Summarize and Rate the Last Movie You Saw

[Killswitch]

Casa de me Padre

I would give it a 3.5 out of 5

It was funny, played off of alot of Mexican soap opera silly story lines. Ferrel's Spanish is good.

In no way his best nor his worse film....a mid tier Ferrel film.

 

[Keith]

The Hunger Games (2012) 7/10
Very intense and visually interesting film, which seems to have stayed true to the dark vision of the book. The cast were excellent also epscially Jennifer Lawerence and Woody Harrelson. I did think it was a bit over long and that some of the early scenes needed to be cut or at least cut down, as it effected the pace of the film, meaning that by the time you get to the start of the games you already feel tired, plus at times the story was a little too sentimatal for my likely. Overall and considering I didn't know what to expect going in, this was a very engrossing two and an half hours of drama.

Woman in the Fifth (2012) 4.5/10
Silly, naff euro thriller, with Ethan Hawke totally miscast in the lead role, the plot devolpments and twists are lame and just not believable. Kristin Scott Thomas is wasted and it just was lacking in supense throughout.

 

[Keith]

Down in the Valley (2005) 8/10
Haunting, and subtle cult drama, with Edward Norton as a naive drifter who falls for Evan Rachel Wood's passionate teenager, but things take a dark and deadly turn. The style is very dreamy, very much in a the mould of the classic Badlands and with some of the more extreme elements of Taxi Driver. The country score is very effective and performances excellent. The story takes one impressive twist after the other.

 

[Keith]

Nim's Island (2008) 4/10
Over the top and empity, Kids style advanture. Jodie Forster is good in it, as in most things, but it only really comes to life in the last ten minutes.

Coriolanus (2011) 6.5/10
Decent Shakesphere adaptation, which dragged in the second half.

 

[Pete]

Gnomeo and Juliet - 2.75/5
This garden-gnome re-thinking of Shakespeare's classic tale starts off charming, with lots of cute British accents and a few good laughs. However, it quickly becomes dull and run-of-the-mill, with a few surprisingly risque non-jokes thrown in for (no) added value.

The protagonists are the definition of "bland", and the token talkative comedy-relief sidekick - an Hispanic pink flamingo lawn ornament - succeeds at being an even more aggravating - and nowhere near as funny - version of Donkey from Shrek.

Brownie points are also removed for portraying the great Shakespeare as no more than a sadistic, over-excitable, pea-brained buffoon. And don't even get me *started* on that inter-species creep-fest of a romantic subplot between a frog and a dweeby garden gnome...or maybe it's a porcelain fetish? Either way, it's creepy.

Some of the supporting cast manage to make us invested in their fate, particularly delightfully brutish chav Thibault and the always irresistible Maggie Smith as Lady Blueberry. Overall, however, this deserved to be no more than what it was - a blimp in the radar of contemporary animation.

 

[Keith]

Cabin in the Woods (2012) 8/10
Super smart, and oringial horror comedy, at first you think it is going to be a routine slashy, but turns out to be anything but, it is strange and twisted in a thrilling way, very funny and with great effects and some good use of gore. A nice twist on the friday night popcorn flick.

 

[Pete]

The Ant Bully - 3/5
Decent animated flick. Likeable characters, good voice acting, and a few good jokes. It does nothing new, and it gets a bit silly towards the end, but as far as kid's films go, there is much worse.

 

[Keith]

Smiles of A Summer Night (1954) 8/10
Excellent Ingmar Bergman comendy, set around a get away to the country and series of men and women, all looking to out do one another as well as trying or not as the case maybe to find the right partner. Commited performances, lavish photography and a very enagaging script.

 

[Keith]

Gone (2012) 5.5/10
Very silly striaght to DVD type of thriller with a decent performance from Amenda Seinfried. At times it is one of those rare films which is so naff it is actually entertaining, but by the end it runs out of steam and the ending is totally weak. Quite good fun if you just accept it for what it is through.

 

[Keith]

Silent Running (1972) 8/10
Classic cult Sci-Fi with a deeply effecting performance from Bruce Durn, as a naive, almost cold, but highly intellegent astonought who goes to extreme measures to keep a garden he has been growing on his ship alive, despite being told it is time to return to earth. He even trains some robots to help him. The film assumes a slow and trippy pace, but the Joan Beniz music adds a oddly surreall feel to it, like or the best Sci-Fi's it is about ideas and more about the human condation than the story of the machines. A moving, throught provoking gem of a film.

 

[Pete]

Kung Fu Panda 2 3/5
Inferior to the original, but still good fun, and somewhat intelligently written - by modern animation standards, anyway. It's good to see Po as a more than competent (if uniquely styled) fighter, rather than have him revert back to bumbling idiot for the sake of the plot. However. the adoption subplot is incredibly silly (really, Po? You hadn't figured it out yet?). liberally and literally ripping off Harry Potter, and you'll have to suspend your disbelief at times - like pretending a cannon blast to the chest would NOT instantly kill somebody, but rather just leave them unconscious. Gary Oldman's peacock, while toe-curdlingly flamboyant, is also far from the threat levels of T'Ai Lung, the villain from the first movie, coming across more as a frail, delusional (if ruthless and cold) old man -think an animated Christopher Lee with a Bond-villain voice.

Overall, however, the story whisks along pleasantly, aided by some interesting artistic choices, such as the use of (lavish) 2D animation for the flashbacks. Unfortunately, the voice work seems much blander this time around (to the point where you doubt if it's the same actors) and the writers are still giving Jackie Chan's Monkey and Seth Rogen's Mantis (arguably the two best voices in the film) virtually no lines.

Ultimately. KFP2 - much like Madagascar 2, also from Dreamworks - comes through as an enjoyable animated romp, but sadly fails to live up to its relentlessly amusing predecessor.

Also, way to blatantly set up a sequel, movie...

 

[Pete]

Keith, Gone is being advertised in outdoor panels and whatnot over here in England. I think they may have given it a theatre release on our shores. It does look incredibly silly, though.

 

[John McHenry]

Gone (2012) 5.5/10
Very silly striaght to DVD type of thriller with a decent performance from Amenda Seinfried. At times it is one of those rare films which is so naff it is actually entertaining, but by the end it runs out of steam and the ending is totally weak. Quite good fun if you just accept it for what it is through.

Keith, Gone is being advertised in outdoor panels and whatnot over here in England. I think they may have given it a theatre release on our shores. It does look incredibly silly, though.

It was released wide over here it just had very little marketing a small theater count and didn't last long. I think he either didn't know that or was just saying it was just worthy of being straight to dvd. Those types of movies played well in the 80s 90s but not so much anymore.

 

[Keith]

^ That is what I was saying, it very much has that sort of a feel to it. Actually part of that is in its favour. If you understand the genre and take it for what it is you might have some fun.

 

[Keith]

Ulysses' Gaze (1995) 6.5/10
Art House movie with Harvey Keitel playing a filmmaker who returns to his homeland of Greece who goes on a mission to recover the three missing reels from the Manakia Brothers films, and along the way falls in love and gets caught up in the politics and war. It is nearly three hours long, but to be fair doesn't feel that long, it is a beautiful film, with a commited performance from Keitel and it has some magical and strange moments which really stand out, but it was too arty and pretenous for me. At times it was confusing and I never really cared that much about the lead character or his mission. Overall not the great film many claim it to be.