Rate the Last Movie You Saw

[Theli]

srboone, it's too bad to hear that Evil Dead didn't quite live up to expectations. I'll still check it out myself though, hopefully this weekend.

[srboone]

Well, that happens. It would be hard to live up to the original anyway. If anyone other than me has been keeping track, I rated Texas Chainsaw 3D higher than Evil Dead. I thought long and hard about that, bu Ii decided I'd rather watch TC3D agin before ED, simply because I think there were fewer silly scenes and more good to great scenes in TC3D .

[Theli]

Fair enough, but silly scenes is what made the Evil Dead series awesome!

[srboone]

But in a movie that strives for realism and grit, silly just seems out of place.

[Sock Monkey]

Well, I went saw Evil Dead today and I have to agree with srboone and say it was okay (BC at Horrormovieaday.com said it best with it was good enough). The special effects were great and nobody is going to complain that it wasn't brutal enough. Unfortunately, character development was non-existent (at least in the the original there was a little interaction before the possession started) and there were a few too many contrivances. The main one being if you have book that can call up demons and you're going to take the time to wrap it in plastic and barbed wire, why the heck would you just leave it on a table in the cellar of a cabin? There were some good ideas like Mia and her brother's backstory, but none of it was developed enough to make it count for anything. Yes, the movie continued the tradition of grueling, brutal horror that the original is known for, but it just would have meant more if there were fleshed out characters to root for. Rating: C-

[Theli]

You guys are depressing me, ha ha!

I just watched the Thing (2011) a couple of days ago. I must say I did enjoy it, but not really for the same reason as John Carpenter's the Thing. What made this one different is knowing the alien origins of the Thing right from get go. It ended up playing out more sci-fi than horror in my opinion. It lacked the claustrophobic feeling of the original. JC's the Thing featured an all male cast, which added tension to the whole affair, egos were constantly butting up against each other. Consequently I would have played up the fact that there was only 2 women at this camp in the Antarctic and added some sexual tension. Still it was a fun movie with some decent violence, an interesting enough story and good characters. I liked the little homages and tie-ins that were made throughout this movie, that was a good tribute to the fans. The practical FX are sorely missed though, JC's the Thing was STUNNING, this one is the same as any other CG filled film.

[Sock Monkey]

Finally watched The Hobbit. Not as bad as everyone I'd talked to made it out to be. It's not Lord of the Rings, but it wasn't supposed to be. The tones of the books are different so it should be no surprise that the movies go the same way. I think the experience would be the same if you read the books in reverse order. Overall, not a bad action/adventure fantasy, but it is very long and wondering how this will work over the course of two more movies. B-

[Menace]

"The Bay" not sure if anyone did a review on this on yet. I did not have high expectations on yet another found footage docu style movie but was surprised how well this movie was done and how real it seemed. Best found footage movie I have seen in awhile. I give it an 8.5/10

[srboone]

Well, I wanted to see 42 yesterday, but I didn't have $1000 for the ticket (and I thought Stephen King reception tickets were expensive)!The advance screening was sponsored by the Kansas CIty Monarchs and Nego League Museum and Harrison Ford was in attendance for a reception and post-movie Q&A. In fact, the movie theater had only 11 am showings on Thursday--to clear the theater for the 8 pm event. Oh well. I would have liked to go to my grave saying I shook Han Solo's hand, but...

42: A biopic of two years in the life of Jackie Robinson 1946-1948, covering his season in the minors and his first season in the majors. The film is more concerned with being a monument to Robinson than a penetrating look at the man, it is full of glamorized and glossed over moments of old-fashioned movie-making that may not be a home run, but definitely a double with a chance for three--depending how receptive you are to the movie's style. No better or no worse than The Blind Side (which I found to a slightly better quality Lifetime movie with an A-list cast). The movie definitely benefits from the hulking, seething athletic presence of Chadwick Boseman as Robinson; but it's Harrison Ford who, at the age of 70, surprises with a performance that just might be the first real acting he's done since 1984's Witness. Ford starts out as an overacting ham, but quickly settles into a fine performance that, hopefully, will be remembered at year's end. In the end, I wanted more out of this film, but it's hard not be carried away by it, especially when the audience sings the national anthem along with the actors during the openning day of the 1947 season sequence.

3.5/5

[Theli]

I finally watched Evil Dead tonight. Maybe it's because my expectations were a lowered a bit, but I freaking loved it. Sure it's not as good as the original, but it really lived up to the same spirit. I read somewhere that it's the film with the most fake blood, I can definitely believe that. I liked the mostly practical effects, it's refreshing in movies nowadays. I also loved the tributes to Raimi's directing style, like the ram o cam or *spoiler*the quick cuts with tons of zoom ins while making the defib unit. It has some good one liners and some over the top goofy sequences, which I think were intentional, and if not that's cool too. I wish they had gone a bit more into the past of the 4 friends/siblings, the back story was minimal, but honestly I was just waiting for shit to hit the fan, and when it did it exploded everywhere. So yeah, it was a pretty satisfying movie.

[srboone]

Oblivion: 60 years after Earth was devasted in an alien invasion, Tom Cruise is finishing up a five year tour of duty as caretaker to the machines that harvest Earth's remaining resources for mankind's survival on a nearby moon. This is a great-looking film, especially in IMAX. It's an homage to classic (including modern) sci-fi films that never seems like the mish-mash it really is. The story and character development is very weak and the film loses steam in the second half, but the preformances are so strong that you don't mind--too much. Not partciualrly memorable, but a lot of fun.

3.5/5

The Lords of Salem: Rob Zombie's latest cinematic exploitation offering. A bevy of salem witches return to present day to fullfil a curse they spewed in 1696. This a very nasty and disturbing film. It's full of satanic ritual and imagery and not a lot of it makes sense, but that might be the point. The characters don't really know what's going on and I daresay the audience was just as frustrated and confused (4 out of the 12 people in the theater walked out after 30 minutes or so). Confusion and paranoia may be what Zombie was striving for, but some seemly important story elements are missing. The novelization of this movie explained what was going on, but made the story banal. Zombie apparently was given complete creative control of this film, and this freedom seems to have brought out the best in him as a director. He directs this picutre as the bastard child of Roman Polanski and Stanley Kubrick--he certainly has a lot of tricks up his sleeve, none of his other movies really hinted at what he is able to do in this film. Special mention must be made of his wife, Sherri Moon Zombie, who comes into her own as an actress in TLoS--she's unexpectedly good here. I'm torn as to how to rate this film (2 or 3), so I'll meet my thoughts in the middle:

2.5/5

[Theli]

I really want to see Lords of Salem, but their is no showings here. I'm not opposed to less than linear story telling. Many of the horror greats made some very chaotic movies, Bava and Fulci were famous for there non direct style. It adds a certain amount of chaos to the atmosphere. Also want to check out Oblivion. Not a huge Tom Cruise fan, but I generally like his sci-fi movies.

[RJK1981]

Seen a couple movies in theaters recently:

Silver Lining Playbook and Oz: The Great and Powerful - Both of these get a B for me, they were good and enjoyable but not great

I also just watched a movie on Netflix a couple of days:

Restrepo - This one gets an A+ from me. It is a great documentary of a unit in Afghanistan. Unlike a lot of documentaries, this one was more from the perspective of the individual soldiers involved and how they were feeling then, and in the time that followed when it cam to certain things. This was a powerful documentary I wholeheartedly recommend to anyone interested in how war can impact someone, or for those interested in war documentaries in general. Also recommended for those like myself, who may have been in the military but were not in a combat role.

[Neiaushie79]

You should watch The Wave on Netflix. That is, if you don't mind subtitles.

[RJK1981]

That one sounds interesting and subtitles don't bother me so I added it to my queue.