Movies you've seen recently (possible spoilers!)

I saw "The girl who played with fire" yesterday. The second film in the Millennium trilogy. It was quite good, followed the book well. Lot's of blood and violence though (no wonder since it followed the book well). The violence and fighting scenes kinda reminds me of Kill Bill.

operafantomet wrote: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.

I just saw this today and enjoyed it as well. With material as oft-done as this it all comes down to interpretation, and I liked the way they emphasized the surreal, dream-like aspects of the story (Carrey playing all the ghosts makes sense from this standpoint; it can easily be argued that the spirits are aspects of Scrooge's psyche). Loved that Yet to Come appeared as Scrooge's shadow, and yay for putting Ignorance and Want in! The animation was generally good, especially the "camerawork" (I loved the opening pan through London) but some of the minor characters still looked too Uncanny Valley-ish. The hearse chase too way too long and was entirely pointless--it basically exists just to show off the 3D technology (which I didn't see--not a big fan of that trend). But generally, a worthy version of the holiday classic.

~LCD

Finally saw Valkyrie on DVD tonight. I had seen a documentary about the assassination/coup attempt against Hitler a few years ago...probably on The History Channel so the subject matter of the film was the main attraction for me...I've never particularly liked Tom Cruise, especially since Interview With A Vampire.

In general, the movie was good. Not brilliant...for some reason, I kept feeling that the cinematography just didn't actually do anything to advance the narrative...especially since the plot was a lot more effective if you didn't know history and the result of the conspiracy. Strong supporting cast, though.

As for Cruise...he was about as interesting as a sandwich made of a box of instant artificially flavored vanilla pudding glopped on Wonder Bread.

Saw Fantastic Mr. Fox with a couple geeky friends on Friday. It was amazing. Charming, beautiful, engaging, witty - go see it. The fact that it's old school stop motion animation (albeit with super detailed anthromorphic furry puppets) makes it all the more awesome. If you're anything like me and grew up on Roald Dahl, I'm 99.9% sure you'll enjoy the heck out of it. Way better than that silly 'vampire' flick that's in cinemas these days, too.

~Madame~

I saw New Moon last week. Much better than Twilight. I'm not a crazy Twilight fan, but I have read all the books. New Moon was good at staying true to the book and didn't change much. I personally perfer the Harry Potter series.

Callie Daae wrote:I saw New Moon last week. Much better than Twilight. I'm not a crazy Twilight fan, but I have read all the books. New Moon was good at staying true to the book and didn't change much. I personally perfer the Harry Potter series.

And there was less Rob and more Taylor. That's always a major plus.

phantomphan1992 wrote:

Callie Daae wrote:I saw New Moon last week. Much better than Twilight. I'm not a crazy Twilight fan, but I have read all the books. New Moon was good at staying true to the book and didn't change much. I personally perfer the Harry Potter series.

And there was less Rob and more Taylor. That's always a major plus.

lol! Yes, that too. Taylor is definitely hotter.

Callie Daae wrote:

phantomphan1992 wrote:

Callie Daae wrote:I saw New Moon last week. Much better than Twilight. I'm not a crazy Twilight fan, but I have read all the books. New Moon was good at staying true to the book and didn't change much. I personally perfer the Harry Potter series.

And there was less Rob and more Taylor. That's always a major plus.

lol! Yes, that too. Taylor is definitely hotter.

That, and Rob's acting severely disappointed me. I defended casting him in the role until I saw the first movie. But when I saw New Moon, I was surprised by how good Taylor was. I've never been a big Team Jacob person (although I've never hated him), but I did not want Edward to come back.

phantomphan1992 wrote:

Callie Daae wrote:

phantomphan1992 wrote:

Callie Daae wrote:I saw New Moon last week. Much better than Twilight. I'm not a crazy Twilight fan, but I have read all the books. New Moon was good at staying true to the book and didn't change much. I personally perfer the Harry Potter series.

And there was less Rob and more Taylor. That's always a major plus.

lol! Yes, that too. Taylor is definitely hotter.

That, and Rob's acting severely disappointed me. I defended casting him in the role until I saw the first movie. But when I saw New Moon, I was surprised by how good Taylor was. I've never been a big Team Jacob person (although I've never hated him), but I did not want Edward to come back.

Ya I agree. I always thought Rob looked the part but didn't act it. No personality. I saw an improvement in Kristen's acting. She acted boring and awkward (like she does in actual life lol) in Twilight. But in New Moon I think her acting was slightly better.

Callie Daae wrote:Ya I agree. I always thought Rob looked the part but didn't act it. No personality. I saw an improvement in Kristen's acting. She acted boring and awkward (like she does in actual life lol) in Twilight. But in New Moon I think her acting was slightly better.

I honestly didn't pay that much attention to Kristen in New Moon. Just Taylor. Oh, and Peter Facinelli.

Callie Daae wrote:

phantomphan1992 wrote:

Callie Daae wrote:I saw New Moon last week. Much better than Twilight. I'm not a crazy Twilight fan, but I have read all the books. New Moon was good at staying true to the book and didn't change much. I personally perfer the Harry Potter series.

And there was less Rob and more Taylor. That's always a major plus.

lol! Yes, that too. Taylor is definitely hotter.

I saw it in a theater filled with a bunch of high school brats who kept yelling out pro-Taylor/anti-Rob things, including in the final scene, which really ruined the moment.

I have mixed feelings about the film itself. I hated Twilight when I first saw it; it was probably the worst movie I've ever seen. But it's grown on me a bit, and I was actually looking forward to New Moon. It had its moments, but it was uneven in pretty much every department, particularly the mood and pacing.

SenorSwanky wrote:

Callie Daae wrote:

phantomphan1992 wrote:

Callie Daae wrote:I saw New Moon last week. Much better than Twilight. I'm not a crazy Twilight fan, but I have read all the books. New Moon was good at staying true to the book and didn't change much. I personally perfer the Harry Potter series.

And there was less Rob and more Taylor. That's always a major plus.

lol! Yes, that too. Taylor is definitely hotter.

I saw it in a theater filled with a bunch of high school brats who kept yelling out pro-Taylor/anti-Rob things, including in the final scene, which really ruined the moment.

I have mixed feelings about the film itself. I hated Twilight when I first saw it; it was probably the worst movie I've ever seen. But it's grown on me a bit, and I was actually looking forward to New Moon. It had its moments, but it was uneven in pretty much every department, particularly the mood and pacing.

Ya, I think in both Twilight and New Moon the pacing is a bit slow. Not the most exciting movies I've seen, but I still thought they were good.

Star Trek. Excellent continuation/reboot (it's not really either, but both). Excellent casting, cinematography, effects (much of it, thankfully, practical rather than CG). A little confusing plot-wise (but the idea of time travel is always a little maddening and mind-bending), but it's a movie that can be appreciated by both Trekkies and newbies, because it both lays out a deeper origin for the characters and starts fresh as well as delves healthily into the existing mythology and gives plenty of nerdy winks to the longtime fans. I was Spock for Halloween when I was 6, I believe, and I sort of got into the original show around that time, but it was a passing phase, so I knew who the characters were, but appreciated that the filmmakers didn't require you to be immersed in the history of the shows and movies to understand it.

I actually enjoyed the Star Trek movie despite hating the television series...

I enjoyed Star Trek as well, and I went in knowing nothing about the series. In fact it was only a few years ago that I was informed that Star Trek and Star Wars were two very different things *ducks tomatoes* So my biggest concern was that I would be completely lost watching it, but even knowing nothing about it, I was able to follow everything and enjoy it. Obviously I didn't enjoy it on the same level as the more die-hard fans, but that's okay.

Tried watching Up last night, and was loving it, but the DVD was stuttering repeatedly and increasingly worse, to the point of being unwatchable, so I'll have to get another copy and try again. Can't people respect other people's property (I have this problem at my job too)? How hard is it to just take a DVD out of a case, watch it, and then just put it back as you got it? I swear the value of leaving things as you found them is no longer taught.

SenorSwanky wrote:Tried watching Up last night, and was loving it, but the DVD was stuttering repeatedly and increasingly worse, to the point of being unwatchable, so I'll have to get another copy and try again.

Ooooh, I saw "Up" in Copenhagen, and simply LOVED it! So wonderful to see a movie not underrating children when it comes to serious issues (but without getting all sentimental). Beautiful little thing. I hope you get to see it in full!

Luckily, I got two promo codes for one night's free rental (since I had it out 2 nights) from Redbox. It's no wonder, between that and Netflix, why Blockbuster is a ghost town these days and is in serious jeopardy of bankruptcy. So convenient and so cheap.

SenorSwanky wrote:Luckily, I got two promo codes for one night's free rental (since I had it out 2 nights) from Redbox. It's no wonder, between that and Netflix, why Blockbuster is a ghost town these days and is in serious jeopardy of bankruptcy. So convenient and so cheap.

Blockbuster moved out of my area a couple of years ago except for one store...which didn't survive long. The remaining one closed within a year. Hollywood Video came in after Blockbuster, but they're down to one store now.

We used Redbox for a while...there's one right around the corner from my house...but we've had a lot of problems with them. We had about four movies out and, when we went to return them, the box was out-of-order...the next nearest box was very far away, but we went there and that one was down, too. We had to return the movies two days late and, when we called the company to ask that they credit us the charges for the two days, they refused and said it was our responsibility to find a working box. I wouldn't have cared if it was one movie and one day extra, but this was a bit much...and they were rude as h€ll.

SenorSwanky wrote:Tried watching Up last night, and was loving it, but the DVD was stuttering repeatedly and increasingly worse, to the point of being unwatchable, so I'll have to get another copy and try again. Can't people respect other people's property (I have this problem at my job too)? How hard is it to just take a DVD out of a case, watch it, and then just put it back as you got it? I swear the value of leaving things as you found them is no longer taught.

Alas, this is the problem with rental DVDs (one I see regularly at the library): lots of natural wear and tear compounded with the occasional careless user. Unfortunate, but inevitable when an item changes hands over a hundred times in the course of a year.

Just checked out Rent: Live On Broadway. Excellent recording of the stage production--you could tell the cast was really keyed up with the energy and emotion of their final performance.

~LCD

Up just came out a few weeks ago; you wouldn't think it would be bad yet.

I also encountered a full Redbox yesterday when I went to return Up and Star Trek, but luckily there's another about 10 minutes further out of my way, so it was annoying but not too inconvenient.

Saw The Men Who Stare at Goats last night...

Yeah. Had its funny moments with an all-star cast, but overall it was perhaps a little slow. The trailer was drop dead hilarious, though. Just watch it to get all the funny parts in one spot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SreufFevUSw

The Proposal. I was surprised to like it so much. Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds were both excellent, Bullock in an atypical, uptight Type-A role, as opposed to the awkward klutzes she often plays. My one complaint is that you never really got the sense that the characters were falling in love, even though the plot points were telling you they were.

Brothers. It's a shame the first half to two-thirds of the film is so uneven and emotionally empty and lacking in character development and chemistry, thanks to poor direction and a clunky script, because Tobey Maguire gives the performance of a lifetime, a completely chilling immersion into a character we've never seen him play before, and Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman aren't half bad either.

GI Joe. And I thought Transformers 2 was bad. This makes Street Fighters look like a masterpiece.

The Princess and the Frog. Disney goes back to what they do best--gorgeous cel animation, endearing characters, and a good mix of fairytale romance and comedy. Randy Newman's songs are a nice summary of New Orleans music (although only the villain's song is particularly memorable). A little slow getting started and wrapping up, but not bad. If it's not quite Beauty and the Beast, it's certainly no Home on the Range either.

~LCD

Finally watched Billy Bathgate which I've meant to see for a while, mainly because parts of it were filmed locally (around Saratoga Springs). Otherwise, it's not my type of movie, but I did have an amusing moment where I startled my partner-in-crime when I realized why one actor looked familiar. My reaction was something like, "OMG-THAT'S-TIM-JEROME-I-SAW-HIM-IN-PHANTOM!!!"

Paula74 wrote:Finally watched Billy Bathgate which I've meant to see for a while, mainly because parts of it were filmed locally (around Saratoga Springs). Otherwise, it's not my type of movie, but I did have an amusing moment where I startled my partner-in-crime when I realized why one actor looked familiar. My reaction was something like, "OMG-THAT'S-TIM-JEROME-I-SAW-HIM-IN-PHANTOM!!!"

One of the best Firmins ever.

Public Enemies. Not up to Michael Mann's usual standards. It's mildly entertaining, but I really don't see the point in making this. There's nothing that really stands out as a reason to recommend it. No performance or set piece or scene or bit of dialogue or theme. The plot is a bit unclear and the characters blank, not fleshed out, unreal, unsympathetic (even in the hands of Depp and Bale, et al). It's not bad, but it's not really all that good. It's just there.

Funny People. Judd Apatow grows up, and Adam Sandler gives a really underrated performance among a fantastic ensemble cast. If you loved 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, you'll love this, but don't expect many uproarious laughs. It's the most true-to-life of Apatow's films yet, and it has little of the potty humor of his previous films, which is not a bad thing. It's funny, it's depressing, and yet it's uplifting.

Not exactly a movie, but DH and I saw Rifftrax Live: Christmas Short-stravaganza a couple nights ago. More funny stuff from the former MST3K crew as they take apart a series of holiday-related (and in many cases, nightmare-inducing) short films. Guest star Weird Al Yankovic was sadly underused, though.

~LCD