list/discuss/rate - your recently watched movies

Religulous

Bill Maher makes fun of religions and asks the rhetorical questions that needed to be asked!
f**king exceptional!  and funny!  a must see!   9.5/10

Holds up very well today despite some the occasional unconvincing FX shots. Even going in knowing how it'll end, you know 'cause this is War of the Worlds after all, it's extremely tense and you seriously feel the characters, nay, all of humankind is seriously at stake. What I also really liked was that the script got a lot of rather "nuts and bolts"-exposition seamlessly into the plot without really slowing things down, like when the general explains the tactics the Martians use on the battlefield or the various discoveries about the Martians and their technology (really well designed, looking very believably alien) the main characters make. That latter part works, I think, because the protagonists are scientists. I didn't really mind the flat characterization either, probably because of the short runtime. The only real problems with this movie (as a movie on its own as opposed to as an adaptation of HG Wells' novel, that is) are: First, there's a couple of things in the script I don't think make that much sense, though they can probably be chalked up to the Martians' unfamiliarity with Earth. Second, the climax' attempt at inserting some sort of religious subtext does not work at all. But those are really minor problems in a movie I think deserves its status as a classic alien invasion movie.

The Devil Came on Horseback - This is a documentary on the sickening situation in Darfur. It was done by an ex-Marine, who has done extensive documentation in the region. It's disgusting to witness the complete ineptitude of the bureaucracies such as The African Union, the buttf**k UN and the pisshole of em all the good 'ol - lets spread liberty to all (except African Blacks) - USofA! Just another film to further build upon my cynicism for humanity. No rating, nothing I find entertaining about innocent slaughter of defenseless humans by the (Islamic)government backed thugs(cowards), the Janjaweed. 

Phantom Museums: The Short Films of the Quay Brothers 2DVD - something like this is probably worth owning instead of just renting. This is a collection of dozens of short films done by the Quay Brothers. Done in the junk/stop motion animation style where they pretty much use just about everything imaginable to create their pieces. I watched it all at once last night and it was overwhelming. Like I said, best to own something like this where you can spend more time appreciating each one individually. No rating, unless I go through and rate each short film by itself - which I wont do cause I don't remember them all specifically right now...

Animal Farm (1999) - I gave this a shot last night, I went in with low expectations...which was good cause this adaptation turned out to be, meh. I didn't expect it to be completely accurate but it turned out to be a messy endeavor. It was a made for TV movie by TNT and it was obviously geared towards kids, so I guess you can't expect much. The ending was very clumsy and rushed and it ended on "hopefully" note and for that reason is why I'll give it about a - 3/10, There was also an animated version of this Orwell classic done in the UK in the 50s...I'll check that one out soon.

Vibrationbaby wrote: Raw Deal : Arnie takes on the mob and wins. Wipes `em out. Poetic justice.

"We can't eat that we'll get fahht!"

mithrandir wrote: Have you ever seen the movie Clonus from 1979?  The plot for The Island is almost exactly the same (granted The Island had much more action and special effects).  And just now when I was looking up Clonus on imdb, I found this interesting bit of info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078062/trivia Director Robert S. Fiveson brought a copyright infringement suit against the makers of The Island (2005). The lawsuit cited almost 100 points of similarity between "Clonus" and "The Island", and the court ruled that Fiveson made a prima facie case for infringement. Before the case could go to trial, Dreamworks settled with the plaintiffs for an undisclosed amount.

Yeah. This wasn't the first time it has happened.... Reservoir Dogs is a shameless ripoff of a semi-obscure Hong Kong action movie called City on Fire, but even that considered it's a really good movie.

As for The Island, I read on IMDB (I think) that apparently some schedule conflict meant that the climax fight (the one ending with the huge ventilation fan falling on the floor) had to be shot without Ewan McGregor. Might explain why it's so confusing...

Have you ever seen the movie Clonus from 1979?  The plot for The Island is almost exactly the same (granted The Island had much more action and special effects).  And just now when I was looking up Clonus on imdb, I found this interesting bit of info:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078062/trivia

Director Robert S. Fiveson brought a copyright infringement suit against the makers of The Island (2005). The lawsuit cited almost 100 points of similarity between "Clonus" and "The Island", and the court ruled that Fiveson made a prima facie case for infringement. Before the case could go to trial, Dreamworks settled with the plaintiffs for an undisclosed amount.

BroSpence wrote: Aliens - this was the third time I have seen it. Everyone always talks about how its the best one, but I don't see it. Its better as a blockbuster, sure, but Alien wasn't a blockbuster film, it was a horror/thriller and well done at that. Aliens was a James Cameron project. He wrote it, produced it and directed it. It was bad by any means. It was entertaining, but I don't think it stands up to the original's gritty, tense, low-key features. 8/10

I agree, when I was an adolescent I thought Aliens was better, just cause it had more action, more aliens, cool guns, the queen Alien climax etc, but as my tastes in movies matured I now realize that the original Alien is indeed the superior

Aliens - this was the third time I have seen it. Everyone always talks about how its the best one, but I don't see it. Its better as a blockbuster, sure, but Alien wasn't a blockbuster film, it was a horror/thriller and well done at that. Aliens was a James Cameron project. He wrote it, produced it and directed it. It wasn't bad by any means. It was entertaining, but I don't think it stands up to the original's gritty, tense, low-key features. 8/10

Live Free or Die Hard - Oh boy! This was my second time with this. I liked it quite a bit the first time around in theaters, this time was at home on the (mini)big screen though. Even better this time though. I love the over the top action, the invincible McLaine, the one liners that are always spot on. Even the Mac kid is entertaining. I haven't seen With a Vengence in a while, but I think this one might be the best of the series following the original awesomeness that was simply Die Hard. 8/10

Edited by BroSpence - September 22 2008 at 22:58

Drunken Wu Tang - got this gem on VHS for 95 cents. What a ridiculous movie. A Yuen brothers kung fu production. There was hardly a plot to determine what was happening and either the events were written as ridiculous as they were or it was just horribly mistranslated. To add to the list of many things that were surprising and...out of this world (a GIANT sword) it featured elements of racism and pedophilia. Granted the latter part wasn't detailed or that horrific (an old drunk racially stereo typed chinese man made 5 young boys drop their pants so he could put a broken basket around their waste so he could see whether they were "cherry virgins". Which had almost no context, and even so was disturbing in a light hearted WTF kind of way (the many absurd events before this make the scene...less shocking).

As the movie progressed the "cherry virgin" was supposed to be used for some wacky daoist ritual which still didn't make sense as the drunk stereotyped man was creepy. The movie also had a "Watermelon Monster" which attacked people that came into a large room containing some secret scroll. The monster was a ball, half the size of a man, that had two legs and chased the intruder(s) with its chomping teeth. This "watermelon monster" was all black and had big red lips. Aside from the creepy pedophile aspect and the two elements of racism this movie was entertaining for its completely absurd fight scenes and translation into English.

???/10

to give you a better idea of what I witnessed/own now, here is a review with picturesREVIEW with pics and a video on youtube featuring one of those crazy things that are part of the movie obviously.....BEWarrrreeeeeeee

Edited by BroSpence - September 17 2008 at 00:07

Jim Garten wrote: Do you mean this one: That's just nasty...

That's the one. I wouldn't want to see a new version with that scene included, tbh.

There's a somewhat similar scene in Deep Rising, but as bad as it is, it still would not be that gross.