In this topic I keep track of the movies I watch and make some general comments. Feel free to interact, suggest movies, state your opinions, and talk about movies you watched if you like. I'm arbitrarily beginning with this weekend. -March 9, 2008 [b]Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)[/b] [img size=260]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/BrotherReed/Movies/goldmember.jpg[/img] Alright, so my roommate made me watch this. I really had no desire to see any of the Austin Powers films so perhaps my low expectations allowed me to get some enjoyment out of it. This is... pretty bad actually but there are some funny moments. The best part is easily the beginning credits sequence which is a serviceable parody of James Bond and features some hilarious cameos. Most of the rest is a thin plot with a lot of slapstick and, of course, rampant innuendos and sexual jokes. Myers does have a certain charm about him, although occasionally I felt they harped on the jokes too much instead of just letting them flow. Seeing famous actors in ridiculous roles, especially Michael Caine, is the most entertaining thing about this otherwise lackluster spoof. All of the gags that work feel like they've been pulled off better in other comedies. Overall, 4.5/10 [b]Die Hard (1988)[/b] [img size=260]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/BrotherReed/Movies/DieHard00021.png[/img] This is an action classic. I know I've seen part of it on TV before but I never got the whole thing in context. Especially in the wake of the latest Die Hard sequel, I felt it appropriate to visit the one that started it all. Oh man. This movie is intense! Bruce Willis is at the top of his game in the vehicle that made him an international star. Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber is a beloved villain and there's no questioning why. Rickman is a brilliant actor and here he embodies the intelligent gentleman seething with rancor beneath the veneer of his suit. He's tricky and sharp and his cat and mouse games with McClaine are great fun to watch. There are hair-raising stunts, hilarious one-liners (I laughed as much as I gasped), and stuff gets blown up. What more could you ask for? Yippie-Kai-yay, mother****er. An instant favorite. 9.5/10 [b]Night of the Living Dead (1968)[/b] [img size=260]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f330/nufaciel/notld%20samples/notld_537.jpg[/img] Romero's original black and white, low-budget horror film about a bizarre epidemic in which the recently deceased return to life and prey on the flesh of the living. The word "zombie" is never used in the film - rather the reanimated corpses are called "ghouls" and it seems their mysterious infection has something to do with radiation from space. Whatever. Point is, a group of characters holes up in a farmhouse and tries to fortify themselves against the invading masses and find a way to escape. Ultimately, as is often the case in such claustrophobic thrillers, they end up fighting each other as well. Some of it drags, the acting isn't so great, and the film quality is pretty bad as well. Despite these flaws, it picks up significantly in the second act, actually becoming fairly disturbing and tense if not a little predictable. The uncompromising ending fits the tale and makes it more memorable. I'm probably giving it a lot of slack for being a supposed classic, but oh well. 6/10 and not a penny more.

Post edited by: BrotherReed, at: 2008/03/09 01:35

I love the Austin Powers series. And if it weren't for the fact that perverted comedies generally get such low ratings, I would demand that you raise your scoring of Goldmember immediately. But as it is, I'm willing to back off. I also recommend the movie [i]Young Frankenstein[/i]. I haven't seen it in several years, but I just loved that movie.Watch it.

Everyone keeps telling me I need to watch that. I'll try to see it soon. I think my roommate has it. Btw, is Young Frankenstein better than Blazing Saddles? Because that has got to be the most overrated comedy of all time. I watched it twice this year and it just wasn't bringing the laughs.

Post edited by: BrotherReed, at: 2008/03/10 00:25

I've never seen Blazing Saddles. Sounds familiar, but I've never seen it.

I like how you're doing this.:) I like knowing what I'm going to see before I see it, without having to read the whole plot summary and ruin the movie. I agree with your thoughts on Wall-E. A lot of my friends didn't like it simply because it didn't have much dialogue, which confused me. When television was first invented they didn't have color OR sound and they loved it!

October 2008 [b]Charade (1963)[/b] All Star cast and a twisty intrigue story with a lot of goofy moments. There have been plenty of better spy spoof since then and now a lot of the banter and developments are predictable. If you like Grant, Hepburn and Matthau, though, it's plenty enjoyable to watch them do their thing. [b]7/10[/b] [b]Fireproof (2008)[/b] The most enjoyable bad movie I've ever seen. There's a lot to commend in Fireproof. The beginning is rough, and I was worried that the stilted writing and unsure acting was going to continue. Fortunately, the leads end up being more than competent (especially Erin Bethea), and the story begins to take off with a lot of nice touches. There's some humor that works in the way it was meant to, and there's at least one scene that's properly thrilling as well. Some of the supporting cast is abysmal, but others feel right at home. For such a modest budget, this is a great looking movie and I think we'll be seeing better and better things from the group that made it. It won't appeal to anyone who doesn't already agree with the message, but it is certainly nice to hear "don't follow your heart - lead your heart" from a big screen. I'm awarding it an extremely generous [b]5/10[/b]. Please reward my generosity and give me at least a 6/10 movie next time. [b]Final Destination (2000)[/b] Kind of fun as an X-Files reunion - writers Glen Morgan and James Wong were frequent X-Files contributors and some of the supporting cast have been guest stars. Nothing too great here - it's certainly not scary or particularly well acted - but it does have an original idea going for it and follows through. The opening credits is the creepiest part of the film. [b]6/10[/b] [b]The Bank Job (2008)[/b] Slick movie with an enjoyable cast of mostly unknowns that explores the execution and aftermath of a bank robbery. [b]7.5/10[/b] [b]The Running Man (1987)[/b] Decent movie in that its dystopian themes seem in certain ways prophetic. However, it's cheesy to the max - and while Arnold's one-liners can certainly add to a movie (see:Commando), it didn't help Running Man. The gravity of the life and death situations as well as the totalitarian state seem watered down by the tongue-in-cheek approach. It isn't able to balance its themes against dark humor like Battle Royale did so well. This isn't a thinking man's sci-fi - it's John Matrix in a yellow jumpsuit. [b]5/10[/b] [b]The Thin Red Line (1999)[/b] I hated Malick's recent "The New World," and so I went into this guarded - wanting to like it, but ready to hate it. I recently watched Saving Private Ryan and thought I'd get a different viewpoint on the same subject. Well, this is no SPR. It starts off slow, but for about an hour and 15 minutes in the second act, it's a great war movie. Then the last 45 minutes drug worse than the opening and left me waiting for it to end. I'm vocally not a fan of Malick's style of voice-over musings, though here they seem to be fairly substantial and some actually made me think. Jim Caviezel shines in his role as do Nick Nolte and Elias Koteas (Casey Jones!)... and Woody Harrelson blew his butt off. I appreciate this film but it's not something I would care to sit through again. [b]6/10[/b]

[b]Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990)[/b] Bruce Willis is back as John McClane, the tough, resourceful cop who always ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's Christmas again and this time he's waiting for his wife at the airport when terrorists take hold of the complex to rescue in incoming insurgent. The dialog isn't nearly as sharp here as in the first. Due to the more open setting there is less tension, and the villain is certainly not commanding in the way that Hans Gruber was. The whole thing feels like kind of a generic action thriller. However, that's not to say it isn't worth watching. There are some great sequences especially in the second half, and the finale is probably more exciting (though less realistic) this time around. Plus, did I mention John McClane? And a young Robert Patrick a year before his breakout role as T-1000 in Terminator 2. [b]7/10[/b] [b]Iron Man (2008)[/b] Of all the recent comic book movies, this one is might be the coolest. It's slick as snot with good-looking CG, a strong script, and a centerpiece in Robert Downey Jr. who IS this movie. I don't even want to know how this would have gone down with anyone else playing Tony Stark. He takes already good dialog and makes it sharp and hilarious. He's doesn't show a whole lot of heart here, though - actually the film as a whole feels just the least bit cold (how did they deal with the icing problem?). It spends a long time getting up to speed, sort of like a Batman Begins with more buildup and less payoff. Also the science is pretty unbelievable even for a superhero movie. The fact that Stark talks to his computers like he would to a human (or at least to a dog) and they understand and respond is pretty out there. Even if we can imagine him being capable of producing things that the rest of science hasn't caught up to, in my mind I was asking logistical questions about a lot of it. I had an easier time buying the new Batman. Still, though, it's definitely a strong film that's very enjoyable and Gwyneth Paltrow has never looked better. Ever. [b]8/10[/b] May go up to an 8, but a second viewing will have to confirm.