Printable View
I saw The Social Network and Devil yesterday.
The Social Network has alot of information at the beginning and can mean a whole lot of nothing to someone who doesn't understand computer science,but as it progessed and you saw more of the business aspect, there is a very interesting story about the global community in the digital age.
Devil was good for what it was, I kind of expected worse because of m. night shyamalan and the bad reviews but I think it did it's job fairly well.
Double feature review today.
Zombieland
Decided to watch it since Stars was free for the weekend and I remember it coming out last year. It looked a little cheesy, so I wasn't really wanting to spend my money on it. It was entertaining though and definitely had moments of lightness and darkness, but mostly it was comedic. The guy with the cowboy hat, was definitely a badass. It had a more lighter approach to the zombie apocalypse lore.
7/10
The Princess and the Frog
Disney's final 2-D theatrical animated film I've heard. It came out decent overall. It did retain that feel from the 90's generation of Disney movies, containing the songs, art style, and similar kind of humor. I was sort of watching this movie off and on since I couldn't pause it since it was on TV and I had some dishes to watch, so take that in mind. I felt that sometimes the songs in the movie didn't transition as well as they did in the older ones and I felt that maybe it had too many. I did like the girl named Lottie in the movie, she had cracking up a few times and I liked the inclusion of those pastry things even if they are just really ink. I didn't really like the villain of the movie, he didn't feel as real or believable compared to the other ones and I don't like his design either. I didn't really care much for the side characters like the flea and the gator. Overall I thought it was okay.
6.5/10
*snip*
[levian]please keep advertising to your signature. ~Lev[/levian]
I watched The Social Network today. A lot of the technobabble at the beginning can be safely ignored, in fact I think you're supposed to be dumbfounded by it especially since he talks so fast. The movie was definitely designed to make you sympathize with the 'lesser mortals' surrounding Zuckerberg, which was emphasized with the young lady at the beginning who had just had enough of him.
I liked the movie quite a bit. It was pretty interesting even if a lot of it was fabricated, just a lot of feasible 'what ifs'. Good performances, good dialogue, hot psycho asian girls, all around good.
The Silent Truth
6/10
Probably not entirely popular yet, so I'll explain it a bit. It's a documentary about with interviews from the parents and a private investigator four or five years after the death of their nineteen year old daughter who was part of the Army. She was killed in a non-combat situation and the Army claimed that this was a suicide, however, all the evidence given throughout the entire film clearly points to her being murdered and raped most likely by a commanding office; which is why the Army is protecting him. I was pissed for about 2 hours after viewing this film. I guess it bothered me more because I know two women currently in the Army right now. I thought this film was effective at evoking emotion, and supplying information as any documentary should, but I tend to prefer more objective documentaries. Also, would have preferred more interviews -- not solely the one sided view of the parents and the private investigator they hired. It ended with a forethought; which was enough for me, but some people might prefer a more resolved ending.
Basketball Diaries
8/10
I fondly watched this film thinking back on how Mark Wahlberg used to be a pretty good actor and then I remembered The Happening. Leo was phenomenal. Best acting I've seen from him. He wasn't just scowling all the time. The message of don't do drugs is a very good moral to have for a film so yeah why not a high rating?
The Loved Ones
7/10
Who knew Australian filmmakers could pull off such a sadistic, cringe-inducing film? The soundtrack and overall the sound was really great with the film. I haven't jumped during a horror movie since I was like six, but the ending of this film definitely made me jump. The acting was superb. Didn't like the side story with the guy's friend and that girl as much. I felt they added it in so that people wouldn't be overwhelmed by the perverse and violent nature of what was happening to the main character, but it is a horror after all though. However, there were some elements that teetered on dark comedy. The editing jump cuts were a bit odd, but I will rate this a decent score since it did what very few horror films can do these days: scare me.
Memento
Finally got round to watching this and very glad I did. Christopher Nolan is definitely one the smartest, and among the best, directors around. Guy Pearce was awesome, and the supporting cast were great as well; most of all though, it was just amazingly refreshing to see a movie that literally kept me guessing until the very end.
9/10
I finally got around to seeing Blue Velvet by David Lynch last night and I loved it so much! I like some of Lynch's work,but sometimes you just have to be in the mood for it, like Eraserhead was one of those movies you really need patience in order to sit through despite it's beautiful cinematography.
Blue Velvet on the other hand was pretty intriguing from beginning to end and reaffirmed my love for this director.
The Town
Really good movie, had an excellent pacing throughout the whole thing and it was insanely intense. Ben Affleck can obviously still pull out the goods when he puts his mind to it.
Hawk the Slayer
Where to begin? First off, it was made roughly the same time as Ladyhawke for about 1/10th the budget. It tries to be a rousing sword-and-sorcery yarn, but it comes off like a skit at a renfair. Definately so-bad-its-awesome material.
The hero is a stony faced actor who dresses like Han Solo and wields a sword with a glowing marble on the end. The villain is played by Jack Palance and is even hammier than when he played Xeros. The rest of the cast is made of assorted oddballs (a tall man playing a gaint, a dwarf playing, well, a dwarf, an elven bow man, a blind witch). Look for Patricia Quinn, who played Magenta in RHPS.
The pitched battles are the highlight of hilarity, including rapid fire choppy editing, magic glowing bouncy balls and death by silly string.
Buried
Pretty damn good. My girlfriend and I went into the cinema 99% certain of how it'd turn out for Ryan Reynold's character and though we turned out to be right in our guess, the film does a good job of getting us in his head and (SPOILER)building up a sense of hope..
8/10
Jackass 3-D
LOLS! Funny from beginning to end. A crowd of cinema-goers just makes it that much better.
The Town
Pretty unexpected plot twist and solid directing by Affleck.
I haven't seen this version. But I saw this one. I guess they're pretty much the same. But you may wanna take a look at it, I thought it was good.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shiny
I'm sure you've received this advice already, but check out Eraserhead. It's very unsettling and strange, but there's actually a lot you can read into it. It's almost frustratingly ambiguous at points, but it'll stick with you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shorty
Wow, this looks infinitely better. I will put it on my to-watch-list.Quote:
Originally Posted by InfernoI haven't seen this version. But I saw this one. I guess they're pretty much the same. But you may wanna take a look at it, I thought it was good.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shiny
Right now, I can't remember all the films I've seen, but today I saw two films: one was called Five (1951) about five people left on Earth. It sucked.
3/10
A few weeks ago I saw a documentary done during the 70s when there were tons of gang riots in New York City's slums. It's called 80 Blocks From Tiffany's. Very stereotypical. I mean there is a scene where there are two large watermelons in the bathtub. I thought it was great insight into the mentality of poor minorities during that time period who used gangs as a means of feeling like they belonged some where when the rest of society pushed them aside.
6/10
You can watch a crap version of it here.
Metropolis
You may have heard that some 30 minutes of lost footage that was edited out of the workprint was found recently. This version has it spliced back in. While rough looking and grainy, it makes the storyline and character motivation a lot more clear than in the already seminal and groundbreaking film. Dozens if not hundreds of movies owe a debt to this work, a melodramatic love story set across a background of a high technology city where the workers are almost literaly cogs in the wheels while the ruling class lives an idyllic life above.
One missing scene explains the motivation for the mad scientist Rotwang, who creates a Man-Machine (robot). It turns out, (SPOILER)he was in love with the same woman as the hero's father, but she spurned him and died giving birth to the hero Freder. Rotwang keeps a huge bust of the woman (named Hel in one of the film's many, many mythologigal references).
Another restored scene has the rampaging mob chasing the (SPOILER)heroine, the saintly Maria because an imposter has been strirring up violence. But the crowd loses her and runs into the imposter and capture her. The original version had them just running into the imposter without meeting Maria at all.
Unfortunately because it's a B&W silent film made in the 1920's a lot of people don't want to see it. If you can get past that, it's a very rewarding and inspirational film.