The Big Sleep (1946). Probably watched this one 50 times. Have it on dvd, but whenever it's on TCM I can't help but watch. Best damn film adaption of Raymond Chandler ever made.
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The Big Sleep (1946). Probably watched this one 50 times. Have it on dvd, but whenever it's on TCM I can't help but watch. Best damn film adaption of Raymond Chandler ever made.
500 Hundred Days of Summer. Loved it!
The Ides Of March - dull politics-based drama
Tower Heist - entertaining comedy heist
In Time - good sci-fi idea in search of somewhere to go
Machine Gun Preacher - better than the title would have you believe
The Help - both worthy and entertaining
Straw Dogs (2011) - different wallpaper, same room
Arthur Christmas - excellent, and thoroughly recommended
Immortals - nice visuals, shame about the script
Breaking Dawn -- terrible for the first half or so, merely mediocre thereafter with occasional dips into almost being decent.
The Lincoln Lawyer - A decent movie but since it was from a Michael Connelly book, I was disappointed. I have not read this book but I have read many other Michael Connelly books and I have hard time believing you could figure out what was coming so easily in the book as you could in this movie. The characters in the movie seemed like stock characters to me. It was OK but I expected better.
Jurassic Park, for the umpteenth time. While subtle, especially in comparison to the others in the film, Sam Neill's performance has turned out to be one of my all-time favorites, and is one of the reasons I could watch it again last night despite having seen it only last week.
But always what I really want to see is the T-Rex's performance in the T-Rex paddock, my all-time favorite action movie sequence. Imo, Jurassic Park is not a science fiction movie. It's science fiction horror, and that of the most sophisticated kind. If you think about it, nobody knows how an actual T-Rex behaved. Some even believe it may've been a lazy scrounging type of creature, feeding on carcasses like a vulture, not particularly dangerous...and not particularly scary. The filmmakers made it a monster, which was appropriate, of course, and a monster makes it a horror movie.
Next time you watch Jurassic Park--and if you haven't seen it you really should get out more often--try to consciously be aware of when Spielberg's using one of the hydraulically activated T-Rex models and when what you're seeing are computer images. The fact that it's nearly impossible to keep up, even though the entire sequence lasts only a couple minutes or so, is the accomplishment of the suspension of disbelief, what movie-making is all about.
I watched a movie called Letters to God. It's about a critically ill boy who writes his prayers down and mails them..It's an inspiring although, bittersweet story. ( it is based on a true story)
Battle Los Angeles: Saw this on cable last weekend. Its was pretty good for what it was. There were a few shock-and-awe scenes at the beginning that were truly top-shelf war film moments. It was a bit frighting how realistic the armed forces mobilization was. It just felt "real" to me. There are some serious script issues but still pretty damn entertaining in the end. Also, the CGI integration with live action has come even further since District 9. It's downright amazing what they can do now.
Puss in Boots: Loved it. So much fun. The animators at Dreamworks are simply the best. Puss cast so much emotion and character, it's phenomenal. Highly recommended.
Larry Crowne, Sarah's Key, A Summer in Genoa, The Last Play at Shea. Some ruminations on them here
The Valley of the Dolls (1967). Ugh. Patty Duke rather perky, as usual. Sharon Tate quite delicious. Film itself, total snoozeville, dad. I recommend the vastly superior and trippedellic boobfest that is Russ Meyers' Beyond The Valley of the Dolls. That flick is pure campy gold, man--"It's MY happening and it FREAKS ME OUT!"