Movies you've seen recently (possible spoilers!)

Just came back from "Fame".

Hmmm.

Liked the cast. Kelsey Grammer and Lilith... sorry, Bebe Neuwirth, impressed me. I've watched TONS of Frasier lately, so it was amusing to see them in such different roles. The youngsters was also impressive.

But I lacked the energy and spirit from the original. This one was so polished and rushed, I never got under the skin of the youngsters and the grand finale was rather dull. I had hoped they'd be creative and introduce the "Fame" keysong in the middle of the movie to surprise us, but no. It was during the credits.

Two POTO things that crossed my mind (it always does...):

1. The character Rosie Martinez (Kristy Flores) wore a costume that reminded a LOT of Meg's Masquerade costume! Pinkish jacket, fringy "skirt", small top hat, white cuffs...

2. In the same scene (Halloween dance), the whole setting got me thinking of Bram Stoker's Dracula "Love Never Dies". Burlesque, fair-like turn-of-the-century circus, a bit stylished. You don't see it too well in this clip, but it's from the same setting, and the "Meg" costume is well featured here:

http://www.filmsnmovies.com/video/10354/fame_halloween_dance/

Did that already come out?

R.

Raphael wrote:Did that already come out?

R.

The costume?

Yeah, the movie premiered in Norway last night. And we're at least two weeks behind the rest of the world... Release dates:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1016075/releaseinfo

Should add about the movie: it had an unfitting "High School Musical" feeling to it, it seems they tried to appeal more to those under 14 than those over 14. It could have worked well enough, if there were some development in the characters or if the movie headed in a direction. But I sat there and waited for it to begin "for real", and suddenly we were at the big graduation concert, and the movie was over. Rather unfulfilling.

It had its moments, though. But they were too arbitrary to make it a good movie, good story telling.

I had no idea that Kelsey Grammar and Bebe Neuwirth were in Fame... I also have had no interest in seeing it, and consequently haven't been following any news on it. But those two might motive me enough to see it. Maybe.

Last night I saw Moon at our local arts center, and it was quite great. From the trailers it looked a lot like 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it stands on its own as a great movie. And the theme music is awesome! Here's the Trailer

I just watched The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. I read the book so knew what to expect, the acting was weak in places but the ending (so tragic) really made up for it. I was literally sobbing.

Becky wrote:
Last night I saw Moon at our local arts center, and it was quite great. From the trailers it looked a lot like 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it stands on its own as a great movie. And the theme music is awesome! Here's the Trailer

I wanted to see that, but just missed it by a couple of days when the local indie theatre had it. The local indie paper gave it a really terrific review. And the director is David Bowie's son.

Checked out Frost/Nixon from the library a couple weeks back. Very well done with a strong cast, especially Frank Langella as Nixon. Like he did with Apollo 13, Ron Howard does a great job of creating tension and suspense despite the outcome of the events portrayed being widely known.

~LCD

Did a little mini-marathon of Bela Lugosi films yesterday...The Raven, Murders In The Rue Morgue, and my favorite horror movie of all time, The Black Cat.

The Black Cat is deliciously morbid!

Paranormal Activity. Holy crap scary. Very well done. Very realistic. See it.

I Love You, Man. Very good. I swear Paul Rudd plays me in every movie he's in; he's awesome as always. Jason Segel is great too, and the two have a bromantic chemistry.

Year One. Utter crap. Terribly, painfully unfunny. Considering the cast and director, it's surprisingly bad. This is one movie in which Paul Rudd does not play me (you'll see why if you see it, which I don't recommend you do).

Observe and Report. Pretty funny. Laughs are a little forced at times, though. Ray Liotta seems out of place.

SenorSwanky wrote:Paranormal Activity. Holy crap scary. Very well done. Very realistic. See it.

I'm going to see it Tuesday. I know tons of people who said they got so scared they cried! lol Without giving away any details, what's so scary about it?? Is it because it's so realistic or is there jump out moments?

Callie Daae wrote:Without giving away any details, what's so scary about it?? Is it because it's so realistic or is there jump out moments?

Both, but particularly effective is its realism. I actually never really jumped (maybe once a bit, but I won't reveal where or what happened). But it was pretty creepy, and you were constantly on edge, knowing there could be something lurking or something weird or creepy happening at any moment, out of nowhere. The final few scenes really stick in your mind for a few days, and it might make you leery around dark doorways and hallways for awhile.

Saw 6: I saw it last night. Typical gore, some inventive traps, and a nice twist at the end. I think it was the best in the series since the third movie.

Zombieland: Absolutely hilarious. I haven't laughed this much since...well, I can't remember. If you don't like horror don't worry about it. It's so over the top it's just comical.

SenorSwanky wrote:

Callie Daae wrote:Without giving away any details, what's so scary about it?? Is it because it's so realistic or is there jump out moments?

Both, but particularly effective is its realism. I actually never really jumped (maybe once a bit, but I won't reveal where or what happened). But it was pretty creepy, and you were constantly on edge, knowing there could be something lurking or something weird or creepy happening at any moment, out of nowhere. The final few scenes really stick in your mind for a few days, and it might make you leery around dark doorways and hallways for awhile.

Wow it sounds good! I'm seeing it tomarrow, so I'll let you know what I thought of it

Callie Daae wrote:

Wow it sounds good! I'm seeing it tomarrow, so I'll let you know what I thought of it

Woah, just saw Paranormal Activity. SO SCARY! OMG it seemed so real! Such a good movie!

Callie Daae wrote:

Callie Daae wrote:

Wow it sounds good! I'm seeing it tomarrow, so I'll let you know what I thought of it

Woah, just saw Paranormal Activity. SO SCARY! OMG it seemed so real! Such a good movie!

I haven't seen Paranormal Activity, nor do I have any desire to do so, but my friend told me about it yesterday, despite the fact that both I and the other person she was talking to hate scary movies. But even the little bit she told me caused me to have trouble sleeping.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to go see the previews of A Christmas Carol with my aunt, and Saturday, I think I'm going to see The Men Who Stare At Goats, so hopefully I'll have more to contribute to this thread.

The Taking of Pelham 123. Not bad. Denzel and Travolta are excellent in their roles (though Travolta is a little over-the-top), and Turturro and Gandolfini are good in small roles, but the pacing of the film doesn't quite live up to the situation and the promise of edge-of-your-seat suspense it brings. It also ended a little too abruptly and neatly. There was little to no examination of the impact of the heist on the city and the characters. For all the realism the filmmakers and actors brought, the situation didn't feel like it had much of a real impact.

The Men Who Stare at Goats. Very funny, but I felt parts of it moved too slowly, while other parts moved so quickly, I couldn't keep up. That might just be me, though. Over all, I really liked it.

"This is it"

Michael Jackson... awesome dancing, control freak, insanely talented, weird looking, a tad amusing, strange clothes, DA moves, lovely soul-ish voice. Fun video to watch, he came off as a human being (albeit an odd human being) rather than his eccentric plastic self. Like everyone else, I'm sitting here with the feeling of the world missing a helluva show, cause the tidbits featured in the film looked spectacular at times. So all in all, definitely worth seeing.

Law Abiding Citizen.

INCREDIBLE. It's so much more than a revenge or torture or law movie. And every next scene is just shocking because sometimes you see it coming, but it's not what you expected. It got a bit slow in the early middle, but totally made it up later.

Also, I adore the writing. It's so intellectually stimulating. I mean, there's snarky awesome dialogue, and then there's this.

Transformers 2. Terrible, boring dreck.

SenorSwanky wrote:Transformers 2. Terrible, boring dreck.

I went to see that with my brother, cousin, and cousin's girlfriend without having seen the first one. I can honestly say it was one of the worst films I've ever seen.

phantomphan1992 wrote:

SenorSwanky wrote:Transformers 2. Terrible, boring dreck.

I went to see that with my brother, cousin, and cousin's girlfriend without having seen the first one. I can honestly say it was one of the worst films I've ever seen.

I agree it was awful. I don't think I ever wanted a movie to end so badly.

Callie Daae wrote:

phantomphan1992 wrote:

SenorSwanky wrote:Transformers 2. Terrible, boring dreck.

I went to see that with my brother, cousin, and cousin's girlfriend without having seen the first one. I can honestly say it was one of the worst films I've ever seen.

I agree it was awful. I don't think I ever wanted a movie to end so badly.

Me either. The first one, while corny and over the top like any Michael Bay film (though particularly considering the hilarious voiceovers by Optimus Prime and the comic-book/sci-fi source material), was actually pretty entertaining. But this one was just pointless and badly done all around (except, I guess, the effects).

SenorSwanky wrote:

Callie Daae wrote:

phantomphan1992 wrote:

SenorSwanky wrote:Transformers 2. Terrible, boring dreck.

I went to see that with my brother, cousin, and cousin's girlfriend without having seen the first one. I can honestly say it was one of the worst films I've ever seen.

I agree it was awful. I don't think I ever wanted a movie to end so badly.

Me either. The first one, while corny and over the top like any Michael Bay film (though particularly considering the hilarious voiceovers by Optimus Prime and the comic-book/sci-fi source material), was actually pretty entertaining. But this one was just pointless and badly done all around (except, I guess, the effects).

Agreed all around. Going to see the second one, I didn't expect too much, other than the expected CGI porn that came out of the first film.

Late, but I watched it on the plane ride to Las Vegas, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I was disheartened. I'm losing faith in the screenwriters for this series. Deathly Hallows better be damn well epic or I'll trek my way over to London/hollywood and hunt those guys down.

Star Trek.
Not as good as I was led to believe.
That is all.

A Christmas Carol (2009 version)

To my big surprise, I loved it! Mostly because I was so fascinated by how they had combined the feeling of real film with that of animation. The result was so interesting to watch, I couldn't take my eyes of some of the figures and effects! Story is same ol', same ol' - either you like it or you don't.

And I didn't have the feeling of watching Jim Carrey at all. He was so transformed! I could recognize several of the others, if only in voice (Colin Firth and Gary Oldman in particular). But Carrey was... wow.

And the London flashes... Luuving it.