**Rerun's Movie Reviews**

[cariad]

Just got off an international flight so I've seen a few films, and no kiddie crap!

Saw Argo and enjoyed it very much but wasn't blown away by it. Having lived through that era, I knew the gist of the story and suspect that the finale in the film was Hollywooded up beyond recognition. It reminded me of the based on a true story ending of the The Last King of Scotland which apparently used the words "true story" in the loosest possible way. Real life is beautifully dramatic, I think it's a waste to add these action sequences.

Tried to watch Lincoln but was also getting aggravated there in what seemed to be a one-dimensional representation of the President. But I only gave it 30 minutes. I also found it difficult to watch such a sweeping epic on the wee airline screen.

Watched Hitchcock and thought it was not very compelling, but still worth a view. I thought the actor who played Hitch was amaaaaaazing, so I resolved to learn this old, British actor's name. It was Anthony Hopkins. I had no idea!!! I knew he is a gifted impressionist, but he even had that odd sort of sleep-apnea snorting/breathing down. I rang Gwyn immediately to tell him the Welshie nailed it. I am convinced that if Anthony Hopkins ever played a Welshman, the critics would say he couldn't pull it off. He is just too good at portraying himself as a slightly Americanized Englishman.

I cannot admit this to just anyone, but I watched Ted. Well, not all the way through. It was obviously extremely raw, but undeniably funny. I had to take my headphones off quite a lot because I had reached my gross-out limit. Then, eventually I was honest with myself and decided that this just wasn't me, and that I could feel my self-respect shrivelling up the longer I watched this, so switched over to something else. Unsuprisingly, I am not even a little bit curious about how the story concluded. I have told Gwyn to watch it on the way over and summarize for me if he cares to. He will probably just put it on an endless loop - he loves flights just for the chance to watch films I would not be caught dead attending.

Watched a few minutes of Silver Linings Playbook but couldn't get into it. The mother character is a ringer for the school head at my boys' primary. They even both have these high, babyish voices, although the accents are very different.

Watched an episode of the television program Community. It was OK. Betty White was in it, and she does have this delightful presence.

[MooseMom]

I enjoyed The Intouchables". It's a foreign film in French (with English subtitles if you need them). Great film. Based on a true story.

I just finished watching this film, and it was absolutely the most brilliant film I've seen in a long time.  The birthday concert scene was clever, and the later mustaches scene really made me laugh.  And I love it when the "real" personages are shown during the credits.

For some reason that I can't begin to explain, I wanted to see Jack and the Giant Slayer.  It was OK; the giants stole the show, frankly.

A few days later, we rented Snow White and the Huntsman, and I like it a lot more than I thought I would.  Charlize Theron is terrific, but Kristin Stewart was pretty wooden.  Let's face it, she's not the most brilliant actress known to man.  But all in all, it was an interesting twist on the tale that we all know.  It even had the dwarves, and imagine my surprise when I realized they were portrayed many of the same actors that I had just seen in Jack and the Giant Slayer.  It was a real rogue's gallery of British character actors.

My husband is usually extremely smart, but when we were watching Snow White and I pointed out to him who was playing the dwarves, he actually said, "How did they get them to be dwarves?"

Ah, the magic of show biz!   

[Chris]

Argo - Great
MIB III _ Better than second one, good time waster if nothing else on.
Haywire - Blah action for the most part, bstoryline eratic
 
No other movies on pre order yet and do not know what is coming out. If a Redbox was close, I'd rent Lincoln. Also, while in the hospital they need to have a DVD player in the rooms!

[CebuShan]

I finally got around to watching Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2. It was alright. I liked the book much better.

[Poppylicious]

My husband is usually extremely smart, but when we were watching Snow White and I pointed out to him who was playing the dwarves, he actually said, "How did they get them to be dwarves?"

Ah, the magic of show biz!   

He sounds like me (seriously, the stories Blokey could tell if he posted on here ... my dumb blonde-but-definitely-not-blonde side is well and truly hidden from the virtual world. Most of the time anyway.)

 

[MooseMom]

Geoffcamp, Francois Cluzet (the paraplegic in "The Intouchables") plays the lead in "Tell No One", which we saw last night on Netflix.  "Tell No One" was probably one of the best thrillers I've ever seen!

[cariad]

I enjoyed Tin Tin more than I thought I would. Don't really care for motion capture animation, but I got used to it and had fun watching it with the boys on Netflix.

[CebuShan]

     I finally got to watch "Skyfall". I loved it!        

[geoffcamp]

     I finally got to watch "Skyfall". I loved it!        

Seriously the best bond film I've seen in MANY years. It's definitely a thumbs up!!  Glad you liked it too!!

[MooseMom]

Oh yeah, Skyfall was terrific!

I liked Tin Tin, too.

[Poppylicious]

We saw Jack the Giant Slayer today. It was an enjoyable romp for a Sunday afternoon, but I prefer Nicholas Hoult as a post-apocolyptic zombie rather than a medieval slayer of giants.  Ewan McGregor's 1940s English accent made me giggle.

 

[MooseMom]

We saw Jack the Giant Slayer today. It was an enjoyable romp for a Sunday afternoon, but I prefer Nicholas Hoult as a post-apocolyptic zombie rather than a medieval slayer of giants.  Ewan McGregor's 1940s English accent made me giggle.

 

Oh, that accent is just too bizarre!  LOL!  The giants were the best part of that film.

We're going to see The Croods this afternoon.  My husband likes horror and other films with creepy kids, so last night we watched "Dream House" with Daniel Craig and Rachel Weitz (sp).  He feel asleep at the end (as usual), but I watched it all the way through; Most Depressing Film Ever.  I need something "nice".

[geoffcamp]

Some more movies I've seen recently.

Silver linings play book. I liked it. Going to get the book, I'm sure it's better. It hits close to home with some exceptions but I thought the premis was new differant angle on dysfunctional relationships and the baggage we all carry. It's worth watching. I saw it in the theater. I usually wait for rentals but I had a date and picked it. She didn't like it but I'm a romantic and she is definitely NOT!  So for me it's a thumbs up rental.

Argo. I also enjoyed this film. Interesting story probably well embellished for the big screen but still managed to give insight on an interesting event in recent history while remaining entertaining. Love the Argo f yourself. Best line in movie!!

So this is 40. Has its moments and is worth the time if you have 4 hours stuck in a chair!!!  But not original and tries too hard to be funny.

Hit and run. Very mindless stupid comedy. But sometimes that just what I need. It's dumb and women will hate it but hey I had the time and got a few laughs but not worth it until it comes out on Netflix.

[cariad]

We saw Oz The Great and Powerful at the cinema/restaurant tonight with Dylan, Aidan is off with his best friend in Colorado.

It was better than I thought it was going to be. I seem to say that a lot these days. I've never seen a film with James Franco before and it annoyed me as he looks to much like an ex-boyfriend, Also, he was not that compelling in the role. I liked Rachel Weisz - in the early days Gwyn and I saw her in the West End in an obscure Tennessee Williams. I've had a soft spot for her ever since.

The Kansas part of the film was nicely done in the spirit of the original, The Oz part was more Alice-in-Wonderland goes on an ill-advised blind date with Willy Wonka. Just a bit over the top with a relentless creepiness running through the whole thing. But I've seen worse, it had some nice moments.

[MooseMom]

Every reviewer of this film has said that the three witches gave very uncompelling performances, which I thought was odd because those are three very accomplished actresses.

Did you see it in 3D?  My husband would watch "Grass Growing" followed by its sequel, "Paint Drying" if they were in 3D.  Now he wants to start watching flicks in that D-Box.

[cariad]

Oh, yes, and we are in a house that has HBO so we got to watch Phil Spector with Al Pacino in the title role, and the marvellous Helen Mirren as his lawyer.

10 minutes in I remarked to Gwyn that this was really meant to be a 2-man stage play. Sure enough, turns out David Mamet wrote the script. Now I think David Mamet is quite possibly the world's most overrated playwright. He wrote the same characters over and over, ad infinitum, and no one has said this to his face, or worse, bothered to stop him. Well, at least he is off this annoying, droning use of the F-word 3 times per sentence. Roger Ebert seems to disagree with me, but I feel Al Pacino played Phil Spector as someone who truly, deeply believed he was innocent and was clearly suffering from a barely-controllable mental illness. The performance was exquisite, as was Hellen Mirren's, but hers was a more subdued triumph. I could have watched the two of them act all night. My favourite part had to have been the look on his face, and then her face, when he turned up for his first day of court. The hair and outfit were identical, which impressed me for some reason. I enjoyed the film immensely despite Mamet's involvement and think it is very much worth the time to watch.

[cariad]

Every reviewer of this film has said that the three witches gave very uncompelling performances, which I thought was odd because those are three very accomplished actresses.

Yeah, I thought they did as well as anyone could have with what they had. Rachel Weisz and the blonde were both wonderful. Mila Kunis was miscast. She is too much the doe-eyed ingenue (poor thing, I weep for her ) to fit in that role. Her make-up made it look like she was trapped behind a heavy rubber mask, much too uncomfortable looking to be even a bit scary.

Did you see it in 3D?  My husband would watch "Grass Growing" followed by its sequel, "Paint Drying" if they were in 3D.  Now he wants to start watching flicks in that D-Box.

No 3D for us. As a family, we agree on nothing so absolutely as our distaste for the ripoff that is 3D. Your husband has many adorable qualities, MM. His enthusiasm for his personal interests is charming.

[MooseMom]

3D is all too often a coverup for bad scriptwriting.  Having said that, though, I admit to enjoying animated films in 3D.

[Poppylicious]

We saw Trance yesterday.  It was pretty fabulous, although a bit odd at times.

As an aside, I do like 3D films.  Not all 3D-made films are worthy of being 3D and not all 3D-made films NEED to be 3D, but some do work really well.  We have a 3D tellyvision, but we've only watched one 3D film on it (we only own two 3D Blu-rays!); we could watch normal telly in 3D if we wanted, but it's a tad ridiculous.  I love EastEnders, but I don't want to feel like the Queen Vic is invading my personal space! Plus, normal telly in 3D doesn't work very well because the telly has to sort it out itself, so it's a bit hit and miss. Oh, and we always forget to charge the glasses up.

 

[geoffcamp]

I guess I'm the only person in the world who has not seen a film in 3-D!!  Usually I don't even go to theaters. I have a great big TV and a nice speaker system and LOVE pausing rewinding and even stopping to watch the rest the next day. That's why I love my Apple TV and it also has Netflix and Hulu plus built into it so I end up getting everything in the comfort of my own place!!  I don't date a lot and I have unusual tastes so I never really have anyone to go with!!  Hate going buying 1 ticket and feel like a creep alone!!  LOL!!  Thank you apple for giving me a way to get movies pretty quickly from big screen to TV!!

[Chris]

I went to Tron Legacy in 3D and did not notice a thing, but then it probably take two eye to fool the brain? I have some Blu-Rays in 3D, a 3D player, but no TV that is 3D (was not available at the time), and I do not see me buying a new tv just for that until I need a new tv. Hopefully these LCD tv's last as long as the old fashioned box tv's.

[lainiepop]

Saw 'Host' at the Cinema a Couple nights ago not bad!

[Poppylicious]

Saw 'Host' at the Cinema a Couple nights ago not bad!

I wanted to see that but I don't think Blokey was too keen after he found out it was based on a novel by Stephenie Meyer! I'll have wait for it to hit Sky Box Office now because there's a couple of films we really want to see coming out in the next couple of weeks and I can't spend ALL my days sitting in a cinema!   

[cariad]

I watched The Intouchables on the plane ride home. When he mentioned paragliding I wanted to shout "Oh, don't you dare... !"

So, no one who saw this film noticed that I was wittering on about letting my son go paragliding? I think if I had watched the film on the way over I would have never been able to let him do it. I was shaken after watching that film.

It was good, possibly great, it's just not my thing. Stuck on a plane with a touch of claustrophobia watching a film about a quadriplegic was unnerving but I made it to the end. (I had the same reaction to watching Rear Window, this overwhelming compulsion to get up and walk. Uncomfortable in a movie theatre, but worse on an 11-hour flight with the seat belt light illuminated.)

I found Francois Cluzet to look a bit too much like Dustin Hoffman.

[MooseMom]

I love Francois Cluzet.