What was the last movie you've seen?

[noiseredux]

Watched Return of the Living Dead. Was exactly what I was looking for, thanks for the recommendation there guys.

I told you!

[BurningDoom]

Watched Return of the Living Dead. Was exactly what I was looking for, thanks for the recommendation there guys.

I told you!

Who strips on top of a grave? Seriously?

[noiseredux]

Who strips on top of a grave? Seriously?

Linnea Quigley does.

[indecks]

Just watched Steamboy for the first time. The animation is great. But it was kinda boring.

[Bradtemple87]

Just saw the remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with the lady. I think this unnessecary remake was fun, but the original actress was definitely easier on the eyes haha

[jfrost]

Watched Moneyball and thought it was great.

I still don't know what it is to get "on base", though. I mean, I know that there are bases and that players have to reach them, but I don't even know how scoring works in baseball, and Wikipedia's explanation was too boring to follow.

Still, though, excellent movie.

[AznKhmerBoi]

Would a person who dislike movies based around sports like it?

Watched Moneyball and thought it was great.
.

[jfrost]

Probably. I mean, it's less about the sport than about changing a dominant, yet stale, culture, and the problems of trying to do so.

[Michi]

Watched Return of the Living Dead. Was exactly what I was looking for, thanks for the recommendation there guys. It was lacking on the gore side of things, but it was a good watch. Reminded me a lot of Class of Nuke 'Em High.

Excellent. Now go watch Dead Alive. That should satiate your thirst for gore.

Just watched Steamboy for the first time. The animation is great. But it was kinda boring.

My thoughts exactly. A summary of the plot is more entertaining than the execution of it. Just too many dull spots. But at least the dull spots were still pretty.

[dsheinem]

The Muppets (2011) – There were parts of this movie that I absolutely enjoyed with a big grin: seeing the Muppet Show theme song performed on the big screen, cheesy jokes by Fozzie Bear, the choreography in some of the dance numbers – there’s plenty here to enjoy. There was also plenty not to like: the human leads are annoying as all get out and both are atrocious actors, the plot is plodding, predictable, and not illustrative of the best writing the Muppets have seen, and the trademark Muppet humor was only really seen in fleeting glimpses. I’m glad the film did well and hope that it is a harbinger of more Muppet features to come, but the creative talent on screen and off have some distance to travel to meet the excellence of the show that I used to look forward to weekly as a kid.
Grade: 3/5

The A-Team (2010) – This was surprisingly watchable! The first half of the film threw me for a bit of a loop since it was an origin story and I don’t think I’d ever considered the A-Team’s origins past the opening voiceover on the original show. What this film excels at is over the top ridiculous action scenes – the one with the tank is one of the funniest and most ingenious I’ve seen in a film in recent memory. Neeson and the rest of the cast are capable replacements for the original actors, and though the film needed a better editor (it runs about 30 minutes too long), I was generally pleased with it by the end.
Grade: 2.5/5

The Two Towers (2002) – As I mentioned in my review of The Fellowship of the Ring, I am a giant fan of these films and all things Tolkien, and every film in this trilogy is a 5/5 for me. I’ve been watching the extended editions on Blu-Ray, so these reviews are about those cuts of the film. This one is probably the most challenging of the three in terms of plot development, as audiences have certain expectations for films opening and closing a trilogy – and less for the middle installment. Still, Jackson does an excellent job of focusing on a pair of self-contained stories in this film, focusing on Isengard’s attack on the people of Rohan and on Frodo’s encounter with Faramir. Once again the actors are perfectly cast and up to the challenge, the environments and effects work combine to create a visual splendor, and the score works perfectly to help give a sense of proper pacing to a lengthy film.
Grade: 5/5

The 13th Warrior (1999) – I watched this a few weeks after reading the Michael Crichton novel on which it is based (“Eaters of the Dead”), a novel which is itself a merging of two stories to give a retelling of sorts of Beowulf. Almost none of what I liked about the book makes it into the film, which is a mess of a movie. Not only are the characters excruciatingly underdeveloped, but the plot barely holds together at all in the film adaptation. Banderas is not a believable Arab, the special effects are often distracting, and the film has few redeeming qualities. I will give it credit for some impressive set design and some beautiful landscape shooting, and the action scenes aren’t horrible, but otherwise there’s not much here. It’s a real shame, considering what the director and script writers had to work with.
Grade: 1.5/5

Lethal Weapon (1987) – I had never seen any of the Lethal Weapon films prior to viewing this a week or so ago. After seeing this one, I am not sure that I’m too keen on seeing the others. The film does serve as a bit of a fun look back at Hollywood of the 1980s and certainly has some nostalgia and kitsch value, but as a film it just doesn’t really deliver. The biggest problem is that the main characters that the film is based around aren’t very compelling, sympathetic, funny, or watchable. They don’t have believable chemistry together, and there have been many cop-buddy movies done both before and after that provide a much better and more relatable pair of stars. The plot is a predictable and boring mess, and essentially serves as a vehicle for a few well done effects scenes and a few gratuitous shirtless Mel shots. I know that this series is generally well regarded, so I am guessing that the sequels are better?
Grade: 2.5/5

The Man From Earth (2007) – I really didn’t want to like this film for the first 1/3 or so while I was watching it, as there’s really not much to see and the premise/story as it unfolds is quite inane. However, like the people in the film, as the protagonist continued on and on, slowly he caught me up in his narrative and I couldn’t help but enjoy myself. The largely unknown actors are believable enough (if perhaps a little crudely characterized), and the understated directing really lets the writing – which is the strength of the film – shine through. In the end, even though the film isn’t exceptionally well made or acted, it is remarkably memorable – which is perhaps a tougher feat to achieve in our era’s deluge of movies.
Grade 3.5/5


Enemy Mine (1985) – This is one that I’ve been meaning to see for a while, and – like The Man From Earth – the movie really gets better and better as it goes after a very lackluster and predictable start. It strikes me as a sci-fi story that very much has elements of colonial literature to it, and the moralizing isn’t heavy-handed or unwelcome as it can be in some sci-fi. The set pieces in the later half of the film are really compelling (especially in contrast to the poor ones earlier on), and there’s an odd parallel in watching Quaid’s character develop as a person while Quaid, seemingly, develops as an actor. This is one more people should probably know about.
Grade: 3.5/5