what was the last film(s) you watched?

[outby43]

Saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes yesterday and it was pretty good. Very good CGI, decent acting, great action and some good scenes that make you root for the apes over the humans. Caesar stole the show and his character development was very nicely done.

Really looking forward to the sequel.

[bradistani]

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) - 10/10 nuff said 

some of the cgi was brilliant. especially caesars facial expressions and mannerisms. look forward to the sequel which i will definitely see on the big screen. i wager that, that evil looking chimp is gonna be a right bastard in the sequel .

john lithgow's performance as a alzheimer sufferer was especially good and quite emotional.

[kiwiol]

Really looking forward to the sequel.

Ditto. Didn't think much of the movie before I saw it, it's quite underrated.

[Boost]

Mystic River (2003)

Directed by Clint Eastwood and featuring very powerful acting from Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon.
Absolutely love this mystery/tragedy thriller. 8/10

Stir Of Echoes (1999)

One of the only movies I've been able to take Kevin Bacon seriously as a true actor. A horror/supernatural thriller. An easy watch with a nice twist. 6.5/10

Lantana (2001)

Australian movie starring Anthony LaPaglia. A no frills, low key drama. Heavily engrossing character study centering around 5 couples with secrets, lies, temptation and lust. Everyday believable characters and situations, some people complain of a relatively thin plot and the lack of a grand finale, but this really is an exploration of normal people making mistakes. Love it or hate it. 7.5/10

Jacob's Ladder (1990)

Tims Robbins stars as a Vietnam vet whose grip on reality is tested by a series of horrific hallucinations and visions. Pretty wild movie with a message of hope and a fantastic ending. 7.5/10

[kiwiol]

Mystic River (2003)

Directed by Clint Eastwood and featuring very powerful acting from Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon.
Absolutely love this mystery/tragedy thriller. 8/10

I saw this yesterday and would rate it about the same. Lawrence Fishburne was good too and Laura Linney's last bit of dialogue and acting were a bit freaky

[dr.chimps]

I saw this yesterday and would rate it about the same. Lawrence Fishburne was good too and Laura Linney's last bit of dialogue and acting were a bit freaky

I talked to Dennis Lehane on a book tour a few years ago. Cool guy. I quickly asked him about this book, and being (especially) adapted by Clint and he winked and said 'not too shabby.' Total Bostonian.   

[kiwiol]

I talked to Dennis Lehane on a book tour a few years ago. Cool guy. I quickly asked him about this book, and being (especially) adapted by Clint and he winked and said 'not too shabby.' Total Bostonian.   

Haha cool story, bro.

[kiwiol]

Killer Elite: Top notch action flick with Jason Statham, Clive Owen and a minor role for Robert DeNiro. One of the best action movies of the year with an excellent pace and good storyline. Was better than Drive, IMO. 7/10

Cowboys and Aliens: Another good action Sci-fi with Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. Lots of actions, very good CGI and decent plot. Better than most of the recent alien movies like Skyline and Battle LA. 7/10

Panic Button: Low budget but very nicely done English movie that's like a cross between Saw and The Social Network. Could be this year's "Cube". Fast paced, decent acting and a scary/creepy ending. 6/10

[garebear]

Killer Elite: Top notch action flick with Jason Statham, Clive Owen and a minor role for Robert DeNiro. One of the best action movies of the year with an excellent pace and good storyline. Was better than Drive, IMO. 7/10

Cowboys and Aliens: Another good action Sci-fi with Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. Lots of actions, very good CGI and decent plot. Better than most of the recent alien movies like Skyline and Battle LA. 7/10

Panic Button: Low budget but very nicely done English movie that's like a cross between Saw and The Social Network. Could be this year's "Cube". Fast paced, decent acting and a scary/creepy ending. 6/10

Killer Elite was watchable.

I was completely let down by Cowboys and Aliens. Really felt like walking out but I took my little brother.

[outby43]

Cowboys and Aliens: Another good action Sci-fi with Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. Lots of actions, very good CGI and decent plot. Better than most of the recent alien movies like Skyline and Battle LA. 7/10

This was slow for me.  I fell asleep after the first 40 or so minutes.  I hope it gets better when I resume.

[kiwiol]

Tough crowd here ^, I liked C & A for all the action.

Centurion: Action flick that's very similar to the underrated The Eagle - a group of Roman soldiers lead by Michael Fassbender get caught behind enemy lines and have to run/evade a group of Picts lead by Olga Kurylenko, whose tracker character is a tough, angry, mute bitch. Good camera work and fast paced, albeit a bit stretched out. MF is great as always and the final action scene was intense and very nicely done. 6.5/10

Paranormal Activity 2: Liked this one a bit more than the first and also the way they tied the story with the first one. While the first one was all about the atmosphere, this one relies more on cheaper techniques like jump scares and night vision camera a la Quarantine. Katie's tits were just as awesome as in the first 6/10

Rat Race: Comedy flick with a whole bunch of funny actors from Mr Bean to Whoopi Goldberg. Some hilarious scenes, most notably Jon Lovitz's Hitler speech in a WWII veterans meeting (see below) 5.5/10

[Grape Ape]

I am actually into baseball sabremetrics, but even I thought Moneyball was a horrible premise for a movie so I avoided it.

Saw it last week.  It was a great movie.  Very well written.

[bradistani]

Fright Night (2011) - excellent.

The Thing (2011) - not bad at all. nice monster effects with decent enough acting. i did think that it seriously lacked in tension and paranoia unlike carpenters masterpiece. still, it was never boring and was very good in some respects.

The Hangover Part II (2011) - awesome but not quite as brilliantly funny as the first film. i really hope that they bring us a third movie in this series. all these guys together are just fantastic together and i love the fact that these films are made for adults.

Conan the Barbarian (2011) - i fell asleep watching this. not because of the film itself, i was just knackered and knew really not to put it on, but i still did. anyroad, from what i saw of it. the action/fighting scenes seemed well done and were enjoyable enough. the bits in between seemed pretty , meh!

Suspiria (1977) - visually stunning, scary or riveting it's not. still always an enjoyable watch though.

there's at least a couple more, but i'll be fucked if i can remember what films they were, never mind how good or not there are  

[kiwiol]

Brad, how does Fright Night compare with the original? Was gonna DL it, but it got very poor reviews in IMDb. Will watch it based on your post.

Also, include a rating out of 10, please. Would be interesting to see how it varies from one person to the next.

[dr.chimps]

Looking for an X-mas movie with the nephew, and the Tintin and Hugo movies suggest themselves. Grew up with Tintin, but the reviews have been mixed, at best, while the Hugo ones seem to be universally positive. Anyone?   

[bradistani]

Brad, how does Fright Night compare with the original? Was gonna DL it, but it got very poor reviews in IMDb. Will watch it based on your post.

Also, include a rating out of 10, please. Would be interesting to see how it varies from one person to the next.

it's a very worthy remake. i don't think you'll be disappointed at all. farrell was great as the vampire , and there's some good scary and creepy moments and some nice eye candy too. and that's including the mother. 

i give it a very solid 7/10

[outby43]

Saw "Super 8" yesterday.  Started out to be very intriguing but once the secret was known of what this thing was that was taking all of this stuff from the town it fell apart.  It desperately needed a backstory.  Could have been a great movie but just fell apart in the middle.  I give the 1st half an 8 and the last half a 2.

[bradistani]

ChromeSkull: Laid to Rest 2 - nice follow up to the first film with with some great kills. 6/10 with an extra point for the awesome gore.

[bradistani]

Fright Night (2011) gave this a second viewing. still impressed 

[bradistani]

See No Evil (2006) - turned it off before it even got halfway through. gash    1/10 bah!

[funk51]

law abiding citizen , i was in it so i cheecked it out.couldn't find myself though, once again i ended up on some floor.

[Soul Crusher]

Saw J Edgar Hoover -   waste of time.   

[bradistani]

Frankenhooker (1990) - amusing cheesefest with such crazy fucked-up-ness as hookers that explode after smoking 'super crack' cooked up by a weird genius wanting to collect female body parts so he can create a new body for the head of his dead girlfriend who was tragically killed in a lawnmower accident 

[Boost]

Colombiana (2011)

Mix the revenge aspects of "Kill Bill" with the breakneck speed of "Taken", remove the style and tension and your left with this average revenge "Kickass chick" flick. Zoe Saldana of "Star Trek" fame kicks all sorts of ass as a 100lb trained killer, looking to avenge the deaths of her parents at the hands of Colombian Gangsters.

Some cool and inventive action sequences just about save this utterly unbelievable and formulaic action movie. The human drama, love sotry and character building subplots are laughably cliche.


Couldn't recommend it, but it is watchable. The female lead is cute but a little too slender to provide any real eye candy.

5.5/10

Swimming with Sharks (1994)
 
This one completely flew under the radar. Kevin Spacey plays the boss from hell, a monstrous movie mogul who hires a naive assistant and proceeds to make his life hell. Of course, the tables are eventually turned...

I've always been a little critical of Spacey for playing similar roles, the dry sarcastic mannerisms and speech seen in American beauty are in full force here. He is fantastic though and this movie, although low budget and fairly low key is enjoyable and funny. Very easy to watch.

6.5/10

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993)

Jason Scott Lee brilliantly portrays Bruce Lee's humble beginnings and rise to movie stardom. Absolutely love this film. Seen it a dozen times. Great soundtrack. I can't see how anyone could dislike this.

7.5/10


Minority Report (2002)

Underrated IMO. One of my favorite Sci-Fi flicks, Tom Cruise is great, high tension throughout. thought provoking story line (an interesting, often frightening glimpse into the future). We need more big budget movies of this quality hitting the cinemas nowadays.

8/10

[bradistani]

Happy Hell Night (1992) - looked promising after the opening scenes. the demon priest looked creepy as hell , and it looked like we were in for a gorefest of frat prats getting fucked up bad. after a overlong story setup it just seemed to plod on and the actual gore was very tame. what a waste of a demonic priest