Last Movie You Watched...

Shame - Michael Fassbender stars as a sexual deviant who has to manage his work life and personal life when his sister moves in with him. Really interesting film, and great acting and directing. Be advised, at times it does feel like a porno!

Divergent - Loved every second of it (Divergent is one of my favorite books). I truly believe the critical backlash is because it came after The Hunger Games. It wasn't as good as Catching Fire, but I definitely think it trumped the first Hunger Games.

Carrie- The more recent version. I like it but I still felt that it wasn't as much of an adaption of the book but more of a remake of the 70's film. Then again I did like Chloe as Carrie.

The Book Thief. Every bit as devastating and poignant as the book. Well done.

Oz the Great and Powerful. Man, I don't know what to think--it had some stunning visuals and Franco held up his end, but there were some plot holes and missing bits that left me shaking my head at times. Overall, I give it a thumbs up for trying hard. I think the first wicked witch came out of nowhere and was supposed to be a shocking twist or something. China Doll was cute as a nubbin, and I would have liked to know some back-story on the Teapot village.

Sexy Beast. Very cool, very tense. Ben Kingsley is . . . I was going to say unbelievable but that's not even close. Such a great actor.

Beastly.

A lady friend of mine who's into romance and fantasy urged me to see it. The caption is "Love is never ugly".

They should have changed it to "This is one crappy and cliched movie and you've wasted ninety minutes of your life which could have been used to write something interesting".

Come to think of it, I like my caption better.

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice - Two couples, late sixties, a study in sexual mores and insights and their effects on the relationships.

Not Another Happy Ending. The trailer was so good, but the movie wasn't really funny or anything, I didn't bother with the last 20mins.

12 Years A Slave - Compelling, tragic (especially the weirdly jolting Brad Pitt-as-Amish-Canadian-saviour casting), reminds one to stay out of the American south.

Saving Mr. Banks - Better and more engaging than I'd expected, mostly due to Emma Thompson, but with a decided gloss feel to it that made me wonder about the real story.

Faded Ego said:

American Hustle.

I had heard some bad reviews from commoners and was hesitant. I thought it was great. What I have come to realize is that casual movie watchers hate dialog based movies. They want to see action and things blow up or they just want to laugh. That is great, but not really what great movies are about.

The acting was superb in this movie. The only people I thought did a poor job were Louis CK and Jeremy Renner. The rest of the cast was brilliant and deserving of the Academy nominations.

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I quite enjoy dialogue-heavy movies. I found American Hustle boring and self-indulgent. It felt bordering on SNL skit in parts, save Amy Adams' stellar performance, except one of those really boring, odd SNL skits you just want to end that doesn't. I don't get the accolades for it at all.

Calla Lily said:

Finally watching World War Z. Half an hour in. It is quite silly.

ETA: Mr. Lily came home from a meeting and I offered to turn on the NCAA games. I have no plans to watch any more of WWZ.

That says more than any other comments I could make, and I could make a lot of 'em.

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You don't wonder what became of Brad Pitt's hair, the most compelling and strange character in that mess?

Calla Lily said:

I lost my snarky post TWICE.

The heck with it. Here's the abbreviated version:

After Earth (Will and Jaden Smith): lame. Boring. Expensive with nothing to show for it. Found out after that Shyamalan directed, which explains everything. Avoid.

The Apparition: GF and BF without a functioning brain cell between them are haunted by Something Evil.

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I caught 10 or 15 minutes of After Earth on cable a week or so ago. Even worse than I'd suspected, which was pretty much unwatchably bad. Also, I realize he can't help it, but Jaden Smith's oddly melty-looking face just... I don't know, bugs me? His utter inability to act he could probably
help but doesn't.

In the realm of Scientology-promo films, Battlefield Earth still wins everything. That movie is epic.

Calla Lily said:

Will Smith is a Scientologist?!

I think Jaden Smith has possibilities now that he's not an adorable little boy anymore, but he's at that awkward early-teen stage where he's all arms and legs and hasn't grown into himself yet.

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I believe he, and Jada, deny they're Scientologists but the movie was a full-on Scientology movie, on the order of Battlefield Earth (which, if you haven't seen it, is truly epic camp hilarity. I learned many lessons from Battlefield Earth: if you leave things laying around for 1,000 years, they mostly just get dusty, electricity is amazing, and some Greek dudes really got around.). It's a very thinly veiled promotion of Scientology concepts.

I remember when I saw the first ad and thought '... hmm... I...' and then saw the credits. It was produced by them, story by them. Their kids go to or used to go to a Scientology school which they founded. I just went looking for an article for you and found plenty, along with a number of denials. This seems to note both sides and take from other, legit pieces as well.

cornflake said:

I quite enjoy dialogue-heavy movies. I found American Hustle boring and self-indulgent. It felt bordering on SNL skit in parts, save Amy Adams' stellar performance, except one of those really boring, odd SNL skits you just want to end that doesn't. I don't get the accolades for it at all.

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If it's any consolation, it went home empty-handed at the Oscars. It was my second favorite film last year (behind The Place Beyond the Pines), and I really thought it had the original screenplay award locked up.

I can understand the arguments against the movie, even though I don't agree with them. I knew it wasn't going to be a universally loved film within the first fifteen minutes, but it set my soul on fire with glee - the entire thing.

Okay, last three from this weekend:

Iron Man 3 - Yeah, rewatched it a few times to see if I missed anything. NOPE. Worst of the three. Like they spent all their good energy on the first one and each successive one tanked worse for it.

White House Down - I wasn't really pressed to watch this, as I've lost my taste for Jaime Foxx and Chaning Tatum. Surprisingly, this turned out decent for me. Heart wrenching at times, a few funny parts, but a decent political action flick.

After Earth - Attempted it. Think I survived 8 minutes before I switched over to NCIS marathon. It was worse than Last Airbender, and that's saying something.

After Earth was a true stinker, even worse than Battlefield Earth which was a travesty of celluloid. I don't support Scientology at all, but L. Ron Hubbard was a very good S/F writer before he went nuts and created that, IMHO, lunatic fringe of a so-called religion.

I did watch Let Me In, a vampire movie which was well directed and very well acted. It's a (sort of) remake of a Swedish film (which was also very, very good) and worth watching.

K.B. Parker said:

If it's any consolation, it went home empty-handed at the Oscars. It was my second favorite film last year (behind The Place Beyond the Pines), and I really thought it had the original screenplay award locked up.

I can understand the arguments against the movie, even though I don't agree with them. I knew it wasn't going to be a universally loved film within the first fifteen minutes, but it set my soul on fire with glee - the entire thing.

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I didn't even get to the end. I was so bored I was just staring at Renner's hair from like half an hour in and gave up on it after an hour when it hadn't gotten any more engaging to me.

I got both screenplay awards right in my pool, heh, but I'd wanted Blue Jasmine to win.

K.B. Parker said:

Divergent - Loved every second of it (Divergent is one of my favorite books). I truly believe the critical backlash is because it came after The Hunger Games. It wasn't as good as Catching Fire, but I definitely think it trumped the first Hunger Games.

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I can not wait to see this! I've heard mostly good things from people who've watched it so I hope it does the book justice.


I last saw Austenland, which made me realize how much I really need to actually read Jane Austen.

cornflake said:

I quite enjoy dialogue-heavy movies. I found American Hustle boring and self-indulgent. It felt bordering on SNL skit in parts, save Amy Adams' stellar performance, except one of those really boring, odd SNL skits you just want to end that doesn't. I don't get the accolades for it at all.

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I guess I am a little confused as to why you would compare this movie to a SNL skit. It is not a comedy. Maybe you think it plays like a skit? I would advise you to watch it again. It is extremely well done.

Cooper, Bale, and Lawrence were incredible in this movie. They played off of one another beautifully.

Im glad the academy saw it this way as well. Sometimes I think the academy has lost their mind, not this year.

So far I have seen

12 Years a Slave - Brilliant, powerful, well deserving

Gravity - Ok, they botched this movie. It was terrible. Actually, it was beyond terrible.

Wolf of Wall Street - The most entertaining of the nominees but not the best movie

Dallas Buyers Club - Powerful but was not going to beat out 12

Nebraska - Another dialogue based film. Brilliant. Not BP worthy but surely should have been nominated

American Hustle - Discussed

Captain Phillips - I enjoyed it but it should not have been nominated.



I have seen all the winners of the Best Actor/Actress, Best Supporting Actor/Actress and I see nothing that tells me these people should not have won.



I think if you replaced Gravity with Mud, you would have the strongest nominations in recent memory.


But I have yet to see Her or Philomena. Both are not on DVD.


My word is final.

Mr. Miyagi would respectfully disagree with this.

Whatever, I thought Gravity was excellent. It wasn't going to win against 12YAS, but it was well acted and directed.

Anyhoo...as an offbeat entry, I watched I Know That Voice, a documentary about, what else, voice acting. Some of the modern day greats are there or are discussed (Kevin Conroy--BATMAN!--Corey Burton, John DiMaggio, and Hank Azaria among others) and it's a thrill (for me) to see the face and also hear the voice.

For sheer talent and artistry, though, you can't top the late, great Mel Blanc. A documentary about him is on YouTube (Mel Blanc: The Man of a Thousand Voices) and it's worth every minute to watch it.

You are wrong about Gravity but I will watch the documentary.

The Hangover.

Good, dirty fun of men being, well, clueless men.

Arlington Road, with Jeff Bridges and Tim Robbins.

Not really for me, but worth a look.