American Hustle. I'll give it a 6.5/10.
It was a bit slow at first, but it picked up and ended up being pretty good. Plus, there were great actors.
American Hustle. I'll give it a 6.5/10.
It was a bit slow at first, but it picked up and ended up being pretty good. Plus, there were great actors.
"I drag myself out of nightmares each morning and find there's no relief in waking."
I just watched Blue Is The Warmest Color.
WOW.
Has anyone else seen this? If so, I'd like to get your thoughts on it.
Mandela - Long Walk to Freedom, 10/10
I saw 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' yesterday. I went into the theater knowing I was seeing Jacksons take on the book and his re-writing of scenes so in general it was a good movie. Way to many useless fightscenes aimed at the teenage boy part of the audience. I was there with my stepdad, my brother, his girlfriend and her son and it was obvious that the young boy loved it more then the rest.
I was very disappointed with Beorn and his part, he was my favorite character in the book and he was just crappy and the whole scene was useless to the plot and nothing like the book.
I love Lee Pace, he will always be my favorite baker and I liked him as an elf too.
Well in general I give it 7.5 as a movie but as an adaptation it would get a lot less.
I hope death is joyful, and I hope I'll never return -Frida Khalo
If I seem insensitive to what you are going through, understand it's the way I am- Mr. Spock
Personally, I think that the unique and supreme delight lies in the certainty of doing 'evil'–and men and women know from birth that all pleasure lies in evil. - Baudelaire
Over the past 24 hours I watched The Hangover (which I saw previously), The Hangover Part II and The Hangover Part III. It is probably not ideal to get so much enjoyment over such a small space of time, but the movies were very satisfying. Score 9/10.
It's not surprising that Arthur Miller fell foul of the Un American Activities Committee when his first play All My Sons was produced, because it attacks the profit motive that is the mainstay of business.
This filmed adaptation is well acted by a cast that includes Edward G Robinson, impressive as the paterfamilias whose rise to wealth includes the selling of faulty equipment to the US government during WWII that leads to the death of 26 pilots. Burt Lancaster is the son who survives the war while his brother is killed: a fact that the mother refuses to believe, expecting him to be simply missing in action. Robinson's business partner is blamed for the mis-selling of the equipment and is sent to prison but, although acquitted by the court, an aura of doubt continues to hang over Robinson.
The whole thing spirals out of control when the dead son's fiancee, who is the condemned man's daughter, is proposed to by the eldest son and her brother objects to the engagement; accusing Robinson of being the real culprit and not his imprisoned father.
The script betrays its theatrical origins and it's not for those with a minimal attention span, but viewing the film as a morality tale without the political undertones, I would give it 9/10.
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
Dead-end Drive In (1986)
8/10
I don't find watching fiction movies very interesting but this flick was first-rate.
"Our age, which is cursed with inhuman savagery and want, also allows us superhuman
powers." - WILLIAM BOLITHO
"The price of the succulent cabbage is up,
The cabbage that's grown by the hand of Ah Pup.
'The stock of the Chow soars in country and town
But that of the poet goes steadily down." - JOHN BEDE DALLEY
Inside Llweyn Davis-10/10
Nebraska-10/10
Some good movies got made this year! Gotta get the soundtrack for Llewyn Davis and I'm rooting for an Oscar for Bruce Dern. So is he, I've heard, lol.
"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its' own reason for existing." ~ Albert Einstein
"Remember, no matter where you go, there you are." Buckaroo Bonzai "Some people say I done alright for a girl." Melanie Safka
The Mortal Instruments. Much of this didn't make any sense although I thought it was nice how she was able to hide the cup in a tarot card.
Score 6/10
I watched "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty".
I'd give it a 8/10.
I loved the soundtrack and the visuals, but I was quite disappointed by how the story actually turned out.
This film, based on a short story by Graham Greene, stands or falls by the acting of the leading character played by Rod Steiger who unfortunately gives a somewhat mannered performance as a crooked financier on the run from the British police.
The plot is ingenious in that it involves Steiger fleeing to Mexico from New York and assuming the identity of a fellow train passenger whom he drugs and throws from the train, only to find that the man is wanted for the assassination of the Mexican president. Using his victim's passport to get arrested and taken into Mexico, he reveals that he is in fact Carl Schaffner. He intends to travel to Mexico city where he has salted away a million US dollars but the corrupt police chief of the Mexican border town forces him to stay there unless Schaffner gives him 10% of his fortune. Rather than agree, he is reduced to sleeping rough and is threatened by the town's residents who regarded the assassin as a hero; his only friend being the assassin's pet dog that follows him everywhere. The British police officer who is sent to the town gets no co-operation from the police chief but catches the dog and ties it inside the US section of the bridge that links Mexico to the US. Unable to bear the dog's crying, Schaffner attempts to sneak over at night and free the animal but with tragic results.
In the hands of a more competent director, this could have been a great film on a par with Greene's The Third Man but Ken Annakin apparently fell out with Steiger during the filming and the result is a regrettable miss. 7/10
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
Watched the documentary 'Mansome' about men and it was very interesting and funny. Not very deep but interesting, also I love Will Arnett, his voice is just beautiful!
I hope death is joyful, and I hope I'll never return -Frida Khalo
If I seem insensitive to what you are going through, understand it's the way I am- Mr. Spock
Personally, I think that the unique and supreme delight lies in the certainty of doing 'evil'–and men and women know from birth that all pleasure lies in evil. - Baudelaire
Drinking Buddies
Score: 10/10
This was considered a comedy on the library self, but it is more of a drama about guilt and four people who had different responses to it.
What starts out as a promising story about the hunt for a top Nazi official at the war's end, quickly degenerates into a Boy's Own Paper adventure in which the all-American hero defeats the villain and then settles down to a farmer's life in good 'ol Nebraska.
That being said, there was potential for a much better film based on the search for Martin Bormann (although that isn't his name in the film) by the US after WWII.
In this instance, the escapee arrives in Saigon to join the French foreign legion where Germans are welcome provided they have no evidence of a Nazi past. Under an assumed identity, he is drafted into the legion, unaware that an American secret service agent on his trail is also a draftee into what is colloquially called 'Rogues Regiment' on account of the number of men who have joined through being on the run for various crimes but are welcome because of the difficulty the French are having in trying to re-establish colonial rule in their former colony of Indochina.
As a picture of the French attempt to establish their former grip on Indo-China, this makes for some interesting viewing, but the overall impression is of a film trying to play both ends of German national socialism and Vietnamese national socialism against the middle. 7/10
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
Language of a Broken Heart
Score: 8/10
The message was a bit confusing, but the cover said it was a "sweet, romantic comedy" and that's what it was. I liked the cartoons introducing the sections of the movie. Violet got what she deserved. Nick should have treated his mother better, but he figured that out in the end. I don't understand why Nick even let Violet in the house, but it did lead to a nice ending.
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