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

[Gregg]

Been quite lazy with the rentals recently, but did end up watching a pretty damn good film last night.

Take Shelter - Michael Shannon stars as a regular dude in Ohio with a wife and kid who starts having horrifying dreams about a huge storm that brings upon some sort of apocalypse. The dreams have more and more of an effect on him until he finally decides to build a large underground storm shelter by himself. He questions his own sanity and when people find out they really question his sanity. Shannon's performance should've garnered him an Oscar nomination because he plays the part with such intensity and nuance while Jessica Chastain is also excellent as his wife. Highly recommended.

Disturbing movie. Agree that Shannon's performance should have gotten him an Oscar nomination. I'd even go a step further and say he should have won it.

That said I really didn't enjoy the movie very much.

[johnnya24]

Watched Master and Commander again last night ... Russell Crowe wants to make a sequel ... wish they'd get off their arse's and make this happen. It would be a smash hit IMO ... it has become a slow burning modern classic.

[SeaDogStat]

Watched Master and Commander again last night ... Russell Crowe wants to make a sequel ... wish they'd get off their arse's and make this happen. It would be a smash hit IMO ... it has become a slow burning modern classic.

Love that movie...draws me in at whatever point I catch it...

[johnnya24]

Rotten Tomatoes closes Batman comments as negative reviewers get death threat from fanboys.

It would appear that hell hath no fury than a Batman fan scorned, as several US critics were subjected to a torrent of abuse for daring to suggest thatThe Dark Knight Rises isn't the best film of this or any other year. The invective later prompted reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes to close its comments section for the first time since the website's launch in 1999.

Two US-based reviewers, Marshall Fine andChristy Lemire, found themselves targeted by Batman fans, with the former reportedly receiving death threats after claiming The Dark Knight Rises was "grandiose, not grand". Lemire, the film critic for the Associated Press, described the film as "an epic letdown", adding that "the feeling of frustration and disappointment is unshakable". Not everyone was accepting of this.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jul/18/rotten-tomatoes-dark-knight-rises

[swampdragon]

The Sting - I watched it last weekend for the first time in a while. The period piece is great while the story has tremendous clever details. It moves slower than many movies these days but still keeps you interested and intrigued.

For those of you that never saw it - go rent it and watch it

[johnnya24]

The Sting - I watched it last weekend for the first time in a while. The period piece is great while the story has tremendous clever details. It moves slower than many movies these days but still keeps you interested and intrigued.

For those of you that never saw it - go rent it and watch it

Watched this maybe 20 times over the years. Never gets old. A kid in our class could play The Entertainer, and the music teacher kept torturing him to play it all the time. Great tune.

[JudeBaldo]

The Sting - I watched it last weekend for the first time in a while. The period piece is great while the story has tremendous clever details. It moves slower than many movies these days but still keeps you interested and intrigued.

For those of you that never saw it - go rent it and watch it

My ABSOLUTE favorite movie of all-time. It's not even close.

[johnnya24]

My ABSOLUTE favorite movie of all-time. It's not even close.

Those kind of poker coolers only happen in the movies. Ignore the White Magic bit ...

[ironfist]

The Sting - I watched it last weekend for the first time in a while. The period piece is great while the story has tremendous clever details. It moves slower than many movies these days but still keeps you interested and intrigued.

For those of you that never saw it - go rent it and watch it

ha, me too! DVRed it off TCM or something. Thought it was great - really enjoyed it.

[johnnya24]

Preview for Paul Thomas Anderson's latest ... The Master

[ironfist]

Saw another older film yesterday, a Face in the Crowd. Really different role for Andy Griffith. Worth watching for his performance alone, but it's overall a really good movie that I think is relevant to our star culture of today.

[overkill94]

Saw some movies on my flights to and from Europe recently:

War Horse - Didn't expect to like this but ended up loving it. The ending is a little too Disney for my liking, but the different stops the horse makes along the way were all interesting. Probably would've been even more impressive on a screen larger than 7 inches.

We Bought a Zoo - Although the premise seemed a bit goofy, I'm a huge Cameron Crowe fan so I'd been meaning to see this. It was fairly predictable and there weren't really any great moments, but it was pleasant enough.

Tower Heist - Ben Stiller gives a quality performance and there's some heart here, but the caper aspect falls apart at the end. Still fairly entertaining, but definitely not essential viewing.

Safe House - Lots of action and some nifty moves by both Denzel and RyRen, but the story doesn't have much going on. Again, fairly entertaining, but ultimately forgettable.

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory - The third in a series of documentaries about the West Memphis 3 - a group of teenagers who were (seemingly) wrongly accused in the death and mutilation of some young boys in Arkansas. I'd never heard of the story, so the details brought up are quite fascinating. Definitely a worthwhile documentary and an interesting look at how other parts of the country operate.

Waiting for Superman - Another great documentary, this one focusing on the failures of America's public schools while profiling lower-class kids in various districts. Definitely sheds a harsh light on the tenure debate and makes you wonder why the government doesn't spend more on education.

Tonight I finally get to watch The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, hopefully it lives up to the hype.

[rhd]

Saw Pelotero (Ballplayer) over the weekend. It's a documentary-type film about 2 16-y/o Dominican baseball players and the process and shenanagins involved in MLB teams signing them. It contained the expected shady dealings re: some of the Latin agents "representing" the players, as well as one of the players' families itself, but it was illuminating in that it showed how sleazy, underhanded and money-grubbing the executives of both the MLB teams and MLB itself can be in these dealings. One of the ballplayers is current Twins top prospect Miguel Sano, who could be an MLB star in the near future. MLB performed just about every medical test they could to try to verify Sano's age: urine sample AND stool sample (!?), DNA test, and bone scan. Every test was consistent w his age being what he said it was. They checked his birth certificate and school records, which all were consistent w his stated age. Yet MLB still would not affirm his stated age. Basically, they were trying to manipulate the situation to get him to sign for less money than he would have otherwise and apparently conspired w a MLB team to do this. They tried to pressure Sano to "admit" he was older than his stated age, but he refused to do so. Finally, MLB gave up and let him sign months later w Minnesota, still for less money than he arguably could have gotten if he had been approved to sign at the start of the signing period. At the end of the movie, it stated that MLB refused requests for interviews re: the situation (dont you love Bud Selig?).

Anyway, worthwhile seeing even if you're not a baseball fan.

[rhd]

Saw another older film yesterday, a Face in the Crowd. Really different role for Andy Griffith. Worth watching for his performance alone, but it's overall a really good movie that I think is relevant to our star culture of today.

Great, classic film. "Pre-Mayberry" Andy Griffith, "pre-Odd Couple" Walter Matthau, Patricia Neal, and a very young Lee Remick (first role?). Extremely relevant to our modern media-centric, image-driven society. I think of it as kind of similar to "Network".

[JudeBaldo]

Those kind of poker coolers only happen in the movies. Ignore the White Magic bit ...

Holy smokes. I feel sick for Rast. Damn.