Quickly review the last 4 movies you've seen

[Justin_Bailey]

Yes, it's time once again for another "I JUST SAW IT!" movie thread. Discussions of some of the reviews are encouraged.

Hot Tub Time Machine - Way more entertaining than a movie titled "Hot Tub Time Machine" should be. I had a blast. Not as fun as The Hangover, but it was still a lot of fun.

The Box - I'll use the same thing I posted about this weird, mostly stupid movie in the "Movies where they let the audience be confused (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=570603)" thread:

Richard Kelly's The Box doesn't bother explaining anything and in the end the whole thing boils down to the work of one of six groups: hyper advanced aliens, sentient lightning, government experimentation, magic, Cameron Diaz's deformed foot or God (those last two might be the same thing).

The Crazies (2010) - Also more entertaining than it had any right to be. But then, I really think Timothy Olyphant is an underappreciated actor. He's not ever going to win an Oscar, but he does an excellent job in everything he's in.

Unthinkable - Interesting, but ultimately stupid, movie about using torture to find the location of a trio of atomic bombs a terrorist has planted somewhere in the US. His reasons for planting the bombs puts this one into double :rolleyes::rolleyes: territory.

Now it's your turn. Go!

[smiling bandit]

Despicable Me: An evil mastermind gets over his emotional issues. And it is awesome.

[PSXer]

Kindergarten Cop - hilarious 10/10 would view again

Predator - Arnold has big muscles 10/10 would view again

Moby Dick - I don't think Gregory Peck was the best choice. He is too pretty to be a mangled sea captain

Back to the Future - a true cinematic masterpiece. still great after 25 years and will still be beloved in another 25

[Paranoid Randroid]

Iron Man 2: Robert Downey Jr's spoiled asshole playboy bit kept me entertained, for the most part, although I feel as if I should intensely dislike the character. Some nice fights, not long enough to bcome boring. The villainous inventor/industrialist was unbelievably stupid.

Predators: Adrien Brody plays a much better badass than I expected, but the movie itself wasn't very exciting. Nice special effects.

Session 9: Brooding, dark, slowly building tension, mostly awesome. It's hard to avoid the thought "Haven't we seen this all before?", though. Honestly? We have; "my other personality is a murderer!" leaves me shrugging. But the film was put together with enough skill to make it worth watching.

Below: There were some nice touches, but overall it was boring and terribly predictable. I do have a soft spot for horror movies that leave the audience wondering.

[Simplicio]

I think I've only seen, like, four movies since Christmas. They were:

Despicable Me - I liked it. The plot was kinda meh, but it was funny with a lot of physical comedy. Kinda like a two hour long loony-toons short, with the cuteness factor dialed up to 11.

Book of Eli - Not sure why I didn't like this, but I just found it kinda boring. Could have done without the over-the-top kung-fu, I think. Just made what was trying to be a grity realistic post-apocalyptic film too unbelievable. Also felt like Kevin Costner should be in it somewhere.

Alice in Wonderland - It was pretty, anyways. But it took itself way too seriously, Alice and Wonderland as epic fantasy just doesn't work.

Avatar - I liked it. Deservably gets a lot of grief for its "paint by numbers" type plot, but honestly I kinda liked that they kept it simple plotwise, since the point of the movie was obviously to create a neat world. And I actually prefer it to other fantasy/sci-fi films where the creators throw a bunch of complicated and more or less random twists and turns so that the whole movie is spent trying to figure out the complicated politics of some imaginary world that we're only going to experience for a few hours anyways (see, for example, the latter Pirates of the Carribean Movies).

ETA: oh yea, I saw Iron Man II somewhere in there too. I didn't really like it either, I think I just might be getting bored of superhero movies. I'm kinda hoping Hollywood moves on and finds another genre for their big budget blockbuster dollar.

[minlokwat]

Greenberg. Certainly not your typical Ben Stiller movie. Not sure whether I liked it or not. A darkish comedy that isn't big on plot. The female lead, Great Gerwig was good though.

The Green Zone. Really had no desire to see it. According to the DVD case, Ebert gave it 4 stars and I wanted to use up my last Blockbuster in-store exchange rather than waste it. If you've seen one Iraqi war movie with its hyper editing and a lot of that "go! Go! GO!!" dialogue, you've seen them all.

Five Minutes of Heaven. Thought it was really good. Great performance from the lead actors. Not to sound presumptuous but were I in charge, I would have made several changes to the story. Also had to watch this one with the subtitles on since the thick Irish brogue is indecipherable at certain points.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Liked it. More of whodunit than anything but not exactly run of the mill and the two leads were excellent. Not a great film per se with a few holes here and there but watchable due to the excellent acting.

[MovieMogul]

The Man with a Movie Camera (1929, Vertov) -- Quite simply the best movie about movies ever made, and a giant in filmmaking history. Cutting edge and profoundly clever and innovative, the movie hasn't dated a bit and is still immensely entertaining. To watch it with the Alloy Orchestra performing live is even a greater treat. A film that never gets old. Wow.

Haxan: Witchcraft through the Ages (1922, Christensen) -- An incredibly creepy historical overview of satanism, both its practice and its mythic influence. The recreations are genuinely bizarre and horrific, and the Matti Bye Ensemble's accompanying score is a revelation in atonal moodiness.

Diary of a Lost Girl (1929, Pabst) -- More florid and melodramatic than Pabst's masterpiece Pandora's Box, this film lives and breathes by the effortless charm and charisma of the amazing Louise Brooks. She elevates the material and the emotional tenor every step of the way, and manages to humanize some setpieces that could easily come across as cruel or exploitative. Primarily a star vehicle, but one worth checking out.

Inception (2010, Nolan) -- A lot of fun and meticulously constructed, with a first-rate cast that does justice to a smart and intricately-crafted plot. Definitely worth revisiting, primarily because I found that the emotional core of the film got lost a little in the nesting doll framework. A little frustrating that I wanted to care more about Cobb's plight, but it's a provocative film and one I look forward to seeing again (as soon as I've caught up on all the other films in release I haven't seen yet).

[kayaker]

Let the Right One In A Swedish sorta vampire pic. With kids.

True Romance Tarantino wrote this movie, which he sold in order to get the money together to do Resevoir Dogs. A violent love story.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's summer. I haven't seen many films lately. Talk to me again come February.;)

[Elendil's Heir]

Despicable Me - Liked it, although the villain became soft-n-sweet a bit too quickly for me. Lots of laughs, adroit physical comedy, and good visuals. A solid B+.

Dark City - Long a favorite of mine, and this is the director's cut, which omits the opening V/O and adds some short but consequential scenes left out of the original release. Intricate, intriguing, moody and hypnotic. Roger Ebert's commentary on the DVD was quite interesting - he clearly loves the movie as much as I do. Definitely A+.

Knight and Day - Despite the reviews and some big plot holes, I actually thought it was good. Both Cruise and Diaz are looking a little too long in the tooth for this sort of thing, though. Some good jokes ("It's just one of those things," "It's all good" and "What number would you like?" were standouts), and fun, mildly-plausible action sequences. I'd give it a B.

Taken - Extraordinarily implausible revenge flick. A bit too sour in tone to really be fun, but seeing Liam Neeson use his spycraft was interesting, and Maggie Grace is always nice to look at. I'd give it a C.

[Elendil's Heir]

...The Crazies (2010) - Also more entertaining than it had any right to be. But then, I really think Timothy Olyphant is an underappreciated actor. He's not ever going to win an Oscar, but he does an excellent job in everything he's in....

Agreed. You've got to watch him in the FX series Justified, as a conflicted deputy U.S. marshal from Kentucky. He's - and the show's - awesome.

[Push You Down]

"Dear Wendy" - watched on Netflix. ... boring for the first half hour, interesting for the next half hour, conflict introduced makes me oddly uncomfortable since it seems vaguely racist.. oh, boring again.

Outloud moment "Whoa! That's Billy Elliott all grown up!"

"Cyrus" - watched in Theater. good, but not as funny as I thought it would be. I also realized that the only way they could have made it funnier was by upping the ante with Jonah Hill's character's antics and making Marisa Tomei's character a moron to keep the plot going. I'm glad they didn't do that.

Outloud moment "Hey! That's Eagle Rock. I know where they filmed that!"
(6 years in LA and I still get those)

"The Kids Are All Right" - watched in theater. Good, but not as great as people are saying it is though. Very funny. Benning decided to play her character as a man more than just a butch lesbian. Juliane Moore is amazing looking and very good. Ruffalo is hilarious. Best explanation for lesbians liking gay male porn that I have heard.

Outloud moment- "So what happens next?" "She remains an alcoholic and none of their personal problems get dealt with?"

"In Bruges"- on dvd. Really good. Funny. Bizarre. Beautifully shot. Racist dwarf! Harry Potter actors everywhere!

Outloud moment- "I forgot that I actually like Colin Farrell."

[TruCelt]

Despicable me - Loved it! Giggles and swoops, and uses 3D the way it should be used - to make you want to barf on a rolleer coaster. Nothing philosphical or profound, just pure entertainment. Fantastic score, cute characters, good voicing. Will probably not stand up to repeated viewing. Only 1 potty break (means the little one was enthralled.)

Toy Story 3 - Good 3D and color - lousy music. The plot gets a little thick and complicated for the tykes, and we had to take multiple potty breaks (usually a sign that the plot drags from the shorties' PoV.) Missing a scene here or there had little effect on the overall story, so "D-" for editing. Definitely do not want a home copy of this one.

Princess and the Frog - A+++ on all counts. Plot is great, moves at just the right pace for the little ones, incredible color, amazing music, and excellent voice acting. Even after 80-some plays I still root for this one when she's choosing a movie. No. Potty. Breaks. first and only.

Can't remember the last movie I saw before that. . .

[Speak to me Maddie!]

When in Rome – Terrible. A hodgepodge of all the traditional Rom-com elements haphazardly thrown into a big stinking pile of suck. Why so many decent actors got pulled into this one I’ll never know.

Leap Year – Not bad. A Rom-com very similar to 1997’s The Matchmaker. Very predictable, a little too sweet, but otherwise paced well with likeable characters in a quaint setting. Amy Adams shows her limits as an actress again however.

District 9 - Wow! Why hadn’t I seen this before? A great film from start to finish. Awesome action, great characters, superb acting, and deep empathy. A near masterpiece.

The Disorderly Orderly – A supremely stupid film, and kind of creepy too. I chuckled at a few of the slapstick scenes, but mostly I was disgusted at bad this film was. Terrible and weird.

[Hodge]

Copying Beethoven - Ed Harris as Beethoven was surprisingly entertaining. Everything else was lame: the blatant Amadeus ripoffs, the completely fictional female copyist, the misplaced feminist empowerment message, and, most laughably, ghost-conducting as proxy-sex during the first performance of the Ninth Symphony (no I'm not kidding). Lame, lame, lame.

Iron Man 2 - Pretty good, but nowhere near as good as the first. Like most superhero sequels, it just felt too bloated with too many unnecessary characters and convoluted shenanigans signifying not very much. Like its predecessor, it's best scenes were smaller character moments.

All The President's Men - Absorbing journalistic procedural about the Washington Post's investigation into the Watergate break in and how it brought about the downfall of President Nixon. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman were compelling as Woodward and Bernstein and Alan J. Pakula's direction was immaculate and his ability to generate suspense with shots of people speaking on phones and scribbling notes is amazing. However, the shear volume of names, dates, facts and figures can be overwhelming and somewhat distancing if you're not up on your Watergate history. This wouldn't have been a problem upon its initial release in 1976 when the scandal was still fresh but I think younger viewers might do well to skim through wikipedia before watching.

Alice in Wonderland - Tim Burton. Yawn. Man, is that guy stuck in a rut. However, I did get a kick out of a newly empowered Alice going off to China to exploit growth opportunities in the opium trade.

[filling_pages]

I'll watch about anything on netflix, so these are the last 5 I saw, all last week.

1. Mystery Team: a bunch actors from NBC's Friday night sitcoms try to solve a mystery Encyclopedia Brown style. Had some very funny moments, but was mostly pretty flat. C+

2. The Princess and the Frog: I'm not exactly the given dynamic, but I liked it well enough. Pros: hand drawn, a few decent musical numbers. Cons: couldn't stop thinking about racial dynamics in New Orleans in the time period this was set, and how Disney just ignores such things. B+

3. Kamikaze Girls: this was one of those "netflix thinks you will like THIS movie" picks, so I had no idea what it was about going in. Turned out to be a fairly funny, clever movie about youth subcultures and a friendship between 2 girls. Nothing groundbreaking, but a good time. Another B+.

4. Franklyn: Another netflix suggestion, but less successful than KG. Either boring or hole-riddled. C

5. Maltese Falcon: I'd never seen it. I liked Casablanca better, but I can see why it's a classic. I would have liked more Peter Lorre, but that's just me. A

[Cat Whisperer]

"Dreamcatcher" - that wasn't very good. I watched it to the end (and I'm not sure why); I don't think I'd recommend it to anyone.

"Juno" - that was okay. I can see why the critics loved it, but it was mostly entertaining anyway.

"Clash of the Titans" - I love Sam Worthington, but I didn't love this movie. It felt like half a movie or something - something was just missing.

"Iron Man 2" - well, that was just plain fun. I quite enjoyed the fast-moving action.

[vivalostwages]

Greenberg: Sucked, just like the director's previous films. When will I learn?

Awake: Just okay, not very memorable.

Peter and Vandy: Yet another irritating indie film with annoying music.

Haunted houses; More Haunted Houses: Cheesy A&E documentaries but interesting for the history.

[msmith537]

Rules of Attraction - Litterally Patrick "American Psycho" Bateman's little brother going through his senior year of college with typical hit early 2000s cast.

2012 - Powering brain down nooowww...

The Invention of Lying - Charmingly funny Ricky Jarvais film

Jack and Silent Bob Strike Back - BONNNNG!!!!







"Dreamcatcher" - that wasn't very good. I watched it to the end (and I'm not sure why); I don't think I'd recommend it to anyone.


I'm not sure why it sucked so bad. It had a pretty good cast. Shitty dialogue though and predictable Stephen King "band of childhood misfit friends from Maine reunite as adults to fight a monster" story.

[multimediac17]

Suspect - Cher good, movie bad

Moonstruck - Cher good, movie okay, she deserved the Oscar but the movie itself seems overrated.

Mask - Cher good, everyone else good, I cried but don't tell anyone.

Pulp Fiction - does not feature Cher at all, so points taken off for that, otherwise quite amazing.

[elfkin477]

The A-Team - I used to watch this show every week with my dad, from first grade on. Nostaligia doesn't make it a good movie.

The Broken - So, I finished watching this movie, and the first thing I thought was "was I paying attention? Because I'm pretty sure that they implied [something absurd]. That can't be right." Nope, turns out I nailed it. I read a review and someone said it was "fast paced." What were they comparing it to, paint drying?

Babysitter Wanted - Um...well, that was different. I expected a silly slasher movie, not that.

Beneath - bummer ending, moderately stupid premise.

[Biffy the Elephant Shrew]

Kelly's Heroes - This should have been a great war/caper flick, but it fell flat. I'm not sure if it was supposed to be primarily an action film or a comedy, but if the former they forgot to include any excitement, and if the latter they forgot to include any jokes. And I wanted to kick Donald Sutherland's ass for being such a dweeb. This suffered by comparison to the movie I watched immediately before it:

The Score - Now this is a caper flick!!! Involving characters, high tension, fun plot twists. I just wanted to kick Marlon Brando's ass for being such a dweeb. Nah, just kidding--but he does insist on using a sillier version of his "Godfather" voice.

Darby O'Gill and the Little People - Watched this because of discussions on the SDMB. Very amusing, great primitive special effects, and I can see why the banshee scared the hell out of every kid who saw this.

Rififi - Had mixed feelings about this classic. The caper itself was pretty great, but I generally loathed the characters, and was creeped out by the rampant misogyny.

[Ephemera]

The Boat that Rocked -- Inconsistent and a bit long, but fun. A typical Richard Curtis film

Get Him to the Greek -- Hilarious sequel to Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and even better. P Diddy was a standout.

Smiley Face -- The greatest stoner comedy I have ever seen. A better Harold and Kumar. I love Anna Faris.

Cirque du Freak -- Forgettable.

[Taomist]

In reverse order:

Pirate Radio: Excellent flick, funny on multiple levels of intelligence, nice storyline, engaging timeline re: the 60's, interesting characters, and you give a damn about who does or doesn't go down with the ship. I was happily surprised, and I expected to like it in the first place.

Death at a Funeral <the more recent version> Good enough, but I'd already seen the first one, and not much stood out this time around for me. Still funny, just hard not to compare to the first.

Clash of the Titans <the new one> Had it playing in the background, after having already seen it in the theater. It was...lamer than lame. I can't think of anything good to say, except I can't remember crap about it even after having seen it twice, so it probably wasn't excruciatingly bad, just terribly boring. Oh, ok...big black Pegasus. Gotta love that. But yeah. That was about it. And I'd like to see more of the guy's mentor, in some other movie. Otherwise...wasted time.

Inception: On initial viewing, a good movie, takes you away entirely. And I personally came away 99 percent certain that on 2nd viewing, I will enjoy it equally well, even as I try to connect some dots; on 3rd viewing I will be taking notes; and if by the 4th viewing I'm still 'Ok, I don't know what the hell was going on', I still will really enjoy the movie! So, that's a thumbs up or two.

[cosmosdan]

so-so, good, very good, and excellent.


quick enough?

[Biffy the Elephant Shrew]

The Boat that Rocked -- Inconsistent and a bit long, but fun. A typical Richard Curtis film

Pirate Radio: Excellent flick, funny on multiple levels of intelligence, nice storyline, engaging timeline re: the 60's, interesting characters, and you give a damn about who does or doesn't go down with the ship. I was happily surprised, and I expected to like it in the first place.

Funny to see this (under both its titles) in two consecutive posts after mine--if we'd been doing five instead of four, Pirate Radio would have been my fifth.

[RealityChuck]

I tend to watch movies only on DVD and have lately been going through a box of public domain films I picked up cheaply. The last four were:

Murder by Pictures (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028004/). Cheap programmer with a photograph as a Mcguffin and a solution that is painfully obvious nowadays. Interesting seeing Gail Patrick pre Maltese Falcon, but that's not a reason to see it.

The Stranger (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038991/). I was surprised this was available. Directed by and starring Orson Welles with Edward G. Robinson as a Nazi hunter searching for a war criminal hiding in a Connecticut village. Loretta Young plays Welles's fiancee/wife. Not one of his best films (he listed it as his least favorite), but both he and Robinson are at the top of their game.

Murder at Midnight (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022172/). Plodding murder mystery. Opening scene is moderately interesting, but only in retrospect; while watching it, it seems terrible. Very good twist ending, but by that time, you don't care.

Kansas City Confidential (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044789/). Excellent caper film that seems to have influenced Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. A masked criminal mastermind gets together a gang to rob a bank; he is the only one who knows what everyone looks like. John Payne is caught up and nearly takes the fall before being released to clear his name. Three great heavies: Lee Van Cleef, Jack Elam, and Neville Brand. Full review here. (http://greatbutforgotten.blogspot.com/2010/07/kansas-city-confidential.html)

[Disheavel]

Seraphine - remarkable movie, incredible story. The pacing and the cinematography are unlike anything I have ever seen (and this was streaming Netflix to Wii) before. Story tells itself so well through other means that subtitles are unnecessary.

Step Brothers - not worth it. It is funny, but tries too hard and no pay off to most of the shenanigans.

Man on Wire - overrated. Lots of preparation goes in to stupid stunts. Follow your dream. I think King of Kong and a hundred other "documentaries" on Youtube make the point better.

National Lampoon's Vacation enjoyable does not hold up well. I remembered it being a tighter movie but just seems like a bunch of 5 minutes skits leading to a single joke now.

[Ephemera]

Funny to see this (under both its titles) in two consecutive posts after mine--if we'd been doing five instead of four, Pirate Radio would have been my fifth.

What did you think? My review made it sound like I might not have liked it much, but I pretty much agree with Taomist.

[Biffy the Elephant Shrew]

What did you think? My review made it sound like I might not have liked it much, but I pretty much agree with Taomist.

Oh, I thought it was great. Terrific characters and a lot of fun overall. As a rock 'n' roll pedant ;) I was irked by a couple of anachronisms (i.e., records that weren't released until after the pirates were shut down). A shame that the outrageous nude scene didn't make the cut, but it's in the deleted scenes on the DVD.

[Ephemera]

Wait. Nude scene? Of who? If it was of Talulah Riley, I will have to dig it back out.

[Reno Nevada]

Jennifer's Body Really very good horror-comedy. As Roger Ebert says, "better than a movie about a man-eating cheerleader needs to be."

Despicable Me Good, enjoyable flick. I did not love this as much as some people evidently do, but I liked it well enough.

Heathers Another excellent "high school girl serial killer" movie. Good double feature with Jennifer's Body.

How to Train Your Dragon Very enjoyable. I had a great time.

I was lucky with this particular batch of 4. Not a stinker in the lot.

[Biffy the Elephant Shrew]

Wait. Nude scene? Of who?

Of about 30 or 40 women, surrounding the quiet, sexy DJ.

[TruCelt]

Despicable Me Good, enjoyable flick. I did not love this as much as some people evidently do, but I liked it well enough.


It's like Christmas morning, always good, but requires the company of a toddler to work it's full magic. . . ;)

[panamajack]

Ink (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1071804/) (2009) - Incredibly efficient, especially technically. Low-budget effects manage to seem high-end. The story has elements familiar enough that they need little explanation. One point of inefficiency is that while the pace is fine, a slight all-around trimming wouldn't hurt. There are also a few weak actors, but the little girl is surprisingly one of the best.

Stagecoach (1939) - Pretty much the definition of the classic Western. John Wayne and Monument Valley are made famous. And John Ford does not disappoint; all the human drama of the story is captured.

Moon (2009) - Watching the extras on DVD makes you realize just how complicated it was to put this film together. Watching the film, you completely forget about all that and get drawn into the emotional power of it. Science Fiction at its best (with some great nods to the past thrown in).

8 1/2 (1963) - Normally I find Fellini's films insufferable. The self-referential opening made me think I would hate this one too. By the end, however, I had been won over. There's a genuine and honest element in this that I haven't seen in his other films.

[Superhal]

Knight and Day: Vanilla Sky part 2, but they switch roles for who's the psycho one.

Karate Kid (2010): Let's hope Jaden's father keeps his day job.

Sex and the City 2: Why? Dear god, WHY?!

Killers and Twilight: Eclipse: Ok honey, here's the movies you wanted...I'm going to sit in the corner to preserve my brain cells.

[Little Nemo]

How To Train Your Dragon: Good animated movie. A teenage boy captures a dragon and becomes friends with it. Then he has to convince his town to stop killing dragons. Worth watching.

Clash of the Titans: Action movie about Greek mythology. Not worth watching at all - not even good action scenes. A bad remake of a movie that wasn't that good to start with.

The Losers: An action movie that works okay. A team of commandos gets set up by an evil mastermind and strikes back. Good to watch if you're looking for mindless action thriller.

Kick-Ass: Best of the four. A comedy-adventure about people with no powers deciding to become superheroes. Pretty violent in an over-the-top way.

eta: Is this supposed to be only movies we saw in the theatre? Or does it include movies we saw on DVD? Because I may have to change my answers.

[Shocker Khan]

[QUOTE=Disheavel;12703551]Seraphine - remarkable movie, incredible story. The pacing and the cinematography are unlike anything I have ever seen (and this was streaming Netflix to Wii) before. Story tells itself so well through other means that subtitles are unnecessary.

I didn't realize Seraphine was on netflix streaming. Score! I've been wanting to see this. Thanks for the heads up!

[Larry Borgia]

Inception Good, somewhat flawed. Didn't have the crazy connections you get in dreams. A good thriller, but Synechdoche, New York captures more of the dreamworld's character.

Winter's Bone Very good. Acting was top-notch. You really believe the actors were the people they were pretending to be. Grim, but not poverty-porn like Precious. Had a good thriller/detective plot too.

Restrepo. Awsome documentary about a base in Afghanistan. Nail-biting suspense. Highly recommend.

The Day After Tomorrow I saw this in a bar, subtitled with the sound off. Horrible, but made for good MSTing with my friend. I enjoyed the cold front that chased people.

[Roland Orzabal]

The Sorcerer's Apprentice: Light on mental stimulation, heavy on fun. Nicolas Cage was born to play a disgruntled 1,500-year-old magician with abandonment issues. (This is perhaps why he seems so out-of-place the rest of the time.) Nothing to do with Fantasia apart from a name, a sorcerer, and an apprentice, so if you're looking to do a comparison and/or wank about the greatness of the Disney classic, stay at home and save yourself the trouble (Ebert, this means you).

The Last Airbender: Insipid. There are zero lines of dialogue that aren't clunky exposition, most of which is redundant, including a voiceover that serves only to tell the audience what's about to happen (not that the characters won't tell you again as they're doing it). The 3D was added as an afterthought, and as a result the visuals are dark and drab. Stay away, unless you can get a private showing to MST it with your friends.

Predators: An enjoyable throwback to '90s action movies, in that it's a movie (unlike, say, Gamer), has a plot, and in any given scene the cinematography is such that you can tell what's happening. Nothing outstanding, but the aforementioned qualities alone are rare enough in the genre these days to make it worthwhile.

Twilight: Eclipse: Got dragged to this on a date. I have no clue what happened in it. My date looked kinda like Kristen Stewart, so there's that.

[Sailboat]

The Green Zone. Really had no desire to see it. According to the DVD case, Ebert gave it 4 stars and I wanted to use up my last Blockbuster in-store exchange rather than waste it. If you've seen one Iraqi war movie with its hyper editing and a lot of that "go! Go! GO!!" dialogue, you've seen them all.

I haven't.

Well, I guess I saw Three Kings, if that counts, and liked it. But my Netflix queue has contained the following movies, in some cases for several years:

The Hurt Locker
The Kingdom
Syriana
Extraordinary Rendition
In the Valley of Elah
Lions for Lambs
The Home of the Brave
Stop-Loss
Redacted
The Green Zone

My wife keeps moving them down and moving her stuff up to the top. Some of these movies were added to the queue during the Bush administration.

[Eleanor of Aquitaine]

Surrogates - Sci-fi action flick starring Bruce Willis. People are living vicariously through android bodies. Not a good movie but kind of entertaining to watch. It was fun to see the barbie-dollish android versions of the actors. Rosamund Pike is ridiculously beautiful.

Creation - Drama about Charles Darwin's struggle with the death of his daughter while trying to decide if he should publish his Origin of Species. Starring Paul Bettany and Jennnifer Connelly. I liked it.

To Kill a King - Historical drama about Oliver Cromwell, starring Tim Roth. The best I can say is that the costumes were great. It seems to have been shot mostly at Hampton Court Palace, which is very recognizable if you've been there, so it was distracting to see it in so many scenes, including the execution of the king. Rupert Everett does a surprisingly bad job as Charles I.

The Matrix - watched this with my oldest son, who thought it was really weird.

[Bob Ducca]

Dispicable Me: Fun movie, great for kids, a lot of laughs. Tried to hard to be clever in parts and mostly came off more cartoony than most animated fare that comes out these days.

Food Inc.: Hard to watch but a really fantastic documentary. Really informative. I haven't had a burger since (though I haven't given up my chicken.)

Yes Man: More entertaining than I'd expected. Jim Carrey did his regular schtick but the movie had some great supporting performances, namely from Rhys Darby (Murray in "Flight of the Conchords." Zooey Deschanel was wonderful as well.

The Karate Kid Part II: My son had just finished watching the original Karate Kid and wanted to see the sequel. I hadn't seen it in years and years. I really liked it when it came out though (when I was in 6th or 7th grade) and I still found it pretty watchable. Gotta love a good Moody Blues montage.

[Baal Houtham]

Three of these were from SDMB movie thread recommendations.

Dark Star.
Very early (film school?) John Carpenter movie. It's a cult item, but after 25 minutes I took a break to eat dinner and the disk ended up atop the TV for the next 10 days.

Hate it when that happens, but it seemed like there was always something better to do. Eventually the missus asked, "Can this go back?"

7 Faces of Dr. Lao.
Not what you'd expect from the title. A western (early 1900s) featuring Tony Randall in multiple roles. Dr. Lao is a laughing Oriental mystic who brings his circus to town and changes things for the better. There are some scenes with stop motion "monsters."

I can understand why it gets recommended in cult film threads, but it wasn't quite good enough to tell the rest of the family they need to see it.

Flirting
1991 Australian film about a romance between a boy and girl attending boarding schools separated by a lake. Charming leads and non-trite dialog. Racial issues, sexual issues, political issues are all handled in a way that won't make you cringe.

Not great, but very good. Has the young Nicole Kidman in a non-essential role.

Toy Story 3
One of the best Pixar films. You'll laugh, you'll cry.

[twickster]

I've seen three movies in the theater in the last week, so let's start there:

Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky: Caught a matinee mostly because it's beastly hot here and I don't have A/C, and of what's playing at the local indie theaters this is the one none of my friends would want to see. Picks up where Coco Before Chanel left off. Visually wonderful, but a little long -- started getting real dozy late in hour two. The three lead actors were all very good.

Metropolis: The recently restored full (2.5 hour) version. Never seen it in its entirety before, though I've of course seen stills and snippets. Visually amazing -- it really doesn't need to be two and a half hours, though. I hope someone will do an edit with some of the new footage, which fills in some otherwise lost gaps in the action, but with a slightly brisker pace.

Inception: Yet another visual stunner -- saw it in Imax. Liked it just fine -- great freakin' visuals, but I do hope that Nolan will at some point decide that it's not pandering to the audience to edit action scenes in a way that makes it clear WTF is going on.

And, prior to that ... hm... last movie in a theater was back in May, City Island, Andy Garcia and Juliana Marguelies, comedy, enjoyed it.

[gladtobeblazed]

Greenberg : Pretty good. I like seeing Ben Stiller in more subtle roles like this. A similar feel to Lost In Translation, but not as good.

Date Night : Not good. I had no idea it was going to be some wacky action adventure comedy. I thought it was going to be a romantic comedy.

The New Daughter : Horribly cliched horror flick.

The Runaways : Mediocre musical biography film. Awesome music, dull movie.

[Elendil's Heir]

Surrogates ...Rosamund Pike is ridiculously beautiful....

You'll want to see the 2005 remake of Pride & Prejudice, then. She and Keira Knightley are simply luminous in that movie.

Just saw:

Seven Days in May - 1964 political thriller about an attempted military coup in the U.S., based on the book of the same name, with a pretty good script by Rod Serling. Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas chew scenery with great abandon. Ava Gardner is curiously dowdy in a small part.

Dark City - One of my all-time favorite sf movies, about a man who wakes up in a city where it's always nighttime. One of the few DVDs for which I listened to the director's commentary (this was the director's cut, too), and I'm glad I did, as there was all sorts of interesting detail. Ebert also supplied a commentary; it's on his "Great Movies" list.

Surrogates - An incredibly silly premise (how can all of these people afford all of these lookalike robots?) but pulled off pretty well. Bruce Willis does his customary "world-weary but tough cop caught in a strange situation" shtick with his customary skill.

Bob Ducca, I saw Yes Man when it came out, and liked it a lot, too. Zooey Deschanel is simply adorable.

[PookahMacPhellimey]

1. Shaun of the Dead.

Re-watching actually. Love this one, especially the beginning where everyone has turned to zombies but it takes ages for anyone to notice.

(It was bizarre watching this one dubbed into Italian as it is so very British)

2. Pane, amore e...

Sort of Italian Carry On film. Plot silly, but enjoyed watching Sofia Loren as a very convincing sexy fishmonger.

3. Avatar

Dances with Wolves with blue Indians. Boring, though my tiny laptop screen was probably not the best way to enjoy the admittedly pretty scenery.

4. The Bourne Identity

Entertaining, nothing more, nothing less. Franca Potente is cool, can we have more of her, please?

[Missy2U]

The Day After Tomorrow - kicked ass. Bad weather.
2012 - kicked ass. Bad world.
Boondock Saints - kicked ass. Bad assed brothers.
Drop Zone - kicked ass. Bad skydiving by Wesley Snipes

[zamboniracer]

Unfaithful - An unbelievable resolution, but Diane Lane sure looks great naked, doesn't she?

The A-Team - Not quite as ridiculously enjoyable at the TV-series.

[Eleanor of Aquitaine]

Surrogates ...Rosamund Pike is ridiculously beautiful....

You'll want to see the 2005 remake of Pride & Prejudice, then. She and Keira Knightley are simply luminous in that movie.Yes, I've seen it. She's much more beautiful than the woman who played Jane in the A&E miniseries.


We watched Avatar last night, and I thought it was terrible. What a waste of the pretty.

[Driver8]

The last four movies seen, most recently first:

Avatar - I don't understand why this was so popular. I found it dull, the plot was asinine, and for all the money spent on special effects everything still looked fake and cartoon-like.

Inception - One of my favorite recent movies. So beautifully structured and well cast. This, The Dark Knight and Memento means that Nolan is now on my list of must-see directors.

A Single Man - I disliked this movie. I couldn't get into it, or understand why it existed - the story seemed dull and pointless. I'm willing to accept I missed something entirely, because a lot of people enjoyed this and must have seen something I missed.

The Girl Who Played With Fire - A nice solid mystery / action movie with compelling characters. This and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo compelled me to read the books, which are quite good too.

[jsgoddess]

I can't even name the last four movies I saw in the theater. But the last four at all:

12 Angry Men: Really superb movie, even though I've never been a huge fan of Henry Fonda. So chock full of "Hey, it's that guy!" moments.

Toy Story 3: Very cute, very funny, and very teary. I really enjoyed it.

Blazing Saddles: I thought my late husband was the only person who would have declared this his favorite movie. And then I met my boyfriend. I date weird men. But it does have it's moments, and Madeleine Kahn was a funny, funny lady.

Up: I bawled for the first half. I don't think the movie lived up to that incredibly tough and beautiful beginning.

[Ephemera]

Blazing Saddles: I thought my late husband was the only person who would have declared this his favorite movie. And then I met my boyfriend. I date weird men. But it does have it's moments, and Madeleine Kahn was a funny, funny lady.

Really? I hate it, personally, but it seems like a lot of people love it. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it as a favorite movie for men in their late thirties or early forties.

[Fubaya]

Visioneers - Zach Galifianakis plays George Washington's descendant waiting for his moment of greatness in a distopian society, but he is so dead inside he barely talks or does anything, which I suppose is the point. Unfortunately, the same can be said of the plot. Snoozefest.

Green Zone - Matt Damon unravels the entire gulf war in less than a day. One of the best gulf war II movies, but that isn't saying much.

Avatar - What hasn't been said about it? I'm just pissed that, in this entire huge world, we only see a handful of animals larger than insects and they all become important to the plot later. They aren't showing us an amazing world, they're just setting up plot points through the entire film.

Toy Story 3 - Same toys from the first two movies do similar things as before in an overly sappy way. Even my 4 year old was bored.

...

You're typing well, Bob, are your extra-sensitive fingerpads doing better?

[oliversarmy]

The Pacifier: Excruciatingly bad, but not really Vin Diesel's fault. It was on TV today so, I watched it.

Southern Comfort: I had not seen this since it came out on video, probably back in the '80s. A very interesting concept, probably done better in "Deliverance," but still compelling in the sense that even in America, not everyone understands all American cultures. Bad ending in the "c'mon" sense, though.

The Spanish Prisoner: I have a soft spot for Mamet. Seen it before, still like it. Rebecca Pigeon may be the worst actress in the world.

Memento: Saw it recently and only once. Very intriguing and I need to see it again. Really liked it, though

[Elendil's Heir]

...4. The Bourne Identity

Entertaining, nothing more, nothing less. Franca Potente is cool, can we have more of her, please?

Um... I have some bad news for you....
They kill her off early in the next movie.

It's "Franka," BTW, and she's very good in Run Lola Run, too.