The Movie Review and Discussion Thread

[BigLuvJason]

Wall Street.....worst PQ I have seen on a blu ray yet. Unreal

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

I had a problem with Hanks being cast for that role. I love Tom Hanks and think he's great, but IMO he was just the wrong guy (100%) for that role....so it couldnt work from right out of the gate. I did love the "look" of the film though.

I've heard that argument before but I completely disagree. I have no issue with him being cast. The people who make that argument generally do bc they think Hanks just didn't look like a hitman. I disagree. Hollywood has taught us that hitmen are usually tough looking mobsters when in actuality many hitmen (according to non-fiction books) look just like you or I, because it enables them to blend in. So, I had no issue there.

Other people complain about Law being cast. Again, I think he was a great selection because he provided the quirkiness needed for the role.

[Steve46]

Control 5/5

Ian Curtis died 30 years ago today, so I watched this again in tribute. He was just 23.

I remember where I was standing and who I was talking to when I found out the news that he had died. Joy Division is a band that meant a lot to me at the time and means considerably more now. The songs have a majestic quality to them.

This is an extremely sad film. It shows how the band formed and deals with the problems that Curtis faced during his life. His illness, his failing marriage and how he tried to deal with loving another woman.

The cast learned how to play the songs and performed them all. It was an incredibly accurate portrayal and it bought tears to my eyes hearing the first notes of each song.

A lot of love went into the making of this film.

I could imagine people hating the film if they don't like that kind of music, but if you are any kind of fan of alternative music or of Joy Division, you might just love this.

It's shot in black and white to add to the dreary setting of northern England in 1973. The only blu-ray release at present is a German import.

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Film 3.75/5

No PQ or AQ as it was DVD.

.75 increments? ooh nice! i may try that. screw netflix and their integer star ratings

no PQ or AQ in the DVD? wow, that must have been tough to decipher, but you've always struck me as sharper than most

[Diesel]

Originally Posted by AKORIS

I don't mean this as an attack at all-- I am just genuinely curious....
why do so many people on this site pop a woody everytime a movie doesn't
go for the "happy ending"? I usually hear things like "it's not the typical hollywood happy ending" but is that really true for the last decade or so?
It really isn't that unusual as of late to see movies have bleak or downbeat endings-- almost every horror film ends in downbeat fashion, many dramas such as PERDITION are not upbeat. I am seriously to the point that when a movie ends upbeat-- I'm actually surprised!

I like happy endings...if it fits the film that has just played out.

If it doesn't fit the film yet there is still a happy ending, it feels as if it comes out of nowhere and I hate it.

If its a dark and dreary movie, I don't expect everyone to hug it out in the end and live happily ever after

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

I give Road to Perdition 4 stars (out of 4). The acting is great imo, not merely good. Hanks, Newman, and Law alone warrant a label of great acting. The directing is incredible, but of course it is since Mendes directed it. The look and feel of the film are excellent. The score is great. However, the father/son story is what really made the film great imo.


As for Holmes, I agree about Downey being very great for the role and his chemistry with Law was pretty good, but not as good as other similar films. I'm a Holmes fan and love the stories, and I think the movie did a decent job at capturing Holmes eccentricities, but it didn't feel completely authentic.

Hanks/Newman were indeed great...but the rest of the cast I didn't think were great so that's why I wouldn't give it a great overall for acting. I didn't like Law at all though.

I think I mentioned the look/feel in my first post, but yes, I definitely enjoyed that aspect of the film, very nice. It seems we all agree on that aspect
The visual style, the costumes, set design, it was all superb.


I've never been big on paying very close attention/remembering scores. For some movies I do remember them and take notice (Terminator 2, Lord of the Rings [my favorite], Batman Begins) though. This one was not one of those times however.

I enjoyed the father/son story (especially teaching him to drive ), and loved that the conclusion fit in with the rest of the film.

It was definitely enjoyable and solid...but just not my cup of tea for greatness



Side note: Was I the only one bothered by the fact that Jr. is reading The Lone Ranger in the film, when the character wasn't created for several years and didn't have the books written for another several years?....or did nobody else notice


__________________________


I saw Robin Hood today, here's my "review" from the main discussion thread:

Originally Posted by Diesel

VERY disappointed

I was expecting to really like this movie....and I ended up liking not much about it.


The good:

Russel Crowe - He did exceptionally well.

The sets/scenery/costumes/cinematography...basically the entire production aspect of the film was great.

Tuck

The IDEA of showing how he became the legend.

The first section of the movie until he

[Show spoiler]goes to Nottingham to bring the sword back.

The ending battle.


The bad:

I didn't like the casting of the 'merry men' or King John.

Really really didn't like Blanchet as Marion.

I didn't like the idea of

[Show spoiler]adopting the persona of Robert of Locksley,

and the rest that came along with that story line.

The majority of the showing of how he became the legend.

And just about everything else



Rating - 2/5




Edit: A lot of you guys are comparing it to Gladiator/Kingdom of Heaven.

I think both blow Robin Hood away BY FAR. Even the theatrical version of Kingdom of Heaven is better.

[jhiggy23]

Diesel--on the topic of noticing things, I am the only one that noticed Taco Bell's "The Fourth Meal" on the bags in The Blind Side? Considering that was 8 years ago and if memory serves me correctly, The Fourth Meal slogan wasn't around then.

[Diesel]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

Diesel--on the topic of noticing things, I am the only one that noticed Taco Bell's "The Fourth Meal" on the bags in The Blind Side? Considering that was 8 years ago and if memory serves me correctly, The Fourth Meal slogan wasn't around then.

I think the fourth meal thing is only 3 or 4 years old, definitely not 8 though.

[Diesel]

Saving Private Ryan


Another "I've never seen it before" for me.

The entire first 30 minutes is one of the most intense sequences I've ever seen in any movie


The acting very good all around, great in Tom Hanks' case.
He was fantastic.
I loved every minute of the interaction of the characters on their mission, from the battle scenes to the just sitting around talking.

The directing was superb

The cinematography amazing.

The sheer amount of sounds going on during the battles were mind blowing.

Obviously as a whole I thought it was a superb film


My only real complaint was that

[Show spoiler]they killed Vin Diesel

But seriously, there were some things here and there I didn't like, but the good far outweighed them.


Rating - 5/5

...though its a 'soft' 5/5 as its not the kind of movie that will have replay value for me; another one and done....but a great one.

[frontierman]

This was a damn good movie. I really don't know where all of the negative reviews were coming from. The battles are well done, Robin Hood well drawn (as is his relationship with Lady Marion), and we get some classic Robin Hood moments.

[Suntory_Times]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Yes, the chemistry between RDJ and Law was unmissable. It really worked well. The costumes and sets were fantastic too.

I think Hans tried too hard to deliver an eclectic mix.

I think Zimmer got the score perfect.

[Q?]

All DVD's.

Black Dynamite

It's a great spoof of the blaxploitation movies from the 70's.
The plot is incoherent, obvious mistakes that were intentional (bad editing, boom mike visible etc.), horribly good dialogue and monologue and great action scenes. It's a very tight movie as it is only about 1 hour and 10 minutes. lol
If you love spoof movies this is about as good as they get, a very safe rent, watch it with friends to get the most of it.
7/10

Ichi The Killer

I didn't get it I guess, none of the character were likeable and I didn't understand them either. The music was all over the place, as the music didn't seem to add to the story and it felt detached from it. Nothing wrong with that, Scorsese has done it before just to give a sense of the enviroment and culture of that particular world without it necessarily adding to the story of a scene for example. The gore way over the top in some cases, but a few violent scenes did indeed seem realistic which frightened me sometimes.
I really didn't get the ending, if I remember correctly Rob71 is a big fan of this? If you're reading this feel free to shed some light please

[Show spoiler]Kakihara wanted somebody worthy enough to kill him? But didn't find satisfaction with Ichi and daydreamed of Ichi killing him and then commit suicide?
Was it Jijii that hanged himself in the end?

This is not something I'd recommend to anybody, fans of this sort of movie will discover it for themselves, as I understand it it is a cult favourite.
5/5

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by Diesel

My only real complaint was that

[Show spoiler]they killed Vin Diesel

But seriously, there were some things here and there I didn't like, but the good far outweighed them.


Rating - 5/5

...though its a 'soft' 5/5 as its not the kind of movie that will have replay value for me; another one and done....but a great one.

Poor Vin

As for replay value, do not worry. I think most people would give the movie a 5 but would not be watching it very often, like you would do Avatar or Harry Potter. It's like Schindler's List, yes amazing but you can't see it too often cause it's just too hard to deal with.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

I've heard that argument before but I completely disagree. I have no issue with him being cast. The people who make that argument generally do bc they think Hanks just didn't look like a hitman. I disagree. Hollywood has taught us that hitmen are usually tough looking mobsters when in actuality many hitmen (according to non-fiction books) look just like you or I, because it enables them to blend in. So, I had no issue there.

Other people complain about Law being cast. Again, I think he was a great selection because he provided the quirkiness needed for the role.

For me it was his demeanor, not his looks. Law was fine for me.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

.75 increments? ooh nice! i may try that. screw netflix and their integer star ratings

no PQ or AQ in the DVD? wow, that must have been tough to decipher, but you've always struck me as sharper than most

3 = liked it
4 = liked it a lot

Maybe I should have given it 4.... hmmmm

I'll have to check with the guy that pulls my strings.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Diesel

Side note: Was I the only one bothered by the fact that Jr. is reading The Lone Ranger in the film, when the character wasn't created for several years and didn't have the books written for another several years?....or did nobody else notice

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

Diesel--on the topic of noticing things, I am the only one that noticed Taco Bell's "The Fourth Meal" on the bags in The Blind Side? Considering that was 8 years ago and if memory serves me correctly, The Fourth Meal slogan wasn't around then.

Originally Posted by Diesel

I think the fourth meal thing is only 3 or 4 years old, definitely not 8 though.

Much less. You both win the continuity error contest!!!

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Diesel

Saving Private Ryan


My only real complaint was that

[Show spoiler]they killed Vin Diesel

...though its a 'soft' 5/5 as its not the kind of movie that will have replay value for me; another one and done....but a great one.

LOL at you spoiler.

Soft 5? Rate it 4.75. Odd fractions are the new "IN" thing to do.

[JLant19]

Crazy Heart

I love music and movies that involve music. This was really good. Im not a big country fan at all but i did like the music in this. I think its a great story!

4.5/5

The Messenger

Not what I was expecting at all. Really good film. I love Ben Foster and his work & Woody is really good as well.

4/5

[Suntory_Times]

Black Book
Movie: 4.5/5
Video: 5/5
Audio: 4.5/5

A must watch/own blu.


ps: The Blind Side sucked as much as the most suckery sucker ever sucked.

[KilloWertz]

Originally Posted by Suntory_Times

Black Book
Movie: 4.5/5
Video: 5/5
Audio: 4.5/5

A must watch/own blu.


ps: The Blind Side sucked as much as the most suckery sucker ever sucked.

PSS: No it didn't. You are welcome to think that though.

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by Suntory_Times

I think Zimmer got the score perfect.

I'm indifferent about the score. I'm a big Zimmer fan and I usually find his scores to be excellent and very fitting, but this was not anywhere near one of his best.