Cole's Film Reviews

The Social Network Drama. David Fincher. 2010.


This film once again proves that David Fincher is one of the best directors in the business today. It's smart, witty, and surprisingly really clear to me and exciting. The way he went through the story, from flashback to the lawsuit with Eduardo and the Winklevosses was great because it helped with the understanding of everything happening. During the movie, I couldn't really tell if this was more pro-Zuckerberg or anti-Zuckerberg, but I came to the conclusion that really it was just an entertaining work of art that helped people understand what all went on when Facebook was launched. Zuckerberg, in interviews actually said he didn't like the portrayal of himself and said that Fincher made up a lot of parts, which makes little sense to me because most of the things shown in the movie were said to have happened while someone (including Mark) was under oath. To get back on topic, the editing, dialogue, and acting in it were terrific. I feel like Andrew Garfield really is a good young actor, and he did a phenomenal job in what looks like his best movie as of now. I think he should have atleast been nominated for an Oscar, but I guess 5 Oscar nods from the movie were enough. Would recommend this movie if you are interested in more of a calm Fincher movie, which is really unlike his others.




OTHERS:

Panic Room

I really liked Panic Room, but I like violent movies.

After looking at the massive hype regarding this movie, I came in thinking this might be Tarantino's "modern masterpiece". I wasn't completely disappointed in this after watching, but I felt like this was less of a masterpiece and more of just good satire. In fact, I wouldn't rank Basterds in my top 5 Tarantino flicks and it is a level below his next released film, Django Unchained.

Inglorious Basterds is a film about a group of Jewish-born Americans who try to take down the Nazi army, along with an escaped Jewish woman with revenge on her mind. The leader of the Basterds is Lt. Aldo Raine (Pitt), who leads his group into Nazi occupied France in hopes to end the war for the allies. As we get deeper into the movie, they end up being up against a crazy Col. Hans Landa or otherwise known as "The Jew Hunter". He plans on stopping the Basterds before they can do anything to their Führer, Adolf Hitler.

To start, most of the acting was superb. Christoph Waltz gives me no doubts that he is one of the best actors in Hollywood and Brad Pitt puts together another badass performance. The surprising performance to me was Melanie Laurent. I hadn't even heard of her before I watched this film, but she proves she can handle herself with superstars like Pitt and Waltz which is really amazing.

Most of the time with Tarantino flicks I love the dialogue, but in Basterds sometimes I felt like it was just unneeded. If you put this next to movies like Pulp Fiction, with famous scenes like Ezekiel 25:17 and "A Royale with Cheese" or even in Tarantino's first work, Reservoir Dogs with the tip scene it just doesn't compare. The few I actually did get a kick out of though, were "The Bear Jew" and "Who Am I Game" conversations. You could see the potential of this film, but some of the parts were just unlike what we come to expect from QT.

What I did enjoy the most, though, were the characters. Like all Tarantino films, there are no real "heroes" only "anti-heroes" like Jules Winfield and Mr. Pink. Pitt played an exceptional anti-hero in this as Aldo Raine who has good intentions but just isn't a good person. The other characters I especially liked were Hans Landa and The Bear Jew. The scene where The Bear Jew (Roth) yells out after he knocks a Nazi dead with a bat made me laugh too damn hard, it was brilliant!

Overall, I see so much potential with this film but it just didn't hold up like I thought it would... or like what most people thought. By no means is this a bad movie but it just isn't what people proclaim it to be. I recommend it to you if you like Tarantino, though because you will be entertained.

+


Thank you guys, this was my first actual review done on here. This obviously is going to be pretty bad but I can promise I will get better!

Thank you to whoever accepted the review request!

This piece of garbage should've been declined...

Haha just kidding man, don't worry about whether it's good or bad, especially since it's your first proper review. And the fact that it's first official kind of review too, that will hopefully give you some blood on the tooth, and maybe the next it won't be better than some other people's reviews, but at least you will continue to compete with yourself and eventually write even better reviews than some of the best on here.

But after all, it isn't all about whether or not you can write reviews. We are all good at doing different things, and as long as you get your point and opinion across in a clear and smooth way, you've already done a great job. And though I can feel this is your first review, I won't say I have any doubts about what you are trying to say or anything. I will look forward to see your progress if you continue to write reviews, Cole!

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Thanks Meds, I appreciate the response. I'll try to put a few more out there until I go out on vacation next thursday!

I agree wholeheartedly about Inglorious Basterds. I wanted to like it more than I did, but I just wasn't crazy about it and thought some parts were pretty boring.

And I thought the review was great! Looking forward to more!

I also agree with your review of Basterds based on my one viewing. I'll be watching it again soon for the 7th Hall of Fame.

Updated my original post with my reviews

Gonna fire this back up, I need suggestions. I am still very new to movies, so basically anything from the 80s back I probably have not seen. I only have around 20% of the 80s list and like 15% of the 70s list. Thank you guys in advance and Destiny for telling me to keep note of all the suggestions.

Ok this time i'm actually firing this back out. Not all movies will have full reviews though.

Inception. Thriller. Christopher Nolan. 2010.

After basically refusing to watch this film just because of the insane hype regarding it, I decided to give in after getting it for a mere $5 at Target. I came in expecting something very pretentious (definitely an overused word) but instead I came out impressed with this.

The story is very simple (not really). Leo's character has the ability to enter peoples' dreams and is one of the best in the world at doing it. He then makes a deal with a very powerful business-owner to plant an idea in a competitor's mind to shut down their company and in exchange, he will get the charges against him dropped for his wife's death as he is wrongfully accused of it. The movie takes you through everything Leo encounters as you get to see all the twists and turns that he encounters while he is forced to go into someone's dream, in a dream, in a dream.

My thoughts on the film were that it was very complex but it didn't want to make you seem completely lost at any point which I really liked. Some movies make the plot get so deep that everyone is lost an hour in which is a major turn off for me. Although it did make you think quite a bit, it never seemed too deep to lose you. The concept itself was brilliant and it was backed up by great performances from Ellen Page, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, and the rest of the star-studded cast. But.. being the Christian Bale fan-boy that I am, I can't help but wonder how well he could have played this role. You'd think that all he and Nolan went through, that he'd be the star of this film. I can't complain though, because Leo is definitely one of my top 10 actors at the moment and pretty much is a guy where all of his movies are now must-sees.

Another thing I can say that I really enjoyed about this were the environments chosen by Nolan. They looked so great, and that stuff made it even more enjoyable. I definitely enjoyed that like most of Nolan's films. The only problem was the pace seemed to get so slow, and it dragged a bit. I think they could have squeezed a good 15 minutes out of this and still made it an amazing film. It might be a small nit-pick, but it really can make a difference in a film.

Overall, it was a very entertaining film and that's what I can come to expect from Nolan. The performances were great, the visuals were amazing, and the dialogue which can sometimes be an issue with Nolan's films was solid. Definitely not buying into the masterpiece hype, but it is one of the better Nolan films that I have seen.

+

I'm actually surprised that you liked the environments. That's one of my few criticisms. The first two dreams are kind of dull settings, and the third is snowy mountains which are contractually obligated to appear in every Nolan movie.

I found them all to be pretty breathtaking. My favorite one was surprisingly

Glad you liked Inception, Cole. When I read your low expectations I was getting ready to a review where everything just sucked right from the start! But thankfully, it did not end like that.

Glad to see you back at reviewing too, I was actually just wondering about your thread a little while ago.

Sorry, I was in bed and repped your post but was just too tired to answer it

Yeah I was surprised I liked it as much as I did. I hope I can pull out some more reviews soon.. and thanks for checking in!

Gonna add these in here...

The Town (rewatch) -
Rear Window -
Fracture (rewatch) -
Mystic River -
Good Will Hunting -
Lost in Translation -
Harsh Times -
The Princess Bride -
Clockwork Orange - NR

So glad you liked Rear Window!

You don't dare throw a bad rating at Clockwork Orange?

I'm afraid of the backlash that will come from it, but since MG is gone I might be a bit more safe

I also feel like I probably need to rewatch it to understand it more, either way I know it's not one of my favorites. :\

I don't rate Clockwork either. It's one of those films that I just don't understand why it gets so much love.

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I watched the opening 20-30 minutes like 5 times, before going all the way with it. That helped me understand the tone and theme of the film, which made the second half pay off way better for me. You can't have the first half without the second. I love how the film portrays and discusses violence and such, a great film imo. But I was ready to hate it those first times.

Reminds me how I also watched some of it in school many years back where I absolutely hated it. Maybe you'll come back to it in a year or two and love it - or maybe not. Whatever your dicision is, just he honest.

From yesterday I started to tighten my ratings on movies, simply because I have given out too many "sympathy ratings" to movies I know have respect but personally didn't like. It only ruins it for myself, by confusing my other ratings and F up my rating system. I'd much rather give a poor rating on the first watch and possibly understand it better a second time and lift my rating then. I just gave The Third Man a +. Doubt that's so popular either, though not too bad. I didn't hate it with a passion or anything...