What I've Been Watching: The Catch-All Film Thread

Haven't read the Percy Jackson books, but have read the author's adult novels. He's an excellent serious writer with an excruciating, dry sense of humor that I could see would be a hard translate to the big screen, especially in a young adult flick. I highly recommend his Tres Navarre (private eye) series, of which I've read Big Red Tequila, Widower's Two Step and The Devil Went Down to Austin.

We just finished renting Sleepy Hollow with Johnny Depp. Not serious at all, but kind of fun. Is this an average Tim Burton movie? I'd heard a lot about him and expected a little more than what was on display here.
 
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We just finished renting Sleepy Hollow with Johnny Depp. Not serious at all, but kind of fun. Is this an average Tim Burton movie? I'd heard a lot about him and expected a little more than what was on display here.

Burton's stuff is always very stylized, but the quality is very uneven ...
 
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Burton is always interesting.
 
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Wife & I watched Bottle Shock because we love wine. It's about the tasting that occured in France in which California wines emerged as being as good as or better than french wines. Also allowing for other countries like Australia, NZ, South Africa to be recognized for their great wines. It's okay, not so much about the wine industry itself. Alan Rickman was in it, so it can't be bad.

Then wife went to bed and I watched The Informant! with Matt Damon. He puts on a great performance and the movie overall was entertaining. Worth the rental.
 
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I've been watching the animated movie or rather film, *UP*. I found it to be a very emotional and moving film about how love do live on after we die. I have also wacthed a movie by Tim Burton (no, not Alice), but a little unique and original movie called 'nine'(9). Tim Burton, as far as I could tell, was one of the producers behind the movie. The movie is about ragdolls created by a (mad) scientist and how they survive in a post apoc setting. That's far more interesting that I'll make it sound...

And the latest film (also on DVD) I watched was Julia/Julie about Julia Child/Julie Powell. And Meryl Streep (who plays Julia Child) deserves a gazillion rewards (or oscars etc.) for her portrayal, or rather her characterisation of Julia Child.
 
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I've been watching the animated movie or rather film, *UP*. I found it to be a very emotional and moving film about how love do live on after we die. I

The beginning sequences of UP showing the courtship of the old man & Ellie up until her death makes me sob every time, as does the montage at the end during the credits. Pixar really knows how to make films that are not just silly cartoons. I remember when I saw it in the theater as the streams of tears were flowing for myself and my wife and I'm thinking the whole time "It's a stupid cartoon, why am I crying?" Then throughout the film I had to choke back tears every time the haunting and beautiful Ellie motif was played. This is my favorite Pixar film next to The Incredibles.

Then again, the song and sequence about Jessie in Toy Story 2 sung by Sarah McLaughlin (sp?) is a tear jerker too, so I shouldn't be surprised about Pixar's ability to make the viewer emote.
 
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"It's a stupid cartoon, why am I crying?"
If it's about animation, there's one particular movie that is more than just a little sad. Grave of the Fireflies.

A friend of mine watched it once without knowing what it was about and was depressed for three days afterward. Powerful, beautiful, touching film of Studio Ghibli fame.


PS: This is one of those movies that everyone should watch at least once in their lifetime. The adults' voices in the dubbed version are ok, but unfortunately the little girl sounds terrible, so better take the subbed version.
 
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Shutter Island

Overall, an ok movie - but not the best adaption. I liked the book much better, and I must be the only one not terribly impressed by Dicaprio. He's not bad, but he's not that good either. Also, he's wrong for this part - I think.
 
Haven't seen the movie yet, but very hard to top that book--kept me up all night and had one of the more amazingly unsuspected endings I've ever run across. I like DiCaprio, but I also don't quite see him in this role.

Our flick this week was Taken and I thought it was one of the worst new movies I've watched in a long time. Liam Neeson gives a wooden performance as a retired spy who seems much more like a psychotic mass murderer who's supposed to be justified in anything he does because his daughter( a hard-faced thirty-year -old playing a gushing seventeen-year-old) has been kidnapped by really nasty Albanians(the best actors in the movie) This makes an excuse for a huge bloodbath that knows no rhyme,reason or consequence, with Neeson returning to everyday life after murdering half the population of France as if nothing has happened. The mediocre best of the film are the attempts to do classic car chases and other stereotypical staples of the spy and action movie genre, but while well orchestrated, they can't save the movie from its lack of credibility. Strange movie, and as competition to the Bourne series, an epic fail.
 
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Agreed about Taken - I thought it was horrible.

But I have to say I think Neeson kicks ass as an asskicker ;)
 
Agreed, he just needs something resembling a decent script. Actually, he'd do pretty well in a Bond-style movie, even though he's a bit...mature. ;)
 
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The beginning sequences of UP showing the courtship of the old man & Ellie up until her death makes me sob every time, as does the montage at the end during the credits. Pixar really knows how to make films that are not just silly cartoons. I remember when I saw it in the theater as the streams of tears were flowing for myself and my wife and I'm thinking the whole time "It's a stupid cartoon, why am I crying?" Then throughout the film I had to choke back tears every time the haunting and beautiful Ellie motif was played. This is my favorite Pixar film next to The Incredibles.

Then again, the song and sequence about Jessie in Toy Story 2 sung by Sarah McLaughlin (sp?) is a tear jerker too, so I shouldn't be surprised about Pixar's ability to make the viewer emote.

I agree about the start of the movie; the scenes and sequences are very well made. And are almost without any words at all; they are all made only with animation or nearly so. As far I can tell this is not a movie for children or a family movie, (well, maybe it is a family movie?), but definetely not a movie only for children. Why is it so that animated movies or movies like the new Alice (in Wonderland) movie(directed by Tim Burton) are seen as children (only) for kids?

As far as the Movie 'up' goes, yes, the credits and the montage shown during these made a tear or two come to my eye as well.
 
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Well I just got back from seeing Shutter Island, and I have to say I was pretty disappointed. The "big twist" was a big letdown to me, and I thought the movie effectively climaxed about 20 minutes before it actually ended.


On a side note: who's the genius that came up with the idea of selling popcorn in movie theatres? Could there possibly be a more annoying sound to have to listen to? I swear it seems like every time I go to the theatre, there's a couple sitting behind me munching popcorn like f*cking cows the entire time. :mad:
 
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Alice in Wonderland, 3D version
The movie was shot in 2D and post-processed into 3D. They did OK, but I don't think you'd lose much watching the 2D version. The movie wasn't bad. Lots of freaky visuals as you'd expect from a Tim Burton take on a rather freaky story. None of the actors turn in a knockout performance, but everybody gets the job done. Overall, a good film for the family. The visuals are "big" enough that it will play a little better on the big screen, so interested parties should definitely catch this one in the theatre, maybe even at full price.
 
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The Hurt Locker

Not a bad movie by any means, but I'm still trying to understand how it won "Best Picture". The only conclusion I can come to is that 2009 was a weaker than average year for movies. Definitely worth seeing once though, just be warned that it has some pretty violent scenes.
 
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Has anyone watch "REC 2" ? It isn't as good as 1 but it gives many more clues about what is happening .
"Finding Bliss" was okay but it somewhat stinks that it is made by women , i thought it was a movie about the pr0n industry and it turned out a romance , i am not that old to watch love movies.
 
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watched "Marley and Me", relentless tear-jerker and undoubtedly got my girl all fired up about both getting a dog AND having a child. Thanks a lot for the double whammy in one movie Owen, Jen.
 
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I watched "The onion" movie on Friday and im still laughing .

Also the "great white" was okay , specially the wife with turrets syndrome.


I enjoyed the American remake of REC, which was titled "Quarantine". I'm hoping they also do the same thing with REC 2.

No , i didn't like "Quarantine" , i find American remakes pretty poor so far , specially "Ringu" and "REC" .
 
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