Recently watched movies!

[lhb412]

^There's a bunch of Bogart movies I need to see all-the-way through because I've seen only bits and pieces (many of them very big pieces) of them on TCM.

[klen7]

'In a Lonely Place' is one my favorite of his. 'Sabrina' is another big Bogart classic but the age difference in that film with Audrey Hepburn is a bit odd now

[jellydonut25]

[klen7]

Its kind of like The Matrix..the sequels hurt my enjoyment of the original

[Dr Kain]

Scarface - This movie is nothing short of fantastic. It has action, it has comedy, it has drama. Pacino is just phenomenal here as is the movie's soundtrack. For a near 3 hour movie, it does not feel it at all. As always, a 9/10.

The Fighter - I bought this on a whim at Best Buy since it is done by the guy who did American Hustle. For a boxing movie, it was actually quite enjoyable. Christian Bale was awesome in this movie, but holy crap, it is weird seeing him so skinny. Especially since I just watched American Hustle yesterday when he is like 250lbs. The movie had a good soundtrack to it too and the story was well told. Man, that is one ****ed up family. Overall, I give it an 8/10.

[jellydonut25]

I've always found Scarface fairly overrated.

The Fighter is great though.

[klen7]

[Dr Kain]

[jellydonut25]

[Dr Kain]

I did a little Batman-athon today.

Year One - Very good adaptation to a very good Batman origin story. The animation looks nice and Cranston does an excellent job as Gordon here. 8/10

Under the Red Hood - This was one of my top favorites when it first came out, but it has since lowered on that pole. The movie is still great, but I really hate their protrayal of Black Mask. Now, I have not read the comic version of this movie, so maybe that is how Winick wrote him like, but I prefer the cool, calm, and collected Black Mask who will torture anyone or anything that makes him mad. Dimaggio does a great Joker though, especially his line about needing men, but not the dead ones. 8/10

The Dark Knight Returns - This movie is just down right fantastic from its excellent score to its animation. I absolutely love the dude who did Joker's voice here as it was the best since Mark Hamill. Every scene with the Joker is excellent and they did a wonderful job of his killing spree chase in the amusement park. They did a very good job of improving on the source material (honestly, I enjoy TDKR, but I feel all of the dialog from the news reports and debates slows the pacing down a lot when reading it) and the fight at the end with Superman is very good too. I also love the first scene when Batman faces off with the mutants at the junkyard. 9/10

[lhb412]

King Kong vs. Godzilla and King Kong Escapes.

Hell, yeah!

These Blu-Rays look great, and these will almost certainly be the best looking '60s Toho films we're gonna get until some (no doubt) far-off future date when Toho actually turns out really great transfers.

[XvGojira]

The Grand Budapest Hotel - Fantastic film. I liked the use of the different aspect ratios. I believe that Wes Anderson could take a terrible script and make it at the very least, very visually stunning movie.

[klen7]

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

A Good Day to Die Hard- Easily the weakest entry in the series I found myself tuning out of it every so often which rarely happens to me in a movie.

[jellydonut25]

[XvGojira]

[Dr Kain]

The Grand Budapest Hotel - This movie is down right fantastic. It is hilarious, well acted, and just an interesting odd movie all around. The cinematography is great, especially as the movie keeps going from widescreen to full screen depending on what time period the movie is taking place. There are a ton of cameos in this movie and all of them are great. Willem Defoe is nothing short of great, but Ralph Finnes and Tony Revolori are a fantastic duo throughout the movie. The only thing I really can complain about is the narrative was a little confusing once or twice, but other than that, this is probably going to be one of the best movies of the year. Easily an 8/10.

[MekaGojira3k]

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - UGH. Really enjoyed this. Easily the best of Phase 2.

[Dr Kain]

Captain America 2: Go see Captain America 2. That is my review. No seriously, BEST MARVEL SEQUEL YET!! It is actually really really REALLY good!! 8/10!!!!

[lhb412]

Cat People (1982)

I'm a big fan of the original, but this one's not bad. It's a lot of fun. What is it about it being made in the 1980's that gives horror films such an enjoyable feel?

[lhb412]

Zatoichi and the Fugitives

Co-starring our own Takashi Shimura! Shimura is a kindly, principled town doctor who Ichi ends up staying with. The obligatory corrupt town official employs a band of ruthless killers (the fugitives of the title) lead by the son of Shimura's character. Bad stuff goes down, and Ichi memorably fights through the finale very injured, giving it an extra level of harrowing.

I wish Shimura had more scenes, but he's still great with what he has, and always classes up whatever he's in.

[lhb412]

Samaritan Zatoichi

The setup for this plot requires Zatoichi to be a bit too ready to kill someone, but once you swallow that iffy part it's a solid entry. Ichi ends up killing a guy who didn't deserve it and spends the rest of the movie protecting that guy's sister from a boss who wants her for a sex slave (I'm sure they'd give the position a nicer name back then). It's also good to see Ichi really loose big and get in trouble gambling, 'cause the series is front-loaded with Ichi winning a bit too much (superhuman sword skills I can buy, but always walking away from a dice game with a pile of money?).

[XvGojira]

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - That was a great movie. I can see why many people would proclaim it as one of the better or best Marvel movies. As great as it was though, I think the first one was more fun but they are sort of two different beasts. CA:TFA was a WW2 adventure movie with a glint of Indiana Jones to it, CA:TWS was a marvel universe political thriller. And man the Winter Soldier was freaking intense! I can't wait to see more of him in Cap 3

[canofhumdingers]

Star Trek VI: the Undiscovered Country (1991) - so a while back amazon's deal of the day was a bluray box set of the theatrical versions of the first six Star Trek films (and it was a killer deal, like less than half price if I remember correctly). So we've been working our way through them. Up until this point I had seen the Director's cut DVD of ST:TMP and the theatrical cut of Wrath of Khan, as well as ST:Generations and of course the new J.J. Abrams films.

While I've enjoyed all the movies so far, I think this was by far my favorite of the original cast (yes, even better than Wrath of Khan). In fact, I might go so far as to say this is my favorite Star Trek movie ever (at least of the ones I've seen). I really enjoyed the story and felt it was well written with just the right amount of Star Trek cheesiness without going overboard. The cast was used well and even delivered some pretty good performances (unlike a few of the earlier films where it felt like they were constantly winking at the camera and hamming it up) The production value was also obviously up from some of the previous entries and some of the practical and makeup effects were quite well done. I really liked the various locations, aliens, etc. This film, of the first six, felt the most "galactic" in scale. It really felt like there was a huge universe full of alien life and governed by an interstellar federation. I kinda want to go watch it again!

[MekaGojira3k]

Ugh, I love Undiscovered Country. So much. I'm also a weirdo who loves TMP the most, but Undiscovered Country is a close second. I love the political intrigue of the thing.