Lincoln - 13 out of 13 amendments, amazing how Spielberg makes this so thrilling. Saw it right after Django, they go well together like ham and cheese.
my only complaint is that some parts were a little too violent for my taste. really enjoyed the over the top shootouts though, and Christoph Waltz was probably my favorite thing about the whole movie.
Should've gone more surreal/dreamlike, but top-notch eroticism. Very strange to see Mickey Rourke pre-boxing/plastic surgery AND apparently pre-three-packs-of-Lucky-Strikes-and-bottle-of-cheap-whiskey-a-day voice.
Les Miserables. Pretty good adaptation of the musical, if Anne Hathaway doesn't get an Oscar nom for her performance it will be a freaking crime. Russell Crowe can't really sing, which is a shame. Hugh Jackman isn't a great singer, but is at least passable. Everyone else did pretty well though, which I was not expecting. Not sure what was up with the cutting of content (all references to Valjean's brand get scrubbed), that was super weird. Maybe for time purposes? Regardless, really enjoyed it and I'll probably be picking it up when it's released on video. 4/5
There was very little action. The movie should have been called "How the 13th Amendment was Passed." That's mostly what they talk about. I don't know why it's being nominated for awards. It's the worst Spielberg movie I've ever seen. I couldn't believe he directed it.
After seeing this movie, I still can't fathom how several reviews have called this the best movie of the year. All the technical aspects of the movie: cinematography, sound, etc. are done well but the story and characters therein had no impact on me whatsoever. It's difficult to care about any of the characters because none of them seem real. The acting seems competent so I have to blame a script that gives us no time to learn anything about the people we are watching. Many of the moments that are obviously supposed to have emotional impact, simply don't. It's almost as if the writer of the script took emotional scenes from other movies and just threw them together in an attempt to construct an affecting plot or maybe the writer expected the subject matter to carry the load on the emotional side. Either way it didn't work and at the end of the movie I felt nothing but an emptiness that I haven't felt from watching a movie in a long time. I would say that I hope it doesn't win an Oscar for best picture but I lost respect for the Academy long ago so I don't really care if it does. What I do care about is people wasting their money on bad movies and this is one of them. See Django again instead of seeing this mess.
I will say one other positive thing about the movie. Despite a 2 hour and 40 minute run time, the movie never seemed to drag on. So to paraphrase Bernard Black: Enjoy, it's dreadful, but seems quite short.
Dredd - Likable action romp with decent set-pieces and balls-to-the-wall gore. Dredd is a cold motherfucker... and is helmet stays on.
Recommended
Django Unchained - Too episodic in nature and Django has no sense of development at all, but the film is more than redeemed by a strong sense of style, lashings of claret and spades of humour.
Highly Recommended
Pitch Perfect - Light in theme, strong in personality: the cast bounce off one-another and the soundtrack is teeming with remixed, acapella pop numbers.
Recommended
Silver Linings Playbook - The narrative seems to mirror the subject matter, being that it's a little muddled, but it's thoughtful in its treatment of the characters and surprisingly affecting. Wildly funny to boot.
Acting was below average, story was terrible, special effects were quite poor, and for some reason there was a massive amount of nudity and hardcore sexual content just shoehorned into the film. I don't quite know why either. But my wife blew me after, so hey...
PTA's newest. Pretty similar thematically to There Will Be Blood, but definitely doing its own thing.
Some people will doubtless denounce it as a meandering art-house flick, but it was brilliant to me. Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman were incredible.
I just watch Adaptation. for the first time in about 11 years. The first time I watched it, when I was about 14, I remember not liking it very much but, more than anything, I just remember being really confused. When I watched it last night, though, I loved it. It went from a 3/5 on my Netflix rating to a solid 5/5. I guess I just needed time to get used to watching weirder movies and to become more familiar with the film industry in general. The same sort of adjust period was also needed for Being John Malkovich, which makes sense because they were both written by Charles Kaufman.
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, while many of you bombardiers may dismiss this movie it was actually quite awesome. It had great over the top violence, an awesome usage of practical effects (the troll costume was a welcome throw back to similar costumes in movies of the past and not the overly CGI bullshit you're accustomed to seeing in movies these days), high levels of gore, a decent story (if somewhat predictable) and great action scenes, with decent acting. Also whoever Gretel is, is pretty hot, which you wouldn't think someone named Gretel would be.
The Master 7: Acting was good. Plot was...Well there was no plot. Joaquine was by far the best, and prob only good thing in the movie. Hoffmans char and dialogue were lacking making his role flat. I would have loved to have it go more in depth with his char and the workings of Scientology as a cult, but it mainly became a bizarre set piece about two people who happen to meet and nothing more.
Django 6-7: I dont know what to say about the movie. It just makes me numb, I just dont care one way or the other for this film. Seems like if you dont care for the dialogue or are not impressed by a few moments that are supposed to shock you this movie really doesnt have a lot going for it.
The Hobbit 8.5: Ive never read the book so I dont really care nor judge the movie by the source material. Overall thought the movie was great. It was a bit childish at points and lighthearted, but as its based on what ive gathered that is completely in line with everything as the Hobbit was much more of a children s novel. Great entry into the LoTR universe or whatever you want to call it?
Really enjoyed it but was a little disappointed that the huge host of actual video game characters (Ryu, Sonic, Bowser etc) had no part in the main storyline. It was pretty cool it see them all however.
Still really enjoyed the film and will definitely buy on DVD
I guess it's not really fair to expect a true portrayal of mental illness from a romantic comedy but some of the scenes designed to show the audience how "ill" a character was just came off as goofy to me. Chris Tucker is actually tolerable which is an accomplishment in its own right. The end was a little too mushy for my taste.
So I'm an alcoholic who hasn't had a drink in just over seven months. Before that I had a really hard time dealing with my addiction. A lot of bad things happened because I could barely go a day without drinking a lot. It lead to a lot of relationship problems that will likely never be reconciled, family problems, money problems, health problems, job problems, and just overall life problems. If I hadn't stopped when I did, which it took me three times to stop before it stuck (for seven months anyway), I have no idea what shape I would be in now except that I would be much, much worse off and incredibly miserable.
So because of all of that, Shame was one of the most uncomfortable movies I've ever watched because it nailed addiction so well. Michael Fassbender did an incredible job and the writing was phenomenal. And I was so, so, so very uncomfortable that whole time. It was great and also miserable to watch for me. It did a fantastic job and I think everyone should watch it but holy shit I don't want to ever see it again.
The entirety of the movie was boring, and not worth my time. I only finished it because I was lying in bed with my girlfriend and she was (hopefully) enjoying it. If I had been watching it on my own, I would have been done a lot sooner.
Log in to comment