Rating: 6/10
Review: I didn't really feel like Hackman was completely there for this role, this is a mildly interesting thriller with a barely of age Melanie Griffith and James Woods on display.
70. Purple Rain (1984)
Rating: 5/10
Review: I was already a fan of the album before watching this, and I don't think I really was missing anything by not seeing the movie except that it introduced Apollonia and her amazing outfits to my personal fantasy world.
69. I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale (2009)
Rating: 8/10
Review: This doc starts with the amazing factoid that all 5 movies that John Cazale starred in all were nominated for Best Picture. This is an amazing watch that is all too short at an hour long but they interview pretty much everyone that Cazale appeared on screen and stage with and they all speak glowingly about him. Included quite a bit of his back story and life off the screen that I wasn't aware of before. Highly Recommended
68. A Cat in Paris (2010)
A Cat in Paris Trailer:
Rating: 7/10
Review: This movie is a great triumph of traditional non-cg animation, the shading/lighting techniques used here really makes every shot come alive with a warmth that few cg generated animated films have ever reached.
67. The Broken Tower (2011)
Rating: 5/10
Review: This covers a lot of similar territory that Howl covered minus the plot structure around a court case. I am a fan of James Franco but this was hard to sit through even for me, the best way to compare the two movies is that Howl is the movie a filmmaker would produce, but this movie is what a poet would produce in that its almost unwatchable. I was interested in seeing what part Michael Shannon would play when i looked at the credits, but he really only has cameo in that he has a few lines of dialogue and is only in a couple scenes, aka a waste of his talent.
66. The Grey (2011)
Rating: 7/10
Review: This is the first good movie that Carnahan has directed since Narc in 2002, and I'm happy to welcome him back from this drizzling fecal matter that were Smoking Aces and The A-Team. I really like polar survival stories and this no expection. While doing some research for the review I found out that I missed a scene after the end credits, so don't forget that if you happen to pick this one up. I did notice the casting director must have love the cancelled AMC show Rubicon which two of its cast members on the plane with Neeson.
65. Detachment (2011)
Rating: 6/10
Review: Where as Dangerous Minds is filled with Hollywood BS, this is a more realistic portrayel or teaching for a class I would have to assume. This movie is pretty bleak to say the least, but the cast for this is incredible. Tony Kaye must be well liked to get all these great character actors together for this small movie but its good to see Kaye starting to get back to slightly bigger films after the experience he had on American History X.
64. Metropia (2009)
Rating: 6/10
Review: Amazing photo realistic cg amalgamation, my only complaint is that this world is so grey sometimes that you lose some of the attention to detail they put into the atmospheric backgrounds. Vincent Gallo doesn't detract from the movie, and Alexander Skarsgard (Eric from True Blood) has a really good part in this also.
63. Westworld (1973)
Rating: 6/10
Review: This is basically the trail run for what Jurassic Park would be, the phrase "spared no expense" even pops up in this movie also. I kept thinking of the Simpons episode that parodies both movies at once while watching this. Also i was struck by how much young James Brolin looks like Christian Bale and with after a little google searching apparently I wasn't the first to think of this.
62. The Hunger Games (2012)
Rating: 5/10
Review: Now normally I wouldn't have touched this movie with a 10 foot pole but since Jennifer Lawrence is in it, and since my girlfriend is a rapid fan of the books I was pretty much fated to see this movie eventually. The whole time I was thinking about how I wanted to pick up that new Blu-Ray of Battle Royale that was just released, I'm sure thats why they the blu-ray release was timed so close to this movie's theatrical release.
61. The Comic (1969)
Rating: 6/10
Review: This movie covers some of the same themes that The Artist touches on, but in a much less interesting way. Even though I love the director Carl Reiner this was tough to get through.
60. Superman Batman Apocalypse (2010)
Rating: 3/10
Review: What a bait and switch, this should actually be titled the Supergirl and Wonder Woman movie because they are the main characters, and I have never been interested in either of them and this movie didn't change my viewpoint.
59. Batman Under The Red Hood (2010)
Rating: 6/10
Review: Can only really recommend this to hardcore Batmanites. I'm instantly skeptical of any animated Batman feature that doesn't feature Kevin Conroy, but since I know he is retiring soon from the role I'll have to get used to other people voicing him. Bruce Greenwood does a commendable job voicing the Batman role. I didn't like some of the character designs though, the Joker being the biggest eyesore, and The Black Mask character was a one of the few Batman villians that I wasn't familiar with before this movie, and his character is really just gangster caricature with no time is given to developing him beyond yelling at his underlings.
58. Game Change (2012)
Rating: 8/10
Review: If this movie had been release theatrically we would be talking about Julianne Moore getting Oscar buzz, but since it aired on HBO we'll only get Golden Globe mentions. I was completely surprised with how captivating this movie was and after watching it I felt it was sympathetic to Palin because Moore brings so much life to the role. The biggest draw back to this movie coming out is that it gives Palin relevancy again for people to put a microphone in her face, but hopefully this renewed interest in her will wain again....quickly. Highly Recommended
57. Across The Universe (2007)
Rating: 5/10
Review: I like the Beatles a lot, but I didn't really jive with this recreation of the songs. Works as music video but little else.
56. A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982)
Rating: 7/10
Review: Good Woody Flick, and Gordon Willis shot it. You either love or hate Woody so I'm not really going to convert anyone by writing a longer review.
55. Freaknik: The Musical (2010)
Rating: 5/10
Review: Even though I can't stand T-Pain this was terrible, I guess I had unrealistic expectations because Cee-lo is in this and I had hoped it would reach the heights of the musical American Dad Hot Tub of Love episode, but alas it comes nowhere close and while watching this i just wanted to put that episode on again.
54. Rider on the Rain (1970)
Rating: 8/10
Review: Jim Morrison was inspired by this movie to write Riders on the Storm after seeing it, lyrics in that song make so much more sense now after seeing this movie because they refer to characters in the movie or different parts of the plot. The movie on its own is really interesting also.
53. The Sitter (2011)
Rating: 6/10
Review: This poster catches my attention more than the movie did. I like Jonah Hill but his character wasn't that interesting in the movie and I felt it was a little dull because of it. Sam Rockwell's drug lord character deserves it's own spin off movie. On a "David Gordon Green recent films scale", this movie was better than Your Highness but nowhere near Pineapple Express.
52. Electra Glide in Blue (1973)
Rating: 7/10
Review: Before Robert Blake was a real life maniac he actually had a few good movies under his belt, this ethereal motorcycle cop movie is highly watchable and falls in line with many of the great anti-hero movies of the 70's that have endings that take a hard right.
51. Bye Bye Birdy (1963)
Rating: 6/10
Review: Getting ready for the season 5 of Mad Men to premiere I've been re-watching the earlier seasons and due to this movie being referenced through a multi-episode story arc in season 3, I decided to check it out. Not the worst but not the best musical I've seen, I've been told that this Hollywood version really mangled the original musical with inclusion for more Ann Margaret.
