Northern Soul .. loved this, fab sountrack, great cast, authentic & funny.

[Edited 11/2/14 10:54am]

A Letter to Momo - 4/5 - Really good!

Lucy: 4/5 That was an interesting flick.

I'm going 2 have to watch it again to get all of the points they were trying 2 make.

The Judge 5 / 10

Pretty average courtroom drama with Downey and Duvall.

Dawn of the Planet Of The Apes 6.5 / 10

I preferred the previous movie to this, but it was still entertaining enough.

The Book Of Life (2014) - Manolo, a young man who is torn between fulfilling the expectations of his family and following his heart, embarks on an adventure that spans three fantastic worlds where he must face his greatest fears.

The art direction is amazing. 1/2

4 out of 5 stars

Turist / Force Majeure (2014) - A family on a ski holiday in the French Alps find themselves staring down an avalanche during lunch one day; in the aftermath, their dynamic has been shaken to its core, with a question mark hanging over their patriarch in particular.

I didn't research this movie much beforehand since I already knew I was going to see it. To me the trailers implied it would be a bit comedic, but quite the opposite, it's a very dramatic film. It reminded me at times of Eyes Wide Shut, but a more direct connection can be made to the indie film The Lonliest Planet. All three movies feature a couple's relationship badly shaken by a specific incident. And the ski lodge and snow-covered mountains made for a stunning backdrop.

Ants (1998)

½ out of

Don't hate it but still check the dvd counter to see how much longer it is. I'm surprised at it's 95% RT rating.

Prince of Egypt (1998)

**: out of **

Powerful music and stunning animation.

St. Vincent 0/5

Bill Murray can't even save this predictable stinker.

Graycap23 said:

Lucy: 4/5 That was an interesting flick.

I'm going 2 have to watch it again to get all of the points they were trying 2 make.

Snowpiercer - 3.5/5 - the external CGI shots were a little underwhelming and the best character exits a little too early IMO, but there was lots to enjoy here, particularly in the first half where it felt a bit like a Occupy Wall Street version of Brazil (not a coincidence one of the characters is named Gilliam maybe).

[Edited 11/7/14 5:07am]

Maps To The Stars 0/5 I walked out on this stupid, boring movie by David Cronenberg. Apparently it's his last film.

Touch of Evil (1958) - A stark, perverse story of murder, kidnapping, and police corruption in a Mexican border town.

Brownface issues aside, this is a very well-made noir film.

We just watched "Interstellar". I am going to review this movie, which should tell you already that this movie sucks.

But since I am a nice guy - SPOILER ALERT! I AM GOING TO TELL YOU HOW THIS TURKEY ENDS!

OK, fair warning?

Good, because here we go.

Let me count the ways this movie sucks:

1. The plot is stupid. Beyond stupid. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
2. The Jessica Chastain character is totally unlikeable. There is no way anyone can ever root for her. I wanted all of mankind to die, just so I could blame her. Her character sucked.
3. Anne Hathaway's character sucked. WTF? She was in love with someone they never even showed? And how did Matthew Whatshisname know that? There was no way! Plus, I think Anne Hatheway is an actual alien. You watch this movie, look at her face, and tell me I'm wrong.
4. Michael Caine's character sucked. What a waste of acting talent. FULL DISCLOSURE: The print of the movie we watched had screwed-up audio. Whenever there was music, you couldn't hear anything any character said. So, we had no idea what Michael Caine said on his deathbed. But you know what? It wouldn't have mattered one bit. His character sucked.
5. Whoever that Poor Man's Matt Damon guy was sucked. WTF was he trying to kill Matthew M. on The Frozen Planet? Why didn't he just hitch a ride home with Matthew McGillicuddy and Anne Hatheway? And his death scene! How stupid was that? "Imperfect docking" my ass! That was so dumb. Keep in mind, I was sitting in a theater with a bunch of NASA rocket scientists. All I could hear for most of this movie were groans, as in people groaning "Wait! That would NEVER HAPPEN!"
6. Why the heck did Jessica Chastain torch her brother's corn crop? What purpose did that serve? Absolutely none! It's like they were trying to give a big "FU!" to Monsanto or something.
7. I was glad when Jessica Chastain finally died. If only she'd died two and one-half hours earlier, this movie might have been watchable.
8. That cheap R2D2 imitation wasn't funny or smart or in any way likeable. I was glad when it bit the dust, and really bummed out when it came back.
9. Was I the only one that noticed that on The Frozen Tundra, that Poor Man's Matt Damon guy cracked Matthew McDonald's helmet, but when Matthew McDonald was back on the spaceship, his helmet was magically OK?
10. There was a Black Guy. I'm thinking, "No f***ing way they're going to let The Black Guy live". And of course, they didn't. WTF? Why do they keep perpetuating this stupid stereotype? And during a movie for which one of the previews was for "Selma". But having The Black Guy die is par for the course for this idiotic movie. And it didn't help that The Black Guy was....what? Alive? Or living in a black hole (no pun intended)? Who knows? At least he came back in the end.
11. Apparently, if you die in a black hole, you don't really die. You end up in some 5-D bookcase. That's what happened to Matthew McDonigle. But why was he the only guy in the 5-D bookcase? Lots of people died, but none of them ended up in the bookcase like he did.
12. The director makes a great deal out of the fact that Matthew McFlugelhorn once crashed a spaceship but in reality, that had absolutely nothing to do with anything whatsoever.
13. I thought all the NASA people in the theater were going to through stuff at the screen when the schoolteacher said the Apollo moon landings had been faked. I bet in retrospect, they wish they had.
14. You know what the worst thing about this movie was? We watched it at one of those cinema/grills, and this place had a full bar in the lobby with TVs showing football games. I COULD have watched the first half of the Alabama/LSU and Ohio State/Michigan State games, instead of this flop.
15. On the bright side, I did get to watch the end of the Auburn/Texas A&M game at the bar.
16. And I will say that it appears from the previews of the new Seth Rogen/James Franco movie that, after 10 or 11 movies trying, they've finally come up with a funny movie.
17. Oh yeah - I forgot to tell you how it ends. Well, Jessica Chastain finally dies - Yay!!!!! But Matthew McDoodlebug is still miracuously 35 years old. And I was not NEARLY drunk enough. I still, after two hours' reflection, cannot tell you if it had a happy or sad ending, or if the good guys won or not, or if we survived as a race or if the ending was really just a rip-off of "Field of Dreams".
18. Double oh yeah - I forgot the absolutely stupidest part of the movie. The big reveal was that Ghost Matthew McLovin was Morse-coding the word "Stay" to the horrid Jessica Chastain character. And Ghost Matthew McLovin was yelling at the 10-year-old Jessica Chastain character to not let the Non-Ghost Matthew McLovin leave. "Make him stay!" he shouted through his supposedly sound-proof space helmet. But if Non-Ghost Matthew McLovin never left, he could have never come back and given them the code to find the secret NASA space installation. That means Matthew McLovin would have never gone into space, which means they all would have died of dust suffocation. And that means the whole human race would have died, because The Black Guy would have never been able to pass on the data from The Singularity after he somehow ended up in The Black Hole after getting blown to pieces by The Poor Man's Matt Damon (who, it turns out, was actually Matt Damon. You won't recognize him either, trust me.). So in reality - if there is such a thing with this movie, the advice to "Stay!" was the absolute WORST ADVICE MATTHEW MCLOVIN COULD HAVE GIVEN TO ANY VERSION OF THE HIDEOUS JESSICA CHASTAIN CHARACTER.

My advice is do not waste your time or money on "Interstellar". Don't even steal it from the internet. Even that would be a rip-off.

.

[Edited 11/9/14 9:17am]

^So Greycap will love it.

&1/2
Very slow, no big payoff. It's a pass

[Edited 11/8/14 23:27pm]

5/5 stars. The best movie I've seen this year. JK Simmons deserves a best actor Oscar.

Night of the Hunter - 5/5 Robert Mitchum is wonderfully creepy, & it's filled with great, unforgettable images.

ZombieKitten said:

Interstellar 4/5 Poor man's Matt Damon was actually Matt Damon. Anne Hathaway's eyes miraculously didn't fall out and roll away even when she was crying. The dad from Harry and the Hendersons is in it (thumbs up from my boys). Hal IS the monolith Pipe organs, fuck yeah!

LMAO, it really was? Awesome! I thought it was a guy that kind of looked like Matt Damon.

RodeoSchro said:

We just watched "Interstellar". I am going to review this movie, which should tell you already that this movie sucks.

But since I am a nice guy - SPOILER ALERT! I AM GOING TO TELL YOU HOW THIS TURKEY ENDS!

OK, fair warning?

Good, because here we go.

Let me count the ways this movie sucks:

1. The plot is stupid. Beyond stupid. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
2. The Jessica Chastain character is totally unlikeable. There is no way anyone can ever root for her. I wanted all of mankind to die, just so I could blame her. Her character sucked.
3. Anne Hathaway's character sucked. WTF? She was in love with someone they never even showed? And how did Matthew Whatshisname know that? There was no way! Plus, I think Anne Hatheway is an actual alien. You watch this movie, look at her face, and tell me I'm wrong.
4. Michael Caine's character sucked. What a waste of acting talent. FULL DISCLOSURE: The print of the movie we watched had screwed-up audio. Whenever there was music, you couldn't hear anything any character said. So, we had no idea what Michael Caine said on his deathbed. But you know what? It wouldn't have mattered one bit. His character sucked.
5. Whoever that Poor Man's Matt Damon guy was sucked. WTF was he trying to kill Matthew M. on The Frozen Planet? Why didn't he just hitch a ride home with Matthew McGillicuddy and Anne Hatheway? And his death scene! How stupid was that? "Imperfect docking" my ass! That was so dumb. Keep in mind, I was sitting in a theater with a bunch of NASA rocket scientists. All I could hear for most of this movie were groans, as in people groaning "Wait! That would NEVER HAPPEN!"
6. Why the heck did Jessica Chastain torch her brother's corn crop? What purpose did that serve? Absolutely none! It's like they were trying to give a big "FU!" to Monsanto or something.
7. I was glad when Jessica Chastain finally died. If only she'd died two and one-half hours earlier, this movie might have been watchable.
8. That cheap R2D2 imitation wasn't funny or smart or in any way likeable. I was glad when it bit the dust, and really bummed out when it came back.
9. Was I the only one that noticed that on The Frozen Tundra, that Poor Man's Matt Damon guy cracked Matthew McDonald's helmet, but when Matthew McDonald was back on the spaceship, his helmet was magically OK?
10. There was a Black Guy. I'm thinking, "No f***ing way they're going to let The Black Guy live". And of course, they didn't. WTF? Why do they keep perpetuating this stupid stereotype? And during a movie for which one of the previews was for "Selma". But having The Black Guy die is par for the course for this idiotic movie. And it didn't help that The Black Guy was....what? Alive? Or living in a black hole (no pun intended)? Who knows? At least he came back in the end.
11. Apparently, if you die in a black hole, you don't really die. You end up in some 5-D bookcase. That's what happened to Matthew McDonigle. But why was he the only guy in the 5-D bookcase? Lots of people died, but none of them ended up in the bookcase like he did.
12. The director makes a great deal out of the fact that Matthew McFlugelhorn once crashed a spaceship but in reality, that had absolutely nothing to do with anything whatsoever.
13. I thought all the NASA people in the theater were going to through stuff at the screen when the schoolteacher said the Apollo moon landings had been faked. I bet in retrospect, they wish they had.
14. You know what the worst thing about this movie was? We watched it at one of those cinema/grills, and this place had a full bar in the lobby with TVs showing football games. I COULD have watched the first half of the Alabama/LSU and Ohio State/Michigan State games, instead of this flop.
15. On the bright side, I did get to watch the end of the Auburn/Texas A&M game at the bar.
16. And I will say that it appears from the previews of the new Seth Rogen/James Franco movie that, after 10 or 11 movies trying, they've finally come up with a funny movie.
17. Oh yeah - I forgot to tell you how it ends. Well, Jessica Chastain finally dies - Yay!!!!! But Matthew McDoodlebug is still miracuously 35 years old. And I was not NEARLY drunk enough. I still, after two hours' reflection, cannot tell you if it had a happy or sad ending, or if the good guys won or not, or if we survived as a race or if the ending was really just a rip-off of "Field of Dreams".

My advice is do not waste your time or money on "Interstellar". Don't even steal it from the internet. Even that would be a rip-off.

.

[Edited 11/8/14 21:44pm]

I saw it on Friday night and LOVED it!! I didn't go see it to be entertained, because I knew it would make me think, for instance, about wormholes being spheres in space? Okay, makes sense. Time being constructed as a physical dimension itself? Alright, cool. Was that Matt Damon??

Anne Hathaway's character's STUPID speech about true love...they should have put that bitch in a black hole after that. I'm still trying to decipher the ending though...it kind of came and went. I'll definitely have to watch it again. I want to believe that Christopher Nolan is the new Stanley Kubrick.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 5/5

A movie where the subplot is as good as the main plot.

We Are the Best - 4/5 Swedish adolescents make punk rock. Loved it.

damosuzuki said:

Dracula Untold 6 / 10

ZombieKitten said:

damosuzuki said:

We Are the Best - 4/5 Swedish adolescents make punk rock. Loved it.

I thought this was OK, nothing amazing. The main girl was a cutie though.

it's not Fanny & Alexander or anything like that, for sure - it's low-key & meandering & minor, but movies like this sit right in my wheelhouse.

Black Sabbath - 3.5/5 surprisingly good 1963 Italian horror anthology. The vampire story is a bit long & dull, but 'drop of water' is genuinely creepy.

damosuzuki said:

Night of the Hunter - 5/5 Robert Mitchum is wonderfully creepy, & it's filled with great, unforgettable images.

Shame the director (and great actor) Charles Laughton didn't make any other films

Visually very striking movie. Mitchum is always worth a watch too.