What Movie Did You Just Watch? ... And Robin

[Goliath]

La Prima Linea (2009)

Based on true events of left-wing terrorism in Italy in the 1970's and 1980's, this movie has great potential which is never realized, because it suffers from ignoring the 'show, don't tell' rule. Almost everything is told by a cold and distancing voice-over, and the motivations of the characters remain a question mark.

[PeterPanfan]

Watched some of my favorite director last night:

The Dreamers - Absolutely my favorite film. It's visionary, the plot is gripping, the characters are marvelous, as is the acting, and Eva Green is the most gorgeous woman I have ever seen.

Stealing Beauty - Liv Tyler reminded me of Eva Green + Anne Hathaway... I loved this movie. The actors were all fantastic, as was the plot. Highly recommended.

[TheSequelOfDisney]

Tales from Earthsea

Okay, this really isn't the worst Studio Ghibli film I've seen and I actually quite liked it. Sure there are some story issues, but I really liked the characters and the voice acting was pretty decent. Yes, there could've been a lot more than just a 4 minute making of, but it's the film that counts. I thought it was rather good and I'm glad I have it in my collection. The only worry I have is that whenever the BD comes out there will be many more bonus features on that than on here. But nonetheless, it was pretty good.

[littlefuzzy]

Dunston Checks In - This has a bit of a tie to Disney, as the kid from The Santa Clause is in this. A jewel thief uses an orangutan to pilfer rooms at a 5-star hotel, until the ape befriends the child of the hotel manager.

Scooby Doo - The live-action movie based on the cartoon series, Scooby & the gang have to stop monsters from takinjg over college kids at a resort so they can conquer the world.

Up next: Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed - the gang has to stop someone who is using monster suits from the gang's past cases, and bringing them to life!

[Goliath]

Elsa y Fred (2005)

Very touching, warm, heartfelt romantic comedy, about two lonely people at the end of their lives who find each other. It was so sweet; funny a lot of the time; and the characters were given real depth and sincerity by the two lead actors. A real feel-good movie!

[...] and Eva Green is the most gorgeous woman I have ever seen.

*does quick Google search*

Good call! But... "the most gorgeous woman"? I could come up with a better list, I think.

[dvdjunkie]

Watched a very good movie today Sydney Lumet's Before The Devil Knows You're Dead, one of the finest caper movies ever made with a cast to match. Philip Seymour Hoffman gives one of the better performances of his career. I am not a big Ethan Hawke fan, but he proves his mettle in this very good movie that got past me when it was in the theaters. Marisa Tomei really looks nice naked as a jaybird in several scenes in this movie. It is a "hard-R" rated movie so it isn't recommended for those under the age of 18, but no one will pay attention to this warning I am sure.

The story follow two brothers (Hoffman and Hawke) who are in financial problems through their bad choices in life. Hoffman has an idea how to make it all go away. Rob their Mom and Dad's jewelry store. Problem is Hawke is a wimp and asks a friend of his to accompany him on the stickup and everything goes downhill from there. You gotta see this film to appreciate the character development that Director Sydney Lumet brings to this film. Highly recommended for those 18 and over.

[Goliath]

Marisa Tomei really looks nice naked as a jaybird in several scenes in this movie. It is a "hard-R" rated movie so it isn't recommended for those under the age of 18, but no one will pay attention to this warning I am sure.

What, naked girls are not suited for those under the age of 18?

[TheSequelOfDisney]

The Fountain

What the heck was happening in this movie? I was kind of confused the whole time; I mean, I think I get the gist of it, but it was confusing nonetheless. Hugh Jackman acted well but I was too confused to really follow along.

The Wreslter

Yep, another Aronofsky film. I liked this one more than The Fountain but definitely not as much as Black Swan. Considering that I'm not a fan of wrestling at all, I actually liked this film. It was cool to see Evan Rachel Wood apart from Across the Universe. I liked the slight psychological aspect in the film and the interactions between the characters were good, too. Better than The Fountain but not as great as Black Swan.

[Cheshire_Cat]

I checked out the movie Heathers from the library. I loved it! It has to be one of the most badass movies I've ever seen.

[ajmrowland]

Marisa Tomei really looks nice naked as a jaybird in several scenes in this movie. It is a "hard-R" rated movie so it isn't recommended for those under the age of 18, but no one will pay attention to this warning I am sure.

What, naked girls are not suited for those under the age of 18?

yeah, that statement is for NC-17 movies.

and 12 year olds have forever been seeing naked girls in imagery.

And age of consent laws and marriage laws of international variety....

what am I saying? it's dvdjunkie.

Megamind-this is fairly standard dreamworks. Far from their worst, though. If ranked, I'd put it.......

1.ANTZ
2.Shark Tale
3.Bee Movie
4.Shrek the Third
5.Madagascar
6.Madagascar 2
7.Shrek 4
8.Megamind
9.Shrek
10.Shrek 2
11.HTTYD
12. Kung Fu Panda

....at least in the best 10 out of 20.

The film itself is pretty nice. the cast does a decent job, the fact that the main character is raised in a prison and the hero is-at first-an ass is a nice fact. Megamind cant pronounce anything properly and he has a bit of a childish lack of experience with simple things. The plot is a relatively good one, and despite some spoilers in the advertising, the juiciest twist is thankfully kept for the film. going off the first trailer alone most certainly gave me false expectations. And the film turns out relatively well-made and definitely well-animated. If anything, I give it a solid B-

[dvdjunkie]

Last night I saw Battle Los Angeles and was not disappointed!! Aaron Eckhart and Michele Rodriguez star in this story of another invasion of earth by aliens. This film reminds of a mixture of Independence Day and Black Hawk Down with a little District 9 thrown in for good measure. Lots of action and the film doesn't have a cop out ending.

What a relief!! I had to get the bad taste of "Skyline" out of my mouth and this movie did it for sure. I will buy this one when it comes to Blu-ray.

[ajmrowland]

Easy A

A smart teen comedy is hard to come by these days. That said, this film is one of them. A movie about a girl who accidentally spreads a rumor, is approached for fake sex by the losers of the school, and openly embraces her new false reputation as a slut and an adulterer, this is a very entertaining and funny social commentary-complete with vintage clips from 80s movies and visual and narrative references to "The Scarlet Letter". She even puts a red "A" on all her outfits. Likewise, to get a PG-13 rating, language was made up to make the dialogue more realistic.

Emma Stone stars, Aly Michalka is the best friend, Amanda Bynes is the severely hardcore Christian girl who cant stop bitching about sins right in the sinners faces, Stanley Tucci is the dad, Thomas Haden Church as the favorite teacher that's in all these movies, Lisa Kudro being his wife, etc. All of them turn in solid performances and end up being entertaining.

[TheSequelOfDisney]

Never Let Me Go

It was good but I didn't feel the same emotions as I did when I read the novel two years ago. I mean, a lot of what was in the novel was in the film, but I just didn't get the same reaction. At least in the novel I was totally caught off guard when I found out that the characters were clones, but in the film Ms. Lucy just breaks the news to them. I don't know; I feel some sort of detachment between the two--like they're the same thing but they aren't. I guess that's usually what happens in book/novel to screen adaptations.

[dvdjunkie]

Went to see Rango for the third time, and it was even better this time around. Nickelodeon really walks a fine line with this very funny, and crude, animated film. Voice cast includes Johnny Depp, Abigail Breslin, Timothy Olyphant, Ned Beatty, Bill Nighy, and many, many more that you will recognize. I can't wait for this to come to Blu-ray. My top three "Must-Have" Blu-rays now are "The Adjustment Bureau", "True Grit" and "Rango".

I will be picking up "The Fighter" Tuesday at Best Buy. That was on the top of the list.

[Goliath]

Shutter Island (2009)

The 140 minutes just flew by! What a great movie this was; so exciting and frightening at times. I loved the Twin Peaks-like dream sequences; they were both beautiful and disturbing at the same time. Scorsese had me doubting every element of the story at all times (that is, when I wasn't too caught up in it), which proves he executed it very well. Leonardo DiCaprio was the right guy for this part, and the twist ending was good, but not entirely new. Those who have seen Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920) will know what I mean. Still, in all the excitement, I didn't see it coming. Again, a compliment to Scorsese.

Lila dit ça (2004)

Erotic and sensual story of a not as innocent as she looks 16 year old blonde beauty Lila, who slowly seduces the Arab-French Chimo. Although there is a lot of talk about sex, nothing happens, but that's not neccessary at all. Just hearing the fantasies of this incredibly gorgeous girl (beautiful in a totally unique way; she doesn't fit the standard 'mold') is enough to build tension. Unfortunately (but it makes for a better film), a tragedy happens at the end. This movie is all about atmosphere; until the end, there's not much action going on, but that's okay.

[jpanimation]

My library called a few days ago and had quite a few Blus for me all at once.

The African Queen (1951) 7.5/10 - a nice little adventure/romance that stars Bogie and Hepburn as they travel down an African river on their boat - the African Queen. The romance is believable and the story is entertaining enough. As with most John Huston films, he strives for realism. Shot on location in Africa, with real natives speaking their African language, and even the Germans speak German. The characters look like shit, which is as it should be living in Africa. The score, while featuring a now iconic theme of the boat, clashes with the grittiness of the film (it’s just too Hollywood). Still, a movie worth checking out if you haven’t already.

The PQ of the Blu-Ray looked marvelous, as I last saw it on TCM years ago on what had to be some Public Domain VHS copy they had. Unfortunately, the Blu-Ray features merely one single extra, an excellent documentary on the making of the movie (but no trailers, image galleries, home movies, promotional material, etc.).

The Wild Bunch (1969) 7.5/10 - I love the story and characters but the direction is amateur at best. I honestly think Sam Peckinpah got lucky when he ran into this script and got such a great cast, as his directorial abilities on their own could never make this a great movie. He does all kinds of annoying things; like the freeze-frame opening credits, over-use of slow motion during action scenes, fake-ass overdone blood effects, the dated television-esque mickey mousing of the score for comedic effect and the worst offense, the ridiculous flash backs jammed in everywhere that leave absolutely nothing to the viewers imagination (upon some research, I’ve discovered that the flashbacks were added in 1995 as part of the Director’s Cut). Either way, it’s a surprisingly good movie that could’ve been even better had someone like Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone tackled it.

Due Date (2010) 6/10 - I just couldn’t get into it. It felt like an empty version of Trains, Planes and Automobiles. It doesn’t hold a candle to The Hangover, to which the marketing team kept linking it to for sharing the same director - despite this being more of a drama then a comedy. I love RDJ but I just didn’t care for his character here, he just seemed too passive. Galifianakis as annoying as expected. When you don’t really like any of the characters, it makes it hard to really enjoy the movie.

127 Hours (2010) 7.5/10 - this was better then I thought it would be. Its about a guy getting his hand stuck in a rock for about five days and the drama that ensues. James Franco continues to impress me. Having read about the incident back when it happened, I knew it would end with him cutting his arm off and yet I still was hoping I wouldn’t have to see it (severing that nerve made my sphincter tighten out of uneasiness). Still, it was an interesting character study (much better then Buried, which I hated).

Winter’s Bone (2010) 5.5/10 - what a pointless movie. It’s about a girl that knows her father was murdered (hell, everyone in the movie knows he was murdered) and spends the next hour or so looking for him and (to the surprise of no one) finds him dead. It’s just such an un-engaging story, nothing significant happens. Of course, I could forgive all that if the characters were interesting but they’re not. All the characters lack personality, outside 'monotonous hillbilly' and could easily be interchangeable. I fail to see why this is so appealing to some people. It's my least favorite of the Best Picture nominees so far.

[ajmrowland]

True Grit(2010)

I'll be honest: Westerns arent really my genre. I guess it's a lack of exposure to them, but as far as they go, this one is good. The cast turn in great performances. A decent enough plot with some funny moments. Tasteful use of an almost 19th century stock footage-esque opening complete with a nice Piano solo.

[BelleGirl]

The Fox & the Hound 1981

Not one of the all-time greatest Disney animated classics but this movie got it's moments of poignency (Widow Tweet has to bring Tod to the wildlife preserve) and suspence (the attack of the grizzly bear). The few songs in the movie are unremarkable, however.

I saw this movie for the first time in cinema when I was 12-13 years old, together with my family. Fun fact I like to mention: In Dutch the movie is called "Frank & Frey" which not only refers to the names given to hound (Frank) and the fox (Frey) but also to the Dutch expression 'frank en vrij' which means "free as air/ a bird/ the wind" in English.

A serious man 2010?

Weird movie from the Coen brothers. I liked it for a great part, but I found the abrupt ending disturbing. Just when I was wondering 'what will happen next?" the end credits started rolling. If it was the intention of the Coen brothers to confuse the viewer with this movie, they have succeeded as far as I'm concerned.

[carolinakid]

I Spit On Your Grave (1978). It was alright....I wanna see the 2010 remake now.

[littlefuzzy]

Scooby Doo: The Mystery Begins (2009) - This prequel to the live-action movies shows the first meeting of the gang, as they try to clear their names and find out who is using two ghosts to trash the high school.

Scooby Doo: The Curse of the Lake Monster (2010) - A sequel to The Mystery Begins, the gang start working summer jobs at a resort, and try to stop a witch from destroying the resort (and the rest of the town.)

The God of Cookery (1996) - Starting off a whole slew of Stephen Chow films, this has him as a "Iron Chef" type person, who is exposed as a fake, so he fights to regain his position.

From Beijing With Love (1994) - A bumbling spy gets called upon to find a stolen dinosaur skull that is a national treasure.

The Sixty Million Dollar Man (1995) - A playboy becomes "nearly" dead, and a crazy scientist rebuilds him with artificial parts. He can turn into household objects, including a toilet, and a tube of toothpaste!

Love on Delivery (1994) - A delivery boy tries to become brave by learning martial arts, to woo the heart of a girl in the judo class.

Forbidden City Cop (1996) - Set in the previous dynasty, Chow is a royal guard who must protect the emperor with a bagful of inventions.

King of Beggars (1992) - Banished to be a beggar by the Emperor's decree, Chow fights an evil official/magician.

Hail the Judge (1994) - An corrupt and incompetent official realizes that he should protect the innocent when a woman is framed for killing her family.

Up next:
Look Out Officer (1990) - A rookie police officer is the only one who can see the ghost of a dead officer who was murdered.