I really enjoyed those. Timer was just different, even if a chick flick. That newer film In Time with Justin Timberlake seemed like a bit of a rip off of Timer. The grocery store scene in Cashback was cool. Haha
The Croods – Really strong animated flick. Story is pretty basic but it’s got some real heart. Lots of fun, very funny script, the character designs and animation were lots of fun especially in 3D. Nic Cage, Emma Stone and Reynolds all do really good voice work. - B
Goon: 7/10 What a good movie for what it is. Finally saw it and was pleasantly surprised would definitely recommend
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone - 8/10 This was one of the funnier movies I have seen in a long long time. I know people have become a bit cynical over the last several years regarding movies in general, and rightly so, mainly because of 'cashing-the-check' movies from normally respected actors, such as 'The Watch', or any movie Nic Cage has been in the last ten years - in other words, entire productions essentially created in order to 'pay the bills', without much in the way to recommend them. Burt Wonderstone, however, is NOT one of those. Every actor in it is far more invested in their character than what you might have expected from the previews. Of note, James Gandolfini and Olivia Wilde both give far more and show different sides of themselves than we have really seen before, and it was refreshing. But the main fun is from the three main characters - Carrell, Carrey and Buscemi. Buscemi's role is thankless, pretty much by design, but he is a pro and uses the thanklessness as a plus rather than as a reason to merely show up. The best parts come from Jim Carrey's insane take on shock performers like Chris Angel - just the name of his tv show 'Mind Rapist' is hilarious all by itself. And it's certainly not magic, which throws Carrell's traditional big Vegas-glitz showman (think David Copperfield) into bewildered fits. And Vegas is nothing if not about money, and Wonderstone's corny act has long ago gone stale, and so he finds himself on the cusp of being forgotten and replaced by the likes of Carrey's creepy self-mutilation stunts. Of special note here is Alan Arkin, who plays Wonderstone's 'mentor' of sorts, and it was a joy to watch him in this. This was an incredibly funny film, especially some of the stunts Carrey pulls, as well as Wonderstone's hilarious drunken sort of one-man performance of his two-man show, when he is forced to go solo. And I won't spoil it, but this movie had the funniest closing scene I have ever seen. It was just perfect, and I was rolling. You'll know what I mean when you see it. Highly recommended!
^Great to hear Nero, I've been curious about this movie and the reviews have been pretty poor but I'll give it a rent when it comes out.
Secret - 8.5/10 It's a love story but with a twist. The musical score throughout the film was just breathtaking too. Would recommend keeping some tissue wipes handy (if you're watching with your wife). http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1037850/
GI Joe: Retaliation A lot better than the first and a good, fun action movie. Not without it's stupidity and cheese, but The Rock and Bruce Willis and the good action scenes are enough to hold it all together. 6/10
Kill Bill - 9/10 Watched it last night just for old times sake. This movie is such a classic. Tarentino is a movie-making genius. If you haven't seen this and you like good action movies, you're missing out.
GI Joe: Retaliation 6.5/10 First half of the movie was terrible, but it slowly got better and better as the the movie went on. Bruce Willis makes the movie worth seeing.
wow...just flipped it on earlier (haven't seen it since it came out) and couldn't turn it off. agree with 9/10. love tarantino, but his 'revenge' theme has gotten old at this point, imo. although i liked inglorius basterds and thought django was ok, he could have stopped after kill bill.
I don't think you'll see too many more of his revenge themed movies, though I do agree that they have run their course. I remember him saying in an interview that he wanted to do basically a "Trifecta" of revenge movies, all set in different settings. He did Kill Bill for a samurai type setting, Inglorious Basterds for a Nazi type setting, and Django for a western type setting.
Cashback was great, it is probably one of my top 10 favorites, I'd give it a 9/10. On another note, I just watched Raging Bull for the first time, I thought it was really good, I rate it 8.5/10, not quite as great as Taxi Driver, but very good.
Temptation: 5.5/10 I'm assuming not your typical Tyler Perry movie, but overall wasn't that good or bad, just there...no happy endings in this movie...
The Comedy 1/10 I tried watching this movie on netflix and I don't think I've ever wanted to kick someones ass as much as I wanted to kick the main character's ass. The only reason I made it half way through the movie was in hopes that someone would beat the crap out of him. Imagine a guy trying to be Zach Galifianakis only not funny.
Party Monster 8.5/10 Spoiler april fools. this movie is so bad it dosen't even deserve a rating. 0/10 <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qV7MND4r0mY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Snatch (on Netflix) Rating: 5/10 Decent cast (Hey! Morgan from Walking Dead!), okay story but it just dragged and dragged near the end. Could've been paced a little better. Maybe I'm just not a fan of London based movies.
I'm sorry, but GI Joe Retaliation was horrible. Worst "action" movie I've seen in a long time. Horrible dialogue, and the Rock was once again in his cliche roles. Don't waste your money people.
I rewatched The Last Airbender because it was on Nickelodeon last night. So much wrong with it. I know no one cares about it at this point, but it was just so bad it hurt. The kid playing Aang was awful. - They cast someone who was good at martial arts, but had no acting experience. Wouldn't it have been better to get a kid with acting ability, teach him some martial arts and have a stunt double do the difficult stuff? This is what they did with the other actors. Constant narration, and treating the viewer like a moron. - Katara narrated throughout the movie, often telling us what had either just happened or what was happening right then. Aasif Mandvi as a villain. - Yes, Aasif Mandvi. As the evil Commander Zhao. Why??? So wrong. He just doesn't even sound like a villain. And when he got into what was supposedly a martial arts fighting stance? Dafuq was that. Changing the pronounciation of characters' names, and other odd, pointless changes to cannon. - Aang, Iroh, Sokka. There were probably others, but I cringed each time their names were said. - And why could Firebenders not generate their own fire? Why change that? Other potential casting issues - I say potential, because with a director that isn't a pile of crap, many actors look much better: Katara, Sokka, Fire Lord Ozai, Master Pakku, Monk Gyatso. There were some good actors, though: Dev Patel (Zuko), Shaun Toub (Iroh), and... um... Summer Bishil might have been good as Azula? Making race an issue: - Making the Fire Nation (the bad guys) all Muslim was an odd choice. Maybe they just really wanted Dev Patel (Zuko) so they thought the entire royal family, and therefore everyone high ranking in the country, would have to be of similar skin color. But the result was uncomfortable. There had to have been a way to cast Dev Patel as Zuko without making the entire Fire Nation (again, the bad guys) be the only brown people in the movie. - Casting white people as Katara and Sokka. Feel uneasy having Aang (and other Air Nomads) played by an Asian(s)? OK. Then at least have the Water Tribe look like they're native to the north/south pole, if not Inuit-ish then at least like the actress who played Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe. Then, you could have had Toph be Asian and you'd have been set for a nice diverse set of characters. White Aang, Inuit-ish Katara/Sokka, Asian Toph, and - spoiler alert for those who haven't seen the show - Spoiler eventually, Muslim Zuko as the team who eventually takes down the Fire Lord. In order to bend, characters had to do super elaborate moves with elaborate set-ups, which was just cheesy. - Maybe they felt they had to go this route since the main character couldn't act for s***, but it was so lame to see them do 30 seconds worth of martial arts moves to bend something minor. - In the show, for example, in order to bend air Aang simply had to strike as you normally would if you were fighting. But in the film it required a 10 second slow moving preparation + the strike. And lastly, the director, M. Night Shyamalan - The story was just too much for him; he had no idea how to tell it coherently. - You never had any idea how much time had passed unless the lame narration of Katara came on and said something like "We are now flying to the Earth Kingdom colonies because that guy in the last scene just told us to. It will take 3 days." - This was bad even by the recent standards he had set for himself. The man can never recover in my eyes because of this. He had a great story and a massive budget, but just s*** all over everyone. Rating 2/10. Better than zero because they casted well for Zuko and Iroh, and they managed to include Appa and Momo.
