Rate the Last Movie You Saw

[Hedda Gabler]

It's available on Netflix too if you have that service. I've been watching.

Had not heard of this before so I googled it. Looks very interesting and a video rental store near my office has it. I will be watching this soon. Thanks!

[Tommy]

Oz the Great and Powerful: A prequel to the 1939 film that has Oscar Diggs escaping his life as a con man in a Kansas carnival and landing in Oz. The problem with this film seems to be the lead actors. Franco seems really uncomfortable playing Oz, he's either over or underacting in the wrong places (he only seems to find his comfort zone in a grand showdown with the witch sisters--but then, he's behind the curtain.) Kunis induces laughter rather than chills as the Wicked Witch and Williams is just bland as Glinda. The intial glimpses of the land of Oz unnecessarily decorative, but there are visual marvels abound in the film. And Weisz, Braff, and King are quite good.

Plus the kiddies seemed to like it.

3/5

Saw this today and I could not have put it better myself, totally agree

[TJCams]

Snitch - starring Dwayne Johnson. Saw this last night. May contain some spoilers, so sorry in advance....It was a movie, that when watching the TV ads, I thought that it would be pretty good. Wouldn't go out my way to watch it in theatre though. Being March break for the grade schools here, and stuck at work all week, we went out last night and saw this. We were amongst a whopping 10 people in the show. I was actually very happy with this movie. It's an action movie basically dealing with Dwayne Johnson's character trying to get his son a lighter sentence, as he was set up by a buddy in a drug trafficing bust (he snitched on his buddy). There are connections to the local drug dealer king pin so to speak, who is thus connected to the bigger boys of the Mexican drug cartels. The cops want to get the bigger fish, and of course there is some political posturing involved too.

Not a lot of language really, no sex/nudity, lots of gun violence though, although not over the top.

I would give it 4/5

[Theli]

I just watched 1408 again recently. I think it's one of King's better movie adaptations. I like the fact that it uses mostly cheap but effective practical effects instead of overloading on the CG. After a while the constant shock scares get to be a bit repetitive. That said the film does still maintain a unsettling atmosphere throughout. Overall a good movie, I'm not big on rating so I'll just make up on arbitrary number; 10/13.

[srboone]

A few weeks ago, the movie house I haunt on Thursday midnights openned a bar in the lobby. Which means that I'm probably gonna go see more crappy movies than I ordinarily would, because what goes better with a crappy movie (or a good one for that matter) than beer or two...or three...or I lost count. Anyway, this is Bridget, who always pours a Guiness and has it waiting form me as soon as I walk through the door. Gotta love a woman like that! (Yes, that is a copy of Nemesis setting on the counter that I had with me to read before the show started.)

DSCF3668 (640x480).jpg

A couple of beers and I was ready to go!

Olympus Has Fallen: It's Die Hard in the White House with Gerard Butler taking on the North Korean terrorists (get with the program John Mclane, Russian terrosits are so last decade) that have infiltrated the most uninfiltratible (is that a word or the beer talking, I dunno) place on the planet. It's a plain and generic actioner that does have a lot of suspense generated by Antoine Fuquoa's tense direction. It's also got some pretty good action sequences (with copious amounts of blood spilled). No character development or serious plot points to be found here, but Butler is a better McLane than Bruce Willis was in Die Hard 5 (or 6, I don'remember) and it's his solid presence that makes the film work. Morgan Freeman plays the Speaker of the House, but neutalizing the President and Vice-President is a good excuse to make him the acting President (which is always a good idea in movies!), but here he seems bored with his role and doesn't generate much excitement on his own. And Aaron Eckhardt, that paragon of charismatic leadership, is grotesquely under used as the hostage President.

In the end it's a flag-waving bit of machismo and the feel good movie of the spring as the first lady bites it in the riveting opening act (did I really say that? I guess I did...).

3.5/5

[Martin]

I do not have Netflix, but thanks for the heads up.

It's available on Netflix too if you have that service. I've been watching.

[mahduk]

I guess the last movie I saw was Mum & Dad. I thought it was pretty disturbing because it seemed realistically over-the-top, if that makes any sense. The kind of stuff you would yet wouldn't be surprised to read in the newspaper (if people still read newspapers, that is).

3.5/5

[jester05jk]

Sound City - Fantastic for any music lover. It's about the studio in LA that recorded probably 2/3 of the popular music from the 70 and 80's, and a handful of 90's. It was done by Dave Grohl and you can tell how much of a fan he is in it. Truly an effort of passion.

5/5

[Tommy]

Room 237 - Probably about 75-80% of this is pure bullshit but I don't think the movie was meant to try and convince anyone of what a handful of fanatics have come up after watching The Shining dozens of times (sometimes forwards and backwards at the same time!). Kubrick, we learn, was a genius with a 200 IQ and was quite capable of layering the film with multiple themes and hidden meanings and even a joke here and there (possibly even a big F U to King himself) but some of the theories are really out there. I do find it amusing and somewhat great that people are so enamored with a work of art, it's very reassuring in an extremely odd sort of way. If you are a conspiracy theorist, I would recommend avoiding the film because it may drive you insane but the casual viewer will find it entertaining if not a bit nutty as well.

3/5

p.s. one of the biggest fanatics of The Shining is not in the film but his writings about it are mentioned in passing so I looked him up and here is a link to his musings, quite something
http://www.mstrmnd.com/log/802

[Theli]

I don't know how many of you are fans of horror movies. But one of the great european horror directors, Jess Franco, passed away 2 days ago. He was famous as a low budget, lots of gore and lots of girls, horror director. His most famous films are The Awful Dr. Orloff, Venus in Furs, Count Dracula (featuring Christopher Lee), and Vampyros Lesbos. In his honour I watched Jack the Ripper (1976) last night. Out of the Jess Franco films I have watched, this is my favourite. It follows the story of Jack the Ripper, mixed with a heavy dose of Jekyll and Hyde. Overall a good creepy movie, mostly shot on location and not on set. Tons of fog. There's a decent amount of gore, one dismemberment scene and one near necrophilia scene which I imagine would have been rather controversial at the time. Klaus Kinski plays Jack and he nails the roll. Despite being dubbed his facial expressions add a lot to his character and he plays a man with troubled mind very well. I also dig the Freudian slant to this telling of the Ripper tale. Overall a great film.

[srboone]

Jack the Ripper is a good film. Roger Ebert died today at 70. Another sad day in the film world...

[Neiaushie79]

I love Jack the Ripper. I have a habit of watching that, Nosferatu, and Flesh for Frankenstein back to back. RIP to Franco and Ebert

[Tommy]

Roger Ebert died today at 70. Another sad day in the film world...

I have been in mourning since hearing this sad news, I have been a fan of Ebert's for years and I will miss his writing quite a bit

[srboone]

Evil Dead: Another outing into the woods for an encounter with The Book of the Dead in an isolated cabin. The only way I can review this movie is to forget that it's a remake and look at it as a new movie. And in doing so, I see a standard and unexceptional entry into the horror genre. As a remake, it's failings are greater. A chained cellar trap door, a shotgun, a chainsaw, and a woman-ravishing forest--all the story elements are there, but they're buried in the dirt and and grit and grime that typifies today's horror films. There's no spark of aburdist humor or surreal imagery--and no ASH! It has it's moments (the finale is rather energetic, though there are at least 2 too many climaxes prior to that), but it gets boring after 30 minutes and only picks up toward the end.

I wish it had been groovier. But stay thru the credits, better days may be ahead.

2.5/5

[TerryE]

I have been in mourning since hearing this sad news, I have been a fan of Ebert's for years and I will miss his writing quite a bit

I'm also quite saddened by the passing of Roger. I didn't always agree with his taste, but his reviews were always enjoyable, especially the movies he didn't enjoy, like this great little tidbit from his review of "Armageddon" - "No matter what they're charging to get in, it's worth more to get out."