**Rerun's Movie Reviews**

[cariad]

Graham Norton is hilarious but I always switch it off before the chair bit - it's too mean-spirited for me.

We've seen 2 films in as many weeks, quite the novelty for us. The Avengers was a bit bewildering for me, felt like my senses had been beaten into submission by the end. Perhaps a scoche too long for the boys. Liot said "it was long, but at least it wasn't as long as Hugo!" I think we all liked Hulk best.

For Liot's birthday we were so crazy booked up with sports on the day that we all felt wrecked but wanted to do something a tad celebratory, so we arranged to meet friends at the cinema with full service restaurant for the Madagascar film, non-3D happily. I thought it was pretty cute, bit gross at times but tolerable and even funny in spots. The boys were desperate to see the zebra sing the circus afro circus afro ditty and were not disappointed!

[okarol]

 
I recently saw 3 movies
Bernie Jack Black as a funeral director/murderer is awesome and Shirley McLain is really great!
Avengers  Not 3-D: Loved the action and the Hulk, always enjoy Robert Downey Jr.
Dark Shadows  Quirky and fun with references from the 1970's - Johnny Depp is the perfect vampire.

[Poppylicious]

We saw Red Lights today.  After having read some reviews online and the message boards at imdb.com I'm under no illusion that I'm the only person in the entire world who walked out of the cinema proclaiming, That has to be my second most favourite film/cinematic experience this year!

I did really enjoy it.  Loved the subtlety of the clues leading up to the end, adored Cillian Murphy's character and laughed muchly at the American accents of (some of) the (multitudes) of British actors who were in it.

I like films which make me think of my place in the world, and this was one of those.  I even liked Sigourney Weaver's portrayal of her character.  Plus, it was just enjoyable, without being too thought-provoking.

 

[Poppylicious]

We saw Men in Black 3D.  It was good, although I did get the twist a bit wrong and felt like a fool.  Fortunately only my head knows I got it wrong and thus all is well with the world. It even made me laugh out loud at least once, and I'm more of a silent giggler, so anything that can make me laugh loudly has to be funny.

 

[cariad]

I watched Yentl on Netflix. Do not ask me why, I'm not sure myself, except it's a film I've never seen and I remember it caused a sensation when it came out, and I think Barbra won an Oscar or something.

It was good. I thought there were some nice scenes that created tension. I hated the singing - don't hurt me - the songs were just rambling and tuneless, although yes, her voice is technically flawless. Her style is just not my thing.

Also, I want to see Ted and I hate myself for it.

[Treasure]

Cariad, I saw Ted a couple of nights ago. It was slightly better than I expected (but I wasn't expecting much, hehehe). It has a pretty predictable storyline, and there's bathroom humor. That's about enough to satisfy most people. hehehe.

Have you guys already discussed Magic Mike? And ok, this movie was not the greatest, either, but there was plenty of eye candy. Not only am I now in love with MM star Channing Tatum, my 80 year old mother has a crush on him, too.

[Poppylicious]

We spontaneously decided to see The Amazing Spider-Man this afternoon whilst out buying screws, but because we had to wait an hour for the next 3D showing we came home instead.  While there we did pick up our advance screening tickets for Ted (not being released here till August 1st, but because we pay monthly for the cinema we can see it on July 30th).  Yay! 

Have also been to the cinema to see The Chernobyl Diaries (not a diary in sight, but there was a bear) and Storage 24, a British film which I sat through just waiting for Dr Who to turn up and save the day (you'll only understand that reference if you've seen both Dr Who and this film).

 

[jbeany]

Have you guys already discussed Magic Mike? And ok, this movie was not the greatest, either, but there was plenty of eye candy. Not only am I now in love with MM star Channing Tatum, my 80 year old mother has a crush on him, too.

Treasure, we're discussing Fifty Shades on the book thread, but we haven't gotten around to a discussion of Magic Mike!  Of course, who is going to see it just for a plot, anyhow?    
Nice to see you active again, T!

[monrein]

Completely adored The Intouchables.

[brenda seal]

I actually saw Graham Norton for the first time today . I have spent the entire evening giggling my head off - imagining who I could sit in the red chair and how quickly I could pull the lever ! I so want one of those red chairs !

[MooseMom]

I actually saw Graham Norton for the first time today . I have spent the entire evening giggling my head off - imagining who I could sit in the red chair and how quickly I could pull the lever ! I so want one of those red chairs !

What I love about that show is the fact that he always has such interesting guests; he has them sit all together on the couch and has them chat about just whatever, and the result is that you get to see a side of these people that you just don't see on any other talk show. 

[MooseMom]

Last night, my husband and I watched "Flowers of War", a Chinese movie about a fake priest who is trying to protect a group of girls who are students of the convent, and a group of fancy prostitutes who have sought refuge there, from the invading Japanese army during the rape of Nanking.  Interestingly, it stars Christian Bale.

This movie was the most brutally exquisite thing I've ever seen.  It is now one of my top 5 movies.  I was utterly blown away and cannot get it out of my mind.  Apart from being beautifully filmed, it was also a fascinating, realistic story actually based on true things that happened during that time.

If you want to see something thought-provoking, do see it.  It's available on Netflix.  But I warn you, there are some terribly brutal scenes, but it IS about war, and you cannot escape the brutality of war (although our media seems to be aiming toward this very thing...).

[CebuShan]

My husband and I just recently watched, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close". It was beautifully done but I found it a little hard to watch. (9/11 is still a bit too fresh in my mind) If you can get past that, I do recommend it. The boy's journey contains some wonderfully quirky moments.

[Poppylicious]

We saw The Amazing Spider-man and - despite my best intentions - I quite liked Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker. Grrr ... with maybe a dash of yum thrown in.

 

[MooseMom]

We saw The Amazing Spider-man and - despite my best intentions - I quite liked Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker. Grrr ... with maybe a dash of yum thrown in.

 

I thought Andrew Garfield was much better than I thought he'd be.  I was well impressed with his performance.  He might have been Spiderman, but he was also a young and cocky kid, and that was just the right mix.  What was weird, though, was the fact that he looks an awful lot like my son.  Even my husband noticed that, so it's not just me.

I didn't get the Emma Stone character, though.  Were these kids supposed to be in high school?  Was she supposed to be a fellow high school student yet had a job at a biotech firm?  She confused me.

[okarol]

Jenna and I had bought tickets weeks ago to the IMAX showing of Batman: the Dark Knight Rising for last Saturday at noon.
Of course, the night before was the shooting in Aurora.
As we got in the car to drive, I asked Jenna if she felt nervous about going to the theater after what had happened.
She said "Mom, we have to live our lives, we cannot let crazy people keep us down."
Wise words. We enjoyed the movie. (it's really long though!)

[MooseMom]

We went to see Batman earlier in the week, and while I do enjoy those big summer blockbusters, I thought this movie was particularly good.  The writing was terrific and the story was multi-layered and nuanced.  I appreciate good writing.

The shooting in Aurora was in the back of my mind, I must admit.  All of those young people who are gone and those whose lives are now so altered...what a terrible shame.

Whenever I hear about these kinds of shootings, I can't help but also think about they killers' parents.  They must be going through their own hell.  They are victims, too.  So sad for everyone...

[Poppylicious]

We're going to see Batman tonight.  We saw Seeking a Friend for the End of the World at the weekend. I found it sweet and nicely gooey, a change from the horror of the standard end of the world films.

Karol, you have a very wise daughter!

[Poppylicious]

We saw Batman.  It was definitely long!  But it had sexy men in it (OMG! Cillian Murphy sent Burn Gorman to his death?!) and I was completely idiotic because I didn't even recognise Tom Hardy was playing Bane until the scene in the cave-well-prison thingy where his scarf was yanked off.  Although that might just be because he's such a good actor.  So good he's in everything at the moment ...

Have they been showing the teeny Superman trailer in the US?  They've shown it before both Batman and Spiderman here and it's really making me want to see it, despite the fact that I really don't like the old Superman films. 

[Rain]

 I saw Batman a week ago and love it. 

[CebuShan]

Have you guys already discussed Magic Mike? And ok, this movie was not the greatest, either, but there was plenty of eye candy. Not only am I now in love with MM star Channing Tatum, my 80 year old mother has a crush on him, too.

If you liked Magic Mike, have you seen The Full Monty? I absolutely LOVE that movie.

[MooseMom]

Loved "The Full Monty" and had the benefit of understanding the Arsenal offside trap.  LOL!

I saw the most amazing film last night, rented from Netflix.  It's called "Margaret", and it stars Anna Paquin of "True Blood" fame.  She plays a 17 year old girl named Lisa who attends a private school in NYC.  She is Jewish and privileged, living with her mother, who is a Broadway star, and her little brother.  Her father lives with his girlfriend in California having divorced an unspecified time in the past.  Her father is planning to take her, her brother and his girlfriend to a posh dude ranch, and she decides she wants to buy a cowboy hat for the occasion.  There are few places to buy cowboy hats in her part of NYC, so she is not having much luck.  She happens to see a bus go past, and the driver is wearing a cowboy hat.  The driver (Mark Ruffalo of "The Hulk") is cute and friendly but has no idea why this teenager is running with his bus.  He can't hear her yelling, "Where did you get your hat?" and assumes she is being flirtatious (which she is, but she really does want to know where he got his hat).  They are both distracted by each other.  She tires and stops chasing the bus, but he drives on, inadvertently running a red light and hitting a woman (Allison Janney of "The West Wing"), severing her leg.  Lisa is horrified and runs over to her, cradling her head in her lap as she dies.

The movie is about how Lisa copes with this emotional anvil that has randomly dropped into her life.  She is young and is not skilled in dealing with such a terrible thing, especially as she believes (realistically) that she was partly to blame for this woman's death.  She wants to make things right but doesn't know how to do that.

The film is rather long at 2 1/2 hours, and apparently there is an uncut version available on Blu-ray that fills in some of the blanks if you're interested, especially regarding Lisa's mother whose own story line turns out to have a fascinating ending (particularly in the longer version, I'm told).

I warn you, though...the scene where the woman is hit I found to be quite emotionally devastating, not so much because of the amount of blood involved but because of the terrific acting.  If any of you sees "Margaret", I'd be very interested to hear your review.  I put this movie on my queue because of Roger Ebert's review. 

[Poppylicious]

I've just watched Never Let Me Go (with Andrew Garfield, Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley) which is a film I've been wanting to see for yonks (we missed it when it was on at the cinema.)

Interestingly I had absolutely no idea what the film was about, but I did enjoy reading the message boards on imdb once I'd finished watching it!

Without wanting to spoil it for anyone, it's set in the recent past of an alternative England where a medical breakthrough (in the 50s/60s) means that clones are raised to be organ donors.  It's not really about the actual organ donation, or the ethics and morality surrounding the issue of cloning for this reason, as instead it mainly deals with the relationships of the three main characters, but it is thought-provoking nevertheless.  Quite a bleak film, but with a positive message.  It is based on a book, which I may now consider reading.

We saw Ted last week ... VERY funny.  A bit stupid in places, but I love the guy who played the messed up dad of the messed up kid (was he Phoebe's brother in Friends? - I forget his name.)

[CebuShan]

Last night, Jim & I decided that we wanted to watch a "scary" movie. Now he doesn't mind the blood and gore but I don't. So, I went to the video store and they suggested "Insidious". I have to say, that was one of the scariest movies I have ever seen!

[Poppylicious]

I loved Insidious when I saw it at the cinema.  We saw Paranormal Activity 4 today ... it wasn't very scary.  Sinister is supposed to be good (scarier than Insidious I think) but we haven't seen it and probably won't get to now (at the cinema, anyway.)