Recently Viewed Movies Episode 2: The Vampire Bites Back

[Dice]

Dice, what was she saying? I was curious myself.

A lot of what you'd expect from Gypsy-stereotype. x) 
"Wood here, water here, beds here, I'll come for the money tomorrow", and she complains about the dog a lot.  iirc she said bad things about Sid a lot in that second scene he was in.

One of the coolest scenes in that movie is that one single shot when Kee is seperated from Theo; it's almost a ten minute scene doen in one long, long shot, from outside to people getting shot, to going into the building, and till he reunites with Kee again on like the third floor of the building.

The DVD commentary (back when I owned it) said it took them three tries to nail it and they had to digitally remove the blood splatter that hits the camera digitally (and that happened like 2 minutes into the sequence).

[Bytor]

The cinematography is one if the things that drew me in, it's simply such a wonderfully shot film. And yes, Michael Caine was awesome!!

[Darilon]

I just saw Tangled for the first time. Really enjoyed it, certainly more than I was expecting. The mother also really gave me a GLaDOS vibe, which was awesome. I can't say I enjoyed the ending but overall it was a great movie.

Code:

I dont know, Rapunzel seemed to love the witch for most of the movie even though she was pretty sarcastic. The fact she didn't even seem bummed out that her "mother" of 18 years just died seemed off for some reason.

The movie has got me in the mood to watch Brave, another movie I have never seen before. From the ads that used to be on I don't think The princess and the Frog would be my cup of tea.

[Dice]

I just saw Tangled for the first time. Really enjoyed it, certainly more than I was expecting. The mother also really gave me a GLaDOS vibe, which was awesome. I can't say I enjoyed the ending but overall it was a great movie.

Code:

I dont know, Rapunzel seemed to love the witch for most of the movie even though she was pretty sarcastic. The fact she didn't even seem bummed out that her "mother" of 18 years just died seemed off for some reason.

The movie has got me in the mood to watch Brave, another movie I have never seen before. From the ads that used to be on I don't think The princess and the Frog would be my cup of tea.

Code:

I think for the length of Disney flicks (and the budget of Tangled.....70% of which probably went into animating her hair and dress to fall gracefully), doting on the evil mother even if for legitimate means would have been tricky to do.

I love Flynn though.  Funny, amusing, and also the first Disney lead with facial hair!  The horse too.

Brave is a bit of a mixed bag.  It IS impressive, but I got too much of that 90's Disney vibe with the classic "misunderstanding" and "magical curses" (especially the one seen in that movie) are played out pretty predictably.  A shame since the movie had just about everything else going for it.

Princess in the Frog is charming enough.  I do love the jazz-oriented music and the setting.  The villain is almost 90% pointless and transparent, but the animation and performances are damn near flawless.... but I guess, competing with computer CGI-animated films, it has to be.

[Yoda]

The cinematography is one if the things that drew me in, it's simply such a wonderfully shot film. And yes, Michael Caine was awesome!!

The whole movie is excellent. I like the uber-British guy talking about the David statue. He something in the thickest of accents like "couldn't get to it in time ruddy buggers nicked his leg!"

[Bytor]

That scene is really neat to a Pink Floyd fan as well, right outside his window it looks like Battersea Power Station and there is a pig hovering over it. I was like wow, check it out!, LOL

[Tooker]

Finally saw Looper.  Enjoyed it, but I have to say that I'm not sure how they thought we'd believe the kid who's in it was 10.  I'm bad with ages, but even I could tell he was only 6 or so.

[Bytor]

Stayed on my "post-apoc" kick and watched The Quiet Earth again last night...wasn't as good as I remembered.

[Daggerstrike]

I watched "This is the End" at the theater last night for a friends birthday. Holy balls this movie is ridiculous. If you like actors making fun of themselves and ridiculous humor then you will enjoy this movie. If you go in expecting a deep movie with lots of subtext then...were you on crack when you bought the tickets?

[Dice]

I watched "This is the End" at the theater last night for a friends birthday. Holy balls this movie is ridiculous. If you like actors making fun of themselves and ridiculous humor then you will enjoy this movie. If you go in expecting a deep movie with lots of subtext then...were you on crack when you bought the tickets?

Saw it too, damn good fun. x)
I like everyone playing these weird pseudo-versions of themselves and the occasional "Canada" and Freeks and Geeks nods.

AAAAND IIIIIIIIIIIIII-EEEE-YAAAAAAAAII WIIIILLLLL ALLLWAAAYYYS LOOOOOVE YOOOOOOOOOU

[Yoda]

Freaks and Geeks was so damn good. That last ep was amazing too. Such a great show and so many good performances... and stellar soundtrack

[GrimReality]

Zero Dark Thirty -
I'm still unsure as to why this was thrown together so quickly after finally nailing Osama. Was it a rights issue? Just trying to beat other filmmakers to the punch? Whatever it was, I was immediately suspicious as to the potential quality of this film. Once I knew Kathryn Bigelow was directed, who made the fantastic Hurt Locker, I was calmed somewhat.
I've finally seen it, and I'm happy to say that it's a damn fine picture. Wonderfully shot, acted, and paced. Very similar in feel to Best Picture winner Argo, but not quite as good.
Jessica Chastain pretty much IS this picture, and is wonderful in her role as the CIA operative hunting Osama for 12 years. She's really proving to be a very versatile actress. I really like her looks, too, as she isn't classic "Hollywood beautiful". Certainly attractive, but in a more down to earth, not plasticed up, kind of way. She's destined for greatness, no doubt.
The buildup is so well done, and leads into the final conflict perfectly, notching up the tension just right.
I DID think it was a tad too long, and wouldn't have suffered much by cutting some scenes short, or removing them altogether.
I also wonder about the torture scenes, and how truthful they are. I have no doubt the U.S. has tortured war prisoners/terrorists for information, no matter how much they deny it. But are the tactics taken in this movie indicative of what we really do? If so, I am embarrassed for our country.
Overall, a great movie. I'm sure some people are turned off by the subject matter, but I think it works simply as a well made thriller, and is definitely worth seeing.

Man of Steel -
My immediate impression as the credits rolled was that this movie was desperately trying to outdo all the Marvel Superhero movies, The Avengers in specific. I have never witnessed as much destruction on screen as I saw while watching this movie. Somebody REALLY has it out for New York(aka Metropolis).
Sure, the super battles, powers, and heroic deeds were fun to watch, but by the end it really felt like a bit too much. Especially considering how great some of the quieter moments are.
Henry Cavill is PERFECT as superman. He nails this role big time. And he's one buff dude! Christoper Reeve was downright flabby compared to Cavill. They must have had him train a lot for the role.
Russel Crowe was surprisingly good as his Kryptonian father.
Michael Shannon is short-changed a bit as Zod, and really just gets to yell a lot.
Amy Adams, who I totally love, was just fine as Lois.
I didn't quite buy any kind of proper relationship forming between Lois and Clark, though. We needed more build up with them.
That's kind of the problem with the movie. Too much overblown super battling, and not enough character building.
Was I entertained? Yes. 14-year old me would have gone gaga over this 100%. 38-year old me still very much enjoys a great action movie, but demands a good story, and fleshed out characters, to accompany it.
I really hope we get a sequel that can balance thongs out a bit better.

[Akanbe-]

Henry Cavill is PERFECT as superman. He nails this role big time. And he's one buff dude! Christoper Reeve was downright flabby compared to Cavill. They must have had him train a lot for the role.

Some TV show I saw talked about his routine and it was nuts because he said he wanted to look as Superman-esque as possible.  Worked out/exercised some 2-3 hours a day and his diet was ridiculous tight with what he could eat.

[Darilon]

Just came back from watching the new Superman movie. I liked it and would consider it a great Superman movie but an average superhero one. Russel Crowe is great and I did enjoy how they avoided making superman's personality seem like that of mister perfect. The Lois scenes are nearly all out of place with their romance not feeling real at all.

Zod shouting release the world engine made me really want to shout out "Release the Kraken!"

[Jotacon]

Zero Dark Thirty -
I'm still unsure as to why this was thrown together so quickly after finally nailing Osama. Was it a rights issue? Just trying to beat other filmmakers to the punch? Whatever it was, I was immediately suspicious as to the potential quality of this film. Once I knew Kathryn Bigelow was directed, who made the fantastic Hurt Locker, I was calmed somewhat.
I've finally seen it, and I'm happy to say that it's a damn fine picture. Wonderfully shot, acted, and paced. Very similar in feel to Best Picture winner Argo, but not quite as good.
Jessica Chastain pretty much IS this picture, and is wonderful in her role as the CIA operative hunting Osama for 12 years. She's really proving to be a very versatile actress. I really like her looks, too, as she isn't classic "Hollywood beautiful". Certainly attractive, but in a more down to earth, not plasticed up, kind of way. She's destined for greatness, no doubt.
The buildup is so well done, and leads into the final conflict perfectly, notching up the tension just right.
I DID think it was a tad too long, and wouldn't have suffered much by cutting some scenes short, or removing them altogether.
I also wonder about the torture scenes, and how truthful they are. I have no doubt the U.S. has tortured war prisoners/terrorists for information, no matter how much they deny it. But are the tactics taken in this movie indicative of what we really do? If so, I am embarrassed for our country.
Overall, a great movie. I'm sure some people are turned off by the subject matter, but I think it works simply as a well made thriller, and is definitely worth seeing.

They were making the movie before he was killed having it end with a "Will they ever find him? Was it all worth it?" kind of ending and then they got him. So Bigelow and the other writer had to quickly rewrite the ending and filmed an excellent and exciting dramatic conclusion. I think a lot of the films problems come from how the film builds to the original ending, but doesn't execute. The ending was great and Chastain acted the hell out of it, but it just doesn't mesh well with how the rest of the film is handled. It's the same problem with the way the film handles ambiguity by creating distance, but then gives you an answer through Bigelow's perspective.
On the subject of torture, yes America tortured people in ways similar to the ones shown in the film. Embarrassment, alerting people to stress postions, sleep deprivation and all the other things shown in this film are ways that America has tortured people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_torture_and_prisoner_abuse Oh yeah, it NSFW, too. I know it's Wikipedia, but its the easiest way to get the info out.

I think everyone has said all there is to say about Man of Steel. It could have been so much better, but it isn't too bad.