DVD Rental Day (2004 - 2010)

[RobertR]

I also rented The Visitor recently and liked it a lot. It's a little slight story-wise, but the performances, especially Richard Jenkins's, carry the film over any rough patch.

 

At the other end of the spectrum, I rented The Incredible Hulk. I don't quite think they have this comic book character figured out yet. I kept checking out when it went all cgi as they really haven't done much to make me care what happens at that point other than seeing some special effects. Gollum is a much more effective cgi creature. I didn't regret renting it, but all in all I found it pretty forgettable and I won't be revisiting it.

 

Non-dvd related, I saw a preview of Doubt over the weekend. I liked it, with slight reservations, and I think people who didn't see the play will likely get more out of it. At the very least, I can say it's intelligent, well acted, and beautifully filmed, although I think the directing is heavy handed and the film version lacks the ambiguity of the play.

 

Robert

[brettac1]

I just watched Gran Torino... wow.

[Team Canada]

Without saying too much, the ending redeemed the movie somewhat for me. As I'd seen mentioned elsewhere, the novice Hmong actors are positively painful, and Eastwood's growls in the beginning are almost laugh out loud funny.

[brettac1]

Yeah, he does sort of play Clint Eastwood being Clint Eastwood, but that is the usual with him. I didn't think the novice actors were that bad, and I like the idea of casting more with an eye toward authenticity like that. And I loved the ending.

[homer]

I just watched a foreign film called Paradise Now. It's about two Palestinian friends who are chosen to go on a suicide bombing mission in Israel. It covers the night before they leave when they get to spend time with their families but can't reveal their plans. Kind of hard to tell people goodbye in that situation. Ultiamtely they go off on thier mission but run into problems along the way.

 

It's a pretty even handed look at the conflict over there (well, even handed look at violence vs. non violence anyway) and a well made movie to boot. Good rental.

[GAME05]

Son of Rambow

 

You must watch this. Absolutely delightful.

the then-girlfriend saw this and wanted to watch it. I add "Well, since you've never seen First Blood, we'll of course have to watch that first so you can understand this one." Yeah, she didn't go for it. but for what it's worth, you don't need to see Rambo to understand this. And yeah, it's delightful.

[Katuluu]

Don't rent a movie this weekend, go watch Adventureland instead. Trust me on this, it is really really good.

[RobertR]

A couple of DVD rentals.

 

Vicky Christina Bacelona - Woody Allen's latest. It's slight, but I liked it quite a bit. Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz especially. It's also very nicely shot. There's a slight parable about trying to navigate between relationships totally based on passion vs. ones totally based on practicality and the pitfalls of both. Certainly not up to Woody's classics, but worth seeing, IMO.

 

Rachel Getting Married - Jonathan Demme's best in a long time. Choosing to go with a hand held, you are there, approach I think gave the movie an additional level of intimacy and immediateness that I think the material needs. Anne Hathaway is excellent, but the supporting cast more than holds their own as well. The wedding and after party is fresh and surprising and I think really captures the feeling of an actual wedding and a too long after party.

 

I might go more in depth elsewhere, but a few movies I've seen at preview screenings, and will likely mostly be seen as rentals later.

 

The Great Buck Howard - John Malkovich is great. The rest is a by the numbers movie with no great insight or surprise. Emily Blunt is wasted. Colin Hanks has none of his father's energy at that age.

 

The Pope's Toilet - Pretty solid, neo-realist story of a low tech smuggler of consumer goods trying to run a scheme to take advantage of the Pope's visit to South America in the '80s. Directed by the cinematographer of City of God and it is well shot. Nothing really weighty or inspired, but a solid movie with drama and humor.

 

Lemon Tree - Really terrific Israeli movie that looks at the Palestinean/Israeli conflict, this one involving property rights, law, and security, in microcosm and doesn't come up with easy answers. Fences and walls play a prominent part in the story. Hiam Abbass, who had a prominent role in The Visitor, takes the lead as a Palestinean widow and is really terrific. There's a feminist undercurrent running through the film as well as she, and her Israeli neighbor, both run into conflict with the local patriarchies. I won't spoil too much, but it's one of the best movies I've seen so far this year.

 

Paris 36 - I was very unimpressed and felt like my 2 hours were wasted. There are good parts here, Nora Arnezezeder is quite good and the film has a very polished look to it, but ultimately it fails to have much of a point, it meanders from plot point to plot point without gathering any momentum, and there's no grit or darkness to offset the artifice of the movie so there's never any sense of danger or surprise. It's Amelie without characters you care about. It's Tim Burton without any sense of darkness. It tries to be a serious period drama and a Hollywood musical homage at once, and fails at both.

 

Robert

[homer]

[REC]

 

Don't know if anyone's commented on this film yet, but I just watched it tonight and thought it was really, really good. It's a Spanish horror flick about a TV crew following a team of firemen out to a house call of a woman shrieking in her apartment. If the plot sounds familiar, the American movie Quarantine was a remake. I've never seen Quarantine, but [REC] was top notch horror, IMO. It's shot via POV so the whole thing has a Blair Witch feel to it. I thought this was a tired genre but they do some creative things with lighting and sound to heighten the scare factor. Obviously you have to suspend your disbelief that the cameraman is shooting something horrific when he should be running for his life but for the most part they do a good job keeping within the realm of "well I suppose that could happen".

 

The final 20 minutes are some of the most intense and well shot horror scenes I've watched in quite some time.

[craig712]

If you are up for some crude Mike Judge humor, check out Idiocracy! I don't know if it would make a good date movie, it's probably not good for the kids either, but if you're in the mood for stupid humor give it a whirl.

 

If you want a good cheesy horror movie watch Jack Brooks Monster Slayer. Classic cheese horror. Robert Englund, full costumed monsters, no CG, and a sarcastic angry Hero!

[RyDogg66]

I saw Revolutionary Road last weekend, and here I sit in my office 9 days later still hung up on it. Both the film (which was excellent) and the acting (which was second to none for 2008). I simply cannot get over the film and Kate Winslet absolutely blew me away on screen. I have yet to see The Reader (but I plan on renting it this weekend) but I cannot believe her performance in that film (for which she won best Actress at the Oscars) will be better than that in Rev Road (for which she won best actress at the Golden Globes). Dicaprio was fantastic as well and Sam Mendes did an absolutely wonderful job directing.

[FVBrewerFan]

Watched Glengarry Glen Ross a few days ago. I really liked this movie. Completely dialogue driven, but it kept my attention the entire time. Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Al Pacino, Kevin Spacey, and a 7 minute monologue by Alec Baldwin were all top-notch, and in Baldwin's case, legendary.

On my list to see once a year or so.

[RobertR]

Been awhile. So, backing up.

 

La Strada

 

I finally got around to this Fellini masterpiece. One of the most accessible things he ever did. Moving. Entertaining. Brilliantly shot. Great acting. It's an essential link between Italian Neo-Realism and Fellini's more avant garde works. Essential viewing.

 

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

 

The original version. It's very much a 70s film and perhaps why a remake wasn't a totally bad idea, but I don't see what you could really translate beyond the general idea. Very New York. Robert Shaw is, of course, a terrific villain. Walter Matthau also makes a good foil and the last shot of the film is priceless. Perhaps not an unimpeachable masterpiece, but a good solid film that's aged fairly well.

 

He's Just Not That Into You

 

Sometimes when being married you make compromises. This was one. Even setting my standards low, this doesn't have much going for it. Maybe a nice little monologue by Drew Barrymore about the various ways technology complicates communications these days being the only saving grace. By the book, little insight, little laughs.

 

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

 

Now this was a much better comedy. I'm starting to think that Mila Kunis has a real chance of breaking out into the movies because she positively glows in this movie. She seems to have that undefinable "it" factor that translates to the big screen. Russell Brand is also endlessly entertaining. Jason Segel is also very good, although his character starts as more pathetic and unrelatable than he should be, but stuff like that puppet Dracula musical really elevates the film and makes it much less generic than it could have been. I sense that there's potential for a great comic musical for Segel.

 

L'Avventura

Finally got around to this classic. Although it's not one to get the blood pumping, I think it's status is deserved. There's some brillaint photography in there, especially with these self centered, uncaring people set before some utterly fantastic vistas of nature and architecture. They might not feel anything through their ennui, but I did.

 

Hammer Films Classics

 

I've been working 3rd shift lately. On my off nights, I've been running a sort of midnight movies marathon. Right now I'm burning through Hammer Films. The Mummy, The Curse of the Werewolf, and The Curse of Frankenstein to start.

 

The Mummy holds up surprisingly well. It's definitely a remake of the Universal movies, and isn't as good as Karloff's IMO, but it's handsomely photographed, moves at a good pace, Christopher Lee is an imposing and raging mummy, Cushing is good, and it has a Hound of the Baskervilles type atmosphere going on. The reds and greens really pop out of this film. There's a fine conceit in the middle of the movie, Cushing is holed up in his study full well knowing that there's an undead creature out there that means to kill him and it's unlikely he can do much about it.

 

The Curse of the Werewolf seems like it has more artful ambitions than most of Hammer's output. It really plays like more of a fairy tale. It's bogged down some by over 30 minutes of backstory and Oliver Reed doesn't show up until 45 minutes into a 90 minute movie. The werewolf itself doesn't appear until the last half hour. It's a good film overall, but is a bit short in B-movie thrills.

 

The Curse of Frankenstein was an instant classic and still stands up well. Cushing is a great cad as Frankenstein. Christopher Lee doesn't have much to do, certainly Karloff had much more to work with, but there's a fine unveiling of the monster and Lee's movements are just offkilter enough to create a pathetic yet menacing monster. The film is efficiently directed with a wonderful pace, some gore and shocks, heaving bosoms, and set design that looks great on a limited budget. I don't think the script knows quite what to do with the so called hero of the piece, but it's a minor complaint in a fun little picture.

 

Robert

[homer]

The Orphanage

This is a Spanish language horror film from 2007. It's about a couple and their son that move into an old orphanage (the woman was raised there) with the intent of using it as a home for special needs kids. Once settled, their son starts to exhibit some strange behavior and making "imaginary" friends. Let me tell ya, it gets creepy.

 

It's really well done and delves deeply into themes about overcoming loss - much more texture than your average slasher flick. Thumbs up.

 

JCVD

This was Jean Claude Van Damme's most soul bearing performance since, well, ever. Who knew the guy could actually act? Reminds me of Rourke in The Wrestler although not quite as polished a performance. It's JCVD playing himself and he gets caught up in a bank heist in his native Belgium. The plot itself is pretty much your standard bank heist, hostage flick but the direction is creative and there's a bit of black comedy. For the most part, though, its about what Van Damme has had to endure during his time as a celebrity. He talks about his drug use, the crappy movies, the silly image, his wives, his family....etc. He makes no apologies and is very candid about the fact that he chose the life he led. I ended up feeling really sorry for the guy but there's a teeny little piece of me that thinks it was a put on to curry favor.

 

The ironic thing is tyhat despite this being his best reviewed film and performance of all time his only upcoming roles are B grade action flicks (per IMDB) - the very typecasting he rails against in the movie.

[Katuluu]

Robert, did you ever get around to watching Horror Express for your Halloween marathon?

[RobertR]

Oh yeah, I did Horror Express for Halloween, after Horror of Dracula and The Devil Rides Out. Horror Express became our de facto Midnight movie and was perfectly suited for that purpose. Lots of fun had.

 

Robert

[DuWayne Steurer]

Three recent releases here.....

 

UP - 7/10.

I was excited to see this movie, and I really, really wanted to be blown away, but the Russel kid was just not a character I liked. I get that he was supposed to be the annoying kid that kinda grows on you, but he never grew on me. I did like the movie, but it felt rushed, it felt like the story just jumped ahead in a few spots, rather than having a steady progression. Not one of Disney/Pixars worst efforts, but not one of their best, at least from my viewpoint.

 

Star Trek - 9/10

This might rank up there with Serenity as far as being one of my favorite sci-fi flicks. Keep in mind, I've maybe seen a dozen episodes ever of all the star trek series, and like 3 or 4 of the movies. This never felt like I was watching Star Trek, and the setup for future films/tv shows not having to follow the original canon is fantastic, without getting away from the characters identities.

 

Land of the Lost - 4/10

This movie was awful. The only reason I was able to give it 4 points is that in the first half of the movie, there was a fair amount of laugh out loud moments. Yes, I find Will Ferrell's brand of humor funny. But it wasn't near enough to carry this craptastic mess that really wasn't anything like the original (campy/crappy) tv series.

[FVBrewerFan]

Land of the Lost - 4/10

This movie was awful. The only reason I was able to give it 4 points is that in the first half of the movie, there was a fair amount of laugh out loud moments. Yes, I find Will Ferrell's brand of humor funny. But it wasn't near enough to carry this craptastic mess that really wasn't anything like the original (campy/crappy) tv series.

Yea, I was warned it was awful, but rented it this weekend anyhow. Will Ferrell's "act" is starting to grow old for me, but i still think he's funny. Unfortunately, this movie was so bad I didn't even finish watching it. And that doesn't happen often. It was just put together in a really strange way. Obviously it was a comedy, yet they kept trying to make it seem "realistic" at times... just baddddd.

[homer]

Paranormal Activity

 

This is an indie horror flick done on the cheap. It gained lots of notoriety despite limited release due to its gorilla marketing and grass roots advertising. Many of you may have seen the promos on You Tube. Its about a young couple living in San Diego that are having issues with what is initially a pesky spirit of some sort. The guy is more intrigued than scared and wants to video tape or communicate with the spirit. As the movie progresses, his attempts to communicate only serve to make the entity more active and aggressive.....scary stuff ensues.

 

It's all shot Blair Witch "documentary" style so the footage is entirely the film shot by the guy trying to capture evidence of this "ghost". So there's the inevitable "Why would you still be holding the camera while this scary crap is happening?" situation or two but on the whole it's pretty well done. The directors do really well with some of the effects especially given the small budget they had to work with. The third act in particular has a simple sound effect which is uber creepy and offers a perfect lead in to the movie's climax. I recommend this as a rental - best viewed with boyfriend/girlfriend with the lights out.

[logan82]

Will Ferrell's "act" is starting to grow old for me, but i still think he's funny.

 

Will Ferrell is better regulated to a supporting role. I am not a big fan of most of the movies where he is the main character. I did like Stranger Than Fiction though.

[danzig6767]

Paranormal Activity

 

This is an indie horror flick done on the cheap. It gained lots of notoriety despite limited release due to its gorilla marketing and grass roots advertising. Many of you may have seen the promos on You Tube. Its about a young couple living in San Diego that are having issues with what is initially a pesky spirit of some sort. The guy is more intrigued than scared and wants to video tape or communicate with the spirit. As the movie progresses, his attempts to communicate only serve to make the entity more active and aggressive.....scary stuff ensues.

 

It's all shot Blair Witch "documentary" style so the footage is entirely the film shot by the guy trying to capture evidence of this "ghost". So there's the inevitable "Why would you still be holding the camera while this scary crap is happening?" situation or two but on the whole it's pretty well done. The directors do really well with some of the effects especially given the small budget they had to work with. The third act in particular has a simple sound effect which is uber creepy and offers a perfect lead in to the movie's climax. I recommend this as a rental - best viewed with boyfriend/girlfriend with the lights out.

I saw it in the theater and didn't understand the hype for the movie at all. I don't remember even once feeling scared or overly tense. Like you say it was pretty much trying to copy the Blair Witch format, but i found Blair Witch to be extremely entertaining when i first saw it, not so much with Paranormal Activity. I didn't think it sucked like most who i know who saw it, but i wouldn't exactly recommend it either.

[GAME05]

i get very creeped out by the "this could happen to you" type of horror flicks, so i may avoid Paranormal Activity, even though the movie really intrigues me. ghosts are scary!

 

I'm a fan of Ferrell's act, but I agree it's getting old. he's hit that popularity point where the movie itself revolves around his act and it's no longer his routine adding to the movie. to that, though, Winter Passing with him and Zooey Deschanel is excellent.

 

if you like quirky detective movies, I'll throw out my recommendation for Zero Effect. yet to find it in a video store, though. despite the presence of Ben Stiller, it's a light and charming movie.

[RobertR]

Let's see, since I last posted, I did a marathon of Hammer Films. Revenge of Frankenstein, Evil of Frankenstein, Frankenstein Created Woman, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell, Horror of Dracula, Brides of Dracula, Dracula, Prince of Darkness, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Taste the Blood of Dracula, Scars of Dracula, Dracula A.D. 1972, The Satanic Rites of Dracula, and Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires.

 

The ones that I'd call truly good are Revenge of Frankenstein, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, Horror of Dracula, and Brides of Dracula. Probably not a coincidence that all of them feature Peter Cushing.

 

The Satanic Rites of Dracula is a real piece of garbage. Most of the rest are at least watchable programmers, although the Frankenstein films tend to have interesting philosophical themes.

 

Also, X, the Unknown from Hammer which is a Quatermass knockoff. Not as good since it's obvious what's going on from the beginning while the Quatermass movies have interesting mysteries and themes, but a good piece of sci-fi horror nonetheless with an atmospheric scottish setting and one standout grisly special effect.

 

I also tossed in Son of Frankenstein. Very clearly the movie that Young Frankenstein is most based off of. Not as good as Whale's classics and quite a bit more setbound and claustrophobic, it's still fun. Lugosi steals the whole movie.

 

More contemporary, I watched Star Trek and Inglorious Basterds with my wife who hadn't seen them. I like the Star Trek reboot, although I think it skates by on the charm of the cast, fast pace, and good special effects as I think the villain is a bore and it has enormous plot coincidences. I liked Inglorious Basterds just as much the second time since I really could concentrate on the performances instead of trying to keep up with the plot and the whole cast is terrific.

 

Also watched Land of the Lost. Didn't like it much. Will Ferrell is much better when he's portraying an actual character instead of running around and yelling like an imbecile.

 

Robert

[DuWayne Steurer]

9

 

This was a cool movie, but it felt a bit rushed. They tried to jam a lot of story into about a 75 minute feature, and it really showed at time. The animation is fantastic, and it's a cool little story, I just felt like with 15 minutes more run time, it could have been a bit more. 7/10

 

Watchmen: Directors Cut:

 

Not much was added from the theatrical version. I'm still torn on this. Snyder did a great job with the translation, but some things just felt hollow. Kovac's monologue about the birth of his persona as Rorshach was absolutely EPIC in the novel. Maybe one of the coolest scenes/monologues in a book that I've ever read. I was really looking forward to how this translated to film, and it just really didn't have ANY punch. Very dissapointing. The mega violence is a tiny bit of a turnoff (gore and stuff doesn't bother me), it didn't seem to be true to the source material (at least in my opinion).

 

That being said, the visuals are downright stunning. It's a fantastic and compelling story, and for the most part, the changes made from the book made sense.

 

9/10

[danzig6767]

Inglorious Basterds with my wife who hadn't seen them. I like the Star Trek reboot, although I think it skates by on the charm of the cast, fast pace, and good special effects as I think the villain is a bore and it has enormous plot coincidences. I liked Inglorious Basterds just as much the second time since I really could concentrate on the performances instead of trying to keep up with the plot and the whole cast is terrific.

I agree about liking it as much or more the second time watching it, thus allowing to focus on on the bevy of fabulous acting performances. In fact, i've seen it three times now, twice at the theater and once on DVD. Greatly enjoyed it each time. Tarentino does such a wonderful job at casting his movies and the dialogue so enthralling that i in most of his movies can watch them multiple times while being just as entertained as the first viewing. Plus, i'll often find myself picking up a few things that i didn't really notice in the first viewing.