I got Netflix a few months ago, since I really just don't have the time...or rather, the patience...to go and sit in a movie theater. Plus it gets pricey.
Anyway, I've been going back and forth, trying to watch movies that I've wanted to see but don't want to get from Blockbuster since they suck. So far I've liked just about every one. So I figured I'd start a thread about recommendations for movies.
Here's what I've seen so far, and what I'd recommend:
The Lake House - It's a sappy romance with nothing surprising and the ugliest lakehouse ever. Yeah I didn't care for this one at all...but the acting was actually pretty good.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Loved it. I was honestly surprised by how much I freakin' loved this movie. And yeah, I'll admit it: when he's not being an obnoxious prick, I actually find Jim Carrey cute. Yeah I said it.
The Devil Wears Prada - This movie was awful. I only found it funny a couple of times, and completely disagreed with the way the director handled everything. But then, I didn't like the book either. I may be biased.
A Very Long Engagement - I honestly don't know if I liked this movie or not. I was watching it, and enjoying it, and then my brain melted. My only comment on it now is: Holy shit, that's Jodie Foster!!!
Singles - Loved it! My oldest brother recommended it, and I was not disappointed. In fact, once again I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this flick. Plus it had Chris Cornell and Eddie Vedder! And a performance by STP! Yes I was in grunge heaven.
V for Vendetta - Although it was somewhat hokey, and his dialogue made me want to kill him, it's a great movie with some rather horrifying action sequences. You just have to remember: V is a terrorist. No, really, he is. So he doesn't always do things you can agree with. But the movie does make you want to take up arms and go blow something up...
Just kidding Mr. President! Go back to monitoring my phone calls, thank you!
Children of Men - This one came with so much hype that I expected it to be something of a letdown. I was retarded. I won't say it's the best movie ever, as some people seem to believe, but I will say I loved it and that I just wish it had continued for one day longer in the movie's timeframe. This movie felt just like watching a real-time documentary. Plus Clive Owen is hawt!
That's my thoughts for now kids. So, what have YOU watched lately?
Movies Movies Movies
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Jenica Sabiny
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phoenixbyrd
I agree about Children of Men btw, its a great movie but not my in my top 20. Still, Michael Cain though. :p Eternal Sunshine is an freakin awesome movie, which is in my top 20, for sure.
Recently I have watched-
Hot Fuzz - Those who love Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and Simon Pegg will love this movie. Its not just funny, its hilarious, and has some great movie references (particularly Bad Boys and Point Break. :p) I dunno if Americans will totally get some of the humour, check it out anyways. :p
Spiderman 3 - I am not gonna debate this movie. Its Raimi's third and final and most of the cast won't be doing no more. So in light of that, Sandman, Harry and Venom's inclusion makes sense, and its as true to the comic as Hollywood is likely to get it. The dude that played Ash in Evil Dead makes his normal cameo and it was the funniest part of the movie. Its a must see for all Spidey fans, and IMO not too long, so there! :p
Premonition- Sandra Bullock in a good movie about nothing in particular... made me cry a little, but had a cheesy ending.
Deja Vu - The rich man's version of Premonition. Deja Vu was one of the best plots for a time travel movie I have ever seen, it didn't confuse me once and had a great mix of action, suspense and great acting. A must see for everyone... I demand you see this movie. :p
300- Over hyped, but I still loved it. I still hear the words "This is SPARTA!!" in my dreams, although that may have something to do with my fiancé watching it when I am asleep. :p The battles sequences are gruesome but look awesome, way better the Troy. This movie gives me hope for a God of War movie, so much so people are calling for the dude who played Leonitus to play Kratos.
Curse of the Golden Flower - This is quite simply a beautiful movie. The plot is typical of a martial arts movie, incest, sibling rivalry and treachery, Chow Yun Fat was awesome, and the younger cast people to look out for. The director of Hero and House of Flying Daggers made this, and although its number three for me, its still a great period marital arts movie. The ninja's kick so much ass, literally.
Hehe, I watch waaaaaay too many movies... that covers about a day's worth. :p
Recently I have watched-
Hot Fuzz - Those who love Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and Simon Pegg will love this movie. Its not just funny, its hilarious, and has some great movie references (particularly Bad Boys and Point Break. :p) I dunno if Americans will totally get some of the humour, check it out anyways. :p
Spiderman 3 - I am not gonna debate this movie. Its Raimi's third and final and most of the cast won't be doing no more. So in light of that, Sandman, Harry and Venom's inclusion makes sense, and its as true to the comic as Hollywood is likely to get it. The dude that played Ash in Evil Dead makes his normal cameo and it was the funniest part of the movie. Its a must see for all Spidey fans, and IMO not too long, so there! :p
Premonition- Sandra Bullock in a good movie about nothing in particular... made me cry a little, but had a cheesy ending.
Deja Vu - The rich man's version of Premonition. Deja Vu was one of the best plots for a time travel movie I have ever seen, it didn't confuse me once and had a great mix of action, suspense and great acting. A must see for everyone... I demand you see this movie. :p
300- Over hyped, but I still loved it. I still hear the words "This is SPARTA!!" in my dreams, although that may have something to do with my fiancé watching it when I am asleep. :p The battles sequences are gruesome but look awesome, way better the Troy. This movie gives me hope for a God of War movie, so much so people are calling for the dude who played Leonitus to play Kratos.
Curse of the Golden Flower - This is quite simply a beautiful movie. The plot is typical of a martial arts movie, incest, sibling rivalry and treachery, Chow Yun Fat was awesome, and the younger cast people to look out for. The director of Hero and House of Flying Daggers made this, and although its number three for me, its still a great period marital arts movie. The ninja's kick so much ass, literally.
Hehe, I watch waaaaaay too many movies... that covers about a day's worth. :p
(Just to add my voice to the general consensus, I really loved “Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind”.)
About a year ago, I discovered that the Austin Library has an amazing selection of DVDs. Since the local branch is only two blocks from my house, and since I need something to watch while I do my hour of pedaling on the stationary bike, I’ve taken to checking out a lot of movies. Here are a few that I’ve seen recently:
Walk The Line -- I didn’t know anything about Johnny Cash before watching this, other than the vague impression that he dressed in black and wrote songs about going to prison for killing “your woman”. But, as portrayed in this movie, he was a lot more likeable than that. I found the music surprisingly enjoyable, while the story was engaging and well-acted. My only complaint was that if the story was a work of fiction, I would have criticized it for being bit heavy on clichés (I won’t list them, since I don’t want to spoil the movie for anyone else). But hey, apparently this was how the man’s life happened, so what can you do?
The Prestige -- This entire movie is like an amazing magic trick, which is appropriate since it’s the story of two rival stage magicians. Everything that happens, almost every word that anyone says, is a clue to what’s really going on, but the twists are so clever and inventive that they still surprise you. And I very rarely get surprised by movies. The only thing that keeps this from being nearly perfect is that it’s a bit hard to identify with the depth of obsession displayed by the two magicians, although Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale do their best to inject some humanity into their characters. Still, it’s good enough to be in my top 10, and it made me curious enough to read the book it’s based on (which is also quite good, although somewhat different).
King Kong (Peter Jackson remake) -- The first time I checked this movie out from the library, they accidentally gave me the original version (I kept waiting for the picture to turn to color). It didn’t exactly win me over, but I’m glad that I had a chance to watch it, because it gave me some context for when I eventually got to see the Peter Jackson version. Obviously, Peter Jackson’s movie looks better. A lot better. And it’s better acted. And the heroine gets do more than flirt and scream. But in my opinion, Peter Jackson remained a bit too loyal to his source material. A lot of nonsensical elements from the first movie remain in place. (They built a giant wall to keep out the monsters, and then they built a gate big enough for a monster to get through? Why? What exactly did they feed Kong for the entire sea voyage back to New York? And I’m sorry, but any human being would have snapped their neck if they were subjected to as much shaking around as Anne Darrow endures once she’s been captured by Kong.) Also, I’d hoped that Jackson chose this movie because there was an important issue he wanted to address with it. But the entire point of the movie still seems to be that giant gorillas have a fatal weakness for pretty white women which leads to them (the gorillas, not the pretty white women) falling from the Empire State Building. Or something.
The Thomas Crown Affair (remake with Pierce Brosnan) -- My sister recommended this movie to me, but I went into it with some doubts about whether I’d be able to like some smug playboy who stole stuff for thrills. And indeed, despite my general fondness for Brosnan, I never really warmed to the character of Thomas Crown. But I thought that Rene Russo did an excellent job of portraying the sort of tough but ultimately damaged woman who would fall for someone like him. And Dennis Leary was wonderful as the bitter cop in charge of the investigation. In my humble opinion, Leary is an extremely underrated actor, so it was great to see him in a role where he got to be both funny and dramatic. The caper aspects were clever and fun, leading up to a thrilling climax (made all the more fun if you, like me, are a fan of the French painter Magritte).
The Fantastic Four -- Ioan Gruffudd is really cute. That’s why I checked out this movie, and that’s kind of all I remember about it. I think there was a decent (although predictable) storyline, punctuated by some nice special effects. And there was Ioan. Pretty, pretty Ioan. Excuse me, I have to go watch my Horatio Hornblower DVDs again...
About a year ago, I discovered that the Austin Library has an amazing selection of DVDs. Since the local branch is only two blocks from my house, and since I need something to watch while I do my hour of pedaling on the stationary bike, I’ve taken to checking out a lot of movies. Here are a few that I’ve seen recently:
Walk The Line -- I didn’t know anything about Johnny Cash before watching this, other than the vague impression that he dressed in black and wrote songs about going to prison for killing “your woman”. But, as portrayed in this movie, he was a lot more likeable than that. I found the music surprisingly enjoyable, while the story was engaging and well-acted. My only complaint was that if the story was a work of fiction, I would have criticized it for being bit heavy on clichés (I won’t list them, since I don’t want to spoil the movie for anyone else). But hey, apparently this was how the man’s life happened, so what can you do?
The Prestige -- This entire movie is like an amazing magic trick, which is appropriate since it’s the story of two rival stage magicians. Everything that happens, almost every word that anyone says, is a clue to what’s really going on, but the twists are so clever and inventive that they still surprise you. And I very rarely get surprised by movies. The only thing that keeps this from being nearly perfect is that it’s a bit hard to identify with the depth of obsession displayed by the two magicians, although Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale do their best to inject some humanity into their characters. Still, it’s good enough to be in my top 10, and it made me curious enough to read the book it’s based on (which is also quite good, although somewhat different).
King Kong (Peter Jackson remake) -- The first time I checked this movie out from the library, they accidentally gave me the original version (I kept waiting for the picture to turn to color). It didn’t exactly win me over, but I’m glad that I had a chance to watch it, because it gave me some context for when I eventually got to see the Peter Jackson version. Obviously, Peter Jackson’s movie looks better. A lot better. And it’s better acted. And the heroine gets do more than flirt and scream. But in my opinion, Peter Jackson remained a bit too loyal to his source material. A lot of nonsensical elements from the first movie remain in place. (They built a giant wall to keep out the monsters, and then they built a gate big enough for a monster to get through? Why? What exactly did they feed Kong for the entire sea voyage back to New York? And I’m sorry, but any human being would have snapped their neck if they were subjected to as much shaking around as Anne Darrow endures once she’s been captured by Kong.) Also, I’d hoped that Jackson chose this movie because there was an important issue he wanted to address with it. But the entire point of the movie still seems to be that giant gorillas have a fatal weakness for pretty white women which leads to them (the gorillas, not the pretty white women) falling from the Empire State Building. Or something.
The Thomas Crown Affair (remake with Pierce Brosnan) -- My sister recommended this movie to me, but I went into it with some doubts about whether I’d be able to like some smug playboy who stole stuff for thrills. And indeed, despite my general fondness for Brosnan, I never really warmed to the character of Thomas Crown. But I thought that Rene Russo did an excellent job of portraying the sort of tough but ultimately damaged woman who would fall for someone like him. And Dennis Leary was wonderful as the bitter cop in charge of the investigation. In my humble opinion, Leary is an extremely underrated actor, so it was great to see him in a role where he got to be both funny and dramatic. The caper aspects were clever and fun, leading up to a thrilling climax (made all the more fun if you, like me, are a fan of the French painter Magritte).
The Fantastic Four -- Ioan Gruffudd is really cute. That’s why I checked out this movie, and that’s kind of all I remember about it. I think there was a decent (although predictable) storyline, punctuated by some nice special effects. And there was Ioan. Pretty, pretty Ioan. Excuse me, I have to go watch my Horatio Hornblower DVDs again...
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Blood Ravenous
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Two movies I've seen recently that I've really been impressed with is 300 and Curse of the Golden Flower. Those are must-sees for sure (if you like violence).
But some of my favorite movies are a bit older, and you should still see them if you haven't.
Pitch Black, sci-fi story about a space ship that crashes on an alien planet. That's worsened by the fact that they have a very dangerous serial killer on board. Not many of them survive the crash, and those that do then have to deal with the killer (played by Vin Diesel, who was perfect for the part) and then thousands of predatory aliens that come out when the planet's suns get blocked. It was very intense and the ending is great.
The next, continuing on the story of Pitch Black almost, is Chronicles of Riddick. It follows the serial killer guy to other planets and ends up involving a group called the necromongers who are like devout religious soldiers. They conquer planets easily and then convert everyone by force into their "religion". Kind of hard to describe without copying the back of the DVD, but just watch it if you haven't.
And another (I think much) older movie is Equilibrium. It was good because of the story, though there are some parts that could have used improvement. It's about a totalitarian government who has developed a drug that cuts off all emotion. Not taking the medicine is a very high crime, as is art. What's really cool is a class of fighters trained by the government, forgot what they were called, but it's a martial arts with guns style that is used when outnumbered. So the action is very cool.
But some of my favorite movies are a bit older, and you should still see them if you haven't.
Pitch Black, sci-fi story about a space ship that crashes on an alien planet. That's worsened by the fact that they have a very dangerous serial killer on board. Not many of them survive the crash, and those that do then have to deal with the killer (played by Vin Diesel, who was perfect for the part) and then thousands of predatory aliens that come out when the planet's suns get blocked. It was very intense and the ending is great.
The next, continuing on the story of Pitch Black almost, is Chronicles of Riddick. It follows the serial killer guy to other planets and ends up involving a group called the necromongers who are like devout religious soldiers. They conquer planets easily and then convert everyone by force into their "religion". Kind of hard to describe without copying the back of the DVD, but just watch it if you haven't.
And another (I think much) older movie is Equilibrium. It was good because of the story, though there are some parts that could have used improvement. It's about a totalitarian government who has developed a drug that cuts off all emotion. Not taking the medicine is a very high crime, as is art. What's really cool is a class of fighters trained by the government, forgot what they were called, but it's a martial arts with guns style that is used when outnumbered. So the action is very cool.
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phoenixbyrd
The Chronicles of Riddick and Pitch Black are bridged by a manga. I love the Riddick series, and hope they do another movie, going into detail about his race of Furian's and the Necro's too.
Hm, any fans of God of War, what do you think for Vin Diesel as Kratos?
Equilibrium is for me what the Matrix should have been. Christian Bale is a great actor and IMO would have done an infinitely better job as Neo then Reeves did. :p The fighting is unique, and was used in this film for the first time. Jet Li's the One and Unleashed uses a similar style, and I kinda wished they would make more movies in this ilk, but alas, I am not a Hollywood producer.
Hm, any fans of God of War, what do you think for Vin Diesel as Kratos?
Equilibrium is for me what the Matrix should have been. Christian Bale is a great actor and IMO would have done an infinitely better job as Neo then Reeves did. :p The fighting is unique, and was used in this film for the first time. Jet Li's the One and Unleashed uses a similar style, and I kinda wished they would make more movies in this ilk, but alas, I am not a Hollywood producer.
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Chrishton Radu
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I really liked the recent remake of King Kong but I've gotta agree with Julen's assessment. I thought it was a damn fine movie and didn't really notice anything bugging me at a time, though it is kind of dumb when you think about it. It was one of those things I took with a grain of salt and just enjoyed the amazing special effects and decent acting mixed in with some very cool scenes overall.
You are confusing bets and marriages, Madam. One must always honour a bet.
- Valmont
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Blood Ravenous
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Yeah, he would have done such a better job than Keanu in the Matrix! And whenever I see him, I just think about how he has that piercing raptor look like Richard from the Sword of Truth series...
And Vin Diesel should be Kratos! I've heard of someone making a God of War movie, and it would be sweet if they did.
And Vin Diesel should be Kratos! I've heard of someone making a God of War movie, and it would be sweet if they did.