Movies Seen in 2011

[tomalak301]

I hope to keep up with this this year. I started listing them last year but then kind of got away from it. The thing is I'm not really a big movie watcher, and when I do see a movie, I typically go to the theater. I think I'm going to try and actually watch more movies this year at home, and it helps that I just got a new Vizio TV with Netflix capability so I can stream movies.

Anyway, As for the first movie I saw of this new year:

1. Alice is Wonderland (2010) - C-

I think the thing to remember going into a Tim Burton movie is expect the weird, and expect Johnny Depp to be in it. That was pretty much the case on both counts here, as the best way I can describe this movie was weird. I have not read the novel, and the only connection I have to Alice in Wonderland was really the animated classic film from Disney. This one was great visually, and I liked the Hathaway and the Red Queen. They were both great in the roles and actually my favorite part of the film was when they finally met on the same screen. Going back to the visuals, they were pretty much what I expect from Burton.

However, the movie stops pretty much there. There's a story, but it takes so long to get there and I found myself dosing off in the middle of it. Also, Depp was kind of a letdown here as the Hatter, and the person who played Alice seemed a tad disinterested in the role. Not one of the best Burton films I've seen.

 

[LitmusDragon]

1. Alice is Wonderland (2010) - C-

I think the thing to remember going into a Tim Burton movie is expect the weird, and expect Johnny Depp to be in it. That was pretty much the case on both counts here, as the best way I can describe this movie was weird. I have not read the novel, and the only connection I have to Alice in Wonderland was really the animated classic film from Disney. This one was great visually, and I liked the Hathaway and the Red Queen. They were both great in the roles and actually my favorite part of the film was when they finally met on the same screen. Going back to the visuals, they were pretty much what I expect from Burton.

However, the movie stops pretty much there. There's a story, but it takes so long to get there and I found myself dosing off in the middle of it. Also, Depp was kind of a letdown here as the Hatter, and the person who played Alice seemed a tad disinterested in the role. Not one of the best Burton films I've seen.

Agree with this review. Also, being a bit more familiar with the story than yourself, I can say that it's just wrong to have the Mad Hatter sword-fighting people.

 

[Admiral_Young]

"Black Swan" again and am going to be seeing it a third time next weekend with friends. A+

 

[starfox]

the person who played Alice seemed a tad disinterested in the role.

Precisely this. It resulted in a lack of charisma and surprise on her part. I really only watched the film to see her performance. She was still very likable, though.

 

[marillion]

The King's Speech (2010)... A+

One of the best movies I have ever seen with an outstanding performance by Colin Firth as King George Vi and an excellent performance by Geoffrey Rush as the Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue. The movie is often funny, at times very moving and is well cast though I did have trouble accepting Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill.

I hope that Colin Firth will get an Oscar for this performance.

Agreed on all counts.. Saw this yesterday.. The film was brilliant, but I do agree that Spall tried too hard in the role.

 

[Starbreaker]

1. Alice is Wonderland (2010) - C-

That's about how I felt. Boring movie that made a billion dollars.

 

[Admiral_Young]

"The King's Speech" A+ 4 stars, etc. Just an amazing film. Brilliant performances, brilliant score, just brilliant everything. Colin Firth is my choice for best actor.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

1. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) C-
2. Walk Hard:The Dewey Cox Story (2007) A-

Found the film a slow to start, but couldn't stop laughing after about 30 minutes into the film. Really enjoyed it. Also surprised by the number of people I reckonised in the movie.

 

[barnaclelapse]

So far?

Paprika: 5/5
True Grit (2010): 5/5
Wild Targets: 3/5
The Town: 5/5
Due Date: 3/5
Get Low: 5/5

 

[CaptainCanada]

1. In the Heat of the Night (A+)
2. The Passion of Joan of Arc (B)
3. The Passion of the Christ (A)

Depressing Catholic movie double-feature!

These two films are actually quite fascinating to watch back-to-back. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Mel Gibson was quite familiar with the former, because in many respects the structures are the same; the big difference being that Gibson includes flashbacks and the like to cover some of Christ's past, whereas Carl Dreyer keeps things closely focused on Joan's trial and execution.

The Passion of Joan of Arc is a 1928 silent film, and it comes with all the limitations of that technological era; it greatly limits both character exchange and atmosphere (otherwise the film is pretty good in terms of depicting the period, though the soldiers' costumes look kind of weird to me, and there's a jarring shot of a guy wearing glasses). The central performance of Maria Falconetti (looking remarkably like Isabella Rossellini) as Joan has been widely acclaimed, and it is indeed pretty good, again given the limitations. Speaking of that, though, while silent movie acting has tended to be extremely hammy, the acting here (facial acting, in particular) feels pretty modern, for the most part, which in some ways just increases the frustration that you can't hear what anyone is saying in the long stretches where people are talking and there are no title cards.

Then we have Mel Gibson's 2004 labour of love, controversial then and controversial now - personally, while I doubt Mel and I would agree on many points of Christian theology, I don't see most of the objections people make to this (most of them would apply equally to the first film I reviewed, and yet that one gets more or less universal acclaim). Gibson would have done better to include the lines from one of the Gospels about Caiaphas' motivation (something that, ironically, Jesus Christ Superstar does quite well) - but the Sanhedrin as a group is not depicted uniformly in this matter; two pointedly condemn Caiaphas, and a bunch of them storm out. Gibson's subsequent life has shown him to be someone with some clear personal issues (suggestive of progressive disintegration, from my armchair anyway), but I don't think it comes close to overwhelming the proceedings. At most, it would be possible to read the events of the film in an anti-Semitic way, but I can't imagine this reading occurring to anyone who wasn't already any anti-Semite (or, conversely, on guard against anti-Semitism).

Anyway, the film is a mix of the Gospels, some later apocrypha, and some stuff that Gibson and co. came up with by themselves (notably the fanciful scene where Jesus invents the table, which is simultaneously really weird and a nice moment of levity). Apart from the aforementioned Caiaphas, a couple of other figures, such as Judas, aren't especially well-developed. Conversely, his Pontius Pilate is convincingly depicted, as is his wife (one of the notable apocryphal additions). They also ignore St. Joseph of Arimathea's role in the Gospel in favour of having the two Marys and anonymous John take him down. Slo-mo is overused in a few places, many of the Roman soldiers and Jewish bystanders are too cartoonishly brutish (not to mention, in the soldiers' case, so bizarrely undisciplined even in front of their officers that it's hard to imagine how they've avoided being executed for insubordination by now), and some scenes are a little too blatantly tableau-ish.

But others are tremendously moving, such as the repentance of the one robber (though Gibson follows this up by having a crow attack the unrepentant one, which seems unnecessarily vindictive), and especially Mary's rush to Jesus' side. Jesus is a hard character to dramatize; in my experience, most of the best stories told with him are mainly about the people around him (which is fitting, in a way). Mary is a great access-point, and Maia Morgenstern gives by far the best performance in the film (if anybody here was robbed of an Oscar nomination, it was her). There's also an effectively creepy Satan. The production values are tremendous.

 

[tomalak301]

1. Alice is Wonderland (2010) - C-
2. Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) - A

You ever just get that random feeling of watching a movie you have no knowledge of the subject matter but you hear good things about it and want to check it out? That's pretty much me in connection to this film, Exit Through the Gift Shop. I have no knowledge of Street Art, or the people involved in this film, but I heard good things about it, watched it, and was captivated by it. Fake or not Fake, it brought the world of Street Art to life and it was quite a journey.

As for the end and the message of the film, It was quite a message, which was pretty much Art succumbing to the hype machine like everything else and how the street artists we saw resented Mr. Brainwash (Teirry) because of it. It does bring the film full circle, and it does leave you think. I don't typically watch Documentaries, but I wanted to watch this one and was glad I did.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

1. From Russia with Love (C)
2. Delicatessen (A)

From Russia with Love

Maybe I'm not a fan of old James Bond. I'm not sure. I haven't really seen any of the old James Bond films since Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace were released (the exceptions being GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies) so I can't help but wonder if the new James Bond has affected my interest in old James Bond. I'll have to wait and see when I rewatch Goldfinger (my favorite James Bond before seeing Casino Royale).

In the case of From Russia with Love, I had tried to see it once before years ago, but fell asleep while watching it (I don't hold against the film because I had a long day) and I wanted to give it a second chance, especially since so many people consider it one of the best Bond films period. However, I have to say it didn't really do anything for me.

The overall story of SCEPTRE playing both the Soviet Union and the Western world against each other is interesting, but the actual plot that follows Bond really didn't click for me. Maybe I expected a smarter Bond, but I was surprised how gullible he came off as.

Perhaps a further viewing later down the road will make me like the film more, like how I didn't initially like The Hunt for Red October but is now one of my favorite films. Or perhaps I just don't like old Bond as much as I once did. Only time will tell.

Delicatessen

A typically bizarre film from Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amélie, A Very Long Engagement, The City of Lost Children), Delicatessen is a story about a group of tenants forced into cannibalism because of a food shortage for reasons not entirely clear. I love all of Jeunet's films (with the exception of Alien: Resurrection but even he doesn't like the final product due to studio meddling) and this one is no exception. More of a collection of character pieces then an outright story (there's isn't much beyond new character arrives, falls in love with daughter of killer, and the two of them try to survive) but Jeunet's unique form of directing makes the experience more than worthwhile. I highly recommend this to anyone who want's something different from the typical Hollywood flick and something quite bizarre.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

1. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) - C-
2. Walk Hard : The Dewey Cox Story (2007) - A-
3. Metropolis (1927) - A+

Loved it. I found the film made me want to pay attention to it. Giorgio Moroder's music makes the film, as I ain't a huge fan of silent films. I could tell with the body language what they were trying to say. The door scene was easily scene of the film. The story is perfect and everything is told in perfect timing. You see things in this film which influenced other things in other science fiction over the years.

 

[barnaclelapse]

Pandora's Box: 4/5
-Speaking of silent films. I watched this last night and enjoyed the hell out of it. Certainly not for everyone. I wouldn't even say it's for all fans of silent film (all twelve of us), but it still had a visual punch that maintained my interest through what I believe was about two hours.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

1. From Russia with Love (C)
2. Delicatessen (A)
3. Goldfinger (B)

I enjoyed about as much as I enjoyed it the first time around. I loved the Matterson girls, but didn't really care for Pussy Galore (nor the way Bond forces his way on her in the barn and suddenly she's all "Oh, James!). I think it's a terrible waste that Tilly Matterson died so quickly. I was much more interested her character potential (woman seeking revenge for the death of her sister, although I'm surprised she didn't blame Bond in some small way) than I did with Pussy Galore. Alas.

I also loved the villains, particularly Odd Job. How can I not love a guy who kills people with his hat?!

That all being said, there's a certain staleness of the early Bond movies that still bugs me. I can somewhat look pass Bond's male chauvinistic ways (except forcing himself onto Pussy), but there are other things that bug me like the use of out of place sound effects that are better suited for cartoons (such as when Bond slaps a woman on the ass or any and all sound effects during fight scenes).

I'll keep giving old Bond a second chance, but it's not looking good...

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

1. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) - C-
2. Walk Hard : The Dewey Cox Story (2007) - A-
3. Metropolis (1927) - A+
4. The Day the earth stood still (1951) - A-

 

[CaptainCanada]

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)

And now for something completely different from those last few movies.

The chick flick of the last few years (taking the baton from, oddly enough, another Meryl Streep movie, The Devil Wears Prada), and one of the more successful musicals in recent memory. Also one of, I think, two prominent "jukebox musicals" put to film (the other being Julie Taymor's more artistically ambitious Across the Universe). And it is, honestly, quite a good time; it embraces a lot of things that modern movie musicals have tended to shy away from (such as actually having the characters just burst into song, without justifying it as a performance in-universe or a fantasy sequence) for being too cheesy.

Amanda Seyfried has been one of my favourite young actresses for a while (since Mean Girls and Veronica Mars mid-decade), and she's good here; her singing voice is pretty good as well. Meryl Streep also surprisingly sings quite well. Pierce Brosnan is awful, but by God he's trying. There are a lot of movies that tout how much fun the cast had making it - whether that actually comes through onscreen varies greatly (for when it doesn't, see, say, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle). Here, it does. The chemistry between Streep and her two friends (Christine Baranski and Julie Walters) is especially fun. That said, it's longer than it needs to be.

It's everything that was awesome about the 1970s and everything that was ridiculous about the 1970s (there's not inconsiderable overlap there).

 

[od0_ital]

Might as well copy the format & tweak it a bit...

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightening Thief - HBO
Tron Legacy 3D - theater
Clash of the Titans (2010) - HBO on Demand

Dear god, what a terrible movie. I like Louis Letterier's The Incredible Hulk, but it was like he forgot how to direct action sequences with this one. The CGI was pretty bad, and it just made me glad I missed it in theaters.

Epics should not make ya relieved ya are watchin' 'em at home instead of the big screen!

Can't imagine tryin' to watch this in 3D, either...that three witches scene would have been impossible to see! No pun intended...

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

1. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) - C-
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-

Carey Mulligan what a star. Found it enjoyable, but not my fav Nick Hornby based movie.

 

[Captain Craig]

1. The Fighter: B-
2. Batman(90's saga): A-,B-,C-,D

I got the 'Action Pack' of all 4 films which is just the films with no extras for a Black Friday deal of $5, couldn't pass that up just for the first film. Waited till I finished them all to post. I hadn't seen this films in 15yrs+ so it was time to revisit.

Batman is a great first big screen outing. His reveal in the opening scene is classic. "What are you?" and the reply, "I'm Batman". Outside of the initial entry this series does not hold up well at all. Nicholson's Joker is still lots of fun and I enjoy the more accurate origin I confess. Kim Basinger as Vicki Vale is gorgeous and good with Michael Keaton. Speaking of his Bruce Wayne comes off as a slightly detached aloof Bruce that I read in the comics.

Returns wasn't great but considering what followed this holds up a bit better. Wish we could've had a better Catwoman origin that was more true. Same for Penguin. This is essentially a "Christmas Movie" but I noticed the script carries many notes as the first film. Not sure I felt it was a "reused and tweaked" script at the time as I did now.

Forever, I wonder if Burton had stayed on the series if he would've regressed more from Returns or done better? Was the series destined to decline or did Schumacher really start that, Returns was a drop off all on its own as well. This movie is essentially a "Halloween movie". Two Face and Riddler break into Wayne mansion on Halloween night. We see the trick-or-treaters. Two Face has the comic look and his acid bath origin is mentioned in passing. Jim Carrey must've been told to channel Frank Gorshin's TV Riddler. I'm probably spoiled by the last 20yrs of Riddler stories NOT being goofy that the portrayl rings wrong.

Batman & Robin...where to start. I had forgotten(probably for the best) all the horrible sexually laced innuendo and statements. Poison Ivy telling Robin that if he's good he can "tend her garden" was just horrid in delivery. Arnold's Mr.Freeze does get props from the costume department, his outfit wasn't bad. I could at least see something like that from the comics. For all the sexiness Schumacher was trying to ooze in this film I'm not sure why Ivy had green leotards on and not actually showing more skin like the comic counterpart. That could've made it a tad more watchable. The Batman credit card scene...oh boy!! Soooo much to mention but this is just a bad film.

So I take it this series portrays Batman over a 2-4 year period if you assume some chronolgy using the Holidays as a marking point.

I told a friend that I hope in 10-15yrs I'm not looking back on Nolan's Batman films and saying something similar. It was probably a statement made out of what I'd just seen. He reminded me that Nolan's films really play more like crime dramas and keep the more zany elements at bay or not incorporated at all. Good reminder, Nolan's Batman should hold up over time well.