Here are some movies I've seen lately that I thought worth mentioning. Add your own to the list.

Hunger (2008) This film centers around Bobby Sand, and the 1981 Irish hunger strikes while prisoners demanded political status, and Maggie Thatcher wouldn't give it to them. It took 10 men dying on the two-week staggered-starting hunger strike before the British government gave in.

3.5 out of 5

Fish Tank (2010) Interesting British film about a 15 year old girl who has dreams of dancing, but her story is set against the backdrop of a distant and uncaring mother, a bratty younger sister, and a string of boyfriends that the mom brings in and out of the house. The girl later realizes that the current boyfriend (who fucks her at one point) is actually hiding a big secret. The girl resolves to move on at the end of the movie - but with who?

3 out of 5

The Last Station (2010) This is the story of Russian author Leo Tolstoy's later life, once he had developed the Tolstoyian movement. Christopher Plummer plays Tolstoy to the T. Helen Mirren, as his wife, battles Tolstoy's visionary partner played by Paul Giomatti, in the fight for the rights to Tolstoy's work to protect the family from possible poverty. Giomatti's character pushes Tolstoy to sign over his works into the Public Domain as a lifelong gift to the Russian people. When you look up pictures of Tolstoy, his secretary, and Giomatti's character, they real life people and the actors share an uncanny resemblence. Absolutely one of my top movies of all time.

4.5 out of 5

Kick-Ass (2010) Definitely not a kid movie, as the R rating states. It's a very grown up comic book type movie, but I was very surprised at the story lines, and what I thought were well thought out sub plots. I didn't think I'd like this movie, but it's now on my list to buy on BluRay.

4 out of 5

On my list to still watch this weekend:

The Crazies, The Yellow Handkerchief, and The Ghost Writer. Might throw in Devil's Backbone if I have time.

Go see Inception. Very very good movie.

I saw these recently:

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The Kids Are All Right (2010) - Excellent drama about a family that gets turned upside down when the children's sperm donor enters their lives. 1/2 (out of five)

Solitary Man (2010) - Great performance by Michael Douglas as an immoral car salesman coping with his own mortality, but I expected a bigger ending. 1/2

Winter's Bone (2010) - Teen girl searches for her missing father among unforgiving distant relatives in the backwoods of Missouri to prevent the family house from being taken by the state. Very well done. 1/2

I Am Love (Io sono l'amore) (2010) - Tilda Swinton is a Russian wife in a wealthy Italian family, going through the motions of marraige until she is awakened and seduced through her son's friend's cooking. Lush. Sensual. GORGEOUS.

Joan Rivers: A Piece Of Work (2010) - Funny and surprisingly revealing documentary about the famous comedienne.

one more edit

[Edited 8/12/10 13:34pm]

Mother(2009)Korean language film

A murder rocks a South Korean town and suspicion quickly falls on a reclusive, mentally challenged -- and alibi-free -- young man (Bin Won). When an inept public defender botches the boy's case, his mother (Hye-ja Kim) sets out to prove her son's innocence. Acclaimed director Joon-ho Bong (Memories of Murder) explores the lengths a mother will go to protect her child in this atmospheric crime thriller.

It's been seriously forever since I've seen a movie that made me get that feeling of finally witnessing something great. However the most recent ones, that I can recommend wholeheartedly would be those listed.

(And for reference to see if you'd get anything out of these recommendations: I hated Avatar, not because it's trendy to do so, but because it's just really awfully "Naively Hollywood Selling Issues 4 U, Buy The Slogan Tee in the Lobby™" on all accounts, and neither did I like the new Jeunet (yes, French director) "Micmacs" and neither did I like "The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo" (as it's called in the US). But on the other hand I quite liked "A Single Man" and had a boyish soft spot for "The Dark Knight". So if either of this makes sense to you, here's two:)

Antichrist (2010).

Lars Von Trier's latest offering, that made The Cannes Festival go crazy (erhm, outraged, at least). A child dies and the parents retreat to a forest cabin to over come their grief, but something just isn't right in the forest ("Satan's church", as the female "Eve" dubs it). It's a horror movie, but its as conventional a horror movie, as Tarkovskij's Solyaris was a regular sci fi. The themes touch upon Christianity, the human nature and the concept of evil being a part of the our biological selves. It's no accident, that I mentioned Tarkovskij, since it'll probably only appeal to people who like his movies, and over all it'll definitely appeal to fans of Von Trier - as it's (quite shockingly) beautifully film and seems to be a new direction for the neurotic Von Trier, blending the E Trilogy with his later dogma-like movies.

5 out of 5

Mary and Max (2009)

Insanely well crafted claymation from the guy who made the short film "Harvie Krumpet". It's nothing like Wallace and Gromit, but appeals to adults exclusively, dealing with fear, anxiety, angst and loneliness, but keeps things (tragically) fun all the way through. A sort of "Happiness" in claymation. Not recommended if you think movies have to be pretty and have lots of fairy dust and winged My Little Pony's.

4 out of 5

Yeah.. shit. I really can't think of any other recent movies I can recommenc. Oh well.

[Edited 8/12/10 10:00am]

Two that i can recommend are:

Splice: (2010) The tale of two scientist who mess around with nature to chilling conclusions..

White booty worship 2: fine ass pawg Ava Rose does her first interracial anal (on film ) Brothers are just waiting for Sara Jay, Caroline Pierce and Ice La Fox 2 follow..yeah

Not sure is these are only supposed to be newer ones, but here are some totally random ones that are probably not the kind of movies millions of people have seen:

Nobody's Fool - 1994 Paul Newman, Jessica Tandy and an uncredited Bruce Willis. VERY simple and slow movie about life in a small town in NY. Probably my all time favorite movie.

Trouble in Paradise - 1932 Sometimes folks tend to overrate movies that are older as if that in and of itself implies they are instantly in some sort of classic category. To be honest, I go in wanting to like a lot of older movies, but find most of them to be dated and acted in a fashion that doesn't suit my tastes. For my money, this is one of the best pre-1950 movies ever made. Very smart film with no scenes that feel dated.

Michael Clayton - 2007 - The first time I saw this was in the theatre when it first came out. I left feeling like it was a more mature Erin Brockovich, but nothing special. For some reason I decided to give it another chance about 6 months ago. I now think it was one of best written movies of the past 5 years. Nothing earth shattering plot wise, but the dialogue is off the charts smart. George Clooney Tilda Swinton and Tom Wilkinson are all brilliant.

Nothing But A Man - 1964 - Harlepolis actually recommended this movie to me a while ago and it is phenomenally smart/poignant. The story is twofold. One aspect deals with a young man trying to decide whether or not he wants to remain a carefree playboy or settle down. The second aspect addresses his struggles as he is trying to maintain his dignity (and keep a job) while coping with the predominant racist mentailities of the deep south. Very powerful movie.

State of Play (BBC 2003) - There was a movie with Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck last year that had this title. I am not referring to that movie, it looked REALLY Hollywood to me. But there is a two disc DVD set of the BBC series with the same name that is top shelf. Brilliant acting throughout. Great story. Some really smart dialogue. Highly recommended.

Fenwick said:

Michael Clayton - 2007 - The first time I saw this was in the theatre when it first came out. I left feeling like it was a more mature Erin Brockovich, but nothing special. For some reason I decided to give it another chance about 6 months ago. I now think it was one of best written movies of the past 5 years. Nothing earth shattering plot wise, but the dialogue is off the charts smart. George Clooney Tilda Swinton and Tom Wilkinson are all brilliant.

Love that movie! George Clooney can do the confident, but flawed guy really well. I felt like I was watching the same character in Up In The Air.

sextonseven said:

Fenwick said:

Michael Clayton - 2007 - The first time I saw this was in the theatre when it first came out. I left feeling like it was a more mature Erin Brockovich, but nothing special. For some reason I decided to give it another chance about 6 months ago. I now think it was one of best written movies of the past 5 years. Nothing earth shattering plot wise, but the dialogue is off the charts smart. George Clooney Tilda Swinton and Tom Wilkinson are all brilliant.

Love that movie! George Clooney can do the confident, but flawed guy really well. I felt like I was watching the same character in Up In The Air.

Totally agree. Sometimes in movies there is one scene that is so incredibly perfect that it makes the whole film worth watching despite what may come before/after it. My own personal strongest example of this is the scene from True Romance between Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken. Perfectly written and amazingly acted. That being said, there are some pretty stupid things in that movie too, (esp the ending).

All that to say I feel the exact same way about the scene from Michael Clayton in the alley between George Clooney and Tom Wilkinson (when Wilkinson is carrying the bread). Pure movie magic.

Fenwick said:

sextonseven said:

Love that movie! George Clooney can do the confident, but flawed guy really well. I felt like I was watching the same character in Up In The Air.

Totally agree. Sometimes in movies there is one scene that is so incredibly perfect that it makes the whole film worth watching despite what may come before/after it. My own personal strongest example of this is the scene from True Romance between Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken. Perfectly written and amazingly acted. That being said, there are some pretty stupid things in that movie too, (esp the ending).

All that to say I feel the exact same way about the scene from Michael Clayton in the alley between George Clooney and Tom Wilkinson (when Wilkinson is carrying the bread). Pure movie magic.

Don't ANYONE get fucking Fenwick started on plot holes and the like. He ruins it for everyone! (U jackass.)

ernestsewell said:

Don't ANYONE get fucking Fenwick started on plot holes and the like. He ruins it for everyone! (U jackass.)

Oh come on my brother. You know you're the better for knowing now that the end of Terminator 2 makes no sense.....

Oops - did I just say that?

Fenwick said:

ernestsewell said:

Oh come on my brother. You know you're the better for knowing now that the end of Terminator 2 makes no sense.....

Oops - did I just say that?

(_o_)

Fenwick said:

sextonseven said:

Love that movie! George Clooney can do the confident, but flawed guy really well. I felt like I was watching the same character in Up In The Air.

Totally agree. Sometimes in movies there is one scene that is so incredibly perfect that it makes the whole film worth watching despite what may come before/after it. My own personal strongest example of this is the scene from True Romance between Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken. Perfectly written and amazingly acted. That being said, there are some pretty stupid things in that movie too, (esp the ending).

All that to say I feel the exact same way about the scene from Michael Clayton in the alley between George Clooney and Tom Wilkinson (when Wilkinson is carrying the bread). Pure movie magic.

I'm wondering if Clooney can achieve a hat-trick in the upcoming The American next month.

sextonseven said:

Fenwick said:

Totally agree. Sometimes in movies there is one scene that is so incredibly perfect that it makes the whole film worth watching despite what may come before/after it. My own personal strongest example of this is the scene from True Romance between Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken. Perfectly written and amazingly acted. That being said, there are some pretty stupid things in that movie too, (esp the ending).

All that to say I feel the exact same way about the scene from Michael Clayton in the alley between George Clooney and Tom Wilkinson (when Wilkinson is carrying the bread). Pure movie magic.

I'm wondering if Clooney can achieve a hat-trick in the upcoming The American next month.

Hmmm. I'll have to IMDB this one as I don't even know what it is about.

Did you see The Men Who Stare At Goats? For some reason it didn't look dry humor-funny or quasi slap sitck-funny to me. It just looked dumb. I don't think I know a single person who saw it and enjoyed it.

Off the top of my head:

The Swimmer

The Indian Runner

Schultze Gets the Blues

Oh Lucky Man!

About Schmidt

Four Shades Of Brown

High Art

Naked

The Sweet Hereafter

I think the last movie I was impressed with was Ghost Writer, all the way until the very end (which was disappointing). A classic slow-burn suspense movie that Hitchcock would have been proud of.

I am recommending "The Expendables" and I haven't even seen it yet.

But I know there is NO WAY that movie can be anything except 100% AWESOME.*

*Unless you're a girl, in which case all bets are off.

RodeoSchro said:

I am recommending "The Expendables" and I haven't even seen it yet.

But I know there is NO WAY that movie can be anything except 100% AWESOME.*

*Unless you're a girl, in which case all bets are off.

i saw it 2day ..fucking awesome ..fuck a plot ..just pure action and hell it's the movie we all kind of thought about back in the day if all the top action guys got 2gether and did a movie ..fuck the A team ..this is what the A team should have been!!

Fenwick said:

sextonseven said:

I'm wondering if Clooney can achieve a hat-trick in the upcoming The American next month.

Hmmm. I'll have to IMDB this one as I don't even know what it is about.

Did you see The Men Who Stare At Goats? For some reason it didn't look dry humor-funny or quasi slap sitck-funny to me. It just looked dumb. I don't think I know a single person who saw it and enjoyed it.

To me, looking at that trailer, it's like Michael Clayton decided to become an assassin.

I heard only bad reviews about The Men Who Stare At Goats so I avoided it.

RodeoSchro said:

I am recommending "The Expendables" and I haven't even seen it yet.

But I know there is NO WAY that movie can be anything except 100% AWESOME.

You couldn't pay me to see that movie.

.

[Edited 8/13/10 14:48pm]

A japanese movie called "Detroit Metal City"... it's a very silly/fun comedy.

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well written, hilarious and surprisingly touching.

Ip Man 1

Ip Man 2

Chocolate Thai film

Prodical Son another Samo film

Once Upon a Time in China Jet Lee Samo directed

Forbidden Kingdom Jackie & Jet, directed by Samo

sextonseven said:

Fenwick said:

Michael Clayton - 2007 - The first time I saw this was in the theatre when it first came out. I left feeling like it was a more mature Erin Brockovich, but nothing special. For some reason I decided to give it another chance about 6 months ago. I now think it was one of best written movies of the past 5 years. Nothing earth shattering plot wise, but the dialogue is off the charts smart. George Clooney Tilda Swinton and Tom Wilkinson are all brilliant.

Love that movie! George Clooney can do the confident, but flawed guy really well. I felt like I was watching the same character in Up In The Air.

YES!!!! loved both those

sextonseven said:

Fenwick said:

Hmmm. I'll have to IMDB this one as I don't even know what it is about.

Did you see The Men Who Stare At Goats? For some reason it didn't look dry humor-funny or quasi slap sitck-funny to me. It just looked dumb. I don't think I know a single person who saw it and enjoyed it.

To me, looking at that trailer, it's like Michael Clayton decided to become an assassin.

I heard only bad reviews about The Men Who Stare At Goats so I avoided it.

that movie was not funny enough to be funny, and not serious enough to be taken seriously

I was like

The American is the movie my uncle told me about, he said to find out why George Clooney was up in his neck of the woods (Östersund).

Fenwick said:

Trouble in Paradise - 1932 Sometimes folks tend to overrate movies that are older as if that in and of itself implies they are instantly in some sort of classic category. To be honest, I go in wanting to like a lot of older movies, but find most of them to be dated and acted in a fashion that doesn't suit my tastes. For my money, this is one of the best pre-1950 movies ever made. Very smart film with no scenes that feel dated.

Ernst Lubitch films are brilliant.

sextonseven said:

RodeoSchro said:

I am recommending "The Expendables" and I haven't even seen it yet.

But I know there is NO WAY that movie can be anything except 100% AWESOME.

You couldn't pay me to see that movie.

.

[Edited 8/13/10 14:48pm]

Translation: "Imma download that sucker for free off the Internets!"

LOL, no sweat. Different strokes for different folks.

RodeoSchro said:

sextonseven said:

You couldn't pay me to see that movie.

.

[Edited 8/13/10 14:48pm]

Translation: "Imma download that sucker for free off the Internets!"

LOL, no sweat. Different strokes for different folks.

or that he doesn't want to see a movie he is pretty sure will be crap

ZombieKitten said:

RodeoSchro said:

Translation: "Imma download that sucker for free off the Internets!"

LOL, no sweat. Different strokes for different folks.

or that he doesn't want to see a movie he is pretty sure will be crap

Yeah, almost every actor in that film turns me off.

sextonseven said:

ZombieKitten said:

or that he doesn't want to see a movie he is pretty sure will be crap

Yeah, almost every actor in that film turns me off.

When we were at the cinema to see Inception, we passed the poster for it, and of course it caught Leo's eye (seems to be a real MAN movie) and he noticed the cast were all photoshopped together. There is no way in hell they could get them all together in the same place at the same time just for a photo

Of the films I seen this year, the two that stick in the mind are There Will Be Blood and In Bruge.

The Tolstoy one I've been meaning to see.

[Edited 8/15/10 18:08pm]