Okay, this is the fun part. I'm watching a movie while publishing my puny reviews. How ironic?
Okay, here we go.
1) The Kingdom - FBI squad in Iraq, investigating a bombing of Americans. Great movie with some good action scenes. Jamie Foxx with Jennifer Garner. Great action sequence on the DVD, where over a 5 minute sequence, you can watch it from 3 or 4 different angles (not simultaneously) . Nice extra
2) The Astronaut Farmer - Another interesting movie. Kinda like a space man "Field of Dreams". Not a movie which I remember a lot about. I remember enjoying it. But, not a long lasting memory. More of chewing gum for the mind, kind of entertainment.
3) The Italian Job - Ocean's Eleven/Twelve/Thirteen but different. Great car scene, racing around in Cooper Mini's
4) Capote - Definitely a Oscar award winning performance. Captured the odd behavior of Capote with great detail, and freakyness.
5) The Prestige - Another great movie about two magicians and what they brought about, both real and fiction. Great drama, with some interesting ramifications of what they did for their art.
6) Collateral - While I really had issues for Tom Cruise, but he and Jamie Foxx did a fine job of acting in this movie, and keeping it interesting. Not one I'd watch again, most likely, but worth watching at least once.
7) Good Night, and Good Luck - Another oscar winning movie. George Clooney and the group were wonderful, in this dissection of the Red Scare and McCarthy-ism. Not action packed, and you are left wondering what happened at the end, but you know you saw something worth watching.
8) Grosse Pointe Blank - Great Movie !! The story of the 10 year High school reunion and what happend with John Cusack going back to the town he left from his high school romanatic interest, all while making a living as an assassin.
9) Hairspray- John Travolta in Drag. Need I say more. The original movie was worth watching, and this one seems to improve upon the original.
10) Dr. Strangelove - another of those movies you watch because you really should, but at the end, you are left wondering where the movie really ended. Something to watch again in 5 or 10 years, but not any more often than than. Peter Sellers is wonderful in all his characters.
Okay, not many left on the DVD list, but the instant viewing queue is full of other movies, including some deadbeats.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
okay...more movies
I'll just keep up with my previous theme and quickly review some more movies we've watched either online or from disk.
1) Intolerable Cruelty - Funny, Odd film. Thought Clooney was great, and could totally run off with Catherine Zeta-Jones. Fun movie with the double crossing and the odd give and goes between them.
2) Next - Nicholas Cage. The movie was okay. It had a Sliding Doors quality, in that he'd see into the future, and then come back to the "now" and choose a path. So, you'd see a couple of reality possibilities, as well as what "did" happen. But it twists and turns, keeping things interesting
3) The Bucket List - Hilarious with the play from each other in the movie. Grumpy Old Men but different. Nothing too deep, but interesting enough.
4) Lord of War - Nicholas Cage again. But the movie had its shortcmings. Slow in a lot of places. It was good to see the movie, but wouldn't see it again.
5) No Reservations - Catherine Zeta-Jones again, as the chef. Ratatouille with live action. Again, she projected her role well again, and the chemistry with the other chef and the kid were good. She's always seems to be able to do well on her roles. I believed her in Chicago in her role, where Renee was just flat.
6) No Country for Old Men - Glad to watch it, but wasn't anything that I was expecting. Won't watch it again, but definetly something to see. Odd, a bit towards the horror side of things, without the gratuitous jumping from behind corners at you.
7) Batman Begins - Loved it. Great reinvention of a franchise that got too silly for its own good. Definitly not your 1960's Batman. It pulled the movies back from the goofy edge of things, back to the Michael Keaton version, then cranked up the darkness. Great way to restart the role.
8) The January Man - Another obscure movie from the 80's. Entertaining, loved Alec Rikman in his supporting role, with Kevin Kline as the lead man. Funny, and very 80's.
9) Golden Compass - interesting movie. If didn't have a firm ending, mostly because it should be continued in the next book. Never read those books, but the movie was good, if not very English (but it wasn't slow). Might have to read the books before I watch them again. Of course, I haven't read the Narnia books, although my 11 yr old has 2 or 3 times.
10) Becoming Jane - Okay, a chick flick. but it was a good movie. I love Anne Hathaway in general, even when goofy. This movie, she projected well, and was believeable in the role. I guess I'm in touch with my feminine side.
Okay, enough for now. hopefully, this enlightens someone in the bits and bytes out there.
1) Intolerable Cruelty - Funny, Odd film. Thought Clooney was great, and could totally run off with Catherine Zeta-Jones. Fun movie with the double crossing and the odd give and goes between them.
2) Next - Nicholas Cage. The movie was okay. It had a Sliding Doors quality, in that he'd see into the future, and then come back to the "now" and choose a path. So, you'd see a couple of reality possibilities, as well as what "did" happen. But it twists and turns, keeping things interesting
3) The Bucket List - Hilarious with the play from each other in the movie. Grumpy Old Men but different. Nothing too deep, but interesting enough.
4) Lord of War - Nicholas Cage again. But the movie had its shortcmings. Slow in a lot of places. It was good to see the movie, but wouldn't see it again.
5) No Reservations - Catherine Zeta-Jones again, as the chef. Ratatouille with live action. Again, she projected her role well again, and the chemistry with the other chef and the kid were good. She's always seems to be able to do well on her roles. I believed her in Chicago in her role, where Renee was just flat.
6) No Country for Old Men - Glad to watch it, but wasn't anything that I was expecting. Won't watch it again, but definetly something to see. Odd, a bit towards the horror side of things, without the gratuitous jumping from behind corners at you.
7) Batman Begins - Loved it. Great reinvention of a franchise that got too silly for its own good. Definitly not your 1960's Batman. It pulled the movies back from the goofy edge of things, back to the Michael Keaton version, then cranked up the darkness. Great way to restart the role.
8) The January Man - Another obscure movie from the 80's. Entertaining, loved Alec Rikman in his supporting role, with Kevin Kline as the lead man. Funny, and very 80's.
9) Golden Compass - interesting movie. If didn't have a firm ending, mostly because it should be continued in the next book. Never read those books, but the movie was good, if not very English (but it wasn't slow). Might have to read the books before I watch them again. Of course, I haven't read the Narnia books, although my 11 yr old has 2 or 3 times.
10) Becoming Jane - Okay, a chick flick. but it was a good movie. I love Anne Hathaway in general, even when goofy. This movie, she projected well, and was believeable in the role. I guess I'm in touch with my feminine side.
Okay, enough for now. hopefully, this enlightens someone in the bits and bytes out there.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Hmmmm....Movies
Okay, I figure since I started this Blog thing, I should blog about something. So, how about movies. Or more precisely, all the movies that I'm trying to catch up on. Netflix is quite a treat. While I'm only doing one movie at a time, the online movie viewer for the older or more obscure stuff makes for interesting distractions. You can't beat the cost, in my opinion. I don't subscribe to fancy cable packages, just what gets me the local stations. I don't want to watch that much TV. Or more precisely, I would watch that much TV.
I set up computer A for my surfing, homework, and other stuff. On Computer B, I setup Netflix and watch a movie. It is a built in distraction !! Instead of going down web-links on tangents from tangents to orthogonal tangents, I only have one thing to watch. So, as new movies come in and are watched, I might as well review them. (BTW: the computers are side-by-side and I recommend a SW package called Synergy (see http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/) which will allow you to move a mouse from monitor to monitor (computer to computer) without doing anything more than setting up a client-server application from the website).
Now, I have gotten complaits that the DVD's we receive aren't appreciated by the wife, but she knows I get the movies and hasn't put in suggestions, so, if you don't vote, you can't complain.
Okay, 5 movies I've watched online. Granted, these are tangents upon themselves, in the Netflix rating system. "You liked this, so you should like this..." Sometimes, it is true. At other times...Meh.
1) Cashback - Loved it. Obscure movie, young actors, but still interesting. Can be slow but was fun to watch.
2) JFK - Left. And Back. Left And Back. or somethine like that. Interesting to watch again and satisfies the conspirory theorist in all of us.
3) Team America: World Police: A sign I'm getting too old. Didn't even finish the movie. Sure, it is intersting from an artsy point of view, but come-on, it just got too goofy. A conspirory movie satire, that's out to hurt itself.
4) Blade Runner (Theatrical Cut): Still love the movie. Methodically slow in parts, but the dry, Harrison Ford in the cyberpunk movie is great.
5) The Postman: I actually liked this movie. A lot of movies I watch out of curiosity and this was one. But, I found it entertaining in the post-end-of-the-country genre. It flirted with being overboard, but not too bad. If Shatner showed up, then forget it, it would be over that boundary.
That's all. I'll probably watch something Hitchcock this evening, while writing a 3 page paper for homework. We'll see how it goes (the paper meaning). First, the housecleaning, NFL, eBay listings, and pocket lint harvesting.
I set up computer A for my surfing, homework, and other stuff. On Computer B, I setup Netflix and watch a movie. It is a built in distraction !! Instead of going down web-links on tangents from tangents to orthogonal tangents, I only have one thing to watch. So, as new movies come in and are watched, I might as well review them. (BTW: the computers are side-by-side and I recommend a SW package called Synergy (see http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/) which will allow you to move a mouse from monitor to monitor (computer to computer) without doing anything more than setting up a client-server application from the website).
Now, I have gotten complaits that the DVD's we receive aren't appreciated by the wife, but she knows I get the movies and hasn't put in suggestions, so, if you don't vote, you can't complain.
Okay, 5 movies I've watched online. Granted, these are tangents upon themselves, in the Netflix rating system. "You liked this, so you should like this..." Sometimes, it is true. At other times...Meh.
1) Cashback - Loved it. Obscure movie, young actors, but still interesting. Can be slow but was fun to watch.
2) JFK - Left. And Back. Left And Back. or somethine like that. Interesting to watch again and satisfies the conspirory theorist in all of us.
3) Team America: World Police: A sign I'm getting too old. Didn't even finish the movie. Sure, it is intersting from an artsy point of view, but come-on, it just got too goofy. A conspirory movie satire, that's out to hurt itself.
4) Blade Runner (Theatrical Cut): Still love the movie. Methodically slow in parts, but the dry, Harrison Ford in the cyberpunk movie is great.
5) The Postman: I actually liked this movie. A lot of movies I watch out of curiosity and this was one. But, I found it entertaining in the post-end-of-the-country genre. It flirted with being overboard, but not too bad. If Shatner showed up, then forget it, it would be over that boundary.
That's all. I'll probably watch something Hitchcock this evening, while writing a 3 page paper for homework. We'll see how it goes (the paper meaning). First, the housecleaning, NFL, eBay listings, and pocket lint harvesting.
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