DVD Rental Day (2011 - ?)

[jjfanec]

Just watched 50/50 the other night. I really enjoyed the film. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was great. I thought Anna Kendrick was good too. Seth Rogen was Seth Rogen but I thought he was fine.

[RobertR]

Time to play catch up.

 

Moneyball

 

This is definitely a simplified version of reality. A somewhat inaccurate one as well. That said, I think it's a really solid movie anchored by Brad Pitt. Sure, Brad Pitt doesn't transform himself, but without those actor's crutches of an accent or a distinctive look, you get to see what an actor truly brings to the table in terms of charisma and subtlety. The movie also knows that life is full of contradictions asking "How can you not be romantic about baseball" while showing people using stats to find market inefficiencies. It's not a mindblowing movie, but it's a really solid one from unlikely source material.

 

The Trip

 

This is really a meta-movie with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon playing "Steve Coogan" and "Rob Brydon". They take a trip through northern England as Coogan works on an article on great restaurants of the region and they bond, try to one-up each other doing impressions (their Michael Caine is truly inspired), while Coogan ponders his mortality and place in history amidst great historical and geological features. It's probably about 15 to 20 minutes too long as it does get a bit repetitive, but it's certainly well worth a rental.

 

50/50

 

Another funny film about mortality, although with much more immediate stakes. I'm a fan of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and he continues his string of good work. The script is solid and while it's not devoid of manipulation, it comes up with clever variations on the standard way of looking at coping with cancer. Seth Rogen was fine. I'm not a big Anna Kendrick fan and this didn't change that any. OTOH, I thought Anjelica Huston was terrific with relatively little to work with.

 

Hanna

 

The action/spy thriller/fairy tale movie of 2011, which is pretty much a genre unto itself. It's nice to see Joe Wright stretch out of the "Masterpiece Theater" mode and into something contemporary and action based. Wright brings style to the proceedings and Saoirse Ronan brings the heart. Cate Blanchett makes a terrific villain. I don't think there's a lot of meat on the bones of the story, but as an exercise in genre style it's pretty top notch.

 

The Bakery Girl of Monceau

Suzanne's Career

My Night at Maud's

 

I'm working through Eric Rohmer's Six Moral Tales series, these are the first three. They all are fairly formalistic, lots of talking, nothing in the way of flashy camera moves, long takes, but they all have intriguing moral problems, usually with the protagonist having to choose between two women, without obvious solutions. My Night at Maud's is clearly the best of the bunch, the first two are basically Rohmer establishing his style and are a bit slight, while Maud's is a full course meal of terrific acting, great dialogue, palpable chemistry between the two leads, and really solid cinematography.

 

Rashomon

 

I probably have talked about this before. It's a certified classic for a reason.

 

Robert

[TooLiveBrew]

I recently watched Moneyball, too, and thought it was pretty good but definitely not great. For me, the main sticking point was how the movie framed Beane as the hard-luck loser (afraid of being called a loser/failure) who fought his whole life to never have to be called a loser again, and presented the 2002 A's as basically being as bad as the Indians in Major League. Not one mention in the entire movie of the SP trio of Zito/Hudson/Mulder, the biggest reason(s) the A's were a good team that year.

[jjfanec]

I enjoyed Moneyball but didnt feel like I was watching an Oscar-worthy movie.

[Oldcity]

I hated the fact that Moneyball didn't have a second of the amateur draft. That was easily my favorite part of the book, but I also thought it was possibly THE thing a reader would take away from it. It was baffling to me that they could leave that out.

[homer]

re: Moneyball

 

It is not historically accurate. But then again, neither was the book in terms of giving credit to the pitching staff. They had to give this movie broad appeal and they did so. I've talked to a few people that don't like baseball but loved Moneyball.

 

Contagion

 

I liked this movie but I can't say I loved it. It never really got all that exciting to me but it was always interesting. It has some beautiful cinematography but the actors all seem to be going through the motions. There isn't a lot of depth to the characters, IMO. The scariest aspect of the film is that the plot is probably pretty close to how things would play out if there ever was a world wide pandemic. Decent movie but not great.

 

Elite Squad: The Enemy Within

This is a Brazilian action movie that keeps your attention throughout. It centers around a cop who fights the bad guys in his own department and government more than the bad guys on the street. The action starts right away and doesn't stop until the closing sequence. My only complaint is the ever present voice over from the protagonist. Totally overdone, IMO.

[EdgarDiazRocks]

Not one mention in the entire movie of the SP trio of Zito/Hudson/Mulder, the biggest reason(s) the A's were a good team that year.

 

I didn't stick around till the end, but I don't recall Chavez and Tejada's names coming up much either.

[TooLiveBrew]

Tejada was mentioned in the background by the PA announcer(s), & they at least addressed him being in the story by casting someone who at least sorta looks like the real Miguel. Chavez was briefly in one of those 'Billy explains his shift in philosophy to his players' montages, it was in a weight room & I think another notable pitcher was in there with him. Maybe Mulder? I think Beane called Chavez "Chavy".

[EdgarDiazRocks]

Well I did notice one of the guys playing poker in the clubhouse rant scene with his back to the camera was wearing Zito's #75, so there.

[TooLiveBrew]

Well I did notice one of the guys playing poker in the clubhouse rant scene with his back to the camera was wearing Zito's #75, so there.

See, this is why I can't be a film critic. Something so obvious, yet I miss it!

[brettac1]

I have had the movie sitting on my hard drive for like a month and still haven't brought myself to watch it yet. I enjoy the book so much that I can't do it. My girlfriend liked it, though.

[paul253]

Has anyone seen "The Son of No One"? I never even heard of it until it came out on DVD last week but it seems cool. I am a big AL Pacino fan (not to mention Katie Holmes is gorgeous). I'll eventually get it at the redbox but what should I be expecting?

[Raw Biz]

Has anyone seen "The Son of No One"? I never even heard of it until it came out on DVD last week but it seems cool. I am a big AL Pacino fan (not to mention Katie Holmes is gorgeous). I'll eventually get it at the redbox but what should I be expecting?

 

Haven't seen it but it's gotten pretty horrible reviews. It might be worth checking out because of the cast but I wouldn't expect anything very good. Pacino has done some horrible movies lately (88 Minutes, Righteous Kill, Jack & Jill).

[Raw Biz]

Tejada was mentioned in the background by the PA announcer(s), & they at least addressed him being in the story by casting someone who at least sorta looks like the real Miguel.

 

I don't know, I don't think Royce Clayton looks much like Tejada.

[homer]

Martha Marcie May Marlene

 

Psychological "thriller" about a young girl's attempts to get back to a normal life after two years with a cult. Within ten minutes, Elizabeth Olsen shows how much better an actress she is than her famous twin sisters. The movie is slow at times and I could see how the ending would tick off a lot of people but I found this film fascinating. The line between reality and paranoia dissolve as the film wears on through some very clever editing. You aren't quite sure what's a flashback and what is happening in the now. Basically a replication of what the young woman is going through. Some beautiful shots as well - maybe with use of a tilt lens or something. Not sure how they got the shallow DOF on some of the really wide shots.

[GoudaBrew]

I watched a couple movies this weekend that weren't well reviewed or received, but I enjoyed them.

 

Fireflies in the Garden

 

This movies stars Willem Dafoe and Ryan Reynolds with Julia Roberts in a supporting role. It's a family drama with lots of touching and emotional moments.Dafoe and Reynolds were great.

 

Red State

 

Directed by Kevin Smith and starring John Goodman, Melissa Leo and Michael Parks. Michael Parks plays an extreme fundamentalist preacher (his congregation is made up only family members), and his performance is extraordinary. I didn't see this moving evolving into a horror film, but the suspense was pretty solid.

[TURBO]

I watched all 3 Matrix movies this past weekend.

 

Strange how when they first came out, I thought they were really great, but now, all these years later, not so much. In fact, the 2nd and 3rd ones I was just looking forward to them being over. Especially the third one, which drug on forever.

[Raw Biz]

I watched all 3 Matrix movies this past weekend.

 

Strange how when they first came out, I thought they were really great, but now, all these years later, not so much. In fact, the 2nd and 3rd ones I was just looking forward to them being over. Especially the third one, which drug on forever.

 

I thought that's how most people felt when they first came out. The first one was (and still probably is, though I haven't seen it in a long time) really good. The second one had some cool scenes like the freeway scene but was just ok. The third one was absolute crap.

[pitchleague]

A couple of films I watched recently.

 

First off, I finally watched the Blu-rays of the Star Wars legacy. It was nice to see it all in crystal clearness and with great DTS sound. But some of the changes were laughable. Ben Kenobi's howl when he scares away the sandpeople in episode IV? Ludicrous. Vader saying, "No!!!!" before he picks up the Emperor and throws him down the chute in episode VI? Insulting. It was almost like Lucas thought too many people didn't understand why Vader did what he did so he had to add the voice over.

 

Next, I finally got to Inception this weekend. I really enjoyed it. I heard many people tell me that I would need to watch it at least two or even three times to understand what is even happening. I thought they were completely wrong. I completely understood the premise of the film, and the whole dream-in-a-dream-in-a-dream-in-a-dream scenario was hardly confusing at all. The only reason I would watch it again is because it was quite entertaining and very interesting, not because I was all "huh?"

 

Finally, I saw Cedar Rapids this evening. Funny on some levels but not uproariously funny, I enjoyed it. Ed Helms' schtick, however, is getting old (the lonely, needy guy.) I hope they stop that (although he plays it well.) It's hard to describe what I liked about it. It had the midwestern "charm" to it that I miss out here in Arizona, I guess.

[Baldkin]

A couple of films I watched recently.

 

First off, I finally watched the Blu-rays of the Star Wars legacy. It was nice to see it all in crystal clearness and with great DTS sound. But some of the changes were laughable. Ben Kenobi's howl when he scares away the sandpeople in episode IV? Ludicrous. Vader saying, "No!!!!" before he picks up the Emperor and throws him down the chute in episode VI? Insulting. It was almost like Lucas thought too many people didn't understand why Vader did what he did so he had to add the voice over.

 

There's actually a pretty good online project that has the original movies on blu-ray with extremely high quality. I won't do any linking, as they might not be kosher, but they are out there, if you have a blu-ray burner.

[DuWayne Steurer]

I watched Hesher yesterday, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Reviews were kinda so-so, and I think it's because the reviewers weren't sure what they were watching

 

Basically, JGL is a stoner/squatter who just starts living in this families garage without their consent, and things get really weird from there. There's some disparate elements, but when the movie was over, I couldn't shake the feeling that I had just watched a modern, dark take on Mary Poppins.

 

JGL's got solid chops, and Rainn Wilson has a great turn in this as well. It's a weird little indy flick, but if you're into dark humor, I'd definitely give this one a shot.

 

8/10

[RobertR]

I've got a long list, so some bullet points.

 

Drive

 

More about mood, style, and Ryan Gosling doing a slow burn than action, and all the better for it, IMO.

 

The Idiot

Kurosawa takes on Dostoevsky with mixed results. There's some very good stuff in here and some stuff that just plods along. It doesn't help that an hour of material was chopped out by the studio.

 

The Muppets

 

There are some clever songs and its a fun time, but it never really sells me that the Muppets getting back together is important other than nostalgia. Maybe next time The Muppets will be front and center of their own movie.

 

The Adventures of Tintin

 

Spielberg brings out some of his old Raiders of the Lost Ark action chops. Too bad the title character is such a non-entity. The dog is always entertaining though.

 

Clue

 

Pretty solid Agatha Christie style sendup, which is why it mostly works while I can't see other game based properties working as movies. The cast makes the movie work.

 

Razorback

 

Australian Jaws rip-off, that looks way more stylish than it has any right to be.

 

Ikiru

 

Certified classic from Kurosawa. Everything clicked for me on this watch.

 

Due Date

 

Recycled Planes, Trains, and Automobiles with less likable/funny characters. You're better off with Martin and Candy.

The Gorgon

The Hound of the Baskervilles

The Man Who Could Cheat Death

 

I'm on a Terence Fisher kick. The Gorgon is really stylish, Barbara Shelley is very appealing, and Christopher Lee gets to play a good guy, but some questionable makeup holds it back. Peter Cushing makes a very fine Sherlock Holmes which gets almost everything right in a horror laced adaptation although the hound itself is underwhelming. The Man Who Could Cheat Death is a solid Hammer entry which has much the same premise as The Night Strangler.

Jane Eyre

The two leads do well with an adaptation that captures a surprising amount of the plot of the novel, but doesn't quite capture Jane's fire and anger.

Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol

 

Dubai might be the most fun an Act II of an action film can be. Brad Bird gives the material a light touch so that it feels a bit like a 60s throwback. A fun piece of popcorn entertainment.

 

Fiend Without a Face

 

50s sci-fi film which is most notable for the gore effects and the stop motion animation of the brain creatures which are the threat. Good for what it is.

 

Back to Bataan

 

John Wayne WWII film which is a fairly episodic take on the Filipino resistance to the Japanese. An interesting premise, but a fairly standard movie overall which never develops much momentum.

 

Alien

 

This is just a well oiled machine of a movie. It looks great and the cast is excellent. It's a Blu Ray you should own.

 

Aliens

 

Aliens is showing its age in many ways and the characters are becoming more caricatures as it ages, but there's no denying that the last 20 to 30 minutes is a pure roller coaster and Cameron at the top of his game. It's a Blu Ray you should own.

Planet of the Vampires

 

A pair of spaceships land on a distant, fog shrouded world and deal with an ancient evil. Pretty clearly an influence on Alien and Prometheus. It's sci-fi hokum, but directed with great style by Mario Bava.

 

Seven Samurai

 

My favorite film. It's a masterpiece of editing as it just moves incredibly well making the 3+ hours feel more like 2.

 

Superman vs. the Elite

 

Not up to the usual standards of the DC animated movies as far as the quality of animation goes, but a really solid story. It gets that if Superman wasn't noble, he'd be a terrifying concept and uses that to show why the square thing he's become is a good thing.

 

 

Robert

[pitchleague]

My wife and I have been doing a superhero motif this summer. A few I had seen previously but most were first-timers. In order of watching:

 

Superman Returns Hard to believe that it took me this long to see it for the first time. It was enjoyable but had some truly uninspiring parts to it. Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor was pretty well done but the secret plan for his own continent was pretty dumb. Still a good entertaining 2 hours plus.

 

X-Men Still the best of the series in my opinion. This was probably the 2nd or even 3rd time seeing it and it always entertains me for some reason.

 

X-Men United I think this one is the most contrived of the X-Men series of films. But with making Jane a major cog in the film, it kept me interested in the story. Sure seemed like there was hardly any of Rogue in this one.

 

X-Men: The Final Stand To me, it's slightly behind the first but pretty darn close. Very entertaining from start to finish and I love how they left it open for another movie in the series.

 

X-Men Origins: Wolverine For an origin movie, I thought it was really good. I'm not sure that I like the idea of Wolverine being 200 years old or whatever but it worked. Liev Schreiber was phenominal as the brother, even though the ending, I thought, was pretty weak.

 

X-Men First Class Another pretty good film for the series. Absolutely loved Hugh Jackman's 10-second cameo. And the way they showed how they came to be was pretty neat.

 

Fantastic Four This was the 2nd time I had seen this one and it was probably better the 1st time. It wasn't bad and it explained things but I found The Thing's wife just dropping him as a deformed husband and walking away to be ludicrous. Whose wife would really do that? An entertaining 2 hours but not the best of the lot.

 

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer Ugh, this was the first time I saw this and it was just putrid. Twenty minutes in and Mr. Fantastic is doing some dance contest stretchy thing? S! T! U! P! I! D! It really turned me off to the rest of the movie and I found the story just to be really dumb. Laurence Fishburne sounded like he mailed it in.

 

Green Lantern I know that it didn't do very well but I enjoyed it. No, it wasn't cinematic history but it was an enjoyable 2 hours watching a guy coping with becoming a Green Lantern. I guess that if there was any quibble, the entire ending 20 minutes (final boss battle, heroic cheer on Lantern planet, the whole deal with the girlfriend) was kind of contrived. But it didn't make me roll my eyes and cuss out the screen like I've heard other people have done.

 

Batman Begins This was the 2nd time I've seen it and it was as good if not better than the first time I saw it. Except for Christian Bale talking like he has a potato chip stuck in his throat whenever he's Batman, I thought it was great. Scarecrow was really done well. And I loved how they developed the character of Gordon.

 

The Dark Knight First time I saw it and, I guess, maybe I need to see it again to see the brilliance of it. Yes, it was very good and I enjoyed the heck out of it. But I was not just sitting there during the closing credits and babbling how it was the greatest film of the 21st century like I hear so many people say.

 

Iron Man Second screening for me and I think it's really good, especially the first 30 minutes. I also love the subtle bits of humor every now and then. The ending still surprises me, even when I knew it was coming.

 

The Incredible Hulk Also the second screening. I had forgotten almost everything from the story so I was pleasantly entertained. The special effects of the Hulk character were pretty good, I thought, but I had a hard time believing Edward Norton as Bruce Banner. Also loved the small cameos by Lou Ferigno and Bill Bixby (in the television shot, of course.)

 

Iron Man 2 Okay, this was the first time I saw this one and felt the whole story, heck the whole movie, was forced. It didn't flow like the first one. Perhaps it was because they cast Don Cheadle instead of the guy from the first movie (whom I enjoyed more.) And the whole killer robot army thing was just, "huh?" I mean, one scene Iron Man is being closely chased by a half-dozen of these things as they fly around the expo area and then suddenly Iron Man is able to land to protect a small boy and kill a robot--where'd the chasing robots go???? And then Iron Man takes off and there they are again. Nice continuity, editors.

 

Thor My wife is big on mythology so I know that she enjoyed this one. It was okay to me but I felt like my intelligence was insulted toward the end when the director thought I needed to be reminded that "Whosoever holds of this hammer, if you be worthy, you possess the power of Thor" at the climax of the Earth battle. Gee, thanks guy, I must be a moron. Otherwise, it was pretty good and set up well to have another sequel. Oh, and did Natalie Portman have a face lift/eye job/nose job or something? She just doesn't have the same facial features that she did as Queen Amidala/Padme. Or was she younger than I thought she was for those Star Wars movies and she's just grown up now?

 

Captain America: The First Avenger I'm big into WWII stuff so I really enjoyed this movie. The fight scenes and stuff were pretty good (although I don't get how his shield returns to him after he throws it.) I can only speculate about the ending and why he doesn't wake up until present day.

 

The Dark Knight Rises Saw this one today. I don't get why some people are putting it down on other sites. I thought it was tremendous. Maybe not Oscar Winning caliber but definitely up for a nomination or three. I saw a few people post on another site some questions that they "didn't get such-and-such" and "this part was not explained!" Well, if they had actually paid attention to the film in the non-fight-scene parts of the movie, it would have been explained! Oh, and for an almost 3-hour movie, I thought it flew by--thoroughly entertained. Heck, all three Batman films by Christopher Nolan were long but hardly felt it at all (unlike some of these other films **COUGH** Silver Surfer **COUGH**) and when a long film can do that, THAT'S good film making.

 

I probably won't get to The Avengers this summer so I'll have to wait on that one until my brother buys the blu-ray, which he inevitably will do.

[Glennron]

Funny that you’re doing that pitchleague, because after watching all 3 of the Nolan Batman’s last week, I started to go through the Burton/Keaton ones this week.

 

I don’t know if it’s a generational difference (I was 1 when the ’89 version came out), but I was extremely disappointed in Batman. And I don't even think it's because I'm comparing it to the recent three; even without the comparison it just isn't very good. Michael Keaton is about as stiff as you can get, Vicki Vale’s character development was pretty much non-existent considering she played a pretty big role, the writing was pretty poor, and I thought Jack Nicholson was just completely average. I couldn’t believe when I read that he and Michael Keaton were on AFI’s 100 Years…list for best villains and heroes.

 

I thought Batman Returns was better less cringe-worthy. At least the female lead had a better backstory; though some of the lines written for Catwoman were pretty awful. Danny DeVito wasn’t good either, but again some of the script for him was pretty brutal. At least Christopher Walken was in it.

 

What’s funny to me is I read that many people didn’t like the “dark” tone the first two took, which is why Batman Forever and Batman & Robin are much more cartoony. Can’t wait to check those out.

[homer]

To quote Robert, "It's been awhile."

 

We Are What We Are

 

Creepy indy remake of a 2010 Spanish horror flick. It centers around a family in the backwoods of upstate New York. The mother dies unexpectedly at the beginning of the film so the mentally deranged father passes the family "tradition" to his eldest daughter. I recommend not reading up on this one too much as most descriptions give away their secret (which might not be too hard to figure out anyway). If you get it on Netflix, don't even read the outside of the envelope. The film might move too slowly for some and it definitely hedges towards creepy rather than horror but it's a very solid film. Great cinematography and a terrific script - most everything that occurs is plausible which is unique for a film in this genre. Plus there's a cameo from Kelly McGillis (of Top Gun and Witness fame).

 

Available on DVD from Netflix, Amazon Instant Video

 

The Act of Killing

 

In the mid 60's the Indonesian government purged all suspected "communists" from the country. They employed various gangsters and other nefarious types to carry out the task often with the consent if not outright support of the US government. Untold thousands were executed. This documentary centers on one of the executioners and actually has him recreate his executions using actors. The film is surreal to say the least. The way these guys talk about their days killing communists is chilling. The most compelling aspect of the movie is the way the main gangster begins to reveal how the murders haunt him...leading to a disturbing final scene where the realization of what he's done comes back to physically affect him in a bizarre and grotesque fashion. Errol Morris and Werner Herzog were executive producers. Highly recommend it.

 

Available on instant download from Netflix, Amazon Instant Video

 

Top of the Lake

 

Elizabeth Moss (Mad Men) won the 2014 Golden Globe for Best Actress for her portrayal of a New Zealand detective in search of a missing girl. The town where it all takes place is in a remote region of the country - where jobs are few and the drug trade fuels the local economy. The missing girl happens to be the daughter of the violent local crime boss played brilliantly by irrepressible Peter Mullan. The 7 episode series, written and directed by Jane Campion (The Piano), deals mostly with themes of abuse - and how people (both victims and abusers) choose to deal with the aftermath. Beautifully shot against the uber scenic New Zealand landscape. Again, might move sort of slowly at first for some people but give it a few episodes.

 

Available on instant download from Netflix, Amazon Instant Video

 

The Fall

 

This crime drama stars Gillian Anderson (X-Files) as a London detective sent to Belfast to investigate a series of murders. The killer is revealed in the first episode so the remaining four episodes show how Anderson closes in on him. Politics get in the way of her investigation as do her own predilections for young men. She is a very flawed person despite the fact that she is a brilliant detective which makes the series much more interesting, IMO. Very well shot (there's one scene in the first five minutes of episode 1 that will drop your jaw if you're into cinematography) and very well acted. Thumbs up.

 

Available on instant download from Netflix, Amazon Instant Video