List some movies you've watched recently. Theatre, rental, TV...

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purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
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The Social Network - 10/10

Watched this w/my wife last night and i really REALLY enjoyed it. i don't use facebook at all and dont even have an account, but i don't hate the site either. regardless of that though, the movie was really well done. loved every minute of it. i tihnk my favorite part was all the nerd talk at the beginning of the movie, because it was legit nerd talk, not fake like on CSI or 24.
 

KeithTalent

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Nov 30, 2005
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So my Alien Anthology Blu-ray boxed set arrived on Thursday. Today, I watched all four films in succession:

Alien (theatrical cut) - 9.5/10
: Amazing. This is just such a great sci-fi/horror film; tonnes of suspense with a focus on atmosphere, not just a lot of alien shots and blood & guts, which seemed to plague a couple of the other films. The scary parts are scary when they need to be, but. Plus Jones has a big part and he's awesome. The film looks and sounds better than I've ever seen it with the new Blu transfer. Excellent stuff; I could watch this again right now.

Aliens (special edition) - 6.5/10
: Damn, this does not really hold up very well at all. It's still pretty good, with some good action parts (Cameron's strength) but with a tonne of one-dimensional, stereotypical characters (Cameron's most glaring weakness). It had a been a few years since I last watched this and it seems to lose something every time I see it. Most of the alien sequences are still great and I like Ripley as a character, but most of the other character scenes were pretty flat. I did love Lance Henricksen, he could have been on screen a lot more in my opinion. Looked and sounded great though.

Alien 3 (special edition) - 4/10: The weakest of the series by a long shot and not just because of the horrendous CGI (really, it's horrendous in many parts). The story is very poor, the characters are weak, and most of the horror and impending doom is completely missing from the film. I did kind of like the relationship between Ripley and Clemens, but once Clemens is removed from the equation, that whole element goes away and the rest of the characters are boring, including Ripley for the most part as the writing in this stinks. Extremely disappointing.

Alien: Resurrection (theatrical cut) - 8/10: So yeah, I thought this was pretty freaking awesome. The characters here seem to succeed in doing what Cameron was trying to do in the second film; I obviously credit Joss Whedon's writing here since the characters bring in humour without being obnoxious (I'M LOOKING AT YOU BILL PAXTON!!) and I actually cared what happened to more people than just Ripley, which is what happened in the second and third films. I also liked the dynamic of Ripley being a hybrid human/alien, it made her even more badass. There are a few sloppy parts, but overall I kind of loved it. Definitely will be watching this one again soon as well.

KT
 

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,240
5,810
126
Splice 4/10--Movie is annoying to watch. Starts out in a stylish Hackers-esque way with Scientists, lots of simulations graphics, Rock Star success, and frustrations until the last option works. Then it begins, these Rock Star Scientists begin making one stupid choice after another like a couple of idiot Teens not giving a second thought to what they were doing or going to do the next minute. Eventually, sometime during the last half, it begins to get somewhat interesting, but not enough to make it worthwhile.

RT Reviewers gave this a 70+% Rating, RT Users gave it a 39%. I side more with the Users on this one.
 

KeithTalent

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Amores Perros - 8.5/10: Alejandro González Iñárritu's first film (the guy that did 21 Grams, Babel, and Biutiful) and probably his best film, though Biutiful is pretty amazing. This follows different groups of people with all of their stories are interconnected through various means; all dealing with love and loss in some way. This is really a beautiful film that touches on so many aspects of human relationships in very touching and sometimes painful ways and is the first film where I did not hate Gael Garcia Bernal. There were a lot of dogs in this film and they actually tie everythign together in a lot of ways, which I thought was very interesting, though some of the scenes with them were tough for me to watch. Anyway, very impressive film.

Waiting For Guffman - 7/10: Christopher Guests mockumentary about a tiny theatre production in a small town in Missouri, preparing a play for the town's 150th anniversary. I liked this, but I did not laugh out loud as much as I did in Best In Show, which remains my favourite Guest mockumentary. The characters are all great, particularly Guest himself as Corky St. Clair, the flamboyantly gay director, but I just felt as if many of the jokes were amusing, but not laugh out loud funny. I sure do love Parker Posey though, I could watch her in anything. :wub: It was fun overall, but it was no Best in Show.

Centurion - 7.5/10: Neil Marshall's fourth film (he did The Descent and Doomsday, both films I enjoyed) about some Roman soldiers, led by my new man-crush Michael Fassbender, stuck behind enemy lines in Scotland after a slaughter at the hands of the indigenous Picts and their attempts to return back to their army. I was a bit owrried about this film in the beginning as it tried to set up some historical context; it was kind of boring and a bit hard to follow, but after about the first 15 minutes this essentially becomes a chase film and is pretty damn awesome. The Roman soldiers are hunted by the super hot mute Pict played by Olga Kurylenko and it is a fun, exciting (and very bloody!) journey. The end was kind of abrupt and not very good, but the ride there was pretty fun. If not for the beginning and end of the film I would ave rated this higher, but the middle parts, which is the brunt of the movie, did well enough for me. Also had a great, though not as long as I would have hoped, turn by Jimmy McNulty for all The Wire fans out there.

KT
 

KeithTalent

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Nov 30, 2005
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Winter's Bone - D:/10
I really do not understand the appeal of this movie.
they're gonna take my house if daddy doesn't show. you better not go looking for him! Go see this person, and then see little aurthur and then thump but he won't see you but see him anyway. I told you not to go looking, what do we do now. they're gonna take my house if daddy doesn't show. Ok here are his arms, now you can keep the house and have some money. yay
I thought the plot was terrible and I didn't care about the characters at all. I didn't like the directing or the camera work. wtf was with the fat old cowboy dude with that leather jacket? that whole scene was just silly. I didn't get any feeling of tension or anticipation at all. I thought John Hawkes was good but no one else, including Jennifer Lawrence. There were maybe 5 minutes of the movie where I was interested, but I was so dissapointed in this

Oh man, I thought this film was pretty great. The sense of desperation as she searches everywhere for her Father yet only seems to encounter obstacles and very scary people set against this bleak landscape, which is captured very well by the camera. I felt the desperation and admired the toughness of the girl as she remained her families only hope in this desperate situation.

To each his own though.

KT
 

Homerboy

Lifer
Mar 1, 2000
30,859
4,976
126
Centurion at 7.5 I think is spot-on. I watched this a while ago, so my memory is a bit fuzzy on it. I didn't care too much for the Spartacus Blood & Sand-esque blood "spurts" and such. It just looks cheesey to me.

I like the movie though. Just a good guy-flick. And yes, Olga Kurylenko.... yummy.
 

KeithTalent

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Centurion at 7.5 I think is spot-on. I watched this a while ago, so my memory is a bit fuzzy on it. I didn't care too much for the Spartacus Blood & Sand-esque blood "spurts" and such. It just looks cheesey to me.

I like the movie though. Just a good guy-flick. And yes, Olga Kurylenko.... yummy.

It's the digital/CGI blood. Unfortunately it's very obvious in parts and in a film like this I would prefer actual squibs, or whatever practical effects.

KT
 

Homerboy

Lifer
Mar 1, 2000
30,859
4,976
126
It's the digital/CGI blood. Unfortunately it's very obvious in parts and in a film like this I would prefer actual squibs, or whatever practical effects.

KT

Exactly. In a show like Blood and Sand, or 300 fine, as they have that Graphic Novel approach to them. Centurion was filmed no differently than a Gladiator, so the CGI stuff seemed way outta place.

In closing, Olga Kurylenko.
 

gimmewhitecastles

Golden Member
Mar 2, 2005
1,834
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The Princess Bride - 6/10
I wanted to watch this because a lot of people say there are some great lines in this movie. I chuckled at a couple scenes but overall fell a little flat to me. 80's humor didn't really age well. I guess this was meant to be a kid's film so maybe I was expecting a little too much.

Do The Right Thing - 6.5/10
Spike Lee's first feature film about the happenings in a Brooklyn neighborhood and the racial tensions that surface. Besides some of the well known actors, the acting of a large majority of the populace was incredibly atrocious. And Rosie Perez was annoying as usual. It felt like Spike Lee strung together a whole bunch of caricatures/stereotypes to take it over the top. But Lee did a good job in setting up the tension that eventually boiled over in the end.
 

Homerboy

Lifer
Mar 1, 2000
30,859
4,976
126
The Princess Bride - 6/10
I wanted to watch this because a lot of people say there are some great lines in this movie. I chuckled at a couple scenes but overall fell a little flat to me. 80's humor didn't really age well. I guess this was meant to be a kid's film so maybe I was expecting a little too much.

Do The Right Thing - 6.5/10
Spike Lee's first feature film about the happenings in a Brooklyn neighborhood and the racial tensions that surface. Besides some of the well known actors, the acting of a large majority of the populace was incredibly atrocious. And Rosie Perez was annoying as usual. It felt like Spike Lee strung together a whole bunch of caricatures/stereotypes to take it over the top. But Lee did a good job in setting up the tension that eventually boiled over in the end.

Do the right thing does NOT age well. Not at all.
At the time though, it was an incredible movie. Really a 1st of its kind. (agreed 200% on Perez).
 

slayer202

Lifer
Nov 27, 2005
13,679
119
106
Oh man, I thought this film was pretty great. The sense of desperation as she searches everywhere for her Father yet only seems to encounter obstacles and very scary people set against this bleak landscape, which is captured very well by the camera. I felt the desperation and admired the toughness of the girl as she remained her families only hope in this desperate situation.

To each his own though.

KT

I didn't feel the emotion for whatever reason. Maybe because I was eating an awesome pork gyro and might have been distracted, I'm not sure. I found myself laughing at things rather than feeling the darkness of the movie
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
Alien 3 (special edition) - 4/10: The weakest of the series by a long shot and not just because of the horrendous CGI (really, it's horrendous in many parts). The story is very poor, the characters are weak, and most of the horror and impending doom is completely missing from the film. I did kind of like the relationship between Ripley and Clemens, but once Clemens is removed from the equation, that whole element goes away and the rest of the characters are boring, including Ripley for the most part as the writing in this stinks. Extremely disappointing.

Alien: Resurrection (theatrical cut) - 8/10: So yeah, I thought this was pretty freaking awesome. The characters here seem to succeed in doing what Cameron was trying to do in the second film; I obviously credit Joss Whedon's writing here since the characters bring in humour without being obnoxious (I'M LOOKING AT YOU BILL PAXTON!!) and I actually cared what happened to more people than just Ripley, which is what happened in the second and third films. I also liked the dynamic of Ripley being a hybrid human/alien, it made her even more badass. There are a few sloppy parts, but overall I kind of loved it. Definitely will be watching this one again soon as well.

KT

Hmm I ignored the last two Aliens films because I heard they weren't that great after the second one. I guess I'll have to check out the others.

One thing that I have noticed as a bit of a trend in sci-fi movies is that if the first one is a survival horror, then the second movie will almost always be a more action oriented film. You have the terminator series, the alien series (although Aliens is still somewhat more survival horror) and the series I watched last weekend... the Chronicles of Riddick. Although, I think the biggest change would probably go to Riddick... Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick barely even felt like they were in a series.
 

KeithTalent

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Nov 30, 2005
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Hmm I ignored the last two Aliens films because I heard they weren't that great after the second one. I guess I'll have to check out the others.

One thing that I have noticed as a bit of a trend in sci-fi movies is that if the first one is a survival horror, then the second movie will almost always be a more action oriented film. You have the terminator series, the alien series (although Aliens is still somewhat more survival horror) and the series I watched last weekend... the Chronicles of Riddick. Although, I think the biggest change would probably go to Riddick... Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick barely even felt like they were in a series.

Hmm, good point, I never really thought about it that way. I am definitely more of a fan of the survival horror style, which is why, for me it goes Alien > Aliens and T1 > T2.

KT
 

Hopeless

Golden Member
Oct 29, 2004
1,426
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GI Joe 5/10 : Nothing really special. Just a action / guy movie.

The man from earth 5.5 or 6 /10 : I remember someone reviewed it earlier in the thread and noticed it on netflix streaming. Overall I liked it.

Moon 6.5 or 7 /10 : I can't think of much to say except I liked it and I think Sam Rockwell was very good in it.

Ink ?/10 : Gave this a shot. For some reason I just couldn't get into it and ended up moving on to something else.
 
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Wordplay

Golden Member
Jun 28, 2010
1,318
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Angels With Dirty Faces 8/10 - I watched it because I was looking for the gangster film in Home Alone. :p Thought it was pretty good even with some 3 stooges like slapping going on throughout the movie.
Watching Rocky not get shot with is wide opening shooting stance is funny to watch.
 

BurnItDwn

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
26,169
1,643
126
Angels With Dirty Faces 8/10 - I watched it because I was looking for the gangster film in Home Alone. :p Thought it was pretty good even with some 3 stooges like slapping going on throughout the movie.
Watching Rocky not get shot with is wide opening shooting stance is funny to watch.

Awesome film! Cagney really impressed me when I saw this, and Bogart kicks ass. (Saw this on TCM a while ago when they were having Bogart Month or something like that...)
 

legcramp

Golden Member
May 31, 2005
1,671
113
116
The Man from Earth 8.5/10 - I really really enjoyed this movie, after hearing and reading things about it I gave it a shot. I could not stop watching!
 

HamburgerBoy

Lifer
Apr 12, 2004
27,111
318
126
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

I thought it was decent and that the ending was a strong enough twist, but my brother predicted it in about fifteen minutes, so I must have set my standards low or something. 5/10.
 
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KeithTalent

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Nov 30, 2005
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Rebel Without A Cause - 4.5/10: Did not really enjoy this very much at all. I thought the acting and dialogue was pretty poor and a few of the characters were very annoying, or even creepy. I got very bored with this about 20 minutes in or so and kind of tuned out for a while. I did love the chicken/drag race part (
when the guy drove off the cliff I exploded with laughter; that was awesome)
but how things progressed and more importantly how quickly they progressed afterward really made no sense to me. I'd always wanted to see this, but I was very disppointed.

Kid With The Golden Arm (Jin bei tong) - 6.5??/10: Really hard to rate this one. I had fun with it, but it is certainly not a "good" movie. The action was cool and there was a lot of it, but everything esle was pretty damn cheezy. That said, this movie seems to be all about the fighting and the fighting was pretty damn awesome. I also really liked the main guy (I don't remember anyone's name, but the drunk guy); he kind of reminded me of Mifune's character in Yojimbo, which is a favourite of mine. Good times overall and I'm looking forward to the other ones that were recommended to me.

KT
 

KeithTalent

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Nov 30, 2005
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The Man from Earth 8.5/10 - I really really enjoyed this movie, after hearing and reading things about it I gave it a shot. I could not stop watching!

I've been trying to track a copy of the Criterion Blu-ray down for a decent price, but it's out of print now. Hopefully it will pop up somehwere.

If anyone finds the Criterion Blu-ray around for an ok price, PM me! :awe:

KT
 
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