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

[Fresno Bob]

so i watched "Collateral" last night, the Tom Cruise/Jamie Foxx movie....plot holes big enough to fly a new United Dreamliner through, but it made me want to watch an excellent movie again, "Heat"....

[johnnya24]

Lincoln - had to wait all this time for it to be released! 3 hours, but I wasn't bored for a second. A few flaws ... Spielberg was insistent on creating a "moment" every time a black person was on the screen. That got a bit tedious and corny after a while, especially with the formulaic "gravitas" music over the top (profound moment coming up!). But by the time DDL sucked me in, even that was passable. Amazing performance.

[Mithrandir]

The family had a Frankie and Annette weekend. Watched three bikini beach party movies. Lots of fun.

Gotta love Erich von Zipper! "You stupids!"

[Gregg]

I really enjoyed Taken, so I thought Taken 2 might be kind of fun. Not so. Fight scenes were just plain bad. Really glad I did not pay for it in the theater. I usually watch action movies two or three time. Not this one.

[BuckyBuckner]

I'm sorry if it was already discussed but I saw Searching for Sugar Man last night and it was most exceelent. Any and all music fans should see this, as should everyone else. Beyond the music it's a story about a truly remarkable person, and a true one at that (And in English, too. So I can die with a smile on my face, without feelin' like the good Lord gypped me).

[overkill94]

Saw Silver Linings Playbook at the theaters last night - quite excellent and totally deserving of all the Oscar nominations.

Rented Beasts of the Southern Wild the other night and it was an odd little film. The characters are all beyond poor and totally out of touch with the civilized world yet seem to be quite content in their own little world. I think the critics overhyped this one a bit, but it's a nice little film that's worth seeing.

[rhd]

Zero Dark Thirty I have to say that I loved it. Chastain nailed her role. When she meets Paneta for the first time she has the best line of the year. I got to see it in a full theater and the intensity of the viewing was awesome. Even though you know the ending the story of how they get there is worth watching.

Saw this today, and I didnt like it. It seemed realistic enough, altho I didnt like the reality that it portrayed. A good movie is supposed to affect you in some memorable way; all this movie did to me was depress me. It didnt make me feel anything positive at all; it was just the anatomy of cold-blooded killing. I hope it does not win an Oscar.

[DMT]

Saw this today, and I didnt like it. It seemed realistic enough, altho I didnt like the reality that it portrayed. A good movie is supposed to affect you in some memorable way; all this movie did to me was depress me. It didnt make me feel anything positive at all; it was just the anatomy of cold-blooded killing. I hope it does not win an Oscar.

Sounds like it affected you.

I thought it very good (but not Oscar-worthy); it's a war movie in a modern-day context. How are the actions depicted any different from the battle scenes in other war movies? The torture obviously, but the intention of the director and screenwriter was to make the audience uncomfortable and they achieved that goal in the first hour IMO. And all of the classic war movies that I can think of were not uplifting. Platoon, depressing. Full Metal Jacket, depressing. The Bridge on the River Kwai, depressing. Apocalypse Now, depressing. All Quiet on the Western Front, depressing. Saving Private Ryan, depressing, and on and on.

[rhd]

Sounds like it affected you.

I thought it very good (but not Oscar-worthy); it's a war movie in a modern-day context. How are the actions depicted any different from the battle scenes in other war movies? The torture obviously, but the intention of the director and screenwriter was to make the audience uncomfortable and they achieved that goal in the first hour IMO. And all of the classic war movies that I can think of were not uplifting. Platoon, depressing. Full Metal Jacket, depressing. The Bridge on the River Kwai, depressing. Apocalypse Now, depressing. All Quiet on the Western Front, depressing. Saving Private Ryan, depressing, and on and on.

Depression is not memorable.

War movies can be very uplifting. The original Sahara, w Humphrey Bogart, was very uplifting (I saw part of the recent remake and was not impressed). There's lots of bravery and heroism in war and it can be very uplifting. Of course there was bravery in Zero also, but it was portrayed in a routine, cold way. "All is Quiet" was very different in that it was an anti-war movie, which this one definitely was not.

This movie illustrates the great shortcoming of so many modern movies, which is that they try to overwhelm and manipulate you w special effects and graphic "realism". The premise is that more cold-blooded details of violence is more "realistic", therefore "better". It isnt; it's worse. Knowing what to leave out, what to leave to the imagination is part of good film-making. Modern filmmakers generally dont seem to do that. Instead they appeal to people's thirst for violence, ostensibly for commercial reasons. Which is why I generally dont like modern movies. Perhaps I'm missing some "message" that this filmmaker was trying to get across. The main message I got was that for all the talk about the evils of torture and inhumane treatment, our military uses it about as much as anyone else.

[TranaGreg]

... Perhaps I'm missing some "message" that this filmmaker was trying to get across. The main message I got was that for all the talk about the evils of torture and inhumane treatment, our military uses it about as much as anyone else.

but perhaps this is precisely the message that the filmmaker wanted to get across.

some of my more lasting movie experiences weren't uplifting at all, but instead were disturbing and dark. things don't always have a happy ending - I actually find "happy", uplifting war movies disturbing in their own way.

disclaimer: I haven't seen the movie yet.

[Mithrandir]

Depression is not memorable.

War movies can be very uplifting. The original Sahara, w Humphrey Bogart, was very uplifting (I saw part of the recent remake and was not impressed). There's lots of bravery and heroism in war and it can be very uplifting. Of course there was bravery in Zero also, but it was portrayed in a routine, cold way. "All is Quiet" was very different in that it was an anti-war movie, which this one definitely was not.

This movie illustrates the great shortcoming of so many modern movies, which is that they try to overwhelm and manipulate you w special effects and graphic "realism". The premise is that more cold-blooded details of violence is more "realistic", therefore "better". It isnt; it's worse. Knowing what to leave out, what to leave to the imagination is part of good film-making. Modern filmmakers generally dont seem to do that. Instead they appeal to people's thirst for violence, ostensibly for commercial reasons. Which is why I generally dont like modern movies. Perhaps I'm missing some "message" that this filmmaker was trying to get across. The main message I got was that for all the talk about the evils of torture and inhumane treatment, our military uses it about as much as anyone else.

I much prefer movies from the 30's-60's myself.

[Mithrandir]

My library is showing Casablanca tonight. Arguably the best movie ever!

Just starting to have "movie night" at the library so I hope a few people show up!

[Stephen]

I finally got to a movie yesterday afternoon while the little man was at school. I saw Silver Linings Playbook. I really enjoyed it. I thought Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence were both fantastic. Robert Deniro was good as well. I didn't really see where Jacki Weaver gave an Academy Award nomination worthy performance but all in all I enjoyed it.

I'm going to try and see as many of the nominated films in the major categories as I can.

[Stephen]

My library is showing Casablanca tonight. Arguably the best movie ever!

Just starting to have "movie night" at the library so I hope a few people show up!

I love Casablanca. I'd totally show up. My town does a classic movie night at the Old School House on the first Friday of every month, but sadly they haven't shown Casablanca yet. Tonight is It Happened One Night.

The schedule through May is: Citizen Kane, Singing in the Rain and My Fair Lady.

[Mithrandir]

I love Casablanca. I'd totally show up. My town does a classic movie night at the Old School House on the first Friday of every month, but sadly they haven't shown Casablanca yet. Tonight is It Happened One Night.

The schedule through May is: Citizen Kane, Singing in the Rain and My Fair Lady.

It's tough to pick movies that you think people will show up to watch. Since this is the first one I went with a timeless classic. Gonna go with "North by Northwest next month. The library is also doing a family movie night every other week geared more towards kids.