1. Alice in Wonderland (2010) - C- 2. Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) - A 3. Black Swan (2010) - A+ 4. The Social Network (2010) - A 5. Cannibal! The Musical (1996) - B 6. Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (2009) - B 7. Winter's Bone (2010) - C+ 8. The Kids are All Right (2010) - A 9. The Lovely Bones (2009) - D 10. 127 Hours (2010) - A 11. Source Code (2011) - B 12. Kick-Ass (2010) - B 13. Thor (2011) - B+ Went to see Thor today and enjoyed it. It's not as good as Iron Man, mainly because I think I like Downey Jr.'s Arrogant charm more than I like Hemsworth's, but it was a good two hours. Really liked seeing the two worlds develop, more on SHIELD, and the charming-ness of Natalie Portman and the actress who played Darcey. Not really a Comic Book reader, but really enjoyed the film. Saw my first trailer of Captain America today before Thor and I'm intrigued. Also, I mentioned in the Summer thread how I'm not all that keen on seeing all these big buff staroid induced guys in these comic book roles, and I chucked when Eric was releasing Thor and brought that very point up. One of my favorite bits in the movie.
Spoiler: Rest of my list 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- 8. Season of the Witch: B 9. Frozen: A- 10. Due Date: B+ 11. Planet of the Apes(2001): B- 12. Faster: C 13. Romance: D (French film, subtitled) 14. YPF: C- (YPF=Young People F*&^ing) 15. The Beautiful Truth: B- 16. Strictly Sexual: C+ 17. DOOM: C 18. Brothers: B+ 19. Men In Black II: B- 20. The Crow: Wicked Prayer: C- 21. The Soloist: C 22. Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love: C+ 23. I Now Pronounce you Chuck & Larry: B- 24. Battle in Heaven: C+ (Mexican film, subtitled) 25. Legion: B- 26. Battle: LA: B+ 27. Righteous Kill: B 28. Dracula II: Ascension: B- 29. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li: D 30. You Don't Mess With the Zohan: C+ 31. Finding Bliss: C 32. Dracula III: Legacy: B- 33. Tangled: B+ 34. Paul Blart Mall Cop: C- 35. Chloe: B 36. Kung Fu Panda: B- 37. Centurion: B 38. The People I've Slept With: C 39. Grown Ups: B- 40. The Conspirator: A- 40. The Conspirator: A- 41. XXX: State of the Union: C+ 42. Fast Five: B+ 43. THOR: A- 44. Priest: D+ 45. The Fourth Kind: B+ I'm always open to the idea of aliens, demons, possession and abduction and have heard this movie is very intense. It didn't disappoint. With the exception of one key scene, and to a lesser extent the volume of people affected, I tend to lean toward these events being about demonic possession than I do one of "the fourth kind". Tie in the voices on the tapes believed to be speaking 6K year old ancient Summarian and my tie to demons increases. Unless of course we dovetail into the "are aliens the progenitor of our species and/or our gods". The levitations and physical affects are all things chronicled in exorcisms throughout the ages. My one criticism in this pseudo-documentary style movie is the lack of follow-up by the one cop stationed outside the Tyler home who witnessed something, in the air, taking them from the home. Yes, his dashboard camera got glitchy but not before it got about 2-3 seconds of some craft clearly coming over top the house. Follow-up by this cop was really needed and lends the most credence to aliens. Creepy movie. I'm now going to attempt to go to bed....attempt to.
I watched 2/3 of the people there walk out of it, mid-movie, and never come back. Personally, I wouldn't say it was awful enough to warrant me flushing money down the toilet and ditching the film, but I did think it was overall pretty meh and unspectacular, I kind of expected that though. I doubt the sequel it sets up for will ever happen.
"Sweet Home Alabama" (2002) C + This is one of my favorite guilty pleasure films. I'm just a sucker for it. It's also one of my favorite Reese Witherspoon films. The cast is great, the script is decent, the story is pure romantic fluff but there are tons of fun moments in this movie. Plus it has Candice Bergen as Patrick Dempsey's mother! It's always fun with Candice plays a heel.
70. They Drive By Night (B+) The dialogue in this trucker film turned film noir (from director Raoul Walsh) is a joy to hear. The banter between characters is as sharp as anything Aaron Sorkin or Quentin Tarantino are writing today. Most of the performances are top notch (there's yet another brilliant turn from Bogart in a supporting role), the cinematography is fine, and the editing keeps the pacing at a good clip. Why the B+ and not the A? Two words: George Raft. I'm so dumbfounded that the man was ever a star, and even more surprised that he was honestly considered for the role of Rick Blaine in Casablanca. He's not a bad actor, but he's just so damned earnest that any edge his character is ever supposed to have is lost on the screen. He can suck out the life from a scene so fast I get ready for disappointment whenever I see his name in the credits. I've now seen 82 films this year. I'm never catching up on this.
Spoiler: rest of list 1. Alien 3 (assembly cut) - B 2. Let the Right One In - A 3. Inception - B. 4. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - B+ 5. Lilo and Stitch - A 6. Despicable Me - B 7. Forbidden Planet - B+ 8. Clerks - B 9. Metropia - C+ 10. Brand Upon the Brain - B 11. Beltesassar Animation Festival 17 - A 12. Buried - B+ 13. How to Train Your Dragon - A 14. Monsters - C+. 15. The Tune (Bill Plympton) - C 16. House (1977) - B 17. Institute Benjamenta - B- 18. The Triplets of Belleville (rewatch) - A 19. Lunacy (Jan Svankmajer, 2005) - B 20. Paradise Lost (1999) - C- 21. Daybreakers - C 22. The Wizard of Oz (rewatch) - A 23. Winnebago Man - A 24. The Social Network - B+ 25. Book of the Dead (2005) - C 26. Megamind - B 27. North By Northwest (1959) - A 28. The Plague Dogs (1982) - B+ 29. Burn After Reading - B 31. The Incredibles (rewatch) - A 32. Fire and Ice (1983) - D 33. Bad Santa - B 34. Twelve Monkeys (rewatch) - A 35. Sweeney Todd - B+ Trying to keep these brief as I've been rather busy planning a move lately. 36. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 1 - B. Good but felt like half a movie. 37. Alien IV (Blu-ray) - D. Even worse than I remembered it. The dialogue is probably the worst part. I liked Whedon's writing in Firefly but here it's pretty awful. "I'm the monster's mother." GROOOOOOOAN 38. American Movie (1999) - B. I can't believe this documentary is 12 years old and I'm just now seeing it. Has a few very funny moments. Somehow felt like I'd seen it before (but I hadn't). 39. Naked (1993) - B. Somewhat disturbing character study of lowlife society in 1990s London centering around a vagrant quasi-rapist philosopher and his yuppie counterpart, who is the same but different in some fundamental ways (and they never directly interact, come to think of it). Raises some interesting questions. Well acted, well shot. 40. My Neighbor Totoro - B+. Cute movie.
71. Hot Tube Time Machine (C+) This movie has a funny premise that wasn't always as well-exploited as it could have been. Chevy Chase was such a non-character that I'm not sure why he was in the movie (except, of course, for the trailer value of Chevy Chase). At times the characters were so profane and mean-spirited that the humor didn't work. At other times it was absolutely hilarious (the ending; Crispin Glover). A very inconsistent time travel comedy, really, it doesn't inspire strong feelings either way.
I loved "Hot Tub Time Machine." I'm completely alone in this, but I actually enjoyed it more than "The Hangover" (which I also thought was great). I only mention that, because it seems like the two get compared a lot. Persepolis: 5/5.
Spoiler: Rest of my list 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- 8. Season of the Witch: B 9. Frozen: A- 10. Due Date: B+ 11. Planet of the Apes(2001): B- 12. Faster: C 13. Romance: D (French film, subtitled) 14. YPF: C- (YPF=Young People F*&^ing) 15. The Beautiful Truth: B- 16. Strictly Sexual: C+ 17. DOOM: C 18. Brothers: B+ 19. Men In Black II: B- 20. The Crow: Wicked Prayer: C- 21. The Soloist: C 22. Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love: C+ 23. I Now Pronounce you Chuck & Larry: B- 24. Battle in Heaven: C+ (Mexican film, subtitled) 25. Legion: B- 26. Battle: LA: B+ 27. Righteous Kill: B 28. Dracula II: Ascension: B- 29. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li: D 30. You Don't Mess With the Zohan: C+ 31. Finding Bliss: C 32. Dracula III: Legacy: B- 33. Tangled: B+ 34. Paul Blart Mall Cop: C- 35. Chloe: B 36. Kung Fu Panda: B- 37. Centurion: B 38. The People I've Slept With: C 39. Grown Ups: B- 40. The Conspirator: A- 41. XXX: State of the Union: C+ 42. Fast Five: B+ 43. THOR: A- 44. Priest: D+ 45. The Fourth Kind: B+ 46. POTC: On Stranger Tides: B- I left a fuller review over in the review thread. I'll say this I enjoyed it more than the last two. While those had their moments overall they felt bloated to me and it bogged down the fun that started it all with COTBP. While they did, imo, achieve what they set out to do(which according to articles was recapture the feel of COTBP) the second act moved a tad slow or was just less engaging overall to me. Don't get me wrong it had a few moments. See it in 2-D. ARGGHHH!!! I'm so over 3-D. When the security team at the screener announced it was in 3-D I kid you not there was an audible DANG and other such negative exasperations from people.
72. Never Let Me Go (B) This stealth-sf film is beautifully shot and features good performances, but it never completely engaged me. Part of the problem, probably, is that I was more engaged by the alternate history stuff going on in the background than the love story in the foreground. Since it seems pretty faithful to the book (which I haven't read) I suppose it can't be blamed. The downbeat ending was much appreciated, though. There's no way you can have a happy ending with this premise without things getting extremely silly (the American counterpart being The Island). A good, if not great, little movie.
I've read the book, haven't seen the movie. The book is superb; like most of Ishiguro's work, it's more about atmosphere/the character's headspace than plot. Spoiler: The rest of my list 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-) 10. Black Swan (B+) 11. Made in Dagenham (B) 12. Gentleman's Agreement (A-) 13. Barney's Version (A-) 14. Out of Africa (B) 15. The Social Network (A-) 16. The Sound of Music (B+) 17. Pulp Fiction (A) 18. Forrest Gump (A) 19. The Shawshank Redemption (A+) 20. The Illusionist (B) 21. The French Connection (B+) 22. Network (A+) 23. Incendies (A+) 24. Mrs. Miniver (A) 25. A Fistful of Dollars (B+) 26. For A Few Dollars More (B) 27. WALL-E (A+) 28. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (A) 29. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (B) 30. Gigi (B-) 31. I Love You Phillip Morris (B+) 32. How To Train Your Dragon (A) 33. Tarzan (B+) 34. Oliver! (B+) 35. Gosford Park (A-) 36. The Princess Bride (B+) 37. All the President's Men (A-) 38. Oliver Twist (B+) 39. My Fair Lady (A+) 40. Hanna (A-) 41. The Godfather (A+) 42. The Godfather: Part II (A+) 43. The Godfather: Part III (A-) 44. Dog Day Afternoon (A) 45. Taxi Driver (A-) 46. Great Expectations (B+) 47. The Last Airbender (D-) 48. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (A+) 49. Raging Bull (B+) 50. GoodFellas (A) 51. Spartacus (A+) 52. The Deer Hunter (B+) 53. Reservoir Dogs (A) 54. A Clockwork Orange (A) 55. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (A+) 56. Gone With The Wind (A+) 57. On the Waterfront (A) 58. Thor (A-) 59. The Seventh Seal (A-) 60. Hamlet (A) 61. All the King's Men (A) 62. Roman Holiday (A+) 1953 William Wyler romantic comedy that introduced the world to Audrey Hepburn (and won her the Oscar). You can see why it made Hepburn a star; the whole thing is a showcase for her elfin charm and, thanks to a good script, genuine acting skills. Gregory Peck as the male lead was also quite fun to watch. Peck is mostly known for roles like Gentlemen's Agreement and To Kill A Mockingbird, where his main role was to serve as a pillar of morality and righteous indignation; here he gets to have fun and play a character whose has a bit of selfishness in him. The film trumpets in the opening credits that it was all shot on location in Rome, which was obviously a bit of a novelty then, and Wyler's camera makes great use of the various locations. Charming, and while this is a very familiar story template, its execution is uncommonly intelligent.
Thunder Road: 4/5 -I'm a huge Robert Mitchum fan, and this was just a whole lot of ridiculous, awesome fun.
If you're a Mitchum fan, have you seen The Yakuza? I just saw it in a class a few days ago, and thought it was an incredibly thoughtful and nuanced action film. 73. Salt (D) This, on the other hand, is anything but thoughtful and nuanced. Writes Roger Ebert in his review, "This movie has holes in it big enough to drive the whole movie through. The laws of physics seem to be suspended here the same way as in a Road Runner cartoon." I might write the same thing, only I wouldn't give the movie four stars like Ebert. Honestly, this movie is loud, violent, and incomprehensible on just about every level. Its only redeeming feature is Angelina Jolie, who is spectacular as an action heroine, even if her character's motivations and reasoning are rather flimsy. Hopefully she'll get to play the action lead in a movie that is far better than this in the future. And, please, don't let it be the sequel that the end of this movie sets up.
Spoiler: Rest of my list 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- 8. Season of the Witch: B 9. Frozen: A- 10. Due Date: B+ 11. Planet of the Apes(2001): B- 12. Faster: C 13. Romance: D (French film, subtitled) 14. YPF: C- (YPF=Young People F*&^ing) 15. The Beautiful Truth: B- 16. Strictly Sexual: C+ 17. DOOM: C 18. Brothers: B+ 19. Men In Black II: B- 20. The Crow: Wicked Prayer: C- 21. The Soloist: C 22. Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love: C+ 23. I Now Pronounce you Chuck & Larry: B- 24. Battle in Heaven: C+ (Mexican film, subtitled) 25. Legion: B- 26. Battle: LA: B+ 27. Righteous Kill: B 28. Dracula II: Ascension: B- 29. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li: D 30. You Don't Mess With the Zohan: C+ 31. Finding Bliss: C 32. Dracula III: Legacy: B- 33. Tangled: B+ 34. Paul Blart Mall Cop: C- 35. Chloe: B 36. Kung Fu Panda: B- 37. Centurion: B 38. The People I've Slept With: C 39. Grown Ups: B- 40. The Conspirator: A- 41. XXX: State of the Union: C+ 42. Fast Five: B+ 43. THOR: A- 44. Priest: D+ 45. The Fourth Kind: B+ 46. POTC: On Stranger Tides: B- 47. Turtles Forever: A- This animated film from Nickelodeon is a true TMNT fans enjoyment feature. It involves a story about the multiverse and ties in with 3 very specific versions of the Turtles but has cameo appearances by other stylistic Turtles. It involves the late 80's Archie/Cartoon version, the latest FOX Animated version and the B&W original Eastman/Laird TMNT fighting to keep Shredder from using the Technodrome to wipe the Turtles(his only obstacle of course) from existence so he might conqueor the world/universe.
Updates (in Bold): The Adjustment Bureau (8) Arashi no Yoru ni (One Stormy Night) (7) Armored Trooper Votoms: Finder (8) Black Swan (9) Broken Blade 3: The Mark of the Assassin's Dagger (9) Broken Blade 4: The Land of Disaster (9) Drive Angry (7) Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance (9) Godkiller (6) I Am Number Four (8) Infernal Affairs (7) Kamui (4) The Garden of Sinners Movie 8: Epilogue (9) Loups=Garous (8) The Mechanic (2011) (9) Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Awakeening of the Trailblazer (8) Munto: The Movie (6) Musashi Miyamoto (6) Outlander (8) Pirates of the Caribean: On Stranger Tides (9) Priest (5) Source Code (9) Thor (9) Time of Eve (10) Unknown (7) Versus (6) Your Highness (3)
Spoiler: Movies Seen in 2011 Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightening Thief - HBO Tron Legacy 3D - theater Clash of the Titans (2010) - HBO on Demand Take Me Home Tonight - free screenin' Sanctum - free screenin' The Green Hornet - free screenin' Green Zone - HBO Fantastic Mr. Fox - HBO True Grit (1969) - AMC Ringu - DVD Black Swan - Alamo Drafthouse (its not just a movie theater) Unknown - free screenin' The Losers - HBO The Sunset Limited - HBO on Demand Starsky & Hutch (2004) - Cinemax Kick-Ass - DVD The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - DVD The Adjustment Bureau - free screenin' Rango - theater Red (2010) - DVD rental Hot Tub Time Machine - DVD rental Harry Brown - DVD Faster - DVD rental Jonah Hex - DVD rental Battle: L.A. - theater The Girl who Played with Fire - DVD The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - DVD rental Leaves of Grass - DVD Whiteout - Cinemax on Demand Sucker Punch - free screenin' Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps - DVD Paul - theater Source Code - theater Rio - free screenin' The Fighter - DVD rental Invictus - Cinemax Scream 4 - theater Fast Five - midnight screenin' THOR - free screenin' Priest - theater Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - midnight screenin' Went to a seven o'clock show of Priest last night. 3D wasn't an option, which is fine, since most of the movie takes place at night, or in dark locations like corridors & caves. Not the worst Paul Bettany movie I've ever seen, since I've rented Legion, but damn close... Karl Urban was okay as the villian, but my favorite bit was Stephen Moyer (True Blood)'s glorified cameo. Wish Maggie Q had been given more to do as the priestess. Potc: On Stranger Tides had a midnight screenin' at the same theater, so I went, grabbed a late dinner & then returned for it. And I opted for the 3D, since it was a larger theater with fewer tickets sold, meanin' not as crowded. I'd say this one is better than At World's End, and about on par with Dead Man's Chest, but not nearly as good as the original. Don't splurge for the 3D, unless ya really like seein' swords pointed out at ya. And stay for the post-credit scene. The theater I was in had about 150 folks for the movie, and by the time the credits finished, only 12. How do folks not know to say to the end of a PotC movie? Seriously?!