Movie Review Thread ?

[UFC-KING]

Alright, Maybe or Maybe not this will work out ( Bad Grammar I know) Since everybody has different tastes across this forum but lets give it a shot.

 

So I went to see Observe and Report Yesterday, Expecting it to be a funny movie just because I love Seth Rogen. So I walk in, and it's like the first time in my trips to the movie theaters that i've ever gotten decent seats to enjoy the movie.

 

So I sit down, and the movie looks okay to start, Intro was a little long, but at least the music was decent. Anyways, Lots of Swearing involved, and honestly, the only things that would make you laugh in a movie like this, would be the sheer stupidity of the whole thing. Unless you are an imature 14 year old

 

Anyways, I do not recommend this movie, however if you are going to go, be prepared to experience something almost as Idiotic as Step Brothers

[CQI13]

I saw Seven Pounds on DVD the other day. I thought it was great. I'm ok with being emotionally manipulated if it's done well.

 

I have some strange taste in movies, which I think will become apparent if this thread continues.

[ACCBiggz]

I saw Seven Pounds on DVD the other day. I thought it was great. I'm ok with being emotionally manipulated if it's done well.

 

I have some strange taste in movies, which I think will become apparent if this thread continues.

I don't know if "great" is the word I would have used. Medicore, maybe.

 

Predictable. Felt like I wasted 2 hours on what I already deduced from the first 5 minutes. The acting was solid, but not excellent.

[lazorbeak]

Alright, Maybe or Maybe not this will work out ( Bad Grammar I know) Since everybody has different tastes across this forum but lets give it a shot.

 

So I went to see Observe and Report Yesterday, Expecting it to be a funny movie just because I love Seth Rogen. So I walk in, and it's like the first time in my trips to the movie theaters that i've ever gotten decent seats to enjoy the movie.

 

So I sit down, and the movie looks okay to start, Intro was a little long, but at least the music was decent. Anyways, Lots of Swearing involved, and honestly, the only things that would make you laugh in a movie like this, would be the sheer stupidity of the whole thing. Unless you are an imature 14 year old

 

Anyways, I do not recommend this movie, however if you are going to go, be prepared to experience something almost as Idiotic as Step Brothers

 

So it wasn't what you thought it was, so it was bad? You're as bad as the Washington Post. I don't understand where you get that only immature 14 year olds are the audience.

 

Here's a real review:

 

Seth Rogen and Jody Hill have made an important comedy. What does that mean, exactly? It means making a movie that isn't designed for constant yuks or laughing at a fat guy's fatness. O&R avoids a lot of comedy conventions, and isn't for everyone. It's also almost guaranteed to be a commercial flop because of its dark tone and release months after Paul Blart: Mall Cop.

 

A lot of the comedy comes out of Seth Rogen's performance, which is excellent. He plays a bipolar megolomaniac mall cop with such conviction that he somehow convinces you to root for him. After all, not everyone "stands for something" (though what does he stand for? Justice?). The action is well-shot, and there's a surprising amount of it.

 

The movie has problems though. It feels long at 96 minutes, and has some pacing issues. A more serious issue is the ending, which is both bad and out of place, which really reminded me of Bad Santa.

 

In fact, a lot of this movie reminded me of Bad Santa, including:

* Being set in a mall

* Unlikeable, crazy protagonist

* Scene involving beating up Skateboard Kids

* Bad Ending

 

This is an unusual comedy in that it seems to "mean something," since it's a commentary on the kind of mindset we see again and again from movies like the Dark Knight, and how easily some people can absorb all that "this city needs a hero" and try to use it to make themselves feel important. Unfortunately, it's not that funny. There's a few clever lines, but the movie never goes out of its way to be funny. It's not a great movie, but it's worth a look, provided you aren't expecting a series of unconnected skits or a lot of zany situations.

 

 

Ta-Da!

[ACCBiggz]

Unfortunately, it's not that funny.

 

Granted I have not seen the film, but this is precisely why. It does not even look remotely entertaining from the trailer.

 

On to the latest movie I saw: I Love You, Man

 

The people that saw it prior to me said it was medicore, nothing special. However, after watching it just fit me so well (at least on Friday it did) and I was laughing from beginning to end. Very solid comedy. I'll go 9/10 simply because it kept me laughing the entire time which comedies rarely if ever do. In comparison to other great comedys it's probably a bit overrated, but I'll stick with 9/10 right now.

[nZane]

Thinking back on the last two Netflix movies I watched, we have:

 

Slumdog Millionaire

Very good movie, but didn't quite live up to the hype for me. After all of the awards and whatnot, I was expecting to be floored by some groundbreaking epic. Instead, I saw a somewhat cliche love story set in a location and lifestyle I'm not at all familiar with. In all fairness though, a cliche is cliche for a reason, and this executed said cliche very well. 8/10

 

Changeling

This movie was kind of the anti-Slumdog for me, as I hadn't heard much hype about it. And I was absolutely floored by this film. Disturbing films that are based on a true story always get to me more than disturbing fictional films, because I tend to be in a stunned silence that something like this actually happened, and not too terribly long ago either (film is set in the late '20s/early 30s). I thought Angelina Jolie was excellent. 9/10

[CQI13]

I don't know if "great" is the word I would have used. Medicore, maybe.

 

Predictable. Felt like I wasted 2 hours on what I already deduced from the first 5 minutes. The acting was solid, but not excellent.

 

Haha, I guess that didn't take long. Granted I also LOVED Meet Joe Black, and The Legend of Bagger Vance.

[UFC-KING]

Thinking back on the last two Netflix movies I watched, we have:

 

Slumdog Millionaire

Very good movie, but didn't quite live up to the hype for me. After all of the awards and whatnot, I was expecting to be floored by some groundbreaking epic. Instead, I saw a somewhat cliche love story set in a location and lifestyle I'm not at all familiar with. In all fairness though, a cliche is cliche for a reason, and this executed said cliche very well. 8/10

 

Changeling

This movie was kind of the anti-Slumdog for me, as I hadn't heard much hype about it. And I was absolutely floored by this film. Disturbing films that are based on a true story always get to me more than disturbing fictional films, because I tend to be in a stunned silence that something like this actually happened, and not too terribly long ago either (film is set in the late '20s/early 30s). I thought Angelina Jolie was excellent. 9/10

 

Slumdog Was Great.

[Imarevenant]

So I went to see Observe and Report Yesterday, Expecting it to be a funny movie just because I love Seth Rogen. So I walk in, and it's like the first time in my trips to the movie theaters that i've ever gotten decent seats to enjoy the movie.

 

Sounds to me like the marketing for the movie brought you in hook, line and sinker with the by the numbers ad campaign they've run with.

 

Honestly, you shouldn't have expected a straight forward comedy from Jody Hill.

 

After Footfist Way and Eastbound and Down it's readily apparent that that's not what Jody Hill is about. His comedies are dark, putting very unlikable characters into the title roles and somehow making the audience root for them.

 

Personally I enjoy Eastbound and Down and loved Footfist Way, so I'm looking forward to Observe and Report whenever I do get around to seeing it. With two little ones, it will probably be via netflix.

 

As for what I've seen recently:

 

Milk

Was extremely well acted. I do not like Sean Penn, but he was great in this. Josh Brolin and James Franco were very good as well. I wish they would have went a little more into why Milk became such an activist in the latter stages of his life. This stuff was there but seemed a little glossed over so that we could get into the movement and more known areas of his life. Overall I thought it captured that movement very well, was just left wanting to know a little bit more about Harvey Milk than what was focused on.

 

Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist

I enjoyed it. Michael Cera did the thing he does best. Kat Dennings was extremely likable as well. Predictible, yes. But still enjoyable and accomplished what it set out to accomplish.

 

Fido

Loved this one. Just a story about a boy and his dog. If said dog were a flesh eating zombie, of course. A satirical comedy it pokes fun at war, class, the '50s, and our cultures views of death and violence.

[AfRoMaN36]

Granted I have not seen the film, but this is precisely why. It does not even look remotely entertaining from the trailer.

 

On to the latest movie I saw: I Love You, Man

 

The people that saw it prior to me said it was medicore, nothing special. However, after watching it just fit me so well (at least on Friday it did) and I was laughing from beginning to end. Very solid comedy. I'll go 9/10 simply because it kept me laughing the entire time which comedies rarely if ever do. In comparison to other great comedys it's probably a bit overrated, but I'll stick with 9/10 right now.

 

Was it really that good? I have nothing but love for Paul Rudd since 40 year old virgin and he was awesome in Role Models but the previews for the movie didn't look that funny. I may watch it simply to support the guy as he is easily one of the most underrated comedic actors in America.

[ACCBiggz]

If you like Paul Rudd then you'll probably love it like I did. Although you may end up like some of my friends and find it average. However, the style of comedy fits me well. I really enjoyed it.

[Comradebot]

Haha, I guess that didn't take long. Granted I also LOVED Meet Joe Black, and The Legend of Bagger Vance.

 

I think the only scene in that movie worth watching is when Brad Pitt gets smacked by the cars, and that's like 15 minutes in.

 

After there its a very tedious, brutally slow film. A good story, but poor execution. I had to take a break midfilm to cure my boredom before I was like "maybe it picks up in the second half!" It really didn't.

 

And I haven't been to the movies since seeing The Wrestler... which of course was fan-frakkin-tastic.

[nZane]

Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist

I enjoyed it. Michael Cera did the thing he does best. Kat Dennings was extremely likable as well. Predictible, yes. But still enjoyable and accomplished what it set out to accomplish.

Agreed on pretty much all counts here. Nothing fantastic, but certainly enjoyable. And after finding out that Kat Dennings is 23, I don't feel quite so pervy for admiring her "assets" the way I did.

[ACCBiggz]

And I haven't been to the movies since seeing The Wrestler... which of course was fan-frakkin-tastic.

 

It really was not. Granted I probably had my hopes built up via the Oscar buzz for Rourke and the IWC. The IWC has a hard-on for this film because it's about wrestling and has ROH in it... but overall the film was vastly overrated. Another medicore film. Rourke was very god in it, but after watch it and Milk back to back in preperation for the Oscars... it would have been a shame to not give it to Penn for playing Harvey Milk. It was a very good performance for Rourke, but the movie left a lot to be desired.

 

It should be noted that my ratings are simply based on my enjoyment and not what I thought the movies actual quality is. For instance, I loved I Love You, Man and gave it a 9/10, and I may give another an 8/10... but when talking about everything that goes into it the latter may be the better film. It's a big heap of grey area with me. >_>

 

Slumdog Millionaire - 8/10

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - 8/10

Frost/Nixon - 9/10

Milk - 8/10

The Wrestler - 7/10

Doubt - 8/10

 

 

 

Quick edit: Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist 4/10

Pretty painful. Not funny in the slightest.

[AfRoMaN36]

It really was not. Granted I probably had my hopes built up via the Oscar buzz for Rourke and the IWC. The IWC has a hard-on for this film because it's about wrestling and has ROH in it... but overall the film was vastly overrated. Another medicore film. Rourke was very god in it, but after watch it and Milk back to back in preperation for the Oscars... it would have been a shame to not give it to Penn for playing Harvey Milk. It was a very good performance for Rourke, but the movie left a lot to be desired.

 

I disagree. The movie was amazing. Not the single greatest film of all time, but my eyes were glued to the screen for the duration of the film. My only quarrel is the open ending. I detest open endings as I'm the kind of person who wants to know one way or the other. So to just see him jumping of the top rope for a Ram Jam then suddenly cutting to black pissed me off.

 

 

 

Quick edit: Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist 4/10

Pretty painful. Not funny in the slightest.

 

Very true. I don't know why people liked this movie. It was terrible.

[praguepride]

Man, I see too many movies to review them all. Here's a quick run-down.

 

Duplicity

Competent spy-caper movie. It had some clever parts but also tripped over itself a few times. The ending wasn't great, but it was an interesting twist that broke normal conventions: 7/10

 

I Love You, Man

Pretty funny comedy if you find "crazy things that guys do when they hang out" situations funny. I feel they wrapped up the ending too nicely though with one of those "suddenly everyone forgives everyone else in the last 5 minutes" kind of deal. 6.5/10

 

Slumdog Millionaire

Awesome movie. NOt conventional, but it has a great underlying theme (how powerful destiny can be) and I feel that the love story is one of the better one's I've seen in a long time. Definitly deserves the Oscar: 9/10

 

Watchmen

Low grade but there's a reason to it. If you read the graphic novel and really enjoyed it, but aren't an anal fanboi that demands that everything be exactly as it was, it'll be a high rating movie. However, for the extreme fans and the casual movie audience, it's not accurate enough for the fanbois, and too up it's own ass for anyone else to understand what's going on. Great visuals though. 5/10 (I personally fall into the "fan but not a fanboi category so for me personally it was a 9/10)

 

Fast & Furious

Eh... didn't do much for me. Yeah it had high speed racing but really not enough, not nearly as much as the last two. It was more akin to Mad Max then Fast & Furious but I felt it didn't really fit into the movie. Also, watching Vin Diesel try to play an emotionally sensitive charater just didn't pan out. I like the guy as an actor, but this movie didn't have the dialogue to support a huge emtional drama-bomb like it was trying to pull off. Vin ended up being "Punisher-angsty" and all in all pretty 'blah.' Finally the "big twist" at the end was laughably predictable and yet still poorly executed. 3.5/10

 

He's Just Not That Into You

I see a lot of romantic comedies with the financee but I'm usually not a big fan of them. They usually are very forumulaic so I don't enjoy watching them. This movie, however broke several romantic comedy forumulas and was amusing enough to keep me interested. Not every scenario is cut/dry "communication mishap", not every story has a happy ending. The guy doesn't always get the girl, the girl doesn't always go back to the guy. Not academy material, but memorable in that it is a romantic comedy that tries to bend the mold a bit, which I always give bonus points to. 7/10 (6.5 without bonus "mold breaking" points)

 

Race to Witch Mountain

Competent. Good visuals, but still a kiddy movie. Rock did a good job, kids were alright in it. Not worth going out of your way to see, but it served its purpose and was entertainment for the children. 6/10

 

Coraline

I was lucky enough to see it in 3D and I must say that bumps it a full 1.5 pts up. The 3D effects were subtle and really added depth (pun intended ) to the film. Very similar stylings to Nightmare Before Christmas but this one was a little more kid friendly. 7.5/10 (6/10 without 3D effects)

[Crychon]

Fido

Loved this one. Just a story about a boy and his dog. If said dog were a flesh eating zombie, of course. A satirical comedy it pokes fun at war, class, the '50s, and our cultures views of death and violence.

 

When I saw this movie I REALLY wanted to like it, the premise sounded awesome, and Billy Connolly and Carrie-Anne Moss are usually enjoyable, but this movie just really didn't do it for me, and I was quite disappointed with it.

[iMac]

Took the GF to see Mall Cop on Saturday night (prob been out for ages in the States but I think it only came out about two weeks ago in the UK).

 

Fun movie really, had plenty of laughs in it. At times though, it felt a bit forced, and I didn't really understand why if you were going to rob a mall you'd build a team full of BMXers, Skaters and Base Jumpers.

 

Anyway, highlights for me...

 

Kevin James in general, guy is a hero for King of Queens and Chuck and Larry.

His character getting smashed and getting a Loch Ness monster tatoo (I'm from Scotland, and when that came up on the screen the whole room kinda marked out a little bit )

Survivor - I Can't Hold Back being the main love song of the movie, epic song

The Rock Band scene - best scene in the movie for me

The Rambo parody in the rainforest cafe

Two swerve heel turns - never saw either coming tbh

 

In general, guy works as mall cop, bad guys try take on over on busiest day of year, good guy risks life to save day, gets the girl at the end. Cliches all over the place, but defo a good movie to take a girl to. 7.5/10

[ACCBiggz]

Watchmen - 8/10

He's Just Not That Into You - 8/10

[The Two]

I saw Seven Pounds on DVD the other day. I thought it was great. I'm ok with being emotionally manipulated if it's done well.

 

Couldn't agree more. I really enjoyed it too, and I was impressed that they had the balls to go through with the ending. Once you knew how it had to end I was afraid they might chicken out for a happier resolution, but I was very glad they didn't.

 

You're also absolutely right on the second point. I hate when people slam a film for being "sentimental". There's nothing wrong with sentimentality if it's honest and it's done well. The same goes for any emotional manipulation. The only time it sucks is when you can tell it's dishonest, that it's just been tacked on at the end because that's what the studio wants or to shoehorn in a message or whatever.

 

The one which sticks in my mind on that front was Bruce Almighty. I have a lot of time for Jim Carrey and this was a fairly broad silly comedy which at the end tried to get meaningful and pull an emotional response out of you but it just didn't work because it was false. You knew they didn't believe in it, it was emotional manipulation for its own sake. Contrast that with films from guys like Capra and Darabont who you know believe utterly in the message and the sentimentality of their films and aren't ashamed of it.

 

I would include the guy who directed Seven Pounds in that crowd too (can never remember his name) because I was also impressed by his handling of Pursuit of Happyness.

 

I know this is a ridiculously long post but I've spent way too much time thinking about the question of sentimentality in films.

 

If it's honest and done well, I'm quite happy to be emotionally manipulated by a film and then sit there and cry like a girl