Jan 11, 2015

Edge of Tomorrow: Live Die Repeat

Entertaining movie and good action

 

Jan 11, 2015

Foxcatcher
8/10

Tatum, Ruffalo and Carell were all great. A really well done, dark film

 

Jan 12, 2015

I watched a good amount of films yesterday, but only posting the ones worth mentioning..


Let me start off by saying.. I hate Melissa McCarthy. She's unlikable in EVERYWAY. she's annoying, and obnoxious... Okay, now.. The film is essentially without a single surprise, which doesn’t make it disagreeable though. Bill Murray's performance is the back bone of this film-- His character is decrepit and deeply unpleasant – the kind of guy Murray can play lying down. And he does. It's an average script with a Great actor in Murray, and he nails the character down pact. If Murray wasn't in the film, I probably wouldn't have watched it..because, I'm being honest here.. without Murray--this film would be dreadful. Thankfully, he's a handbrake to that..and saves McCarthy's Performance with every dual scene. The film kept me interested mostly throughout though..and I enjoyed it for what it was.. 7/10



Woody is my favorite director for a reason.. and this film is one of the MAIN reasons why. This is one of his least watched films by me--but I still love it even more with each viewing. Rarely has there been a more compelling statement for the need for monochrome. Imagine, for a moment, the film in color - it would still be great, but the visual magic wouldn't be there. All of the performances in the film are strong, and spot on. Woody's direction is an extraordinary example of the fusion of entertainment and art, this is Woody in complete & peak form--deftly mastering and combining the diverse threads of romance, comedy, & drama.. 9.6/10

 

Jan 12, 2015

The Interview, best movie of 2014 imo.....every scene was hilarious

 

Jan 12, 2015

Just saw 22 Jump Street, its was good movie.

But those scenes with Jonah and Ice Cube but his daughter had me defenitly the best part of the movie

 

Jan 12, 2015

some movies I've watched lately

To the Wonder - Uhhhhh had some major problems with this one. As per usual with Malick, there are moments of absolute beauty - the sort of things you rarely see in cinema, that few filmmakers aside from Malick could pull off. But on the whole, this seems to veer closer to self-parody than anything else he's done (although, full disclosure: I haven't seen The New World). It feels meandering and unfinished, a far cry from the powerful, moving Tree of Life (which was released just a year earlier). As much as I hate to say it, I'd have to deem this one a failure. 5.5/10

Dumb and Dumber To - This was always a bad idea, but there was a small part of me thinking maybe they could pull it off. Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels slip effortlessly back into their roles as if no time has passed, but unfortunately the writers weren't up to the challenge. This is an almost insultingly bad story, and while viewers aren't looking for a smart or complex plot in this type of movie, there aren't enough laughs to make up for it. While there are certainly some moments I enjoyed (mostly some of the darker moments that took me by surprise, as opposed to the predictable moments that aped the predecessor, a la the Hangover and Anchorman sequels), overall this is mostly a waste of time. 4/10

There Will Be Blood - This was probably my tenth viewing or so, and it only seems to get better with time. There's not much to say that I haven't said before, but this would certainly make my shortlist for favorite film of all time. 10/10

Big Eyes - I was genuinely taken aback at how corny the dialogue was in this film at times. It's a compelling story, and one worth telling, but it's hampered by a script that consistently feels like amateur hour. Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz are fine (although both have seen better days, to be sure), and the film gets more entertaining as it approaches its climax, but overall this is merely passable and competent. On the bright side, I'm pretty thrilled Burton and Depp are spending some time apart. 6/10

Top Five - Finally, a Chris Rock film worthy of his talent. Top Five certainly has its share of flaws (for one, it suffers from erratic and jarring changes of tone that a better filmmaker probably could have fixed), but it's a consistently funny and likable comedy. 8/10

Inherent Vice - On some levels this was really, really good. On other levels it was just as messy as I'd feared it would be - because how could that be avoided, given the source material? I tend to think that (based on the little I have read) Pynchon is nearly unadaptable, but it's hard to deny that PTA did the best possible job he could've done with this book. The soundtrack is top-notch, the casting is brilliant (with Joaquin Phoenix and Josh Brolin in particular both turning in hilarious, nuanced performances), the dialogue is a lot more faithful than I would have expected. And yet, like the book, it's all just sort of a headache in the end, isn't it? I liked this a lot, and think I could like it even more given additional viewings, but I'm pretty sure this is PTA's weakest since Hard Eight. 8/10

 

Jan 12, 2015

let it set boi. i kinda thought the same thing. Now i don't

 

Jan 12, 2015

I definitely thoroughly enjoyed it (probably even enough to crack my top 10 for the year) and will watch again soon. And PTA films often get better and better as time goes on. But I don't think my criticisms are unfounded and I don't think I will ever rank it among his finest work

 

Jan 12, 2015

but u don't really care for the master right?

 

Jan 12, 2015

I love The Master, I just initially thought its ending was unsatisfying (particularly in contrast to TWBB..). I've come around to it after a 2nd and 3rd viewing though. Probably my favorite film of 2012 (or very close)

 

Jan 12, 2015

Did you ever see Interstellar? If so, what'd you think?

 

Jan 12, 2015

I did, I enjoyed it a lot. Flawed but really entertaining. Pleasant surprise to me since TDKR caused my confidence in Nolan to hit rock bottom.

You hated it though didn't you lol

 

Jan 12, 2015

I recently just seen The Big Year with Steve Martin, Jack Black & Owen Wilson. It's about them spending an entire year trying to see as many birds as possible, so they go to many places all around the world to beat the record holder, & somewhere along the way 1 of them finds love, 1 of them loses their loved one (not from death, but broken up) due to their obsession with the competition, & the other competitor finally retires after several days in.

I'm not really a big fan of birds, I just happened to one day had nothing to do & went & saw this in theaters cause it had my favorite actors in it, I thought it was well worth it.

 

Jan 12, 2015

Great reviews though To the Wonder is dope as f---!

Agree pretty strongly with what you said for Inherent Vice. My main reservation is that for a film where plot clearly doesn't matter, it spends a lot of time just churning through it anyway. With that said, it was one of the most flat out entertaining movies I saw this year and I'm sure I'll watch it a few more times.

 

Jan 13, 2015

Treated myself to a couple of blurays this morning, and watched them this afternoon..



I used to own the dvd of this many years ago..but a few years ago it got lost in my move. I have to admit, I haven't seen it that many times..at first I wasn't a fan of the film..but I decided to give it another try..and I'm glad I did..because it's one of Kubrick's best films to me now. So when I watched it earlier today.. I forgot how great it was. I couldn't help but think that-- the unspoken theory of art and ethics; namely, that the aesthetic good is inextricably bound to the moral good, that good art makes good people. The great irony is that the work of art in question is itself an attack upon this commonly held (but rarely challenged) assumption.. 9.2/10



I'm glad I picked up the Criterion release of this.. This is one awesome, breathtaking film. I don't use "awesome" a lot, but when I do.. it's AWESOME..lol The last ten minutes is gutsy & exhausting, showing a kind of physical representation of nihilism ( so to speak).The film is still processing on me & I definitely plan a re-watch later this week. It may leave us wanting the sequel we would never get, but in a way, it doesn’t get any more final than the final frame.. a great masterful piece of cinema in my view... 9.3/10

 

Jan 13, 2015

Lol yeah I did I thought it made TDKR look like f---ing Schindler's List. I almost left during one of the scenes with Damon I think. Oh well. I was curious to what you and some of the other SL members thought but then the site crashed.

 

Jan 15, 2015

Inherent Vice (2014, Paul Thomas Anderson) - 8.5/10
As Above, So Below (2014, John Erick Dowdle) - 5/10
Birdman (2014, Alejandro González Iñárritu) - 9/10
Stranger by the Lake (2014, Alain Guiraudie) - 6.5/10
The Signal (2014, William Eubank) - 7/10
Goodbye to Language 2D (2014, Jean-Luc Godard)

 

Jan 15, 2015

Jurassic Park; Great movie, I think no matter how many times I watch these classics they never get old, every time I pop it in, it feels like it's the first time. I hope Jurassic World doesn't ruin the trilogy later this year.

 

Jan 15, 2015

Wolf Creek: 3.5/5
Wolf Creek 2: 4.5/5

Just watched them both tonight, thought the 2nd one was awesome, 1st was interesting enough and had a lot more build to it. The 2nd one was pretty much nonstop excitement and the killer was a lot more interesting and had some one liners that were sort of humorous at times, almost like Freddy in a way lol. It's the same guy who played the killer in both movies but I thought they let him do a lot more in the 2nd one. Brutal movie but a lot of fun too, surprised at how good it was. Good acting all around too.

 

Jan 15, 2015

I was excited that I received my Criterion Blu-Ray yesterday, & watched the film late last night. With an all female cast-- I think the film flourishes inside and out, as a true "art piece" it was surely meant to be. As I got deeper into the film however, I felt that the entertainment factor of the film got dragged behind the center piece of the "artsy" conjunction of the film. I may have to watch it one more time to fairly give it a 'final' score, it's not a BAD film what so ever.. I just think it gets lost in itself too much, which in this case is a bad thing.. after the first viewing, I have to say I liked it, but not as much as I thought I would.. 7.4/10