The Movie Review and Discussion Thread

[jvince]

Before Sunset (2004)
dir. Richard Linklater

The Good: Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy are (once again) spellbinding. More realistic than the first. The boat ride. The cab scene... Oh my god, the cab scene. Celine's waltz. Pretty much the entire second half. "Baby, you are gonna miss that plane." "I know."

The Bad: A little slow in the beginning.

The Bottom Line: A sublime sequel whose rawness, disillusionments, and heartbreaks perfectly counterbalance the original's starry-eyed romance. Sunrise and Sunset form the finest one-two punch in the genre.

[jvince]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Only a few more days for number three.

I know. Can't. Wait. My most anticipated film of the year.

[SquidPuppet]

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

2011 / PG-13 / 124 minutes



I liked it. it felt like a good, but not great Dramedy.

It has a great cast. Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Tom Wilkinson, Celia Imrie, Ronald Pickup, Dev Patel, Tena Desae, Sid Makkar They are all great, and so was the dialogue for the most part.

Netflix's synopsis is perfect;

To make the most of their meager retirement savings, a group of British seniors moves to India to live out their golden years at the Marigold Hotel. But upon arrival, they discover the once-lavish resort has wilted considerably.

During which time, a bunch of funny, sad, poignant and hilarious moments and events occur.

Totally worth seeing, it just lacked that something special.

Film 3.5/5
PQ 4/5
AQ 4/5

[legendarymatt92]

"I'll tell you what I got...your wife's ***** on my breath."

The Good Points: Extremely low-brow, gross-out comedy - the perfect continuation of MacFarlane's infamous style. Great dialogue, with superb dynamics between Ted and Marky Mark. Never takes itself too seriously, and is always funny (if often in a 'close-to-the-bone' type style that may not be palatable to some).

The Bad Points: Amateur direction, with an overly uneven narrative. Too much focus on the delivery of the gags and not enough on making them actually fit the scene; they seem out of place and forced. Over-dependence on pop culture references. What works in cartoons doesn't always translate well to the big screen. Surprisingly generic.

It may be over-bearing, immature and strangely cliched, but MacFarlane's debut will certainly please fans of his previous works and has a certain, undeniable charm about it - whether you appreciate that charm, however, is another thing.

6.5/10

[jvince]

Before Midnight (2013)
dir. Richard Linklater

The Good: Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy deliver the finest performances of their careers; absolutely Oscar-worthy stuff. Top-notch screenplay. Perfect balance of romance, drama, and comedy. Rapid-fire laughs; more hilarious than the previous two films combined. Quotes galore ("You are the f*cking mayor of crazy town." "The upside to being over 35 is you don't get raped as much." "Kissy, kissy. Titty, titty. P*ssy..."). The impressive long take of the car ride from the airport. Jesse and Celine's conversation with their friends at the lunch table. Celine's lab rat impression. Celine's bimbo act. The walk to the hotel. The epic quarrel in the hotel room. The final scene. The "letter." Pretty much the entire film. Best use of time travel in a non-time-travel movie.

The Bad: None.

The Bottom Line: The best installment in the series. The best threequel ever. The best film of the year. It's that good. Téleios. An instant classic.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by jvince

Before Midnight (2013)
dir. Richard Linklater

The Good: Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy deliver the finest performances of their careers; absolutely Oscar-worthy stuff. Top-notch screenplay. Perfect balance of romance, drama, and comedy. Rapid-fire laughs; more hilarious than the previous two films combined. Quotes galore ("You are the f*cking mayor of crazy town." "The upside to being over 35 is you don't get raped as much." "Kissy, kissy. Titty, titty. P*ssy..."). The impressive long take of the car ride from the airport. Jesse and Celine's conversation with their friends at the lunch table. Celine's lab rat impression. Celine's bimbo act. The walk to the hotel. The epic quarrel in the hotel room. The final scene. The "letter." Pretty much the entire film. Best use of time travel in a non-time-travel movie.

The Bad: None.

The Bottom Line: The best installment in the series. The best threequel ever. The best film of the year. It's that good. Téleios. An instant classic.

I can't wait for this one.

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by jvince

Before Midnight (2013)
dir. Richard Linklater

The Good: Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy deliver the finest performances of their careers; absolutely Oscar-worthy stuff. Top-notch screenplay. Perfect balance of romance, drama, and comedy. Rapid-fire laughs; more hilarious than the previous two films combined. Quotes galore ("You are the f*cking mayor of crazy town." "The upside to being over 35 is you don't get raped as much." "Kissy, kissy. Titty, titty. P*ssy..."). The impressive long take of the car ride from the airport. Jesse and Celine's conversation with their friends at the lunch table. Celine's lab rat impression. Celine's bimbo act. The walk to the hotel. The epic quarrel in the hotel room. The final scene. The "letter." Pretty much the entire film. Best use of time travel in a non-time-travel movie.

The Bad: None.

The Bottom Line: The best installment in the series. The best threequel ever. The best film of the year. It's that good. Téleios. An instant classic.

I really hope it opens close to me now, I'll check out the other two films as well.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by Foggy

I really hope it opens close to me now, I'll check out the other two films as well.

Same here, I own Before Sunset (unwatched) so I just need to rent Before Sunrise somehow. Ive heard nothing but great things about this trilogy.

[legendarymatt92]

"It's too late to eat a burrito. Too much complex carbs."

The Good Points: Shamelessly entertaining, in a big, loud, dumb and illogical way. Some great, mind-numbing action sequences. Hit-and-miss one-liners.

The Bad Points: Much too flashy and over-the-top, with an extreme amount of needless explosions. Teal and orange - everything just looks fake. Terrible acting. Out of place and often unneeded comedic moments. Dreadfully expositional and contrived dialogue. Strange, uneven pacing and jarring editing. Jingoism galore, worthy of overtaking even Top Gun's mantle.

It was never destined for masterpiece status, but Battleship's over-reliance on explosions and action to gloss over an incoherent storyline, terrible acting and almost no character development means that it's one for the die-hard "guilty pleasure" crowd only - even though it is sporadically entertaining.

3.5/10

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by jvince

[B]Before Midnight (2013

[Show spoiler])

The Good: Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy deliver the finest performances of their careers; absolutely Oscar-worthy stuff. Top-notch screenplay. Perfect balance of romance, drama, and comedy. Rapid-fire laughs; more hilarious than the previous two films combined. Quotes galore ("You are the f*cking mayor of crazy town." "The upside to being over 35 is you don't get raped as much." "Kissy, kissy. Titty, titty. P*ssy..."). The impressive long take of the car ride from the airport. Jesse and Celine's conversation with their friends at the lunch table. Celine's lab rat impression. Celine's bimbo act. The walk to the hotel. The epic quarrel in the hotel room. The final scene. The "letter." Pretty much the entire film. Best use of time travel in a non-time-travel movie.The Bad: None.

The Bottom Line: The best installment in the series. The best threequel ever. The best film of the year. It's that good. Téleios. An instant classic.

Dang it. You got to see this already?

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Same here, I own Before Sunset (unwatched) so I just need to rent Before Sunrise somehow. Ive heard nothing but great things about this trilogy.

You gotta give yourself a few days between #1 and #2. A friend told me to wait a week between the two. It turned out to be excellent advice. I waited nine days and it was a much richer experience for it.

[legendarymatt92]

"The only good witch is a dead witch."

The Good Points: Impressive, almost sumptuous, Gothic visual style. Interesting twist on the original fairytale. Deliriously and excessively violent. Some truly funny moments and one-liners.

The Bad Points: It can't really decide on whether it wants to conform to being a genre piece or parody it. Curious lack of emotion, hindered further by almost no character development. Thin plot and pacing problems in the middle act.

Purely a visual spectacle, Hansel & Gretel may be utterly confused as to whether it's working for or against its genre, but it has a wicked charm and shameless entertainment value about it that's hard to resist - depending on your sensibilities, of course.

6/10

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by legendarymatt92

"It's too late to eat a burrito. Too much complex carbs."

The Good Points: Shamelessly entertaining, in a big, loud, dumb and illogical way. Some great, mind-numbing action sequences. Hit-and-miss one-liners.

The Bad Points: Much too flashy and over-the-top, with an extreme amount of needless explosions. Teal and orange - everything just looks fake. Terrible acting. Out of place and often unneeded comedic moments. Dreadfully expositional and contrived dialogue. Strange, uneven pacing and jarring editing. Jingoism galore, worthy of overtaking even Top Gun's mantle.

It was never destined for masterpiece status, but Battleship's over-reliance on explosions and action to gloss over an incoherent storyline, terrible acting and almost no character development means that it's one for the die-hard "guilty pleasure" crowd only - even though it is sporadically entertaining.

3.5/10

This film was so cool and stupid.

It made #36 on my list of favorite guilty pleasures.

[legendarymatt92]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

This film was so cool and stupid.

It made #36 on my list of favorite guilty pleasures.

I can honestly understand why, but I just never got into it; it felt like, to distract from the negative aspects, they tried to fill the frame as much as possible with explosions, gunfire and overly orange and teal landscapes.

The pacing was a real problem, too.

[legendarymatt92]

"You're HIV-Aladeen."

The Good Points: As offensive and politically incorrect as previous Cohen projects. Occasionally hilarious. The decapitated head sequence. The birthing sequence. The more quasi-doc style allows for a better supporting cast.

The Bad Points: Wildly uneven. Misses the standard set by Borat by quite a substantial distance, and, as such, feels like a familiar and sub-par effort. Struggles to maintain any sort of rhythm or consistency.

The Dictator fails to add anything innovative or unique to Cohen's previous outings and frequently feels achingly familiar, but it's sporadically saved somewhat by some downright hilarious scenes and its pervasive sense of humour and tongue-in-cheek knowingness.

5/10

[jvince]

Brothers Quay 1986- Street of Crocodiles - YouTube

Street of Crocodiles (1987)
dir. Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay

The Good: Amazing stop-motion animation and nightmarish imagery reminiscent of Jan Svankmajer's works. Haunting musical score.

The Bad: Even with the Bruno Schulz quote at the end, the whole thing still doesn't make much sense.

The Bottom Line: A disturbing, nonsensical dream. The surrealist fan in me found it fascinating but also lacking of a story.

[jvince]

Originally Posted by Foggy

I really hope it opens close to me now, I'll check out the other two films as well.

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Same here, I own Before Sunset (unwatched) so I just need to rent Before Sunrise somehow. Ive heard nothing but great things about this trilogy.

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

You gotta give yourself a few days between #1 and #2. A friend told me to wait a week between the two. It turned out to be excellent advice. I waited nine days and it was a much richer experience for it.

I can't believe you two haven't seen those films yet. You gotta start right away. I agree with Squid; if you're watching them for the first time, don't watch them back-to-back.

I didn't see the first one back in '95 (I still had a shitty taste in movies ), but I saw the last two films the year they were released. You end up feeling emotionally invested in the two characters because you've grown with them. There's not that many movies like that.

[legendarymatt92]

"Past behaviour is always the best predictor of future behaviour."

The Good Points: Gleefully Hitchcockian. Fantastic performances, especially from the perfect Rooney Mara. Perfect script, with some great twists.Soderbergh's experimental style: the bombardment of displaced visual and aural cues creates a wonderful sense of time, space and depth. Does an incredible job of portraying the disparity and disconnection of all the characters, alienated from the world they're living in. Curious clinical removal of the audience.

The Bad Points: Ending is tied up too neatly and conveniently.


An incredible and almost flawless entry into Soderbergh's utterly remarkable ouevre, Side Effects boasts wonderful performances and a well-written plot, but it's in the treatment of its characters, of their naive and desperate alienation in an increasingly hypocritical world, the destruction of their perfect lives and lies, that the film's intense atmosphere of paranoia really shines - and it may very well be Soderbergh's best work thus far.

9.5/10

[Lepidopterous]

Star Trek Into Darkness

"...AND I WANT TO KNOW WHY." - Bones

Best line of the film.

Now that I got that out of the way, Star Trek Into Darkness is a massively entertaining sci-fi action film that maintains JJ Abrams' caliber of filmmaking. He doubles up on the action this time while delivering even better humor and a better villain. Benedict Cumberpatch does a fantastic job, but the rest of this amazing cast really shines as well. Neck-and-neck with the first one, which says a lot, and I'm already looking forward to a second viewing.

4.5/5

[jvince]

Warm Bodies (2013)
dir. Jonathan Levine

The Good: Unique take on the genre -- the story is told from the zombie's point of view, and writer Isaac Marion even comes up with an original metaphor for the undead. Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer are so cute and likable. Strong first act. Some nice song choices.

The Bad: Too safe and predictable. Uneven pacing. Crappy CGI.

The Bottom Line: Warm Bodies features two, charismatic, more than capable leads and a bunch of fresh ideas, but it unfortunately chooses to dumb itself down for mainstream audiences.