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

[revo]

Some recent views:

Super 8 -- I had a feeling it was something like this, and it was enjoyable, but afterwards, thought the fact of what era it took place in was forced by the script (in other words, what happened in the movie couldn't happen today).

Bridesmaids -- heard mixed reviews, but I thought it was pretty good. And the wedding dress fitting scene is an instant classic.

Horrible Bosses -- it was amusing, but not anything that is memorable. Still, a good watch.

Green Lantern -- kind of a mess. Hal Jordan is kind of a douchebag. My 4-year old loved it, though!

I Am Number Four -- I liked this movie -- hmmm, lots of movies about aliens invading the world recently, anyone see that?

Captain America -- I liked the whole origin part (many superhero stories get bogged down with the origin), and thought Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving & Tommy Lee Jones did a good job. The 1940's era with 1980s technology was interesting, and that's become an trait of superhero movies in the past (like X-Men:First Class). Overall, very solid.

[JudeBaldo]

Do not watch the new Conan. That is all.

[Teenwolf]

Watched a bunch of 80's horror cult classics recently:

Shocker - Wes Craven's film from '89 is so over-the-top, and hits in every way for me. Loved it.

From Beyond - How is it that the Stuart Gordon/Jeffrey Combs duo who produced Re-Animator managed to make an equally incredible film that I'd never heard of? I actually prefer this to the original Re-Animator, if only slightly.

Hellraiser 1 & 2 - Ridiculous plots, but some pretty fun camp, and weird sci-fi crap thrown at the viewer. It might take me a while to get around to parts 3-8, but I might some day.

Parents - Another from '89, this one starring Randy Quaid, who is just as creepy in this as he is in real life. Story of a child that's suspicious of what type of meat his parents are cooking. Super fun. Preceeded some of the graphic meat imagery on Dexter by about 15 years.

Tried to finish off John Carpenter's filmography...

Dark Star - This just isn't a great movie. If Carpenter hadn't directed it, it would surely be lost to history. It feels like the goofy cousin to 2001. I will say though, the ending scene made me feel as though I hadn't completely wasted an evening. Highlight this if you don't care about spoilers: spaceship blows up, spaceman escapes, rides ship debris like a surfboard towards the nearest planet as country music blares. Cue credits.

Memoirs Of An Invisible Man - Chevy Chase is in Fletch-mode here, though the material isn't as funny. Interesting concept, decent but not fantastic film.

Prince of Darkness - Felt pretty low-budget to me. Again, a decent movie, but pretty far down on Carpenter's list, though that speaks more to Carpenter's amazing resume than it does any lack in this particular movie. No stars, aside from Alice Cooper playing a possessed homeless guy. Projectile vomit keeps things lively.

The Ward - Cripes, I hated this movie up until the last 2 minutes of it. I questioned the logic the entire way through, and kept hating on it for defying anything that would ever happen in the real world. The ending wraps it all up nicely, but it was hard to wash the sour taste of the first 95% out of my eyeballs, and not good enough to want to watch a 2nd time. Avoid.

Random:

World's Greatest Dad - Very very dark comedy from 2007, starring Robin Williams, in a movie that you can't possibly write about without spoiling. Written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait. If you loved Observe and Report, seek this out.

[revo]

Crazy. Stupid.Love. -- they could've saved everyone a lot of time by just calling it Stupid.

[overkill94]

My thoughts on movies mentioned as well as other I've seen recently:

World's Greatest Dad - hated Observe and Report but thought this movie was pretty good; interesting to see Robin Williams in such a raunchy role, but there were some worthwhile subjects explored

Crazy. Stupid. Love - saw it with my parents in the theaters; lost a bit of steam toward the end, but overall a pretty enjoyable movie that explores a lot of different areas of modern courtship

Horrible Bosses - previews looked dumb, but the pedigree was intriguin and the word-of-mouth solid; definitely a worthwhile watch although not essential viewing

Shocker - never saw it, but the preview scared the hell out of me when I was eight

Beginners - story about a guy whose dad comes out of the closet after his wife dies and the remaining years until his own death; Christopher Plummer gives an Oscar-worthy performance as the gay dad and Ewan McGregor does a great job as the son who's confused in his own way. Overall a recommended movie although some may be put off since it's more of an indie type flick (aka not a lot of action)

Larry Crowne - there was really nothing else to see on DVD when I was home for Thanksgiving so I let my parents talk me into this one. As you would expect, it's a pretty harmless rom-com but the laughs are few and far between and some of the scenes are cringe-worthy.

Exporting Raymond - documentary about the show creator's attempt at adapting the show to a Russian audience. The culture clashes make for some good comedy but the premise is a bit stretched for a feature film so overall it gets a tepid recommendation.

[Teenwolf]

Horrible Bosses - previews looked dumb, but the pedigree was intriguin and the word-of-mouth solid; definitely a worthwhile watch although not essential viewing

Exporting Raymond - documentary about the show creator's attempt at adapting the show to a Russian audience. The culture clashes make for some good comedy but the premise is a bit stretched for a feature film so overall it gets a tepid recommendation.

Pretty much agree completely on both. I just hate Everybody Loves Raymond so much that it made it hard to engage with the film. Charlie Day elevates a mediocre movie to exactly as you say, a worthwhile watch.

[Teenwolf]

Batman: Year One - Animated Batman film, very adult-oriented. A little slow, and I hate that every superhero movie needs to be an origin story these days. Not bad, not great, but it's adult-oriented Batman, so any fans will want to check it out regardless.

Frankenhooker - I'd never seen this, and wow... what a treat. It's Re-Animator with a touch more camp, but all of the gags work. Has Troma film sensibilities but with higher production value than your typical Revenge Of The Killer Nerd type of thing.

[JudeBaldo]

Saw it a while ago. I really wasn't sure what I thought of it afterwards. I wanted to like it, but I didn't, but I did.

My feelings are quite similar though I probably liked it a little more than you did. The movie's ambiance was a mind****.

[revo]

Watched the latest Pirates of the Carribbean last night, and I'm willing to wager you can mish-mosh all three of the Pirates films together and come up with 2 hours in any order, and no one would know the difference.

[Erik]

Kevin Smith's Red State was a lot better than I thought it was going to be, despite the ending not really working. John Goodman, Michael Parks and Melissa Leo were all excellent.

[Erik]

I have seen most of Woody Allen's movies, but Interiors was one I had put off because a lot of folks find it boring and over-serious. Finally watched it today, and I think it's brilliant, if a bit derivative of Bergman. There's a reason for why the pace and the dialogue are the way they are; the film is really about the prisons that you can create for yourself by over-intellectualizing everything. The ending is absolutely stunningly heartbreaking, and very much earned. The roots of Hannah and Her Sisters, IMO his best film, are here. As is a very young Sam Waterston, looking and sounding nothing like Jack McCoy at all.

This must have really thrown his fans for a loop at the time, coming between Annie Hall and Manhattan.

John Waters, of all people, said something amazingly apt about this film: "If it was in Swedish with subtitles, it would have gotten the praise it deserved."

[johnnya24]

Speaking of Woody Allen, I saw Midnight in Paris, and thought it was pants. I had high expectations looking at the reviews, but felt it was a real let down. Owen Wilson just didn't work. It was supposed to be a bit silly, but this was stupid silly, not clever silly.

On the other hand, I really liked Crazy Stupid Love. Brilliant cast that really complimented each other ... shame about the trademark embarrassing public confessional moment at the end ... really hate those ... but apart from that, top notch.

And since it's the year of Ryan Gosling, I thought The Ides of March wasn't half bad either. I like the fact it didn't compromise the story they wanted to tell in order to make things more dramatic. Good solid movie.

[Erik]

Owen Wilson just didn't work.

I found Celebrity really annoying because Kenneth Branaugh was doing a film-long Woody impersonation. If that's what's gonna happen, why doesn't Woody just cast himself? Was something similar going on with Wilson?

[johnnya24]

I found Celebrity really annoying because Kenneth Branaugh was doing a film-long Woody impersonation. If that's what's gonna happen, why doesn't Woody just cast himself? Was something similar going on with Wilson?

Yeah that is exactly what I was thinking ... that Woody was looking for a modern version of himself in his classic movies. I generally like Owen Wilson ... but this was farce that overstepped the line into stupid IMO.

I liked Vicky Cristina Barcelona ... Midnight in Paris was a let down ... but I'm clearly in the minority here.

[heyelander]

so being pants is a bad thing, right?