Now Showing - What We Watched - Page 233

Hey Tom,

Yup while I wish I could be watching more movies, work has been absolutely crazy busy. THAT is what is keeping me from watching more movies at the moment. Out of those films you list I have seen 9 of them. I happy too that you can finally post here in this forum. Feels good doesn't it?

In my queue "We bought a Zoo, Money Ball, and Chronicle" so we will see how those go and how fast I get through them.

I have also watched the two new episodes of Falling Skies, its cheesy but I really like it.

Regards,

RTROSE

Watched Dead Heat on a Merry Go Round (1966)
1.2/5 (amazon 3.4/5, imdb 6.0/10)
James Coburn. Kinda slow.
A paroled conman co-ordinates the robbery of an L. A. Airport bank with the arrival of the Russians Premier.
The ending is almost interesting in that he's totally successful and gets away with it, and yet loses.

Finally got to Mission Impossible, 4 out of 5 (would have rated higher if it would have been off a BD instead of Dish) been so long since I've seen, it was like a new movie. Looked locally for the first 2 today with no luck.

Watched Simply Irresistible (1999)
3/5 (amazon 3.9/5, imdb 4.9/5, rotten tomatoes 55%)
Sarah Michelle Gellar
A lot of people hate this, but I watch it every year. I like it. Much better than the Bewitched remake.
A department store executive (Flanery) tries to resist falling in love with a young woman (Gellar), who he believes has possessed magical powers after inheriting a restaurant.
An airy romance in the tradition of classic Hollywood comedies. Sarah Michelle Gellar stars as Amanda Shelton, the chef at Southern Cross, a trendy Tribeca restaurant she inherited from her legendary mother. Not the most inspired of culinary artists, Amanda is running the establishment into the ground, until a cab-driving, Cupid-like guardian angel crab spins his magic. Out at the market one day, Gellar stumbles on both a magical crab and Sean Patrick Flanery who, wouldn't you know it, is opening up a posh restaurant at Bendel's department store (actually, the two have been brought together by fairy godfather Christopher Durang). Odd and implausible circumstances give these two more opportunities to moon at each other, and suddenly Gellar's cooking takes off--turns out all her nicey-nice feelings towards Flanery are going into her cooking, with the help of that quiet but powerful little crab. Gellar's almost-closed restaurant starts to thrive, and her desserts begin making everyone opiate happy. It's a cute premise, and it glides along on Gellar's charisma alone; in her off hours, Buffy certainly can be the lighthearted girl next door, and Gellar works to give some depth to her one-dimensional character. Chock full of fairy-tale and magic elements, including the charming performances by Patricia Clarkson and Dylan Baker as Flanery's secretary and boss, respectively. A magic crab that gets you a partner and helps you with your work?! Now that's my kind of crustacean! Magically...delicious!


Played Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976)
2.5/5 (amazon 4.2/5, imdb 5.7/10, rotten tomatoes 55%)
Bill Cosby, Raquel Welch, Harvey Keitel, Larry Hagman
Cosby's humor, Raquel's sex appeal, Keitel's smouldering late 70's cool and one sweet ride of an ambulance, and you've got Mother, Jugs and Speed. Peter Yates' classic take on the ambulance industry in metropolitan Los Angeles gives us a little bit of everything in a quick, well paced film. Cosby's charm shines as the cynical, no nonsense ambulance driver Mother Tucker. Follow the F+B ambulance company and their staff of irregulars (Including Larry Hagman of Dallas Fame, and football player Dick Butkus) as they do their best to save the lives of their patients and hammer away at one another with a barrage of jokes, and one liners. They don't make B-movie comedys like this anymore where the car was just as big of a star as the trio named in the title. While normally found in the comedy section, the film does have an equal number of "dark" moments that let the viewer know that Yates wasn't just doing this for laffs and help to balance out the humor. It is a very light hearted look at the possibilities (and past realities) of emergency medical services.

This Means War - Redbox BR - I had seen the trailers and thought this might be a lighthearted romantic comedy that both me and the Mrs would like. For a chick flick it is pretty good, there is some action, some explosions, car chases, some romance, some insinuated sex, and some laugh out loud moments too. Enough going on to entertain the guy, enough girly chickie stuff to entertain the girl. I was pleasantly surprised with the movie, no body puts in a stellar performance but all do put in very good performances and the pacing of the movie is fast enough to keep your attention. My favorite character is the sister she is a riot! I would not hesitate to watch it again if we had some couples over for a movie night. 3.5/5

The Vow - Redbox DVD - This was also another chick flick. I liked this one as well. Mrs. RTROSE liked it but was not thrilled with the ending. I liked the ending because it was not a standard fairytale ending we see so often with chick flicks. Several times we looked at one another and just wondered aloud what we thought we would do under the same circumstances. Very easy to identify with the plight of the characters. 3/5

Regards,

RTROSE

Went to see "Rock of Ages" at the local IMAX.
I went in skeptical but was thoroughly entertained. Gritty Rock and Roll with all of the "inappropriate Rocker behaviour" one might expect

There was also considerable humor scattered throughout. I give it 3.75/5.0
Will probably buy it at some point

A lot of critics were running it down, I'll probably love it when it shows up here...

Iron Sky (2012) (1.0/5.0):
I want my 93 minutes back! Not recommended.

I really liked the musical, but have my doubts about the movie. I was born after a lot of those songs were written, but I still like most of that music

Watched Big Miracle
2.8/5 (amazon 4.4/5, imdb 6.1/10, rotten tomatoes 74%)
This is the one where they cut 5 miles of holes in arctic ice to save the whales.
Certainly this is a film I can offer to the relatives when they come by.
A lot of politics. A lot of big machines. But for the most part the big machines were useless, and what saved the day were a bunch of men with chainsaws.
Drew Barrymore did well, and had a pair of good lines.
They make a big deal about how famous this was in schools and the media, and I barely remember it.
Reminded me of Eight Below (2006) where the antarctic snow dogs had to survive, similar pulling emotional heartstrings. ("the dog actors will melt your heart". Eight Below Budget $40 million, Gross $81 million)
Production quality is more B-movie-ish than Disney's Eight Below, which probably accounts for the much lower box office. (Big Miracle: Budget $40 million, Gross $20 million) And the whales are barely characters in the film, which probably doesn't help either.
The Russian icebreaker in the movie is called the 50 Years of Victory. It's a nuclear-powered mammoth with 70,000 horsepower.
In real life it was the Admiral Makarov that broke the ice ridge, and, not shown in the movie at all, another icebreaker called Vladimir Arseniev that cleared the remaining 3 miles of icy rubble to create a large enough path for the whales to escape to clear ocean. After the path was cut observers could find no sign of the whales and the operation was declared a success.
The sportscaster shown at the end of the archived news clip is Sarah Palin, before she became the Governor of Alaska and Vice President nominee around two decades later.
More about Greenpiece's version of the story at http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/oceans/whale-defenders/Operation-Breakthrough-The-story-behind-Big-Miracle/
A review of the film http://polarprisca.com/2012/02/03/big-miracle-big-icebreaker/, with some spoilers, and comments about what you might expect your children to see.

http://mlmlblog.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/big-miracle-a-whale-of-a-story-from-operation-breakthrough/
http://articles.latimes.com/1988-10-27/news/mn-72_1_open-sea
http://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/12/science/russians-tell-saga-of-whales-rescued-by-an-icebreaker.html
Edited by BasementBob - 6/26/12 at 6:18pm

Watched 10 Rillington Place (1971)
2.1/5 (amazon 4.7/5, imdb 7.5/10)
The film dramatises the true case of British serial killer John Christie, who committed most or all of his crimes in the titular apartment, and the miscarriage of justice involving Timothy Evans.Christie strangled at least eight women (including the baby Geraldine Evans), the first two victims being buried in the back garden of the house during World War II. After Evans moved into the building with his wife Beryl and infant daughter Geraldine in 1949, Christie convinced his new tenants that he could help Beryl terminate her unwanted pregnancy; he then raped and strangled Beryl. He told Evans that she had died accidentally, and that Evans should leave town until the investigation died down. Evans entrusted Christie with his daughter, whom Christie then murdered as well. Police neglected to search the property thoroughly, they missed the bones of the earlier victims visible in the garden. As a result of false confessions, Evans was tried for their murders (specifically, his daughter), and executed in 1950. Christie went on to murder his own wife and three prostitutes at the house before his crimes were detected. He was hanged in 1953.

Watched Report to the Commissioner (1975)
2.1/5 (amazon 4.3/5, imdb 6/10)
Report to the Commissioner is the story of Junior Detective Bo Lockley told to go find a pretty homeless girl on drugs ( Susan Blakely of "The Lords of Flatbush" & "Rich Man,Poor Man" mini-series ) & report back to the commissioner but do nothing more about it. Little does he know that the alleged homeless girl is really an undercover policewoman that he will ruin her cover if he brings her in which is why he is only supposed to report back. Michael Moriarty as a naive rookie cop Bo Lockley whose youtful idealism thrusts him into an interdepartmental power play with disastrous consequences. Undercover police officer Patty Butler, alias "Chicklet," is the live-in girlfriend of criminal Thomas 'Stick' Henderson to gather evidence. Bo fires at "The Stick", the bullet enters the heart of Susan Blakely and the two men end up running after each other over the marquees and car-rooves of Time Square and they both end up in a stuck elevator in the Saks Fifth Avenue department store with the two of them pointing their guns at each other just waiting to pull the trigger, but they can't. If one of them pulls the trigger, the other can be killed, too! Tony King delivers a "speech" about bad guys and good guys. Now the department is making a whole cover-up to the murder of this female cop who shouldn't have been there in the first place.

Bob, if you're enjoying the crime dramas/murder mysteries - especially the British ones - check out the Red Riding trilogy - 1974, 1980, 1983 - (IMDB 7.1-7.2 each). They follow a series of killings in Yorkshire. The stories are told during each of the years, though some of the action takes place in other years. The stories focus on the (corrupt) police, lawyers, and newspaper journalists who are involved in the search for truth regarding the missing girls and their bizarre murders.

Each of the stories is told as though it were filmed at the time of the investigations - the first recorded on super 8 film - leading to a very immersive feeling of the time and place. The dialog and characters are all very working-poor and blue-collar and the story is told with the limited perspective of the the central character in each story. It makes the whole thing complex and sometimes hard to follow - definitely a "watch" not "play." They start off slow and have a lot of characters, but if you stick with the story, there's a great payoff. It reminds me of the chase scenes at the end of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Original - haven't seen the US version) by the time the tension finally comes to a head. Check out very strong performances from some serious actors - including a young Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-man), Paddy Considine, and Sean Bean.

Well I have been slacking on my reviews here lately. Been doing quite a bit of movie watching, a lot of it with the Mrs. so that is an unexpected bonus.

All four of the Underworld films The first two on DVD the second two on BR (although Mrs RTROSE surprised me and bought the four film set on BR so I will at some point rewatch the first two on Blu). The first two films are the best of the four. The third is actually a prequel and the fourth is a mediocre popcorn flick at best. I'd rate the first two 3.75 to 4/5, the third 3/5, and the fourth 2.5/5.

Chronicle- Netflix DVD - Phooey! The trailers are the best part. The Mrs walked out in the first 10 minutes, I hung on till the end. I should have followed her out and been done with it. My 14 year old loved it, my 17 year old said it was pretty good. It was definitely geared to their age range. 1.5/5

We bought a Zoo - Netflix DVD - What a pleasant surprise! This is a great family film that will appeal to a wide range of people. There is some cursing, but overall it is a pretty safe family feel good film. I really liked it and I thought that Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson did a very good job with their characters. I will purchase this to have in my library for the future, again proving the point that CONTENT rules. 4/5

Redtails - Redbox DVD - I really, really wanted to LOVE this movie as I am a big aviation/warbird buff and am truly in awe of the sacrifices our soldiers made during WWII. I was let down a little as it just did not ever really congeal with me. It was good and I was entertained and some of the aerial sequences were very well done, it mostly was a "flat line" movie without that "edge of your seat" feeling. I might purchase on BR if I can find it cheap, but can wait till that happens. Might have been different in the visuals had it been on BR. 3/5

Re-watched The Incredibles on BR for the umpteenth time. What a fantastic movie and a reference disk as well. Absolutely stunning.

I wasn't fond of it either http://www.avsforum.com/t/286704/now-showing-what-we-watched/6900#post_22058031. But at least you spelled 'Chronicle' correctly.
You also spelled 'aerial' correctly -- you may recall a rather pretty cartoon a couple pages back.

I've been watching Maverick 1957 - the complete first season
3/5 (amazon 4.8/5)
Where Chronicle was utterly lacking in ethics and morals, Maverick is surprisingly good at both.
It does make the plots a little predictable -- you guess what is ethical and moral, and no matter how difficult that is, that's what Maverick does.
Quite refreshing.
Many of the plots are quite good. I understand that Roger Moore took over the role in the final season, with the proviso that the scripts are as good as the first season, but they weren't.
I was surprised that about a third of the episodes star Jack Kelly, who plays his brother.

Played V for Vendetta (2008)

V said "My favorite film. The Count of Monte Cristo, with Robert Donat as Edmond Dantes. 'It is not my sword, Mondego, but your past that disarmed you.' It gets me every time."


Watched The Count of Monte Cristo, with Robert Donat as Edmond Dantes
2.7/5 (amazon 4.3/5, imdb 7.6/10)
Amusing.
I, along with several others, have been waiting for this to appear on DVD pretty much since 2008.

My home theatre setup allows me to zoom in and out -- which is handy because the top and bottom of this seems to be cut off, so I watched it at half size which left me with black bars left/right/top/ and bottom, but at least I could read the text they were showing. I looked through the settings for Overscan / "Action Safe Area" / "Title Safe Area" but never really was happy with anything but the 1/2 zoom out that I used. The DVD case says it is Original Full Screen 1.33:1. But I wonder if it's actually a little tall somehow. Even zoomed out, there was text cut off the bottom.

SemiWatched Red Riding Trilogy (2009)
2.4/5 (amazon 3.9/5, imdb 7.1-7.2/10, rotten tomatoes 86%)

A British crime dramas/murder mystery. The three films:
- Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1974
- Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1980
- Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1983
follow a series of killings in Yorkshire, some based on the Yorkshire Ripper. The stories are told during each of the years, though some of the action takes place in other years. The stories focus on the (corrupt) police, lawyers, and newspaper journalists who are involved in the search for truth regarding the missing girls and their bizarre murders. Each of the stories is told as though it were filmed at the time of the investigations - the first recorded on super 8 film, the second on 35mm film, the last on a Digital Camera - leading to a very immersive feeling of the time and place. The dialog and characters are all very working-poor and blue-collar and the story is told with the limited perspective of the the central character in each story. It reminds some hopeful people of the chase scenes at the end of original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by the time the tension finally comes to a head; and others draw parallels to A Clockwork Orange although the 307 minute running time is longer and gives more depth. The endings to the first two films were not in the 1957 Hollywood tradition. Check out very strong performances from some serious actors - including a young Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-man), Paddy Considine, and Sean Bean. Not for the religious, nor family fare. I had some minor problems with the english dialect of some of the characters, and turned the volume up and that helped, but eventually on came the english subtitles. Rampant police corruption including beatings to frame the innocent, corruption in business, and rampant human corruption in general. None of these characters apparently ever heard of the English tradition of "engaging in pleasantries." This is a world in which everyone is unpleasant to everyone else, all the time. The first story involves a young journalist (Andrew Garfield) on his first big assignment covering child murders. The second story is about a police detective (Paddy Considine) helping the local Yorkshire cops with the 'Ripper' case. The third story follows three different characters (a corrupt cop, and lawyer and a male-prostitute) as they investigate the resulting aftermaths of the first two stories. I remember when watching The Count Of Monte Cristo 1934 the other day that it had a solid and connected ACT I, ACT II, ACT III, ACT IV, ACT V -- that's not the case in any of these films, Dr. McCoy's 1968 prophesy of "I've found that evil usually triumphs unless good is very, very careful" is played out, with good being insufficiently careful, over and over. It is distinct enough to eventually be remade in the USA.
The 3 films are based the 4 books:
- Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1974
- Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1977
- Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1980
- Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1983

The films won The TV Dagger at the 2009 Crime Thriller Awards. Yea I haven't heard of it either.

Regarding V for Vandetta. I really thought I would have liked this movie. It just did not thrill me much, but I am always willing to give some films a second chance, as sometimes the mood we are in affect our perception of what we watch. Moneyball should be coming today and I have Man on a Ledge as well to watch, looking forward to both.

Regards,

RTROSE

RT,

Not looking to build up your expectations; But I'm thinking you will find both MB, MOL to be respectable.

Been way busy the last week, the only thing close to a movie I've gotten to was my HD DVD U2 Rattle & Hum disc Tuesday night....3 for PQ, 5 for AQ, it, Heart Live in Seattle & Eagles Farewell Tour are my go to for music on HD DVD, on Blu, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame the 2 Styx BD's and Big4 although it's getting close to Woodstock time again....

Started Super 8 Friday night...power went out at 10:20pm....finished it Sunday night when the power came back on at 10:00pm. MAN! That was a loong and boring movie through the middle part. Oh, wait.... nevermind that last comment.

I haven't had much time to watch movies since I moved to my new apartment 2 months ago, but am really looking forward to getting caught up on a few this weekend. I think I'll need to spin "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" based on earlier reviews.

Finally got a movie in, 30 Days of Night, (archived from satellite) 4/5 a different kind of vampire movie that makes my jump every time... need to break down and get in in Blu.

Watched In Bruges with Colin Ferrel. English (Irish?) plot-driven gangster-type movie. Not a comedy, per se, but it had me chuckling throughout.

Actually went out to the movies twice this past week to escape the heat and saw Ted (Std Theater) and the Amazing Spiderman (IMAX Theater) - both very good movies. My wife is still laughing about how "wrong" Ted was.

Saturday night we decided to blow the dust off of Band of Brothers and start watching again from the beginning. What a great series that was.

We watched Thunderball last night on cable TV. I'm a young pup, so I haven't seen a lot of the early Bond movies. Pretty good. A little long and slow in parts. But enjoyable nonetheless.

Watched "The Artist" via redbox BR.
I wasn't so sure I would enjoy a silent movie, but it was a good experience!
Very much worth renting. 3.5/5.0

Went to the local cinema and watched Spiderman (2D).
The plot is as expected; predictable. However; IMO, the new spiderman did a great job.
The AQ in this particular theater was VERY good, the surround effects were very well represented, and the bass was respectable.
4.0/5.0

Man on a Ledge - Redbox BR - Well I had seen the previews so my interest was piqued. I was pleasantly surprised. I really liked the concept, and the execution of the plan to prove his innocence is pretty cool actually. Not over the top, but a very respectable movie that I will eventually add to my library for a "movie night showing". I'm not sure that this did very well in theaters, not sure why, as it is a pretty entertaining film. I think most here would enjoy it. 3.5/5

I had another couple over last night and we ended up watching the Hangover on BR, as I have already provided my review of the movie (and it seems as though most love it or hate it) I won't rehash that, I will say that I found myself laughing harder this time as I knew what was about to happen (especially the first scene where they wake up in the room, and their first encounter with the "trunk monkey"), good times.

Next up Moneyball and I just received Act of Valor from that famous auction site. Really looking forward to Act of Valor.

Regards,

RTROSE

Hey there RT,
I think you will really like Act of Valor. I knew little of the movie apart from the actors all being active SEALS. Some of the acting was a little wooden and the set ups a little predictable but it's a great action flick and it makes you realise the committment that these guys have to their country. Really impressive. It will sound awesome on those speakers of yours. Particularly the boat interception scene.

I have been really caught up with a house full of renovations but found some time to watch the blu ray "LET ME IN". This one came with rave reviews and it did not disappoint. I'm a bit of a vampire movie fan, starting from when Salem's Lot scared the pants off me as a kid. Really enjoyed 30 days of night but LET ME In is something totally different. Beautifully filmed and acted, this really is a special movie. Yes, there is a lot of killing and gore but the story is more about the friendship formed between a young boy from a troubled background and a young 12 year old girl, who has been 12 'for a very long time". The score is fantastic and this movie had me right from the opening credits. 4.5/5.

Moneyball - Netflix DVD - While not your average movie and definitely not your summer blockbuster popcorn flick, I found I really liked this movie. I'm not a baseball fan per se, but I do like an underdog story, and this one fits that for sure. I thought Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill did an excellent job with their characters. While not for everyone, I did get sucked in and I enjoyed it. It is very slow to start however, but finishes strong. 3.5/5

Regards,

RTROSE

My 17 yr old and myself found ourselves with a free "guys-night" last night.
So after 1/2 hr of "what do you want to watch" banter - we settled on the original MiB (on Blu-Ray).

His first time, and a re-watch for me, first time in the HT room.
The 16:9 format reminded me of it's age, despite the age there was decent bass, and PQ is very good.
We had a good time, especially with the humorous one-liners between Tommy Lee and Will Smith (and the serious/dry role played by the boss, Rip Torn).
And then there was that "push the red button - high speed tunnel run", accompanied by an Elvis track
Although dated still a 4/5.