What movie did you see last?

[cow-boy_be-bop]

Finally saw The Avengers movie. I gotta say it was fun. I went in not expecting serious depth or continuity to the comic origins. I know them already and I know it's not close. So I went in expecting action, special effects, more action, and cheesy jokes. Check on all of that. If you just want a fun action movie there ya go. I have to say though out the 3 Hulk's we've had in 3 movies I liked Mark Ruffalo the best. Obviously the first movie was closest to the true origin but just as the Banner character I think Ruffalo did the best. Will be interesting to see the next set of movies for all the heroes. Crista and I plan to go see Silent Hill in the next week or two.

Have you gotten to go see Silent Hill yet?
I went and saw it a few days ago, and Im going to recommend if you haven't seen it yet, don't waste the money on the 3d. I know people have different feelings about it some love some hate. Im indifferent about it, but when I saw this movie I had no choice in the matter because the times I wanted o go the 2d wasn't playing. But that said, I saw the 3d version, and there were no effects or scenes in the movie that benefited at all from it being 3d. The only "good" thing about the 3d in it, was watching the ash fall, but if you can avoid it, i recommend not seeing it. The movie itself was pretty decent, not on the top of my lit, but hey you might enjoy it.

[chrisb]

I had a movie day over the Christmas break so...

Prometheus - meh. Had some cool sci-fi elements, but a lot of the movie was super lame. 6/10

V/H/S - Only one good story. If I had to hear one more fratboy asshat I was going to scream. 4/10

The Woman in Black - Nice creepy atmosphere, but it never really wowed me. 7/10

Rebel Without a Cause - One of my new favorites. I felt for every single character. 10/10

Inland Empire - Why have you failed me David Lynch?! The first hour was so classic Lynch and the other 2 hours were nothing but bull plop nonsense. 5/10

Ace Attorney (live action movie) - I like how they followed the video game story almost 100% and the director gave it a nice dark feel, but fun in a video game usually means full blown stupid in real life. Characters all falling down at once when someone says something silly is just pure awkward when real people do it. Fun, but didn't work at all in some parts. 6.5/10

[d.yaro]

Inland Empire - Why have you failed me David Lynch?! The first hour was so classic Lynch and the other 2 hours were nothing but bull plop nonsense. 5/10

Ah...I think that explains why I don't remember much of it, aside from the fact my back became quite sore while watching it and I stepped out for a washroom break. I probably remember the last bit where the credits rolled simply because I was happy it was finally over.


Edit: Watched La Bala tonight over at a friend's place. It was on a "Hidden Gems of 2012" list on the CBC website. It was quite a grim movie.

[aya honda]

I saw Seven Psychos due to an accidental trip to the cinema. While I am a fan of Colin Farrel and In Bruges type of humour, I didn't particularly enjoyed this movie. It was ok, but I would have rather waited for the DVD rather than going to the cinema for it.

Finally managed to see Lawless and I really hope that I will see Tom Hardy in many more movies because a talent like his should be appreciated. Or I am just subjective because I like the man quite a lot. But his portrait of the middle brother Forest made the entire movie and my friends liked his character quite a lot too. But all in all it was a very powerful cast, Guy Pearce was fantastic like the bad guy, all machiavelic and sadistic. He was fierce and I loved him. The grey tones and the music made the movie great. It was a really nice movie.

[d.yaro]

Went with a couple of friends to see Django Unchained tonight (Japanese title is ｼﾞｬﾝｺﾞ 繋がれざる者..."Django Tsunagarezarumono"). I thought it was a bit low key compared to my past experiences watching Quentin Tarantino movies. But I found it to be a pretty darn good package. I did enjoy it. It wasn't super taught but there was good tension throughout with an interesting dash of dark humour in parts (yes, I did have a laugh here and there). I'll give it a "thumbs up".

[classicalzawa]

What a coincidence! I went to get some junk food that I totally shouldn't have, and saw that the Redbox had Django Unchained so I rented it! I wasn't sure what to expect, except lots of repetition of the N-word (anyone see that interview where Samuel L. Jackson damn near made the interviewer cry over refusing to say the N-word?), but yeah, lots of dark humor, not one of his more serious stories, but considering that slavery is involved, maybe going a bit more with comedy isn't a bad thing. And there aren't any jokes at the expense of slavery, but rather more hilarious, unexpected killings (and the mask scene of course). It does make it a hell of a lot less awkward to watch. I do rather wish I could've seen this in theaters with friends, as I did for Inglorious Basterds, but oh well, that window has very much passed. I totally didn't know it was in theaters until people told me, I should pay more attention.
Anyway, all the actors are awesome and I was always eager to see where it would go next. It sounded like hunting that gang would take a long time, but it didn't, so yeah, seeing where it'd go next was always interesting. The movie was 2 hrs 45 minutes long, but it never felt it, which I always love. Sometimes I have enough trouble making it through a 20 minute anime if it sucks, right? I definitely want to purchase it when it gets cheaper.

[beken]

Pain & Gain

Mark Wahlberg drives a Fiero...hey! I have one of those. Mark Wahlberg also drove a MINI in Italian Job. Hey! I have one of those too.

[d.yaro]

Last night I went and saw Lincoln. I hadn't paid any attention to the goings on during awards season this past winter so I went in pretty well stone cold. The only things I knew about the movie came from a glimpse of the movie wiki page and look at a short clip from early in the story (part where he raises the flag and then listens to Seward describe the challenge facing an attempt to pass the 13th amendment to the Constitution. All in all I enjoyed the movie. I wasn't sure of "Who was who in the zoo" in the beginning stages of the film so that was a wee bit distracting. But once things got rolling I got to appreciate the twists and turns in the plot. Though there were several political points I didn't sort out until I got home (such as the "Abraham Africanus I" barb fired off in the House).

A side note about the movie: Over here there is a short greeting and introduction by Steven Spielburg directed at Japanese viewers before the movie starts. It's delivered in English, with Japanese subtitles, and he simply states that the film portrays what he feels is an important time in American history. I don't know if that is of service to the average Japanese viewer of the film but it did catch me off guard.

[beken]

Fast n Furious 6

Lots of action and fast cars.

Though some of the physics of things that happen in the movie are more special effects than reasonably possible.

[d.yaro]

Caught Miike Takeshi's "Shield of Straw" (Wara no Tate) tonight. Like my student who saw it on the weekend, I was the only person in the theatre. But then again, the movie opened back in May. Anyways, it wasn't as action oriented as I'd hoped it would be. The beginning of the movie was reasonably fast paced but it slowed down badly in the middle and didn't pick up any speed in the end. For something that should've had a lot of tension (it was billed as a thriller), there were plenty of times where scenes which could've been really taut were dull and heavy handed. I suppose I got more fun trying to recognize actors (the guy who played Light Yagami in the Death Note movies was in this one).

[iwatch2muchanime]

Yesterday i saw.


Star Trek Into Darkness.
This movie was AWESOME. It was fun, funny, beautiful, badass. Sherlock being Kahn was amazing, he could say or do anything and make it intimidating. I thought at first it was a lackluster ending but since it was J.J. doing the "5 year voyage" AKA the next movie won't be til 5 years from now because i'm also doing Star Wars, it's fine i guess.
Enjoyed it a lot, and even though i don't like 3D, this was one of the better, if not best, post production 3D movies i've seen.

Fast and Furious 6
Wasn't really into watching this since but i did anyway. I think this is one of the better movies of the franchise. It was more fun, a lot like a heist movie or any movie with a motley crew of quips and what not in the team. Was fun of course, car chases and action, decent fights at that. Little twists and turns in there.
I always felt that 2, 3 and 4 were just ASS. And now [spoiler]Vin is literally killing off all ties to the 3rd and 4th movie, and i expect Tyrese from the 2nd one to die next[/spoiler] So that it'll only be the somewhat good ones.
But more so than the movie itself is the END of the movie where the introduce a new foe and resident badass action star, can't wait.

and FINALLY
Star Trek Into Darkness
Ya that's right, after seeing FnF6 i went BACK and saw Star Trek again, this time no 3D.
It was equally awesome.

[Sentire]

Psycho and I recently saw Star Trek Into Darkness as well, the non-3D version. I rather enjoyed it. Quite a few tearful moments, which I should have been better prepared for.... I swear, I'm the only person in the movie theatre that has to keep wiping her eyes. Spock's character development is amazing. Even though the next film may take some time, I'm sure it will be worth the wait.

[d.yaro]

Was over at a friend's place last night and he put on Training Day. I think it was released in 2001. It starred Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke. It wasn't bad. Some of the cinematography was interesting (for a Hollywood movie). The acting was quite good too.

[Sentire]

FINALLY saw The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Which is a good thing, considering The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is coming out this holiday season I believe.

I think I was afraid it was going to try to hard to compete with the Lord of the Rings, and not be different or interesting enough, but I was pleasantly surprised. The story held it's own and I definitely look forward to the next one.

[beken]

The last movie I saw at a theatre was Despicable Me 2.

If it's video, most recently, it's the Austin Powers trilogy.

[cow-boy_be-bop]

Last movie I saw was the Halloween remake on a 'scary movie special' on TV, but since the tv was super old and dark, almost the entire movie was a black screen and screaming

[darksideoftheanime]

The last movie I watched was Scott Pilgrim vs the World (I'm a few years late on that one ). It was an entertaining movie, the kind of one you enjoy for the crazy premise.

[cow-boy_be-bop]

Just saw the second hunger games in the theatre, let me tell you, i was not prepared to be that sad.

[d.yaro]

Got home about half an hour ago after watching "Kaguya-hime no Monogatari" (transl: "The Story of the Moon Princess"...as provided by one of my students). I really enjoyed this movie. It was visual treat and the story, while being familiar to pretty well everyone in this country, was told in a touching and moving fashion that made it feel fresh and new. The animation is quite unique: a rather muted palette, water colour effects and a number of scenes with lines styled more like brushstrokes rather than your typical pen work. Taking into consideration the line mentioned on the movie's poster about the main character's sin and punishment, this movie also is one that demands a bit of thought.

My score: 9/10

[d.yaro]

Saw "Eien no Zero" ("The Eternal Zero") tonight. It's a Japanese war movie told as a young man's search for the story of his real grandfather. At the beginning of the movie, at his grandmother's funeral, he finds out that his widower grandfather is in fact his step-grandfather. His real grandfather had died on a "Tokko" (kamikaze) mission during the war. He and his sister track down and meet their real grandfather's former squadron mates who tell their stories about him (shown in flashbacks). I generally enjoyed the movie but for me, like a lot of Japanese movies I've seen, the ending of the film just dragged on and on. The grandfather was depicted as a skilled pilot who was a survivalist and one who cared for the welfare of his comrades in spite of the officers who could be interpreted as embodying the Peter Principle. I suppose at the bottom of it all his character contained a small element of the idea that the goal in war is not to die for one's country but to make the other guy die for his country.

My score for this one: 6/10

Here's the first trailer for the movie:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-BGy_XZEG4[/youtube]