1. In the Heat of the Night (A) 2. The Passion of Joan of Arc (B) 3. The Passion of the Christ (A) 4. Mamma Mia! (B) 5. All About Eve (A) 6. Looking for Anne (B-) 7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (B+) 8. The King's Speech (A) As an historian and monarchy fan, George VI has always been a personal favourite; he tends to be overshadowed by his father, brother, and daughter, but he worked very hard to do his job in very difficult circumstances. Colin Firth was great; tremendous body language, particularly with his face and throat. Rush and Carter were very good in supporting roles. Timothy Spall as Churchill was a little too hammy for my taste. Also, historical nit: Churchill was Edward VIII's strongest supporter in the Commons during the abdication crisis, and ghost-wrote his farewell speech; he wouldn't have been advising George like that prior to Edward's resignation. George thought he was unreliable (which wasn't an unfair assessment, given his political career in the 1930s) and preferred Lord Halifax, at least until he actually became prime minister; then they became very close. I admired the film's willingness to basically go without a villain. You have the distant presence of Hitler, and Edward VIII's a bit of a douche, but he's not a bad guy, per se. It's basically two hours of character development/exploration. Nicely mixes sentiment and humour in a way that isn't stiff like a lot of stereotypical Merchant-Ivory productions are. Merely spitballing ideas, the film is plenty long already, but it might have been interesting to include something from the 1939 Canada/US royal tour, which was a huge event for the King and Queen (first royal visit to the Dominion of Canada, first royal visit to the United States).
That film was great (the first horror film I've ever liked); the book added insight into how Eli came to be (involving a traumatic experience with a sadistic vampire). It gave me more sympathy for Eli (whose name is Spoiler: Eli's name short for her original name... )
1. The Fighter: B- 2. Batman(90's saga): A-,B-,C-,D 3. Star Wars OT-Special Edition: B+, A, B 4. The Green Hornet: B Fun movie. Straddles the line of serious and satire. Rogan does just enough of his trademark schtick yet not too much. Opens well, drags a bit in the middle and closes with a fantastic sequence. Saw in in 2-D, nothing post credits.
1. Alice is Wonderland (2010) - C- 2. Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) - A 3. Black Swan (2010) - A+ 4. The Social Network (2010) - A I've been wanting to see this since October and I'm glad it was released on DVD this week. This was a great movie, appreciated more mainly because I am a business student, that really showcased how a small college site became a worldwide empire. I really liked Eisenberg as the arrogant Zuckerberg and Timberlake and Garfield was great too. At first it might seem too talky, but this movie delves not only into how Facebook was created, and the kind of man Zuckerberg is, but how the business world works and how nasty it can get. It felt like a movie for the times in which we live (Most movies are about the past, this one was very easy to relate too because I'm on Facebook as are probably most of the users on this board) and it was one of the best films of 2010.
I watched the remake of The Karate Kid and it surprised me by how good it was. A real nice re-make and another feather in his cap from the young budding star Jaden Smith. I thought Jackie Chan was excellent and the final move of the film was bloody brilliant .
1. Walk Hard (A) 2. Adam’s Rib (B) 3. There’s Always Tomorrow (B) 4. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (C-) 5. Lady in the Dark (C+) 6. Moon (A) 7. The Social Network (A-) The Social Network: I still like this movie very much, but I do wonder how often I'll return to it. Fincher's frame is always watchable and Sorkin's dialouge is always terrific, of course, and the performances are all very fine. I have no doubt much of the young cast will go on to bigger and better things. It's not my favorite film from 2011, but it's one of the best (at least, that I've seen).
I've got a question about Social Network. Was the film too talky? I mean it's a great film, but it felt like a court type movie that could have had an extra bit of spunk. I mean we were getting to the end and I wonder if an extra half hour could have been utilized to bring the film to a better conclusion. It almost felt like the movie stopped at a certain point. Like I said, it was a very good film, but for some reason I get this feeling that a movie like Black Swan, True Grit, or Kings Speech are much more deserving of a Best Picture win if that happens.
Arsenic and Old Lace: 5/5. -Man Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart were sure interchangeable back in them days. At least when it came to Frank Capra movies. Doesn't mean I like them any less though. Or this movie.
I went and saw Gullivers Travels on the weekend...I have to say that it wasnt as good as I thought it would be...it was way too corny and too commercialised..
Movies seen in 2011 (latest additions in bold): (rating system is out of 5) "The Last Airbender" (2010) * "Toy Story 3" (2010) ***** "They Died With Their Boots On" (1941) **** "Planet 51" (2009) **** "UP" (2009) ***** "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (2009) ** "Clash of the Titans" (2010) ***1/2 Clash of the Titans was terrible, according to a friend who told me never to watch it. This, of course, only made me want to watch it more. So I caught it last night on HBO, and I have to say I rather enjoyed it. The special effects were well done, the cast was a good one, and I enjoyed the action. There wasn't much to the writing, but this is a movie about a mythological tale, I don't expect so much in the way of a script. Liam Neeson did a good job as Zeus, plus I like him so it's difficult for me to ever say he did poorly. He's the only actor/character I really liked in SW:TPM (not counting Natalie Portman who is simply sublime in everything she does). Sam Worthington was a solid Perseus, if a bit more modern than what I'm used to. Ralph Fiennes kicked total ass as Hades. Gemma Arteron who played "Io" was good, oh, and incredibly hot. I won't pretend it's some kind of artistic masterpiece, but for a summer blockbuster made for a format I've yet to see, it did very well. All in all, I liked it. 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.
I knew it was an Aaron Sorkin written film at the outset, so the thought that it could be anything other than a dialogue-driven affair never occurred to me. It's hard to think of a different approach to the material once I've seen something so styalish (both in the screenwriting and the direction). As for it ending too early, I don't think so. We saw Zuckerberg's realtions--with his best friend, with the twins, and with the Sean Pakrer--and we saw all three of those relationships reach their eventual conclusion. I liked True Grit more as a film, however, and would definitely rank it higher. 8. North by Northwest (A) 9. All of Me (B-) North by Northwest: This is the third time I've been assigned to closely analyze the visuals of this film in a class, so it's a good thing it's my favorite film by Alfred Hitchcock (or in the very least, it is tied for that position). The last time I re-watched it I noticed all sorts of rear projection. This time my attention was more focused on gay text and subtext surrounding the Martin Landau character. There's really quite a bit in there--I'm especially surprised that the jealousy/woman's intuition exchange made it past the censors. All of Me: Steve Martin is a very funny physical comedian in this film, but most everything else is entirely by the numbers (Lily Tomlin is good, too, I should note). Considering how out there the premise is (women pays to have her soul transfered into another body when she dies; she ends up in the wrong body--Steve Martin's) it's surprising how dull Carl Reiner's direction is. The movie looks like just about every other generic 80s comedy I've ever seen, and if it didn't have Martin holding it together it would be far less watchable. Still, it is watchable, even if the premise ends up being mostly predictable and uninspired.
The Island of Dr. Moreau: 1/5 -But it's a 4/5 with Rifftrax commentary. Man I'm glad I waited until I had that to finally watch this.
The Green Hornet (C). I was looking forward to seeing this. Some parts of it were okay I guess. I liked the visual style it was filmed in. The script was weak and the dialogue was horrible though. Seth Rogen was overbearing and bombastic in his portrayal of Reid and The Green Hornet. I think if he toned himself down a bit it would have been okay. Jay Chou was refreshingly funny. I thought he was great as Kato. Christophe Waltz was suberb as the self-conscience/paranoid Russian mobster. I thought Cameron Diaz was underused and just meh. When given a good script she can act her ass off but this was just not for her. I laughed a few times and enjoyed the Black Beauty's gadgets but that's about it. First disappointing film of the year. Also a bit disappointed that we didn't get to hear much of James Howard Newton's score...
Saw Little Fockers today...I have to say its the funniest out all of them. I want to go and see the Green Hornet and Black Swan after seeing the trailers.
^ Seeing Black Swan on Thursday when it opens. 2. Walk Hard : The Dewey Cox Story (2007) - A- 3. Metropolis (1927) - A+ 4. The Day the earth stood still (1951) - A- 5. An Education (2009) - A 6. Animal Kingdom (2010) - A Finally got around to watching this film that won several AFI awards. I was a little disappointed when Joel Edgerton's character died early in the film, but it's really great Australian actors like Ben Mendelson, Guy Pearce and Jacki Weaver. Personal, as an Australian found it was great to see a quality Australian film. Hopefully, the director, David Michod, can continue make quality films.
1. In the Heat of the Night (A) 2. The Passion of Joan of Arc (B) 3. The Passion of the Christ (A) 4. Mamma Mia! (B) 5. All About Eve (A) 6. Looking for Anne (B-) 7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (B+) 8. The King's Speech (A) 9. How Green Was My Valley (B-) Best known today as the film that "stole" Citizen Kane's Best Picture Oscar (or, if you prefer, The Maltese Falcon's). The film is a somewhat uneasy mixture of sentimentalism and what was probably gritty realism for the time in which the film was made. However, you'd have to say this is the most nicely-appointed miner's house you'd ever see. The main character's decision to become a coal miner rather than try to get a better job comes across extremely arbitrarily (and, again, I rather doubt anybody who'd watched a father and five brothers come home from a coal mine every day for years would be eager to go down there himself, to the point of spurning other opportunities). There are some really strong moments, though.
1. The Fighter: B- 2. Batman(90's saga): A-,B-,C-,D 3. Star Wars OT-Special Edition: B+, A, B 4. The Green Hornet: B 5. True Grit(1969): C+ 6. Lord of the Rings saga: (A,A,A) 7. The Machinist: A- Was busy over the MLK weekend with movies. True Grit(1969) - I admit it's possible that since I hadn't seen the original since college when I was 20/21 back in the mid 90's AND having seen the new one twice that my grade is possibly skewed. I thought the pacing was much more slow even for films of the general era in which it was made that I've seen. The more happy ending must be one of those changes they made for the time it was released. The new one is more aligned to the book and therefore more 'gritty'. I can see better now how even die hard John Wayne fans think his Oscar for the film was more sympathy for a colleague than actually deserving for this one film. Lord of the Rings saga - I haven't seen these films since 2004 when I friend got a group of us together to watch the DC versions one day. Yes it took a whole day to watch 12+hrs of film which is why I recall it well. I've always appreciated the films but they aren't a 'go to' film for me. Never owned them till Black Friday when the widescreens were $2 each at Wal-Mart. So for that price I'd get them. They really are well made movies and with Fellowship basically 10yrs old it looks like it could've been made just last year. They all hold up very well from a production standpoint and should for years to come. With The Hobbit going into production I'm glad I'm refreshed on Middle Earth now cause this isn't a series I'll frequent again for another 6-7 years. The Machinist - I finally got this moved up the chain in my Netflix queue after hearing much about it over the years. My concern when watching a movie after nearly everyone else has praised it is that my expectations might be unfairly too high thus letting me down. I didn't find this to be the case at all. For the other 1-2 people who haven't seen it I will not spoil it here but will say I didn't have it all figured out, parts but not all. It's a good film and one that holds your attention in a good and disturbing way all at the same time.
Saw the sequel to Wall Street very good movie. I watched Hellboy 2 as well for the first time and while the story was ok-ish I do love Hellboy as a character, very witty. I watched Easy-A last night and while the reaction of the characters seemed way OTT, it was a nice funny movie and Emma Stone is
It's been a great start to the year - Black Swan ~A The Fighter ~ B True Grit ~ B+ The King's Speech ~ A+ 127 Hours ~ B