The Movie Review and Discussion Thread

[lDlisturb3d]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

Gran Torino

A fine drama, tightly-paced and loaded with nuances, characterizations, and concepts that are highly believable (my parents were watching this for the first time ever; they quickly recognized the Detroit urbanization, and noted that my own grandparents had a bit in common with the way the characters (Walt and his buddies specifically) talked and acted).

I'm most impressed by the quality of the story. Characters are strong; Walt is more than a bitter old man, he's got internal and external struggles, and I find his interplay between all the different characters and his ultimate evolution very intruiging. And the final resolution is pretty significant. Story-wise, it's pretty solid and makes sense to me.

As a film, it is well-directed, and I found no glaring faults with the acting or writing.

"Get off my lawn!"

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

I have to agree with you grand torino was a treat. Loved every bit of the movie. Mean old man ha.

[lDlisturb3d]

The Usual Suspects

Movie 4.5/5

What a treat, Usual suspects was a above average movie until the end came, then it became EPIC. I can see where movies now get the twisted endings from but there is no Ending that can compare to this movie. Awesome story, Superb acting!!!! Every movie lover should treat themselves to the twisted crime flick.

Highly Recommended.

[Q?]

Originally Posted by lDlisturb3d

The Usual Suspects

Movie 4.5/5

What a treat, Usual suspects was a above average movie until the end came, then it became EPIC. I can see where movies now get the twisted endings from but there is no Ending that can compare to this movie. Awesome story, Superb acting!!!! Every movie lover should treat themselves to the twisted crime flick.

Highly Recommended.

I agree that it's a fantastic movie.

But this movie is only powerful the first viewing, subsequent viewings you can appreciate it but not quite with the same impact.

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

The Blair Witch Project

in light of hearing great news about how this is coming to blu on august 31, i decided to watch it today...

the greatest horror film of all time.
there is a 99.9% chance nothing will ever top the genius that is The Blair Witch Project.
there is a 99.9% chance nothing will be half as scary as The Blair Witch Project.

as much as i love horror films (favorite genre and all) they generally are terrible. and that's putting it nicely. terrible characters, cliche actions and dialogue, cringe worthy script / dialogue in general, a "scary" antagonist that actually isn't and a million other things usually send a horror film into an absymal state of ridiculousness.

The Blair Witch Project does none of this.

the set up is simple: three college age kids are making a documentary in Burkettsville, Maryland about the legend of the Blair Witch and plan to spend a weekend in the supposedly haunted woods. soon, things go wrong and a simple 48 hour trek through the woods is anything but. much like why The Descent is a personal favorite - the film first is scary because of something very realistic. in The Descent it was claustrophobia and being trapped underground. in The Blair Witch Project it's being lost in the woods, hungry, frightened, confused and tensions constantly rising. later on the film focuses more on the scares that are "horror movie" scares. and these scares, are downright epic in nature.

you see, i'm not afraid of an invincible Michael Meyers, i'm not scared of a 2 foot tall curse-ridden murder infested doll, or a hockey maskwearing, knife wielding lunatic with mommy issues. actually, the things that are supposed to be scary in these movies generally take me out of the moment. which means i'm not afraid. which means i'm generally pissed at the film.

The Blair Witch Project excels because first and foremost, of how it's shot. the film is based on a "true story" and is filmed like a documentary. looking like what we see is found footage. when the film came out, i was around 9 or 10 so i missed most of the genius marketing, but i remember hearing about how "this is real and these people are still missing" and seeing flyers for Heather, Mike and Josh on the news. it is unmatched, to this day the craze this movie inspired. but i don't love it for that. i love it for FEELING AND LOOKING REAL.

sure, we don't see anything. GOOD. i would have been absolutely livid if they would've shown something in

[Show spoiler]the house near the end of the movie

, or at all. what makes the film scary is the sounds, the simple, simple sounds, and the fantastic real reactions of the characters.

it should be noted that nothing scares me more than being in the pitch black and hearing something nearby. it also scares the **** out of me when someone yells in darkness. don't know why, but it always has. so this film pretty much plays to my worst fears, which makes me love it. and as the film is my fifth favorite film of all time, that should tell you this movie actually scared me. it scares me so much in fact that even though i've seen it 100+ times, it still scares me and makes my skin crawl. even after i watch it in the day time. something about it just... gets to me. i love it!

these moments in particular always get me wincing:

[Show spoiler]* the weird cracking / snapping noises in the woods in the middle of the night!
* more creepy snapping / slamming / crunching in the woods
* the hundreds of twig bodies / voodoo doll things they find hanging in the trees!
* when they hear sh!t outside the tent, children laugh!!!! And then the tent starts shaking! HOLY FUDGE! SCARIEST MOMENT EVER!
* when you hear Josh screaming in the middle of the night!
* the creepy as fudge house
* the entire last 3 minutes

i understand why some may find the movie boring. the way i see it, if you're not interested after the first 10 minutes, you won't like the movie. not that there are any scares in the first 10 minutes, but because that's where the heart of the movie is. meeting the characters, learning the legends, meeting some townsfolk... that's what it's all about. but for me, this is the scariest, most livid, more realistic portrayal of horror i've ever seen. and even though i loved Paranormal Activity which is always compared to this classic, it doesn't hold a candle to The Blair Witch Project. but then again, nothing does.

5/5

Surfdude and I both rate the film very high. The best horror films of all-time imo are:

Alien
The Shining
The Exorcist
Psycho
The Orphanage
Halloween
Blair Witch Project


The Blair Witch Project has the single most chilling ending of any horror film I've seen.

[lDlisturb3d]

Originally Posted by Q!

I agree that it's a fantastic movie.

But this movie is only powerful the first viewing, subsequent viewings you can appreciate it but not quite with the same impact.

i bet, the only physco movie i can watch multi time is fight club because the entire movie is great. The ending just makes it BETTER!!!

[iam1bearcat]

i don't know what's up with me tonight, but i just can't seem to sit through a movie right now

i didn't want to start a new thread about it since i figure it fits well here, but anyone else have the issue of just not finding a proper film to watch? i've started like, 5 tonight and after about 10-15 minutes i get restless and stop watching it. it's bugging me! i used to be able to watch 5-7 movies a day, in a row, no breaks with no issues. it seems like the older i get the more ADD riddled i become or something.

tried watching 12 Monkeys, no such luck. i'm almost tempted to start Scanners, another film i've yet to see, but don't want to watch 10 minutes of it and then stop again. frustrating. maybe i should just call it day

[tbizzle]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

Surfdude and I both rate the film very high. The best horror films of all-time imo are:

The Blair Witch Project has the single most chilling ending of any horror film I've seen.

Sweet, glad to hear that all of you guys liked it! I've always wanted to see this but I never got around to it. I love horror as well, but generally don't pay any attention to that genre because, just as bearcat said, they're generally bad. But I love a well done horror flick. In the 31 days of Horror thread for Halloween last year, a lot people recommend The Thing so I rented that and I loved it! I'm always on the lookout for horror films that are on par with that one, or at least are pretty good

[Chaotic]

Originally Posted by lDlisturb3d

Predator UHE

Movie 5/5

Wow after watching the original im starting to appreciate the newly released PREDATORS. This was a great and original horror thriller. I can say that the acting is way better in the original even though Arnold cant act for shit lol. But this is a treat, i cant compare it to the regular blu, (as i havent seen it) but the special features are great IMO. I loved every bit of the movie, being that im a fan boy in all.

[Show spoiler]except the cheezy predator laugh at the end when he self terminates ( very cheezy)

Very Proud to Own this Edition, Highly Recommended for new comers and MUST OWN for fans.

yeah well, he can break you in half with one hand

[tbizzle]

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

i don't know what's up with me tonight, but i just can't seem to sit through a movie right now

i didn't want to start a new thread about it since i figure it fits well here, but anyone else have the issue of just not finding a proper film to watch? i've started like, 5 tonight and after about 10-15 minutes i get restless and stop watching it. it's bugging me! i used to be able to watch 5-7 movies a day, in a row, no breaks with no issues. it seems like the older i get the more ADD riddled i become or something.

tried watching 12 Monkeys, no such luck. i'm almost tempted to start Scanners, another film i've yet to see, but don't want to watch 10 minutes of it and then stop again. frustrating. maybe i should just call it day

Maybe you're all movied out, might need to take a break for a few days and then get back into it. I've done that before, where I've tried to watch a film even though I didn't really feel like it so I turned it off and did something else

[Big-byrd]

SLAMMIN SALMON
freaking hillarious!! not as funny as super troopers or beerfest. but its awesome.
9/10

[Diesel]

Bearcat, 99% of the time I'll finish the movie I start, but occasionally (this week actually) I'll just randomly feel mid-movie that I've lost all interest in watching a particular movie at that time.


Also, there are times when I sit in front of my blu-ray collection wanting to watch something, but can't bring myself to pick anything I really feel like watching.

[tbizzle]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

It's all good....glad you checked it out though! Both surf and I like Revanche a lot. It's an excellent film, but I'm not going to buy it because it doesn't have a lot of replay value for me. Everlasting Moments is a better foreign Criterion from the same year imo.

Sounds good, I added Everlasting Moments to my queue as well

[tbizzle]

Predators - 2.75/5

Being a HUGE Predator fan, I'm pretty disappointed. For everyone who has seen the movie, please check out my review and let me know what you think. I'm really eager to hear some thoughts on it. Here's my review.... btw, it's long

[Show spoiler]That's what she said!

https://forum.blu-ray.com/3485786-post724.html
https://forum.blu-ray.com/3485796-post725.html

[The New Fury]

I saw "Predators" on Friday and I was very unimpressed with it. I rate with grades, I give it a D+ just because there was some satisfying scenes, but mainly Direct to Disc crap IMO of course. It's one of those films that I might like the second time around. My expectations were pretty high for this and it left me feeling like I did after leaving the "Friday The 13th" remake, wanting something more fresh and exciting.

[Show spoiler]How about that shirtless scene at the end with Adrian Brody. That part had me ROLLING in the aisles. Straight up Jacob, from Twilight, scene right there. Boy do I hate that shit. Even though I'm sure it was a homage to Arnold or whatever, but it made me think of Twilight right away haha good stuff.

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

No not at all, I think you're looking at it just right and I agree with you. It's def a quality film.

Thank you. Sometimes I worry I don't get my mind right or something.

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

i don't know what's up with me tonight, but i just can't seem to sit through a movie right now

i didn't want to start a new thread about it since i figure it fits well here, but anyone else have the issue of just not finding a proper film to watch? i've started like, 5 tonight and after about 10-15 minutes i get restless and stop watching it. it's bugging me! i used to be able to watch 5-7 movies a day, in a row, no breaks with no issues. it seems like the older i get the more ADD riddled i become or something.

tried watching 12 Monkeys, no such luck. i'm almost tempted to start Scanners, another film i've yet to see, but don't want to watch 10 minutes of it and then stop again. frustrating. maybe i should just call it day

I know what you mean. I'd reccomend putting those off and watching something you're familiar with or would love to see. Or, just do something else.

"12 Monkeys" is pretty weird and brutal, but pretty good too; I think I have to be in the right mood for it. I love "Scanners," it has some wild scenes in it.

[Al_The_Strange]

“Superman IV: Quest for Peace,” on DVD.

At this point, the classic Superman series grows stagnant. The amount of cheese and campiness is through the roof, a lot of scenes are useless, and the themes of nuclear disarmament are about as in-your-face as “Avatar’s” Ferngully-esque themes. And the stupidity of many scenes are excessive too (since when can Superman move the entire moon, or rebuilt a wall with his eyeballs?!!). As such, the story is very simple and stupid, and the characters are very shallow.

There are a few things I like about this fourth film; some SFX look slick (and others look crummy), I like Nuclear Man as a villain (even if he is zero-dimensional), and there are a few humorous parts. The chase between Superman and Nuclear Man is probably about as fun as Captain Planet versus the toxic waste dude. But for the most part…nah, it sucks.

2/5 (entertainment: 3/5, story: 1/5, film: 2/5)

[J.Cornelius]

Originally Posted by lDlisturb3d

Children of Men

Movie 9/10

Children of Men was a big surprise to me, i didnt think i would enjoy it as much as i did. The story is good, acting is up to par, but most of all the DIRECTION was amazing. It kinda reminding me of Saving Private Ryan how the director got you evolved into the action parts. In addition i loved how the movie turned into hardcore action in the last 30 mins. Children of Men was awesome and im glad i made this blind buy.

Highly Recommended.

Clive Owen was tremendous, I revisit this movie often, glad to own it.

[J.Cornelius]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

You are right. I'll find a way to fix it. And I'm sorry too.

No worries, it just moved a bit further down the Nexflix que, I respect your opinion about the film. Just out of curiosity did you like the ending of No Country For Old Men? The first time I saw the movie I was say a bit put off but on repeat viewings I find it brilliant.

[mpstjohn]

Saw Predators this past weekend. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it, despite already anticipating this. I don't typically enjoy anything Robert Rodriguez has his hand in, but then he wasn't the one directing. The effects were overall pretty good here, the characters are really what makes this a better movie than AVP, AVP: R and Predator 2. Great job on the casting, Brody and Goggins in particular, and though I suspect the biggest reason people are down on this movie, the constant homaging, I had less and less of a problem with it as the film went along.

8/10

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

The Blair Witch Project

in light of hearing great news about how this is coming to blu on august 31, i decided to watch it today...

the greatest horror film of all time.
there is a 99.9% chance nothing will ever top the genius that is The Blair Witch Project.
there is a 99.9% chance nothing will be half as scary as The Blair Witch Project.

]

I wanted something or somebody to kill those kids so I wouldnt have to listen to their whining and complaining and bickering. That was in between nodding off.

Sorry.