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What movies did you watch last week (04/23-04/29)

posted 8 years ago by StoneKeeper (28301)
71 replies | jump to latest

Hey everyone, hope you had a good week. Mine was great.

Here's what I saw:

Empire of the Sun (1987 DVD): I went into this one pretty clueless except knowing it was a war movie from Spielberg. I had no idea the main character would be a young boy. And boy was he good! I bet this kid had a great career after that. I enjoyed it all very much. Spielberg has a way to make a story strong and epic enough for you to feel the emotions without it all being over the top. It actually felt very real. Everything works perfectly, from the score to the script to the cinematography. It often reminded me of one of my favorite movie, The Pianist. Plus, I love Malkovich and I did not even know he was in this movie and he was great. 9/10

Rumble in the Bronx ("Hung Fan Kui" 1995 DVD): although this is not my favorite Jackie Chan movie, it's the one I would most likely recommend someone interested in him. It's also probably the one I saw the most amount of times. Maybe around four or five times. I may be wrong but, I think it might be his most popular movie, American and Asian combined. The amount of "action movie elements" is just crazy, that also might be why the story is all over the place. I may be full of uncertainties but one thing is for sure, this is a good movie. The scene with the broken glass in the alley is so memorable. I think. 7.5/10

The Front line (" Go-Ji-Jeon" 2011 DVD): A very good South Korean movie about the final Battle of the Korean War that has good action scenes, a beautiful cinematography and, mainly, good actors playing good characters in a great story. There was a lot of powerful scenes but there was also a few weak moments. I don't know if the English subtitles were one hundred percent exact but a few times It sounded a bit corny. Overall it was a very well done film. 8.5/10

The Hurt Locker (2007 DVD):
"A near-perfect movie" - Richard Corliss, Time
"I agree!" - Me, IMdB

Every time I saw this movie on TV there was a guy in a big suit playing with wires and it did not interest me but then I saw a lot of good reviews and good ratings and told myself I would have to watch it one day. And now I've watched it. And wow! Kathryn Bigelow is really an amazing director (strange days is among my favorite movie). The story and the actors grasp my entire attention from the first Second to the last. The atmosphere was thrilling, the relationship between the characters was gripping and I was always anticipating their next mission. Yet another great War movie to my collection. Yes! 9/10

Tarzan (2013 TV): I watched it with my son and I found that the graphics were good and there were some fun parts but overall it was rather boring. At one point I was anxious for it to end. 5/10

Monuments men (2014 DVD): I did not finish it due to boredom. The trailer looked promising... what a let down. I might finish it one day. Or just get rid of it, I don’t know yet. Unless you are a hardcore art (paintings) fan, I didn’t see any appeal in the whole hour I watched. 2/10

[–] arvin g borkar (2854) 8 years ago

At Any Price

Parkland

I am just going down Zac Efron's movie history. I want to see how he grew through all his films. His acting seems pretty on point.

At Any Price, he seems to definitely stick out as a city boy, not a country guy.

Parkland, he seems so disconnected with the actual movie. I mean, you have an actor, who looks like a kid, playing an adult physician. Come on.

[–] StoneKeeper (28301) 8 years ago

I haven't seen those two. I saw a few Zack Efron movies but he's not an actor I would seek out.

Have you seen any of mine?

[–] arvin g borkar (2854) 8 years ago

None. :/

[–] MinaVladimir (4086) 8 years ago

Did you start with the High School Musicals lol?

The only non comedic movie with Zac Efron I've seen was The Paperboy. From what I remember it was just cross. Did not like it.

[–] arvin g borkar (2854) 8 years ago

I could see why you may have lacked interest in him after seeing The Paperboy. I am just now watching the beginning of it and all ready my attention is elsewhere. For some movies, he just did not seem to fit in. If you knew him from High School Musical, his character fit the immature/comedic genre, not the important and professional. Another movie, where I thought he was lacking, was Parkland.

[–] MinaVladimir (4086) 8 years ago

I was already too old for the High School Musicals, when they came out (were there more than one?). I wrote that more kiddingly :)

Maybe he's still too much of a "pretty boy" to be taken seriously.

[–] arvin g borkar (2854) 8 years ago

I guess I never grew out of my kid phase. When High School Musical came out, I was sort of not into it. In fact, when I grew up, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network were my two go to channels. Then in high school I watched a bit of Disney and I started watching that channel. It was not until college that I actually saw High School Musicals 1 and 2. The third one kind of bore me and to this day, I would still need to sit through it, to finish it. Needless to say, I was really captivated by how they shot different things, the angles, the location, etc. It actually even made me go and search out into the film office in KY (note: I am originally from California and ironically, it is hard to get into any kind of movie crew there because of closed shop and union).

It is not a favorite movie, by any means; however, there are a few scenes that I like to sit through. From then on, I just had to see if this guy, Zac Efron, was actually a good actor.

In his biography, it goes on to say that he was brought to stardom by his acting teacher, at school. Since I liked acting, I was always curious as to what exactly they looked for. It was just amazing that his teacher did that, what luck! I wish some of my teachers would have done that. Then again, I never really put myself in the spotlight like taking theater in school. I always "hoped they would come find me".

[–] godewey (16472) 8 years ago

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[–] TexasJack (12516) 8 years ago

The Village had its moments. Not one of his good movies, but it's the least bad of his bad movies.

Elf was great. I'm such a Will Ferrell fan that I can't even try to rank his movies.

[–] godewey (16472) 8 years ago

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[–] Sentient Meat (1509) 8 years ago

Anchorman is the funniest Will Ferrell movie.

[–] godewey (16472) 8 years ago

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[–] Sentient Meat (1509) 8 years ago

This is like saying Bridesmaids has too many awesome supporting performances to call it the funniest Kristen Wiig movie... lol.

[–] godewey (16472) 8 years ago

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[–] arvin g borkar (2854) 8 years ago

After The Sixth Sense and Signs, The Village did not even come close. He must have made that movie as a way to throw money and see if people would see it. It never had the amount of effort he had put in in those other two films of his. M Knight, how could you?!

[–] Drmccormack (743) 8 years ago

I think Elf is my favorite Will Ferrel movie too. It's funny and sweet. Thank you for mentioning Tangerines. I found it on Amazon so I'll try to watch it this week sometime. If you have other suggestions, please mention them. I get lost on these streaming sites because there is just so much and I miss a lot of the good ones because I'm just not aware they're on there. Someone on movie-chat mentioned The Handmaiden and it was really good. I never would known about it if not for the recommendation.

[–] godewey (16472) 8 years ago

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[–] Drmccormack (743) 8 years ago

I'll look for your list. I watched Tangerines last night. That was an excellent recommendation!!! Wow, loved it. Thank you. Poignant film. I loved the characters so much. Each one was charming in their own way, especially Ivo. It was funny and heartbreaking which is hard to achieve. It was a splendid recommendation. I'll look for the other two you mentioned. Thank you very much!

[–] godewey (16472) 8 years ago

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[–] Drmccormack (743) 8 years ago

I looked them up and The Vanished Elephant is available on Cinemax but unfortunately we just got rid of it because we literally never used it. That's just my luck, there's finally something I want to see on there and I don't have the service. Oh well, we still have the Netflix disc service so I'll add it to the queue. I think my queue is bottomless because I keep forgetting to mail the discs back so it'll take me a bit, but I'll see them!

[–] godewey (16472) 8 years ago

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[–] MinaVladimir (4086) 8 years ago

I saw The Village when it first came out, and I haven't re-watched it sinse, but I liked it. And I thought the twist was pretty cool. Not on par with the Sixth Sense or even Signs, but it's not as bad as people make it out to be (from what I remember).

I'll never understand what people see in Will Ferrell. I find him very unfunny and annoying. But, different strokes for different folks, and all that.

[–] godewey (16472) 8 years ago

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[–] StoneKeeper (28301) 8 years ago

The Village: only saw it once a long time ago but I remember liking it then I still remember The twist. 7 sounds about right.

Elf: It is indeed a good comedy. 6.5/10

One of my favourite Ferrel movie is the under-appreciated Land of the lost. His best as to be Old School though.

I'll look up Tangerines.

[–] godewey (16472) 8 years ago

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[–] StoneKeeper (28301) 8 years ago

Nice, thanks!

[–] Kawada_Kira (7282) 8 years ago

I really like The Village. Shyamalan is kind of hit or miss with me, he's talented but not all of his movies work for me. But The Village is one of my favorites. I rented it in 2005 and it's kind of just stayed with me ever since. I watch it whenever I see it appear on TV. I ought to buy the DVD already. I'm not sure what it is I like so much about it, but I do. I like what you said about it being like a Twilight Zone episode; I think that's apt.

[–] godewey (16472) 8 years ago

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[–] TexasJack (12516) 8 years ago

I had the same reaction to Monuments Men. Trailer had me looking forward to it, but I fell asleep twice trying to get through it. Hurt Locker is on my list. I didnt realize she directed Strange Days. That was a good one.

This past week, I watched:

The Discovery
The Hateful Eight

and rewatched:

A Bronx Tale
Narnia 2 - Prince Caspian
Narnia 3 - Voyage of the Dawn Treader

[–] StoneKeeper (28301) 8 years ago

Absolutely loved The Hatefull eight. Rate it 8.5/10

[–] croft_alice (12180) 8 years ago

Miami vice ( 2006 )
Blindspot season 2
The kingdom.

[–] godewey (16472) 8 years ago

💋

[–] croft_alice (12180) 8 years ago

The movie😉

[–] godewey (16472) 8 years ago

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[–] croft_alice (12180) 8 years ago

Well,one way is the internet,it's allways available😉

[–] godewey (16472) 8 years ago

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[–] croft_alice (12180) 8 years ago

Glad i can help.😉

[–] Drmccormack (743) 8 years ago

Hey Stonekeeper! I really like when you do this weekly review of the movies you've watched. It reminds me of some good ones and gives me some ideas for future views. Empire of the Sun is such a great movie and it's not mentioned that often. I think it's so well done and there were so many great actors in that. It's a good book too, if you're interested. Hurt Locker is another Kathryn Bigelow masterpiece, she is a superb director and consistently makes high quality movies. I do know what you mean when you said you saw the guy in the suit messing with wires and it didn't want appeal to you right away. I'm not a big fan of war movies but that one is exceptional. When a movie is well done , it doesn't matter what genre it is. I was so looking forward to Monuments Men and it disappointed me too. It's an interesting story (a One note story,though),but it just seemed to be missing something. It had good actors in it too. Oh well. I'll look for The Frontline.

[–] StoneKeeper (28301) 8 years ago

We seem to have similar tastes. Cheers my man!

Here's a suggestion to see if we really do. Here is 10 movies I rated between 9 and 10. Rate them too and then you could list 10 of yours.

Fight Club
Requiem for a Dream
Goodfellas
Scarface
Jacob's ladder
Dazed and confused
The Doors
A beautiful mind
Midnight Cowboys
Biutiful
Running Scared
Papillon
I saw the devil

( I added two more in case you haven't seen some of them )

[–] Drmccormack (743) 8 years ago

Wow, thank you, that's generous of you. Let's see, here it goes.
Fight Club-9
Requiem for a Dream-10
Goodfellas-10
Scarface-7
Jacobs Ladder-8
Dazed and Confused-8
The Doors-7
A Beautiful Mind-7
Midnight Cowboy-10
Biutiful-I haven't seen it. I'll put it on the list
Running Scared-same
Papillon-7
I Saw the Devil-I haven't seen it

[–] StoneKeeper (28301) 8 years ago

So 4 out of ten times we agree plus, Requiem for a dream has been my number one movie for the longest time.

2 others where we are almost on the same page.

Wanna post 10 of yours now?

[–] Drmccormack (743) 8 years ago

I think my list will be a lot less contemporary.
The Third Man-10
Grand Illusion-10
Reservoir Dogs-10
Fargo-10
Vertigo-10
Drugstore Cowboy-10
To Kill a Mockingbird-10
Rosemary's Baby-10
Godfather I and II-10
Schindler's List-10
The list of great movies is actually super long but these just came to me right away. I'd have to really think about my favorite movies but all of the previous are pretty obvious.

[–] StoneKeeper (28301) 8 years ago

Indeed.
Reservoir dogs: 8
Fargo: 8 (I liked the show even more)
Vertigo: some details bothered me but overall, good. 7
Drugstore cowboy: 7.5 (I prefered My own private Idaho)
Schindlers list: Great movie 8.5 (I preferred The pianist)

[–] MinaVladimir (4086) 8 years ago

Labor Day (2013) - Lonely, depressed women do the darndest things. And escaped convicts would do all the inside and outside chores a mans man would do, in broad daylingt, while the police is looking for them. Also teach a kid how to make pie. I had a bit of a problem with the basic premise of the movie. The performances are great, and it kept me interested in these people, with the flashbacks and what not. Also I think it did a good job at showing what it's like living with depression and anxiety. And I really liked the ending. Overall I liked it.

I think that we finaly need a Jackie Chan feature lenght blooper movie. It would break box office records! His movies are always fun, even if it's just because of him (well maybe not Skiptrace). The man is so likable.

The Hurt Locker was great. I should re-watch it one of these days.

[–] StoneKeeper (28301) 8 years ago

Jackie Chan could rape all the Youtube "fails" video. Skiptrace was a major disappointment indeed. Even though I add somewhat low expectations.

[–] Sentient Meat (1509) 8 years ago

I watched the Beatles Anthology... I think it's excellent, especially if you love the Beatles, however it also felt like a propaganda film where every detail was controlled by the artists and the estate of John. It was amazing how popular they were and you wonder if any artist will reach those heights again.

I also saw the second season of Rick and Morty which is a brilliant animated series... think the new season is coming out in the summer.

I rewatched six episodes and finally finished the last two of True Detective season 2. It was actually better to see it as one long binge (I previously was watching it when it originally came out on HBO) however, it still was a little too slow and the ending imo was terrible. I still enjoyed it overall and look forward to season 3... but I'm not sure there's many worse finales than that one. If it had a good ending, I'd rate it pretty highly.

[–] actionkamen (23176) 8 years ago

Rumble in the Bronx is one of my favorite Jackie Chan movie of all time.

And it depicted one of the rarest interacial couple in movies: Asian American man with African American woman.

[–] StoneKeeper (28301) 8 years ago

And that kiss!! Hehehe