The Movie Review and Discussion Thread

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by DjMethod

[Show spoiler]

[Show spoiler]

Indeed.

Fabulous bone structure, and the very definition of petite.

[Show spoiler]Audrey, not Carrey.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by ShoeBangity16

My friend and I were able to score an invite to a screening of Monsters yesterday and let me tell you, I Loved it! I went in thinking that it had the potential to be a very very good movie. I knew that it was going to be a character study type of movie. Not once did I find myself bored with the movie. I felt like it had a fast pace for a character study. I gave it a solid 9/10
]

Did they give any indication of a release date?

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

a very unknown, underrated film. i've only watched it a handful of times, but even after the first viewing, it became a favorite. and i hope one day soon it gets announced for blu-ray, but i wouldn't be surprised if it never does. just ver, very

the film follows the "true life" tale of Chuck Barris, who works in television, for game shows, but is struggling to make money. after an incident where he becomes an assassin for the CIA, a local network picks up his idea for his game show from years before - The Dating Game - and it becomes a huge hit. the tension, confusion and paranoia that overcomes Barris is what makes the film so much fun to watch. is this real? is this made up? i haven't looked into it all that much, so i have no idea how much - if any - is true.

Sam Rockwell portrays Barris, and this was my first time seeing what would become one of my favorite actors. Rockwell is a terrific actor, and he really does a great job here.

directed by George Clooney, which was surprising to learn years ago, the film visually, is very dark. the humor is also dark. and while at times the film is very serious, it is also quirky, and has some very black humor in it. part of why i love it so much

highly recommended, and someone effing release this on blu already, i'm sick of watching the dvd.

4.5/5

This was at 115 in my queue. I bumped it to 11.

[SquidPuppet]

Man, Clints new movie is getting slammed. 49% at RT.

[iam1bearcat]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

[Show spoiler]Addition Sorry, I had to.

uuuurgh! thanks Squid. fixed it. i hate spelling / grammar error, yes, even online

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

This was at 115 in my queue. I bumped it to 11.

good to know! i hope you added Away We Go as well!

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

uuuurgh! thanks Squid. fixed it. i hate spelling / grammar error, yes, even online



good to know! i hope you added Away We Go as well!

I did. But the only Mendes film I've liked so far was American Beauty, so I am going in with tempered expectations.

[iam1bearcat]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

I did. But the only Mendes film I've liked so far was American Beauty, so I am going in with tempered expectations.

well, if it helps, i found that it didn't feel at all like a Mendes film. i felt the directing between American Beauty and Revolutionary Road (for example) was very much the same. Away We Go doesn't feel at all like those two films. which for some, may be a good thing

[iam1bearcat]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Man, Clints new movie is getting slammed. 49% at RT.

wow. aren't his movies usually universally praised? (at least critically?)
some of my friends say and they said they liked it, but probably wouldn't buy it or anything.

[lDlisturb3d]

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

Revanche

[Show spoiler]so... very...

second viewing: first on blu

forgot how great this film is. haven't watched it in a few months. first time on blu, and wow, the clarity!

i love the film works with so many subtleties. perfect body language, eye movement, facial expressions. used much more effectively and more commonly than dialogue.

my first rating was 4.5/5 because i LOVED the second half (actually 2/3) while i wasn't a big fan of the first quarter (the "city stuff") but after watching it tonight, i don't mind it nearly as much, so my rating goes up. another film that's in my Top 50 Favorite films list.

love the tension. the audio is amazing (surf, you were right about the wolves howling ), the clarity and beautiful directing / cinematography really make this a full, complete, wonderful package.

a slow burner that doesn't really kick in how special and powerful it is until much later in the film. first time i watched this i was kind of like, "umm, okay..." and then it slowly overtook me and engulfed me whole. love it and going back now i was giddy to catch small details that i missed the first time around. the story is truly heartbreaking in the same sense as it is fresh and original. great performances to. even the girlfriend loved it and she "hates reading and looking at the same time" ...she's an idiot. a film i would easily say is better to be viewed by yourself after a long, hectic day. sit back, relax, pour yourself a drink and enjoy.

5's across the board from me. no complaints whatsoever on this blu-ray release.

PQ: 5/5 - truly spectacular
AQ: 5/5 - it's a quieter film, but the details in the environments are alive and kicking

5/5

Yeah you hit it on the head! This is a DAMN good film, and i agree with everything GREAT acting and very tense at times. Also the story gets very gritty.

[lDlisturb3d]

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

ha, yeah, just saw that. and #17 too?! wasn't expecting it to be that high.
i'm not saying the list is bad, i just hold no weight or specialty to it.

Yeah im just messing around with you bro. You guys know i LOVE to argue.

[lDlisturb3d]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

imdb's list is without a doubt the worst popular ranking system out there. It's based predominately on what's "cool" and "popular" which is why films like TDK and Inception rank so high. I do agree with Disturbed that it's halfway decent for blind buying, but that's really only the case if you follow the popular norm and don't like the risk of blind buying a film objectively considered one of the best ever, but more challenging (such as Last Year at Marienbad, for instance).

Theyshootpicturesdon'tthey is far and away the most authoritative ranking system of movies out there. The way the list is calculated alone makes it the most authoritative. Fantastic site.

I gotta check this site out!!!! and HOLY CRAP me and Jhiggy agreed on something (half way)
I only like that site because of the above but imma check out this new site you just mentioned.

[iam1bearcat]

Choke

based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk (same guy who wrote Fight Club fyi)

from wikipedia, this is what this bizarrely dark film is about: "It tells the story of a man who works in a colonial theme park, attends sexual addiction recovery meetings, and intentionally chokes on food in upscale restaurants so his "rescuers" would give him money out of sympathy and thus cover his mother's Alzheimer's disease hospital bills."

i was really surprised by how much heart the film actually contains. and even though the characters originally seem very hard to connect to, cold, selfish and disgusting, by the time the credits role, you actually feel sorry for these people and what they've been through and deal with. and even though some of their actions original come across as horrible and vile, they aren't all bad. so finding that i actually cared about the characters after starting off completely distant from them because of their actions was a surprise.

i remember reading the novel a few years ago, and while the film does a good job of recreating certain aspects of the film, the film of course goes in its own direction and focuses more on the life of Victor (Sam Rockwell) than what i believe the book focused on - his "choking" endeavors.

needless to say, the relationship between Victor and his mother is one fudged up adventure, which is seems to be a topic that Palahniuk covers wildly in his novels (a la Fight Club the character of a "mother" is barely mentioned, but could be a deep theme as to why the characters are the way they are, while here it is a major driving force behind what Victor does). and i think the film is able to more easily differentiate what is happening than the book. i remember the writing style of Palahniuk made reading the book a bit confusing as one scene suddenly merged into another without any descriptions given, so visually, Choke is easier to process.

Sam Rockwell continues to astound me and is one of my favorite actors. i don't really know why, or how to describe it. but his delivery is always witty and while he doesn't really have a vast, copious amount of roles, he's definitely an actor that has a presence about him and i've enjoyed his performances in all his films (yes, even Iron Man 2 (Diesel! ) when he's supposed to be an arrogant, brash millionaire) including Choke.

not perfect, and some will have no interest in the subject matter, but i liked it a lot. the humor is viciously dark, but i found myself laughing hysterically at some scenes / dialogue, and while some jokes are crude, it's pulled off with an intelligence behind it that most films would fail at. i wouldn't buy it if it came out on blu, but was a worthy rental because i enjoyed the novel and Sam Rockwell's performance

4/5

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

Choke

4/5

That was one goofy movie. I liked it, but not quite as much as you. Some of the scenes at the themepark were pretty funny.

[iam1bearcat]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

That was one goofy movie. I liked it, but not quite as much as you. Some of the scenes at the themepark were pretty funny.

haha, yeah they were. i think my favorite was when

[Show spoiler]the guy comes in and sees the girl and Victor in the barn shack thing when she's... you know... 'taking care of Victor's business'

although at the same time i kind of felt bad for him because she did like him and he liked her. that would be a hard thing to forget and move past from

[ShoeBangity16]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Did they give any indication of a release date?

No they didnt. It seems like its going to stay limited. I know the theater that I saw it at showed it a week earlier than they will be getting it for the general public.

Heres the list of theaters its opening in for the remainder of the year. http://www.magpictures.com/dates.asp...4-e1109811f65f

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by ShoeBangity16

No they didnt. It seems like its going to stay limited. I know the theater that I saw it at showed it a week earlier than they will be getting it for the general public.

Heres the list of theaters its opening in for the remainder of the year. http://www.magpictures.com/dates.asp...4-e1109811f65f

Thanks.

[iam1bearcat]

Coraline

first viewing

to be honest, i was never anticipating watching Coraline. it didn't really look interesting to me, and it was never anything that really caught my attention. however, after enjoying 9, Surf (and i believe Squid) told me to check it out, so here i was, loading up the BD of Coraline with low expectations because it just didn't seem like my cup of tea exactly.

and to be honest, the film didn't start off the best. i remember my exact reaction to hearing some weird, haunting chanting music to kick the film off and then seeing Dakota Fanning's name (i hate Dakota Fanning). my reaction was clearly: "oh no..."



but i pressed on.

i enjoyed Coraline. it was better than i expected it to be. and i enjoyed it much more than i figured i would have. it took a little bit for the story and film to get going, and while it didn't engulf me into its fantastically creepy little world as fast as other animated films (most Pixars, many Disney's, 9, and Fantastic Mr. Fox), but once the film really picked up a "horror" type feel, i was invested 100%. and Dakota Fanning didn't annoy me at all!

i'm not gonna lie, i totally expected Coraline to be a kids movie. i was quickly taught otherwise. i mean, i guess it still is, but it's definitely more adult oriented than the standard animated pictures released by Hollywood. the film also reminded me a lot of The Nightmare Before Christmas which freaks me out, with bizarre, outrageous characters / creatures and some quirky melodies. i really did enjoy the score, but i felt at times it wasn't as great as other times. i'd say it was 80% greatness and 20% just meeting the quota for what it should be.

the story is great, but also took a little bit to get going, but once it did, i really enjoyed it and found it riveting, exciting and original. it's told in a quirky manner, but the story of a girl who's parents neglect her for their work has been done before, but nothing like this. it's kind of like having a meal that anyone can make, and you've had before, but this time you have with it different ingredients that make it exciting and something unique.


will i add it to the collection? ... yes, yes i will and hopefully sooner than later.
i think i liked 9 better than Coraline, but i think Coraline was the better "made" film.

4/5

[Marcus Wright]

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

Coraline

first viewing

: "oh no..."

i'm not gonna lie, i totally expected Coraline to be a kids movie. i was quickly taught otherwise. i mean, i guess it still is, but it's definitely more adult oriented than the standard animated pictures released by Hollywood. the film also reminded me a lot of The Nightmare Before Christmas which freaks me out, with bizarre, outrageous characters / creatures and some quirky melodies. i really did enjoy the score, but i felt at times it wasn't as great as other times. i'd say it was 80% greatness and 20% just meeting the quota for what it should be.

will i add it to the collection? ... yes, yes i will and hopefully sooner than later.
i think i liked 9 better than Coraline, but i think Coraline was the better "made" film.

4/5

Watching Coraline the first time is very new experience.
Its actually a really creepy cartoon with a very good premise.
It holds up on repeat veawings very well as well.

I would give it a 4.5/5.

[tbizzle]

Hey Marcus, I'm still curious about this

https://forum.blu-ray.com/movies/127...ml#post3966696

[Al_The_Strange]

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blooded Prince.”

Prior to this, I’ve seen the first four films and read the first five books. I still haven’t seen the “Order of the Phoenix” film, but I probably will at some point…

Skipping over the movie broke the continuity a bit (I’m assuming that this film’s intro picks up where the last one left off), but as it goes on it takes on the semblance of the other stories. Yep, another trip through Diagon Alley, another trip to Hogwarts on a train, more classes, more drama, another diabolical mystery to unravel, blah blah blah…

However, this film seems a lot more heavy duty. All the bright colorful childish whimsy from the first four films is gone; #6 is pretty damn dark and grim. And with an older cast of kids, the character drama is much more developed; there are a lot of romances and strained relationships, without being too sappy (if anything, it does reminds me of high school…). It seems like there are a lot of strong moments for the characters, making it rather emotionally strong (especially

[Show spoiler]at the end, with Dumbledore’s death. It was sad!

) And the film still finds room for some rather amusing comedy, and a lot more insight on the Harry Potter universe and the overall story arc. And much unlike #4, this film maintains a steady pace and remains very coherent throughout.

This film is also probably one of the strongest in the series. Photography is very good throughout, and the imagery is incredible in many scenes. The opening bridge scenes, and the firestorm scene, are especially awesome (as such, the SFX totally rock). Production value is very high. And believe it or not, I think the acting is very strong here; better than I remember from the other films. Music is good too; it has some of the same theme from before, but is mostly fresh and new.

4/5 (entertainment: 4/5, story: 4/5, film: 4.5/5)

I will own it, along with all the others in one big happy box set. It’ll happen some day!