True Grit

Rooster Cogburn: Why, by God, girl, that’s a Colt’s Dragoon! You’re no bigger than a corn nubbin, what’re you doing with all this pistol?
Mattie Ross: It belonged to my father, he carried it bravely in the war, and I intend to kill Tom Chaney with it if the law fails to do so.
Rooster Cogburn: Well, this’ll sure get the job done if you can find a fence post to rest it on while you take aim.

Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen

2010

Date Viewed: Sunday December 26, 2010

True Grit is about 14 year old Mattie Ross who hired U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn to help track down her father's killer. She tags along to make sure the job is done right. They are also accompanied by Texas Ranger LaBoef. This has probably taken the top spot as my favorite Coen Bros. movie. There's plenty of action and a lot of sharp, witty dialogue. Jeff Bridges is quickly becoming my favorite actor. He's a lot of fun to watch as Rooster Cogburn. I'm not usually a huge Matt Damon fan, but he was great in this as well. The same can be said for Hailee Steinfeld who holds her own against the seasoned actors she works with. This is definitely a must see! A

When In Rome

"You could get your heart broken or... you could have the greatest love affair the world has ever known. But you're never gonna know unless you try" 

Directed by Mark Steven Johnson

2010

Date Viewed: Sunday December 26, 2010

Beth is a career oriented go-getter who wants to find love, but can't find a man she loves more than her job. Her younger sister meets an Italian man and a few weeks later gets married in Rome where Beth meets Nick (the best man). The two flirt, but then eventually Beth sees him hanging out with another girl and assumes that he's a player so she goes and gets drunk and starts stealing coins out of the Fountain Of Love. The men who threw those coins in become obsessed with Beth and start stalking her and trying to woo her. They're all kind of creepy and gross.... Nick also starts calling and stopping by and Beth just assumes that he's under the spell of the stolen coins as well. This is a cute but pretty generic romantic comedy. There are some goofy parts, but most of the funny stuff was in the previews. I did really enjoy Kristin Bell and Josh Duhamel though. C+

Tron: Legacy

"The Grid. A digital frontier. I tried to picture clusters of information as they traveled through the computer. Ships, motorcycles. With the circuits like freeways. I kept dreaming of a world I thought I'd never see. And then, one day... i got in."

Directed by Joseph Kosinski

2010

Date Viewed: Thursday December 23, 2010

Tron: Legacy starts off with a young Kevin Flynn telling his 7 year old son, Sam all about The Grid and his adventures there. He tells him about Tron and Clu (from the original Tron movie) and about the discoveries he's making while inside. Then he promises Sam that he'll be by to see him in a few days and then off he goes... never to return... Fast forward 20 years and Sam is a super hacker who ends up getting transported to The Grid by accident. There he ends up being forced to play in the games and has an awesome light cycle battle and then ends up finding his father. Together, with the help of Kevin's apprentice Quorra, they race Clu to the portal to get back home. I highly enjoyed the Imax 3D experience of this movie. The games and the light cycle battles were super cool to watch and The Grid was neat to look at. This movie also used a mixture of 2D and 3D which I thought was kind of cool, and the 3D was actually pretty good (it wasn't cut outs walking around over a background). The story was a little predictable at times, but it kept a pretty good pace and was exciting. The only thing I really didn't like was the digitization used on Jeff Bridges' face to make him look younger. It just looked way fake and I felt like they could have done a way better job using make up. B+

How To Train Your Dragon

"We're Vikings. We have stubbornness issues."

Directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders

2010

I admit, I thought this movie looked pretty lame from the previews and I had very little desire to see it. I eventually did sit down to watch it (obviously) and I found that I loved it! Hiccup is a Viking who lives in a village overrun by dragons. He's definitely not a warrior and he's definitely very clumsy... He ends up catching a very elusive species of dragon and intends to kill it to prove his Vikingness. The poor dragon looks at him with such a sadness in his eye that Hiccup can't bring him to do the deed. Instead he lets him go only to find him later stuck in a small oasis with rock walls surrounding it. The dragon is missing part of his tail so he can't steer or become fully airborne. Hiccup ends up inventing a contraption to help the dragon and ends up training him. There are many other adventures, but I don't want to give them all away. I loved how creative this movie was. It came up with several different species of dragons that all had different mannerisms and characteristics. I loved the diversity of the characters and how completely adorable Hiccup's dragon (Toothless) was. There is plenty of witty dialogue as well. A

The Fighter

Directed by David O. Russell

2010

Date Viewed: Friday December 17, 2010

The Fighter is based on the true story of boxer "Irish" Micky Ward and his journey to the World Welterweight Title. He was trained by his brother Dicky who was also a boxer until crack started to take over his life. This movie was pretty good, but I felt like Mark Wahlberg wasn't that great. I'm not sure if it's just that he didn't really have anything to do, or that that's just the way Micky really was. Just sort of deadpan... My guess is that it's just Mark Wahlberg since that's sort of how he always is (say hi to your mother for me)... The supporting cast was fantastic however. I always love Amy Adams in everything she's in, so that's sort of a given. Melissa Leo was horribly good as Micky's overbearing mother but the one who stole the show was Christian Bale. He completely transformed into Dicky Eklund. In the end of the movie they have footage of the actual people the movie is based on and Christian Bale was totally and completely Dicky. The Fighter has totally been set up as an Oscar contender, do I hear a nomination for Christian Bale??? A-

The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Lucy: "Aslan, will we ever meet you in our world?"

Aslan: "You shall."

Lucy: "How?"

Aslan: "Because there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name.This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, That knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there."

Directed by Michael Apted

2010

Date Viewed: Saturday, December 11 2010

This is by far my favorite of the Narnia movies. It's probably my favorite of the books too, even though I always say that The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is because it holds a special place in my heart. Edmund and Lucy end up in Narnia with their obnoxious cousin Eustace. They are transported there via a painting. While there they have many adventures with Prince Caspian aboard the Dawn Treader. The children help Prince Caspian in his search for seven lost lords of Narnia. They have many adventures including dragons, Deathwater Island (that has a pool that turns anything it touches to gold... including people), the Island Where Dreams Come True (including nightmares) and the Edge of the World. There are so many great characters and adventures in this story. I love it. A

Christmas Movies

So I've watched a lot of Christmas movies in the last couple of weekends. I LOVE Christmas movies! They're so festive and special since I only watch them at this time of year. Here's what I've been watching:

Elf: This has definitely been on the top of my list since it came out. It's goofy and I love the innocent way that Buddy the Elf sees the world. This year however, I got bored with it. The whole ManChild thing is getting so over done and I'm sort of burnt out on Will Ferrell doing the same role over and over again. So now I'm torn as to how I feel about this movie... C

Christmas Story: Now this is a classic. There are so many iconic moments in this movie. The tongue stuck to the metal pole in the middle of winter, the little brother bundled up so much that he can't put his arms down, "You'll shoot your eye out", The bunny suit, the lamp ("It's a major award!"), The Christmas dinner at the Chinese restaurant... I love it. A

Home Alone: I had never seen this movie until the Saturday after Thanksgiving when Bobby made me sit down and watch it. It's cute. Nothing super special. I'm not super into the whole laughing at people when they get hurt thing. It's not really that funny for me and I hated that the kids whole family (adults included) called him a jerk all the time. Pretty ridiculous. B-

The Santa Clause: I hadn't seen this movie since it was in the theaters when I was in elementary school. It's actually a pretty good movie. It's definitely got a lot of heartwarming moments and it's pretty funny. A-

Christmas Vacation: Talk about your ManChild. Clark Griswald is a prime example of one... This is definitely Bobby's favorite Christmas movie, and I guess I can stand watching it every year. It does have quite a few funny lines. B+

Jingle All The Way: I was actually surprised by how good this movie was! Plus it was filmed in the Twin Cities so it made me think of home. B+

Fred Claus: Another movie that surprised me. This movie made me realize that I really really disagree with Santa. Fred is Santa's older and sort of disgruntled brother, but he pointed out that there is no such thing as a bad child, much less a child that's so bad that they don't deserve presents. He pointed out that Santa only saw a snippet in the lives of these kids (only the "bad" behaviors) and he didn't see what happened before or after the situation and he knew nothing of the kids' home life or where they came from etc. and therefore Santa should not be judging based on these split seconds glimpses. This silly movie definitely made me think more deeply about Santa and his crazy B.S. rules...A

So those are the Christmas movies I've been watching... What are your favorites?

Due Date

"I'm sorry I spat on your dog. I have no recollection of that."

Directed by Todd Phillips

2010

Date Viewed: Saturday November 14, 2010

This movie is HILARIOUS. Bobby and I laughed through the entire thing. There are many many many hilarious moments. I loved it. This is about Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr.) who is about to fly from Atlanta to L.A. (his wife is super pregnant and is scheduled to have a C-Section in 5 days). He runs into a guy named Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis) who accidentally gets them both put on the no fly list. Peter and Ethan end up having to drive across the country together to make it in time for the baby. Ethan drives Peter CRAZY, but Ethan is also just really lonely and grieving his recently deceased father. There are many hilarious mishaps along the way. I was asked if this movie is funnier than The Hangover, and I'm not sure because I haven't seen it in a long time... It is super hilarious though and a must see for Zach Galifiankis fans... A

Another mass reviewing...

Smallville Seasons 4 and 5: Yeah, I'm really on a Smallville kick. I have to review these two together since I'm at the point where I can't differentiate them, they're all running together now... These are my favorite seasons so far. It's getting much darker and more serious. Clark is definitely the worst character by far. He's so self righteous and nosy. He demands answers from people, but then when they ask him questions he clams up. He's just obnoxious. But I LOVE all the minor characters. Especially Lex Luthor and his father, Lionel. They are really great characters, and you never really know what they're up to or who's side they are on. B+

Friday Night Lights: Bobby's probably going to kill me for this, but I didn't really like this movie. I just felt like it didn't go into the characters enough, I didn't feel very attatched to any of them. Maybe I'm just footballed out. Everyone here in Alabama is OBSESSED with college football. So much so that they assume that everyone that they come in contact with is as obsessed with it as they are and they assume that your mututal love for football can be your common ground. Every conversation starts with "Are you Alabama or Auburn?" Cars are covered in team paraphernalia. Everywhere you go you're bombarded with Crimson and white, houndstooth or orange and blue. If Bobby's wearing a hat that has a college team that is not an Alabama team random people will stop and make comments about it. Saturdays are devoted to sitting together and watching game after game after game of college football. Its ridiculous. So I probably should've waited to watch this movie until after football season is a distant memory. Anyways, this movie is about a high school football team that plays some football. Yay. C

Toy Story 3: So I saw this movie in Nicaragua... Well some of it. It was in Spanish so I fell asleep. But I woke up and saw the ending... Seeing it in English was a lot more fun! I loved watching what toys go through at a daycare center since I've seen it first hand. :) I can't believe that here we are on the second sequel and it's still good! Such a rarity. A

Waiting For "Superman"

Directed by Davis Guggenheim

2010

Date Viewed: November 3, 2010

I can not say enough good things about this documentary. I don't even know where to start. Basically the education system in the U. S. is in the dumps and this documentary explains why. If you are a parent, if you are an educator, if you care about the future of our country and the education of its kids, then you NEED to see this movie. The schools described in this movie are just like the school that I'm at. It also follows 4 kids as they try to get into charter schools by a lottery. It has been criticized for being too anti-teacher unions and pro-charter schools, but the abuse that I've seen at the hands of teachers, and the fact that nothing is done about it because they're tenured and protected under the union is enough for me to be anti-union as well. Charter schools are not a fix all for the problems in our education system, but there are some really good ones out there that are headed in the right direction. I definitely want to do more research about the issues brought up in this film, but it is definitely a good starting point. Go see it. A



Hereafter

Directed by Clint Eastwood

2010

Date Viewed: October 30, 2010

This movie follows three people as they face death in different ways. The first is Marie, a French reporter who has a near death experience. She is almost swept away by a tsunami, basically dies and sees the afterlife and then comes back to life and struggles to understand what it all means. The second is a quiet London school boy whose twin brother is killed in a car accident and he goes to psychics and different specialists to try and understand where his brother is now. The third is a blue collar guy from San Fran who, as a result of a botched brain surgery, can speak to the dead. He used to make his living doing readings for people, but couldn't live with the dead anymore and quit. This is an EXTREMELY slow paced movie, but it's also really interesting and brings up a lot of questions about the afterlife/heaven/the hereafter. I already know what I believe about Heaven and what happens when we die, but I can see how this movie could be a great conversation starter for a deep discussion on the subject. This is also a long movie, so be warned. B+

What I've Been Watching...

Ok, so I don't really have a life yet here so all I've been doing is watching movies and tv shows, but I've also been really lame and not writing about them... (oh and by the way, I now have 2 friends! So maybe a little less movie watching will be happening...) So anyways, I decided to just give short little reviews of what I have seen. Here it goes:

Grumpy Old Men: LOVED it! Old people are so cute! (especially Jack Lemmon, what a good lookin old man he was!) This movie made me think of home and winter, I loved it! A


L.A. Confidential: This is one of my all time favorite movies. I hadn't seen it in a long time so I was worried that it wouldn't hold up, but it surely did. It's about dirty cops, prostitutes, heroin and gangs. It's set in the 50s and the cast is FANTASTIC. Definitely still a favorite. Go rent it if you haven't seen it yet. A+

Smallville Season 1: I totally got sucked into this show (thanks Bobby)... Season 1 is really good. It reminded me of the X-Files except with teenagers. It is a little too teenagery at some parts and the effects are super cheesy, but whatever...B+

Smallville Season 2: I didn't like this season as much as season 1. They started focusing more on the characters and not on the mystery as much. Plus Clark started to get on my nerves with his self righteousness and his need to butt into everyone else's business. C

Smallville Season 3: This season was better than season 2. It found a good balance between the character story lines and the mysteries they solve. Clark is probably my least favorite character at this point because he's just really annoying, but the plot is definitely thickening and season 3 definitely goes out with a bang. B

Duplicity: I can't remember if I've already reviewed this movie on here or not... This is not the perfect heist movie, but I enjoyed it. I loved Julia Roberts and Clive Owen together, they exude a perfect amount of annoyance with each other and attraction to each other. I also loved Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson as rival CEOs. B+


I can't remember what else I've watched at this moment... but I will definitely add more as I remember... ha ha ha...

The Great Outdoors

"Bear... bear... Big Bear... big bear chase meeeeeeee...! "

Directed by Howard Deutch

1988

Date Viewed: Sunday October 3, 2010

This was a cute movie... Not necessarily the greatest movie ever made, but it was cute and funny in a very 80s way. It's the story of Chet (John Candy) who takes his family out to a cabin in the woods to have a nice family vacation. The peaceful vacation is ruined when his annoying rich brother in law Roman (Dan Akroyd) drops in with his family. There's the usual John Candy/Dan Akroyd-esque silliness, although I was suprised that it didn't have a whole ton of bodily function jokes and only a little bit of language. (Although I did watch it a week ago and I could be mis-remembering...) It was fun, but I don't feel like I need to watch it all the time. B

Flashpoint Season 1

I've been watching a lot of TV shows lately, so I thought I'd throw in some reviews eventhough they aren't movies... Whatever, its my blog so I can do what I want :)

This show follows the Strategic Response Unit on their many cases, most of which involve hostage negotiations (they also have snipers...it's exciting). This show has an AWESOME cast led by Enrico Colantoni (Veronica Mars' dad...). My favorite thing about this show is that it follows the "bad guy" and shows how they can go from being a normal person to just snapping and doing something crazy. The "bad guys" are never nameless generic thugs, they each have a story behind their breaking point. The one thing I didn't like about this show was that each episode starts at the climax and gets really intense and then all of a sudden rewinds to the few hours leading up to that moment. I liked it at first, but then got annoyed and bored with every episode starting the same. I'm excited to some day watch season 2 and I hope it's just as exciting as season 1 was. B

Stand By Me

Stand By Me in less than 20 words:

Goonies like adventure with less fantasy but more adult themes. A classic coming of age movie. A

The Town

Directed by Ben Affleck

2010

Viewed September 2010

I love LOVE Ben Affleck as a director. His directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, is one of my favorites. The Town is his second directorial effort and I definitely loved it as well. Ben Affleck as an actor gets better with age. I'm not usually a fan, but I did like him in this as a conflicted bank robber. Basically this group of guys robs a bank (as they have many times before) and one of the dudes takes a teller as a hostage in case they need leverage when the police show up. They let her go, but took her driver's license and threatened her life if she talked to the FBI. Ben Affleck's character goes to check on her and they end up falling in love (she doesn't know who he really is since everyone had been wearing masks). There are some awesome car chases and a huge shoot out as well. Jon Hamm from Mad Men plays the FBI agent who is after the robbers and his performance definitely made me want to check out his TV show. I also loved Jeremy Renner (as I always do) who plays a total slime bag. This movie reminded me of The Departed, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it was better than The Departed. A

Confessions of a Shopaholic

"You know that thing when you see someone cute and he smiles and your heart kind of goes like warm butter sliding down hot toast? Well that's what it's like when I see a store. Only it's better."

Directed by PJ Hogan

2009

Viewed Sepetember 2010

Isla Fisher is adorable and this movie is super cute as well. It's about Rebecca Bloomwood (aka Bex) who LOVES to shop and use her many credit cards to buy many many beautiful things. She realizes that she is up to her eyeballs in debt right as the magazine she's writing for folds and she finds herself without a job. She ends up taking a job at a money management magazine where she takes on the persona as "The Girl in the Green Scarf" and she gives out amazing financial advice that she herself doesn't follow. As always in this type of movie, things blow up in her face and she's labeled as a fraud and she's forced to stop ignoring her debt and start facing it head on. This is a super silly and cute girlie flick!!!A

Over The Hedge

"That, my friend, is a magical combination of corn flour, dehydrated cheese solids, BHA, BHT, and good old MSG; a.k.a., the chip, nacho cheese flavor."

Directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick

2006

Viewed September 2010

This is a seriously cleer movie about a group of animals whose home is being destroyed by a growing suburban community. There are many little jabs at how much we live in excess, especially when it comes to food. The voices are perfectly matched up with the characters. My favorite is Steve Carell as a hyperactive squirrel named Hammy. Over The Hedge has a little bit of something for everybody. There's humor, adventure, action, romance and a running theme of what makes a family. A

Stardust

"A philosopher once asked, "Are we human because we gaze at the stars, or do we gaze at them because we are human?" Pointless, really... "Do the stars gaze back?" Now *that's* a question."

Directed by Matthew Vaughn

2007

Date Viewed: Tuesday September 14, 2010

This movie may look super lame and cheesy from the preview, but let me tell you, it's awesome. Tristan crosses into a magical world called Stormhold on a mission to find a fallen star and bring it back to the one he thinks is his true love. He catches up with the star, Yvaine, and they make a deal that if she goes with him, he'll help her get home. Meanwhile an evil witch sees the star fall and wants to capture her and eat her heart because it will make her young again. At the same time Prince Septimus seeks the star because she has a necklace that will make him king of Stormhold. Plus, if he kills her and eater her heart, he'll be made immortal. Tristan and Yvaine are on the run and they come across many interesting and funny characters (a flamboyant pirate captain played splendidly by Robert DeNiro for one). Michelle Pfeiffer is my favorite as the evil witch. She's over the top and seems like she's just having so much fun. I loved this funny, fantastical, magical adventure. A

Twilight

Bella: Did you follow me?

Edward: I... I feel very protective of you.

Bella: So you followed me.

Edward: I was trying to keep a distance unless you needed my help

Directed by: Catherine Hardwicke

2008

Date Viewed: Saturday September 11, 2009

So Bobby and I have this deal... If I watch Twilight with him, then he'll watch Harry Potter with me... So that meant that last night I had to sit through the first Twilight movie. Seriously, Edward Cullen is a huge creeper, how can people not see that? He's all overly protective of her, he follows her, he keeps telling her to get away and stay away, but then HE keeps going to her and then she asks questions and he doesn't give her any answers, but she's like putty in his hands. Creepy creepy relationship. Why should I root for them? And why does every single guy in the school want to be with Bella? She's not really anything special. And then there's the whole vampires sparkle in the sunlight thing. Seriously? Not only does he sparkle, but when the sun shines on him there's even a sparkly sound. The second half gets a little better than the first. Edward starts giving her answers and she meets his family and then has a run in with some bad vampires and one of them chases her down and tries to kill her, which was exciting. The fight scene was decent and the super fast vampire movements were kinda cool but also kind of not. I felt like they could've been done in a little better quality. So first half was lame, second half was ok, but not really that great, so this gets a C- for just being a kind of average movie.

The American

There was barely enough dialogue to add a quote up here....

The American

2010

Date Viewed: Saturday September 5, 2010

This movie opens with George Clooney and a lovely lady canoodling by a fireplace somewhere in Sweden. Then they venture out and walk on the frozen lake. Suddenly, they stop when they come across footprints. George quickly pushes the lady behind a large, conveniently placed rock and bullets start flying around them. George kills the shooter and sends the lady to go call the police. At this point I turned to Bobby and said “He’s gonna shoot her” and he did. This movie was probably the most predictable movie I’ve ever seen. Or maybe it seemed so predictable that I actually had someone with me to voice my predictions instead of just watching by myself ;) We figured out every “twist and turn” and even the “twist” ending. The other thing was that it was boring! It was in general a very slow paced movie, but nothing really happened. You never find out why people are chasing him, you never get any kind of backstory on him, all he does is build a gun and sleep with a prostitute and looks over his shoulder at every turn. Was he once a good man? How and why did he become so paranoid and broken down? (So paranoid in fact, that he finds a gun in the prostitute’s purse and gets so on edge around her that he almost shoots her.. I mean she’s a prostitute, and two scenes ago you were just reading in the paper that there’s a prostitute killer on the loose! Get a grip man!) So to sum up, this was a lame lame movie. Don’t waste your money. It gets a few points just for the fact that George Clooney is in it… D-

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

"Bread makes you fat"

Directed by Edgar Wright

2010

Date Viewed: August 2010

This movie is the definition of awesome. It's got a little bit of everything, romance, action, cool special effects, music and video game references. I loved pretty much every minute of it. Scott Pilgrim is kind of an awkward loser (as Michael Cera, who plays him, is in every movie, but it's ok cause he's awesome at it) who falls in love with Ramona Flowers and proceeds to awkwardly dump his high school girlfriend, Knives Chau. So he goes on this date with Ramona and eventually finds out that if he wants to date Ramona, he has to defeat her 7 evil exes in video game style. The fight scenes are so funny/awesome in their videogameness. The music is also awesome and I loved every one of the characters. Jason Schwartsmann and Michael Cera were superb in this movie as well. I give it an A

Brick

"You better be sure you wanna know what you wanna know."

Directed by Rian Johnson

2005

Date Viewed: August 2010

Three things you need to know about this movie:

1. Pay attention from the beginning all the way to the end!

2. It's very stylized which I can't decide if its overly stylized or if I liked it...

3. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in it. 'Nuff said.

B+

Inception

"Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange" 

Directed by Christopher Nolan

2010

Date viewed: Sunday, July 31 2010

This is seriously the best movie I've seen in a long time. I don't want to say too much about it in case there are those out there who haven't seen it yet. It's about dreams and dream stealers and idea planters and dreams within dreams. And it's awesome! A

"I don't know who said 'only the dead have seen the end of war'. I have seen the end of war. The question is: can I live again?"

Directed by Jim Sheridan

2009

Date Viewed: July 31, 2010

I thought from the previews that this would be a HORRIBLE movie, but it turned out to be not so bad... So Sam (Tobey Maguire) and Grace (Natalie Portman) are married with two little girls. Sam is a Marine Captain and his brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) is your typical screw up. Sam goes on a mission to Afghanistan and gets into a helicopter and is thought to be dead. Most of the movie is about Grace and her daughters dealing with their grief and Tommy comes and sort of takes care of them. Meanwhile we find out that Sam is alive and in a POW camp and eventually comes home and then flips out. 

Ok, so I thought this movie was going to go all Hollywood and have Grace and Tommy get involved in a super torrid affair to lessen their grief and if that had happened I was going to be annoyed at how stupid and lame Hollywood is. It didn't really go that far. There was one conversation where Grace was missing Sam and she kissed Tommy, but then stopped it. So I was actually kind of proud of Hollywood for not going overboard. Tobey Maguire totally creeped me out in this movie. He was icky. Plus his character came back with a little bit of PTSD so he was even creepier. This turned out to be a decent movie. I think Sam Shepard was a little over the top as the disapproving father of Tommy and Sam (disapproving of Tommy, but totally worshiped Sam) so I would give this movie a B-

Fargo

"So, uh, you married old Norm son-of-a-Gunderson?" (huge laughs all around when he said that... No joke)

1996

Directed by Joel Coen

Date Viewed: Tuesday July 27, 2010 (second viewing)

It's been so long since the last time I saw this movie, so it was basically new to me. Here's a basic plot in case you don't remember, or if you're my mom and hasn't seen it... :) Jerry Lundegaard needs money. He hires a couple of guys to kidnap his wife so that his rich father in law will cough up the cash to get her back. He tells the henchmen that he'll ask for $80,000 and they'll split it 50/25/25. Well really he tells his father in law the ransom is $1 mil. Anyways, the henchmen screw up, end up killing 3 people in Brainerd so police get involved and we follow Marge Gunderson around doing some investigating.

This is definitely a dark comedy. I love the Minnesota accents. They're hilarious, especially since I know people who actually talk like that... I also love that my brothers noticed that some characters were walking out of Embers without there being any mention of the restaurant name or a sign... True Trygg fashion (Btw, it was the Embers off of 494 and something else... my dad is obsessed with Embers). But I like darkly funny things... I think this is my favorite Coen Bros. movie too. The cast is perfect. William H. Macy and Frances McDormand are very underrated actors. I love both of them in pretty much every movie I've seen them in. I did feel bad for Jerry when things started falling apart which was kind of weird since he did want his wife kidnapped which wasn't very nice of him... But William H. Macy made him so likable and Minnesotan with his little accent and his MN niceness. So anyways, great movie. A

Now and Then

Roberta: You can't get pregnant from french-kissing! 

Chrissy: I know that, beetle-brain, but it's common knowledge that if you tongue-kiss a boy, he automatically thinks you'll do the deed with him. They can't help it. They're driven. 

Samantha: Oh? And what deed would that be? 

Chrissy:You know... planting the seed and watering the flower. Isn't that how it works?

Directed by Leslie Linka Glatter

1995

A review in 5 words:

Goofy cheesy nostalgic chick flick

B+

The Last Airbender

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

2010

Date Viewed: Tuesday June 29, 2010

Let me just preface this by saying that I'm not a huge fan of the cartoon that this movie is based on. I've only made it through 1 1/2 episodes (which has taken me more than a month to get through) and I just cannot stand the goofy cheesiness. One of the things that I liked about the movie is that is was darker and more serious than the cartoon seems to be (granted, I am only 1 1/2 eps in, so I don't know if the tone changes later on). There were a few super cheesy parts, but that was kind of to be expected (and one of them was right away in the beginning and made me wonder how I was going to sit through the entire movie if it went on like that). So for those of you who don't know the story line, I will try to sum it up as best as I can... The Avatar is someone who can "bend" air, earth, water and fire. (to bend means to control basically) The Airbenders have been killed off by the Fire Nation (fire benders) and so the last airbender (who has been lost for 100 years) is the Avatar. Katara and Sokka (brother and sister from the southern Water Nation) stumble upon Aang who, they discover, can bend air. He reveals that he is the Avatar, but he ran away before he could learn to bend the other elements. So Katara, Sokka and Aang travel to the Northern Water Nation so that Aang can learn to bend water (Katara is a mediocre water bender, and the only water bender in the Southern Water Nation). Meanwhile, the Fire Nation is searching for Aang and enslaving other elemental bending villages. Also, Prince Zuko, who is the exiled son of the Fire Nation's king is trying to get to Aang to win back his father's favor.... Basically this movie crams a lot (an entire season) into one film...

After talking with Nate (who hated the movie by the way) I will post some of his objections to it.
1. There were quite a few voice overs, which is a huge film no no. You're supposed to show it, not say it. I felt like the voice overs were used because they couldn't cram a whole season into one movie and so they couldn't show us EVERYTHING because it would've been way too long. So they used Katara as a storyteller for the most part. There was one lame/weird scene in which Prince Zuko's backstory is told by him asking a boy what he knows about him....
2. It cut too much out. Well, I don't know what it cut out, but I do know that what it kept in made for a good intro to the series.
3. The 3d was HORRIBLE. Yes, I agree. Don't see a movie in 3d unless it was filmed in 3d or unless it's CGI.
4. M. Night Shyamalan is a horrible director.... Well, Nate and I have quite a few differences of opinions on M. Night's movies......

All in all I think I'd award this movie a B

Bridge To Terabithia

"Just close your eyes, but keep your mind wide open."

Directed by GaborCsupo

2007

Date Viewed: Monday June 14, 2010

This movie was waaaaaayyyy different than I thought it would be. I thought it was going to be the standard children's fantasy movie where two kids fall into a hole in the space time continuum and fall into some other dimension and they have to escape or something like that... But it's totally not. Jess is a maybe 6th grader with 4 sisters who lives on a farm and who's parents struggle to make ends meet. He's a total loner and kind of a sad boy. Then he meets Leslie who moved in next door and is very unique and full of imagination. Together, they discover a secret forest that comes alive in their imagination. I loved how they used imagination to occupy their time and all the adventures they had there. So much better than watching tv or playing video games. It brought me back to all the ways that I used my imagination as a kid with my siblings and how we'd play together for hours with nothing but a bucket, some weeds, some water and a shed (we were orphans who lived in a shed and made weed soup...) The two lead actors are so great and sweet and the supporting actors are lovely as well for the most part. This movie definitely gets a solid A

Slammin' Salmon

"Sounds like you're from the UK, are you in a band like Oasis or Herman's Hermits"

Directed by Kevin Heffernan

2009

Date Viewed: June 24, 2010

Slammin' Salmon is the latest from the comedy troupe Broken Lizard, but it's definitely not the greatest. Slammin' Salmon is a restaurant owned by Cleon "Slammin" Salmon, a former heavyweight boxer. He owes $200,000 to the Japanese for a bad bet and so he tries to get his incompetent staff to make the money in one night in the restaurant.  Shenanigans ensue... I think this is just a lame rip off of Waiting... which is a much better and funnier restaurant shenanigan movie. It's not really that funny, although it tries very very hard. My brothers were very disappointed that I wasn't laughing every 2 seconds like they were... I think that Super Troopers is still the GREATEST Broken Lizard movie. So Slammin' Salmon gets a D

Alice in Wonderland

"'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe."

Directed by Tim Burton

2010

Date Viewed: Sunday June 13, 2010

Before I watched this movie I had heard so many bad reviews for it. Part of those reviews was that it didn't really follow the books. So I went into Wonderland with an open mind and low expectations. Turned out that I really really enjoyed the whole Alice In Wonderland experience. Visually, it was stunning. I love the worlds that Tim Burton creates. I love the darkness and the creepy looking trees and then the random bright colors that pop out at you. I love how everything is just a little bit off. I also thought the Cheshire cat effect was super awesome. I also just loved Johnny Depp's telling of the Jabberwocky. That poem was a childhood favorite. It did get a little bit long and, lets face it, Tim Burton's movies all look the same for the most part. So I knocked off a few points for that. I wish I had had time to write this review right after I saw the movie instead of a week and a half later so it was fresh in my mind.... Oh well... B+

Tron

Directed by Steven Lisberger

1982

Date Viewed: Sunday June 6, 2010 (not a first viewing)

I remember LOVING this movie as a kids. It has such an awesome look and the lighting and the cool motorcycle things and those frisbees..... Re-watching this as an adult made me realize that most of that makes up for about 2 % of the movie.... (ok so just the cycles and the frisbees, but those were the COOLEST part as a kid). *sigh* I was very sad to find out that Tron is actually a kind of boring movie. It is always fun to see actors that you know in their earlier movies. Jeff Bridges was so young that he was almost unrecognizable. Then he'd speak and his voice and delivery make you go "ah, there he is..." I don't really know what to say about this movie. I just thought it was kind of slow and boring. It was however, super cool to look at with all the dark lighting and the lights on their costumes and stuff. Awesomely 80s. C

Nine

Directed by Rob Marshall

2009

Date Viewed: Monday May 31, 2010

Dear Rob Marshall,

            Be more creative. Just because Chicago was such a hit for you does not mean that we want to see Chicago in Italy. Having Penelope Cruz, Fergie, Marion Cotillard etc. writhe around in their underwear  does not make an entertaining movie. Better Luck next time. -Megan

                                                 

Moon

"You look like a radioactive tampon"

Directed by Duncan Jones

2009

Date Viewed: Sunday May 30, 2010

Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) has a 3 year contract for Lunar Industries to live alone on a lunar base and do something that has to do with harvesting clean energy. His only companion is GERTY, a robot with an emoticon for a face. His contract is coming to an end and Sam is very eager to return home to his wife and young daughter. Then things get a little crazy.... And I can't reveal the crazy.... I really enjoyed this movie. Sam Rockwell did an AWESOME job considering he had to carry the entire movie himself and had to be entertaining while talking to himself and doing everyday tasks. It did get a little bit long in the middle, but then it picked up and got really interesting again to the end. Its hard to write a review without giving away key plot points and since I HATE when reviews ruin the movie I will just leave you with this: This movie is great. Watch it. B+

The Taking of Pelham 123

Directed by Tony Scott

2009

Date Viewed: Monday May 17, 2010 (second viewing)

I never intended to see this movie twice... But my dad wanted to watch a movie that was action/adventurey and this was on Netflix streaming.... Basically John Travolta plays a BAMF who hijacks a subway train and Denzel works for the subway system and ends up playing negotiator. The style is SO Tony Scott, it looks EXACTLY like every one of his other movies (which was cool the first 10 times, but now is getting old. Change it up man). John Travolta, who's characters name is Ryder (told you he was a BAMF), yells and swears a LOT and waves around a gun. He's also WAAAAAAYYYY over the top, which could've worked if the movie didn't take itself so incredibly seriously. So anyways, Ryder makes this ten million dollar demand in exchange for hostages. So they're racing through New York trying to get this money to this guy and meanwhile they're driving so fast and recklessly to meet the dead line that they get into a few car accidents on the way. Looked like just an excuse to have cars careening out of control and flipping over. A lame excuse at that... In the end Denzel saves the day... As always... D+

Chariots of Fire

" I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure."

Directed by Hugh Hudson

1981

Date Viewed: Sunday May 16, 2010

This movie was so boring!!!!!!!!! There was one really exciting race where Eric Liddell fell (or was pushed?) and then got up and ran as fast as he could. But other than that this movie was so slow. My mom pointed out that it took her more than one viewing to really catch everything that was going on and to really enjoy it. So maybe that's what I need too. But I'm not going to watch it again for a very long time. I decided not to grade it because if I give this movie a bad grade people will kill me! And I realize that it's probably a very good movie, I just didn't pay very good attention...

Sherlock Holmes

"The game's afoot"

Directed by Guy Ritchie

2009

Date Viewed: Saturday May 15, 2010

I had put off seeing this movie because it had gotten such lousy reviews. Too bad this movie is freaking awesome! Robert Downey Jr. is definitely becoming one of my faves. I love how he delivers his lines in this crazy/smart/witty way.I can't decide if I've ever really been a fan of Jude Law or not. I could pretty much take him or leave him, but I loved him in this movie. Whoever decided to pair the two of them was a genius, they had such awesome chemistry. This movie has a very Guy Ritchie feel to it such as the way that Sherlock would deconstruct a fight before it happened and he would go through every move in slow motion and then the fight would happen in regular or sometimes fast motion. It was just so Guy Ritchie and I loved it. The best scene I think was when a huge bomb goes off on a wharf and you see everything that's happening in slow motion and you follow the characters involved through the whole explosion. It was just so ingenious. If they make sequels (and they left it WIDE open for some) I hope that they are pulled off as well as this one. A

Plan 9 From Outer Space

"Now, don't you worry. The saucers are up there. The graveyard is out there. But I'll be locked up safely in there" 

Directed by Ed Wood Jr.

1959

Date Viewed: Thursday May 13, 2010

This movie is well known for being horrible and it definitely lives up to its reputation. It is awesomely horrible. There are so many continuity issues and incredibly awful dialogue (such as "Visits? That would indicate visitors" and "But one thing's sure. Inspector Clay is dead, murdered, and somebody's responsible") and the acting is poor at best, but there's something so endearing about it all. I mean its a classic B movie (or maybe D-) so you know its gonna be bad so it's all good. So what is this movie about? Basically aliens come to Earth and use electrodes to wake the newly dead. The dead wander around all zombified (and one vampire?) and when the aliens shut off the electrodes then they just stand there. And when they're killed (which I don't remember how that even happened) they turn to skeletons. So not the greatest plot, but hey, whatever works I guess. I love love LOVE movies that are laughably horrible, but only the good ones (does that even make sense?) so while in any normal world this movie would probably get an F, I would say that this movie goes above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to horribleness. If Ed Wood had planned for this movie to be bad, it probably wouldn't have turned out half as great. So I give it a definite B

Con Air

"Define irony. Bunch of idiots dancing on a plane to a song made famous by a band that died in a plane crash."

Directed by Simon West

 1997

Date Viewed: Sunday May 9, 2010

I do not know what possessed me to watch this movie. It was HORRIBLE. Probably one of the worst I've ever seen. Nic Cage is getting paroled and ends up on a plane with other cons who take over. First of all, supposedly these other guys are the world's worst criminals, so what ever would possess someone to put them ALL on the same plane together? They're all being transported to some new fancy ultra maximum security prison that will hold the worst of the worst, so lets put them all on a plane together with just a few prison guards... hmmm seems like a winning idea to me... not. So anyways, 2 hours, a few explosions and some insanely bad dialogue later, Nic Cage saves the day! F

Been Busy... But....

So I've been really busy so I haven't been watching as many movies. I have, however, been watching some great tv! I love LOVE that Glee pulled off Vanilla Ice AND MC Hammer this week! So awesome! I've also been watching and enjoying season 1 of The Closer (Kyra Sedgwick is hilarious!), From The Earth to the Moon (an HBO mini series about the space race. SO good! definitely check it out!), season 1 of Party Down (starts out slow, but gets really funny!) and CSI season 6 (only ok, not my favorite season) What have you been enjoying lately?

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

"There's two kinds of people in this world when you boil it all down. You got your talkers and you got your doers. Most people are just talkers, all they do is talk, but when it is all said and done, it's the doers that change this world. And when they do that, they change us, and that's why we never forget them. So which one are you? do you just talk about it, or do you stand up and do something about it?

Directed by Troy Duffy

2009

Date Viewed: Sunday April 25, 2010 (second viewing)

This movie turned out to be very uncomfortable to watch with my pastor dad..... Ha ha.. I forgot how bad the language is. My younger bro told me that the language even started to bother him so I know I'm not alone when I say that sometimes swearing just gets to be way too much. This is the second time we see the McManus brothers (Sean Patrick Flannery and Norman Reedus) as they go on a vigilante killing spree to take out some major Russian Mafia players who killed a priest. This movie largely follows the same formula as the first one where you see them about to go kill some folks and then it cuts to the police at the crime scene who look at the evidence and then tell the story of what happened inter cut with scenes of the Bros doing the killing. The upside is that this movie does not take itself seriously at all, which is good because if it had it would've been totally ridiculous. There are also a lot of winks to the first movie which makes it seem like an inside joke that much more and basically if you didn't like or haven't seen the first one, then you'll probably hate this one. I loved Julie Benz as Detective Eunice Bloom. She just looked like she was having so much fun making this movie (and if you haven't watched the show Dexter, you should because she's awesome in that too... Plus its just an awesome show). The same goes for Clifton Collins Jr. who played the Bro's new sidekick, Romeo. I love when you watch a ridiculous movie but the actors just seem like they're having a great time. I just read a review on Amazon and it said that the first Boondock Saints movie "was not a good movie, but it had a weird, unique energy" and I think that that's very true of this one too. It's not a very good movie but there's something about it that is just very endearing. It's weird. It's really hard to decide on a grade for this one because it doesn't seem like it should be good enough for a B, but it seems like a C would be harsh so I will put it in the C+ to B- range.

Peter and the Wolf

Directed by George Daugherty and Jean Flynn

1996

Date Viewed: Sunday April 18, 2010

This is probably the worst version of this story that I've seen. Lloyd Bridges plays a grandfather living in some mountains that aren't in the U.S. (They make a big deal about living in a different country from his daughter and grandson) and his daughter (Kristie Alley) and grandson (Ross Malinger aka the kid from Sleepless in Seattle) come for a visit. They sit around the fire and Kristie Alley tells thestory of Peter and the Wolf. The story is animated with some really incredibly horrid animation. Every once in a while the kid interrupts to ask a question or whatever and then they go back to the story. The basic story was obviously the same, and I liked that the animals still moved the same as the music suggests, but it was just so long and boring and cheesy. (for my silings: It was I think even worse than those Timeless Tales that we used to watch and the live action reminded me a lot of Grandpa's Magical Toys....) I guess I can see how kids could like it. I know I liked some cheesy crap when I was a kid, so for that I won't completely label this movie as a fail, but it still only gets a D

The Ghost and the Darkness

"The Devil has come to Tsavo."

Directed by Stephen Hopkins

1996

Date Viewed: Sunday April 18, 2010 (third viewing)

This is one of the first R rated movies that I ever saw.... Ah memories of being young and deprived of R rated movies.... :) Anyways, I really liked this movie even after all these years. It's about Col. John Patterson (Val Kilmer) who is a bridge builder and is sent to Africa to build a bridge. While he is there two man eating lions start attacking the camps. The workers call them The Ghost and The Darkness (one has a black mane, so he is The Darkness). A hunter named Charles Remington (Michael Douglas) is called in to help kill these two lions. The figure out that the lions are not killing to eat, but they're doing it for the sport of it which is very unusual behavior. So then they were all scared and it was all ominous.... This movie is based on a true story and it still fascinates me. Animals are so strange and amazing. The lions are on display at the Field Museum in Chicago, and I went and saw them when I was a kid (I don't really remember it). I'd like to go back and see them again now that I know a little bit of the story. Now its time for some fun facts about the real Tsavo lions:

1. They were maneless male lions which could be a family trait.
2. The first lion killed was measured at 9 feet 8 inches from nose to tail and took 8 men to carry it.
3. The exact number of people killed by the lions is unknown, but according to Wiki it was probably 35, but according to the Field Museum it was 140.
4. There was a break out of Rinderpest Disease in the late 1890s that killed off a lot of the wildlife. The lions may have gained a taste for human flesh due to poor burials, they probably weren't "doing it for the sport" as the movie suggests.
5. John Patterson sold the lion skins and skulls to the Field Museum in 1924 for $5,000.00

B+

IMDB's top 250 movies

I just downloaded this app to my phone and thought I'd share the list and also which ones I've seen. So here it is:

1. The Shawshank Redemption
2. The Godfather
3. The Godfather: Part 2
4. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
5. Pulp Fiction
6. Shindler's List
7. 12 Angry Men
8. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
9. Star Wars: Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back
10. The Dark Knight
11. The Lord of theRings: Return of the King
12. Star Wars (I'm assuming they mean Episode IV- A New Hope)
13. Casablanca
14. Goodfellas
15. Seven Samurai
16. Fight Club
17. City of God (This movie is AMAZING)
18. The Lord of theRings: The Fellowship of the Ring
19. Raiders of the Lost Ark
20. Rear Window
21. The Usual Suspects
22. Psycho (1960 version)
23. Once Upon a Time in the West
24. Silence of the Lambs
25. The Matrix
26. Se7en
27. Memento
28. It's a Wonderful Life
29. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (this one is actually my fave of the LOTR movies)
30. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb
31. Sunset Blvd.
32. North by Northwest
33. Citizen Kane (Thanks to a Clifford book and a parent who thought he was being funny, I know how thismovie ends...)
34. Leon (AKA Leon the Professional, or The Professional)
35. Apocalypse Now (I actually am not sure if I've seen this one or not)
36. American Beauty
37. Forrest Gump (funny tidbit: I just typed Forrest Bump 3 times before I got it right...)
38. American History X
39. Taxi Driver
40. Vertigo (I've started watching it, but never finished)
41. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
42. Lawrence of Arabia
43. Alien
44. The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain (aka Amelie)
45. Wall E (one of my fave Pixar movies, second to Up)
46. Saving Private Ryan
47. A Clockwork Orange (I still have nightmares about the scene where they're beating the woman with her big penis statues)
48. The Shining
49. Paths Of Glory (I actually own this movie, it came as part of a set, but I haven't watched it yet)
50. The Departed (My favorite Scorsese film)
51. The Pianist
52. To Kill a Mockingbird
53. Aliens
54. Spirited Away
55. The Lives of Others
56. M
57. Double Indemnity
58. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
59. Chinatown
60. Requiem For A Dream
61. The Third Man
62. L.A. Confidential (one of my all time favorite movies)
63. Reservoir Dogs
64. Das Boot
65. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
66. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
67. City Lights
68. Avatar
69. Pan's Labyrinth
70. The Bridge on the River Kwai
71. Inglourious Basterds ( I think this might just be my favorite Tarantino film)
72. Raging Bull
73. The Prestige
74. Up
75. 2001: A Space Odyssey
76. Singin' In The Rain (a childhood favorite)
77. Life is Beautiful
78. Back To the Future
79. Modern Times
80. Downfall
81. Some Like It Hot
82. Amadeus
83. Full Metal Jacket
84. The Maltese Falcon
85. Braveheart
86. Gran Torino (I hated this movie)
87. Cinema Paradiso
88. Rashomon
89. Once Upon A Time in America
90. All About Eve
91. Metropolis
92. The Green Mile
93. Slumdog Millionaire (Jai Ho!)
94. The Elephant Man
95. Sin City
96. The Great Dictator
97. Rebecca (I think I may have actually seen this one, but I'm not positive)
98. The Apartment
99. The Sting (This movie is super awesome)
100. The Gladiator
101. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
102. The Great Escape
103. Star Wars: Episode VI- Return of the Jedi
104. Bicyce Thieves
105. Unforgiven
106. Batman Begins
107. Jaws
108. Blade Runner
109. Hotel Rwanda
110. Die Hard
111. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
112. On the Waterfront
113. No Country for Old Men (aka Old Men Doesn't Have a Country.... lol)
114. Oldboy
115. Touch of Evil
116. The Seventh Seal
117. District 9
118. Fargo
119. Princess Mononoke
120. The Wizard of Oz
121. For a Few Dollars More
122. Heat (I'm still convinced that Where it the Van? is from this movie somehow, even though we watched it and it's not.... its a mystery...)
123. Strangers on a Train
124. Donnie Darko
125. Cool Hand Luke (I have seen the scene with the eggs... I think that's from this movie...)
126. High Noon (1952)
127. The Sixth Sense
128. There Will Be Blood (I. Drink. Your. Milkshake! I drink it up!... Love this movie)
129. Notorious (1946, not the one about Biggie)
130. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
131. The Wrestler
132. The Deer Hunter (Technically I didn't finish this, but I watched as much as I could...)
133. Annie Hall
134. Kill Bill: Vol. 1
135. Snatch (LOVE this movie too)
136. The General
137. Platoon
138. The Big Lebowski
139. Ben-Hur
140. Into The Wild (meh)
141. The Big Sleep
142. Yojimbo (no idea)
143. Million Dollar Baby
144. Ran
145. It Happened One Night
146. The Lion King
147. Life of Brian (Always look on the bright side of life)
148. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (I cannot believe that I've never seen this one)
149. The Bourne Ultimatum
150. Witness for the Prosecution
151. Wild Strawberries
152. Finding Nemo
153. Trainspotting
154. Star Trek (2009)
155. Stand By Me
156. The Graduate
157. The Terminator
158. Gone With The Wind
159. Toy Story ( the second one was better than this one. I'm interested to see what 3 will be like)
160. Groundhog Day
161. Scarface (has everyone seen the elementary school production of this? hilarious and sad at the same time)
162. Amores Perros
163. Ratatouille
164. The Thing
165. Dog Day AFternoon
166. Gandhi
167. V for Vendetta (remember remember the 5thof December.... Wait, is that even the right date? I always get it confused)
168. The Gold Rush
169. 8 1/2
170. The Grapes of Wrath
171. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
172. Twelve Monkeys (Nate can do a great crazy Brad Pitt impression from this movie)
173. The Wages of Fear
174. Les Diaboliques (I think this is the one that partially inspired Psycho. It's really good)
175. Casino
176. The Night of the Hunter
177. The Princess Bride (as you wish)
178. The Incredibles ( I'm still waiting for the sequel!!)
179. The Grave of the Fireflies
180. The Killing
181. Judgement at Nuremberg
182. Kind Hearts and Coronets
183. The Wild Bunch
184. Children of Men
185. In Bruges (a current fave)
186. TheExorcist
187. Nights of Cabiria
188. Sunrise:A Song of Two Humans
189. The Best Years of Our Lives
190. The Hustler
191. The Kid (1921, not the Bruce Willis version)
192. Harvey
193. Ed Wood
194. Dial M for Murder
195. Good Will Hunting
196. Rosemary's Baby
197. King Kong (1933, not the Peter Jackson)
198. Big Fish (I love LOVE this movie)
199. Letters from Iwo Jima
200. Let the Right One In
201. A Streetcar Named Desire
202. Shadow of a Doubt
203. Sleuth
204. Kill Bill: Vol. 2
205. Stalag 17(no idea)
206. Magnolia
207. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
208. Brief Encounter
209. Crash
210. Mystic River
211. Rocky
212. The African Queen
213. Network
214. Duck Soup
215. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (should have been so much better than it was)
216. Shutter Island(I chuckle to myself when people are like oh I've heard its so confusing and you gotta pay close attention or you won't know whats going on...)
217. Rope
218. Bonnie and Clyde
219. Manhatten
220. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
221. The Road (1954)
222. The Battleof Algiers
223. Patton
224. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
225. Changeling
226. Little Miss Sunshine
227. The Conversation
228. Planet of the Apes (1968)
229. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
230. The Nightmare Before Christmas (another one that I can't believe that I haven't seen yet)
231. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
232. The 400 Blows
233. Barry Lyndon
234. All Quiet on the Western Front
235. Anatomy of a Murder
236. The Lady Vanishes
237. Shaun of the Dead
238. Mulholland Dr.
239. Spartacus
240. Glory
241. My Neighbor Totoro
242. Monsters, Inc.
243. The Truman Show
244. (500) Days of Summer
245. The Philadelphia Story
246. Toy Story 2
247. His Girl Friday
248. Arsenic and Old Lace
249. Brazil (I may have seen this one too, but I'm not positive)
250. Edward Scissorhands

Well there you have it.... My list.... Congrats if you made it all the way to the end! How many have you seen and what are your favorites?

Paul Blart: Mall Cop

"I'll meet you on the corner of Ne and Ver!"

Directed by Steve Carr

2009

Date viewed: Friday April 16, 2010

And now it's time for a 4 sentence review! (1) This movie is not very funny. (2) Watching Kevin James roll around on a Segway through the mall was only funny because he reminded me of my brother in law Jake. (3) For some reason I could totally see Jake rolling around on a Segway telling people what to do.... (4) Jayma Mays is so cute in everything she's in, but why in the world would she settle for Kevin James? D

Make Mine Music

Directed by Bob Cormack, Clyde Geronimi, Jack Kinney, Hamilton Luske, and Josh Meador

1946

Date Viewed: Friday April 16, 2010

Make Mine Music is Disney's follow up to 1940's Fantasia. I have never actually seen the original Fantasia, but Fantasia 2000 is definitely a superior music film to this one. MMM is SO boring and slow (and dated). I watched it because I was previewing the Peter and the Wolf segment to see if it's suitable for showing to my class and I figured I might as well watch the whole thing. It opens with "Blue Bayou" which actually all I remember about it was a blue bayou and a heron and singing. I don't remember what else there was... So obviously it did not make a huge impression on me. I did like the next song which was a jazz interlude called "All The Cats Join In". It started out with a pencil on paper and the pencil drew everything which was kind of cool. I was kind of confused though because it made a big deal about introducing "the cats" (the jazz band) but then the cats had nothing to do with the rest of the segment. The segment was basically a bunch of kids going to the malt shop to dance. It was pretty cute. The pencil would draw things as it went along and at one point it drew a boy who looked at a girl that the pencil was in the process of drawing. The pencil drew the girl to have a rather large butt and the boy made a disgusted face and the girl was like "hey!" and the pencil erased it and gave her a nicer butt so that her and the (shallow) boy could go dance... Nice. I vaguely remember seeing another segment called Casey at the Bat when I was a kid. Again, it was dated saying something to the effect of the ladies don't understand baseball a bit, they don't know a strike from a foul or a hit... so again, nice....

I really really liked their telling of Peter and the Wolf though. I liked the way they introduced the instruments using the theme and also the character moving in the same way as the music suggests. I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't too scary or violent as old cartoons sometimes can be. The other segment that I really liked was about Johnny Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet who were two hats in love. It was sung by the Andrews Sisters and the animation was so cute. The last segment was about Willie the whale who wanted to sing opera at the Met.... I fell asleep. This movie is kind ofhard to grade because its broken up into so many different segments and each segment is so different. As I'm writing this I realize that I liked more of them than I thought I did, but that's still only about half so I think I'll have to give this movie a halfway grade which would be about a C

The Propsal

"You can do this but that would require you to stop snacking on children while they dream."

Directed by Anne Fletcher

2009

Date Viewed: Thursday April 15, 2010

This movie is HILARIOUS. I love LOVE Ryan Reynolds when he plays charmingly sarcasticly witty charactersas he does here. Reynolds plays Andrew who is the personal assistant to Editor in Chief Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock). Margaret is "Satan's mistress" a.k.a. a hard nosed icy witch who makes Andrew's life a living hell every day. She finds out that she's going to be deported to Canada and to stay in the States she tells INS that she's getting married to Andrew. They end up spending a lovely weekend with Andrew's family in Alaska and shenanigans ensue. There are so many awesomely hilarious and witty lines. I think one of my favorites is when Margaret is climbing down a ladder to a dock (she's freaked out and in heels so she takes it SUPER slow) and she finally gets to the bottom and Andrew says "Congratulations. I'm 100 years old." Maybe you had to see it for it to be funny but I laughed SO hard! Just his dry delivery was too funny. Of course it had all those cliched RomCom moments, but it was just so darn funny (without being crass!). Definitely a must see. (It's currently on Netflix streaming, so check it out!) A

"You can't handle the truth" Thursday

"A dog has not use for fancy cars, big homes or designer clothes. A water logged stick will do just fine. A dog doesn't care if you're rich or poor, clever or dull, smart or dumb. Give him your heart and he'll give you his. How many people can you say that about? How many people can make you feel so rare and pure and special? How many people can make you feel extraordinary?"

Peter and the Wolf

Directed by Suzie Templeton

2007

Date Viewed: Wednesday April 14, 2010

This is one of the creepiest things I've ever seen, but at the same time it is oddly beautiful. For those who don't know, Peter and the Wolf is a musical story where each character is represented by an instrument of the orchestra. There are no words in this movie, just music. I love how it illustrates how music can be used to convey a feeling or an image. Peter sneaks out of his yard and plays with a duck and a bird. His grandfather's cat comes to try and catch the bird, but fails. The grandfather wakes from his nap and motions for Peter to stay in the yard and stay out of the forest. Eventually a wolf comes creeping up and its up to Peter to save his animal friends. This won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short in 2007 and is a stop motion film. The characters are all kind of weird and creepy looking, so this version is definitely not for children. I really enjoyed it though. A-

On another note, I can't believe its been so long since I've watched a movie! Also, look for more reviews of other versions of Peter and the Wolf this weekend. I'm viewing a bunch to pick one to show my kids at work since we're talking about PATW in Music.

Update

I am currently wading my way through Deer Hunter... So far it has been an hour of wedding. Someone suggested to me that I should have guest reviewers. So if you want to review a movie just send me an email with your review and whatever screen name you'd like to be known as and I'll post it here. I promise to post word for word what you wrote even if I disagree :) So send your reviews to Megs621@gmail.com! Also I now officially have 4 followers! Woo hoo!!! :-p

"You Can't Handle The Truth" Thursday

"There's only us, there's only this, forget regret or life is yours to miss. No other road, no other way. No day but today."

Good Hair

"A woman's hair is her glory"

Directed by Jeff Stilson
2009

Date Viewed Thursday April 1, 2010

This is a documentary in which Chris Rock explores African-American hair culture. It's very interesting and I learned more about relaxer and weaves than I ever thought I would know. Chris Rock interviews celebrities, goes to the Bronner Bros. Hair Show in Atlanta, goes to a relaxer plant and even travels to India (where a lot of the hair for human hair weaves come from) to find out more about hair and what makes hair "good". It got a little bit long when he was interviewing the contestants for a fancy hair competition at the Bronner Bros. Show simply because I didn't really care about who won or how their show went. I also think it could have gone deeper, it seemed to stick to scratching the surface. However, in the end, it is a very sweet love letter from Chris Rock to his daughters saying that they are beautiful no matter what their hair looks like and to embrace their beauty instead of trying to change it. B

"You can't handle the truth" Thursday

"Short people have long faces, and long people have short faces. Big people have little humor, and little people have no humor at all"

Definitely, Maybe

"I don't think anybody imagines on their wedding day that they'll be in the 46% who doesn't live happily ever after..."

Directed by Adam Brooks
2008
Date Viewed: Tuesday March 30, 2010

I was really hesitant to watch this movie. For me Ryan Reynolds is hit or miss (same with the rest of the cast which includes Elizabeth Banks, Abigail Breslin, Isla Fisher and Rachel Weisz). Romantic comedies are hit or miss. Plus the story didn't look all that interesting. I saw one too many previews though and curiosity got the better of me. I had to know how it ended. This is the story of Will (Ryan Reynolds) who is about to sign his divorce papers. His daughter, Maya (Abigail Breslin) wants to hear the story of how her parents met so Will obliges, but changes the names and tells the story of the three main women he dated. Basically its How I Met Your Mother in movie form. Except without Barney. Or big laughs. And without being legen wait for it dary. Anyways, basically Will has a college girlfriend "Emily" (Elizabeth Banks) who he leaves in Madison while going off to New York. Meets "April" (Isla Fisher) who he becomes good friends with. Is intrigued by "Summer" (Rachel Weisz) and drama ensues. Eventually Maya figures out the ending to the story and realizes that Will was always in love with one of the other women (not her mom) and that now that he's divorced he should go after her. So she helps him find and woo her. Kinda weird. I've never known a preteen kid to be so happy that her parents are divorcing and that dad has a new girlfriend the day he signs the divorce papers... Oh well, it's Hollywood. Sorry if that was confusing... :) The movie is sort of original for a romantic comedy in the puzzle-ish story telling. I was almost happy close to the end when I thought it was going to just be a messy ending, but of course they had to wrap it all up neatly. I loved the relationship between Will and Maya and how they talked and interacted. Overall I think I would give this a C+

Sid and Nancy

"But Sidney's more than a mere bass player. He's a fabulous disaster. He's a symbol, a metaphor, he embodies the dementia of a nihilistic generation. He's a fuckin' star."

Directed by Alex Cox
1986
Date viewed: Wed. and Thurs. March 24-25 2010

This movie is about the strange relationship between Sid Vicious (Gary Oldman) from the Sex Pistols and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen (Chloe Webb). Nancy is loud, then louder, then SHRILL. She was SO obnoxious that I had to break the movie up into two viewings. I've discovered that I don't like movies where two people are in love and trying to make it work but one of the people is so completely unlovable (for example, Brokeback Mountain.... Ennis was SUCH a jerk! I couldn't believe that Jack was sooo in love with him!). Gary Oldman was amazing as Sid, I don't think I've ever seen a more fantastic performance out of him (except for maybe in Fifth Element... hee hee... so kidding). There were a few cool scenes, like Sid singing his own weird version of "My Way" for a music video. There are a bunch of punk concerts with the Sex Pistols, but really SLC Punk is a far superior punk movie. There are also a bunch of scenes involving heroin use, but really Trainspotting is a far superior heroin movie. Basically what it comes down to, is that I would not recommend this movie unless you're a die hard Gary Oldman fan and want to listen to Chloe Webb (who rivals Wolowitz's mom from Big Bang Theory in the yelling department) shriek for 2 hours. D+

"You can't handle the truth" Thursday

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return"

Hachiko: A Dog's Story

"Hachi taught me that you should never forget anyone that you've loved."

Directed by Lasse Hallstrom
2009
Date Viewed: Tuesday March 23, 2010

Hachi is an Akita puppy who winds up in the care of Parker Wilson (Richard Gere) and his reluctant-to-have-a-dog wife (Joan Allen). Parker loves LOVES this dog to death and Hachi loves LOVES Parker. Hachi follows Parker to the train station every day, sees him off, and then sits and waits until Parker comes home in the evening. One day Parker dies suddenly while he's at work (no spoiler. It's on the case for the movie.), Hachi patiently sits until Parker's son in law comes and takes him home. Day after day Hachi returns to the train station and sits in his "waiting spot" for Parker to return. The community takes him in and feeds him and pets him and talks with him, but mostly Hachi is interested in keeping an eye out for his owner to show up. Hachi waits for 10 years and then finally dies of old age in his "waiting spot" (again not a spoiler). The story is beautiful and sad (and true). The music swells at all the right spots. The seasoned actors do their jobs nicely. There is something lacking though, and I can't put my finger on what it is. It did get a little slow in the middle with montages of Hachi and Parker playing and bonding. There was still something about the movie that didn't have that magical "oh this is an awesome movie" spark. C+

P.S. I officially have 2 followers! Woo hoo!!!

Fame

"Success is connecting with the world and making people feel. It's finding a way to bind together people who have nothing in common but a dream, and falling asleep at night knowing you did the best job you could. Success is joy and freedom and friendship. And success is love."

Directed by Kevin Tancharoen
2009
Date Viewed: Sunday March 21, 2010

Two things you need to know about this movie:
1. There is no plot.
2. The choreography and the music are fantastic enough to make up for it.

B

Atonement

"I love you. I'll wait for you. Come back. Come back to me."

Directed by Joe Wright
2008
Date Viewed: Saturday March 20, 2010

Atonement opens beautifully. First you see a playhouse, then it pans out slowly and then you see a long trail of toy animals littered across the floor. You hear the sounds of a typewriter and finally you see Briony (Saoirse Ronan) at the typewriter finishing her play. She grabs the paper out of the typewriter along with a stack of papers next to it and runs through the huge, gorgeous house to find her mother. In the meantime, the typewriter sounds have been integrated with the music. Every so often throughout the movie you'll hear the typewriter mixed in with the music. I thought it was really cool. Atonement is about Briony and her sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and the gardener's son Robbie (James McAvoy). Basically Briony is a bored and bratty little girl who misunderstands the things that she sees. And she's kind of a creeper. She ends up falsely accusing Robbie of raping her cousin. Which of course since it's a movie, they take the word of a 13 year old girl without really adequately investigating... It is really cool though because the movie shows what Briony sees when she's creeping about and then it shows what really happened. Briony and Cecilia end up being war nurses (separately) and Robbie goes off to war after he gets out of prison. The movie ends up spanning about 50 years or so and throughout the whole thing you know who Briony is because she has the same. Exact. Haircut. For 50 years. Kind of a lame-o.... I ended up enjoying this movie more than I thought I would. It was kind of long and I can't stand Keira Knightley but it still definately deserves a B

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

"Which one of you nuts has got any guts?"

Directed by Milos Forman
1976
Viewed On: Friday March 20,2010

There are so many "classic" movies that people ooh and aah over how amazingly good they are. I make a point to try and watch them, going in with high hopes. More often than not I end up disappointed. The biggest offenders were Annie Hall (which now I've discovered that I just plain don't like Woody Allen), Taxi Driver (SO boring, and nothing happens!), The Shining and Dr. Strangelove (I knew it'd be weird, but come on) just to name a few. I know that movies are made differently now. Everything is so quickly paced that going back to old movies sometimes feels like you're trudging through that thick mud of the Swamp of Sadness in Fantasia (The Neverending Story). That doesn't go for all older movies though. There are plenty that I've LOVED such as 12 Angry Men, Rashomon, The Sting, Full Metal Jacket to name a few. I decided to watch One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest because it kept coming up in conversations with Bobby and my brother and I think my sister talked about it too. So last night I finally was going to see what everyone was going on about. Needless to say I was a little disappointed. It was boring. And long. But I kept watching through it because I knew that it had to get better. I was right. It picked up about an hour in and then got really really exciting about 30 minutes from the end. Looking back I think I enjoyed it as a whole. The acting was super amazing and it was kind of interesting seeing all these old actors in their younger days. Especially Brad Dourif who was just a kid! Jack Nicholson plays R. P. McMurphy who is sent from prison to a mental institution to find out if he's really crazy or if he's faking it. He meets and sort of befriends the other patients in his ward and shenanigans ensue. There's evil Nurse Ratched who lead their therapy sessions and, for lack of a better word, is just a vicious hateful bitch. Even though it started out slow, I still give this movie a B-

"You can't handle the truth" Thursday

Frodo: "I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened."
Gandalf: "So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."

Carriers

"Sometimes choosing life is just a more painful form of death."

Directed by Alex and David Pastor
2009
Date viewed: Monday March 15, 2010 (second viewing)

This is neither a scary movie nor a zombie movie. It's more of a drama with some semi suspenseful parts. I was disappointed that it wasn't scary and zombie-ish since those are totally my fave, but I did mostly enjoy this movie. It's about 2 brothers (Chris Pine, who does an AWESOME job playing a know-it-all jackass :) and some unknown) and 2 women (Piper Perabo and Emily VanCamp) who are driving across country to escape a killer virus. The story is unoriginal, so I was hoping for some unpredictable twists and turns... Well no such luck. I did, however, love Christopher Meloni who played a father trying to save his young daughter. I don't really know what else to say about this movie.... C+

Waltz With Bashir

"Memory is dynamic, it's alive. If some details are missing, memory fills in the holes with things that never happened."

Directed by Ari Folman
2008
Date Viewed: Sunday March 14, 2010

This movie was AMAZING. It's about Ari (the director) who is trying to recall the memories of the Israeli/Lebanon war that he's blocked out. He visits fellow veterans and asks for their stories to help himself fill in the gaps. The animation was really really neat. I was looking up info on this movie and I guess the artist, David Polonsky, drew with his left hand because the drawings he did with his right hand were too beautiful. Each memory has a different color scheme and the drawings are very unique. The men that Ari interviews are all really veterans in real life and the movie is filled with their true stories. Between the haunting, but not over done war images, the beautiful animation and the way Ari told the story, I give this movie a big fat A

My top 10 and bottom 10 of 2009

My top 10 favorite movies of 2009 in no particular order:
Inglorious Basterds
Avatar
Star Trek
Zombieland
Precious
Up
Up in the Air
The Hangover
Watchmen
Crazy Heart

My top 10 worst movies of 2009:
Adventureland
Transformers 2
Angels and Demons
The Unborn
Inkheart
Dance Flick
The Last House on the Left
The International
Taking of Pelham 123
Push

The 2 movies I was suprised that I really liked:
Boondock Saints 2
Jennifer's Body