Movies you've seen recently (possible spoilers!)

Lincoln. Pretty schmaltzy, as I expected, but Daniel Day-Lewis is about as phenomenal as you'd expect, and the supporting cast are all very good, particularly Tommy Lee Jones. And the way they filmed his assassination (no spoilers on how exactly they did) and the closing of the film made me tear up. It's definitely the kind of movie, while simplistic in a way, that makes you feel good about our ability to meet challenges as a country. A good movie for our time.

Saw Take This Waltz and Safety Not Guaranteed the last two nights. Both excellently made, quirky movies with great performances and scripts, rare finds on Redbox these days. Also, Aubrey Plaza and Michelle Williams are so delicious.

Flight. Really good performance by Denzel, and solid movie overall.

SenorSwanky wrote:Flight. Really good performance by Denzel, and solid movie overall.

I saw Flight a couple weeks ago..Denzel is totally badass. If you get the chance, check out Lincoln! Great performances by Daniel Day Lewis and Tommy Lee Jones. Im sure Daniel will get a nom for best actor.

purplehaze93 wrote:

SenorSwanky wrote:Flight. Really good performance by Denzel, and solid movie overall.

I saw Flight a couple weeks ago..Denzel is totally badass. If you get the chance, check out Lincoln! Great performances by Daniel Day Lewis and Tommy Lee Jones. Im sure Daniel will get a nom for best actor.

Posted my review of that at the top of the page. Saw it opening weekend.

Just watched Bernie. Decent movie. Quirky like most things Richard Linklater does. As entertaining as Jack Black is, Matthew McConaughey was even better, and the best thing was all the character actors they found to populate the town. Very realistic mockumentary-style film.

SenorSwanky wrote: It's definitely the kind of movie, while simplistic in a way, that makes you feel good about our ability to meet challenges as a country. A good movie for our time.

I really agree with that. This movie doesn't try to be anything too stylistic, or revolutionary..all it did was (with phenomenal actors), tell a realistic story of a real man, with real issues and a lot on his plate. Spielberg really outdid himself here.

I'll slightly disagree with that. It was very stylistic visually, very Rockwellian--beautiful cinematography. And it took a few liberties with reality. But great script, and it really humanized Lincoln, at the same time as it still treated him as an icon.

By stylistic, i meant something along the lines of making Lincoln more than he was, or possibly making the storyline to "intricate"..if that makes sense? But i totally agree with the wonderful cinematography, really captures the essence of the time period.

Argo. As I noted in the Les Mis thread, best film I've seen since The Insider in 1999 (which faced a tough year against American Beauty (as did its star, Russell Crowe, against Kevin Spacey--his win for Gladiator was clearly a makeup)). Ben Affleck is a master. #BestPicture #BestDirector

Posted a lengthy review of Les Mis in that thread. Generally was not very happy, but might like it better when I see it again.

I also saw Silver Linings Playbook a couple weekends ago. Really enjoyable film with lots of good performances, particularly from Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, and Robert DeNiro.

Django Unchained. Amazing. I've never been a big Tarantino fan (hated Pulp Fiction), but this was so well done in every way.

Trouble with the Curve. Bleh. Had a few moments, but really wasted good talent (Eastwood, Amy Adams, John Goodman) with bad writing, shoddy pacing, and bad direction. And as a baseball fan, it was disappointing in how little it understood how the business works.

Arbitrage. A pretty solid film that really starts to seep into you as it progresses. A lot of people are talking about Richard Gere's performance, and he was good, but I was actually most impressed by Tim Roth in his small role and Susan Sarandon in the few scenes she was in.

The Watch. Meh. Had some funny moments, but it was otherwise pretty terrible. A waste of good comedic acting talent.

Zero Dark Thirty. Argo is still my pick for Best Film, but this was quite good as well. It felt very real.

Hitchcock. I'd heard mediocre reviews, but I thought it was pretty good. Excellent job by Anthony Hopkins and really all the cast.

Looper. Great concept, and pretty well executed. Dragged a bit here and there, so I could have done with quicker pacing, but a solid modern sci-fi film with a good ensemble cast, particularly Joseph Gordon Levitt, Emily Blunt, and Jeff Daniels.

Had a little horror movie fest recently:

Warm Bodies - I liked it. Interesting concept. However, some aspects of the film kind of threw me off.

Spoiler:

The girl that plays the lead looks an awful lot like Kristen Stewart. Only she's a much better actress.
Frankenweenie - Cute. Got a little teary eyed in some portions. Movies with dogs slay me. The moral of the story was adorable.
ParaNorman - Like Frankenweenie, it was cute. The moral of the story was a bit sadder and a bit more adult at times.
Hotel Transylvania - Like the above two, cute with a moral. However, the story lacked in certain spots. You can tell it's setting up for a sequel.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Possibly the most absurd, insulting movie I've ever seen.

Quartet. The second or third best movie of 2012 that I saw, after Argo and possibly Django. A little better than Silver Linings, and a lot better than Zero Dark or Lincoln or Les Mis or Flight.

Side Effects. Pretty solid. Rooney Mara was very good. I can't imagine this really being Soderbergh's final film. I sure hope not.

42. Really corny and over-the-top, but there's a stretch where it gets pretty good, once Robinson reaches the majors.

SenorSwanky wrote:42. Really corny and over-the-top, but there's a stretch where it gets pretty good, once Robinson reaches the majors.

It's a broad-strokes feel-good movie, but mostly in the right way. The parts with Alan Tudyk as the Phillies manager were particularly well done, I thought.

~LCD

Yeah, that was my favorite part too. It was definitely a throwback film in no way intended to be nuanced.

Dracula, Entre l`amour et la mort. Terrible costumes, very sparse sets, and Dracula was a joke, but singing was not bad, the melodrama had it´s moments, I liked the song Mina, and it worked better at stage than as some ghastly dystopia movie. 3,/5, perhaps.