kind of guys you'd want to sit around and have a beer with. The way the bad guys got their comeuppance was a huge stretch, the guard mysteriously became a good guy for a brief moment (in between brutally killing innocent people, prison guards are the real bad guys remember) to get upset by the way the one guy was picking on tim robbins and take him out. Then at the end they way the warden and him mysteriously get arrested for the murder which would have been impossible to prove is ridiculous. It also glosses over the way tim robbins is living off a bunch of stolen money now but oh the pacific is so beautiful

*/spoilers*

I don't mean to sound so down on it, I enjoyed it, but it has major flaws and it irks me to see it so highly rated.

[naut]

There was sentimental voice over during the scene in which he was being anally raped I kid you not.

Uhh...

[sapi]

I agree with Sasaki on Shawshank - it just wasn't that great, and it definitely doesn't deserve no2 spot on imdb

[Craterus]

What's no. 1?

[Ser Clegane]

It's a decent movie, but I'm amazed that it's #2 movie of all time on imdb

An odd thing about this ranking is the rather high number of votes (highest number among the top 250 movies) ... this smells a bit ...

What's no. 1?

The Godfather

[Craterus]

I'll check it out some other time. My internet can only really handle one window at a time at the moment.

Thanks Ser.

[Geoffrey S]

Hoodwinked. Great start with som hilarious moments, but it trails off halfway through. Worth it for the first half though.

Layer Cake. Loved it. Brutal, stylish, along with The long good friday this is now at the top of my favourite British crime flicks. Daniel Craig shines as the nameless anti-hero.

Casino Royale. Way, way better than the previous attempt. Again with Daniel Craig, who portrays James Bond as I've always wanted to see him. The opening is very strong, as is the finale. And finally a Bond movie with a good script! Only real complaint is that after the torture sequence, and before the finale it loses the plot too much, it needed more direction at that point.

I agree with Sasaki on Shawshank - it just wasn't that great, and it definitely doesn't deserve no2 spot on imdb

I was somewhat disappointed too, particularly so since I'd recently watched The Green Mile, a movie which I rank among my favourites of all time.

absolute genius, consider me your loyal fan Coen brothers. I haven't laughed like this since a Fish called Wanda, which untill now I considered to be the funniest comedy ever made. buhbuhbye. I just love their absurd style, no straight shooters but hilarious situations non-stop, sometimes I don't even understand why I am laughing.

They are good. Fargo is their classic, but a very close second for me is The man who wasn't there. Gripping, and with their trademark beautiful visual style.

The Departed, Martin Scorsese's newest movie, was excellent. Take an oldskool tragedy (i.e. everyone's dead at the end), add the Irish Mob (i.e. crazy white boys with guns) and Jack Nicholson (i.e. madness), and you're well on your way to exploring Boston's gritty underside. A wonderful tribute to the Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs, Scorsese managed not to make me yawn and whine "been there, done that." Great \o

No. No no no. If there's one movie I've seen recently that I absolutely loathed, that's the one. The only thing I enjoyed was the opening sequence, but apart from that I found the script banal, the direction sloppy, and the leads Damon and DiCaprio wasted and uninspired. Nicholson could have been good, but his performance really does make a case for overacting ruining a potentially stunning role; for me, only the supporting actors managed to introduce some subtlety to their parts, some kind of acting. I've tried to like Scorsese's work, but just like The Aviator I came away feeling rather disappointed.

At the risk of sounding like one of the many IMDB snobs, Infernal Affairs is better, though the two movies can't really be compared except on the basic premise.