Movie Tab II

I was worried that I'd be the only Nacho fan here. Now I just need somebody to come along and say they like MacGruber too.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

Nebraska (Alexander Payne, 2013): Everything about this film feels genuine: the well-drawn characters, the relationships, the naturalistic performances, the starkly beautiful landscape, the pathos, the emotion, the nostalgia. Bruce Dern is great as he shuffles from frame to frame, his mental faculties deteriorating. He's often absent even when he's present, but there are fleeting moments of clarity that illustrate the man he used to be. Will Forte shows a level of depth and restraint not previously seen in his SNL days. June Squibb is hilarious and threatens to steal the film. The use of black-and-white accentuates the mood and the barrenness of Big Sky country. The movie succeeds in many facets: it's funny, touching, poignant, relatable. It nails the father-son dynamic. It works as a road movie, an ode to Small Town, America and as a nostalgic love letter to the past. Definitely one of the better films of 2013.


The Bling Ring (Sofia Coppola, 2013): An indictment against today's materialistic, fame-obsessed, social-media addicted youth who idolize reality stars instead of true artists. In terms of theme, The Bling Ring reminds me a bit of Spring Breakers, but it lacks the hypnotic fever dream quality and bravura filmmaking that made the latter one of the best and boldest films of last year. (Yeah, you read that right.) The shallowness of the characters is mirrored in Coppola's direction. The film totters awkwardly from a non-judgmental retelling of true events to a non-committal attempt at social critique. Emma Watson shines, and the current soundtrack is a perfect complement, but I quickly lost interest in seeing the same basic robberies play out again and again. Just like its characters, The Bling Ring is pretty on the outside, empty on the inside.


Saving Mr. Banks (John Lee Hancock, 2013): I haven't watched Mary Poppins since I was in elementary school, so my lack of familiarity with the subject matter probably impeded my overall enjoyment of Saving Mr. Banks. However, there's no denying that this is a well-made film with two great performances from Thompson and Hanks. Personally, I found the revealing flashbacks more interesting than the documented difficulties of the film adaptation, since they reveal the inspiration behind the story and why fictional characters can be just as cherished as the real-life counterparts. It also made me want to revisit Mary Poppins.


Days of Thunder (Tony Scott, 1990): Days of Thunder is like a sleek car with nothing under the hood. I expected more from the script, since it's penned by Chinatown's Robert Towne, but it's full of corny dialogue and two-dimensional characters. The use of music is extremely cheesy. It also requires a major suspension of disbelief to accept Nicole Kidman as a brain surgeon. However, the film excels when on the track, with Scott's direction capturing the speed and thrills and danger of stock car racing. Too bad all the scenes off the track are such a drag.


Maximum Risk (Ringo Lam, 1996): I have a soft spot in my heart for Van Damme, so I'm predisposed to liking his films despite their glaring flaws. The plot involves crooked FBI agents, the Russian Mafia, and a previously unknown twin brother (perhaps a nod to Van Damme's earlier film Double Impact?). It's fairly convoluted and nonsensical even by action-movie standards, but the film delivers some impressive stunt work and a few decent action sequences (including one strangely homoerotic fight in a bathhouse) to make it marginally entertaining. Unfortunately, though, it didn't meet my quotient for roundhouse kicks to the face and the action isn't over-the-top enough to provide the same level of guilty pleasure that I get from some of Van Damme's other films.


Dom Hemingway (Richard Shepard, 2014): When the movie opened with a barely recognizable Jude Law delivering a long monologue about the magnificence of his c0ck, followed shortly afterwards by his release from prison as the killer soundtrack kicks in with force and he walks away with slow-motion swagger, I knew I was going to enjoy Dom Hemingway. Jude Law gives the best performance of his career in a meaty, verbose, scenery-chewing role that is full of attitude and profane enthusiasm. The narrative is a bit flabby and the direction a bit unfocused at times, but the titular character's larger-than-life personality and anything-goes attitude is reflected in the movie's playful, energetic spirit. Full of violence, f-bombs, drug use, nudity and great tunes, Dom Hemingway is a more amusing and entertaining version of Bronson. A pleasant surprise.


Blended (Frank Coraci, 2014): Adam Sandler is a master con artist. He convinces studios to pay for his vacations to various parts of the world. Then he casts a hot actress to make out with him while he's there. Meanwhile, several of his friends tag along under the guise of supporting actors and a crew tries to cobble together a film in the background. This time the paid vacation is to Africa, but instead of a hot actress he had to settle for past-her-prime Drew Barrymore (awaiting honeykid's response in 3 . . . 2 . . .) The chemistry that Sandler and Barrymore exhibited in 50 First Dates is absent in Blended. Like passionless sex between an old married couple, they're just going through the motions with a "let's get this over with as quickly as possible" defeated attitude. I felt the same way while watching this lazy, unfunny, obnoxious excuse of a movie.

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Adam Sandler as the vulgar auteur

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Mubi

Captain, did you really watch Blended?

I willingly subjected myself to Blended, just as I willingly subjected myself to Jack and Jill and the Grown Ups movies.

Watching Adam Sandler movies is me at my most masochistic.

It read as "writes itself". Also I'm coming up on 27 years of marriage now...

My analogy doesn't necessarily apply to you and your wife. I'm sure you're still a freak between the sheets.

A SuperFreak.

i was MacGruber in the last MoFo survivor !

I knew I liked you for a reason, nostromo.

my post in Movie Tab II back in June ↓

Classic MacGruber

oh god

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September, 2014 movies watched-

West Side Story (1961) Unfortunately I didn't care for the music and dancing. I still *enjoyed the liveliness of it

The Third Man (1949) Great story and performances, but it's the direction that makes it stand out

Two for the Road (1967) *Pretty effective take on the struggles of marriage, with strong performances from Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney.

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) A top shelf romantic comedy and a huge surprise for me

The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) Good old fashioned horror film, the kind I loved as a kid

One-Eyed Jacks (1961) Brando and Karl Malden give great performances in one of my new favorite Westerns

Last Year at Marienbad (1961) Beautuful to look at, but it never captured my interest

Blast of Silence (1961) From the top 100 noirs list, this wasn't overly memorable, but it was very solid

Miller's Crossing (1990) Not an elite gangster film for me, but definitely a very good one

Sense and Sensibility (1995) Don't care for costume drama, but this was maybe the best I've seen

The Rover (2014) An intense first 40 minutes and an excellent performance from Guy Pearce

Mary and Max (2009) Creative, clever, and very funny

Fat Girl (2001) Effective, but average movie until a big wtf ending that makes it memorable

Anatomy of Hell (2004) Slightly interesting and fairly nauseating

Viridiana (1961) In theory, this isn't the kind of subject matter that interests me, but this director is gifted

Triangle (2009) Creepy and Violent is a nice combination; very good movie

Toy Story (1995) Excellent movie, but at my age, I think there's a limit as to how much I can get into a children's movie

I Spit on Your Grave 2 (2013) Nicely sick and disturbing, and decent overall if you like these kinds of movies

Sanjuro (1962) Very good movie, but I think I'm having unfair expectations going into Kurosawa movies at the moment

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984) Great heroine, and I felt the magic and the danger

Days of Wine and Roses (1962) Just enough power from a movie I can relate to

Wild Strawberries (1957) Pretty fascinating; Bergman is 5 for 5 for me

Spetters (1980) Dutch film directed by Paul Verhoeven leaves a mark; bleak and disturbing

Before Sunrise (1995) The ending to this greatly frustrated me, but also made the movie for me

How to Steal a Million (1966) Very entertaining with a great pairing of Hepburn and O'Toole

Lawrence of Arabia (1962) Spectacular epic all around

10 Rillington Place (1971) I got just what I wanted out of this creepy serial killer movie based on a true story

Sweet Sixteen (2002) Realistic with emotion and power. I could've used subtitles

Michael Clayton (2007) Smart thriller with excellent performances

Touch of Evil (1958) Pretty much the same way I felt about The Third Man

Baise Moi (2000) If you like brutal violence mixed with hardcore sex, then this movie is for you

Ratatouille (2007) Big surprise here as I really loved this one*

Lolita (1962) I was hoping it would be a little more edgy, but it's a solid movie with fine performances

The Nutty Professor (1963) It's decent but I slightly prefer the Eddie Murphy remake

I Stand Alone (1998) Intense all the way through until a cop out ending

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) Starring James Stewart, John Wayne, and Lee Marvin. That's enough

Hud (1963) I believe this movie would be tremendously popular on this forum if enough members watch it

A Woman Under the Influence (1974) Repeat Viewing Very good movie that got me to think a little more the 2nd time around.

Good month for me, discovering a few new favorites.

2014 total movies watched-
January-46
February-37
March-45
April-45
May-57
June-44
July-37
August-50
September-38
Ytd-399

The movies I've watched since school started (august 24 or something like that)

Excellent
5 Centimeters per Second
L"âge des Ténèbres (Days of Darkness)

Very Very Good
Dancer in the Dark
Late Spring
Through a Glass Darkly
Joy Ride
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

Very Good
The Descent
Millenium Actress
Perfect Blue
Summer Wars
Ghost in the Shell
12 Monkeys

Good
Coriolanus
Fantastic Planet
A Walk Among the Tombstone

Okay
South Park Bigger Longer and Uncut
Pom Poko
Pain n Gain

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I do not speak english perfectly so expect some mistakes here and there in my messages

The movies I watched since the sophomore year started:

_

It started today. ;_;

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

(Tobe Hooper, 1979)





It's that time of year again! About this time every year, my girlfriend starts here 30 days of horror fest. We try to watch at least one horror flick per night, and it came to my attention that she had never seen nor even heard of Salem's Lot. When she mentioned it, I was on the fence in regards to watching, thinking that a TV miniseries from the 70s was probably going to look pretty long in the tooth these days. Get it?

Anyway, not only is Salem's Lot a pretty well-made TV miniseries, it has a couple of genuinely creepy scenes that had my girlfriend climbing the walls. Directed my Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Poltergeist), it's a step up from your typical TV mini. It's definitely dated in places, but some scenes hold up remarkably well. Sadly, the main character's hair style does not.

It does have issues, though. Originally a TV miniseries, it;s overlong, with plenty of drawn out development that could have been executed better, and a clumsy love-triangle that goes nowhere. That said, the cast is fairly strong, including James Mason, Elisha Cook Jr.,Bonnie Bedilia, Kenneth McMillan and more. Mason brings a classic horror movie vibe to the proceedings, and Cook Jr. is a legendary character actor from the Bogie and Bacall days.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by Salem's Lot, which has held up a bit better than one might expect for a 1979 TV miniseries.

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I've not watched it for quite a while, but I've always been a fan of Salem's Lot. I think that version is much better than the book it's adapted from, though most disagree... Surprisingly.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.