Last movies you saw

[Teuthida]

Predators
Fine movie. All the characters were interesting.

Seven Psychopaths
Very good. Not In Bruges good. But few things are.

Die Hard 2
My least favorite of the series. Found it incredibly boring and the whole "Isn't it crazy how the same stuff is a happening again?" got tiresome.

Die Hard: With a Vengeance
Been a while since I saw the first but I think this is my favorite of the bunch. Seeing mid-90s NYC played a large role in that.

Live Free or Die Hard
Don't really get why folks hate this one. Decent movie. No more crazier than anything that came before it.

Terminator Salvation
Probably could tear this apart if I remember the timeline of the series. But I enjoyed. Christian Bale, not so much.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
Haven't seen the first one. Just watched this one because it was the Crank directors. It was..........well, it was something. Things I did like: 1) How crazy Nic Cage acted, especially while trying to keep back the Rider and when transforemed. 2) How the rider moved. Loved how twitchy he was. 3) Idris Elba. Probably the worst performance I've seen from him...but still one of the better parts of the film. Needs to star in his own superhero movie already.

[Angrist]

Casablanca 9/10
Great movie, I can see why it's in the top 10 or so.

Walkabout 7/10
These 70 movies could be quite slow, but it was pretty interesting nontheless.

Blood Diamond 8/10
Woah, quite shocking but such a good movie.

[KillerGremlin]

Originally Posted by Teuthida

Die Hard 2
My least favorite of the series. Found it incredibly boring and the whole "Isn't it crazy how the same stuff is a happening again?" got tiresome.

Die Hard: With a Vengeance
Been a while since I saw the first but I think this is my favorite of the bunch. Seeing mid-90s NYC played a large role in that.

Live Free or Die Hard
Don't really get why folks hate this one. Decent movie. No more crazier than anything that came before it.

I feel like Die Hard 3 is the campiest of the bunch...but it's still a fun movie. If I had to rank the sequels (because let's face it, the original is the best), I'd probably change my rankings based on my mood.

As films: 2, 4, 3

If I'm drinking (as I'm wont to do when watching movies like Die Hard): 3, 2, 4

I have pretty low expectations for the new one....but you know, I'll see it, because I'm stupid like that.

[Angrist]

Warhorse 4/10
UGH! Such a painfully bad movie. From the beginning to end it's full of clichés, overacting, bad story, frustrating decision making...
We actually thought of not finishing the movie, but we decided to just watch it for laughs.
Anyone with a horse can see how unrealistic it all is... and I assume most other people can as well.

Edit: There was actually one scene that I enjoyed: where the horse runs on the battlefield and jumps over the trenches. Pretty epic... until it runs through 3 barbed wire fences (but still doesn't die!).

[Teuthida]

In Search of Steve Ditko
A nice documentary about the co-creator of Spider-Man. It's up on youtube in full if want to watch.

Valhalla Rising
Took me forever to get around to watching this. I knew it was going to be quiet and slow, so waited until I was in the right mood. And I'm glad it did. It's awfully quiet (the main character is completely mute) and very slow. But I enjoyed it a good deal.

Skyfall
Not much of a Bond fan, but I enjoyed this well enough. That is until we learn James Bond is actually Bruce Wayne and rather than become Batman joined the MI6. And then it goes all Home Alone. http://i.imgur.com/Sf0JC.jpg Nice looking film though.

[Angrist]

Ah yeah, I also watched Skyfall. Pretty good Bond/Bourne blend, but I don't get what the big deal is.

[Vampyr]

Originally Posted by Angrist

Ah yeah, I also watched Skyfall. Pretty good Bond/Bourne blend, but I don't get what the big deal is.

I think Skyfall is uniquely good because it's an awesome/fun action movie, but also has some of the best cinematography and use of lighting and color of any movie I've seen. Pretty rare combination, and makes for a good viewing experience.

[Teuthida]

Ted
Enjoyed it for the most part.

Wreck-It Ralph
Pure joy. Of the three nominated animated features I've seen, this was definitely the best.

Life of Pi
It's been a long while since I read the book but felt pretty spot on. Great film.

[BreakABone]

Originally Posted by Teuthida

Ted
Enjoyed it for the most part.

Wreck-It Ralph
Pure joy. Of the three nominated animated features I've seen, this was definitely the best.

Life of Pi
It's been a long while since I read the book but felt pretty spot on. Great film.

I can't believe Wreck-It Ralph lost out to Brave.. I can't believe Paranorman lost out to Brave

I liked Brave, but it wasn't Pixar's best foot forward nor was it the best animated film of last year

[Teuthida]

I still need to see Paranorman.


Argo
That won best feature film? Really? That? Well...ok. End spoiler.

[Teuthida]

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
It wasn't so much a movie but a series of events that kept on going. At the 30 minute mark I was loving it and wanted it to go on forever. Toward the middle I kept looking at the clock and couldn't believe I had a whole other half to go. Had to take a break from it. By the end I wanted to it to continue on and on. It's been a long while since I read the book, so a bit hazy on the details, but man does it feel like they added a ton of stuff. There was like one line devoted to Azog and now he's this big bad (a cool looking one at least) and the Gollum/Bilbo interaction was different. I wonder what it would have been like had the LoTR movies not already occurred. Still, that was some great acting from Andy Serkis and the animation team. Overall it was just cool to revisit this world.

http://www.cracked.com/article_20315...re-honest.html

[Teuthida]

Dabangg
Quite fun. Couldn't get over how one of the characters looked like an Indian Joaquin Phoenix though.

The Good, the Bad, the Weird
Pretty good. Not bad. Could have been weirder. Be careful which version you watch. The one on Netflix cuts off the ending.

The Hangover Part II
Yeah... Suffers from Die Hard 2 syndrome where the characters remark how similar things are to the last time it happened.

Superman: Unbound
Lois Lane is awesome in this movie. That's about all the good I can say about it.

A History of Violence
Some questionable acting at parts, but enjoyed it overall.

The Intouchables
The definition of a feel good movie.

Iron Man 3
Would be nice to be able to watch a superhero movie without someone ruining the twist/ending for me. Happened right before I was about to watch too. So close. Was an alright movie. Think I had my hopes up too high because of Shane Black...but it was a Shane Black movie...right down to it being Christmas...it's always Christmas.

Dogtooth
Still trying to process this one. Sort of like The Village in that a man and a woman raise three children completely secluded from the outside world. About where the similarity ends. Heard it described as Plato's Allegory of the Cave + child abuse. Pretty accurate.

[Vampyr]

I saw Iron Man 3 last weekend. It was good - quite a bit better than the second one, but that's not really saying much.

My one complaint is that Tony Stark sucked as Iron Man in this movie. Not his acting, just his capabilities as a super hero. He spent more time getting knocked out of his suit than fighting in it.

[Teuthida]

Haven't updated this thread in a while.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
The Boondock Saints
The Dictator
Yes Man
Full Metal Jacket
Evil Dead II
Army Of Darkness
I Sell The Dead
Warm Bodies
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
Observe and Report
An American Werewolf in London
Man of Steel
Bicentennial Man
Bachelorette
End Of Watch
Rubber
God Bless America
The Mist
Gran Torino
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (American)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End
The Greatest Movie Ever Rolled
Silver Linings Playbook
Wolf Children: Ame & Yuki
Into the Forest of Fireflies' Light

Cloud Atlas
Pretty much the only one I want to talk about. And mostly how it compares to the book. Some minor spoilers.

I just finished reading the book after many many months. Would read a couple pages here and a few more there and then put it down for weeks at a time. Really wouldn't call it an enjoyable read. Pretty much only finished it because there was the movie to watch at the end. And there were some pretty interesting visuals described in the book I wanted to see.

I must say, might be one of those rare cases where the movie is better than the book. The book would be enjoyable if you're a writer or an English major perhaps. The author completely changes the writing styles between the different passages which is pretty impressive, though reading the far future story completely in the manner they speak in the movie was a huge pain.

But there is really nothing connecting the stories in the book other than the fact that one of the characters was actually previously reading the chapter you as the reader also just finished. So they share the same frustration you have about having to wait to read the conclusion. And that birthmark...which is on different people than in the movie. I think that was my biggest problem. It was like a collection of short stories with each split down the middle. Once you finally get going and start to enjoy one it's over for quite some time.

The movie ties everything together so much more neatly and is far more entertaining jumping between each bit. The book in comparison splits each up into two. So it starts with the earliest story on the boat and at the halfway point it cuts to the composer and in the middle of that cuts to Luisa's story and so on. And then after the far far future which is the only one that's a whole, it starts going back in time to finish the second half of each ending on the boat story.

The book is almost devoid of the reincarnation aspect (aside for a couple characters having the birthmark) so it was quite cool to track everyone's progression in the film. I really liked that. A much happier ending as well. And felt more like an ending than the book's. The film just made more sense being one piece of work. Eh, maybe if I read the book in one go I would have picked up on more things connecting with each other. Oh yeah, and thought it strange that Tom Hanks was playing a character who in the book was a kid but again makes much more sense with how the movie is set up.

The only downside was the makeup. More miss than hit. And while most of the changes made from the book made it a tighter story, I'm quite sad about the bits left out from the Soonmi story. There were some really cool fabricants in the book which were made for special tasks so they looked far from human. And there was a whole slew of other cool looking stuff I really wanted to see in the film that they apparently left out in favor of more gun play.

[Seth]

[book diversion cuz of Cloud Atlas]

I've had a couple friends recommend Cloud Atlas. Don't know anything about it except your general abstract. Reincarnation? I read a tetrology by Yukio Mishima back in 2004/5. He committed public seppuka after finishing the fourth book as a protest regarding the Japanese political situation. Probably wanted autonomy but I'm not sure. Anyway, I highly recommend it. It delves into reincarnation but not so heavily that the theme becomes overbearing. An amazing author and I can only imagine how much of his syntax and style was lost in translation. [/diversion]

Going Berserk - John Candy flick from the early 80's. It was bad as can be imagined but not a total failure. Some weird mind control elements gave it a unique, retroactive glimpse of the popular concept of mkultra types of hypnosis. Think zoolander or manchurian only no budget and one true hollywood star in the cast. I'd say skip unless you love Candy ass

Knuckleball - 2012 documentary about Tim Wakefield and R.A. Dickey. I'm a big Jays fan because I came into larger consciousness back in 1992,93. Dickey is fun to watch. I saw all three games in Seattle this week and had a great time. I've been practicing my knuckleball since viewing.

Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai - Recent Takashi Miike film that is a remake of the Seppuka (1962) film by Kobayashi. Great. Cathartic to the nines. Both films are brilliant examples of a simple premise that utilizes flashback perfectly. So sad, but good.

Everything Must Go - a great Will Ferrel movie that doesn't get typically goofy. In the same vein as Stranger Than Fiction.