Blue Jasmine (2013)

One of the better Woody Allen flicks in the canon. Wonderful performances all around. Cate Blachett's performance was one of the best of any actress in years. Sally Hawkins, Bobby Cannavale, Andrew Dice Clay, Peter Sarsgaard and Louis C.K. were all superb. Gotta hand it to Woody Allen; he's really had a heck of a millenium.

namepeace said:

L'Heure d'été / Summer Hours (2008) - Two brothers and a sister witness the disappearance of their childhood memories when they must relinquish the family belongings to ensure their deceased mother's succession.

This movie is beautiful despite what another orger may think.

ZombieKitten said:

I saw half of hangover 111 and half of batman begins

Instead of starting another movie, why don't you just watch the second half of the previous one?

damosuzuki said:

sexton said:

Coherence 3.5/5 – Indie film version of a trippy, Twilight Zone style story. Good fun, & people who like puzzle films & twisty sci-fi movies like Another Earth would probably love it. I would have rated it more highly if I hadn’t found so many of the characters really annoying.

[Edited 9/14/14 5:51am]

The Day of the Locust (1975)






An art director in the 1930's falls in love and attempts to make a young woman an actress despite Hollywood who wants nothing to do with her because of her problems with an estranged man and her alcoholic father.





Free to stream on Amazon Prime and highly recommended dark comedy that is at times quite horrific.

out of

Yesterday I watched "Chef"

8 out of 10. It was good fun, could have been a higher score if the end

would have been built up better. It now ends abruptly compared to the

rest of the movie.

And oh yeah... Sofia Vergara is HOT

.

[Edited 9/15/14 6:57am]

This was a strange film I DID love...the score was beautiful also. I'll never look at Chicago (or Seattle) the same way again...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1814701/

Review...

http://twitchfilm.com/201...eview.html

Empress Ki

Not technically a 'movie' but a korean drama / mini series. Love Ha Ji-Won. She is my favorite actress.

[Edited 9/17/14 0:52am]

Days of Wine and Roses (1962)

An alcoholic falls in love with and gets married to a young woman, whom he systematically addicts to booze so they can share his "passion" together.

Realistic and relentless potrayal of a couple who lose so much because of their drinking. Academy Award winner for best original song.




out of

Brendan said:

namepeace said:

Blue Jasmine (2013)

One of the better Woody Allen flicks in the canon. Wonderful performances all around. Cate Blachett's performance was one of the best of any actress in years. Sally Hawkins, Bobby Cannavale, Andrew Dice Clay, Peter Sarsgaard and Louis C.K. were all superb. Gotta hand it to Woody Allen; he's really had a heck of a millenium.

I agree completely. I believe he has written and directed 44 feature films in 48 years. It's an embarrassment of riches and totally unprecedented in terms of quality and prolific nature. Other people like Ingmar Bergman might be just as prolific but in a mostly serious drama sense. Several of his movies are just okay or pretty good to me, but within this great stack I think he has stashed perhaps almost a majority of brilliance and outright masterworks.

Did he invent the modern romantic comedy? His soliloquy in Manhattan on faith, life and death was brilliant.

I really stayed away from Woody's films for most of my life because I'd heard they'd largely ignored black and brown folk. But I enjoyed one or 2 of his movies as a kid in the 70s, and I'm glad I gave them a chance. His misses are better than most directors' hits.

We went to see "Walking in the Tombstones" or "A Walk in Some Tombstones" or "Walk Like An Egyptian in Tombstone, Arizona". I can't remember the exact name. But I remember this:

What an awesome opening scene! Liam Neeson goes to breakfast at a bar in order to get drunk. Some bad dudes walk in, blowing people away with a shotgun, and Neeson literally pulls a Dirty Harry and blows dudes away while walking out of the bar. In fact, he wounded one dude and I couldn't help myself from yelling, "DO YOU FEEL LUCKY, PUNK?"

But that scene really has little to do with the rest of the movie. It turns out later that - SPOILER ALERT, BUT NOT REALLY, AS THIS INFO HAS LITTLE TO DO WITH THE ACTUAL MOVIE - one of Neeson's shots ricocheted and killed a young girl, so he: (1) quit drinking; and (2) quit the NYPD.

He think becomes basically Travis McGee - an unlicensed private detective that does private detective stuff for "gifts". So what we have here is a movie (based on a book) that has ripped off Dirty Harry AND Travis McGee from the get-go.

But Neeson is so cool that we can forgive these transgressions. And, we forgive the other movie rip-offs that follow.

The wives of drug-dealers start getting kidnapped, and then sliced to ribbons. One of Neeson's AA acquaintences' brother is a drug-dealer whose wife was kidnapped and, after he paid a $400K ransom, his wife was returned in about 50 little bags. So he's pissed.

The rest of the movie follows Neeson investigating stuff and figuring out what's going on. Then, some other drug dealer's daughter is kidnapped (only because the mom is in a coma, and the killers couldn't have any "fun" with a comatose person). Durg Dealer Number 2 is a friend of Drug Dealer Number 1, so Neeson gets involved. He's really cool negotiating with the kidnappers.

They have a transfer at a cemetary and - wait! The movie is called "A Walk in the Tombstones"! And there are plenty of tombstones but not really much walking. Then they have a shootout, and ultimately it turns out that Neeson's sidekick had snuck into the kidnappers' van and you can guess what happens next.

Yep - a ripoff of "Pulp Fiction"!

The kidnappers have a torture basement. Neeson and Drug Dealer Number 1 show up, there's a fight, and the one surviving kidnapper is chained to the heating grate, where Neeson leaves him to the devices of Drug Dealer Number 1. At that point, I shouted "The spider has caught a fly!" and when they showed the dead kidnapper, of course I commented that "Zed's dead!" (Side note: I might not be the best person to go with to see a movie.)

Then there's more fighting, and the movie ends.

This is a pretty good movie. It is bookended with some awesome fight scenes, and the middle showcases Neeson's awesomeness as an action hero. His sidekick is superfluous, and they never do explain what happened to the DEA, but otherwise it's a good movie.

Since the movie is set in 1999, I give it 1,250 Y2Ks out of a possible 2,000 Y2Ks.

It would have been higher but the movie was set in 1999 and there is not ONE Prince reference.

And then last night we watched a GREAT movie called "Mom's Night Out".

I know what you're thinking - RodeoSchro, you are a brand-new empty-nester. What are you and your wife doing watching a movie about some moms that need a night out to get away from their unmanageable kids?

Well, what we were doing was drinking wine. Really good wine, too.

This movie is by the same brothers that have given us such phenomenal movies as "Fireproof', "Courageous" and the greatest football movie I have ever seen, "Facing the Giants". These movies always have a Christian message. However, that message is not as prevalent in "Mom's Night Out' as it is in the other movies.

I have to admit - the first ten minutes of the movie were pretty stupid. The main mom has three kids and she absolutely cannot handle them. She's a horrible mom! Not because she's mean, but because she is not as smart as her five-year-old. Those kids OWN that mom.

So she needs a night out, of course. And with other women - no men allowed. Her husband, Sean Astin who conveniently plays a character named "Sean", says OK. He and his buddies will watch the kids. It goes without saying that his buddies are laden with responsibility issues, so I won't say it.

Hilarity really does ensue, though. Particularly good is Patricia Heaton as the pastor's wife. She is REALLY funny. I just Googled her and she describes herself as "bourbon lover". Awesome! Next time I watch this movie I will drink Jack Daniels instead of wine.

Trace Adkins is great as a motorcycle dude/tattoo parlor owner. But the tattoo parlor receptionist really steals the show.

My advice is that whenever anyone from this group puts out a movie, watch it.

This movie gets FOUR stars out of a possible FIVE stars.

Five stars!

namepeace said:

FRANK 5 / 10

Really enjoyed the opening 30 mins but I felt it fell away for the last hour.

No Good Deed (2014) Starring Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson 1/2 out of 5

The only good deed in this movie was watching Idris undress in the shower scene. Other than that, although I love him to death, he wasn't really that convincing as an escaped convict wreaking havoc on an innocent mother home alone on a stormy night. The predictable plot is something we've seen in countless movies since the beginning of film and although there was a twist at the end it wasn't enough for me to say that I would like to buy the DVD once it comes out.

The Maze Runner (2014)

Thomas is deposited in a community of boys after his memory is erased, soon learning they're all trapped in a maze that will require him to join forces with fellow "runners" for a shot at escape.

Stars:

Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Will Poulter |See full cast and crew »





Way better than I expected. Lord of the Flies meets Labyrinth for the modern age. ½ out of

My Sassy Girl It was alrite.

Pretty Maids All in a Row - 3/5 Trashy fun, but it's no Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.

Hudson said:

Days of Wine and Roses (1962)

An alcoholic falls in love with and gets married to a young woman, whom he systematically addicts to booze so they can share his "passion" together.

Director:

Blake Edwards

Writer:

J.P. Miller

Stars:

Jack Lemmon, Lee Remick, Charles Bickford

Realistic and relentless potrayal of a couple who lose so much because of their drinking. Academy Award winner for best original song.




out of

LOL, I used to use the line "These are our days of wine and roses" with girls all the time in college. It sounded so romantic, and they almost always melted when I said it. I had NO idea I was actually referring to a movie about alcoholics!

"Hey baby, these are our days of wine and roses."

"I command you to take off my panties and thrust in me to your complete ticklish satisfaction."

The Education of Charlie Banks 1/2