Rate the Last Movie You Saw

[Lou Sytsma]

srboone that was a highly entertaining and also informative review. Nicely done sir!

[srboone]

Thank you, Lou. I always look forward to your take on films.

[Lou Sytsma]

Thank you, Lou. I always look forward to your take on films.

Most kind! Thanks to you too!

[srboone]

Gangster Squad: This comic-book gangster fantasy has so much going for it: perfect A-list cast (the square-jawed Josh Brolin, angel-faced Ryan Gosling, a stunningly glamourous Emma Stone, a mustachioed sharp-shooting Robert Patrick, the wormy intelligencia of Giovanni Ribsi, the raspy-voiced Nick Nolte, and a marvelously scene-chewing Sean Penn), great production design, beautiful cinematography, lighting that almost becomes a character in the movie, gloriously over-the-top brutality (the openning scene warns you that this is going to get ugly), and the politcally incorrect language of the era. It's a gorgeous film to watch. It suffers only from a shallow script with no character development (when Sean Penn starts chewing the scenery, that's a sure sign there's not enough meat to his character). It's The Untouchables Lite, but there's enough to the film to make it worthwhile.

3/5

A scene with a shootout in a movie theater was excised after the incident in Aurora (movie houses immediately cut the scene from Gangster Squad trailers that were playing and the late December release date was moved to mid-January.) Reminds me of The Program which had a scene of people getting drunk and lying in the middle of the road to make cars swerve around them for the first two weeks of it's release until stupid teenagers starting imitating it (and dying, go figure)--the studio promptly had it removed from the film and it's never been seen since (I have only vague memories of it--but I did see it).

[TerryE]

Your review sounds almost exactly like Ebert's. He specifically mentioned that it was an Untouchables wanna-be without the benefit of a Mamet script.

[srboone]

When I first saw the trailer for GS, I started thinking The Untouchables set in LA. I didn't know what to expect though, because with TU, I knew what to expect from a Brian Depalma film; with Ruben Fleischer, the only film I could use as a base for expectations was Zombieland. But when it comes to movies, the big points like story, character development, and production design are usually consistent with most reviewers (except for those people who have their blurbs on TV spots for movies--who'll say they like anything if an ad agency will buy their blurbs.)

I haven't followed Ebert's reviews though since 1999. I was a fan of Gene Siskel, mostly.

[RJK1981]

I haven't followed Ebert's reviews though since 1999. I was a fan of Gene Siskel, mostly.

I'm a fan Ebert's myself, he seems to have similar views on movies as me, though there are definitely some reviews I have disagreed with. I never paid attention when Siskel was doing it. I follow Ebert on Facebook, which is likely the only reason I ever discovered the independent movie Bernie, which as I said in an earlier review is one of the best movies I've seen in a while.

[Lou Sytsma]

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D - pretty much echo srboone's post but I rank it lower - like a 2/5. Such a promising start too with the prologue - a 3D reimaging of the original. Well done.

The character behaviour in this movie is ridiculous and unbelievable - the lead, especially so. Once the van flips, any terror turns to unintentional humor. At least at my viewing, laughter became quite prevalent after that moment. One character leaves the movie never to be heard or seen again. Sloppy.

The best sequence is the one srboone mentioned, the lone officer going into the lair. The tension is quite thick during those scenes and leads to a great payoff.

[srboone]

Mama: Two young girls disappear in the woods out side Richmond, VA. Five years later, they are discovered alive and are adopted by their uncle. But the parental fiugre that raised them isn't ready to give them up yet. This isn't a horror film. It's a ghost story. And it's a fairly decent one. It has an outstanding prologue, but that's about it for story. The rest is an uninspired patiche of horror movie chliches made watchable by an unrecognizable Jessica Chastain and two wonderful young actresses playing the the girls. There are some genuine shocks in the movie (cheapened by sound effects into gotcha moments) and some arresting dream sequences (hopefully hinting at what writer/director Muschietti will bring to the table in future endeavors), but the overall result is lackluster--especially in the disappointingly cartoonish climactic CGI.

2.5/5

[TJCams]

Squire - that is disappointing, if not expected. I saw the trailer for this, when I went to the show to see Sinister. I am really hoping for a good horror movie, even if it is a ghost story, to come out in the near future. It seems, they never live up to the hype, and then at the show, you are left feeling let down.

That is one of my fears for the new Carrie. Not that the original was really a truly scary movie. I hope they don't cheapen it.

Last night a watched The Haunting in Connecticut for the second time. This, IMO, is a good movie. It too is a ghost story. Was it scary? No, not really at all. But it had a good story, and was supposedly based on a real story - which also happened to be a segment on Discovery Channel show A Haunting.

Still trying to find a movie that will truly freak the shit out of me.

[Dan Hocker]

The remake of Evil Dead looks promising, for fans of Horror movies. I thought the trailer looked fantastic and I don't even like horror movies. I don't think I'd ever have seen MAMA though, I hate creepy children movies.

[srboone]

Looking forward to that to that one! But one thing I've noticed about horror movies is that the ones that deal with character and atmosphere are successful and the ones that focus on the pain of the victim are just mindless pieces of junk (I hope they don't take this route with the new ED). There are notable exceptions, of course, but for the most part that holds true.

[Randy D. Rubin]

Mama is the worst scary movie ever. There is an article out on this crap-fest something to the effect of the 8 things wrong with Mama the movie. Thank heavens for the bootlegger. if I'd spent 13 bucks on this movie I'dhave called a cop, screaming robbery.

[bstee]

Have to agree with the review of srboone on Silver Linings Playbook. My wife was excited to see a "dance movie" and hit me about half way through thinking I pulled a fast one as it was really about Eagles Football. In the end we both got something. Yes, Jennifer Lawrence cracked me up throughout in a melancholy yet funny deadpan adorable role. With Winter's Bone, then the Mega Hit Hunger Games, she is shaping up to be perhaps our best young actress working. 4/5.

I have to say the boxes of cereal to get discounted movie tickets reminds me of when we were able to get 500 frequent flyer miles from Kellog's Granola bars about a decade ago. I bought about 100 boxes of granola and they went towards a trip to Hawaii, and yes I know - that sounds exactly like a movie; Punch Drunk Love. Only in real life I don't think it was ever on pudding. But I did wind up with about 500 bars of Granola at the same time I was trying to go on Atkins for a trip to Hawaii (choose to believe or not).

[RJK1981]

13 bucks for a movie? Wow, glad I live in MN. Theater by me is $5 Monday-Thursday. More on the weekend though. Other theaters cost a little more, but not that much! I plan to see Mama myself, though likely not in a movie theater.

And good deal on the flyer miles bstee! Well, except for the Atkins part, and the granola part too I suppose since I find every granola bar I've tried to be gross (Even delicious sounding chocolate ones)