DVD Rental Day (2004 - 2010)

[bbrauch2000]

Idiocracy wasnt going to win any awards but i have rented much worse. The biggest knock was probably that the best part of the movie was the introduction and it fizzled a little from there

[jwaltz]

Finally got around to seeing The Bourne Identity. It was a pretty good action flick. Not as good as the book but it was still pretty entertaining. Matt Damon is pretty darn good doing action.

 

Kung Fu Hustle

 

Funny, silly, very entertaining. Pretty much what you would expect from Stephen Chow. Bruce Liang is very good as The Beast. Qin Yeun (The Man With the Golden Gun) plays one of the most memorable characters in Landlady. Wah Yuen is quite good as Landlord. It was great seeing Wah Yuen play a good guy instead of a villian. Chow spoofs Matrix, and Spider Man while paying homage to Bruce Lee and Looney Toons. The story is pretty simple but the action, visuals and jokes are good.

[RobertR]

A few more:

 

Little Miss Sunshine

I liked it well enough. I laughed, the characters worked, it was well acted, and I enjoyed the potshots at the always creepy pre-teen beauty pageants.

 

That said, I've no idea how it got nominated for best picture. It's essentially just another variation of the road bonding movie. It's a good variation, granted, but I think it's just a bit smarter than National Lampoon's Vacation and it bordered on caricature more than a mature road movie like Smoke Signals. It really seems like people simply decided that an "independent" movie must be nominated.

 

Mrs. Henderson Presents

The word "middle brow" was made for movies like this. There's a patina of a point to the movie, but in the end it's mostly an exercise in Judi Dench's acting talent and a lot of bare breasts with only the barest threads of a plot holding the thing together. Christopher Guest and Bob Hoskins are also in the film and do good work in thinly sketched roles. It's o.k., but not something I'd go out of my way to recommend.

 

Not a rental, but not something most people are likely to see...

 

The Lives of Others

The German nomination for Best Foreign Language Film for this year's Oscars. It is one of the best films of the year, although still a step below Pan's Labyrinth. Set in the 80s in East Germany it follows a Stasi officer doing surveillance on a leading playwright and his actress girlfriend at the behest of party officials looking for dirt, for personal reasons.

 

And, in the course of his surveillance, the officer gets wrapped up in their lives and art and begins to take an active role in events. A role that his higher ups would disapprove of. Equal parts drama, character study, and political thriller. It's filmed in austere style that preserves the atmosphere of life under a communist state where the individual is simply not valued.

 

It will likely get a run in Milwaukee and Madison, but you'll probably have to wait until video if you live elsewhere in the state. Well worth keeping an eye out for. It runs a little long at the end with a drawn out denoument, but most people will find it gripping and entertaining. If they can deal with subtitles, that is.

 

Robert

[Fatter than Joey]

The Illusionist -- Overall, I thought it was pretty decent. The performances of Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti are (expectedly) very good, and make the movie worth watching. I also thought the color and cinematography was interesting, and did a good job of setting the mood for the film. The storyline wasn't real smooth, and it was a little obvious. Still, it's worth checking out IMO.

 

I saw this movie last night -- I agree with DJ43 -- this is a very decent movie.

 

However, I felt like the love-interest got in the way with what could have been an exceptional movie -- I think the movie could have stood on its own, focusing on the conflict between a magician and a government in turmoil -- plus with the added impact of spiritualism, which would undermind the more secular government.

 

I feel like they added the love story to make the movie more easy for the general public to want to see.

[greeg35]

I saw The Illusionist last night as well, and I loved it. Simple, subtle, avoided cliche, and didn't spell everything out for the viewer. I loved the music as well.

 

Quote:

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I feel like they added the love story to make the movie more easy for the general public to want to see.

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Have to disagree there. Motivation would be lacking without the love story IMO.

[OglivieHomePerm]

When I watched the Illusionist, I could not buy into Jessica Biel as royalty. She seemed way out of her league, and unable to match the performances of Giamatti and Norton. I still enjoyed the movie, and while the ending wasn't much of a suprize, the political back-story was enough to hold my attention. As a matter of fact, from time to time, the political angle was enough to make me question whether the storybook ending was indeed where the story was headed.

 

And I know I'm late to the game on this one, but I also watched the first 3 episodes of season 1 of The Wire. Enjoyed it very much, and am pretty much hooked (thanks to those on this site who turned me onto it).

[Katuluu]

Biel wasn't royalty in the film, but she was a noble of some sort. Small difference, but there is a difference.

[Fatter than Joey]

I could not buy into Jessica Biel

 

Maybe this is where I thought the love-story got in the way of the story -- perhaps a better actress would have done a better job.

[greeg35]

I agree, they probably could have done better than Biel.

 

It was probably those pants she had on at the end http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Fatter than Joey]

It was probably those pants she had on at the end

 

Yeah -- I actually asked my wife if they had pants like that back, then, and if so, why'd they stop wearing them.

[Team Canada]

Unknown

 

I remember watching a trailer for this some time back, and then suddenly the other day I saw it at Blockbuster.

 

So 5 guys wake up in a locked warehouse, and none of them know who they are or how they got there. Shortly into the movie they learn that two of them are hostages and three are kidnappers, and the majority of the rest of the movie is them trying to figure out who is who, with memories gradually coming back. There's also another thread consisting of the police and wife of one of the hostages trying to track them down.

 

Considering that the 5 are played by Jim Caviezel, Barry Pepper, Greg Kinnear, Jeremy Sisto, and Joe Pantoliano, it's a little surprising that someone didn't give this more of a chance. It looks like it was picked up by Weinstein, but I don't remember seeing it in theaters.

 

It was an interesting premise, and most of what was there I liked, but it left me wishing for more. It was only 80 minutes, and I think it could have used more character development/interaction.

 

One thing that must be mentioned. This movie contains one of the worst one line deliveries I've ever seen. At one point in the police station an officer comes in and says something to the effect of "Excuse me lieutenant, there's a phone call for you," and it was seriously high school play-esque. My wife and I both sat stunned for a moment, and then looked at each other to confirm that we both saw the same thing. Outstanding.

[paul253]

I apologize if this has come up already, but i dont have time to read all 11 pages of this thread. On tuesday "Flags of our Fathers" comes out. I have been looking forward to this movie ever since i saw its previews, because i love war movies. Has anyone seen this one? Can you compare it to my other two favorite war movies, "We Were Soldiers" and "Saving Private Ryan".

[dadofandrew]

It's no Private Ryan, but it's mighty good.

[paul253]

is there a lot of war action in there, or is it one of those movies where every bit of action is shown in the previews?

[dadofandrew]

I'd say a total of about 20-25 minutes of war action, mostly in one 10 minute clip, then several 2-3 minute ones.

[Fatter than Joey]

I saw a bad movie.

 

The Messengers.

 

It's like a bad episode of Ghost Whisperer, without Jennifer Love Hewitt's "talents".

 

I was really hoping I could see more ads about condo investment opportunites, or answer more trivia questions about "Cars" once the movie started.

[Thats Freakin Sweet]

I picked up Unknown on Saturday night. I too was left wanting much more. To me this was a waste of an incredible cast. JC was strong and Pepper was pretty good too, but overall the movie was lacking. Not a terrible movie, just disappointing with the cast and the comparisons that I had read to The Usual Suspects, it fell way short of that.

[Schlitz001]

Has anyone seen Hard Candy? It's one of the few movies offered on Xbox Live that I haven't watched yet. Is it worth seeing.

[Fatter than Joey]

Has anyone seen Hard Candy?

 

I have -- This is a dark little film about a 14 year old girl and a 30ish year old predator, and their ever-changing relationship.

 

It's a good film, not for everyone though.

[OglivieHomePerm]

Bandidas

 

Spaghetti Western that's nothing more than a vehicle for 90 minutes of intermittent cleavage from Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek. Oh yes, you also get a little physical altercation between the aforementioned as well. If watch this movie with those types of expectations, you won't be disappointed. If you are looking for a lot of laughs, great acting performances, and a tight plot then look elsewhere.

 

Dwight Yoakam deserves some sort of recognition for his role in this film. It's hard to describe, but he was something like a cross between a homeless person, a robot, and Tony Soporano. And yet he was still able to hide his diabolical intentions from some people....yeesh!

[bigredrobbo]

You had me at "intermittent cleavage from Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek"!

[Boy Jeenius]

Quote:

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I'll give some love for Rome

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Wow, I found someone else who likes Rome. I guess the subject matter does not pique enough people's interest to try to watch it, but it is really well done, with some great characters.

[RobertR]

I'm a fan of Rome as well, although the Superbowl messed up my viewing schedule for the week.

 

I highly recommend I, Claudius as a followup once this season is complete.

 

Robert

[Katuluu]

I'll second I, Claudius. It's great stuff, and as an added bonus you can probably find it at a local library.

[OglivieHomePerm]

Snakes On A Plane

 

Not sure what to say about this movie. In many ways it was not as bad as I expected, and in some ways, it was worse. I thought some of the computer generated snake effects were extremely poor, while others were quite well done. The movie just went all over the place. At different times, it tried to be funny, gruesome, emotionally moving, and didn't really do any of it well.