| Movie | Rating | Review | Date | Your Rating | Match | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Men Who Stare at Goats - R |
Clooney. McGregor. Bridges.
Three of my favorite actors, plus a great supporting cast. It's gotta be great, right? But too many times I've seen great ensemble casts come together only to be disappointed by a mediocre film. This time, however, it lived up to my expectations. The movie does lose a bit of steam in the last half hour or so, but overall it's definitely an entertaining film. |
November 8, 2009 | N/A | |||
| The Box - PG-13 |
The Box is based on a short story by Richard Matheson, and it most definitely feels like it was supposed to be a short story. There's enough story here to maybe fill an episode of Twilight Zone or Tales From the Crypt (though not a very good one), but stretched thin to fill two hours, it is excrutiating. By the time we got to the last half hour or so, I didn't even care how it ended, just as long as it ended.
What story there is starts out slightly intriguing, but it takes some serious wrong turns and the unfolding explanation is head-shakingly awful. One last crime the film commits: being set in the 70's for absolutely no valid reason whatsoever. Adventureland did the same thing earlier this year. Setting the film in that era added NOTHING to this story aside from godawful fashion, hair, and home decor. One of the worst films of the year, with the only redeeming quality being another strong performance by James Marsden. |
November 8, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Michael Jackson's This Is It - PG | November 7, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Sunshine Cleaning - R | November 7, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Fired Up - PG-13 | Surprisingly entertaining. Don't write this off as a "cheerleader movie". It's actually more geared towards guys, and I laughed quite a bit. It's not art, nor does it pretend to be. It's just fun. The plot? Oh, it's totally predictable. The cast? No WAY are 90% of them high school students, but it's still fun. Eric Christian Olsen is a very funny guy who deserves to be getting more comedic roles. | November 6, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Away We Go - R | November 6, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| The Open Road - PG-13 | Timberlake and Bridges' performances are good, but the story is slow and rather unteresting. | November 3, 2009 | N/A | |||
| The Monster Squad - PG-13 | I'm not sure how I went 20 years without seeing this one. I only thought to watch it now because I just found out it was (co-)written by Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Last Boyscout, Lethal Weapon). It seems like just the kind of thing I would have loved as a kid. As it is, though, seeing it for the first time at this age, it's a fun kid flick, but nothing more. There's some bad acting - some REALLY bad acting, but who cares in something like this, right? It's just cheesy, mindless, (very) 80's fun. Unfortunately, it's not even very good by 80's cheese standards... and it loses some additional points for shamelessly imitating Goonies and also E.T. in several scenes. | October 30, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Shaun of the Dead - R | October 29, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Scream 3 - R | October 28, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Scream 2 - R | October 28, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Scream - R |
While the horror genre thrived in the 80's with the Freddy/Jason-type unstoppable killer movies, the whole genre was pretty much dying in the 90's. Scream came along in 1996 and not only reinvigorated the genre, but completely reinvented it. Wildly popular (and deservedly so) at the time, its reputation has since been tarnished as it often gets lumped in with the countless wanna-bes and knock-offs that followed, including its own relatively inferior sequels. But this was a great horror flick that pushed all the right buttons.
Original and entertaining (if not entirely realistic) dialogue, a cast full of breakthrough performances, and a story that dares be somewhat self-aware and play to the audience with a wink result in a film that works as a comedy, works as a spoof, and works as a straight-up horror film. Separate this in your mind from the rest of the glut of teen whodunnit horror flicks and I think you'll find it's just a damn fun movie. ...Not to mention it's nice to remember a time when horror flicks weren't watered down for a PG-13 rating. |
October 28, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Paranormal Activity - R | Don't believe the hype! There is not one SINGLE scary moment in this entire film. It is 100 minutes of watching a couple hang out at home, with an occasional slamming door or knocking. So if that's all it takes to terrify you, then more power to ya, but otherwise this is just another case of manufactured (and wholly undeserved) hype. How anyone thought this was a) a good film or b) scary at all is completely beyond me. | October 27, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Night of the Living Dead - Unrated |
THIS is considered a classic? WOW. This one belongs high on the list of most overated movies of all time. After all these years, I finally watched this film, and it was still too soon.
There is NOTING scary about this film. The zombies just looked like old people shuffling around on the lawn. Is this supposed to be a comedy? There is no menace, no terror, no tension.... just a whole lot of bad acting, bad camerawork, bad FX makeup, bad music... If I didn't know better, I'd say it was meant as a spoof of horror films. People bash horror films, especially most modern horror films. But I will say that even the worst one made in the past ten years looks like an Oscar winner compared to this. And don't give me those lines about "it was the first" or "it was groundbreaking at the time." Just because something had to be the first, doesn't excuse it for being horrible. ....and oh yeah, I'll take modern day fast zombies over these laughable "zombie shuffle" ones any day. |
October 27, 2009 | N/A | |||
| 2012 - PG-13 | October 19, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Couples Retreat - PG-13 | October 18, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| A Perfect Getaway - R |
I can't review this film without hinting at MAJOR SPOILERS, so consider yourselves warned.... Still here? okay.
Why does every thriller feel it has to have a big "twist"? What could have been a decent flick is completely thrown away in favor of a lame twist that not only can we see coming a mile away, but that was made even more obvious by the TV commercials touting its big twist. And once again, the surprise is one that makes many earlier scenes make no sense whatsoever. Worse still is the movie's wink-wink self-awareness, as the characters discuss a movie's need for Act II twists and red herrings. All these attempts to be clever and original have exactly the opposite effect and kill the movie. Technically, it's a fine film. The direction works, the acting is sufficient, and best of all, the setting is beautiful - hell, it made me want to jump on a plane to Hawaii. Too bad the script was such a waste. |
October 17, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Drag Me to Hell - PG-13 |
Drag Me To Hell has its share of genuine creepiness and chills. For most of the first half of the film, I was fairly impressed. It's refreshing to have a genuinely effective horror film that isn't all about gore. But unfortunately, there are overly cartoonish moments (and they occur more frequently as the film goes on) that would feel right at home in some of Raimi's earlier works, but here they clash with the tone of the rest of the film and feel completely out of place. Moments like these really detract from the film.
Alison Lohman doesn't do a horrible job, but she didn't impress me at all. I would have preferred to see it with the originally cast Ellen Page, but after shooting to stardom following Juno, she left this project to do... Whip It? A shame - this would have been a much more interesting choice. Justin Long has the thankless boyfriend role that isn't big enough for him to do much with. Minor vague spoilers ahead: It bothered me that they tried to play the "mix-up" as a big surprise. Did anyone NOT see that coming from the very first hint of it? But, I gotta say, I definitely did NOT see the very ending coming at all. The way it played out was both bold and surprising. |
October 16, 2009 | N/A | |||
| The Losers - Unrated | October 16, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Year One - PG-13 | October 13, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - PG | October 13, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra - PG-13 |
No one expected this to be a great film, but if any of you, like me, held out hope that it may at least succeed at just being silly popcorn fun, well... abandon all hope ye who enter here.
Where to start? The writing: HORRIBLE - The backstories and flashbacks are laughably bad. Lame jokes fall flat, but we have ample opportunity to laugh thanks to some unintentionally hilarious bad scenes. Then they thought they were being clever by shoving every catchphrase from the cartoon into the first half hour ("kung fu grip" "knowing is half the battle", "real american hero", etc) The action: could be exciting and fun, but is ruined by the bad jokes and even worse CGI. The direction: Sommers is a hack - pure and simple. The main makes people like Brett Ratner and McG look like Spielberg and Scorsese. Then there's the worst offenders of all - the acting. It's cast with a plethora of C-list actors who don't fit the parts in the slightest. Channing Tatum may very well be the worst actor of the 21st century, and can't deliver a single line convincingly, and his non-verbal acting is even worse. Marlon Wayans is annoying and fails completely at adding humor to the film. Rachel Nichols is almost as bad an actor as Tatum, and might I add not nearly as attractive as they try to pass her off as. I am simply baffled as to why a few talented people like Dennis Quaid and Joseph Gordon-Levitt chose to participate in this mess. They are far too good for this film. Paychecks, I guess. Levitt, in particular, takes on a terrible role with a stupid look and an even more ludicrous voice. Hey, I'm all for dumb fun, but this was just terrible, largely due to its cast. At least one good thing came of this film - Thanks to the nostaliga it drummed up, I made a ton of money putting my old toys up on eBay. |
October 11, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Zombieland - R |
It's easy to, as many people have, immediately start comparing this film to Shaun of the Dead, but it's really unfair to simplify it so much. Just because they are both comedies that deal with zombies does not make it a knock-off.
No, this film is original, well-done, and a helluva lot of fun. As a comedy it succeeds completely, with plenty of laughs from beginning to end. Extra points for a hilarious cameo appearance (which I won't spoil here - seriously, avoid reviews until you see the film and beware of spoilers!) And even as just a zombie film it works on every level. I'd say it already ranks as one of my all-time top three zombie flicks. Ruben Fleischer is going to be a director to watch in the next few years. |
October 5, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Trick 'r Treat - R |
Delayed for two years and then dumped onto DVD, there has been a lot of praise and hype for this film. Unfortunately, all that anticipation does is set expectations high and it ends up disappointing.
There's a reason it didn't open in theaters. It's just not a strong enough film and would have bombed hard. But it's the perfect kind of film to rent with some friends and watch during the Halloween season. It's light-hearted and simple fun. Just don't go in expecting too much. |
October 5, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Whip It - PG-13 |
A passable, if forgettable, film that has its share of fun moments, and most of the cast does a fine job, especially Kristen Wiig, Ellen Page, and lesser-known Wilson brother Andrew. On the negative side: Jimmy Fallon and a horrible soundtrack.
First time director Drew Barrymore seemed far more concerned with the personal relationships than with the action, and that shows, as the actual derby scenes were surprisingly lacking in much excitement. Still, there's nothing really to dislike in the film - it's just not all tt it could have been. |
October 5, 2009 | N/A |
2277 ratings
161 reviews
