Movie Reviews (NO SPOILERS!)

[doctorthoss]

Hmmm....I've been fortunate to see a number of really good movies lately. "Prometheus" by Ridley Scott was fairly good. It wasn't perfect, but the acting/production values were flawless and the film positively reeked of ambition. It was nice to see a sci-fi movie that tried to be cerebral, didn't dumb down much for the general public and actually tried to address some really big questions. I wouldn't say that Scott succeeded in doing everything he sought to do, but I personally respect an ambitious failure than a successful "by-the-numbers" action flick.
"The Cabin in the Woods" was, like most of Whedon's stuff, brilliant. At least, it's brilliant for a campy horror movie. It's clever, the dialogue snaps and the twist toward the end is pretty neat.
I finally got to see "Quantum of Solace," and I really enjoyed it. I've been really, really impressed with the new Bond movies. Usually, when studios try to "reboot" an aged and tired franchise they just end up producing crap. But both "Casino Royale" and "Quantum" were top-notch films, easily the best Bond movies since Connery's days.
I also saw "The Raven," which was nowhere near as impressive as I'd hoped. It wasn't terrible, but there was so much they could have done with this film but didn't.

 

[bentmike]

Just got back from taking the family to see The Hobbit. It's great. Had to come right home and smoke a pipe, No not a Gandalf pipe! :D
The movie doesn't follow the storyline of the book closely but I think that kind of makes it fun and interesting. Highly recommended for you LOTR fans.

 

[keith929]

I saw Skyfall last week at the senior matinee. It is a great reboot of the Bond series. Daniel Craig is my new favorite Bond, after Sean Connery of course.

 

[rondyr]

Still haven't seen Skyfall, but I must. I'm a huge James Bond nerd.
I want to see The Hobbit, but so far I've heard pretty much nothing but negative reviews about it; BentMike is literally the first person that I have heard or seen give it a thumbs up. Anyone else see it yet?

 

[05venturer]

I would highly recommend "Flight" with Denzel Washington, great movie and not at all what I expected. :clap:

 

[madmurdoc]

If you haven't seen Lucky Number Slevin, I definitely recommend it. Justin Hartnett, Lucy Liu, Morgan Freemen, Sir Ben Kingsley, and Bruce Willis.

 

[rondyr]

I'm loving Netflix because for about $8 a month I get to see a ton of movies that I probably never would have even heard of without it. A lot of them are just godawful, but some are actually really good. Session 9 is a really good psychological horror film with some of the worst acting known to man, thanks to the sometimes good but often horrible overacting David Caruso. Overacting aside, it's really worth a watch. Death of a Ghost Hunter is another low budget horror movie that is actually pretty good. The Innkeepers is, again, low budget but really good.
MadMurdoc +1 - Lucky Number Slevin was hysterical. I loved it.
If you haven't seen the Hatfields and McCoys miniseries/movie that was on History Channel (starring Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton) YOU SHOULD. It was awesome, and is now available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
Some of the better (or terrible) movies I've watched this year: The above mentioned Netflix flicks, and...

Sand Sharks - unbelievably terrible horror/comedy. A straight rip-off of Jaws in an intentional way, about sharks that live and swim in sand. It's so godawful that it is fun to watch. If you love terrible B-movies (though this one isn't even B, it's more like a D-movie) you should watch this one.

Get The Gringo - Mel Gibson back at it, and it's pretty good IMHO.

Ironclad - a Knight Templar and his misfit crew defend Rochester Castle from King John, and it's really good. Has Paul Giamatti as King John, Brian Cox, and the uber-hawt Kate Mara. I got to meet her while working on the House of Cards show that is being filmed in Maryland for Netflix, and I didn't stop drooling for three days.

Insidious - horror film that starts off so strong, and is so good for the first half... but the final act is a bit of a let-down. Still, it's more than worth a watch.

Apartment 143 - another paranormal investigator horror film, still pretty good.

Black Death - starring Sean "I'm Boromir" Bean, it's about a Knight sent by the Church to investigate a small village where a woman is able to raise the dead during the first Bubonic Plague. I loved it.

The Fighter - Mark Walberg stars as boxer Mikey Ward with Christian Bale as his crack-addicted brother Dickie. Fantastic movie.

Dylan Dog - it's about a paranormal investigator that kinda works for Vampires and Werewolves and Zombies...and it's totally crazy in a good way. I really enjoyed it.

Blood Creek - I loved this film. Just give it a watch.
And one of my favorites, Red Cliff. Based on the historical yet romantizied battle between Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan during China's Three Kingdoms period. It's in Chinese, so you'll have to do a lot of subtitle reading.

 

[madmurdoc]

And one of my favorites, Red Cliff. Based on the historical yet romantizied battle between Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan during China's Three Kingdoms period. It's in Chinese, so you'll have to do a lot of subtitle reading.

+1 Hells bells!
Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon, about Zhao Zilongs career in the army of Liu Bei.
The Watchmen is a really good movie also, based off the comic book. About the lives of former costumed heroes and the threat of nuclear war between America and the Soviet Union. Takes place in 1986.

 

[ssjones]

I saw "Skyfall" a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't overly impressed. Too much CGI but plenty of action if that is your thing.

Two gripes:

- 143 minutes long. WAAAAY to long for this kid to sit in a movie theater. And I was in a "dinner theatre" with a reclining leather lounge chair. (it seemed longer than that!)

- why do movies insist on teaching us a life lesson. (old things are still good). Yes, we get it, stop beating us over the head with a message, I was want to be entertained by the story.
I'm looking forward to Django and love Tarantino movies. I see this is 165 minutes long, perhaps I'll wait for Netflix...

 

[pipeinhand]

Here is one. Our friends wanted to see Anna Karenina last night so we went.
WORST MOVIE EVER!

 

[05venturer]

I'm loving Netflix because for about $8 a month I get to see a ton of movies that I probably never would have even heard of without it.

+1

100% agree rondyr

 

[madmurdoc]

Manchurian Candidate. Nuff said.

 

[zanthal]

I finally watched the newest Batman, The Dark Knight Rises
I found it to be quite intense, and the action scenes were great. Anne Hathaway sure made a better cat woman than Halle Berry, saying just that doesn't quite do the difference in performances justice.
The Expendables 2 ... awesome. If you like action movies, this is like the alumni hall of fame of action movies.
If you want to watch something that will creep you out, watch the unrated version of The Wolfman. Surprise guest appearance from Elrond aka Agent Smith, and a better werewolf movie than American Werewolf in London AND Wolf (Jack Nicholson) if you ask me.
If you want a life after death experience, watch Hereafter. The first person to "die" in the movie, does so as a result of the 2004 tsunami, that's the only spoiler you'll get from me. It's a good film.
Ah and rondyr, if you can appreciate a chinese movie in subtitles ... try Jackie Chan's "The Myth". This one slipped under my radar (I'm a pretty big Jackie Chan fan) for years, and it's probably one of his best if you ask me.
I might not have bothered watching The Dark Knight Rises if I hadn't watched this video of Pee Wee Herman dubbing the voices of it's movie trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdb2w1Yu97E

 

[grafikchaos]

If anybody is wondering about the first Expendables movie; awesome action sequences, terrible dialogue. I'm still on the fence about seeing the second film for this reason.
Blood Creek was a pretty good horror romp. Michael Fassbender is awesome, and has way to small a part in this film.
The Devil's Rock was decent. Very dark and gory.