DVD Rental Day (2011 - ?)

[danzig6767]

I know this is about DVD rentals, but last week i told my dad that i'd treat him to any movie he wanted to see. Well, unfortunately he picked Battle: Los Angeles.

 

I expected it to be bad after seeing commercials for it, but since that's what my dad wanted to see, that's what we went and saw. To say it was terrible would be a massive understatement. About 20 minutes at most into the movie, i knew pretty much exactly how it would end. About 45 minutes into the movie, i was wishing i was an hour and a half in so that it would be ending sooner.

 

Just a flat out terrible movie and i don't understand why movies like this have to almost always follow the same old tired plot line? Aliens with evil intentions come to earth and a small group of heroes save the day even though they should have been killed about 25 times prior to saving the country or world.

[TooLiveBrew]

You should definitely check out the Patton Oswalt bit about "Death Bed." Its hilarious.

Wow. Thank you!

[RobertR]

Would it help if the bed was possessed by a demon and their was a painting on the wall that narrated all the events of the film?

 

Yup. That helps.

 

Although I should mention that Hausu has a ghost cat and a portrait of said cat that vomits forth enough blood to make Sam Raimi jealous.

 

Robert

[Katuluu]

You seem to be telling me that as if I haven't seen Hausu yet. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

 

The other good one that people should check out is Rubber. That thing is freaking brilliant.

[RobertR]

You seem to be telling me that as if I haven't seen Hausu yet. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

 

The other good one that people should check out is Rubber. That thing is freaking brilliant.

 

Yeah, silly me. Unfortunately(!), Death Bed is not available via Netflix, but I'll keep an eye out for it. I expect Rubber will be available before too long though.

 

Robert

[Katuluu]

It (Rubber) should be on VOD through Amazon. It's worth the $5.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Movie night last night.

 

From Paris With Love.

 

Straightforward action flick with very little deviation from the formula. Travolta kicks a lot of ass, does some drugs, and swears a lot. It does keep you entertained if this is what you're looking for, so I can't downgrade it for having lame dialogue and lots of explosions. 7/10

 

Toy Story 3

 

Disney/Pixar hits this one outta the park. I didn't care for TS2.....it just didn't 'pop' or have a point that really drove home for me. TS3 does both of those, and does it well. Great story here. This and Up are (IMO of course) Disney/Pixars finest works. 9/10

 

Older film, The Machinist.

 

Christian Bale is fantastic in this one. The physical transformation is unbelieveable. It's just too bad the story isn't that clever. I figured out about half way through that "Ivan" was himself, and was some sort of psycho cover up for something terrible he had done. The problem here is that there just aren't any clues. When the reveal is finally given, it's not one of those 'aha!' moments as the clues they gave to it were just nothing but tiny fragments of what it might be leading to. A clever thriller gives you just enough that a really solid thinker might figure it out just before the reveal, but no such clues existed in this one. It made sense, it wasn't full of holes, it just wasn't smartly written, IMO. Still, it kept me watching, and Bale did a great job. 6/10

[TracyThom]

Human Centipede is available for streaming with Netflix. I've heard loads of jokes about the movie. Is it worth watching?

[homer]

Human Centipede is available for streaming with Netflix. I've heard loads of jokes about the movie. Is it worth watching?

No.

 

I believe my original review was:

The Human Centipede

Yikes.

 

It is good for some laughs but if you're a gore junky it's not all that gory and its certainly not all that scary. I found the idea of Human Centipede more disgusting than the actual film itself.

 

The pooping scene is hysterical. "Feed her! FEED HER!"

[DuWayne Steurer]

I got my Tron Legacy DVD from Netflix yesterday. Somehow, I expect that I'm going to be somewhere between mildly disappointed and 'meh'. I guess I'll find out later.

[RobertR]

I just watched the original Tron this week and that was pretty much my reaction. The effects are groundbreaking and the art direction is interesting, but it never gathers much momentum or meaning and the plot is as arbitrary as can be.

 

Robert

[GAME05]

the original Tron spent way too much time in the real world.

[DuWayne Steurer]

So.......yeah..........

 

Tron: Legacy

Nothing more than what I expected. It wasn't bad, it wasn't great. It was very formulaic, but it told a story, and the visuals were great. Good popcorn flick 7/10

 

Inglorious Basterds. Just watched this out of the instant queue yesterday. This one falls into the same category for me as Pan's Labyrinth. I heard how awesome it was from everyone. I'm also a fan of Tarantino, so I figured, "well this time, I can't go wrong, right?"

 

Well.......sort of. I wanted really badly to like this movie. I find myself wondering if it's got such a great score at IMDB because, well, it's a Tarantino movie, and you have to give them good scores. This movie was like my brother's storytelling about his day. He takes 5 minutes to tell you a story that should take 45 seconds in the telling. The dialogue in this movie is just..........so.........drawn........out. And no, I wasn't expecting an action film here. So that's not the issue. It's just every scene was 3-4 minutes longer than it needed to be to make it's point. Every character (except Aldo) speaks dramatically slowly. Every character puts dramatic pause between 2/3rds of their sentences. There's so much fluff here that it gets hard to just stay interested. The dialogue wasn't bad, the writing is great, it's just that there's so much of it that there were times I was watching, and thinking "when is this guy/girl going to get to the POINT?"

 

The movie is filled with all the usual Tarantino devices, some of them cheesy, some formulaic, and that's ok. Like I said, I'm a fan of Tarantino, so to me, those bookmarks aren't going to be a put off. I just think that it could have been edited down by as much as 45 minutes, and have lost nothing essential to the storyline. As is, I can only give it a 6/10, and say that it's hard for me to recommend. It's interesting to me that I'd give Tron a higher score, I think ultimately Inglorious Basterds is a better piece of cinema, but I think ratings are based a lot on "what were you hoping to get out of this?" as much as the final experience. Tron met my low expectations. IB didn't meet my higher ones.

[RobertR]

A few new ones.

 

How to Train Your Dragon

 

Some light entertainment, but some good stuff. Nice art direction, a good story, and they went the extra mile so that it didn't feel weightless with no consequences.

 

Get Low

Duvall's one of the finest actors of his generation and he's still doing good work. Bill Murray is also very good. Sissy Spacek is always a welcome sight. The story is fairly minor and low key, but it's an actor's showcase and they deliver.

 

Viridiana

 

My first Bunuel film and it's a terrific one, although it took a while to fully process. The camera is fluid, the story is good, the satire is spot on but subtle enough to fit in. Not for the easily offended in that it takes some strong swipes at the Catholic Church, but the story is a blanket condemnation either.

 

Sanshiro Sugata

The Most Beautiful

Sanshiro Sugata Part 2

The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail

 

Kurosawa's first four. Sanshiro Sugata is probably the most accessible, but three of the four are really fine films. The sequel is a real mixed bag. I'll have a lot more to say about them at Katuluu's website soon.

 

Robert

[DuWayne Steurer]

Netflix night last night........

 

Inception.

 

Wow. I find that a lot of the time these FANTASTIC movies end up being victims of their own hype. So many times I'm let down by something I expect to be an epic film experience, only to find the movie I watched was 'pretty good', and that, compared to my expectations, wasn't what I was hoping for. So, with that all said, I went into Inception with appropriately high expectations....and came away completely fulfilled.

 

I don't need to do a full blown review. I'm sure most everyone that reads this thread has seen it anyways, but all I can say is that I absolutely got what was advertised. A fantastic film that stands with the best of it's genre. 9.5/10

 

Monsters Inc. As incredible as it sounds, I had never seen this before last night. Somehow this one has managed to sneak it's way over, around, under, and through my movie watching madness, and finally fell on the plate last night. I wouldn't put it in the class of Up or TS3, but it was watchable, and coming from me, that's high praise for a 'kid's movie'. 7/10

[GAME05]

i use streaming Netflix a lot, and i've also been stuck at home for the past three days, so it's movie time. anyone have some comedies they could recommend? i tend to like good-hearted type comedies and nothing too heavy on the boy-meets-girl stuff. i've been watching a lot of documentaries, too.

[Baldkin]

i use streaming Netflix a lot, and i've also been stuck at home for the past three days, so it's movie time. anyone have some comedies they could recommend? i tend to like good-hearted type comedies and nothing too heavy on the boy-meets-girl stuff. i've been watching a lot of documentaries, too.

Well, going back through my netflix rankings... here's 10 from the instant queue, probably seen most, but you never know.

 

Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, Dumb & Dumber, Stripes, Get Shorty, My Cousin Vinny, Big, Back to School, Three Amigos, Midnight Run, UHF

[homer]

Animal Kingdom

 

This Australian crime drama is about a 17 year old's transition from prey to predator. It centers around young Josh who loses his mother to overdose early in the film. He moves in with grandma and the uncles who like to engage in various illegal activities. Terrific cinematography, great performances, and solid direction. This was a really good flick. Act I was slow and a little long but ends with a "bang" which kick starts the story. The rest of the movie builds in tension and pace before the satisfying conclusion. Thumbs up.

[RobertR]

Some new ones.

 

No Regrets for Our Youth

One Wonderful Sunday

Two of Kurosawa's early ones. I'm trying to decide if No Regrets is a masterpiece or just an excellent film. Either way, Setsuko Hara turns in a stunning performance. One Wonderful Sunday has some stuff in it that just doesn't work and the leads are merely good, but the parts that work really work.

 

The Town

 

As far as I'm concerned, Affleck is two for two as a director, although I prefer Gone Baby Gone. He roots the story in character and place, which gives the action sequences bite. Although probably not quite the right ending, it's a very satisfying movie.

 

127 Hours

 

It's intense, well acted, and Danny Boyle knows how to make a movie non-static. Even with a guy trapped under a boulder. James Franco is excellent and the climax is excruciating. Not an easy watch, but a very good film.

 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I

Money grab. A series of incidents isn't a story. Apparently no effort was made to shape the incidents into any type of story where the movie could stand on its own. They could have shortened it and ended it with Ron and Harry reunited. They could have extended it and ended with Harry declaring that he's no longer running. Those at least would be stories. Instead they stop in no man's land.

 

Robert

[RobertR]

Oh, let me encourage anyone with interest in Tree of Life to go see it in a theater, not wait until DVD. Visually it's fantastic and genuinely one of the best looking films ever made.

 

If you can, avoid spoiling yourself on Midnight in Paris.

 

Robert

[pitchleague]

finally saw Avatar last night for the first time. It seemed like the classic shoot 'em up bad guys with the typical underachievers taking revenge flick that I've seen hundreds of times. Visually stunning? You betcha! The story, though, was uninspiring. Glad this movie did not win Best Picture and other "Best" Oscars from a couple years ago.

 

Still, I now have seen it. And now I know that I likely never have to see it again.

[Baldkin]

finally saw Avatar last night for the first time. It seemed like the classic shoot 'em up bad guys with the typical underachievers taking revenge flick that I've seen hundreds of times. Visually stunning? You betcha! The story, though, was uninspiring. Glad this movie did not win Best Picture and other "Best" Oscars from a couple years ago.

 

Still, I now have seen it. And now I know that I likely never have to see it again.

Really can't see that movie being worth watching on a HD tv or even in a non-3D theatre. It is still the only movie I've seen in 3D that was truly made for 3D, and the added depth really brought the movie to life. It wasn't worth watching for the plot, it was worth watching for the visual uniqueness and ingenuity it brought to the screen.

[pitchleague]

I can't do 3D. My right eye is just in too poor of shape to be able to handle 3D movies, pictures, or artwork.

 

When I put on the 3D glasses at a Best Buy, for instance, I can "kind of" make out the 3D-ness but it comes and goes and is just not breathtaking to me as it is to normal folk. I'll live.

[RightFieldCoder]

finally saw Avatar last night for the first time. It seemed like the classic shoot 'em up bad guys with the typical underachievers taking revenge flick that I've seen hundreds of times. Visually stunning? You betcha! The story, though, was uninspiring. Glad this movie did not win Best Picture and other "Best" Oscars from a couple years ago.

 

Still, I now have seen it. And now I know that I likely never have to see it again.

Really can't see that movie being worth watching on a HD tv or even in a non-3D theatre. It is still the only movie I've seen in 3D that was truly made for 3D, and the added depth really brought the movie to life. It wasn't worth watching for the plot, it was worth watching for the visual uniqueness and ingenuity it brought to the screen.

I watched it back in March or February on my new PS3. It was the first Blu-Ray movie we saw (borrowed from parents). The movie (and Blu-Ray) was stunning, but you could tell it was made for 3D. The normal action shots needed in a movie usually move left-right or sometimes up-down. Everything seemed to be front-back. There were also constantly things moving in the foreground in front of the actors. It was a weird experience since the shots were framed so differently than what you are used to.

[MJLiverock]

I don't know what surprised me more, Avatar not winning, or Hurt Locker winning the Oscar. I guess I should have known the Oscar would not go to a wildly popular big budget shoot 'em up when a terribly contrived, slow movie about a "topical" theme like the Iraq War was available. But Hurt Locker wasn't even really about the War, it was just so meh and so utterly nonsensical in terms of reality that I can't believe it won but I think it fell into what the Academy voters want to believe the main character and job would be like rather than any reality of the military or the abilities, rules, and life they live.