Movies Seen in 2011

[od0_ital]

Spoiler: New 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'
X-Men: First Class - theater
Ramona and Beezus - HBO
Shrek Forever After - HBO
Super 8 - theater
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron - HBO
Devil - Cinemax on Demand
Green Lantern - theater

Killers - Netflix Instant
Push - DVD rental
Ron White: Behavioral Problems - DVD rental
All*Star Superman - DVD rental
Captain America: The First Avenger - midnight screenin'
Dylan Dog: Dead of Night - DVD rental
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One - DVD
The King's Speech - DVD rental
Get Low - DVD rental
Dan in Real Life - DVD

I did not pick this movie. Never in a million years would I have picked this movie to watch. The folks I'm stayin' with here in North Carolina picked this movie & I was a captive audience.

Just don't watch it, ever...seriously. Dane Cook is in it!!!

 

[Harvey]

114. The Man Who Fell to Earth (C+)
115. Citizen Kane (A)
116. Casablanca (A)

The Man Who Fell to Earth: I caught a print of this film at a midnight show, and upon leaving a friend uttered a description that seems pretty appropriate. "Well," he said, "that was a good movie on paper." David Bowie is perfectly cast as an alien, and the supporting cast, which includes Rip Torn, Candy Clark, Bernie Casey, and Buck Henry is good as well in the human roles. Nic Roeg (Don't Look Back, Walkabout, Performance) is a good, if indulgent, director. Paul Mayersberg, who adapts the Walter Tevis novel, is a talented screenwriter.

Somehow, though, it just doesn't come together. For one thing, the plot is just too thin to sustain the 139 minute running time (it feels more like a movie that should end after 90 minutes). The film opens with an excerpt from Holst's Mars, but the movie is never as epic as those ambitions. Candy Clark plays a character that is exactly as annoying as she's supposed to be -- but, damn, is her performance a hard one to watch. And Roeg embarks upon some tangents (Bowie's alien, Thomas Jerome Newton, seems to be able to see the pioneer days in the rear-view mirror of his car) that don't go anywhere. In the end, the film gets some mileage out of the casting of Bowie (he's perfect for the role), but is ultimately an ambitious failure. But I'll take its ambition over most play-it-safe science fiction movies most days.

Citizen Kane: What can be said about Orson Welles' classic that hasn't been said already? It's a triumph of filmmaking, and probably the best film to come out of classical Hollywood (though it was, of course, completely atypical of that period).

Casablanca: A triumph of character over plot, I enjoy this film as much as when I first saw it. The dialogue is terrific (though I do find Bogart's final speech, seemingly a collection of every great zinger laying around at Warner Bros. rather than an actual speech, to be a bit silly) and the actors are excellent (though we can exclude Paul Henreid, who has about as much charisma as a piece of paper). It's best not to get into the plot, which made no sense when the film was released in 1942 and makes even less sense today, but it's worth every nonsensical narrative path for just one scene between Claude Rains and Humphrey Bogart.

132 films so far this year.

 

[Captain Craig]

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-
48. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story: B+
49. Easy A: A
50. Inception: B
51. #1 Cheerleader Camp: D
52. Freakanomics: C+
53. Green Lantern: C
54. The American: C-
55. Super 8: A
56. Green Lantern: First Flight: B
57. Transformers: Dark of the Moon: B-
58. 9 Songs: F
59. Kings Speech: A-
60. Whiteout: C+
61. Passion Play: D+
62. Captain America: The First Avenger: A-
63. Marley & Me: A
64. Date Night: C+

65. Frantic: B+
66. Presumed Innocent: A
67. Invictus: A
68. Rocky: A
69. Hurt Locker: A+

Went over to a friends house last night after work and she had this from Netflix. So that was what we watched, I can take it out of my queue now at least. So glad I finally saw this. My enthusiasim for Jeremy Renner is going up for The Avengers and if he's as badass in MI:4 as he looks then his star will likely be that much higher by May '12.

This movie is intense, dramatic, suspensful and very documentary-esque. It's hard to say if I had a favorite scene cause I was engrossed the whole time. For some movies you can have idle chatter but she and I were both locked into this movie. There was one small scene that did make an impact. The moment you realize that after "Beckham is dead and another "Beckham" shows up in the "safe zone" you can realize the depths the enemy goes to in order to lull your defenses down. That scene was revealing and since the screenplay was written by an embedded journalist I'm inclined to think there is all truth to that moment just as other moments in the film.

I'm glad this won best picture that year over the flashy light spetacle of Avatar that was a very hollow character, plot movie.

 

[CaptainCanada]

The moment you realize that after "Beckham is dead and another "Beckham" shows up in the "safe zone" you can realize the depths the enemy goes to in order to lull your defenses down.

Huh? There was nothing nefarious about that; the point of that scene was that the dead boy was not, in fact, the DVD seller. James was mistaken.

 

[od0_ital]

Spoiler: New 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'
X-Men: First Class - theater
Ramona and Beezus - HBO
Shrek Forever After - HBO
Super 8 - theater
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron - HBO
Devil - Cinemax on Demand
Green Lantern - theater

Killers - Netflix Instant
Push - DVD rental
Ron White: Behavioral Problems - DVD rental
All*Star Superman - DVD rental
Captain America: The First Avenger - midnight screenin'
Dylan Dog: Dead of Night - DVD rental
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One - DVD
The King's Speech - DVD rental
Get Low - DVD rental
Dan in Real Life - DVD
Thor: Tales of Asgard - DVD rental
Green Lantern: Emerald Knights - DVD rental

Used up the last of my free rental coupons to pick up the two animated movie tie-ins of the summer.

Thor is set before the hero gets his hammer & he and Loki are still the best of friends/brothers & such. The go out on a quest with the Warriors Three to find a sword, which apparently every young Asgardian does...and Thor actually finds the damn thing, which no one has done before. And hijinks ensue from there...

Didn't care much for the movie at all. But, it did help me understand the characters better from the live action movie, since I know next to nothin' about Thor's comic mythology, anyway.

The Green Lantern movie was a lot better. Its an anthology with Hal tellin' a new Lantern stories about the Corps while waitin' for an enemy of the Guardians to attack. My favorite of the stores was the one for Mogo, the livin' planet. Nathan Fillion did a good job as the voice of Hal, but I didn't care much for the voice actor that did Killowag. That dude just didn't sound right at all...

 

[Captain Craig]

The moment you realize that after "Beckham is dead and another "Beckham" shows up in the "safe zone" you can realize the depths the enemy goes to in order to lull your defenses down.

Huh? There was nothing nefarious about that; the point of that scene was that the dead boy was not, in fact, the DVD seller. James was mistaken.

Are you sure? Maybe I was just so attached to following James I was feeling very "in tune" with his perceptions when we see dead "Beckham".

 

[Harvey]

I like The Hurt Locker, but it takes some liberties with realism that I don't care for. It's definitely a Best Picture winner that has only been fading in esteem since it won, at least in my eyes.

117. The Best Years of Our Lives (B+)
118. eXistenZ (C)
119. Sullivan’s Travels (B-)

The Best Years of Our Lives: William Wyler's Academy-Award winning post-war melodrama isn't quite as good a film the second time around, but it's not bad by any stretch of the imagination. The performances are mostly strong, and Gregg Toland's deep focus photography (though much less expressionistic than his photography for Citizen Kane) is terrific.

However, as good as non-actor Harold Russell is as the returning veteran Homer (he won not one, but two Academy Awards for the role), you start to notice upon second viewing how much Wyler keeps him off-screen. And it's not difficult to see why. The character has a rather straight-forward arc, and the actor doesn't have a lot of range. Secondly, Fredrich March as Al also seems to get the short end. He shows signs of alcoholism due to war traumas, and by the end of the film...he's still showing signs of alcoholism (in the end, the film plays this for an easy laugh, rather than deal with the issue). With a running time of 172 minutes, the film still has trouble telling three complete stories. For the most part, the troubles of the third returning veteran, Fred, overwhelm the narrative, even becoming the center of attention during Homer's wedding at the end of the film.

eXistenZ: Twelve years after release, David Cronenberg's film about virtual reality probably doesn't hold up as well as when it was first shown. You can see the writer/director trying to work out the world of online gaming...but not quite getting there. And then there's the ending, which indicates that the entire movie up until the last scene was simply a simulation (and then the last shot suggests that perhaps the entire movie was a simulation). This makes it hard to be invested in the characters, and since the movie is so half-baked intellectually, it's hard to care about anything. Still, it's stylish, with a good cast and a healthy dose of Cronenberg's signature body horror. It just doesn't have much beyond that surface.

Sullivan's Travels: This film has been ranked very highly among American cinema by some (Errol Morris recently said it was one of his five favorite films ever made), but I don't think it's quite as good as that. As a screwball comedy, it works best when it's just two people in a room (usually, the romantic leads -- a Hollywood director and an out of work actress he meets in a crummy diner) bantering with each other. Too often, though, the film goes for a big laugh and falls short. I was reminded of Spielberg's 1941, a movie which has a lot of loud things being destroyed...that just aren't funny.

Secondly, there's the ending of the film, which is supposed to be triumphant, but just leaves me with a lot of questions about class disparity. The director ends up in a work camp in some backwater state, since he's assaulted a police officer after being told to leave the freight station he's at. For convoluted reasons, he's presumed dead, and can only remember his name after he's been sentenced. He finally comes up with a scheme to get his picture in the paper and let his friends know he's still alive. After this, he promptly gets released. Apparently, rich Hollywood types don't get sent to prison, even when they've pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer.

A lot of words there -- too many, probably. 133 films so far this year.

 

[doubleohfive]

By movies, if we're just categorizing them as "films seen at the theater" then here's my list thus far:


Tron Legacy
Thor
Captain America: The First Avenger
Super 8
Cowboys & Aliens
Midnight in Paris
The Social Network
Green Lantern
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Raiders of the Lost Ark -- at the L.A. 30th Anniversary screening, no less!

I also attended a double screening at the Hollywood Egyptian theater back in April(?) and saw Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (and was asked to leave my seat because, apparently, it was George Takei's), Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (where Walter Koenig faceplanted into a theater seat while walking down the aisle to the stage for his Q&A panel afterward), and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

 

[CaptainCanada]

The moment you realize that after "Beckham is dead and another "Beckham" shows up in the "safe zone" you can realize the depths the enemy goes to in order to lull your defenses down.

Huh? There was nothing nefarious about that; the point of that scene was that the dead boy was not, in fact, the DVD seller. James was mistaken.

Are you sure? Maybe I was just so attached to following James I was feeling very "in tune" with his perceptions when we see dead "Beckham".

There was some confusion around this, but both Bigelow and Boal confirm that it's the real Beckham on the DVD Commentary.

I like The Hurt Locker, but it takes some liberties with realism that I don't care for. It's definitely a Best Picture winner that has only been fading in esteem since it won, at least in my eyes.

My choice for that year would have been Inglourious Basterds, but I thought The Hurt Locker was a worthy enough winner, and a rare successful attempt to do an Iraq War movie (in general, I find that great movies about any given conflict are generally only made when the war is over).

Secondly, Fredrich March as Al also seems to get the short end. He shows signs of alcoholism due to war traumas, and by the end of the film...he's still showing signs of alcoholism (in the end, the film plays this for an easy laugh, rather than deal with the issue).

Al's story is about his issues with his bank (and, by extension, class differences between him and other soldiers), not about alcohol. I do agree that on watching it I wondered whether March could really be considered the film's lead actor, though (even if he was, I don't think he should won Best Actor over Jimmy Stewart's tour de force in It's A Wonderful Life).

Regarding Sullivan's Travels, I ordered the box set of Sturges' films (well, seven of the eight) a couple of days ago, so I'll be offering my own opinion on them in the near future.

 

[Jax]

Surrogates - B

A very enjoyable flick and well worth 2 hours of your time plus has a slight Minorty Report feel to it IMO. Good action and a very interesting take on what technology can do to us as a species.

 

[Harvey]

Al's story is about his issues with his bank (and, by extension, class differences between him and other soldiers), not about alcohol. I do agree that on watching it I wondered whether March could really be considered the film's lead actor, though (even if he was, I don't think he should won Best Actor over Jimmy Stewart's tour de force in It's A Wonderful Life).

This is true. The film does a good job dealing with class issues in the aftermath of World War II (with Al and Fred changing places, going from being a lowly Sgt. and a Captain to a lowly soda-jerk and a banker). Still, all three characters deal with post-war trauma, but at least Fred and Homer have it dealt with seriously.

120. Sunset Blvd. (A)
121. Beneath the Planet of the Apes (B-)

Sunset Blvd.: Watching this, I had to wonder how a movie with so many inside references to Hollywood of the silent era (Cecil B. Demille, Buster Keaton, and many other giants of the silent period play themselves) could have been made, but somehow it was. Whatever the decision-making that led to its production, Sunset Blvd. is a terrific film noir and a fascinating look at Hollywood in the early 50s. Everyone in the cast is great (faded silent star Gloria Swanson as faded silent star Norma Desmond is the obvious stand-out, but William Holden, Erich Von Stroheim, and the rest are equally good) and the script and direction are terrific. I can't think of anything negative to say about it, except that it hasn't been released on Blu-Ray yet.

Beneath the Planet of the Apes: The first sequel to Planet of the Apes isn't a bad movie, but it falls short in a number of areas. For one thing, it begins with a giant ret-con. In the original movie, Heston and co. traveled to the far future by approaching the speed of light and spending time in stasis. In the revised version here, the astronauts (there's a new one, Brett, since Heston only agreed to play a supporting role) get to the far future by travelling through some sort of temporal anomaly. Since the astronauts can now return to their own time, Brett appears on a rescue mission after Taylor. Played by James Franciscus, Brett is a perfectly adequate replacement for Taylor, but he plays so many of the same beats Heston did in the last movie you have to wonder why he was necessary.

There are other ret-cons, too. In the last one, Cornelius and Zira were going to be charged with heresy. Here, they're just in hot water with Dr. Zaius. These aren't the film's biggest problem, though. That would be the general lack of production value (the budget was slashed in half just before shooting). Outside of the principles, most of the apes in this one just wear awful one-piece masks. Whereas the original shot on location, the sequel makes only nominal use of exteriors, opting for matte paintings, sets, and not-very-good rear projection.

Still, a lot of things in the sequel work. For one thing, we get a closer look at Ape culture, which comes with a heavy-handed allusion to anti-war protests of the time, but the Apes films are best when they argue a social message, so I'll take it. General Ursus is a character that makes sense in the Ape world, and he's well played by James Gregory. When he does appear, Heston is great, and Linda Harrison manages to do more with Nova in the sequel than in the original. And the revelation that advanced humans have survived, albeit mutated and underground, is played well. Finally, there's the ending, which is tremendously downbeat for a Hollywood production. Brett and Nova are brutally murdered, and Taylor is mortally wounded. He reaches out to Dr. Zaius, but is refused, and out of spite decides to set off a doomsday bomb wiping out the entirety of the Earth. Over black, an emotionally distant voice-over explains that an insignificant planet is now dead. Roll credits.

Yes, there's three more sequels (two of them, according to my memory, are decent) and a television series (I haven't seen it). How they managed to work that out is either impressive or ridiculous, but I'll get to that when I rate the third movie (and beyond).

 

[CaptainCanada]

Spoiler: #1-99.

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+)
63. Rebecca (A-)
64. Notorious (A)
65. American Madness (B+)
66. It Happened One Night (A-)
67. Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (C-)
68. You Can't Take It With You (B+)
69. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (A-)
70. The Heiress (A+)
71. X-Men: First Class (A-)
72. Super 8 (B+)
73. Dr. No (B-)
74. From Russia With Love (A)
75. Captain Blood (A+)
76. The Best Years of Our Lives (A+)
77. The Adventures of Robin Hood (A+)
78. The Treasure of Sierra Madre (A+)
79. From Here To Eternity (A)
80. To Have and Have Not (B)
81. The Big Sleep (A-)
82. Barry Lyndon (B+)
83. The Snake Pit (B+)
84. Hoosiers (C-)
85. Rocky (A-)
86. Midnight in Paris (B+)
87. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (B+)
88. Key Largo (B-)
89. Bridge on the River Kwai (A)
90. The Apartment (A-)
91. Captain America: The First Avenger (A-)
92. Ordinary People (A-)
93. Days of Heaven (B+)
94. Yojimbo (A-)
95. Tangled (A)
96. Cowboys and Aliens (B)
97. Crazy, Stupid, Love (A-)
98. Beginners (A-)
99. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (A+)

100. Bonnie and Clyde (A-)
101. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (B+)
102. Elmer Gantry (B+)
103. Sanjuro (A-)

After the success of Yojimbo, Kurosawa was urged by the studio to rewrite one of his scripts to make a sequel; commercial imposition, but in a few years Kurosawa couldn't get arrested in [Japanese Hollywood; I was going to type "Jollywood", but that sounds like a condom brand], so that's hardly something to complain about. We follow our masterless samurai into yet another town in need of his help; it follows basically the same narrative structure as the first film (Sanjuro effortlessly walks over people for most of the film, one mistake leads him into trouble, then the day is saved; in this case, his victory is accomplished more through guile, though). I've seen this described as a comedy in contrast to the more serious first film, and while it's lighter in tone, I'm not really sure I'd call it a comedy, because it's really not that funny. I didn't think the quality level was noticeably different from the first one. I also find that whereas we tend to think of older Hollywood films as a golden age of choreographed swordplay, these old samurai films are markedly less impressive than the Asian martial arts films produced today; you basically just have Mifune waving his sword around and killing everyone (with markedly little blood, up until the Tarantino-level final slaying). There's some good characterization for Sanjuro, particularly at the end, which is arguably bleaker than anything in Yojimbo.

104. The Help (B+)

After seeing only four 2011 movies in the first six months of the year, I've seen seven since the beginning of July. This is an adaptation of a "chick-lit" (which I find an overly dismissive term) bestseller that I have not read, but two visiting aunts and a cousin have, and they all liked it. The book appeared to be in the 400-500 page range, which can cause problems in adaptations, but this was for the most part effective (I thought Minny's domestic situation was a little underwritten, but I don't know if more time is spent on that in the book). This deals with race relations, so, par for the course, it attracts a bunch of controversy about how everyone is portrayed. For my two cents, I think it does a good job of telling the story of its two main black characters in addition to the one white one, and gives them motivations and validation that has nothing to do with her. The main reason to see it is the ensemble of strong female performances; for people who want more movies with more than one or two female characters, in a wider range of roles, this is the most prominent entry so far this year. If the film does well, I imagine awards bodies will focus mainly on past nominee Viola Davis, who is indeed powerful here. The increasingly prominent Emma Stone is very good as Skeeter. Also of note is Jessica Chastain, whose name I feel I've been hearing about forever without actually seeing any of her movies, since they keep getting pushed back (The Tree of Life arrives here on Friday as well; when it rains...); she's very affecting as a rich man's wife who is rejected by other society women for being born white trash. On the demerit side, I think the tone is a bit uneven (sometimes really serious, but there are bits of wacky comedy interspersed, including the recurring pie bit), and there's a lone dangling plot (with a super-minor character) that seems out of place.

 

[CaptainCanada]

Spoiler: #1-99.

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+)
63. Rebecca (A-)
64. Notorious (A)
65. American Madness (B+)
66. It Happened One Night (A-)
67. Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (C-)
68. You Can't Take It With You (B+)
69. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (A-)
70. The Heiress (A+)
71. X-Men: First Class (A-)
72. Super 8 (B+)
73. Dr. No (B-)
74. From Russia With Love (A)
75. Captain Blood (A+)
76. The Best Years of Our Lives (A+)
77. The Adventures of Robin Hood (A+)
78. The Treasure of Sierra Madre (A+)
79. From Here To Eternity (A)
80. To Have and Have Not (B)
81. The Big Sleep (A-)
82. Barry Lyndon (B+)
83. The Snake Pit (B+)
84. Hoosiers (C-)
85. Rocky (A-)
86. Midnight in Paris (B+)
87. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (B+)
88. Key Largo (B-)
89. Bridge on the River Kwai (A)
90. The Apartment (A-)
91. Captain America: The First Avenger (A-)
92. Ordinary People (A-)
93. Days of Heaven (B+)
94. Yojimbo (A-)
95. Tangled (A)
96. Cowboys and Aliens (B)
97. Crazy, Stupid, Love (A-)
98. Beginners (A-)
99. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (A+)

100. Bonnie and Clyde (A-)
101. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (B+)
102. Elmer Gantry (B+)
103. Sanjuro (A-)
104. The Help (B+)
105. Dark Passage (B+)

The third of four Bogart/Bacall collaborations, and the least famous of them by far (which extends to the crew; whereas the others were directed by big names Howark Hawks and John Huston, this is directed by Delmer Daves, one of the journeymen writer-directors of the studio system in the 1940s and 1950s). However, I would rank this second of the four, behind only The Big Sleep. The interactions between the stars are great. The plot is simultaneously well-done (particularly with regard to the resolution) and in places rather contrived, which holds it back a bit, but I enjoyed it a lot. I'd also maybe have ended with Bogart on the bus, rather than the next scene, but that's a minor thing.

 

[Captain Craig]

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-
48. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story: B+
49. Easy A: A
50. Inception: B
51. #1 Cheerleader Camp: D
52. Freakanomics: C+
53. Green Lantern: C
54. The American: C-
55. Super 8: A
56. Green Lantern: First Flight: B
57. Transformers: Dark of the Moon: B-
58. 9 Songs: F
59. Kings Speech: A-
60. Whiteout: C+
61. Passion Play: D+
62. Captain America: The First Avenger: A-
63. Marley & Me: A
64. Date Night: C+
65. Frantic: B+
66. Presumed Innocent: A
67. Invictus: A
68. Rocky: A
69. Hurt Locker: A+

70. Rocky II: C+
71. Rocky III: B+
72. Rocky IV: A
73. Cowboys & Aliens: B
74. Wonder Woman (DC Animated): B+

Rocky II, is a tale of two movies. The first part is rushed and really bad with the film cramming all of Rocky's success with commercials and marriage into the first act. The second act drags a bit but gets the film back on track and it does end well in the final act.

Rocky III, is darn near close to matching the other series entries as damn near perfect. Hulk Hogan & Mr.T in the same movie while building on Rocky's character and growth in a much more organic way than Rocky II showed.

Rocky IV, this is the quintessential Rocky film, or was. I must say that although I'm not going to review it it's possible that the last in the series, Rocky Balboa now holds the high mark for me. Still this film that shows how Apollo Creed and Rocky have really grown as friends then his death. The training montage in the Russian winter, one of the best.

Cowboys & Aliens, it's a damn shame that too many people will or have listened to Rottentomatoes or Megacritic and chose not to see this film. It's a fun movie with a straight forward and engaging plot. There are good character arcs for nearly every main character in the movie. If you were on the fence I say check this out, it's a good theater movie. Several good "big screen" sequences.

Wonder Woman, this recent DC animated film with Keri Russell as Diana, Rosario Dawson as Artemis and Nathan Fillion as Steve Trevor this is a really good film. Very impressed by this film.

Yes, I watched a number of films but I had plenty of laundry to fold this weekend!! Had to have something on to help me through that domestic chore.

 

[CaptainCanada]

Cowboys & Aliens, it's a damn shame that too many people will or have listened to Rottentomatoes or Megacritic and chose not to see this film.

The film was tracking poorly well before any reviews came out, and it has poor word of mouth; you can't blame critics for that. I don't know where this idea that audiences follow critics like lemmings comes from; if that were the case, Michael Bay would have been run out of Hollywood years ago.

 

[Harvey]

122. On the Waterfront (B)

This film has a great scene that is often quoted ("I could have been a contender"), but overall I don't think it's nearly as good as its reputation suggests. Leonard Bernstein's score is at times overblown to the point of being melodramatic, and so are many of the performances (and I use the term in the pejorative sense, rather than to describe any coherent sense of style). It isn't a bad movie by any stretch of the imagination, but is merely good.

 

[od0_ital]

Spoiler: New 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'
X-Men: First Class - theater
Ramona and Beezus - HBO
Shrek Forever After - HBO
Super 8 - theater
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron - HBO
Devil - Cinemax on Demand
Green Lantern - theater

Killers - Netflix Instant
Push - DVD rental
Ron White: Behavioral Problems - DVD rental
All*Star Superman - DVD rental
Captain America: The First Avenger - midnight screenin'
Dylan Dog: Dead of Night - DVD rental
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One - DVD
The King's Speech - DVD rental
Get Low - DVD rental
Dan in Real Life - DVD
Thor: Tales of Asgard - DVD rental
Green Lantern: Emerald Knights - DVD rental
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths - DVD
Planet Hulk - DVD rental
Alien vs Predator: Requium - Unrated - DVD rental

Stayin' at my friend D's place the last few days, I found Crisis on Two Earths in a stack of unopened DVDs. She said I could open it, so I did. Watched it, found out I liked it, and she said I could keep it, so I thanked her.

I thought it was a pretty good movie, and especially liked James Woods as the voice of Owl Man.

Went to the Blockbuster in Hammond, LA, and took advantage of the 99 cent daily rentals to watch Planet Hulk. I didn't care for it much while I was watchin', and it took me awhile to figure out why...in the movie, the Hulk is always the Hulk. Sedated, sleepin', not fightin', smoochin', whatever he's doin' that isn't smashin', he's still the Hulk. Bruce Banner is not seen a single time in the film, and that bugged me. Also, the Hulk talked, a lot, which didn't seem right to me.

When I rented Planet Hulk, I got a coupon for a free 99 cent rental on my next visit, so I used it to get AvP: Requiem - Unrated, since its something I've never seen and really didn't feel like payin' to watch, ever.

And AvP: Requiem was a gawd awful movie...its like they asked themselves, "What's darker than a sewer? Night! How can we make the night darker? Power failure! Nope, we can still see with flashlights...I know! Let's make it rain, too! And then set the whole bulk of the action outside, at night, in the rain durin' a power failure!!!"

Weird thing - when I used my free rental coupon, they gave me another coupon for a free rental. If I had stayed for another day, I'd have used it...

I've got passes to see two different movies this week, now that I'm back in Texas, but both screenings are on Tuesday night. Not sure if I'll go see 50/50 or Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.

 

[Captain Craig]

Cowboys & Aliens, it's a damn shame that too many people will or have listened to Rottentomatoes or Megacritic and chose not to see this film.

The film was tracking poorly well before any reviews came out, and it has poor word of mouth; you can't blame critics for that. I don't know where this idea that audiences follow critics like lemmings comes from; if that were the case, Michael Bay would have been run out of Hollywood years ago.

Maybe it's a case by case basis but I know several people at work and elsewhere who do use that. I'm that "movie guy" that most social circles have and I've heard the line used, "Well I saw/heard it's getting bad reviews so I was wondering if you'd seen it yet and what you thought". So yeah, in my case I do know a few lemmings.

Michael Bay isn't really bad, Uwe Boll is and he's basically been run out of the industry.

 

[CaptainCanada]

Spoiler: #1-99.

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 (B+)
59. The Seventh Seal (A-)
60. Hamlet (A)
61. All the King's Men (A-)
62. Roman Holiday (A+)
63. Rebecca (A-)
64. Notorious (A)
65. American Madness (B+)
66. It Happened One Night (A-)
67. Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (C-)
68. You Can't Take It With You (B+)
69. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (A-)
70. The Heiress (A+)
71. X-Men: First Class (A-)
72. Super 8 (B+)
73. Dr. No (B-)
74. From Russia With Love (A)
75. Captain Blood (A+)
76. The Best Years of Our Lives (A+)
77. The Adventures of Robin Hood (A+)
78. The Treasure of Sierra Madre (A+)
79. From Here To Eternity (A)
80. To Have and Have Not (B)
81. The Big Sleep (A-)
82. Barry Lyndon (B+)
83. The Snake Pit (B+)
84. Hoosiers (C-)
85. Rocky (A-)
86. Midnight in Paris (B+)
87. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (B+)
88. Key Largo (B-)
89. Bridge on the River Kwai (A)
90. The Apartment (A-)
91. Captain America: The First Avenger (A-)
92. Ordinary People (A-)
93. Days of Heaven (B+)
94. Yojimbo (A-)
95. Tangled (A)
96. Cowboys and Aliens (B)
97. Crazy, Stupid, Love (A-)
98. Beginners (A-)
99. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (A+)

100. Bonnie and Clyde (A-)
101. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (A-)
102. Elmer Gantry (B+)
103. Sanjuro (A-)
104. The Help (B+)
105. Dark Passage (B+)
106. Easy A (B)

Emma Stone having starred in two successful films in the last week or two, I decided to finally get around to watching her big break from last fall, which I didn't see at the time despite its strong reviews. I first saw Stone in Superbad back in 2007, where I thought she was very good, and she's continued to impress since; this definitely has the feel of a starmaking turn, even though I don't think the movie itself is quite on that level. It's extremely funny, and has a lot of enjoyable supporting performances, particularly from the adults (including Thomas Haden Church, who had that resurgence with Sideways but has hardly done anything since). The more serious dramatic parts don't hold up as well; there are a few too many characters floating around and it doesn't come together at the end particularly well. But a great performance, to be sure.

 

[Kegg]

Rise of the Planet of the Apes / Project Nim

At one point in the documentary Project Nim, an example of a headline story regarding public interest in the case of Nim is titled 'Message from the Planet of the Apes.' And frankly after seeing this film it seems very obvious that the latest installment in the ape franchise was very strongly influenced by Nim's case, with the future ape revolutionary and the documentary subject both being apes raised by human scientists and taught sign language.

However, while the fictional Rise depicts questionable experiments on animals, one's left with a much greater faith in the moral probity and scientific method of these movie researchers then then real-life researchers into Nim.

Almost everyone in the first stretch of that film repeats the refrain that they are doing good science, but their approaches are by turns feckless (pawing off the ape on a psychological grad student who's more interested in the ape's supposed oedipal complex then the stated research premise of teaching him sign language) or frankly amoral (when confronted with the fact the ape had torn a gash in someone's face, Professor Terrance only concerns are if she would sue or if it would become public.

It's compelling viewing, and the best documentary I've seen in a while. It's entertaining in a very Errol Morris way, some slick visual presentation to make the talking heads business not seem so terribly dull (with some nice graphics and indeed graphs revolving around words), some recreations of events interspersed with an impressive amount of actual footage of Nim... and letting the subjects hoist themselves with their own petards, letting them tell their various stories where conflicting and sublimating any judgements the filmmakers themselves might have on the subject, these expressed no doubt in how they edit the narrative together. I'm not going to say it's Thin Blue Line or anything, but man, it was fun.

...okay Errol Morris is also on my mind because damn it I want Tabloid and I want it yesterday. That can't come to cinemas over here soon enough.

Oh yes, and that Planet of the Apes movie is basically the first film since 1968 to be any good. It's loosely based on Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, although I do think it owes as much to the case of Nim as it does to the previous Ape film about a revolutionary called Caesar. It's very well paced, the special effects are extraordinary, Andy Serkis is stellar as Caesar, and it's just a lot of fun from beginning to end. Quintessential blockbuster entertainment, and beginning by exploiting the scientific forays into the grey area between ape and man is an inspired conceit (though, of course, with the liberties of science fiction we cross over this boundary much more easily).