Monday, October 27, 2008

Movie #273

10/24/2008

273. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
Off DVR, Shown on IFC (widescreen, uncut)
While a lot of the scenes may seem unfocused and without direction or purpose (and a few are), most let you in more on what the reality of the world that the characters inhibit. Overall this was quite an enjoyable watch. Worth Watching.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Movie #272

10/17/2008

272. Babylon A.D. (2008)
Other Means
This was a passion project for the director that he worked on developing for years, so I’m not sure if he was happy with how this ended up but he must have known what he was going for when he cast Vin Diesel as the lead. This is a pretty over the top euro-trashy romp that takes it’s self a little too seriously at times. I can’t really saw I came away from this with anything memorable. Pass

Monday, October 13, 2008

Movie #271

10/10/2008

271. Shaolin vs Evil Dead (2004)
Off DVD
While this movie isn't especially good, nothing can really completely deliver on what my mind came up with when I saw the title on the cheap dvd rack. Pass

Monday, October 6, 2008

Movies #261-270

10/05/2008

270. Shogun Assassin (1980)
Off DVD
GZA's Liquid Swords samples alot of the dialogue from this movie, and after watching it you'll know why, because this movie is super badass. This has as much samurai ass kicking action as you could ever need from one film. Must Watch

10/04/2008

268. Naked Killer 2 (1993)
Off DVD
This movie really threw me for a loop because it has nothing to do with the first Naked Killer, it just seems like they made a movie with the same actress and then just put this title on it to sell it. Stick to the first Naked Killer.


269. War (2007)
Other Means
Big pile of rubbish with a few action scenes thrown in, moving on.

10/03/2008

267. Bug (2006)
Other Means
This play turned movie actually translates pretty well, I'm not an Ashley Judd fan but she really captures the truly desperate woman in this disturbing at times movie.

10/02/2008

266. The Fall (2006)
Other Means
Directing Tarsem again fails to bring the substance, but he always brings the flair, and while parts of this movie are incredibly beautiful they don't really worth together as a movie. Also I felt that we spent to much time in the real world when the fantasy story should have been center piece in the film.

10/01/2008

265. Get Smart (2008)
Other Means
I had kind of low expectations going into this movie, but I was happily surprised with how much chemistry that Carrell and Hathaway have together, this is just a fun action / spy movie.

09/30/2008

262. Bad Sleep Well (1960)
Off DVR, Shown on Turner Classic Movies (widescreen)
This is a Kurosawa movie that takes place in contemporary times, unlike the majority of his films. The movie follows a family business and all the backstabbing and other politics that go on when legal charges are being brought down on a large company. Well worth the watch.


263. Miracle at St. Anna (2008)
In Theaters
The majority of this movie is really engaging, but it complete falls apart in the last 30 minutes, and for that I'm going to blame the source material that the movie was based on. Disappointing, Spike almost had a home run here.


264. In Between Days (2006)
Off DVR, Shown on Sundance (widescreen, uncut)
This is a very sparse dialogue indie flick that follows one Korean girl as she adjusts to life in North America, there isn't really a lot going on this movie but I wasn't completely bored by it.

09/29/2008

261. The Black Cat (1968)
Off DVR, Shown on IFC (widescreen, uncut)
This is a folk tale adapted quite well for the screen, if your down for a movie with haunted forests and vengeneful spirits than this is right up your alley. Good movie

Monday, September 29, 2008

Movies #253-260

09/28/2008

259. The Giant Claw (1957)
Off DVR, Shown on Turner Classic Movies (widescreen)
With a title like Giant Claw I was expecting this movie to maybe deal with giant crabs or something like that, but low and behold the featured monster in the movie is a decrepit giant vulture that flies around attacking people and planes and doesn't show up on radar so he can't be tracked. There was barely anything else to keep my attention in this movie, but there are some good laughs throughout (because the movie is so bad, of course).


260. Righteous Kill (2008)
Other Means
A flood of bad press followed the release of this movie, and I had seen the directors previous film with Pacino, 88 Minutes which was terrible. But I have to say this movie isn't nearly as terrible as reported, while the script is from screenwriting 101, watching Pacino and Deniro on screen makes up for a lot of the lacking in the writing. This is definetly watchable, the cast otherwise is really good also with Carla Gugino, John Leguizamo, and Donnie Wahlberg. Also for all the 50 Cent haters, he is barely in the movie, so it's not a problem.

09/27/2008

258. You Don't Mess with the Zohan Unrated (2008)
Other Means
Now I consider myself in the camp of Adam Sandler haters (besides Punch Drunk Love of course), and I had some mightly low expectations for this movie. But I have to say that I laughed pretty hard throughout the length of this unrated version of the film, I'm going to give credit to Judd Apatow for that. This is pretty over the top is terms of the comedy, and if your an Adam Sandler hater this might be worth a watch, but I enjoyed this one anyway.

09/26/2008

257. Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987)
Off DVR, Shown on Turner Classic Movies (widescreen, uncut)
This film does a good job of making unsympathetic school boys watchable on the back drop of WW2, definetly worth watching if you've seen a Louis Malle film before, this is a good introduction to him. Recommended Watch

09/25/2008

255. The Bank Job (2008)
Off DVD
This is a pretty well done British gangster / heist movie, the reason why this works better than the litany of other British gangster movies is partially based on a true story which gives it an added sense of reality somewhat. I was expecting something more watered down than what this turned out to be, worth a watch if you don't have anything to watch.


256. 21 (2008)
Off DVD
This movie is about as mainstream as mainstream gets, the whole movie looks like it was shot with the same crew and equipment as an episode of CSI, and also it has the weird digital video motion blur in scene with high movement. I don't know why that look is desirable because it looks cheap. The music throughout the movie is already getting dated and this just came out back in March, it was just a compilation of stuff that was popular months before the movie came out. Your not going to miss anything by skipping this movie except seeing Kate Bosworth, who is usually worth admission, but she's not enough alone this time.

09/23/2008


253. Burn After Reading (2008)
In Theaters
This is Cohen Brothers return to form and they nail the farcical nature that some of the films of their past captured. Great acting all around, highly enjoyable. Highly Recommended Watch


254. Snow Angels (2007)
Other Means
With Kate Beckinsale and Sam Rockwell to top your cast your obviously doing something right. David Gordon Green’s film came out before Pineapple Express, but it may have been shot after I’m not sure. Either way this movie is really good with establishing it’s natural setting and characters. The cracker who almost killed The Forbidden Kingdom returns here and actually fits his part really well and has actually flipped my perspective of him. Nicky Katt has a nice appearance and the main girl from The Wackness also has a substantial part. Amy Sedaris is also in this movie but just barely. Worth a watch.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Movies # 249-252

09/18/2008

250. Cure (1997)
Off DVR, Shown on IFC (widescreen, uncut)
This would fall into the Asian horror genre I guess but it has the subtlety of the original Pulse, in that’s it’s really understated in it’s approach of the creepiness. And it’s takes a while into the film before we even figure out what were chasing with the police. This movie doesn’t need fast pacing to be interesting, Highly Recommended Creepy Watch.


251. The Party (1968)
Off DVR, Shown on Turner Classic Movies (widescreen, uncut)
This is Peter Sellers in his prime playing a bumbling Indian actor in Hollywood. This movie is really funny in parts, and a lot of the gags still stand up today. All I know is that this movie blows The Love Guru out of the water, and they both have some similarities that don’t bode well for Guru.


252. Rat Pfink and Boo Boo (1966)
Off DVR, Shown on Turner Classic Movies
This movie has too much camp value, like these guys were trying to be campy and not serious when they made it which didn’t really work as well as if they weren’t aware. Instead of being funny, it’s often painful in many places. Apparently this is a camp classic, but there are classy camp classic than this classic.

09/16/2008

249. The Puffy Chair (2005)
Off DVR, Shown on Sundance (widescreen, uncut)
There is a whole lot to work with in this movie, just actors and sparse sets, so that puts more pressure on the dialogue and surprisingly it stands up well. I really enjoyed this little movie even though I didn’t really like the main character as a person. The movie covers a relationship on the rocks and a road trip is supposed to rekindle the flame, which is extremely cliché material so it’s really surprising that the writers handled it so well without getting bogged down. Recommended Watch

Monday, September 15, 2008

Movies #246-248

09/13/2008

248. Naked Killer (1992)
Off DVD
With a cover and title like this, it made it very hard to pass up on the cheap DVD rack. Thankfully the movie delivered on the expectations that I had as an over the top kill fest with a lot of male bashing. I can’t really explain this movie too in depth without ruining the charm of the movie, but it involves crazy female assassins who kill men by stabbing them in the penis. Must see film.

09/11/2008

246. Vitelloni, I (1953)
Off DVR, Shown on Turner Classic Movies
This movie follows a group of young Italians as they grow up, this movie is really good. Although it’s funny how people have aged over the years, all the actors here who I assume where in there early twenties when they shot the movie all look like they are in their thirties, but it’s not obvious like in Grease or anything like that, it’s just that even young people back in the day looked old. Highly Recommended Watch


247. Bride of the Monster (1955)
Off DVR, Shown on Turner Classic Movies
This is a product of Ed Wood, and it doesn’t disappoint on what you would expect from an Ed Wood film. The scene in the Burton film Ed Wood where Ed directs his actor to just thrash around on the limp octopus prop, that comes from this movie. Other wise this is good for a laugh if some one shows it to you but nothing makes this worth seeking out over some of the other Ed Wood fair.