Last movie you watched and your critique of it

[BG-57]

Dinner for Schmucks

Classic screwball farce, meant in a good way. The premise is simple, to get a big promotion, a stockbroker has to bring the most entertaining fool he can find to a dinner. And of course he runs into Barry, who makes (SPOILER)dioramas out of stuffed mice. Classic misunderstandings ensure, complicated by the fact that Barry is a true innocent. One of Steve Carrell's best roles, but the whole cast has excellent comic timing. The moral is easy to guess: who are the real fools in this story?

[Mo-Nercy]

Tekken

As a big fan of the video game series, I approached this film expecting to be disappointed. I wanted to see every character and every signature move, but I knew that for the sake of making it watchable, they'd have to cut back, focus on Jin and try and build a decent story out of the pretty dry plot of the video games. As a martial arts movie, it's decent with a lot of good fight scenes throughout, but as a martial arts movie based on the Tekken games and characters, it misses the mark. Only the Raven vs. Eddie Gordo fight seemed to replicate the way the characters fight in the games. The rest of the characters, particularly Jin and Christie, didn't fight at all like their game counterparts. Steve Fox even kicked a few times.

Jin's hairstyle is awesome though. Exactly what I wish my hair looked like. xD

In the end, it was a good film, differences from the games aside.

3/5

[Shiny]

Kick-Ass

7/10

Absolutely fantastic! It surpassed my expectations. I thought it was going to be a cornball movie about a group of people with no powers pretending to be super heroes, and it was that a bit, but then the little girl came on the screen. She was the best thing about this movie, and now I can see why so many people were all, "omg dgsdjg the little girl sdsh". Her fight scenes were beastly. The main character's voice was annoying as hell, but other than that, really entertaining.

The Runaways

6/10

I don't really know too much about The Runaways since I only liked and listened to Joan Jett's stuff she did with The Blackhearts, but I knew there was some sort of homoerotic undertones gonna be all up in here. It's just kinda weird because Dakota Fanning is still jailbait, but whatevs. Decent film though I think it would have been better if it had more of a direction. It may have been a biopic, but it could have had more of a focus and a point than merely depicting the band. Oh, and Fanning is extremely good as a drunk and stoned Cheri.

Dahmer

7/10

This shows that Jeremy Renner (from The Hurt Locker) is a phenomenal actor. He was so creepy in this film even when he was just sitting in a chair. I liked how they showed the relationship he had with his family and actual events that occurred. The casting was all really great. Each person they showed looked so much like the actual victims. Though if you're looking to see him kill up a bunch of people, it's not that type of film. It doesn't show anything incredibly graphic -- except with his first victim.

EDIT:

New York, I Love You

8/10

Didn't expect to see this, but New York, I Love You was just on. Very impressive storytelling by multiple writer/directors one of which includes a segment directed by Natalie Portman. All the directors hail from New York so you really get the best out of the New York lights on the camera. The short stories were great. Some funny, some sad, all of them very clever. And all of them about the different types of love.

[Freya]

Ghost Writer

I was surprised by this one. I wasn't expecting anything that interesting but it kept me watching the whole thing. Normally if I get bored I mill around my house while a movie is playing but with this I was interested in figuring out the dark secret. It had a surprising amount of witty lines. I liked it. GO EWAN!

8/10

[NeoCracker]

Allright, any issues with The Expendables are completely overshadowed by the shear level of badassary. I swear this is more testosterone filled then 300.

[asukaevaunit02]

Knight and Day

Ended up seeing this with my girlfriend because it was the only thing showing right then, without waiting over an hour for something else.

Overall was very average. Tom Cruise's character was a loser, and Diaz was a bore. The item they were after was lame.
The ending was so bad and predictable I nearly had it word for word.

Didn't enjoy it, though it was over quite quickly for a 2hr movie, which was ok.

[NorthernChaosGod]

Allright, any issues with The Expendables are completely overshadowed by the shear level of badassary. I swear this is more testosterone filled then 300.

This. The movie was smurfing excellent. Pure, concentrated badass.

[Shiny]

Knight and Day

Ended up seeing this with my girlfriend because it was the only thing showing right then, without waiting over an hour for something else.

Overall was very average. Tom Cruise's character was a loser, and Diaz was a bore. The item they were after was lame.
The ending was so bad and predictable I nearly had it word for word.

Didn't enjoy it, though it was over quite quickly for a 2hr movie, which was ok.

Yeah that movie looks like it sucks pretty bad. I think they're just relying on the Cruise Diaz thing to pull in numbers, but that didn't seem to help it in the box office.

Ponyo

7/10

Very cute! The animation was fantastical as usual with Miyazaki stuff. Not as good as some of his earlier stuff, but has a few amusing moments. Plus it has Tina Fey so that's always a good thing.


Youth in Revolt

4/10

I think I laughed only once and it was sort of half-assed laugh. When I watch a comedy I expect to have tears of laughter, so this was very subpar imo. Zach Galifianakis was also only in it for a few minutes which is not acceptable.

[beema]

Memories of Murder

Brooding detective drama based on South Korea's first recorded case of a serial killer. Basically women are being murdered in this rural area where they aren't used to dealing with stuff like that, so this young smart detective from Seoul gets paired up with the lead detective from the rural area, their methods clash, and drama ensues as they try to figure out the case and prevent more murders.

I thought it was pretty good. Great pacing and atmosphere and good performances all around. Having seen several movies before with a similar theme (talented young cop detests attitude/methods of other guy, but the tension of the case causes both to see eachother's POV, kind of deal), I have to say this one was handled very well so as to play out in a way that didn't feel hackneyed at all.

The ending was pretty dismaying and emotionally unsatisfying (as many "serious" movies tend to be lately), but I always bash happy endings anyways, so I guess I shouldn't complain. My girlfriend was really pissed off by the ending though.

[BG-57]

More William Castle schlocky goodness:

13 Ghosts

No, not the remake. The original features a family right out of a 1950's sitcom: an absentminded dad, a sensible mom, a plunky teenage daughter and a precocious kid brother. They inherit a haunted house with a sinister housekeeper (Margaret Hamilton) and 12 ghosts. A friendly lawyer explains the rules of the house and the ghosts. Special glasses allow you to see them, if you chose.

The gimmick this time is Illusion-O, where you get a piece of cardboard with two cellophane panes, one blue and one red. Whenever the ghosts appear the movie switches from B&W to red colored ghosts on a blue background. Depending on which pane you look through you can either see the ghosts or not.

Interesting difference between this movie and the remake: In the original the uncle is (SPOILER)murdered by the lawyer, who turns out to be the main villain. In the remake, the uncle (SPOILER)is the evil mastermind, while the laywer character is just a stooge who gets offed fairly early on.

13 Frightened Girls (Alternate Title: Candy Web)

This is one of Castle's later films, made at the height of the cold war. It's a cross between a spy caper, Nancy Drew and at times Scooby Doo. An American diplomat's daughter goes to a school for the daughters of various diplomats, and while on vacation gets embroiled in espionage.

The tone of this film wildly shifts between romantic, silly, and suspenseful. Fairly progressive for it times as the heroine's best friend is from China, before Nixon's visit.

The gimmick in this one is the actresses playing the schoolgirls were hired from about 12 different countries in international auditions. There are different opening narrations in different languages depending on where the movie was being shown. These characters are hardly developed and are mainly a chorus to the leads. In fact, most of them are identified in by their countries of origin instead of their characters' names!

[Vermachtnis]

Date Night

That was hilarious. That scene with the cab was the greatest. But they took someones reservations! Can you believe that? I mean who does that!? xD

8/10

[Sephiroth]

The Last Airbender

If you understand it is impossible to make a 100% real life copy of the cartoon and that it is very difficult to put one whole season in a movie then you will like it more likely than many other people do.

I have enjoyed it. I am a fan of the cartoon and I have been waiting for this movie for nine months. And I do not regret it. I hope there will be a sequel.

[BG-57]

Mr. Sardonicus

I've read the short story this movie is based on and it's effective. A man commits a ghoulish crime and gets an appropriate karmic punishment: (SPOILER)his face gets locked into a hideous demonic grin. This Willaim Castle movie is a well done Victorian morality play. The gimmick for this one is the Punishment Poll, where the audience is given cards with a hand in a fist with a thumb sticking out. Near the end, the audience is supposed to vote on what happens to the villain: thumbs up for mercy, thumbs down to see him get his comeuppance. Turns out there's only one ending, so the whole voting things is a sham.

The Old Dark House

This can be best described as being like Clue; a large ensemble cast of character actors meet in a old mansion and they get murdered one by one in a comic rather than horrifying fashion. The main character is an American businessman who visited a British friend, and finds the mansion filled with stereotypical eccentrics. One spends her entire waking moments knittting, while another is building an ark like Noah. I have to say the murder's reveal comes completely out of left field and is defeated in the most arbitrary and random way possible: (SPOILER)the hero throws a bomb away to save someone else and it lands at the murderer's feet nearby.

Next up: the Tingler and Zotz!

[Freya]

The Other Guys

This movie was very entertaining. I laughed quite often throughout. Mark Walhberg and Ferrell are a great match. It's very quotable too!

8/10

[champagne supernova]

V for Vendetta. I watched it again the other day because there are some proposed bills that could seriously limit the freedom of the media.

I know the movie is flawed, but I still love it. The opposition against the Nineteen-Eighty-Four style government is brilliant, but I think the way they portray the humanity of those struggling against wrong is brilliant. (SPOILER)When V gives Evey the decision to blow up Parliament is brilliant, because it shows the abandonment of arrogance of a belief in a greater good. He realised that his view of what should be done had been so skewed that someone new needed to take his place in that decision is something I wish more people realised.