Summarize and Rate the Last Movie You Saw

[Keith]

The People Under the Stairs (1991) 5.5/10
Almost so bad its great Wes Craven comedy/horror. The likes of Everett McGill and Wendy Robie (both out of Twin Peaks oddly) ham it up big time as the sinister couple running the house. There are some nice jump moments and interesting angles, but the plot is way too dumb to keep me hooked and it is clearly Craven having a blast rather than on top form. For the most part the acting is dire too.

The Five Year Engagement (2012) 7.5/10
Well written, light hearted and for the most part believeable romantic comedy. Emily Blunt and Jason Segel are very convincing as the lead couple and their issues are realistic, it is refreshing to have a film of this kind of not talk down to its audience. Its very funny and there is a great support cast including Alison Brie (The Community), Mindy Karling (The Office) and Rhys Ifans. It does that clever thing of doing very and sweet almost at the same time. The main problem with it was that in the second half of the movie it felt that it had to change the characters almost so that it could move the plot along and it lost its way a bit because of it, also it is too long, but overall very impressive.

High Fidelity (2000) 8/10
Just one of those entertaining feel good movies which connects with me and I can watch over and over and enjoy quoting. John Cusack has never been better than as the jet black, dead pan Rob and Jack Black is a total riot. There is such a warmth to the film too.

 

[Pete]

High Fidelity wins on the ground that - while it doesn't have the best scene in the book, where the lady tries to sell him all those rare singles for tuppence - it has a mention to the Stiff Little Fingers inspiring Green Day, and someone actually produces a vinyl copy of Inflammable Material. EPIC WIN.

 

[Keith]

^ Yeah I agree big time and I too really like that scene in the book, guess they left it out because it would have slowed down the pace too much and maybe didn't fit in with the romantic comedy aspect of the film.

 

[Pete]

LOL whenever I read that scene I'm always like "FORGET PRINCIPLES, YOU IDIOT!! EBAY!!!!". And then when he decides to pick just one, I'm always like "PICK 'GOD SAVE THE QUEEN' YOU DUMMY, THERE'S ONLY LIKE 100 OF THOSE!!" Music geek right here.

 

[Keith]

Vagabonde (Sans Toit ni Loi) (1985) 8/10
Bleak yet engaging tale about a young drifter who slowly dies of natural causes after drifting from place to place and character to character. Sandrine Bonnaire is powerful in the lead role and the editing is shape, with a atmospheric creepyiness and fine sense of location.

Where Do We Go Now? (2012) 7/10
In contrast to Nadine Labaki's last film Carmel this is more light hearted and farcial, but still with some darker and interesting politcal moments. Overall it lacks the depth of that film and at times the plot
feels uneven, but the musical numbers are very well done and it is still an interesting story once it gets going.

 

[Keith]

Killer Joe (2012) 7.5/10
Excellent performances from both Matthew McConaughey and Juno Temple is this odd cult film which is part atmosphric thriller, but also has a peverse romance and black comedy aspect to it. The film plays with the theme of gender roles and power in a deeply unsettling way. This a more dusty, brooding and dreamy view of a small texas town, with a sleepy tension building up throughout, by the end it does turn into a farce and Thomas Heyden Church hams it up for all its worth. The closing scene I felt went too far and became a bit explictive, but it is a film experience you will never forget and the sign of a great director almost hitting top form.

I Vitelloni (1953) 9/10
One of the best Fellini films I have seen so far. Its the colourful story of a group of friends attempting to escape their home city all coming from different view points, but the overall theme of the story is learning to grow up. It is a very direct and honest film, with many dislikeable characters, but it still has that rich comedy and visual flair of many Fellini films.

 

[NotReallyaGoodUN]

Adventures of Tintin B+

Everybody knows who Tintin is, no introduction needed. Steven Spielberg's adaptation of the loveable comic book character delivers on all expected fronts, good humor, excellent animation, just a real solid and entertaining movie all around, must watch for fans of Tintin or comics, or just animated movies in general. I hope Prof. Calculus is featured in the next movie. Would have given it an A, but that would be an insult to the next movie.

Drive A+

Oh. My. God. Where do I begin? What would I say? I'm just dumbstruck. I went in expecting a normal action movie, instead I was hit like a truck by one of the most enjoyable 1:30 minutes I've EVER seen on a screen. There's just no point in trying to express myself in words, so at the risk of being extremely, extremely trite..you have to see it to believe it. If you have not seen it yet, WATCH. NOW. That's an order. I have a hammer and I'm angry.

*Chews toothpick*

 

[Pete]

I would have given Adventures of Tintin an A. In fact I did (4/5). Just a nice departure from the usual modern-day animated movie. More like an animated Spielberg classic, a la Indiana Jones, Goonies, etc.

 

[Keith]

Your Sister's Sister (2012) 8/10
One of my best films of the year so far. Emily Blunt is once again brilliant in a more dramatic role than in The Five Year Engagement. She is joined here by Mark Duplass (of mumblecore fame) and Rosemarie Dewitt both who are very good too. This drama/comedy is directed by Lynn Shelton and is the story of a man who is struggling to come to terms with the death of his brother a year on and so his best friend recommends that he take a break at her parents cottage in the country, but there he stumbles across his friends sister who is coming off a messy break up, a drunken night together impacts on their realtionship with the best friend/sister and leads to all sorts of complications. It is a very funny and painful film to watch at times, but there are suprises in stall, and the scenes are carefully built, with some great exchanges back and forth between the cast, the low budgit helps too. This really will suprise you.

 

[NotReallyaGoodUN]

Dawn of the Dead - B+

Mesmerizing. Merciless. Impudent. Loud. Many other words come to mind when watching this film. Although the beginning might get some "meh" reactions from some people, it picks up from there and just never lets go of you till the very end, right till "Down with the sickness" by Disturbed blasts through your speakers and you are left sitting there, spellbound. I have no idea why this got mixed reviews, never get bored of it....could watch it again and again. Army of the Dead within the next two years would be perfect. I suddenly have a craving for zombie games after watching this.

The Descendants - A

An extremely monotonous movie in comparison to the former, but not lacking in quality at all, just thrills. An extremely new release, I just wanted to see a George Clooney film, so chose this one, and I was not let down. The movie follows two separate storylines, initially the ventures of Matt King, who is looking to sell family land to a third party, with the intent of splitting the money within his family. His work is put to a halt due to his wife's boating accident and it gets sidetracked by his family and daughters. The two storylines collide in a rather interesting fashion for the bittersweet but fitting ending.

 

[Pete]

^You mean the new Dawn? What do you think of the classic Dawn? I have a hard time believing the new one will live up to the old one, to be honest...

 

[Keith]

Dawn of the Dead - B+

Mesmerizing. Merciless. Impudent. Loud. Many other words come to mind when watching this film. Although the beginning might get some "meh" reactions from some people, it picks up from there and just never lets go of you till the very end, right till "Down with the sickness" by Disturbed blasts through your speakers and you are left sitting there, spellbound. I have no idea why this got mixed reviews, never get bored of it....could watch it again and again. Army of the Dead within the next two years would be perfect. I suddenly have a craving for zombie games after watching this.

The Descendants - A

An extremely monotonous movie in comparison to the former, but not lacking in quality at all, just thrills. An extremely new release, I just wanted to see a George Clooney film, so chose this one, and I was not let down. The movie follows two separate storylines, initially the ventures of Matt King, who is looking to sell family land to a third party, with the intent of splitting the money within his family. His work is put to a halt due to his wife's boating accident and it gets sidetracked by his family and daughters. The two storylines collide in a rather interesting fashion for the bittersweet but fitting ending.

Yeah you have to be talking about the origianl Dawn film right? I found the remake to be more of a MTV style shakey camara action movie.

Descendants is one of the best films of the year so far, it has credible characters, story, has touching performances and is beatuifully shot. It still isn't as good as Panye's film Sideways but then so few things are.

 

[Pete]

^I have Sideways! I got it for 50p, and didn't know if it would be any good. I suppose I should get round to watching it then, eh?

 

[NotReallyaGoodUN]

Bleeder

I recently watched Refn's newer film, Drive, and I decided to watch some of his older films, as he seems to have a large collection of works, and this definitely was more confusing viewing, not only because it was in a different language, but the movie in itself is just less accessible to the layman overall, to the point that I'm not able to make an informed decision as to what rating I can assign to it. I definitely got a Clerks vibe while watching it though, I don't know whether it's due to the working class characters having eventful lives, but I definitely was reminded of Clerks more than once while watching this film....but rest assured, there is nothing funny about this movie, it deals with a dark subject matter and it is definitely not pretty. I'd give it a tentative B....but this opinion might change over multiple viewings.

^You mean the new Dawn? What do you think of the classic Dawn? I have a hard time believing the new one will live up to the old one, to be honest...

A+

Well, this doesn't really have much in common with the old one besides the title and the location of the apocalypse....it's silly that they are calling it a remake, they are different, completely...characters, even the ending is different...Synder's decision to make the zombies fast moving and quick has fundamentally changed the mood of the movie all together, I remember reading this was something Romero was dead opposed to, I can understand why, the movie is more like "Synder's" Dawn of the Dead. There's no element of suspense etc, die hard fans of the older ones with a closed mindset will definitely be disappointed.

Ratings for Romero's version were mixed?

Since opening in theaters in 1978, and despite heavy gore content, reviews for the film have been nearly unanimously positive.

The new Dawn was mixed I believe, with some stating moderate praise, and others condemning it, probably die hard fans of Romero, it's not really a fair comparison imo, Romero managed to influence a generation and people will feel the compulsion to reflexively choose him, Snyder has to live up to a legacy that cannot be eclipsed just like that, while modern fans would find the old Dawn antiquated...(doesn't mean it has lost it's charm) Romero was using a shoestring budget, Snyder was not...I'm not saying Snyder's version is superior by any means, but it's a comparison that is not quite justified, nor is it needed....I don't see why this version cannot co-exist with the older one, let's just call this Zack Snyder's "Dawn of the Dead" to avoid confusion.

Yeah you have to be talking about the origianl Dawn film right? I found the remake to be more of a MTV style shakey camara action movie.

Bit harsh. Don't they air Jersey Shore? And as you've probably heard, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. As I said, I cannot really compare the two in any real way...they are different films. But obviously, Romero's version will be the one on the greatest films list, no arguments about that one. All said and done Snyder did a respectable job imo, I know I might catch a lot of heat for that but it's just how I feel.

 

[Pete]

Yeah, I'm one of the "MAKING ZOMBIES RUN AND RACIOCINATE?!? PREPOSTEROUS!" camp. Same as you don't make vampires sparkle in the sun, YOU DON'T MAKE ZOMBIES RUN.

Aside from that, the flick was just a throwaway action movie which suffered from lack of epic-speech-spouting, badass Caribbean policemen (well, it had Ving Rhames, but it's hardly the same) and social-critique zombies.