It's Back: Exceelent Movies I've Seen Lately

[revo]

Hall Pass -- I normally find comedies like this to be amusing, if somewhat disappointing. But Hall Pass had some "laughing so hard I'm crying" scenes that even this morning I can't stop cracking up at. There are a couple of scenes in this movie that are definitely all-time classic quality. The movie as a whole is pretty good, but those scenes elevate it over any recent comedy I've seen. Plus, the female blonde center of attention is an amazing hottie who gets very nekkid.

The Lincoln Lawyer -- not bad. It's basically a two hour Law & Order episode.

Arthur -- I had to see the remake since the original is an all-time classic. But it's as if they said "let's remake it, stay true to the original, but take out all the funny scenes." And the female lead is a terrible actress.

Limitless -- I loved this movie. A quality thriller with a great storyline.

The Conspirator -- Robert Redford's adaptation of the Lincoln assassination conspiracy. Solid courtroom drama that stays close to history -- but although it was produced by an American History movie company that preached accuracy, it amazingly did not stay 100% true to history. I didn't understand that.

Source Code -- a bit like an action-oriented Groundhog Day, it still works. One of the better movies I've seen recently.

The Eagle -- a Roman-era war movie with good action, if a bit of a hokey plot. Still a solid watch if you like ancient war flicks.

[Mithrandir]

Against All Flags - Errol Flynn swashbuckler..great for the family.

[johnnya24]

Since we're on a run ... some movies I've watched and re-watched lately:

The Aviator - seen this once before when it was first released, and not sure why it took me so long to re-watch. Very good movie, classic Scorsese touches throughout. Loved to old school epic quality to the (over)acting and scene setting. Larger than life movie for a bunch of larger than life characters.

Network - Another classic movie I haven't seen for ages ... more and more relevant as every year goes by.

Bad Teacher - Not bad considering I expected it to be horrible. A few laughs, very farcical, a few odd and occasionally funny characters.

Horrible Bosses - one of the best comedies I've seen this year. Echo all the views above.

Your Highness - couldn't make it past the hour mark ... just not funny. Kevin McBride has been such a disappointment since the first series of Eastbound and Down.

500 Days of Summer - just as good as I remembered it to be ... and a great soundtrack (one for the classic rock guys )

Juno - then I had a mind to watch Juno again (see above)

High Fidelity - watched this during the Desert Island song draft ... awesome. I miss the days when John Cusack made good movies. Last seen him in that terrible Hot Tub movie.

The Inbetweeners - not really relevant for you guys ... very funny cult UK TV series made into an occasionally amusing and very stupid movie (sound familiar?). I'd recommend the (short) TV series, not the movie.

Will go and see Fright Night this week. Heard good things about Bridesmaids ... but missed it during its cinema run.

[Bodhizefa]

High Fidelity - watched this during the Desert Island song draft ... awesome. I miss the days when John Cusack made good movies. Last seen him in that terrible Hot Tub movie.

You didn't like Hot Tub Time Machine? It was a great riff off of 80's movies -- both making fun of them and reveling in them at the same time. I dug it.

[johnnya24]

You didn't like Hot Tub Time Machine? It was a great riff off of 80's movies -- both making fun of them and reveling in them at the same time. I dug it.

Exact opposite of Bad Teacher (see above) ... I expected Hot Tub to be great, but it let me down a bit. I was kinda bored watching it and don't remember laughing out loud once. I'll watch it again sometime in the future with lower expectations and hopefully enjoy it more.

[Trautdiggity]

Hall Pass -- I normally find comedies like this to be amusing, if somewhat disappointing. But Hall Pass had some "laughing so hard I'm crying" scenes that even this morning I can't stop cracking up at. There are a couple of scenes in this movie that are definitely all-time classic quality. The movie as a whole is pretty good, but those scenes elevate it over any recent comedy I've seen. Plus, the female blonde center of attention is an amazing hottie who gets very nekkid.

The Lincoln Lawyer -- not bad. It's basically a two hour Law & Order episode.

Arthur -- I had to see the remake since the original is an all-time classic. But it's as if they said "let's remake it, stay true to the original, but take out all the funny scenes." And the female lead is a terrible actress.

Limitless -- I loved this movie. A quality thriller with a great storyline.

The Conspirator -- Robert Redford's adaptation of the Lincoln assassination conspiracy. Solid courtroom drama that stays close to history -- but although it was produced by an American History movie company that preached accuracy, it amazingly did not stay 100% true to history. I didn't understand that.

Source Code -- a bit like an action-oriented Groundhog Day, it still works. One of the better movies I've seen recently.

The Eagle -- a Roman-era war movie with good action, if a bit of a hokey plot. Still a solid watch if you like ancient war flicks.

Did you just get off a long Delta flight? I swear either I or my wife watched almost all of these on our way to/from Greece.

Hall Pass - Agreed and very pleasantly surprised.
Lincoln Lawyer - Agreed
Limitless - Agreed
Source Code - Agreed
Arthur - She watched it, I wouldn't subject myself to it.


Also saw Crazy, Stupid, Love. Kinda chick flickish but pretty entertaining. Ryan Gosling was awesome and upstaged everyone, Steve Carrell included, on the comedy piece.

[BuckyBuckner]

Arthur -- I had to see the remake since the original is an all-time classic. But it's as if they said "let's remake it, stay true to the original, but take out all the funny scenes." And the female lead is a terrible actress.

That's exactly why I will never see the new one. I also don't find the lead guy funny, I am blanking on his name.

[johnnya24]

That's exactly why I will never see the new one. I also don't find the lead guy funny, I am blanking on his name.

Get Him To The Greek is funny ... Arthur looks like a horror show.

[BuckyBuckner]

Get Him To The Greek is funny ... Arthur looks like a horror show.

That didn't look funny to me but I don't like the fatso in that movie either.

[johnnya24]

That didn't look funny to me but I don't like the fatso in that movie either.

LOL ... very PC. Cyrus was good.

[BuckyBuckner]

LOL ... very PC. Cyrus was good.

Cyrus wasn't bad. Yeah, but you knew who I was talking about and I couldn't think of his name or other movies he was in. He just annoys me, he can't act and he's not funny.

[revo]

That's exactly why I will never see the new one. I also don't find the lead guy funny, I am blanking on his name.

Russell Brand actually made for a decent Arthur. Besides the female lead (well, I guess Liza Minnelli wasn't a great actress either), the casting was pretty decent. Luis Guzman was pretty good as Bitterman, Helen Mirren was good as Hobson. But it's as if they said "the classic funny scenes were all Dudley Moore, so let's leave his legacy intact and try and make our own funny scenes," -- of which, they pretty much failed.

I guess that's the thing with successful comedies -- it's all in the lines. If you're gonna change all the lines, what's the point?

[Gregg]

Russell Brand actually made for a decent Arthur. Besides the female lead (well, I guess Liza Minnelli wasn't a great actress either), the casting was pretty decent. Luis Guzman was pretty good as Bitterman, Helen Mirren was good as Hobson. But it's as if they said "the classic funny scenes were all Dudley Moore, so let's leave his legacy intact and try and make our own funny scenes," -- of which, they pretty much failed.

I guess that's the thing with successful comedies -- it's all in the lines. If you're gonna change all the lines, what's the point?

I never really thought about this before, but do any remakes actually use the classic lines?

[swampdragon]

I never really thought about this before, but do any remakes actually use the classic lines?

I guess the Leonardo Di Caprio version of Romeo and Juliet doesn't count to you but it is interesting.

There must be a few movies that are reshot with the same dialog but different actors. This is going to take some thinking and research.

[johnnya24]

Watched The Brothers Bloom ... excellent first half, and then meandered in the second. Seemed to just get lazy, and then run out of ideas and inspiration. If the Coen Brothers had got hold of this script and made this movie, it could have been a classic.