Movie Review Thread

[Decker]

Shichinin no Samurai/The Seven Samurai

I'm watching it right now. From what I've seen so far, it gets a 6...out of 7.

(This rating is subject to change)

I've been looking all over for that dang movie...

Slither- Pretty stupid story line and everything. The main actor Fillion was just the same as he was in his series Firefly and movie Serenity. But other than him... it sucked...
3/10

The Other Boleyn Girl- Saw this and it's okay... nothing particularly special about it.
6/10

Superbad- Gets funnier every time I see it. "McLovin.... WHYYYYYYY"
8.5/10

Gran Torino- Clint is awesome as ever and never stops with the laughs...
9/10

[seireikhaan]

Slither- Pretty stupid story line and everything. The main actor Fillion was just the same as he was in his series Firefly and movie Serenity. But other than him... it sucked...
3/10

Question- WHY would you even bother to watch a movie that was titled "Slither"? That sounds like something sci-fi channel would cobble together....

[Decker]

Question- WHY would you even bother to watch a movie that was titled "Slither"? That sounds like something sci-fi channel would cobble together....

Cuz it was 1 in the morning, nothing was on and it had all the makings of a sci-fi channel movie except with a somewhat better cast.

Forrest Gump- Classic...
10/10

[Puzz3D]

I've been looking all over for that dang movie...

You can get the new 3 disk Criterion edition of Shichinin no Samurai/The Seven Samurai from Amazon for $30. That's a good buy since full retail price is $50. The new edition has better picture and sound than their 1999 release because Toho has finally made their best source copies of Kurosawa films available to DVD publishers. There are many special features on the 3rd disk, and an all new second commentary track by several film historians. The narrative is a slow developing story of over 3 hours with the action coming at the end of the film. It takes patience to watch it. It's a very good film which, as a consequence of Japan loosing WWII, challenges the traditional pre-WWII view of the samurai class, and is historically important in film history for its influence on subsequent action films.

[Decker]

Thank you very much for the info Puzz3D

Live Free or Die Hard- Reminded me more of the original but it doesn't top the original for me which is a classic action movie imo
8.5/10

[Puzz3D]

I bought the rather expensive, recently released Murnau, Borzage and Fox Box Set which contains 6 late era silent films and 6 early sound pictures. Two of the films are by F.W. Murnau (the 3rd film he made for Fox being is lost), and the other 10 are by Frank Borzage. Both of these men were highly skilled directors with perhaps Murnau influencing Borzage in set design. William Fox gave them pretty much a free hand to make the best and most artistic pictures they could at least in regard to the silent films. He lost control of Fox Film Corporation in 1930, and the films have languished in obscurity. All but one of the silent films in this set have been unavailable in a decent quality print for widespread viewing until now (all of the original negatives were destroyed in a fire at Fox Studios).

The packaging has come in for a lot of criticism due to the disks being inserted into cardboard sleeves, and some people receiving damaged disks. My disks were fine except for the special disk containing the documentary which does have some scratches on it. These scratches do not appear to be a result of movement during shipping, but are most likely the result of poor quality control in the handling of the disks. Just to be safe I immediately transferred all of the disks to jewel cases.

The 5 silents that I have watched so far are the epitome of silent film making, and strikingly show what was lost in terms of cinematic presentation when the novelty of talking pictures appeared in 1929. These 5 silent films are mastered from the best quality source material available which is very good considering the age of the films. I watched a poor quality print of Street Angel just before getting this set, and the difference is like night and day.

I would say the set design in 4 of the 5 films is expressionistic in character, but it's my understanding that the development of this type of set design predates German expressionistic films. The set design allows for simultaneous foreground and backround action, and provides depth to the scene. The camera angles and tracking shots are innovative, and were not easy to accomplish with the camera equipment of that era. The stories are romantically sentimental usually with a melodramatic element to provide conflict, but I find they do speak to very basic emotions, virtues and vices which are still important in human relationships today. While the stories develop into truely difficult situations for the characters they are perhaps resolved too easily for today's audiences, but if that resolution is taken as partly symbolic they are still powerful emotional denouements.

Janet Gaynor is in 4 of the 5, and her acting is very naturalistic which I can't help thinking was influenced by the natural style that Lillian Gish introduced 10 years earliert. However, Gaynor is truely deserving of the Best Actress Oscar she won for the first 3 films listed here. Her reserve in Lucky Star (1928) is also noteworthy because she could easily have stolen her scenes from Charles Farrell who had to use a low key performance (possibly his best) to properly portray his character. Mary Duncan in City Girl perhaps overacts in a couple of scenes as was typical of silent film performances, but is excellent in all her other scenes. She retired from movies in 1932. Murnau died in a car accident in 1931.

Sunrise (1927) by Murnau is well known, and considered by many to be the best silent film ever made from a cinematic standpoint. I have a little trouble with the resolution of the melodrama in this story considering what the husband was planning. However, the beauty of the final scene in this film is unequaled by any other final scene in my cinematic experience.

7th Heaven (1927) by Borzage is a testament to the power of love, and to the value of social friendships. It has a main character who vacillates between atheism and belief in God, and also contrasts outward social position with internal sense of value. Some viewers think that the final scene is a vision or hullucination, but if you watch the scenes prior to this closely the final scene can be interpreted as real. If you've ever come close to loosing faith in something, this film will affect you.

Street Angel (1927) by Borzage is about the consequences to a romantic relationship when one person does something wrong and conceals it from the other. Janet gaynor's acting in the middle part of this fim is outstanding.

City Girl (1928) by Murnau is the never released silent version, and is superior to the re-edited sound version that was released in 1930. This film uses a romantic relationship to show the need for a son to establish his independence from his parents, and to contrast the realities of city life with that of country life (both of which have disadvantages and are not as ideal as might be perceived from the other's perspective) on the eve of the Great Depression. Murnau wanted to title this film "Our Daily Bread" to reference the growing of wheat on country farms and the need for that wheat in the city. Good personal relationships are seen as helping people get through difficult times. Not quite equal to Sunrise in cinematic presentation, but very advanced none the less.

Lucky Star (1928) by Borzage is about a relationship that develops amidst difficult social and physical circumstances. Beautifully photographed and acted this film was lost for 60 years. This is my personal favorite of the 5 films.

[Marshal Murat]

Watched In Bruges from the Library.

Hilarious and Americans aren't that fat.

[Ibrahim]

Valkyrie: premise is the july 20th bombplot. recently watched. I had a hard time following the begining, and I find the transition between different times and places somewhat choppy. Actors were of good quality, but unremarkable. Historical accuracy is good, but not perfect. Stauffenburg is unconvincingly acted by Tom Cruise (attributed to him trying to act as a devout catholic?), and looks too much like a plank. many of the actors look too plankish IMO in fatc. and I find the length a little too long, though that is not really an issue for me..

I also think they should have just focus on the month of July 1944, without all the hassle from 1942 and early 1943, but the events shown from then are still useful for exposition and plot.

and the guy acting as Hitler looks ridiculous for Hitler-why couldn't they get Brno Ganz? he did an excellent rendition of that devil in der untergang (2005)

rating: 5/10: It was Ok. still leaves much to be desired.

[Decker]

Watched In Bruges from the Library.

Hilarious and Americans aren't that fat.

Nope just the people who made the stairs are small... we're not THAT fat of a nation

Funny movie nonetheless...

Shanghai Noon- Good all around fun action/comedy film...
8.5/10

[desert]

The Magnificent Seven

A good successor to Seven Samurai, although at times it seemed like they tried to fit as many references to Kurosawa's film in it as possible. It should have been a half-hour longer.

Also, did people really talk like that in the West? Their accents, were, like, Eastern European or something. I think the Mexicans had clearer English, lol. And the way the last two died was silly. There were about 5 bandits left, for Christ's sake! The genius gunsman died while under cover and after having shot 4 guys in 3 seconds and the woodcutter was shot while shoving away his fanboys, after which the battle promptly ended.

The acting was a bit too much for me in the beginning.

Mexican 1: We've got to GET rid of those BANDITS!
Sotero: BUT HOOOOOOWWW?
Mexican: I don't KNOW.

8.5/10