The Movie Review and Discussion Thread

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

I knew you would like this film. So much there to appreciate.

Are Before Sunrise/Sunset nearing the top of the queue? Or has it become the "wrong" time for that kinda flick?

The situation you're aware of didn't really bother me, despite how crazy it was. So, it's not the wrong time. However, I want to watch the two films in the same week (i.e. Wednesday and Saturday) since I have one at a time from netflix. Seeing as this week has a holiday, I have to delay it again until the following week. Right now, my queue looks like this (top 10):

1) The Secret in their Eyes (comes out on the 21st)
2) The Square
3) Contempt (didn't even realize this was on blu, and Godard has sat well with me thus far)
4) Triage
5) Le Petit Soldat (Godard--banned in France for 3 years and features my love, Anna Karina)
6) The Fall
7) Before Sunrise
8) Before Sunset
9) The Sea Inside
10) A Single Man


I feel confident the top 8 will be the next 8 I get via netflix, with the other two probably getting shuffled for a bit. So this week I'll get The Square or Contempt and the following week Sunrise/Sunset.

I just watched the Road, so I'll review that later.

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by lDlisturb3d

Seriously, why? It reminded me of the seventh seal just more modern and easier to understand.

I wrote a review of it in this thread, where I got into my reasons.

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by lDlisturb3d

Seriously, why? It reminded me of the seventh seal just more modern and easier to understand.

But granted I'm not a huge Seventh Seal fan either.

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

I apologize if I came across as harsh. I knew what to expect with the movie, so I didn't expect it to be like Hero, Crouching Tiger, etc. However, I just thought it was poorly written, poorly directed, poorly directed, I thought the special effects were weak, and I thought it was just ridiculous.

No problem, I was just curious. I can see what you mean; the SFX are rather fake-looking, and the film is a little cartoonish overall.

[Marcus Wright]

Just watched:
Up.


This movie gets better with each viewing.
"oh boy, oh boy"

I dont review it because it doesnt need one.

[KilloWertz]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Stormcrow

I was under the impression it didn't have any, I'll grab it when I go for another Best Buy run on Wednesday then.

Wow, I guess the two times I responded to your posts in places on these forums about Hard Candy actually having subtitles must have gone ignored. I see how it is...

I didn't really care for the movie, but it looks great on Blu-ray.

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by lDlisturb3d

Black Narcissus (Criterion)

"A Superior to all is a servant to all"



Highly Recommended

5/5

Great review. Interesting parallel with Seventh Seal...I'll have to mull that over more.

What I love so much about this film is it plainly shows a universal principle:

[Show spoiler]when dealing with any person, place or thing in our lives, we have 3 options: (1) accept it/them as they are, (2) change it/them, or (3) remove yourself from the person/place thing. The nuns couldn't exercise #(1), as their moral code forbid it. The film shows them repeatedly trying and failing at #(2). Eventually, they give in and must cave in to #(3). Its the same way with us with any person/place/thing in our life. We don't need to be a nun in a himalaya convent

[Batman1980]

Revenge of the Sith - 5/5
Saw it on SpikeHD, by far the prettiest broadcast of the 6 films and should be the best blu-ray of the bunch too. Still makes me sad at the end when the Jedi are destroyed and Anakin falls from the Light side of the Force.

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

SDISE

[Show spoiler]Surfdude is Sufficiently Evolved

Squid = Monolith

[Show spoiler]you recommended Dark City...hence you "nudged" my evolution

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

Followed this up with "North By Northwest."


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



PQ: 4.5/5, AQ: 4.5/5

I loved the film. I thought it was incredibly original, as expected from Hitchcock. HOwever, I couldn't help digesting the ending as very typical

[Show spoiler]bad-good guy chase; good guy hanging by cliff; bad guy gets killed

. I dunno. Maybe I'm being overly harsh. The ending only seems typical when viewed in light of the incredibly original plot up to that point. my 2 cents.

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

I got rid of my copy. I love it, but I cant get through the Chris Tucker scenes.

+1000000000000000 I'd have to skip Tucker now too.

[surfdude12]

Blood Diamond

Film: 4/5
-gut-wrenching plot. incredible performance by Honsou. Tolerable performance from Dicaprio (no seriously, I was impressed with Leo here: better than usual IMO. The accent, however, had me making so many facial cringes at first that I had lactic acid build up in my face the next day)
-incredible directing job: the director didn't lazily just show action,action,action, and was patient, showing gorgeous (and i mean DROP DEAD GORGEOUS) african countryside. the director was patient. he wasn't afraid to spend 10 minutes showing people on a journey across the countryside. Bravo Mr. Director!!
-as horrific as this film appears, it is still only a sugar-coating of the real thing: if you want to see the real thing, put on the "from the ground to ring: journey of blood diamond" special. i doubt you can last 3 minutes. i lasted about 45 seconds. i had to hit stop. it showed raw 1994 footage of the genocide that makes the film look like a Pixar flick.

PQ and AQ are very good, 4/5

[D-Blitz]

Gattaca: 9/10. What a shame that movies such as this one bombed. Brilliant film, very thought provoking. Loved the music in this one as well.

[surfdude12]

Dial M For Murder

Film: 4/5
-Great mystery-thriller. Honestly, its probably not fair to the film that I'm not giving it a perfect score. It may be a personal issue I had. The beginning of the film (first 20 minutes or so, before the

[Show spoiler]murder planning

is discussed, seemed quite hard to follow (I was tired when I watched it ) with very fast dialogue between 2 characters. I thought I accidentally started the film at chapter 8, but confirmed it was the beginning. I had to rewind to figure out what was going on. IMO, the dialogue

[Show spoiler]before the planning of the murder

was a little ...fast? Then again, maybe I was a little...tired? So I really should watch the first 20 or so minutes again when I'm not exhausted.
-I've already seen A Perfect Murder (?remake?), so had an idea what to expect. Fantastic film with little clues here and there, and withholding knowledge from the audience, only to disclose it at just the perfect time for maximum suspense.
-I belive jhiggy recommended. Thanks!

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

Blood Diamond

Film: 4/5
-gut-wrenching plot. incredible performance by Honsou. Tolerable performance from Dicaprio (no seriously, I was impressed with Leo here: better than usual IMO. The accent, however, had me making so many facial cringes at first that I had lactic acid build up in my face the next day)
-incredible directing job: the director didn't lazily just show action,action,action, and was patient, showing gorgeous (and i mean DROP DEAD GORGEOUS) african countryside. the director was patient. he wasn't afraid to spend 10 minutes showing people on a journey across the countryside. Bravo Mr. Director!!
-as horrific as this film appears, it is still only a sugar-coating of the real thing: if you want to see the real thing, put on the "from the ground to ring: journey of blood diamond" special. i doubt you can last 3 minutes. i lasted about 45 seconds. i had to hit stop. it showed raw 1994 footage of the genocide that makes the film look like a Pixar flick.

PQ and AQ are very good, 4/5

You didn't mention the gorgeous and I mean DROP DEAD GORGEOUS Jennifer Connelly, who I thought was brilliant as a field reporter that did whatever it took to get her story.

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Stormcrow

You didn't mention the gorgeous and I mean DROP DEAD GORGEOUS Jennifer Connelly, who I thought was brilliant as a field reporter that did whatever it took to get her story.

touche!

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

Dial M For Murder

Film: 4/5
-Great mystery-thriller. Honestly, its probably not fair to the film that I'm not giving it a perfect score. It may be a personal issue I had. The beginning of the film (first 20 minutes or so, before the

[Show spoiler]murder planning

is discussed, seemed quite hard to follow (I was tired when I watched it ) with very fast dialogue between 2 characters. I thought I accidentally started the film at chapter 8, but confirmed it was the beginning. I had to rewind to figure out what was going on. IMO, the dialogue

[Show spoiler]before the planning of the murder

was a little ...fast? Then again, maybe I was a little...tired? So I really should watch the first 20 or so minutes again when I'm not exhausted.
-I've already seen A Perfect Murder (?remake?), so had an idea what to expect. Fantastic film with little clues here and there, and withholding knowledge from the audience, only to disclose it at just the perfect time for maximum suspense.
-I belive jhiggy recommended. Thanks!

Nice write up and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Crazy to think there's a 3D version of it.

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by D-Blitz

Gattaca: 9/10. What a shame that movies such as this one bombed. Brilliant film, very thought provoking. Loved the music in this one as well.

One of my top 2-3 soundtracks and a film I've gone on record as saying is one of the more underrated out there.

[jhiggy23]

Black Hawk Down

I've already reviewed it and gave it perfect PQ and AQ and a 4 star (out of 4) rating, so I won't get into it more here.

[Lord_Lemon]

The Protector

Movie 2/5
PQ: 3/5
AQ: 3/5

Didn't like this one aside from the occasional cool looking fight move.

The story was terrible. It involves a man traveling from Thailand to Sydney to get back his pair of stolen elephants from an underground black market ring involving endangered species. His Dad gets killed in the beginning while trying to not let the elephants get taken, but his death seems to have been forgotten altogether in the rest of the film in the son's quest and morning for his elephants.

Many of the fight scenes were retarded including one in which a man at a ship yard pulls a horn and a gang of youth on rollerblades, bmx's, etc. attack the protagonist with attacks based on tricks they can perform. Ramps seem to be conveniently placed everywhere so they can get air and do flips to hit the protagonist with.