Now Showing - What We Watched - Page 234

Paranormal Activity 3 - NetFlix Blu-Ray - Admittedly, I'm not a scary movies guy. However, I really enjoyed the first two of these movies, and the third was almost as good.

Plusses - I jumped like a crazy person more than once during the film and I was completely engrossed in the movie. I also appreciated the fact that like the first two installments, there was no unnecessary gore. And I thought about the movie for a solid hour after it was over.

Minuses - When considered as a prequel to the other two installments, this movie leaves some gaps in getting us set up for the next two. This is a minor gripe as I don't necessarily think the viewer should be beaten over the head with every detail of the story - it can be scarier if some details are left out:
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
Rating - 3.5/5 - All in all, one of the very few fright movies that I really enjoyed and am glad I watched.

Was able to give "MI4 - Ghost Protocol" a spin last weekend. I really enjoyed it and it gave my low-budget, piece-meal surround system a decent workout (always a plus). I'd rate it a solid 4/5

Actually watched a few movies this past week or so. I'm not going to make too many specific comments about the movies, but will say a few words...

The Entity (1982) - This movie just got re-released on DVD and came out for the first time on Blu-ray disc. I bought the DVD several years ago thinking that I would never see it again on store shelves if I didn't buy it. I found the Blu-ray disc a week ago at a local store for $10 so I pretty much bought it immediately. Funny enough, the DVD re-release has some extras included, but the Blu-ray has no special features at all. Not even a menu! However, considering that this is a 30 year old movie now, I was happy with the upconversion quality to 1080p. The movie itself is one of my favorite horror movies and has been for years. Gives me chills to think that it is loosely based on a true story. Yes I would recommend it to fans of the genre but it's definitely not one for kids!

Killer Elite (2011) - My cousin and I watched this one together the other night and I thought it was okay. There were some twists to keep it interesting, but overall it did not excite me too much. Luckily I had recorded it off of Movie Central and did not buy it, so that's alright. It made for a mildly entertaining evening. I might recommend it to action movie fans or to fans of Jason Statham, but this is one you should probably rent rather than buy.

The Debt (2010) - I like movies, fact or fiction, that have a Nazi element to them so of course I was drawn to watching this movie. The main plot of this movie is set in 1965 when three Mossad agents attempt to capture a Nazi war criminal, Dieter Vogel. POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT - Probably the best part of the movie is somewheres around the middle when they capture him and try to escape afterwards from East Germany to West Germany. I won't say what happened, but it was quite suspenseful. This movie also introduces a major twist as events are recalled. I would recommend this movie.

Step Into Liquid (2003) - Since it is summer and very hot right now where I live, I thought I would give this a spin. This is not really a movie, but more of a documentary about surfing. They go to different locales and meet up with a diverse mix of surfers. I thought it was reasonably good and somewhat uplifting, a good movie to watch at this time of year. I would recommend it if you have an appreciation of surfing.

That's about it for the moment, but I definitely still have a backlog of movies to watch.

That seems to be a never-ending "problem"... LOL

I love watching films with my boys that I have seen many times and they are watching for the first time. Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Blues Brothers, Smokey and the Bandit, to name a few come to mind lots of fun to see them experience it for the first time. MiB is an excellent movie that I too have just again re-watched for the umpteenth time. "Unlimited technology from the whole universe, and we cruise 'round in a Ford P.O.S." Love that line.

Regards,

RTROSE

Ain't that the truth! My backlog is far worse than I care to admit!

Watched The Adjustment Bureau and Young Adult. Liked AB....Young Adult was not at all like I remembered the promos.... it was OK.


I'm just glad my son comes down to watch with us and sits through the whole movie (or two sometimes). Seems like so many kids today have such short attention spans that getting them to sit through an entire movie can be difficult. They get so used to the cut-down, commercial-breaks-at-the wrong-time through watching on TV, that I think a LOT of the movie is lost. I HARDLY EVER watch movies on broadcast channels anymore.
Edited by tlogan6797 - 7/16/12 at 12:57pm

Watched "American Reunion" on Saturday. I loved the previous three movies (not so much the direct-to-dvd spin-offs), and this one did not disappoint at all. It felt like a true sequel to the first film, unlike "American Wedding". 4.5/5

Also took in "The Amazing Spider-Man" at the theater yesterday. Not my favorite superhero movie (that would be "The Avengers"), but it was a decent reboot. I give the film a solid 4/5, but the movie going experience would be a 2/5. There was some loudmouth sitting a few seats away from me who spent the entire movie talking to her husband. Not quiet whispering either, but full-out normal volume conversation. And that is reason #1127 why I prefer watching movies in my apartment...

Evolution - Rewatched, at least half of it as i ran out of time, this as I haven't seen it a while and got it on DVD recently. I like the action and comedy mix with the movie, just keeps it flowing. Was surprised at how much bass there is in some scenes (meteor crash and explosion come to mind) even for a DVD.

Streamed Star Trek Voyager: Caretaker from Amazon prime on my PS3, been awhile and the PQ wasn't that terrible plus it had 5.1 sound... my slow IP will allow me to watch some of these with a few stops...

http://i.imgur.com/MRUEG.gif

Too funny, says it all !

Thor (2011 - Netflix Blu-Ray) - I actually really enjoyed this one. I watched Captain America not too long ago and was really disappointed, so I didn't have particularly high hopes for this one. However, I found it interesting and fun to watch. And an awesome audio workout for the new theater!

Watched Cloverfield last night for the first time. I know it gets mad reviews for LFE, but I had been avoiding it because I really hate cinéma vérité (shaky cam). And after watching it...yeah I really hate cinéma vérité.

See now, it was just the opposite for me. Really liked Captain America could have left Thor out all together. I am looking forward to seeing the Avengers, that should be a really good movie. I'm waiting to see it in my theater.


Cloverfield....it really is a mixed bag. A seriously awesome movie for LFE and audio, rather suckish on everything else. My favorite part is the beginning where they are on top of the building were it all starts and they end up out on the street and everyone is filming with their cellphones. Typical.

John Carter - Netflix DVD - I can easily see why it cost 250 million and made what a little over half that? I don't know if I had read the novels it would have made any difference, but after having watched the movie I can say that my interest in reading the novels is not piqued one iota. I did enjoy this little gem from the movie.



That was a visual bonus through the film, but still by itself not worth of watching the entire film, maybe just renting and fast forwarding to the parts she appears in.

2/5 for me.

Regards,

RTROSE

I like these threads so, this weekends watching:

Friday: Life Disc 6 and Jurassic Park III with my son. Life with Attenbourough is so good that every time my 9 year old starts with 'boring' and ends with 'wow, that was cool'. I do love the big cats as well. JPIII is the stupidly fun one in the series.

Saturday afternoon: Madison and Invincible - I was in the mood for some uplifting sports stories. Madison is rather under appreciated, and who doesn't love the story of Vince Papale?

Saturday night: Love and Other Drugs and Ides of March - both pretty much by the numbers genre movies with predictable plots. Both were saved by the high quality of the cast.

Sunday: A Woman A Gun and a Noodle Shop and The Truman Show. The first is a Chinese remake of Blood Simple from the director of Hero and House of Flying Daggers. It's a little all over the place, I guess I'd call it slapstick noir. However it's an absolutely STUNNING looking movie. It's filled with bright and vivid colors and beautiful panoramic shots that could be a travel ad for that region of China. The Truman Show was just in the bargain bin on Amazon. Yay! What a great movie.

Went camping, yesterday we watched John Carter 3D in the camper (32" passive) then last night after dark Underworld Awakening (FPTV 80" projected on material draped over the side of my camper) Saw John Carter at the theater, we all enjoyed it yesterday, have seen Awakening in 3D, still not bad in 2D in "drive-in" like conditions with a campfire to the side...

Sex and the City 2. Seems the LOGANESS got hold of the Netflix queue. Guess I need to go in there and "fix" it.

Machine Gun Preacher on BR via Redbox. Pretty good flick, a little depressing but overall I'd recommend it.

Project X BR via Redbox, entertaining but not necessarily that good. DO NOT WATCH IF YOU HAVE TEENAGERS!

21 Jump St. BR via Redbox, Entertaining and a little goofy but one of the better comedies I've seen this year.

Act of Valor BR via my personal collection, quite possibly the best movie I've seen this year. If you haven't seen it you're depriving yourself!

Please Vote For Me (2007) Netflix - I love documentaries, and this is one of the better ones I've seen recently. The film takes place in China and follows the first democratic election to fill a previously non-elected position. Amazingly, the subjects immediately begin campaigns that mirror the tactics we see so often in the U.S. - negative campaigns, gifts, empty promises, intimidation, and "back room" deals. Oh, and it's worth mentioning that the three candidates are third graders running for classroom monitor. A wonderful look at "democracy" at a small scale.

Word Wars (2004) Netflix - Another doc. This one follows four Scrabble wizards on the road to win the Scrabble National Championship. The four personalities they choose to follow make the ride worth it; only one of which fits the image of what you may consider to be a top-ranked Scrabble player. There's a returning champ, a bohemian word savant who plays for money, a nebbish Maalox-chugging loner, and a pot-smoking inner-city slacker. Great movie.

I actually saw a trailer for Madison, it looked really good and I just got it from Netflix so I'm looking forward to seeing it. I liked Invincible too. Funny that you should mention Madison as I don't think I have seen it mentioned here.

Regards,

RTROSE

Didn't get to watch anything new this past weekend since I was house-sitting for my brother and his girlfriend, but it did give me a chance to take in The Lord of the Rings: Extended Edition Blu-Rays and watch them on his setup in his basement. 4.75/5

I never tire of watching these great films, although due to their length I don't watch them as often as I'd like. Looking forward to seeing the first part of The Hobbit in December!

Played
Dr Who 075 Robot
Dr Who 076 Ark in Space
Dr Who 077 Sontaran Experiment
Dr Who 078 Genesis of the Daleks
Dr Who 079 Revenge of Cybermen
Dr Who 081 Planet of Evil
Dr Who 082 Pyramids of Mars
Dr Who 083 Android Invasion
Dr Who 084 Brain of Morbius
Dr Who 085 Seeds of Doom
Dr Who 086 Masque of Mandragora
Dr Who 087 Hand of Fear
Dr Who 088 Deadly Assasin
Dr Who 089 Face of Evil
Dr Who 090 Robots of Death
Dr Who 091 Talons of Weng Chiang
Dr Who 092 Horror of Fang Rock
Dr Who 093 Invisible Enemy & K9
Dr Who 094 Image of Fendahl
Dr Who 095 Sun Makers
Dr Who 096 Underworld
Dr Who 097 Invasion of Time
Dr Who 098 Ribos Operation
Dr Who 099 Pirate Planet
Dr Who 100 Stones of Blood
Dr Who 101 Androids of Tara
Dr Who 102 Power of Kroll
Dr Who 103 Armageddon Factor
Dr Who 104 Destiny of the Daleks
Dr Who 105 City of Death
Dr Who 106 Creature from Pit
Dr Who 107 Nightmare of Eden
Dr Who 108 Horns of Nimon
Dr Who 110 Leisure Hive
Dr Who 111 Meglos
Dr Who 112 Full Circle
Dr Who 113 State of Decay
Dr Who 114 Warriors Gate
Dr Who 115 Keeper of the Traken
Dr Who 116 Logopolis

That's all the Tom Baker episodes currently available.

Dr Who 080 Terror of the Zygons, is expected on DVD in 2013.

Dr Who 109 Shada, no one's really sure about. The last episode of this six parter was never shot due to a writer's strike in 1979. I don't know if this ever aired on BBC television, although there was a VHS release in the 1990s.

Great! I hope you enjoy it!

Silent Hill - One of my favorite video game movie adoptions, alongside Resident Evil 1. I like the horror and action elements mixed in with the way it plays on religion and people's perception of it. Was surprised by the amount of bass in t he movie. Knocked off a few things off of the shelf that's off to the sides. Eagerly waiting for the sequel just hope that they don't ruin it like they did with the Resident Evil franchise.

This past weeks movie watching.

Live Free Or Die Hard: Wow what a ride. I wasn't expecting to like this one as much as I did. Just don't think too hard about the plot and enjoy some amazing action sequences. The audio mix in this one was really well done.

13 Assassins" Beautiful and Brutal, if you like Takashi Mike, (Audition, Ichi the Killer), you'll love this film.

War of the Arrows: The ending of this movie just floored me.

Mean Girls: Watched this to test Amazon Prime on our new TV. Forgot what a great cast it has.

Star Trek I, II, VII and X: Amazon had the box sets on sale this past week so I watched a few of my favorites from the series.

Won't be watching too much other than the Olympics the next 2 weeks. I did host Movie Night Afternoon on Saturday with an old college buddy of mine, his wife, and their 5 year old son.

We watched one of our old standby's, "Star Wars". Looked and sounded great, but left us wishing Georgie Boy would actually release the original cuts of the films on Blu-Ray. 4.75/5 .25 points taken off because it is the crappy Special Edition rather than the original cut.

We also watched "Weird Al" Yankovic Live - The Alpocolypse Tour and really enjoyed it. However having seen Al close to a dozen times in the past, we missed the video clips that he plays during his numerous costume changes. Also, hard to understand why they cut out 3 or 4 songs and put them in as "Bonus Songs" rather than having a complete concert setlist in the main Blu-Ray program. 4.25/5

Olympics here also, the opening ceremonies were fantastic in 3D ... plus it is hard for me to shut down & watch when I have daylight till 8 pm.

Watched The Private Eyes (1980)
2.2/5 (amazon 4.6/5, imdb 6.3/10, rotten tomatoes 78%)
Don Knotts and Tim Conway star in The Private Eyes, a 1980 comedy about two bumbling detectives solving a murder. It's an impressively incompetent affair. Every ancient joke falls with a muffled thud as Knotts and Conway ham their way through the story. It's about the quality of a long Carol Burnett skit.

Watched Get the Gringo (2012)
3/5 (amazon 4.2/5, imdb 7.2/10, rotten tomaotes 80%)
Mel Gibson made this direct to video film this year. Violence. Not bad for an pure simple action flick -- the 3/5 rating is purely for the action.
Reminds me a lot of the Porter character from the 1999 movie Payback, although the writers are denying it all over the internet.
A career criminal (Gibson) pulls off the big heist (not shown), but his getaway plans go south of the border when a high-speed car chase lands him in a hard-core Mexican prison community known as "El Pueblito." Now, in order to survive, he'll have to fend off corrupt cops, take down ruthless druglords...and team up with a streetwise ten-year-old with his own problems.