Movie Reviews by Jape

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The Runaways
***
Dakota Fanning and Michael Shannon do a very good job but Kristen Stewart is just kind of... There. Also, the movie is too much of a by the numbers biopic and the supporting characters are totally underwritten.

Favorite Scene: onions and vodka lol

all in all, decent with a couple good performances

I plan to see "The American" tomorrow. Stay tuned for my review.



Cool, looking forward to The American as well. I didn't want to see it at first, but Ebert gave it four stars, so I'm obligated. I'll read your review first.

Welcome to the site by the way. You aren't wasting any time starting threads I see.
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"I want a film I watch to express either the joy of making cinema or the anguish of making cinema" -Francois Truffaut



The American
***

"Control" director Anton Corbijn's new film is a simple movie remarkably similar to Jim Jarmusch's "The Limits of Control". Clooney plays Jack/Edward/Mr. Butterfly, an assassin on a "working vacation" in Italy who builds a gun, befriends a priest and romances a prostitute. Clooney is rather good but the film is totally predictable, even though it's beautiful to look at.

The trailers beforehand were for "The Debt", "Catfish" and "Let Me In".



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
OK. This is what I love about movieforums. Look, I have no way of knowing if there's another site anywhere as awesome as this site. I have been to some awesome sites and contributed (at least I believe so) to what made them so much better than all the others. But this site has so many good posters, friends and loved ones that I feel no need to research other sites. Of course not, you Idiot!

Sorry Jupe about screwing you wonderful thread. I will respect things which deserve it from now on, and this deserves it.

The reason I'm actually making this post is not to suck up to Chris or Chris's Better Half or His Better Mom. It's to tell you that I still believe that this site is a miracle. How many other "movie forums" have been in existence continually for 10 years? MovieJustice was a great forums and I also thought of the Metacritic Forums as great although I wasn't doing too much moderating over there at the end.



EDIT - I have to admit that the above is really quite embarrassing in that I didn't actually tell you what made me make this post. What is was was (I like reading and saying that) that Jape saw the coming attraction for Catfish and since I signed up for "Thrillist", I got two free tickets to see an early screening of Catfish, but since I'm also in too much pain to go about 70 miles roundtrip by car and sit for 2+ hours, I put them in sarah's name. She didn't use the tix either though because she wanted to go see her friends from USC on campus that particular night before she flew away on a jet plane to Prague, the heart of Bohemia, to attend college this semester.
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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page



I just got back from Blockbuster (yeah, I still go there)

rented a few interesting looking movies including

Dario Argento's "Gaillo" with Adrien Brody, "The Chosen One" with Rob Schneider and the critically acclaimed "That Evening Sun"!



Macho
****

While certainly not a film for everyone, the edgy and intimate modern romance "Macho" was exactly what I look for in an edgy and intimate modern romance. The film is about the relationship between Paul, a more than slightly "off" Mexican immigrant and Sofi, a pretty Canadian. The film is sort of like a darker "(500) Days of Summer" but, while I liked that movie (even though I liked "Peter and Vandy" alot more), "Macho" worked as a nearly perfect modern romance for me, even If you sometimes wanted to punch Paul and tell him he is an idiot. The ending feels a little tacked on but I still really like this movie alot! If you like your romances a little bit darker, check this one out!



The American is a great movie! I think this George Clooney's role here is just similar to the Peacemaker film.



Don't know what I'm gonna watch next as it's kind of hard to follow up a film as great as "Macho". Maybe a DVD or the new Isabel Coixet movie... We'll have to wait and see!



Map of the Sounds of Tokyo
**

Isabel Coixet makes methodically slow films, I realize that, but her latest is so slow it makes "The American" look like a Michael Bay film by camparison. Rinko Kikuci and Sergi Lopez star and give decent performances in this film that is pretty much "The American" meets "Lost in Translation" by way of a Skinemax film (although the sex scenes aren't as explicit as I thought they'd be). I have no problems with slow movies but this one drags like crazy. Definately Coixet's weakest film to date. The ** are mostly for the cinematography and the chemistry between leads Kikuci and Lopez.



That Evening Sun
***1/2

Hal Holbrook, in what will probably be his final lead role, plays the elderly Abner, who returns to his old home only to find it being lived in by the volatile Lonzo and his family. Ray McKinnon got a Spirit Award nomination for his role as Lonzo and he does a good job, as does Mia Wasikowska (also a Spirit Award nominee, neither won) as Lonzo's nubile daughter but this is very much Holbrook's film. How did the multiple Emmy winner and former Oscar nominee NOT get nominated for a Spirit Award for his role here? Beats the Hell outta me! The film is slow but in a good way and there's nothing truely "extraordinary" about it but it is still a very good film.



Solitary Man
***1/2

Ben Kalmen is not a likeable guy. In fact, he is a total jackass but seeing as Kalmen is played by Michael Douglas in "Solitary Man" , you can't help but feel kind of sorry for the guy as his life spins out of control and things go from bad to worse. The film features good performances from the eclectic all-star cast and a great, memorable ending. Also, who doesn't love a movie starring both Danny DeVito and Lenny Venito?



Really? I thought it was barely passable, as well as unbelievably forgettable.

It was far from a masterpiece but I liked it quite a bit. I also had LOW expectations going in. Have you seen the other movies I've reviewed so far. I would love to hear another person's take on "Macho" which was one of my favorites this year so far or "Map of the Sounds of Tokyo" which I didn't like so much.