81
Some quickies:

Crank - con
Bugsy - mixed (awesome Beatty performance though)
Idiocracy - mixed/pro (almost more clever than it is funny)
Midnight Run - mixed/pro
Ali - pro
Diamonds Are Forever - mixed (Connery looks ancient in this one)
You Only Live Twice - mixed
This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.

83
Boogie Nights - mixed
Man, I loved this when it came out. It just hasn't aged well. The price-of-fame/drugs/depravity melodrama wears out its welcome fast, and the actors chew through so much scenery that they probably blew a massive hole in the production's dental plan.

There is still some funny stuff, though, mostly involving John C. Reilly as Dirk Diggler's empty-headed buddy, which leads me to believe the whole thing should've been played for laughs.
This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.

84
Still enjoyable viewing, but it's really Goodfellas-derivative in style and execution.
"I'm like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do if I caught one. . . . I'm not a schemer. I just do things."

85
loved it too. haven't watched it in awhile. one of the funniest characters to me was Philip Seymour Hoffman's Scotty J.

86
I still think Don Cheadle in a yellow wig and flowing red robe is the perfect visual representation of the phrase "what in the fuck am I doing?"
"I'm like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do if I caught one. . . . I'm not a schemer. I just do things."

87
Alexhead wrote:I still think Don Cheadle in a yellow wig and flowing red robe is the perfect visual representation of the phrase "what in the fuck am I doing?"
:roflmao:

88
Sleeper - PRO

I watched this early Woody Allen movie again last night for about the 5th time. It's still funny as hell.

"Hello, I'm Rags! Woof! Woof! Woof!"

89
Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) - PRO
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's movie debut focuses on the horrifying, sometimes unintentionally funny system of observation in the former East Germany. In the early 1980s, the successful dramatist Georg Dreyman and his longtime companion Christa-Maria Sieland, a popular actress, are big intellectual stars in the socialist state, although they secretly don't always think loyal to the party line. One day, the Minister of Culture becomes interested in Christa, so the secret service agent Wiesler is instructed to observe and sound out the couple, but their life fascinates him more and more...
Now Oscar nominated, and the best German movie since Der Untergang (The Downfall).
"Good taste is the death of art."
-Truman Capote

90
O-dot wrote:NYT critic Manohla Dargis emphasized this when he named MV as one of the year's best:
Michael Mann doesn’t always receive the critical respect he deserves, partly because he likes to make genre films; maybe if he had hired Jack Nicholson to run around with Crockett and Tubbs he might have at least seduced the audience. Glorious entertainment, “Miami Vice” is a gorgeous, shimmering object, and it made me think more about how new technologies are irrevocably changing our sense of what movies look like than any film I’ve seen this year. Partly shot using a Viper FilmStream camera, the film shows us a world that seems to stretch on forever, without the standard sense of graphical perspective. When Crockett and Tubbs stand on a Miami roof, it’s as if the world were visible in its entirety, as if all our familiar time-and-space coordinates had dropped away, because they have.
Someone doesn't share this opinion. Who? Jamie Foxx, in an interview with the Miami Herald:
He’s brutally honest: ”It was a bad movie,” he says about ’06’s “Miami Vice,” in which he costarred.
Silly actors. :wink:
This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.

91
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut - con
Or maybe I shouldn't even rate it, because it's an incomplete movie. Really, this is one of those cases where they ought to have just stuck the footage onto a deleted scenes section on a DVD. I give them credit for trying to assemble a Donner cut, but the fact is his original footage contains too many plot holes and missing scenes. This cut is choppy and all too clearly a salvage job. And I didn't care much for the obviously updated FX in certain sequences, or the bad dubbing. (Surely there's a more than adequate Christopher Reeve impersonator out there who could've been hired for looping.)
This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.

92
O-dot wrote:Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut - con

I have to disagree here. I think it's far better than the standard cut. The only problem I had ws the going back in time ending, which honestly wasn't really necessary. Otherwise, the cut plays a lot better. Superman's sacrifice of of his powers and redemption is a lot more powerful knowing that their is truly a price for it, the loss of all contact with his farther and anything from Krypton. He's truly alone from that point on. In the standard cut, he just picks up the green crystal and all is good again, there's no price to pay for his actions. Also, in the Donner cut Lois figures out Cark is Superman just by looking and figuring it out, which is a lot more believable than thinking a reporter could not get it. In the standard cut, the only way it dawns on her is because she sees Superman fly behind a building and Clark walks out. Yes, there are some editing issues with the Donner cut, and certainly the source material varries a lot. But from a story standpoint, it's far superior.

Okay, here's some I've seen lately:

Jesus Camp: pro. This is scarier than any horror film I've ever seen. I like the woman who admires that kids in the middle east are trained early to use guns and bombs to defend their faith and that we need to do that over here with our Christian kids. My favorite quote from one of the kids: "Science doesn't prove anything." Oh yes, and the next time you're giving a powerpoint presentation and there are problems, it's the devil's doing. This film is both scary and funny at the same time.

When the Levees Broke: pro. I was surprised at how balance this was. No one really comes off good here. Truly shows how incompetent the goverment is. Lots of people say the response to Katrina was slow because the goverment doesn't care about black and poor people, but that's giving them too much credit. They're not competent enough to react properly period. If they can't get their shit together for a disaster that there was a few days advanced warning about, it hardly bodes well for an unexpected terrorist attack.

Sherrybaby: mixed. I know critics love it, but when it comes down to it I'd say this film is about on par with the average Lifetime TV move. The only reason I've giving this a mixed instead of a con is because Maggie Gyllenhaal is naked in it.

This Film Is Not Yet Rated: PRO. Yeah, we all know the MPAA is unfair and teats indie films worse than studio fair. But there were still things in there I did know, like the fact that there are members of the clergy on the review board for appeals.

Shut Up and Sing: mixed. The religious nuts are funny to laugh at. And it's a good look at spin and how publicity works. I like when their PR agent is gets caught on camera saying the American people just aren't that smart. But the middle of the film drags too much with stuff about their personal lives. And I still can't feel too sorry for the Dixie Chicks, they were a traditional country group who's core audience were bible thumping Bushie's, so they should have known that would piss off their core audience. Also, I hate Natalie Maines voice. She's clearly tone deaf.

Well, that's all I've seen in 2007 so far. Honestly, with my Blu-ray and HD-DVD players and my 1080p display, I find it hard to actually bother going out to the theater anymore.
Just cut them up like regular chickens

93
darkness wrote:Sherrybaby: mixed. I know critics love it, but when it comes down to it I'd say this film is about on par with the average Lifetime TV move. The only reason I've giving this a mixed instead of a con is because Maggie Gyllenhaal is naked in it.
Yeah but she was all skanked out in this one. For a better Gyllenhaal fix, there's Secretary.

Mixed from me, too. The filmmakers seemed to have bitten off more than they could chew by making nearly all the characters so thoroughly dislikable. That takes talent to carry off, and it didn't happen here.

Though it was kinda nice seeing Danny Trejo play a halfway decent guy for once. I spent most of the movie wondering when he was going to flip out and start busting heads.

A couple other recent titles:

Inside Man - pro (ending is a bit iffy, but otherwise an interesting take on the old bank robbery story from Spike Lee)
The Sentinel - mixed (not horrible, but should've been better given all the talent involved)
This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.

94
O-dot wrote:Inside Man - pro (ending is a bit iffy, but otherwise an interesting take on the old bank robbery story from Spike Lee)
The Sentinel - mixed (not horrible, but should've been better given all the talent involved)
Agreeing with both of these. Enjoyed both still.

95
Some quickies from this weekend:

The Hills Have Eyes (remake) - mixed (completely unnecessary, but much less awful than expected)
Saw II - con
Saw III - mixed (I dig the Tobin Bell performance and the ideas behind it all, but the execution is mostly wrong, pun not intended)
The Family Stone - con
This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.

96
I've entered a weird, unexplainable chick flick phase:

Shopgirl - pro
The Devil Wears Prada - mixed (was kinda enjoying it until I realized it's the same movie as Mean Girls, which is immeasurably better)
Under the Tuscan Sun - con
Elizabethtown - mixed (almost gets a "pro" for the truly lovable stalker played by Kirsten Dunst)
This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.

97
Chick Flick Fest continues:

The Notebook - mixed
Earnest and heartfelt, but the script is too clunky for its own good. Also, the young leads aren't very credible as a 1940s couple.
This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.

98
Not really, a movie, but my latest random DVD find at the library:

Tenacious D - The Complete Masterworks

Only halfway through, but pro so far. I really never got into them and never had HBO so I'm seeing all this stuff for the first time. I didn't expect it to be as over-the-top as some of their short films, like JB's BJ or Butt Baby. The library really has a small DVD collection, so I'm amazed to find stuff like Tenacious D and Shogun Assassin there.

I also saw Dreamgirls over the weekend. I'd give it a mixed/pro. The performances and singing were good. The plot and editing could've been done better. The beginning of the movie has so many quick cuts that my head started to spin. It didn't stay on one person for more than 2-3 seconds before jumping to a different view.

99
Reno 911!: Miami - con (some laughs, but it runs out of jokes VERY fast)
The Illusionist - con (name actors ham it up in funny mustaches and period costumes)

And the wrap-up of Chick Flick Fest:

Under the Tuscan Sun - con
Love Actually - mixed
In Her Shoes - con (Curtis Hanson majorly slumming post-L.A. Confidential)
Memoirs of a Geisha - con

And that's all for movies at the moment. Presently working through the first two seasons of The Office (US).
This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.

100
O-dot wrote:And that's all for movies at the moment. Presently working through the first two seasons of The Office (US).
I hope you already watched Arrested Development. If not, watch that one afterwards. :)
"Good taste is the death of art."
-Truman Capote