**Rerun's Movie Reviews**

[MooseMom]

I read a really good review of that film from a reviewer that I quite respect...he gave it three stars, and I was well psyched to go see it!  But then today I read a piece from a reviewer that hated it.  I love those big aliens-come-down-from-the-sky-and-try-to-conquer-Earth movies!  I do tend to be a bit of a film snob, but I loved the Tom Cruise version of "War of the Worlds"...that really scared me!

[YLGuy]

I think we might see Paul instead.  Seems like a funny alien movie.

[MooseMom]

I think we might see Paul instead.  Seems like a funny alien movie.

Now, THAT's the flick I want to see!

[Poppylicious]

oh man. I was going to take my kids to see it this weekend.

Oh gosh, don't listen to me!  I know that I was expecting it to be amazing, but I just couldn't get into it.  But DO got and see Paul.  It's very very very very very funny.  But if you don't find it very very very very very funny please remember that I'm English and my sense of humour may be different to yours ... 

[MooseMom]

We're going to see Paul this weekend, probably Sunday.  I'm in the mood for British humour.  

[YLGuy]

oh man. I was going to take my kids to see it this weekend.

Oh gosh, don't listen to me!  I know that I was expecting it to be amazing, but I just couldn't get into it.  But DO got and see Paul.  It's very very very very very funny.  But if you don't find it very very very very very funny please remember that I'm English and my sense of humour may be different to yours ... 

Okay, now I pictured an alien running around with a line of people chasing him with the Benny Hill music playing.

[Sugarlump]

Anyone seen Animal Kingdom yet and if so, how violent

[MooseMom]

Anyone seen Animal Kingdom yet and if so, how violent

Oh, I LOVED this flick!!  Jacki Weaver was a revelation to me; I had never seen her, and I understand she is very popular and well-know in Australia.  I'd love to see more of her work.  It's not really violent like so many other movies, but it is about a crime family, so there's not a lot of singing and dancing.  It was fun seeing Guy Pearce; I've been watching him since his days in Neighbours (is that still on?  I remember Kylie Minogue!), and I'm so impressed by what an outstanding actor he's become.

This movie stayed with me a long time.  I thought it was brilliant.  Let me know if you see it and what you think of it.

[Sugarlump]

It got good reviews in the Independent and now 3 stars from Moose
so that's good enough for me ... I'll go see x
I don't like gratutious violence.
Did you see Taken? Liam Neeson pretty cool1
The film was ok but the violence OTT ?

[MooseMom]

It got good reviews in the Independent and now 3 stars from Moose
so that's good enough for me ... I'll go see x
I don't like gratutious violence.
Did you see Taken? Liam Neeson pretty cool1
The film was ok but the violence OTT ?

Yes, I did see Taken.  I thought the whole subject matter re sex slavery was a real downer.  I am not a fan of violence in the movies, but I'll tolerate it if it is central to the story.  What I DO NOT LIKE and DO NOT FIND IN THE LEAST BIT ENTERTAINING is sexual violence against women.  The victims are invariably young, pretty and scantily clad, and it's a very poor tool with which to titilate young men.

My husband wants to see Unknown, another Liam Neeson film, but I get very annoyed with storylines where the main character suddenly finds that no one knows who he is.  I've seen too many TV series like that  ("Nowhere Man" comes to mind).  Those storylines just p$ss me off.

Liam Neeson has seemed to throw himself into work after his death's wife.  I hope it helped him cope with that horrible loss.

[Sugarlump]

My absolute favourite film is TRANSPORTER  with Jason Statham ... I just looooovvve that film its so quirky!
Jason Statham can rescue me anytime !

[MooseMom]

My absolute favourite film is TRANSPORTER  with Jason Statham ... I just looooovvve that film its so quirky!
Jason Statham can rescue me anytime !

I don't think I've heard of this film!  I'll have to check it out!  Thanks!

[cariad]

We saw Rango with the four boys, as promised. Silly friend tried to pay her boys' way, she forced a $20 on Gwyn and then stuffed her hands in her pockets and refused to take it back. We can fix that, though. We still have to give them a card and their gift, and while it may look gauche to cram a $20 into the thank you card, we can remind her what it's for.

OK, the film: the boys (ages 4 to 9) seemed a little bored with it at times. It is a talky film for an animated lizard pic. Johnny Depp supplies the voice, but sorry to say that I don't think they really needed him for this - they did not make full use of his vocal talents. It was quite an adult film in that it took its time to tell the story, was not shy about killing off characters and having some pretty gruesome animation. One character had an arrow stuck in his eye and out the back of his head through the whole story. The animation was beautiful, if that is your thing. It seemed like one could reach out and feel the texture on those creatures. It is also NOT 3D (oh, happy day!) which is crucial as my younger son will not wear the specs. I think it was probably loaded with references to other westerns, but I don't appreciate westerns so those would have gone past me.

It was about a pet lizard who loses his family and then ends up in the dessert, in a ghost town that is about to run out of water. To be honest, I don't want to say more because I think I spaced out for some of it and am not certain on some of the finer plot points. It was just not all that engaging for me. Plus, we were dealing with ordering dinner for the kids, and surreptitiously passing them candies through the film, despite the large sign at the ticket counter telling you that you must not bring in outside food and drink. Hey, if I am going to spend $8 on a veggie burger prepped in the micro, I think it's only fair I get to save a few dollars on dessert. Kids had pizza and seemed happy with it. Aidan told me that he and his friend liked the film, but I think they were just being polite. They really wanted to see the second Diary of a Wimpy Kid but I know better than to see that with my hatred for all bathroom humour. I just checked and Roger Ebert gave Rango highest marks, so maybe I just don't know great cinema when I see it.... with four hyper boys, anyhow.

[Poppylicious]

Last night we went to see Anuvahood.  It's a British comedy, but it's rubbish.  I doubt it will be released in the States (it's one of those which ONLY the Brits will understand, from a language, accent, dialect and in-jokes point of view [even I would have found subtitles and an on-screen dictionary definition useful]) so you're probably saved the choice of whether or not to go and watch it.

 

[cariad]

Finished watching Pirate Radio last night, thanks to NetFlix. I cannot get that disc out of my house fast enough. What a promising topic wasted. And I do so admire Philip Seymour Hoffman, but not as an overgrown frat boy in a directionless film with some disturbingly sexist undertones.

This story followed the radio stations of the 60s that played verboten rock music and got away with it by broadcasting from miles off the coast of the UK. What the American DJ was doing there was never explained. Nor the Kiwi, despite the fact that the casting agent must suspect we are all hard of hearing as the pic seemed determined to pass him off as a Brit. (Sorry, I am perhaps overly touchy about these things. I am bit tired of English-speaking meaning you must either be from England itself or America.) Kenneth Brannaugh and Emma Thompson were both in it briefly, he played what passed for a villain, she wore the most amazing cape and I have charged Gwyn with finding that article of clothing for me. Did not really notice her acting as i had given up on the film by the time she made her entrance. Ending was confusing, very. It was a big disappointment all around, though the boredom was occasionally interrupted with a witty remark or two, and I enjoyed the scenes of all the different types of Brits who would listen in to the station. Watch it if there is truly nothing else on and it's a choice of this or stare at a wall.

[fc2821]

Priate Radio: Saw that movie, did not like it...but that is because I knew something about the REAL subject matter. Many of these stations were also on Shortwave Radio back then, and that was my hobby back then (I was a teenager) and I was able to hear some of them.

Music was good but that was about all. 

This story followed the radio stations of the 60s that played verboten rock music and got away with it by broadcasting from miles off the coast of the UK. What the American DJ was doing there was never explained.  I

You are right they didn't.  They took some real facts about pirate radio stations off the coast of Great Britian in the 1960's and just made up the rest and came up with garbage.  As for why he ws an American, well one off shore radio station (there were several on Ships) had hired American DJ's for a time to sound well, more American...which they thought American top 40 radio back then was the way to sound.  But they also had stations with DJ's from Canada. 

As for the ending it was stupid.  One of the ships did sink, Radio Caroline I believe, but it was nothing like the movie.  This like most of the movie was a contrived piece of entertainment. 

Hope you don't mind my interjecting this comment and a bit of information.

[Poppylicious]

Toddled off to the cinema yesterday and saw Source Code.  I loved it.  I even guessed the truth early on (go me!)  Even the ending was top notch, and if it had ended a few minutes earlier it still would have been top notch.  That Donnie Darko chap is starting to look a tad old, which was a bit disconcerting for some reason. It was a little bit romantic and quite thought-provoking, but I'm quite keen on a lot of the deeper issues it brought up so that may have helped with my enjoyment of it.

When we got home we watched Monsterwolf.  Well, I watched it; Blokey fell asleep half way through.  It was um, good, in a 'you have to watch this even though it's rubbish because it might surprise you by getting better' way.

 

[cariad]

Hope you don't mind my interjecting this comment and a bit of information.

Not at all, Rob, very interesting! Just a warning, I am about to get into massive spoilers:

The part that made no sense to me about the ending was that they were all sitting on the bow of the ship as it was sinking, and then the lights and sound go out. Fine, the broadcast equipment is now underwater, so why was the American DJ still below deck? The way it was timed, it just seemed that they were suggesting that he held his breath for hours.

I could have lived with the ending barring other issues, but the little 'joke' they were going to play on the one woman, the joke being setting up a rape, turned me against the picture in a ferocious way from the start. Professional comics will tell you it is possible to joke about rape and get away with it, but you had better be ten times funnier than usual. The sick thing is the picture did not really acknowledge that this was in fact rape, almost as if the writer/director did not understand it this way. Not a subject I wanted to confront during what was supposed to be a fun comedy.

[cariad]

Pirate Radio is gone (hurrah!) and IronMan 2 should be arriving this afternoon with the post. Gwyn will be pleased, Aidan might also enjoy. Much as I love Robert Downey Jr, the mania surrounding these films eludes me. I may not even watch it, so if you're desperate for my opinion on the sequel, you may well have to live with the disappointment....

[fc2821]

Hope you don't mind my interjecting this comment and a bit of information.

Not at all, Rob, very interesting! Just a warning, I am about to get into massive spoilers:

The part that made no sense to me about the ending was that they were all sitting on the bow of the ship as it was sinking, and then the lights and sound go out. Fine, the broadcast equipment is now underwater, so why was the American DJ still below deck? The way it was timed, it just seemed that they were suggesting that he held his breath for hours.

I could have lived with the ending barring other issues, but the little 'joke' they were going to play on the one woman, the joke being setting up a rape, turned me against the picture in a ferocious way from the start. Professional comics will tell you it is possible to joke about rape and get away with it, but you had better be ten times funnier than usual. The sick thing is the picture did not really acknowledge that this was in fact rape, almost as if the writer/director did not understand it this way. Not a subject I wanted to confront during what was supposed to be a fun comedy.

   Yes the rape really bothered me as well.  It was not keeping with the story line of the film.  I agree with you.
    There were a lot of things about the ending that to me were insipid.  First if they were skinkign adn lost the lights, how could they have power to the transmiter and stay on the air.  Second you are corect did he breath under water for a long time?  Why didn't Philip Seymour Hoffman's character not drown.  Third, they would have still gottne arrest you know, even if the boat sank.  Fourth are they aew twelling us the British government actually sank the boat and almost killed people?  Is there proof this happened, NO! 

[cariad]

You make good points about Pirate Radio, Rob, some of which I'd not even considered. Oh, how I hated that film!

We saw Night Catches Us and were enthralled. It's a period piece about the Black Panthers, but after their heyday. Extremely subtle, a bit difficult to follow and requires more concentration than I usually have, but it will all come together in your mind in the end. Spectacularly acted by black actors whom I've never heard of. Also, director is female - there are too few of those and she did a magnificent job.

Currently almost through Exit Through The Gift Shop and less happy with it than I thought I'd be. First, we wanted to see a film about street art, not some weirdo Frenchman who just happened to stumble onto an interesting story. Too many clouded out faces, voice changers and other nonsense that make me feel that someone (Banksy) is taking himself much too seriously. I think he's talented and his work's value should not hinge on his anonymity. Our friend who visited a few weeks ago lives in Bristol and he says it's only a matter of time before he has a falling out with a friend and he'll be outed. (Bristol is where Banksy is suspected to be from, and where he purchased an art museum.) What they did to an elephant may just make you puke. I was horrified, and I am not exactly an animal rights activist.

Gwyn and my older son just finished Ironman2, so that's out the door. I watched a bit and found it creepier and far more sexist than the first. Too much talk, not enough action (and it's not often I complain about that).

[Poppylicious]

We saw Scream 4 at the weekend.  Yay!  It reminded me of being in my early twenties and seeing the first Scream film.  In fact, it was quite like sitting through the first one because it was so similar.  But brilliant, nonetheless.  And definitely the second best of the Scream franchise (nothing beats Skeet Ulrich playing Billy Loomis in the first film.)

 

[okarol]

Conspriator 

[Poppylicious]

We saw Insidious today.  It was a tad scary in places (made me jump anyway, and not much can do that) and a little thought provoking.  Not for those with weak hearts.

 

[fc2821]

    We saw "The King's Speech" Sunday.  Excellent film.  Gives you a new appreciation for the British royality and for the pressures put on them and that were.  By the way, I did not know King Edward was a pilot?  Had to look it up after seeing the film.