NOW CLOSED ; List some movies you've watched recently. Theatre, rental, TV... and give a */10

[slayer202]

I was just looking through a top movies of 2011 so far list, and there have been a lot of quality movies so far. Most have been under the radar and I've yet to see many of them, but it's been a good year I think.

 

[KeithTalent]

Oddly enough I was thinking about it yesterday and how it's been pretty weak so far, but now that you mention it there have been several films I really enjoyed; Tree of Life, I Saw the Devil, Conan O'Brien Can't Stop, Super 8, X-Men, and others. So yeah, not bad so far and once September rolls around, several more awesome looking movies should start to come out. Can't wait!

KT

 

[slayer202]

Haha. Well there are a bunch of things I haven't seen yet that are supposed to be and look good. I'll post some things I have in mind later

 

[Doppel]

Source Code. I don't like Jake G, but that movie was surprisingly good. Good enough in fact I no longer hate him as a person. Well worth the rental.

The Dilemma: Strange. Not well rated on RT and for obvious reasons. Was watchable but some parts were just out of place, like when Vince Vaughn prays. In a "comedy". It just felt very awkward. Jennifer Connelly is so hot, though.

 

[slayer202]

here is the list I saw today. The order isn't perfect but there are a solid number of good movies, and the list may even miss a few

www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2011/07/the-20-best-films-of-2011-so-far.html

and to compare, here was the same website's top 25 from 2010
http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2010/12/the-25-best-movies-of-2010.html


I think 2011 has been stronger so far already, though it doesn't have as many widely popular movies.

 

[TeeJay1952]

Kill the Irishman was pretty good!

 

[olds]

Limitless 8/10
I liked the premise but the the execution and ending were kinda meh.

Adjustment Bureau 7/10
Previews made it look better than it was. A little slow for my tastes.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Fury
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027652/
1936
8.5/10

This was on TCM so I DVR'd it....

Overall, this was a fine film, however, not Lang's best IMO. Spencer Tracy pulled off a great performance. This is the first movie from Fritz Lang after he came to the USA after the Nazi party took power in Germany. He shows the horrors of mob behavior, I suspect he experienced quite a bit of it in his homeland leading up to when he got the hell out of there. I'd recommend this for anybody who likes old movies/classics. It's not one of the "all time greats", but it's still a good and relevant film in today's world.

 

[slayer202]

M - 9/10:
I watched this yesterday and since burn just reviewed Fury, I might as well talk about M. This is another Fritz Lang movie, I would assume his most famous? It was from 1931, so a bit before the movie above, but it's very similiar in it's relevance today(I haven't seen Fury). It's about a serial killer who targets young girls. The city is on edge, and both the police and the criminals are trying to find him. Without giving away the end, it questions the criminal mind, whether or not people can really control their actions, and whether they should be responsible for these actions. From burn's review of Fury, it seems like these sorts of topics are common for Lang, and he doesn't disguise them.

This was a very good movie. The build up really makes you sense the tension in the city, serial killer on the loose. The second half of the film is awesome as well. Peter Lorre is amazingly creepy as the serial killer.


Jerry and Tom - 7.5/10
Dark comedy with Joe Mantegna and Sam Rockwell as used car dealers/mob hitmen. I saw it on Netflix streaming, and since it had rockwell and some other good names(in small roles) I gave it a shot. The plot isn't very good, and Saul Rubinek as a first time director(he hasn't done anything worth half a shit since), but it was surprisingly funny. No rolling on the floor laughs, but a very solid amount laugh out loud lines/moments. The acting was good, some decent characters. Worth a watch when you're in the mood for something easy

 

[BurnItDwn]

M - 9/10:
I watched this yesterday and since burn just reviewed Fury, I might as well talk about M. This is another Fritz Lang movie, I would assume his most famous? It was from 1931, so a bit before the movie above, but it's very similiar in it's relevance today(I haven't seen Fury). It's about a serial killer who targets young girls. The city is on edge, and both the police and the criminals are trying to find him. Without giving away the end, it questions the criminal mind, whether or not people can really control their actions, and whether they should be responsible for these actions. From burn's review of Fury, it seems like these sorts of topics are common for Lang, and he doesn't disguise them.

This was a very good movie. The build up really makes you sense the tension in the city, serial killer on the loose. The second half of the film is awesome as well. Peter Lorre is amazingly creepy as the serial killer.


Jerry and Tom - 7.5/10
Dark comedy with Joe Mantegna and Sam Rockwell as used car dealers/mob hitmen. I saw it on Netflix streaming, and since it had rockwell and some other good names(in small roles) I gave it a shot. The plot isn't very good, and Saul Rubinek as a first time director(he hasn't done anything worth half a shit since), but it was surprisingly funny. No rolling on the floor laughs, but a very solid amount laugh out loud lines/moments. The acting was good, some decent characters. Worth a watch when you're in the mood for something easy

M is great! just saw that for the first time several months ago. However, I suspect his most "famous" work is Metropolis...

Haven't heard of Jerry and Tom before, but Sam Rockwell is awesome..... Adding it to me queue

 

[HardcoreRobot]

The Other Guys - 5.4/10 - Some definite funny parts, the movie just fell apart on me. Not sure if the theatrical version is tidier or not (watched unrated version). Marky Mark probably miscast. I like him as an actor, but I got the vibe like they werent sure what to do with him in the film. Left unsatisfied and disappointed.

 

[KeithTalent]

The Trip - 7.5/10: Apparently this was a 6 episode series over in the UK, which has been cut down to a ~2 hour film for release here. It follows Steve Coogan on a road trip to various restaurants in the north of England paired with his buddy Rob Brydon. It was a little odd in spots, where Brydon seemed to be trying to shoehorn in some of his impressions, but I thought Coogan was awesome and played off him very well. As a bit of a foodie myself I also liked seeing the nice restaurants they went to and I actually would have enjoyed some more of that stuff. I think I may try to track down the actual show so I can see if they get into more depth on some of the specific things I was interested in.

KT

 

[KeithTalent]

M - 9/10:
I watched this yesterday and since burn just reviewed Fury, I might as well talk about M. This is another Fritz Lang movie, I would assume his most famous? It was from 1931, so a bit before the movie above, but it's very similiar in it's relevance today(I haven't seen Fury). It's about a serial killer who targets young girls. The city is on edge, and both the police and the criminals are trying to find him. Without giving away the end, it questions the criminal mind, whether or not people can really control their actions, and whether they should be responsible for these actions. From burn's review of Fury, it seems like these sorts of topics are common for Lang, and he doesn't disguise them.

This was a very good movie. The build up really makes you sense the tension in the city, serial killer on the loose. The second half of the film is awesome as well. Peter Lorre is amazingly creepy as the serial killer.

Oh man, embarrassingly I have owned this since last December but have yet to watch it. I'll have to move this up the list.

KT

 

[slayer202]

I'll have to move this up the list.

So say we all

 

[KeithTalent]

So say we all

Indeed. I had a plan to watch several movies this weekend, then that plan got shot all to hell.

KT

 

[KeithTalent]

here is the list I saw today. The order isn't perfect but there are a solid number of good movies, and the list may even miss a few

www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2011/07/the-20-best-films-of-2011-so-far.html

and to compare, here was the same website's top 25 from 2010
http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2010/12/the-25-best-movies-of-2010.html


I think 2011 has been stronger so far already, though it doesn't have as many widely popular movies.

Interesting list. I've only seen a handful of the films on the list so far, but I agree on all of the ones I've seen, except for Uncle Boonmee which did not really do much for me. I almost went to Beginnings this weekend, but I went for The Trip instead.

KT

 

[slayer202]

I haven't seen too many on the list either, but I've heard good things about many of the rest. I'm planning on seeing Beginners tonight.

 

[pontifex]

The Social Network - 5/10 - some parts were funny but it was mostly boring.

 

[zinfamous]

Alright, here we go

The Tree of Life - 8.5/10:
This was definitely nothing like anything I've seen before, it's truly a work of art. I was very cautious going in, and after pondering it for a while, I think I liked it. .....
....

:thumbsup:

I loved this movie. The GF and friend of ours that came with...not so much. I warned them to expect a "brooding, voice-over-driven meditation with little in the way of narrative and/or plot" before going in. Not knowing much about it, I just assumed this going off of what I know and love about Malick. needless to say, that didn't really work for them; esp it being a gorgeous Sunday afternoon at the time.

I'd give it an 9.5/10, and right up there with Thin Red Line as my favorite (but not quite, of course).

They asked me to explain it after we were leaving the theater...and my mind was blank. It's really hard to put into words, because he is so visual. ...and that's really what it is, I think. Malick is one of the very few pure filmmakers out there that truly understands the craft. more than any other filmmaker that I can remember, Malick relies on imagery to craft his story, or his narratives, whatever you want to call them. Film is visual medium, far more than anything, and in this age of loud, subwoofer-driven noise and insanity, I'm glad to see that he's still around to remind us why we watch film. Not for noise, not for 3D tomfoolery, but for quality imagery and craft.

More than his other films, Tree of Life felt very "Jungian" to me--snippets of images, memories, moments used to craft an emotion (think of the father and the son sauntering without direction down their neighborhood street during the summer, the father clasping the feet of the newborn, the boys tussling in the woods, random acts of malicious intent--we all know what this is because we all grew up human).

and to me, that is the central story in all of his films--his message never changes--from life, to death, we are all one, we all share the same pain, the same love, human or animal or plant--it is one giant circle.

My one criticism, and odd because it is probably the main intent of the film--is that the scenes with the dinosaurs and early earth felt a bit forced. Maybe just several minutes too long. I know what he was going with--"this has all happened before, and will continue to happen"--but it still felt a bit long for me.

I actually thought Pitt was more than just tough. His character confounded me for a while, because he was very much a loving father--but the prototypical 50s tough dad--he has no idea how to show it. He firmly believes in the roles that people are expected to play. The mother is to take care of the kids, the kids' role is to respect the father. The father's role is to provide, and to be respected by everyone. But even in his tough and sometimes brutal moments, there were times when he truly loved his boys. Though I think as he aged, he became more bitter and angry and the entire relationship changed.

There was a nice column in The New Yorker several weeks ago about the flame image that he uses for the opening and throughout. It is a piece from some famous light artist of the 50s-70s? I believe he took bended metal forms and added lights at weird angles to create these moving images. Tree of Life is the first time that any of his work has appeared on video--During his life, he refused to let it be recorded, as he felt that the effect was lost when not scene live. Malick received special permission from the estate to record this particular piece for the film.

This seems like Malick's most complete film. He takes the message that he has been presenting film after film, and presents in in a more focused and complete way. I would not be surprised if he retires after this.
By the way, I doubt I will see a better film this year, though I won't be able to recommend Tree of Life to most people. :\ In fact, I told someone this exact thing the other day.

 

[slayer202]

The more I look back on it, and as I watch other movies, the more I appreciate it. Going from the most beautiful, unique, artsy/whimsical/insertadjectivehere directed film I've ever seen to your normal plotted movie is like falling off a cliff. Part of that is probably due partially to the fact that it is just different; How much, I'm not sure, and it doesn't really matter; We won't be seeing a lot of films like this anytime soon, and they wouldn't be as well done. It's very difficult to describe, I feel like I'm rambling. It was quite an experience. I think it would be fair to raise my rating to 9/10. On it's own it might even be a 9.5, but for me, personal preference can shift up or down half a point on any given movie, and here I went down

 

[slayer202]

Beginners - 8/10:
I'm tired so I'll fill this out tomorrow, but until then, Mélanie Laurent, will you marry me? :wub:

 

[pontifex]

Dean Spanley - 9/10 - This is based on a book by one of my favorite authors, Lord Dunsany. It's been awhile since I read the book so I don't quite remember all the details, but certainly met my expectations. The beginning was a little slow to get started but was used to introduce some of our characters and let us get to know them better, which is important to the ending of the story.

 

[JackBurton]

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas - 10/10

Depressing movie, but God damn was it good.

 

[busydude]

The Social Network - 5/10 - some parts were funny but it was mostly boring.

Umm.. the movie was never meant to be funny.

The IT Crowd - 8.5/10

The English(and Irish) can make anything look funny. The story centers around 3 characters; 2 IT workers and a Relationship Manager. There not a single episode that I found to be boring.. the tech references are damn funny. Chris O Dowd's t-shirts are amazing as well. Katherine Parkinson.. was meh at first, but grew on me very fast. The best part of this show is Richard Ayode's character.. he plays the character so perfectly, that it is pretty hard to imagine him in real life.

Can't wait for the 5th(and supposedly final) season.

 

[Barfo]

Despicable Me - 7.5/10: Boy, maybe I'm mildly retarded, but I found this pretty darn funny and enjoyable. I was actually very bored for the first 5-10 minutes and was seriously considering stopping the thing, but after that it really gained steam and became pretty fun. There were a few parts where I laughed very hard out loud and one in-particular that actually caused me to pause the movie because I was laughing so hard

Spoiler

"IT'S SO FLUFFY!!"

. I'm usually not a big fan of cartoon movies, but this one stays pretty ridiculous like a cartoon should and does not try to go too far into serious stuff. Some good gags and laughs and far, far more fun than I ever would have expected.

KT

Hah, I was bored for the first 10 minutes or so same as you. Then it got better, fairly amusing with the occasional very funny moment. The villains are pretty lame, Gru was passable but my favorite were the henchmen.