Bronson (2009), based on the true story of Michael Peterson, aka Charles Bronson. Her Majesty's Prison's most famous, violent and troublesome inmate who has currently spent over 35 years in prison, 30 of which in solitary confinement. Tom Hardy delivers a magnificent performance as Bronson, hugely theatrical one moment and then turns into a very chilling, very real monster the next. If you enjoyed Chopper, then you should enjoy this film. I wouldn't consider it to be *that* violent given the premise and reality of the story but if anything, it only benefited from not over glamorising the violence and risk turning Bronson into a hero. I would not say it fully shows his true colors, but it doesn't elevate him into a hero. my main criticism with it, is that it didn't do the story of him taking hostages and staging a 47 hour rooftop protest IN A PRISON justice, but then as I said above I guess the director didn't want to turn him into a hero, or even an anti hero. Overall it's gripping, darkly comic at times and fantastically acted. A solid 7 / 10
The Prophet I saw this tonight at E Street Cinemas in DC. It's a French/Arabic film nominated for an Oscar here in America (though I didn't know that at the time), directed by a big-time French director with a few no-names. It was enthralling. It really was. The skinny: it's a prison drama, focusing on the rise of a 19 year old convict with no education, no friends or allies, imprisoned for six years for a crime he may or may not have committed through a rigid, unforgiving landscape. The story arc examines the power struggles innate in prison life, centered around this kid working under a Don Corleone-esque mob leader who takes him under his wing in the film's opening scenes. The kid is given orders and promised protection in return, and one botched murder scene later he's part of the inner circle of these imprisoned french crime bosses. It's long, maybe too long at 2 hours and 45 minutes, and sometimes it's hard to keep the story lines and subplots altogether. I can't even hardly pretend to summarize them all here, but it's got drugs, murder, sex, power, money, everything you can think of. What makes the film stand out is its unquenchable focus on the main character, who grows and develops as a person and faces decisions that his survival hinges on as the story unfolds. It's really remarkable. He starts off as a skinny, intimidated 19 year old kid fearing for his life, and through a series of sharp turns in which he really has no choice but to concede to, he hardens and grows and undergoes a brutalization into a man carved out of wood. It's really is a wild ride. If you can stand reading subtitles for that long, I highly recommend it for the path it takes you down. It's a smart, sometimes funny and well crafted design through the eyes of one person's intercession of fate in a shitty environment. Plus, you can brag to your friends about how cultured yo uare about seeing a foreign film. That's always fun.
Saw two movies today (I was bored). She's out of my league Genuinely funny throughout. If you liked, Superbad, Knocked Up, or any Apatow's actors movie, you'll like this, and it gave awesome stand up comedian TJ Miller a chance to shine. B+ The Green Zone Well, it was good, but I was thrown by the shaky-cam in this movie just as much as I was in the last two Bourne movies. If we're going to see Jason Bourne, excuse me, Matt Damon throw down some kick ass fighting and chasing scenes, I's like to be able to see enough to KNOW WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING. All in all, it was good, and I loved Amy Ryan's bit part, and Greg Kinnear always makes a great pompous jackass bad guy. Matt Damon was stellar as an Army CWO, though most of the shit he did would not fly in any kind of real military world. Spoiler Sending a classified (I know, it was FOUO) intelligence report to a SLEW of journalists at the end would get him, not only kicked out of the Army, but possibly face jail time. B
She's Out of My League Was funnier than I thought. I expected a few laughs here and there, but it actually turned out to be pretty good. It probably won't end up being a classic, but it's worth the money and it will entertain you if you like these movies. The trailer will pretty much tell you whether or not it's your type of movie. Spoiler My favorite aspect was how they made fun of the TSA and the jackasses that work for them throughout the entire thing.
The Crazies Fucking loved this movie. Well executed scares, characters you actually care about, and it knew when to not take itself too seriously. Most fun I've had at the movie theater since Zombieland or Drag Me To Hell. Hollywood actually made a horror remake worth seeing. Go see it.
Hot Tub Time Machine If you don't take it seriously(most specifically, the time-travel aspects), which you shouldn't, it was hilarious. Even John Cusack was decent.
Yes I forgave the time travel nonsense but the there were other aspects that sucked hard. Really the best movie comparison I could make was the utterly terrible Strange Wilderness. Both films had semi interesting plot ideas that went absolutely no where because the writers spent more times ripping a bong that trying think of anything coherent (or relatively funny). Like strange wilderness it looks like it was filmed with a shoe string budget. Marty McFly's dad had a pretty funny running gag until the let down pay off scene. Chevy Chase didn't say a coherent sentence thus nothing funny came out of his mouth, sort of like Ernest Borgnine in Strange Wilderness. On top of all of that for a movie that was supposed to be in the 80s they really skimped on the the titty shots, I mean you saw some but they tried their damnedest to try block the nipples in the frame.
How To Train Your Dragon It was really, really well done. Of course, it's from the guys who did Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar, so I expected it to be good. I took my 6 and 7 1/2 year olds to it, and there were no nightmares, the violence wasn't graphic and didn't phase them (I mean, hey, it's a movie about Vikings fighting dragons, so there has to be some violence), and that damn dragon is cute. My wife and I really liked it too. I wish we had gone to the IMAX to see it, but it was good in our theater in 3D. However: Vikings are from Scandinavia, not Scotland. WTF is up with the Scottish accents? My grandfather was FOB Norwegian, I know what a Viking is supposed to sound like, and that wasn't it. Other than that, I give it a solid A. Trailer if you haven't seen it:
Hot Tub Time Machine A good, but I would be hesitant from calling it a "great", comedy. The film plays homage to one of the best movies of all time "Back to the Future" a few different times, which in and of itself, makes it a classic. I thought Rob Cordry's character was a little over the top. Besides that, all the other characters held their own. I'll definitely check it out again when it makes it to DVD, because like most comedies, you can't appreciate them the first time around 4/5 stars.
She's Out of My League - Being from Pittsburgh I'm incredibly biased as I love any chance to see my hometown in all its glory. Predictable plot and flow but enough sophomoric humor to keep me interested throughout. I absolutely loved the interaction of the main character with his family. This is a geeky guy gets hot girl comedy after all and not Citizen Kane. I would give it a 7 because I feel like I'd honestly watch it again, maybe even buy it, but it loses a point because in a movie set in Pittsburgh nobody said the word "yinz." 6/10
Hot Tub Time Machine I went in expecting a fairly funny movie (dammit, I wanted to like this movie), though nothing that would likely be lumped into canonical comedy. I got slightly less than I expected. The premise was interesting. The plot holes didn't matter much since it isn't a serious film. What hampered it as an overall experience wad that it justfelt underdeveloped. Watch "The Hangover." Watch "Knocked Up." Hell, go back and watch "Stripes." Those are all comedies with a clear sense of tone and identity. The writing is cohesive and the main characters are fleshed-out at least to the extent where they all add distinct flavors of humor to the flick. Hot Tub Time Machine felt very half-baked, with characters who all had somewhat of a personality, but not enough to really deliver lines that were memorable. Oh, and Rob Corrdry needs to learn what "overacting" means. Not ever character has to be subtle, but fuck, his acting was so over-the-top that is just killed the movie. I'm hoping there's a Razzie nomination for him in the future. Final verdict: not a terrible movie. But that's about it. 2.5/5
I have to make this short because I'm in a rush, but I just wanted say do NOT see Clash of the Titans. This movie was all kinds of horrible. The background and scenery shots were nice, but that's all it has going for it. The acting was bad, the script is idiotic and confused, nothing engages you at all. Even the action/fighting was a disappointment. The epic showdown you wait the entire movie for is short and lame. Not even a real fight in it. By the time the movie finally got to that point I couldn't believe only 2 hours had passed, it felt like 12. Save your money, this is the biggest let down in recent memory. If I hadn't snuck booze into the theater I couldn't have gotten all the way though. 2/10
I took the kidlets to this yesterday at the IMAX and we all loved it. It was actually quite funny and yes, the dragon was pretty cute. Also another one to go see if you have children to entertain is Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I thought it was hilarious, but then again, I'm practically still a kid. Apparently it wasn't much like the book, but both kids (8 and 4) thought it was awesome sauce.
I went and saw The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo today ; its based on the Stieg Larsson's Millenium trilogy of books. The film is Swedish with English subtitles. I have yet to read the books that have been very popular in Australia. I enjoyed the film despite it taking a while to get going. Some of the scenes were quite brutal and confronting. It's worth a look before Hollywood gets its hands on the trilogy and makes the Hollywood versions.
Just saw Clash of the Titans, and while I didn't hate it as much as the poster above, I still didn't think it was that good. The characters are completely undeveloped, and I have absolutely no idea why I was supposed to care when some of them died or why a certain character at the end was brought back. Perseus was the only one with any depth or good development, and even his depth was paper thin. He also acts like a stubborn fuck about one particular issue, which is actually pretty hypocritical in retrospect. The more I think about it, the more annoyed I get. The action scenes are also meh. There are three main battles of note, and while they aren't as impossible to follow as Transformers 2, they aren't done nearly as well done as movies like Lord of the Rings or, to a lesser extent, 300. The climactic battle at the end is something they hype for the whole movie, and nothing even really happens with it. I was expecting a solid 10-15 minute full out war, and instead got 2 or 3 minutes of not much of anything. Don't pay to see this in theaters...if you can rent it for $2 from your local convenience store, do that instead. 4/10
I was dragged to go see The Last Song on the weekend. Yay for getting some thank you sex, but for the love of God, it is the epitome of chick flick romance sad sap cinema. It was The Notebook with Miley Cyrus and set in present time.
I also saw this at the local arthouse cinema. A friend texted me and said "Hey, want to see a Swedish murder mystery?' Who was I to say no? I really enjoyed the movie, I think it had better pacing than a lot of American thrillers. It's just over two hours long but it didn't seem like a waste of time at all. If I wasn't interested in anything else, Noomi Rapace is now on my radar as a hot foreign actress to look out for in future movies.
KICK ASS Saw it today at the noon showing, pretty legit movie. I haven't read the comics so I don't know if it stayed true to the subject matter. If you want to see an action movie with the annoying kid from Superbad getting his ass kicked this is a movie for you.
Kick-Ass They aren't re-inventing the wheel here or anything, but it is a very entertaining movie, just don't take it too seriously. You get a taste for what the movie is like in the previews, but they left the most entertaining parts for the movie. Good dialogue, enjoyable action, and utterly, completely ridiculous.