Our Idiot Brother Pretty funny movie. A little predictable but I enjoyed it a lot. Good movie to see when you're feeling down. Paul Rudd kicks ass like always. How can you sell weed to an uniformed cop? That's classic right there. I like the story a lot. Every sister has their problem and the only one in the family that's there to make it better, it's their idiot brother.
Good to check out for a decent movie night filled with popcorn and chocolate.
Tucker and Dale vs Evil Very cool and fun movie. Kind of makes fun of all those camp slasher/cabin horror flicks. My favorite character is Dale. Such a sweet character. All the moments and kill scenes were awesome except for the kill scene where the guy accidentally shoots himself. I like all those scenes that are so obvious in horror films but here they do it on purpose and more clever just for the sake to make the rest of the scenes better. If I ever see this again, I'll make sure to drink some Pabst Blue Ribbons with it.
The Van This first grindhouse feature of the night was pure fun. Stupid, but fun. Lots of memorable moments. Like the skinny cop always eating, the dialogue, the waterbed inside the van, and more. I learned another word for sex: heavy romancing. Cheesy music made it pretty cool too. And of course, a young Danny Devito. Whatever happened to this big cool vans from the 70's and 80's. Now we have stupid vans. Leather interior, please. Must see for Grindhouse fans. I'm buying this one.
Felicity This ozploitation/sexploitation was okay. A lot of it was a bit boring. Never seen so many Australians in Hong Kong before. That was a joke. Laugh out loud. At first it was interesting. But after 30 minutes into it, I lost interest in it. The story wasn't all that. But this movie is supposed to be iconic for sexploitation movies. Not recommended.
Spy Kids 4 I expected the worst. It was okay for a bad film, I guess (if that makes any sense at all). I mean, it started out cheesy with a pregnant Jessica Alba in action. I like the first couple of scenes with the kids interacting and stuff. But after the talking dog, I lost most interest. Very predictable story. I say this is par with Spy Kids 3D which I didn't like as well. Robert Rodriguez should of left it with just the two first Spy Kids movies.
Not recommended, only if you must have to see it just for being a big fan of the director.
Sarah's Key Another pretty decent WW2 movie. Sad and just when you thought this might be predictable, it turns another way. It kept me interested in the story. I like that they went back in forth from the present to Sarah's past. Original. The ending was so and so. My favorite part was when the nazi guy let the two girls escape. First time I've seen in that in a holocaust kind of movie. If I see this on sale one day, I might add this to the WW2 section.
Hugo One word describes this movie: Beautiful. Martin Scorsese kicked serious ass in his first kids movie. It was made for adults to enjoy as well. And it was made especially for fans of film and film history. Beautiful colors. Inspirational. Touched the heart in some ways. My favorite character has to be the the station inspector played by Sacha Baron Cohen. The other characters were awesome too. Good moments like the flashback scenes where this kid is amazed on the magic of making movies. Can't wait to see this movie again. Another note to add: The 3D here is so amazing. This is what 3D should be about. Not that other cgi crappy 3D effects (Captain America). Definitely in my top 10 favorite movies of this year. Check it out.
The Tree of Life I didn't like it. Some art fans might like it. I tried to like it but it was just too much and too long. It was mostly boring. The first 40 minutes are nothing but images with some narration here and there. I thought I was watching some documentary about the history on the Earth (dinasours, the ocean, nature). Then after a while we get to some of the spoken dialogue scenes. A little confusing. Brad Pitt was alright. Sean Penn has like a total of 10 minutes of screen time in this 2 hour and 13 minute movie. The kid the plays the young Sean Penn's character was really good. The music was okay. But that's about it. I thought it was going to be more drama between father and son relationship. But what I got is pure poetry about God and nature. It's not exactly my cup of tea in a movie. This was mostly shot in Austin and surrounding areas. Cool to see the Barton Springs Pool making it into the movie. Don't waste your time on this unless you have very good patience.
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist A little cute and a little sweet but nothing to be excited about. I was expecting lots of more music. I like the beginning parts but then it drags on about them finding their drunk friend. But then there's a part I liked where the friend drops her phone and her gum in a dirty brown water toilet. She gets both of them and puts the gum back into her mouth. The rest was just typical. Of course Nick and Norah fall in love with each other. If they didn't, what kind of movie would this be? An alright one time only movie when you're bored and you want to see something while having lunch. Good with a turkey sandwich. And have a bubble gum for dessert.
Every third Thursday of every month of this year, I'll be watching a yakuza flick. Love the yakuza genre but haven't really seen a whole lot. There's a lot of classics out there. This will help me explore these Japanese movies. I'll be watching a few from directors, Kinji Fukasaku, and Takashi Miike, as well other yakuza flicks from the 60's and to the present.
Family This started out freaking crazy (Takashi Miike style) but then it turned out very confusing. It was hard for me to follow the story and some of the characters. But I love the metal/punk music on here. There was hardly yakuza traditional stuff but there was some to qualify this as a yakuza flick. This is known as Family 2 in some countries but it's not a sequel. I love some of blood splatter scenes near the beginning. Most of it was kind of slow. My favorite Yakuza film from Miike is still Graveyard of Honor.
Bellflower This movie sounded a bit interesting when I saw the trailer in the theatre. So I said, what the hell? So what's my word on this? Kind of stupid movie. Picture the suburb California kids from Laguna Beach and put em in a semi violent movie, and you get this. In fact, the dialogue and acting here is just like those MTV shows. So, right away, not a good start. There's interesting things in the story but very little. It gets a little unpredictable towards the end but once again, I didn't feel these characters, so who cares? My advice, don't bother even renting this.
24 Hour Party People Not bad, people. The beginnings of Punk Rock are shown in this documentary. Well, more specifically, punk rock in the U.K. And even more specifically, this focuses on the band, Joy Division. I like the soundtrack and the whole story of rock and roll. My favorite parts where in the first half. The second half felt a little too long. I like the style they told the story, documentary style. I like the part where our main character tells us right near the beginning, the future and destiny of everybody else in the room. Gotta mention the music again. I mean, they have the Sex Pistols here. Good soundtrack. If you're a fan of classic punk, this would be a good movie to check out. For everyone else, depends on the mood, I guess. It's alright. This made me want to watch another punk movie, SLC Punk.
Career Opportunities Silly movie from the early 90's. Produced by John Hughes so it has to have a cameo by John Candy. Anyways, this was alright. I always wondered what would it be like to be locked in overnight inside Target. Well, now I kind of know. Not bad. I don't know if I'll be roller skating all over the store but eating popcorn and jumping all over the store, sure why not? I've seen lots of films with the main actor here but he's usually in minor roles. It was kind of funny in the first 30 minutes. Then the rest was so and so. This inspired me to have a bad 80's night or 80's night in general. This DVD was hard to get, but if I Luv Video doesn't have it, Vulcan Video never fails. These stores are only in Austin, of course.
A Serbian Film This movie is beyond messed up. I've seen some disturbing films and this one has to be up there. For your info, I saw the uncensored U.S version plus some of the international version to compare a few scenes. I heard this film since last year's Fantastic Fest. Very controversial. Not going into detail about the scenes in this movie. But, if you're a father, it is best to avoid this at all cost. I like the industrial music on here. I like the slow pacing in the first half that builds up to the breaking point of the movie where all hell breaks loose. It felt like I was drugged up myself. Lots of torture scenes, lots of nudity, lots of blood. I like my fair share. But if you ask me if I'll ever see this movie again, I'll say, probably not.
[The second Wednesday of every month I'll see a movie that I am ashamed to admit I've never seen before. A movie that most have seen and it's usually referenced in pop culture. As a fan of cinema, I shouldn't have missed these movies, but I did, so shame on me. This will give me the chance to catch up on those movies.]
This month, my focus is Animated movies. The following five animated films I've never seen before:
Bambi The Iron Giant Lady and the Tramp Fantasia Akira
This month's pick by majority votes: Bambi Runner Up: Lady and the Tramp
Bambi I'm glad this was very short (1hr and 9mins). It was kind of boring. The only parts I liked was the parts with the rabbit. It reminded me somewhat of The Lion King. But this film came out 50 years before. It's considered a classic (duh, who hasn't heard of freaking Bambi?). I think I've seen clips before but never took interest to see this movie. And if it wasn't for Shame on Me Wednesday, I wouldn't have seen this at all.
Glad to get this one out of the way. One more Shame on Me Wednesday to go. For the last one, my film experts will vote for the best runner-up from all year long.
The Change-Up Man, this was pretty funny. I was expecting a stupid movie because no other interesting movie came out today. Yeah, this was kind of stupid but it works for me. It reminded me a little of another underrated movie (Hall Pass). Jason Bateman's performance is good as always. Don't really care about Ryan Reynolds. A few funny scenes we have here especially with the babies pooping and banging their heads. Funny dialogue. I had fun with this. Feels good to get away for a bit.
I had a six pack of Longsharks (which had nothing to do with the movie). Just, beer made it good.
[To expand my knowledge in this genre and for the sake of trying something different, every first Monday of every month this year, I'll be checking out a musical I've never seen before.]
Singin' In The Rain This has to be one of my favorite musicals I've ever seen. I didn't think I was going to enjoy it that much. From start to finish, very classy sequences. Lots of great moments and characters. A lot of memorable songs like, "Good Morning" and "Moses Supposes." Love all the tap dancing and long shot scenes. This is my first classic Gene Kelly movie.
This is a must buy for Musical fans. I'm adding this to the shelf, for sure.
Bad Teacher Predictably bad. Just wanted to see something stupid and maybe a little fun. What I got was just stupid. I heard about the poor reviews but I don't really give a damn about what other people say, I wanted to judge it for myself. A lot of critics hate it "Hall Pass," and surprisingly, I thought it was really funny. So who cares what they say about "Bad Teacher." Bottom line, I didn't like it. I liked some of the minor characters in the film. But Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake dont know how to act for anything.
From here on out, I am boycotting future movies from Diaz and Timberlake (unless of course, if they're in a Tarantino movie).
Crazy, Stupid, Love This was a great movie. Lots of great moments. Good flow. Great casting and performances. Very sweet!!! The ending was super sweet. It was a tearjearker for sure. If you've seen the trailer, you've seen practically the movie. Some of the great moments were already on the trailer. Every character in this movie was likeable. Recommended with a few bottles of wine and maybe some pasta.
Cars 2 I knew this wasn't going to be as good as the first one. This one had more racing and less heart about the world and characters. I wasn't feeling it as much. They focused more on Mater the Tow Truck here than ever. Poor stupid truck has feelings. We have somewhat the same story about foreign cars being the enemy.
This has to be my first Pixar disappointment. I mean, it wasn't that bad. Just expected a whole lot better coming from Pixar.
