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

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Locut0s

Lifer
Nov 28, 2001
22,281
43
91
Is Hugo really sentimental? From the trailers I've watched it looks masterfully crafted but it also looks horribly sentimental.
 

slayer202

Lifer
Nov 27, 2005
13,682
119
106
yeah it's "horribly" sentimental :D

I enjoyed that though; not the type of movie I usually watch
 

KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
Administrator
Nov 30, 2005
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well that's a lot to think about.

I liked it. I definitely liked Take Shelter more, but this was pretty different and also quite good. I need to sleep on it before I post my full thoughts though. Thanks for the recommendation

I think I enjoyed the rawness of this one more and the lack of any existential, pseudo-theistic bent like there was in Take Shelter. I do plan on revisiting Take Shelter though as I thik I was just in a mood that day.

Is Hugo really sentimental? From the trailers I've watched it looks masterfully crafted but it also looks horribly sentimental.

I think I'm going to take slayer's challenge on Friday and see it in 3D in the afternoon. :ninja:

KT
 

slayer202

Lifer
Nov 27, 2005
13,682
119
106
I think I enjoyed the rawness of this one more and the lack of any existential, pseudo-theistic bent like there was in Take Shelter. I do plan on revisiting Take Shelter though as I thik I was just in a mood that day.

It was definitely raw, that's for sure. With Take Shelter, your gripe didn't really bother me for whatever reason, even though I think I probably share a similar view on the theme. I'm not too knowledgeable about biblical stories, but I'm guessing shotgun stories has some of the same undertones with the brothers/father angle, but perhaps less upfront. And because Take Shelter was pretty subdued with it until the end, it already sucked me in so I didn't mind the ending.

I think I'm going to take slayer's challenge on Friday and see it in 3D in the afternoon. :ninja:
KT

If you dislike it, I'll reimburse you a streaming movie :p
 

KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
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Nov 30, 2005
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^^ sweet, going to hold you to that! :awe:

Seven Days (Les 7 jours du talion) - 7.5/10: A French film about a doctor who kidnaps the killer of his daughter and keeps him trapped in a cabin, exacting some revenge. Not a bad revenge/torture film that was not too exploitative with the torture stuff. I definitely felt the pain of the Father and while there were a couple of things I found strange, I thought they showed the Father's descent quite well. The lack of a soundtrack/score helped to keep things grounded without getting into torture-porn territory. Could have probably used about 10 minutes trimmed off, but otherwise not a bad film.

KT
 

Locut0s

Lifer
Nov 28, 2001
22,281
43
91
yeah it's "horribly" sentimental :D

I enjoyed that though; not the type of movie I usually watch

*groan* Thanks, now I know to expect that. I don't know about others but I don't like drippy sentimental films. Why is it all the critics go gaga over overly sentimental stuff?
 

KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
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Nov 30, 2005
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*groan* Thanks, now I know to expect that. I don't know about others but I don't like drippy sentimental films. Why is it all the critics go gaga over overly sentimental stuff?

Erm, aren't you the one that loved Grave of the Fireflies? Talk about overly sentimental, cloying claptrap. :whiste: :awe:

KT
 

slayer202

Lifer
Nov 27, 2005
13,682
119
106
^lol

a film whose sole purpose is to be sentimental usually falls flat, and can be really bad. but this is scorsese, who does everything so well, and this just happens to be a sentimental film. when done right, just about any genre can be great. Side note, Kingsley is pretty close to perfect in Hugo
 

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
62,678
11,018
136
Last night, we rented The Help.

Not the best casting, but overall, it was funny as hell. 8/10

I couldn't sleep late last night and watchedThe Philadelphia Experiment (1984) What a fucking turkey. 3/10 is being generous.
 

slayer202

Lifer
Nov 27, 2005
13,682
119
106
Seven Days (Les 7 jours du talion) - 7.5/10:

KT

That's been on my queue almost as long as I've been a netflix subscriber. It's nice seeing reviews of lesser known movies like that. Though it does confirm that it's nothing watch ASAP


Shotgun Stories - 8.5/10:
Sort of a gritty and modern montagues vs capulets; two sets of half brothers start a blood feud after their father dies. Michael Shannon stars, Jeff Nichols directs(and wrote).

By far the best component here is the storytelling. Nichols does a great job at making the viewer understand the lives of his characters, and he does it very quickly and early on. At first I was a little hesitant because I was finding it hard to relate to the situation, but it all opens up once the story gets going.

The movie is a little tough around the edges, I think it was nichols' first movie though, so it's impressive. I think if the dialogue was a bit more refined, same with the score, this could have been really great. But as is, it's still a great story and a solid movie.

Great characters and very good acting, good watch :thumbsup:


Hunger - 7/10:
The infamous, amazing, incredible, omg its so pretty, Steve McQueen debut. :| Fell flat for me. This movie was definitely hyped up too much. For a first time director, like shotgun stories, this is a very valiant effort, and it has some glimpses of greatness, but standing on it's own it has flaws.

It's about Bobby Sands' hunger strike in prison.

I didn't like the pacing and the story seemed too disjointed. There are some very powerful and amazing scenes, hard to watch at times, but the movie just felt off to me. Maybe I don't know enough about the real life events, I'm not sure; The movie surely doesn't explain much. Fassbender is good but there's not enough of him, and I think this is one of his weaker performances(physicality excluded).
 

her209

No Lifer
Oct 11, 2000
56,352
11
0
The Hangover Part II - 5/10
Pretty much the first one with different occurrences that happen in pretty much the same sequence.

True Grit - 8/10
Better than I expected.

Super - 7.5/10
Its better than Kick Ass.
 

her209

No Lifer
Oct 11, 2000
56,352
11
0
Not sure if I rated this one already

Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels - 9/10
I enjoyed it much more than Snatch.
 

TridenT

Lifer
Sep 4, 2006
16,810
45
91
Drive - 8/10.

Why not a 9 or a 10? There were a few movie goofs that really took me out of the movie. Most people will probably not notice, but I did and it's important to me.
Ryan Gosling hijacks the mustang, right? Gloves are on. Turn to another shot, immediately they're off. Now it's the chase scene with the Mustang and Chrysler. Dodging the cars, the cars change between shots. The car they just dodged (An old Yaris maybe?) turns into a Toyota Corolla S. Things like that can really bug me. Another thing: When in the Impalla, he is HAMMERING the hell out of that thing to get it going across the bridge. He never passes the cars that are in front of him. Every time the shot comes back, he is still the same 30ft away from an SUV and some other car. Again, I really like seeing the speed and not just assuming it. I understand this is beyond what most movies can do, but at least make me believe it's really happening with the visuals. When he drops the gear and makes it seem like he is really starting to go, the visuals do not match it. I was like, "Ok, it sounds like he is really revving. But he is not going anywhere..."
However, this has one of the BEST soundtracks I have heard. It also has a pretty decent story. A lot of people will not like this movie, but I understood it. It has elements of a modern western hero movie.
 
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TechBoyJK

Lifer
Oct 17, 2002
16,701
60
91
The Skin I Live In 9/10

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1189073/

MV5BMjMwOTYyNDY4NV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNDI1ODk0Ng@@._V1._SY317_.jpg


Possibly the best movie I have ever seen. It's messed up from the beginning, but about halfway through takes a turn that will make most people cringe and second guess all the thoughts they had leading up to the 'twist'.

It's in spanish/Portuguese, but if you can find it with English subtitles, go for it.

NAOW!
 
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KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
Administrator
Nov 30, 2005
50,235
117
116
Election 2 (Hak se wui yi wo wai kwai) - 6/10: The follow-up to the original film about a Triad going through their election. This one starts up two years after the end of the first film and has most of the same characters, but for some reason I found this one far less interesting. It lacked the humour and the discovery in the first film and while I did still like some of the players here, I found the changes in their characters to be kind of lacking and uninteresting. It still had some solid moments, but is nowhere near the film the first one was.

Hugo - 7/10: This is a tale of two films for me. It was half one of my favourite films of the year and half boring slog that almost put me to sleep. The first half of the film honestly almost had me to the point where I was going to walk out; it was boring, humourless, and uninteresting, and I found myself nearly nodding off in certain parts. Fortunately the film takes a turn about half way through and becomes an amazing, engaging journey into the history of film making. It was not until this part that I started to feel anything for the characters and became engaged with the film. By the end I was in love with this part of the story and it even got dusty in a couple of spots; the latter half did redeem the film to me, I just wish the first half had not been so abysmal.

Shame - 4.5/10: By far my biggest disappointment of the year so far. I loved both Fassbender and Mulligan in their roles, they truly were amazing, but everything surrounding them, aside form a few standout scenes, did not work for me at all. Fassbender is awesome as the sex-addicted Brandon, a very subtle performance, that exudes the pain and frustration he feels as a result of the addiction. Brandon's wreck of a Sister, Sissy, is an interesting foil to Fassbender and is done brilliantly by Mulligan (my favourite parts of the film are when the two of them are together). The problem is the script seems to flounder around without a real purpose and not delivering on any of the things it is trying to say or do. There were some long, quite scenes that were supposed to impact you, but did nothing but look really nice. I'm not sure what happened with the script here, but it felt really misshapen to me and so as far as I'm concerned the only reason to see this film is to see the performances of those two actors, as there is little else going on.

KT
 

KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
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Nov 30, 2005
50,235
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Yeah, but I don't care. I liked the movie a lot.. also KT does not like animes. :awe: It is a different sort of a war movie.

It's not that I dislike anime, it's just that I need my cartoons to be full of interesting things; they should be bombastic, fun, and full of interesting things. I liked Paprika and some of he Miyazaki stuff, I just hate cartoons that are overly earnest and try to be emotional. I cannot connect emotionally to a cartoon, so it's just a waste of time.

That's been on my queue almost as long as I've been a netflix subscriber. It's nice seeing reviews of lesser known movies like that. Though it does confirm that it's nothing watch ASAP


Shotgun Stories - 8.5/10:
Sort of a gritty and modern montagues vs capulets; two sets of half brothers start a blood feud after their father dies. Michael Shannon stars, Jeff Nichols directs(and wrote).

By far the best component here is the storytelling. Nichols does a great job at making the viewer understand the lives of his characters, and he does it very quickly and early on. At first I was a little hesitant because I was finding it hard to relate to the situation, but it all opens up once the story gets going.

The movie is a little tough around the edges, I think it was nichols' first movie though, so it's impressive. I think if the dialogue was a bit more refined, same with the score, this could have been really great. But as is, it's still a great story and a solid movie.

Great characters and very good acting, good watch :thumbsup:


Hunger - 7/10:
The infamous, amazing, incredible, omg its so pretty, Steve McQueen debut. :| Fell flat for me. This movie was definitely hyped up too much. For a first time director, like shotgun stories, this is a very valiant effort, and it has some glimpses of greatness, but standing on it's own it has flaws.

It's about Bobby Sands' hunger strike in prison.

I didn't like the pacing and the story seemed too disjointed. There are some very powerful and amazing scenes, hard to watch at times, but the movie just felt off to me. Maybe I don't know enough about the real life events, I'm not sure; The movie surely doesn't explain much. Fassbender is good but there's not enough of him, and I think this is one of his weaker performances(physicality excluded).

Glad you liked Shotgun Stories, I freaking love that movie!

I've yet to watch Hunger myself and after your review plus seeing Shame, there is a chance I may just skip it. :\

KT
 

KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
Administrator
Nov 30, 2005
50,235
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116
Drive - 8/10.

Why not a 9 or a 10? There were a few movie goofs that really took me out of the movie. Most people will probably not notice, but I did and it's important to me.
Ryan Gosling hijacks the mustang, right? Gloves are on. Turn to another shot, immediately they're off. Now it's the chase scene with the Mustang and Chrysler. Dodging the cars, the cars change between shots. The car they just dodged (An old Yaris maybe?) turns into a Toyota Corolla S. Things like that can really bug me. Another thing: When in the Impalla, he is HAMMERING the hell out of that thing to get it going across the bridge. He never passes the cars that are in front of him. Every time the shot comes back, he is still the same 30ft away from an SUV and some other car. Again, I really like seeing the speed and not just assuming it. I understand this is beyond what most movies can do, but at least make me believe it's really happening with the visuals. When he drops the gear and makes it seem like he is really starting to go, the visuals do not match it. I was like, "Ok, it sounds like he is really revving. But he is not going anywhere..."
However, this has one of the BEST soundtracks I have heard. It also has a pretty decent story. A lot of people will not like this movie, but I understood it. It has elements of a modern western hero movie.

I did not notice any of those things; I was so wrapped up in the story and the characters, that all of those smaller things fell by the wayside. I would say that the minor editing and narrative details are not a problem of the film, they are going to happen, but not having a compelling enough story to distract you from those details certainly is. Fortunately for me it was not a problem.

KT
 

slayer202

Lifer
Nov 27, 2005
13,682
119
106
I still plan on seeing Shame, though after reading your review I'm not expecting anything too different from Hunger. I'll let you know how they compare.
 

KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
Administrator
Nov 30, 2005
50,235
117
116
Yeah, please do. I like Fassbender a lot, so I'm tempted to watch Hunger regardless, but I'm interested to hear what you think of Shame. Seems to be generally positive reviews out there.

KT
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
1,377
126
I did not notice any of those things; I was so wrapped up in the story and the characters, that all of those smaller things fell by the wayside. I would say that the minor editing and narrative details are not a problem of the film, they are going to happen, but not having a compelling enough story to distract you from those details certainly is. Fortunately for me it was not a problem.

KT

Yeah it depends on the details and the viewer. Whatever you do in your daily life, if you saw a movie that butchered it, you'd probably get taken out of the film.

With Drive, the primary thing that stood out to me were two scenes ..

The Mustang 5.0 GT vs. Chrysler 300C was incredibly ridiculous. That GT would have been gone so damned fast (particularly with a good driver like that) that the scene wouldn't have really even happened. They should have chosen a Charger SRT8 or something at least in the universe of believability.

The other was where he takes his old car and rams a car at a speed high enough to make it fly 50+ feet through the air, yet when he gets out of his car, it's unblemished, headlights still blazing. But I could buy that a tiny bit if this is some realm of magical realism or whatever, where the protagonist isn't entirely human or something. But that explanation doesn't jibe with that pile of crap 300 keeping up with a 412hp GT.

I really liked most of Drive though, and I love the director. His work on Valhalla Rising was supremely good. I think he excels with characters, but not technology or set pieces.
 

KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
Administrator
Nov 30, 2005
50,235
117
116
Yeah it depends on the details and the viewer. Whatever you do in your daily life, if you saw a movie that butchered it, you'd probably get taken out of the film.

With Drive, the primary thing that stood out to me were two scenes ..

The Mustang 5.0 GT vs. Chrysler 300C was incredibly ridiculous. That GT would have been gone so damned fast (particularly with a good driver like that) that the scene wouldn't have really even happened. They should have chosen a Charger SRT8 or something at least in the universe of believability.

The other was where he takes his old car and rams a car at a speed high enough to make it fly 50+ feet through the air, yet when he gets out of his car, it's unblemished, headlights still blazing. But I could buy that a tiny bit if this is some realm of magical realism or whatever, where the protagonist isn't entirely human or something. But that explanation doesn't jibe with that pile of crap 300 keeping up with a 412hp GT.

I really liked most of Drive though, and I love the director. His work on Valhalla Rising was supremely good. I think he excels with characters, but not technology or set pieces.

Well considering Refn does not drive and has never driven, he did a convincing job, to my untrained eye, of setting the scene. I do agree he is more about characters; maybe having a consultant to help with those minor details may have reduced those quibbles you guys have, but of course they were very limited in both time and funds for this film, so it may not have been an option.

KT
 
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