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

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Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
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81
Hachi A Dog's Tale

Zap's rating 8/10

Loosely based on a true story (characters and setting changed) about a dog who waited at the train station every day after work for his master. One day his master died and did not return. The dog remained faithful and every day for the rest of his life, he waited for his master at the train station.

Original story happened in Japan. This movie was set in the USA with Richard Gere playing the master.

Couple of literary devices to drive the early plot along distracted from the movie, but once that was past, the rest was very enjoyable. A real tearjerker.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
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For those who dont know, Sports Night is now on streaming Netflix.
It may look dated now but it was very advanced when it came out. Much more intricate than contemporary shows. It probably changed the face of television in the new millennium. Most folks forgot about it because of The West Wing. But it was very important at the time. It lit a fire under NBC and made them take Aaron Sorkin seriously. They were fucking around with getting West Wing started and Sorkin decided to do Sports Night to kill time.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
52,834
5,713
126
In Time - 4/5

watched it w/my wife last night and we really liked it. i just like the whole premise behind it all and the concept of it. i also liked how it really can relate to the current world we live in, with the majority of people living day to day.

timberlake is starting to really be able to act. he did a great job. there was 1 extremely bad ass scene with him as well towards the end, which the audience actually applauded after. his mom in the movie is extremely hot too (olivia wylde).
 

KeithTalent

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Nov 30, 2005
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Was home sick all weekend, so skipped the theatre and fired up:

Star Wars: The Complete Saga (episodes 1-6) Blu-ray: I watched these in the order Lucas, I suppose, intended, so starting with Phantom Menace and ending with Jedi. This was actually the first time I had seen Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, the latter being pretty enjoyable and the former being an absolute slog. It's amazing how much of the fun and humour from the original trilogy was completely lacking from the prequels.

I remembered enjoying parts of Phantom Menace, but overall disliking Jake Lloyd and JarJar to the point they kind of ruined the film for me and wow, they were even more painful to watch this time around. I have no doubt that this particular film was 100% designed for kids, but good lord, the writing and dialogue was so freaking clunky, it was excruciating. Really Liam Neesons was the only bearable character in this. I also like Darth Maul a lot and some of the action was still pretty freaking awesome, but anything with the stupid kid and/or JarJar was painful.

Attack of the Clones needed to remove the entire love story; it was so hackneyed and forced that it never felt believable. I actually did not mind the other parts of the story that were happening (the Obi-wan investigation) but every time it cut to Anakin in any way, I pretty much tuned out because he was god awful.

Revenge of the Sith actually held the most enjoyment for me out of these three films since it was a little bit darker, plus you eventually get to see Anakin get his limbs cut off and his body melted, which he deserved after being such an annoying prick through all of these films. Ewan McGregor was at his best here and while I ever really bought Anakin's love for Padme (or her love in return to be honest) nor his transformation to the dark side, I did like some of the stuff with the emperor and the overall idea of how it all came to be was kind of cool. It was just executed quite poorly.

Star Wars is probably the film I have seen the most out of the entire hexalogy and re-watching it again did not disappoint. It is interesting watching these next three films again after just watching the prequels. There is a lot of stuff referenced back and forth, not all of it smoothly, so it makes it a little more work on the brain as I tried to catch things. I also noticed several things that looked different from how I remembered them, so I was constantly second guessing whether I had just forgotten how things were when I last saw the film, or if they were new. I'll have to listen with the commentary at some point.

The Empire Strikes Back is still by far my favourite film of the series; re-watching it now did nothing to dissuade this. So many awesome moments right from the very beginning on Hoth, to the cloud city, Jabba's palace, etc. Definitely the pinnacle of the series and one I plan on re-watching again soon.

Return of the Jedi. I know a lot of people bitch about the Ewoks, but I'd be lying if I said I did not find myself chuckling at their antics here and there. Sure, this film does not have the heft of the first two films and it is somewhat clunkier in its composition, but there is a lot of fun stuff here and I had a smile on my face through good chunks of the movie. I had no idea Lucas ditched the Yub Nub song at the end. Not a happy camper: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np6vAuS0KNs&fmt=18 :colbert:

The films all looked and sounded great on Blu-ray. There are some dated things, well really from all of the films, but they are forgivable. I was amazed at how awesome much of the puppetry was in the early films, I wish there had been more of it in the prequels.

So my final ranking would go: Episode 5>4>6>>>3>>1>2

KT
 

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
670
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The Warrior's Way - 7/10 (Netflix streaming) silly ninja movie set mostly in the Old West after the Civil War, with both ninjas and an evil ex-army colonel as bad guys. It was dumb, harmless fun if you don't think about it too hard. Bonus: Kate Bosworth is looking good as a redhead.

Army of Shadows - 9/10 (Netflix streaming) - I actually watched this B&W French film about the WW2 French resistance on DVD a year or two ago but notice it's on streaming now too. Recommended if you want to see how inaccurate the stereotypes about the French are. It's slow by modern standards but is a good drama.
 

KeithTalent

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Nov 30, 2005
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Army of Shadows - 9/10 (Netflix streaming) - I actually watched this B&W French film about the WW2 French resistance on DVD a year or two ago but notice it's on streaming now too. Recommended if you want to see how inaccurate the stereotypes about the French are. It's slow by modern standards but is a good drama.


Awesome movie. I reviewed it here a while back.

KT
 

slayer202

Lifer
Nov 27, 2005
13,682
119
106
^ I've got the blu, but who knows when I'll get to it lol

Also, embarrassingly, i've never seen any of the star wars movies, outside of small clips here and there. I'm not much of a sci-fi fan but I do need to check out the old ones if I want to respect myself as a film lover
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
1,377
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^ I've got the blu, but who knows when I'll get to it lol

Also, embarrassingly, i've never seen any of the star wars movies, outside of small clips here and there. I'm not much of a sci-fi fan but I do need to check out the old ones if I want to respect myself as a film lover

Yeah the first three, particularly ESB, are pretty iconic and must-see material.

You can comfortably skip the prequels, they're uniformly terrible, and a monumental waste of talent and possibility. They cheapen the experience of the first films if anything, so I would put it like the Matrix turned out : if you watch only the first one and skip the terrible sequels, it's a classic.
 

KeithTalent

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I don't think they really soil anything and there are interesting things scattered throughout the prequels. I really, really wish Lucas had done what he said he originally intended, which was to direct the first one, then have others direct the next two (like he did with the original trilogy). But yeah if you have not seen any of the films, I definitely agree with seeing the original trilogy first then seeing the prequels if you really liked those. They do not compare, but there are enough little cool bits here and there to make the prequels worth seeing at least once, after seeing and liking the original films.

KT
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
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I feel like a single fairly decent film could be made out of the prequels. Edit out most of Anakin's whining, all of the Jar-Jar garbage, all of the terrible attempts at romance, and you might have a good 2-3 hours of jedi fights and stuff blowing up.
 

KeithTalent

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True true. I was actually saying to a friend yesterday that they should just edit out all of the Anakin stuff from the three films (and JarJar of course) and it would be an awesome movie. Kind of sad considering that is the entire point of the trilogy. :D

KT
 

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
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That's why the Bioware and Obsidian Star Wars KotOR RPGs were so good -- better writing than Lucas', no Annakin or JarJar, no tortured attempts to resolve inconsistencies and link events together, and you got to carve bad people up with your lightsaber :)
 

KeithTalent

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I've heard The Clone Wars cartoons are decent too. I really liked KOTOR, a lot.

It's a shame. I actually would be very interested to see someone else make more films in that universe, but without Lucas meddling around in everything. Maybe way in the future someone will take over his estate and be able to do sequels, or preferably entirely new films with new characters in that same universe. There is some fun and interesting stuff to be had here, but it seems Lucas is unable to explore the universe in that way.

KT
 

busydude

Diamond Member
Feb 5, 2010
8,793
5
76
Breaking Bad - S1 & S2 9.5/10 S3 - 8/10

Fantastic series.. I have to say. Season 1 and Season 2 are perfect.. it has a got a perfect mix of everything conceivable. But season 3 gets a bit muddled... I can see that the director lost a bit of focus during the middle part of the 3rd season.

These things I felt were out of place.. maybe someone will help clear it up. I haven't watched the 4th season yet.. probably that will explain some points (?).

After Hank punches Jesse when Hank gets frustrated that he could not arrest Jesse. In the hospital, Jesse talks about how he makes Hank and his family suffer.. blah blah and all that. Jesse acts like a total bad ass, but he isn't. That kinda surprised me.. and in a bad way. I was scratching my head and rolling my eyes.

Hank's wife acts likes a total stuck up bitch(by far the weakest character of the series) after seeing Gomez. He yells at him for failing as a partner. Well no shit dumb bitch, he got promoted and was transferred to El Paso. Felt absolutely irrelevant.

Also, why did Walter force his son to drink? Was he afraid and frustrated that his son sees Hank.. rather than himself, as a role model?

And.. god those two Mexican assassin twins... they seem to be inspired by Javier Bardem's character from No Country for Old Men. And I did not like their character AT ALL. Felt extremely cliched and uninspired.

Why did Saul Goodman side with Walter.. I mean he clearly knows Gus is more powerful and has more influence than Walter. He is portrayed as shady and extremely unethical lawyer. Why would he side with Walter and Jesse? Did he have a change of heart? He knows he will be dead if Gus knows that he misled Mike. Seems to kind of defy logic considering how opportunistic Saul Goodman is.

Having said that, the final two episodes were pretty bad ass.. and saves the 3rd season from becoming a muddled affair.
 

KeithTalent

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Nov 30, 2005
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I watched the first few episodes of that show quite a while back and while I thought t was very good, I have not gone back to it yet for some reason. I'll need to grab the seasons and watch them all together. So many things to watch!

KT
 

slayer202

Lifer
Nov 27, 2005
13,682
119
106
the AMC shows get on my nerves. I tried watching Mad Men, but I couldn't get into it. The Walking Dead was good, but nowhere close to great. People will eat up anything with zombies and some half-badass characters(the characters suck).

Breaking Bad is by far the best of the bunch, but it's still over-rated. It's a very good show but some of it is pretty terrible as well. I haven't even watched this latest season, not much of an urge to get started. I'll probably sit down and watch it all one weekend.


Anyway, this damn east coast storm has been a huge pain in the ass. More power-outage for me. Been without power since Saturday. Not expecting to get it back until tomorrow at the earliest, maybe even later. Who the hell knows. It's amazing how unprepared we are for any type of disaster/destruction.

Haven't been able to watch much, though I caught some of The Shining at my gf's place. I've mentioned that I love the first half way more than the second, but it's growing on me.

Also watched

[Rec] - 7/10:
I've seen Quarantine, can't really remember if I liked it or not. I guess that in itself is some indication. This version was pretty good. The girl was quite nice to look at :) She was definitely better than dexter's sister/wife. From what I remember, the two movies are pretty much exactly the same, but I'm sure this one is better every way.
 

thedarkwolf

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 1999
9,000
109
106
Breaking Bad season 3 was weak but it gets pretty damn good again during season 4.

I couldn't do Mad Men either.
 

TheNinja

Lifer
Jan 22, 2003
12,207
1
0
The Warrior's Way - 7/10 (Netflix streaming) silly ninja movie set mostly in the Old West after the Civil War, with both ninjas and an evil ex-army colonel as bad guys. It was dumb, harmless fun if you don't think about it too hard. Bonus: Kate Bosworth is looking good as a redhead.

When I read this on Wiki, it's all I needed to read to know it would be an epic movie!

"The carnies *possible spoilers removed* the bloodshed between the outlaw cowboys and ninja warriors *removed*."

carnies....bloodshed...outlaw cowboys....ninja warriors!
 

Via

Diamond Member
Jan 14, 2009
4,695
4
0
Three Days Later - A jailbreak thriller about a guy determined to bust out his wife, who may or may not have been wrongly convicted of murder. After all appeals fail he decides to take matters into his own hands.

Generates considerable tension, but not always of the good variety. You'll probably have trouble resisting the urge to yell "GET MOVING YOU DUMBASSES" at your TV screen more than once.

Still - The movie does a good job of keeping you guessing about the outcome, and it made me feel something at least; by the end of it I was pretty wrung out.

6.5/10
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
136
We get IFC, but not in HD and not on demand as far as I can tell, but it could just be my cable provider. :hmm: I'll have to give them a call.


The Rules of Attraction - 6/10: An interesting, sometimes fun, but overall pretty sloppy film. Apparently this is based on a book, but the style of the film was sort of based on Tarantino's style and as such tries several style tricks; some work and some are just annoying. There are several good parts, mainly revolving around Van Der Beek and his various exploits, plus one side story involving some random guy that really does not play into anything and is just a bit of comedic relief or something. Unfortunately there are also several nonsensical bits that annoyed me or were just plain stupid (the gay guy's storyline was actually pretty silly and the choices he made were ludicrous). So yeah, not awful as I expected and it had some generally good, fun moments.
KT

Aside from the excellent nudity, that movie was fucking stupid. I'll have to assume the book was better.
Did you see the R version or NC-17?
 

PrayForDeath

Diamond Member
Apr 12, 2004
3,489
0
76
Aside from the excellent nudity, that movie was fucking stupid. I'll have to assume the book was better.
Did you see the R version or NC-17?

Was gonna skip this movie, but thanks to you my opinion just took a 180. I know what I'm watching this weekend :awe:
 

KeithTalent

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Nov 30, 2005
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Aside from the excellent nudity, that movie was fucking stupid. I'll have to assume the book was better.
Did you see the R version or NC-17?

NC-17. Yes, it is stupid, but I kind of liked Van Der Beek's storlyine; unfortunately there is a tonne of dumb shit in it and I likely did slightly overrate it, but I thought it was a sort of interesting watch.

KT
 

Locut0s

Lifer
Nov 28, 2001
22,281
43
91
Aside from the excellent nudity, that movie was fucking stupid. I'll have to assume the book was better.
Did you see the R version or NC-17?

That's what porn is for soft or hard. I hate bad films that seem to have nudity in them just to garner more viewers. It just makes them seem all the more tacky and stupid. Which isn't to say you can't have sex and nudity in a good film!
 
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