Last Movie Watched

[LetTigerIn]

Went to see Resident Evil: Retribution yesterday. Overall, it's pretty terrible, about what I'd expect from a Paul W.S. Anderson film (about the only thing I can say about him as a director is at least he's better than Uwe Boll). There's enough in it, I think, to be enjoyable for fans of the series (of which I only liked the third film).

What I did enjoy about the film: the sound design; the photography; the opening sequence; a couple of the fight scenes; Milla Jovovich; hearing the names of RE game characters.

The overall concept of the film, I thought, was decent. The problem, however, lies in the moment-to-moment. As clever and inventive as some of the action can be at times, there is twenty times that much of clich?s, poor dialogue, disjointed storytelling, orphaned incidents and just plain stupidity. Bottom line: one Milla Jovovich, a couple of great action scenes, and hundreds of poor decisions.

 

[ketel&tonic]

Shallow Grave. I liked it, and then I didn't like it, and then I liked it again. Odd. I think I might have liked it better if Ewan McGregor's character wasn't SUCH a douche.

 

[orpheus]

Mmmm, McGregor. You should watch Nightwatch if you haven't Jo.

 

[adgy-san]

Lawless - I went into this flick with the highest expectations possible. Came out slightly disappointed. Only slightly, though. The acting was great, the story was good, it was violent as hell... ultimately, though, I never cared enough about the characters to be upset much when bad things happened to them. Definitely worth a watch, but I probably won't buy it.

The Expendables - This movie did nothing for me. I borrowed a copy from my local comic book store guy after he talked me into giving it a shot based on our mutual love of Jason Statham movies, but when I take it back to him I think I may slap him. Where do I start? Stallone was hard to understand. I thought maybe he should have subtitles. Jet Li and Dolph Lundgren have a big fight scene and it sucked. The dialogue was really bad. The only thing I liked about the movie, really, was the climactic fight scene towards the end. THAT bit was fun. It wasn't worth what it took to get there, though.

Live Flesh - Those hands are on butts!!!!! When an Almodovar movie I haven't seen shows up in HD, I DVR that ****. It's got a really young looking Javier Bardem in it, too. It was a good movie. Not great, but good. People have sex with each other and **** each other over and stuff like that. Enjoyable. Would watch again.

Our Idiot Brother - Meh. Moderately entertaining. Watching Paul Rudd do his best Dude impression and the scene where Rashida Jones and Zooey kiss each other were all this movie really has to offer. Not bad, but not really that good, either. Decent, I guess.

Lone Wolf & Child: Assassin On The Road To Hell - This is a TV remake of the first Lone Wolf & Cub movie that came out in 1989. Notable, to me, only because Meiko Kaji is in it which meant that as soon as someone bootlegged it with english subs, I was going to buy it. It also has Shintaro Katsu, star of the original films, playing the bad guy which is cool. Anyway, it was pretty decent, but nowhere near as gorey or awesome as the original films. Not entirely sure why they even bothered with this, but I'm happy to have another Meiko Kaji film on my shelf.

The A-Team - Had it's moments, but mostly I thought this was pretty meh.

The Rickshaw Man - Toshiro Mifune plays a poor, uneducated rickshaw man who goes from Wild Man to gentle, old man and spends a lot of time with a widow and her son after the husband dies. It's a nice "portrait of a man" type movie that would probably get a lot of Oscar talk if it was released in the US today. It's a movie you've seen a few times already, but it's elevated some by Mifune's performance. A decent flick that hasn't been given an official release in the US yet (so I was really happy Turner Classics had it on). Recommended for Mifune fans.

 

[LetTigerIn]

I'm going to see Lawless today. Your review sort of matched my anticipation of the movie, so hopefully there will be enough other good things in it to surprise me.

BTW, Baby Cart 1-6 coming to Blu-ray Tuesday!

 

[gescom]

you know me, so these have made it cable now...

The Debt - a lot dry and a little slow, but not bad... though i hoped for much MUCH more - something along the lines of a Munich type of deal, but alas. this about the lives of 3 retired Mossad agents who are confronted with a past for which they've taken full credit for (the assassination of a wanted Nazi), that didn't happen. fearing full exposure and the ruining of a family, one of them (Helen Mirren) endeavors to make right.

overall the performances were okay... Tom Wilkinson was the highlight.

Dream House - WOW!, this is bad M. Night Shamalamadingdong, and most of you already know how i feel about his movies. it seems as though in effort to "fool" the audience, the filmmaker confused himself. and Daniel Craig? yeeeeeeeesh! bad casting that screamed "look at me, i'm James Bond, and i can run the gamut of emotion and be all domestimicated and s***!" and that says nothing about his failure of an American accent - especially when his two female co-stars (Rachel Weisz and Naomi Watts) are so very good at it. i also have NO idea why they cast Elias Koteas in his role, as it could have and should have been played by someone else... and unknown.

i still think stories like this are always better read than seen, because your own imagination can fill in those visualizations according to you. when they're put on film, you get someone else's idea, and it's usually a little cheesy... it reminds me of an old friend of mine who once told me he didn't like cover songs, and would never do one because it's impossible to "feel" it because you didn't write it.


odd factoid... both movies featured Martin Csokas, and i didn't particularly care for either movie all that much... particularly this piece of s***.

 

[jerseydevil]

So agree on Dream House. Literally watched the first 20 and just couldn't look around Craig's weatherbeaten face...so I folded and got the hell out.

 

[orpheus]

I thought dreamhouse was about Siouxsie and the Banshees.

 

[ketel&tonic]

I should have Let Me In waiting for me at home. Looking forward to how it compares to Let the Right One In.

 

[orpheus]

I should have Let Me In waiting for me at home. Looking forward to how it compares to Let the Right One In.

Well, any movie that has Greg Kihn Band's The Breakup Song gets bonus points from me.

We'd been living together for a million years,
Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah.

 

[adgy-san]

Cedar Rapids - A solid comedy elevated by John C. Reilly's performance and likable characters. Nice to see Ed Helms get a chance to do some acting that involves a character arc and he does a good job. Lots of small roles played by recognizable and likable people (was happy to see Alia Shawkat). A good movie. Wouldn't buy it, but wouldn't mind seeing again.

 

[jerseydevil]

Man, what a trip. Marlon Brando, Val Kilmer and John Frankenheimer in a flat out race to the top of Bat**** Crazy mountain. You get scenes like this...



Brando in a moomoo with a reediculous English accent, Val Kilmer(pretending????) to be high the entire time while flitting about in the latest Polynesian NAMBLA gear...and then you have folks like Fairuza Balk/David Thewliss/Tememaura Morrison trying really hard to understand just what the **** is going on while thinking of all the clever ways they can torture/kill the agent that booked this gig. And then you have poor Stan Winston, trying to do a good job, apparently with mud/sticks and leftover muppet parts. And before you ask, full on prosthetic make-up...check. 90's movie...double check. Ron Perlman unrecognizable under a layer of latex...SHOE BETCHA. I was all ready to give it a BATTLEFIELD EARTH dumb fun thumbs up, but at the very last minute they showed a montage of atrocities commited by humans on humans...and the requisite 'who are the real animals' line(or something to that effect.) and they lost any goodwill I had for the movie. Look, if you are really really high...this is worth watching. Really really high...pharmaceutical grade.

 

[orpheus]

Fairuza Balk haunts my dreams and in a good way! evil:

I watched that Moreau film when it came out in the theater with the whole family, lol!

 

[jerseydevil]

Fairuza Balk haunts my dreams and in a good way! evil:

I watched that Moreau film when it came out in the theater with the whole family, lol!

Thats insane...serious, were you all looking at each other non-plussed...that movie is such a wild head****...

 

[orpheus]

Nah, we are weird that way.

We also watched The Craft together a year or 2 before that, who also has Balk. I've been accused of having bad taste in women and people point to my attraction to Fairuza as proof. I make no apologies. *goes to have some more ice cream*

 

[gescom]

Man, what a trip. Marlon Brando, Val Kilmer and John Frankenheimer in a flat out race to the top of Bat**** Crazy mountain. You get scenes like this...



Brando in a moomoo with a reediculous English accent, Val Kilmer(pretending????) to be high the entire time while flitting about in the latest Polynesian NAMBLA gear...and then you have folks like Fairuza Balk/David Thewliss/Tememaura Morrison trying really hard to understand just what the **** is going on while thinking of all the clever ways they can torture/kill the agent that booked this gig. And then you have poor Stan Winston, trying to do a good job, apparently with mud/sticks and leftover muppet parts. And before you ask, full on prosthetic make-up...check. 90's movie...double check. Ron Perlman unrecognizable under a layer of latex...SHOE BETCHA. I was all ready to give it a BATTLEFIELD EARTH dumb fun thumbs up, but at the very last minute they showed a montage of atrocities commited by humans on humans...and the requisite 'who are the real animals' line(or something to that effect.) and they lost any goodwill I had for the movie. Look, if you are really really high...this is worth watching. Really really high...pharmaceutical grade.

i remember walking out of the theater with a complete WHAT THE F***? expression all over my face. i can't say i wasn't entertained, but for a Dr. Moreau flick, this ranks about 6th among the 3 made.

and Brando's aping of Truman Capote was something.

 

[gescom]

and apparently, rumor has it that Brando and Kilmer HATED each other.

 

[chaingunsofdoom]

Two movies this weekend: Dredd. Really good. Helmet on: check. 4/5 rating.

House at the End of the Street: marketers who made this seem like a supernatural flick should get a raise for getting goofs like me to open their wallets. Even the trailer and movie previews were painted with the supernatural brush. Buzz! Wrong. Rating: 1/5.

 

[LetTigerIn]

Dredd was awesome.

 

[adgy-san]

Nah, we are weird that way.

We also watched The Craft together a year or 2 before that, who also has Balk. I've been accused of having bad taste in women and people point to my attraction to Fairuza as proof. I make no apologies. *goes to have some more ice cream*

Dude, Fairuza Balk is hot.

I remember watching Island Of Dr Moreau with my dad when it came out on laserdisc (I think) and thinking that I was sure that somewhere someone had told me Marlon Brando was a good actor...