Topic: "What Movies Have You Seen Lately?" Thread

[Xessive]

I like A.I. too! Sure, it was a long film but I enjoyed it. It was a modern-day Pinocchio.

[scottws]

I wouldnt be surprised if the apostrophe went the way of the dodo, eventually.  Its misused all the time anyway. 

Yeah, see my last post.

[iPPi]

I too liked A.I.  I don't know if I could sit through the entire movie anymore, but when I first saw it I thought it was really good.

[Quemaqua]

I dug that a lot too.

[MysterD]

The Road - and yes, it was really good.

[Xessive]

If anyone's a fan of Discworld, Terry Pratchett's 33rd novel Going Postal had a two-part TV film adaptation, which aired on Sky1 Sunday, 30th May and Monday, 31st May.

I thought it was alright, a good escape into fantasy. Great cast too!

[scottws]

I saw Prince of Persia: Sands of Time yesterday.  It was completely average.  Just a popcorn flick, and not even a really good one.

[Xessive]

I saw Prince of Persia: Sands of Time yesterday.  It was completely average.  Just a popcorn flick, and not even a really good one.

Yeah, I agree with you. It was alright if you're in the mood for a traditional Disney-fied popcorn flick.

I'll admit I enjoyed bits of it but all in all it was nothing special.

[iPPi]

I just saw Unthinkable.  It was a really, really good thriller.  Definitely recommended.

[Cobra951]

I saw that.  It's intense, if somewhat preachy.  The best argument for torture yet.  (I think that's what it's going for.)

[MysterD]

Shutter Island

[Cobra951]

was a major disappointment.

[MysterD]

I really liked Shutter Island.
*shrug*

[Cobra951]

I figured it out way early, which made watching the rest of it nearly useless.  And I hated the premise of what was really going on.

[MysterD]

The Book of Eli

[MysterD]

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
From Paris With Love
Brooklyn's Finest

I liked all three - but, damn - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was by far the best of the three I watched today. One hell of a 2 hr 25 min movie.

[Quemaqua]

I picked the book up randomly months ago... kind of strange.  But interesting. I heard the author did more books in the series but died before he could finish.

[Cobra951]

Repo Men: gory, dark, unfeasible, and a must-watch, at least 1.25 times.

[Pugnate]

Just finished Book of Eli. Not bad. Not great, but not bad either. Too weird and preachy an ending, but a decent movie overall.

[scottws]

Watched Angels & Demons yesterday.  It was much better than the movie version of The Da Vinci Code, but still not as good as the book.

[Pugnate]

gahh, just finished watching vanilla sky. it's the closest thing in movie form to the experience of taking a shit load of drugs. ouch, i want my brain back.

That was a really good movie. I later learned it was a remake of a Spanish film, which sorta made sense, because you don't see weirdly imaginative stuff coming out of Hollywood anymore.

[MysterD]

Repo Men: gory, dark, unfeasible, and a must-watch, at least 1.25 times.

Why the extra .25? 

[Cobra951]

I was wondering if anyone would pick up on that.  I'll just say this:  If you really pay attention, and have a good ability to analyze what's going on, you may not need to watch any of the movie a second time.  I failed.

[Pugnate]

Saw three more movies...

Fast & Furious 4: Not very good. The action scenes weren't very exciting, and the script was pretty poor. I guess that is to be expected when you are trying to write a plot that has to involve car racing heavily. In terms of the franchise, it was about on par with the first one, though at least that had the novelty thing going for it.

Milk: Good acting by Sean Penn, and interesting movie overall. Unfortunately it was hard to concentrate, because I kept thinking of GPW whenever Penn was on screen. The parts where he was making out with other dudes suddenly made more sense though.

W.: A movie about George Bush that probably would have been more interesting had it come out years earlier. The movie swaps between periods of W. in the white house, and flashback scenes to his more irresponsible days, and how he rose to power. None of it was very surprising, because it was impossible not to know any of it. Yes Bush has never been very smart, and yes he comes off as a manipulated fool. The performances are really good, especially by the people who played Carl Rove and Dick Cheney.

[Cobra951]

I really liked W.  Bush got crucified in it, and deservedly so.

[Xessive]

I just got Mike Judge's new film Extract, I'm looking forward to checking it out later today. Anyone watched it yet?

[MysterD]

I just got Mike Judge's new film Extract, I'm looking forward to checking it out later today. Anyone watched it yet?

It's pretty funny.

[Xessive]

It was a great film! I love Mike Judge even more now.

[Pugnate]

So I watched Ben Stiller's Greenberg.

It is a story a lot of us will find unsettling. A guy who used to be many years ago part of a rock band on the verge of a breakthrough, quit and moved out of town without good reason, leaving his band mates hanging.

Now many years later, at the age of 40, he is back in town to housesit for his very successful brother, who is on vacation with his family.

Some of Greenberg's former bandmates have moved on to successful careers, and some haven't, and blame him for it. Greenberg could be two or three guys I know in real life. He lies, he treats people badly -- and doesn't realize it --, but worst of all, he lies to himself. But not all of his shit has been a result of his own character's flaws... some of it has been poor judgment which can happen to the best of people.

There is also Greenberg's love interest, Florence, who is again, a person many of us could have known. Someone who has all the right ingredients, but lacks the confidence and self-esteem to do for herself what she does for others.

The sex scene between Florence and Greenberg, when it comes, is as realistically awkward as you'd expect from a movie like this.

In the end, the point isn't that Greenberg failed as a musician, because this movie isn't about music. The movie is more about people who failed at achieving their dreams -- whatever they may be --, and how they cope with it.

Two people I know, could be Greenberg (three, if I count myself, though I stopped lying to myself years ago). One is a friend about to hit his 30s, and another is a cousin in his 40s. While so many of us end up falling short of our dreams, the truly pitiful ones are those who think they are fooling others by lying to everyone, and lying to themselves. 

One final thing. I know that I've pointed out that Greenberg and Florence could be characters we know from real life, but that doesn't mean the movie resorts to cliches or caricatures.

I've also said the movie is unsettling, but how unsettling it is depends on how much you find yourself identifying Greenberg. The movie itself isn't gloomy. It is smartly written, and quite funny at times.

Anyway, here is a link to the movie on rotten tomatoes. It is a pretty good flick. Put it on your netflix:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/greenberg/

[idolminds]

I saw Alice in Wonderland last week. It was ok, nothing too great about it. I hated the very obvious scenes that were used to showcase 3D. Big long sweeping CGI camera movements through trees and stuff. Its just lame, especially when you aren't watching it in 3D.

Not to rag specifically on Alice for that, but all these movies with 3D versions do the same shit.

[Pugnate]

Finally got around to watching Atonement. I thought it was excellent. I loved the score and the cinematography. The performances were very good as well. A moving picture that should be seen.

[MysterD]

Finally got around to watching Atonement. I thought it was excellent. I loved the score and the cinematography. The performances were very good as well. A moving picture that should be seen.

Yeah, that was another really good movie.
Gotta' love Keira. 

[scottws]

I saw Bruno the other day.  "Wow" is about all I can say. Borat crossed the line a little bit, but with Bruno they went so far beyond the line that you couldn't even see it or remember what it was like on the other side.  I don't want to say it was bad, per se.  I did watch most of it and laughed quite a bit at the ridiculousness of it, but... just... wow.

I also saw The Sorcerer's Apprentice last night.  It was a typical Disney live action movie, which is to say that it isn't going to win any awards but was better than I expected it to be.

[MysterD]

I saw Bruno the other day.  "Wow" is about all I can say. Borat crossed the line a little bit, but with Bruno they went so far beyond the line that you couldn't even see it or remember what it was like on the other side.  I don't want to say it was bad, per se.  I did watch most of it and laughed quite a bit at the ridiculousness of it, but... just... wow.

I think that while Borat was a very likable moron, there is really NOTHING truly likable at all about Bruno - and that was the point, of course. Bruno at every chance would throw his sexuality at you, whether you liked it or not - and really didn't care, either. I think this film was way offensive than Borat ever dared - "pushing the envelope" and "pushing buttons" here would be a Hell of an understatement.

I thought Bruno was gut-busting hilarious and is most definitely worth seeing.

[Pugnate]

Watched 'In the Valley of Elah'. The movie was very good, if a touch contrived at parts, but Tomy Lee Jones was fantastic. I am convinced that he is one of the top 3 actors in Hollywood today.

[MysterD]

The Runaways was a pretty kick-ass drama.

[Cobra951]

I had Elton John's "All the Girls Love Alice" running through my head during much of that movie.   

[Pugnate]

 The Rise of Cobra was mildly entertaining. Sienna Miller is incredibly hot though.

[Xessive]

The Rise of Cobra was mildly entertaining. Sienna Miller is incredibly hot though.

Oh man, she was so fine in that movie. Sienna makes a damn sexy brunette!

I think she was the best thing about that movie.

[scottws]

She was the only good thing about that movie.