Movies you've rented lately, Part 2

[Jeremiah]

Not movies but TV shows I watch on Netflix Instawatch.....

Damages - Watched both S1 and S2 and it's a great show, S1 was really great and while S2 wasn't as good it was still pretty good.

Battlestar Galatica - Saw almost all of S1 last weekend when it was raining and it is pretty damn good. If you like Sci-Fi, you would probably like this, some good to great acting and the SFX are quite good.

Elite Squad - a Brazilian movie about corrupt police and politicians taking control of the slums with a couple clean cops figuring out what's happening. A solid movie.

[Fandango]

Recently I have seen:

The 'Lucky Number Slevin', an interesting noir-ish action/revenge movie. It had some snappy dialogue and a decenty mystery element that made it fun to watch.

I also saw 'The Broken' which was a British sci-fi suspense movie about human immitaters. It was like a long episode of the Twilight Zone, but I didn't think that it had enough content to the plot, which was really drawn out.

Then last night I saw '50/50', the cancer drama starring Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon Levitt. I thought this was a really strong movie, with a good combination of humor and emotional resonance. Levitt is a very good actor, he is able to make the character that he is in so believable regardless of style of movie - whether it is The Lookout, or Inception or 500 days of Summer.

[Hyped]

I just saw:

'The Descendants' - I really liked it...it pulled no punches...

'Secretariat' - Never knew the story...liked the movie a lot even if it was a Disney production...solid cast..it had Ms. Bennet from Justified, Lafayette from Tru Blood, John Malovich, and many other actors....

[Fandango]

Also, and it is odd that I forgot to mention this in my last post given that it is the biggest movie in America right now, but I saw ‘The Hunger Games’ this weekend as well in my annual trip to the movie theatre. As far as epics go, it was really quite solid – but given my affinity for dystopian books/movies it isn’t a surprise that I enjoyed it. I haven’t read the series yet, but I can imagine that there was a great deal more character development and interaction in it.

[Baked Beans]

Saw Win Win this weekend, it's made by the gentleman who directed The Station Agent. Really good movie with Paul Giamatti playing a lawyer whose business is in trouble and he's also the high school wrestling coach.

[PatsFan2003]

Also, and it is odd that I forgot to mention this in my last post given that it is the biggest movie in America right now, but I saw ‘The Hunger Games’ this weekend as well in my annual trip to the movie theatre. As far as epics go, it was really quite solid – but given my affinity for dystopian books/movies it isn’t a surprise that I enjoyed it. I haven’t read the series yet, but I can imagine that there was a great deal more character development and interaction in it.

I got the book from BJs this weekend and am reading it now. It's good so far. I'll let you know. It helps that my mental image of Katniss are as Jennifer Lawrence.

[Hyped]

Last night I watched this movie with Ed Norton (who is one of my fave actors) titled, "Leaves of Grass"...it was sort of like "Parent Trap", but only with drugs and the Jewish/Hillbilly mob....not too bad...I gave it a 6.5

[jdlewis]

Saw My Week with Marilyn on plane this past weekend and enjoyed it a great deal. Simple light-hearted fun movie.

Also rented Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy... interesting idea and I was fine with it not being an action but rather a slower drawn out type movie. Wasn't able to pull all the ideas together and it ended up feeling very sloppy with lot's of issues. Additionally, the director had all these very interesting visuals that he shot, but they were random and didn't tie together or really feel like they fit. It was like, I have a good idea for a shot, we'll throw it in here. The whole movie suffered from that... basically, the director seemed to destroy good material and decent acting.

[StillSwinging]

Sayonara - this was brutal, and one of those classic examples of a 1950's movie that was easily 30 minutes too long. Marlon Brando was in his prime, yet he stunk it up here. It was a Matthew McConaughey performance. Even down to the Southern accent, which was Brando's idea against the wishes of the producer & director (who were right). The fact that it won 4 Oscars and was nominated for 6 more (including Best Actor & Picture) disgusts me.

[StillSwinging]

OT - I hope that show Scandal bombs. One, because it looks terrible, and two, because it competes directly with Awake. Can your series really survive if the main character is a cvnt that doesn't have a huge following? Doubt it. I have no beef with Kerry Washington, but that's what the show is and who she is.

[jdlewis]

Rented The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (American version)

It wasn't nearly as good as the Swedish version. The characters were awful and shallow in comparison. I understand why, they hollywood-ized it by making it more stylish and more fast pace, the original took its time developing in particular Lisbeth and her relationships. I have no idea what they were going for with this version as it was very disjointed and the stylization just smothered the character development. Very unfortunate, but this version was ok and worth watching and I think American audiences are far more tuned to this type of movie versus one that doesn't spoon feed you everything in 5 minutes. The suspense, imagery, and character development were far superior in the original, but I think the American version was probably an easier watch for most, even without taking into account the subtitles in the original.

[Breed]

Friends With Benefits - meh, and I like Kunis and Timberlake.

I'm not feelin these new R rated comedies. Aside from Superbad they've pretty much run the gamut from meh to super crap.

[Niner Empire]

girl with the dragon tattoo

4 of 5

pretty good, i hear its not as violent as the original. i'll have to check that out as well

[Breed]

OT - I hope that show Scandal bombs. One, because it looks terrible, and two, because it competes directly with Awake. Can your series really survive if the main character is a cvnt that doesn't have a huge following? Doubt it. I have no beef with Kerry Washington, but that's what the show is and who she is.

Everybody on that show, with the exception of the new girl, seems unlikable, to an extent. Given what they're supposed do be doing, being fixers, that's to be expected at least for now.

[Hyped]

Saw "Extremely loud and incredibly close"....good acting and Sandra Bullock has become a really good actress. That being said...the movie was maybe thirty minutes too long.

Also saw, " War Horse" it was okay...not great...not bad...good scenes...but mainly it was a movie about an animal...much like a Benji movie..but only with horse and a war....