Rate Movies You've Recently Watched.

La La Land - That movie left me lukewarm. The romantic comedy element of it is underdeveloped. The music is... well... let's just say Hurwitz is not Gershwin nor Bernstein (in all fairness the two songs nominated for an academy award are the one that is good - City of Stars - and the one that goes along the most moving moment of the film - The Fools Who Dream). The choreography is not particularly exciting... Chazel's directing of the musical acts is on point, alternating dazzling tracking shots and sharp editing, and the performances of Stone and Gosling are commendable and the fact they are not amazing singers makes it more human and touching in a way. I really enjoyed their dancing, but, well... not Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. I don't know... as a retro musical, it is not as good as its models and as a modern musical it does not break the mold enough (it cracks it a little in the end) to convince... 6 or 7 out of 10? Probably less if you are not in love with Emma Stone (or, I guess, Ryan Gosling).

Manchester By The Sea - What is a drama? A film where dramatic things happen? By this definition Manchester By The Sea is not really a drama, but in a way it's worse: it's about trying to or failing to deal with the dramatic things that happened. Great performances, great dialogues laced with acerbic wit that provide some welcomed respite from the somber situation, I was also very impressed by the cinematography. The transition to digital cameras has been a rocky one at times (see some shots in Collateral or Public Enemy or the abomination that is The Hobbit), but now cinematographers are not only adept at providing a very cinematic look to movies shot with digital cameras, but they are also able to use them for things that would be impossible using film. The other day I saw Ta'ang, a documentary by chinese director Wang Bing, and there is a scene lit by a single flickering candle that at times goes to a barely red wick and there is not an ounce of video noise in the shot, it's insane. In Manchester By The Sea, it's the stunning sharpness of the general shots that amazes. 8 out of 10.

EDIT: Ryan Gosling not Ryan Reynolds... doh!

Picasso3 said:

I really really really liked hateful eight

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That movie which I own thanks to the digital keys my pop tosses me when he buys movies, came on premium about 100x last 2 months. I think I had it playing 20 times at least. Not always fully watching it but it was on.
The cast was superb and the story and acting excellent. I would love to see more like that.

spronk said:

Spartacus is the Blood and Sand show, not fairy tale but if you haven't watched spartacus its fantastic. Three seasons of Spartacus plus one prequel season. It definitely tops 100 in terms of story and violence, even tops Game of Thrones. Black Sails (pirates) is another show I'd rate as highly watchable.

Once upon a time can be gritty and dark and violent at times, but it is aimed at women and kids. I still enjoy it. Emerald City is weird, its darker again but the writing and acting is pretty bad but it does explore the land of Oz in a great way.

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Spartacus moves from s1 gay softporn (really, that's what it is, homoerotic implies some level of subtlety which spartacus cannot be accused of) into straight up goreporn by the final season.

And the entire thing manages to be artful in a way that I can't really describe. You can't call Spartacus good. Think of it more like a XXX version of Hercules, the Legendary Journeys. So... you can't call it good. It doesn't even try to be good. But god damn, it's a masterpiece. Really just a crown jewel of the genre. B grade schlock which is flat out better than most mediocre A grade serious and/or sincere enterprises.

It's just pure. It's pure, I guess, is the best way to recommend it.

iannis said:

Spartacus moves from s1 gay softporn (really, that's what it is, homoerotic implies some level of subtlety which spartacus cannot be accused of) into straight up goreporn by the final season.

And the entire thing manages to be artful in a way that I can't really describe. You can't call Spartacus good. Think of it more like a XXX version of Hercules, the Legendary Journeys. So... you can't call it good. It doesn't even try to be good. But god damn, it's a masterpiece. Really just a crown jewel of the genre. B grade schlock which is flat out better than most mediocre A grade serious and/or sincere enterprises.

It's just pure. It's pure, I guess, is the best way to recommend it.

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I just finished it tonight of the 3 actual seasons minus 4 missing episodes ( Ep6 s1 and Ep 3, 6,7 in season 3 ) for whatever stupid reason on Direct TV Starz On Demand. Haven't watched the Gods of the Arena off season yet. Was really good. Some parts were familiar to me. I think I might have watched a few episodes back when the season 1 spartacus actor died. Having watched both Spartacus and Game of Thrones, I can clearly judge Spartacus the leader in terms of number of tits and quality of tits. A pair of breasts to rule them all. Next up, Black Sails.

spartacus is definitely the master of tits, black sails has some great ones in season 1 & 2 and then everyone decided they don't wanna get naked anymore

I watched The Founder last night, just like Adebisi, I guess. It was a really good movie. There was a slightly older couple sitting a few seats down from me that had full conversations the ENTIRE fucking movie. Seriously, who the fuck goes to a movie to talk?

I had a pretty good Tuesday.

John Wick - 8/10 Watched this again because the second one is about to come out. My local theater is running it tomorrow, and I wanted to catch up. This movie is really quite excellent. The action is fast paced and captivating. The story is simple, but that isn't a bad thing. The music sets the atmosphere nicely. The icing on the cake is the world building. You really feel like the universe in which this movie takes place is a lived in setting with rules and institutions that permeate outside the run time of the film itself.

Sicario - 9/10 This was my second time viewing this movie as well. I saw it for the first time in theaters when it came out, and decided to watch it again last night. I figured I could put it on and play some video games, but I quickly found myself completely immersed in this movie. It is an action movie where the action is completely drowned in the atmospheric intensity of the music, and the complexity of the characters' motivations. I remembered what was going on, and was still enthralled in the unfolding of the plot. I should mention that this movie has one of my favorite story telling tropes; the main character is the not the agent of change within the story. The main character is just along for the ride. The characters are good, the action is engaging, but this film's strengths are the visual feast and the musical score that pulls you in. See it on as large as television as possible, and preferably with surround sound.

The Nice Guys - 7/10 I have a very dry sense of humor, and I don't think I have laughed as hard as I laughed at this movie in years. It felt like a story that had been written in the 60's, but the pacing had been updated to fit what modern audiences are used to experiencing. If you like smart, witty humor then this is the comedy for you.

Xarpolis said:

I watched The Founder last night, just like Adebisi, I guess. It was a really good movie. There was a slightly older couple sitting a few seats down from me that had full conversations the ENTIRE fucking movie. Seriously, who the fuck goes to a movie to talk?

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Loved the movie but the entire time everything seemed too exaggerated. Kind of wish they could have just wrote their own story and not thrown McDonalds into it. Will watch again

Surely you must have enjoyed her friend losing her shit?

Took some much needed time off from work watched some Netflix

I really liked the Ip Man movies (the first 3, the 4th one was "WTF?") So that made me a Donnie Yen fan so I also watched Kung Fu Killer and Flash Point (may have watched that one on Amazon)
I enjoyed them all 8/10 if you're into Kung Fu movies.

The Barn

Independent horror film that came out last year filmed in the style of cheap horror film -



Pretty bad but watchable. With a little more money on some aftereffects to make it look older and a little better sound work it could have been pretty good.

Have had it downloaded since October of 2015, but I finally got around to watching Southpaw. Damn good movie. Honestly, Gyllenhaal is quickly pulling away as my favorite actor.

The Cure for Wellness-Truly the dumbest fucking movie I have ever seen.

Gold-Pretty entertaining with a good twist at the end. McConaughey did an amazing job transforming into the lead character. His acting and a good story make for good time at the movies.

Watched Cabin in The Woods again. I try to see it every few years. Still one of my favorite horrors (if you could call it that) to come out in a long time. I just loved how well it was done. If anyone hasn't seen it, definitely do yourself the favor and do so. I'd say avoid any trailers because the trailer kinda gives stuff away that you really should experience as it happens.

The Girl With All the Gifts. 7/10

Went into this with zero fucking idea what it was about and hadn't watched the trailer. I suggest you do the same. Really enjoyed this and interesting take on a genre.

Mad Max Fury Road - not a fan of the franchise, only seen one of the other movies and I don't remember which one it was because I was super drunk at the time, but I enjoyed this. Basically 90 minutes of ridiculously over the top battle scenes, but it doesn't try and be anything other than what it is, and as a result it was a pretty cool way to pass the time. Special effects were a little shaky in a few scenes, but they really nailed the post-apocalyptic outback atmosphere.

Imperium - enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Starts out a bit rough since Radcliffe doesn't sell the role of FBI agent at all, but once he goes undercover he actually pulls off the role pretty well. It feels a little preachy about all the neo nazi crap, but I'm not American so maybe I'm just underestimating things and American History X levels of white fascist violence is an actual thing. It kinda floundered towards the end though - it was obvious they wanted to find some really important message to impart, but never really settled on what that message was other than "yeah neo nazis are bad,' which, duh.

The Tempest - I generally like Shakespeare adaptions, but this one sucked. Only thing it had going for it was Helen Mirren as Prospero. Special effects were cringeworthy and they just didn't do a good job at translating from stage to screen.