[Nels Stewart]

Greenberg - Ben Stiller shows some acting chops as a 40 year-old slacker who's charged with caring for his brother's house and dog in LA as part of his recovery from a nervous breakdown. Along the way, he hooks up with his brother's younger assistant, who's equally aimless and broken, and then tries to reconnect with old friends with mixed success. In the fashion of director Noah Baumbach, the movie is filled with awkward moments, oddball observations and varied pacing during which nothing really happens. A little long, but worthwhile viewing.

 

[Nels Stewart]

Chloe - When Julianne Moore suspects her husband, played by Liam Neeson, of having an affair with one of his students, she hires a beautiful callgirl (Amanda Seyfried) to tempt his infidelity. Sensing opportunity, Seyfried quickly begins to blur the lines between fantasy and reality into an adulterous maelstrom that can only lead to a tragic outcome for someone.
Slow and ponderous with no shortage of eye-rolling moments between the soft-core love scenes.

 

[Rouge21]

HBO Carnivale

HBO Carnivale

A few weeks back I picked up both seasons of HBO's long cancelled series Carnivale from FShop for less than $25 each.

I am now halfway through S2. Great setting, lots of quirky characters, crazy strange events. I am enjoying it thoroughly.

 

[eljay]

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - At the request of patriarch Henrik Vanger, and with the help of psychologically-troubled computer hacker Lisbeth Salander, disgraced reporter Mikael Blomkvist digs into the dark and disturbing past of the Vanger family to solve the forty-year-old mystery of young Harriet Vanger's disappearance.

This film was a bit disappointing for several reasons: It did not live up to the hype surrounding it, it played out too much like a TV "movie of the week" murder mystery and - at 2-1/2 hours in length - it was a least 30-45 minutes too long. Overall, however, it was a decent film.

 

[eljay]

Love Actually - Love can blossom unexpectedly, bring joy and companionship, remain tragically unfulfilled and be devastatingly lost. With only five weeks to go before Christmas, love is going to complicate the lives of several couples in London.

Although this movie was incredibly formulaic and highly - at times, painfully - contrived, it was rendered watchable by a number of lighthearted and amusing moments and a few touching scenes.

 

[eljay]

The Last Station - Soon after being appointed secretary to an ageing Count Leo Tolstoy, Valentin Bulgakov's life is thrown into turmoil. The Tolstoians who have made his position possible are scheming to have the Count sign away all rights to his works, thereby making them accessible to all Russians. Tolstoy's bitter and jealously protective wife wishes to avert what she sees as a financial disaster for herself and for her family. And Tolstoy himself wishes nothing more than to spend the rest of his days thinking and writing in peace. Bulgakov must find a way to delicately balance his duty to the Tolstoians, his sense of obligation to Tolstoy's wife and his tremendous admiration for and devotion to the Count.

This simple, yet enjoyable character-driven period drama features some wonderful performances from all the lead actors, especially Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren.

 

[eljay]

Chloe - Anxious to confirm her suspicions that her flirtatious husband, David, is cheating on her, Catherine hires Chloe, a lovely young call girl, to attempt to seduce him. Fairly straightforward at first, Catherine's plan quickly becomes more complicated - and more dangerously seductive - than she had anticipated.

Although somewhat formulaic, and despite its unsatisfying ending, this drama - intriguing, sensuous, unassuming - was quite good overall. Moore and Seyfried turned in a couple of solid performances.

 

[dezzpayne]

Saw City of God tonight. I basically went out and did a "top 100 films of all time" google search and picked up the ones that interested me. This is a really fantastic movie.

In that list I also watched Lost In Translation which I really enjoyed but it left me a little sad. It struck a chord with me. I guess movies are meant to elicit the full range of emotions eh.

For the record I still like Avatar!

 

[cfraser]

^ You'd probably like Elite Squad then. Would make a cool double feature with CoG, with ES being the "less Hollywoodized" version of what goes on in there (not that CoG is very Hollywood, ES is just that much less so).

 

[eljay]

The Ghost Writer - A ghost-writer (GW), hired to complete and edit the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang, is flown to Mr. Lang's isolated Massachusetts retreat to continue the work of his mysteriously-deceased predecessor. While there, the GW uncovers clues which appear to identify Lang as an accomplice in the CIA's illegal rendition and torture of suspected terrorists. As the mystery deepens, the GW realizes that unless he is able to find enough proof to expose Lang - and quickly! - he, too, will find himself the victim of an untimely death.

This dull murder-drama was burdened with writing and scenes that were clumsy, obvious or just plain ridiculous. Kim Cattrall's performance was so wooden you could have built a bridge out of her. If this is the best Roman Polanski can do these days, it's time to retire his director's license and lock him up for pedophilia.

 

[pharsyde]

Ronin is a 1998 action-thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer and written by J.D. Zeik and David Mamet. It stars Robert De Niro and Jean Reno as two of several former special forces and intelligence agents who team up to steal a mysterious, heavily guarded suitcase while navigating a maze of shifting loyalties and alliances. The film is noted for its sensational car chases through Paris.

one of my all time favs. had this on VHS in the beginning. i wasn't sure re: the BR purchase. great deal on the DVD however.

pretty standard AQ, VQ .. quite acceptable level of quality to me. my player does a pretty descent job of upscaling (DVD S1800) ..

great film (DVD) to add in the mix for a very good price

 

[jem]

I'm on the last disc of Weeds, Season 4. I've seen all the seasons, but my gf hasn't so we are getting her up to speed. The new season starts in the US soon. Same with Rescue Me.

 

[eljay]

The Runaways - In 1975, rock 'n' roll was a man's game and girls didn't play electric guitar. But that didn't stop Joan Jett, Cherie Currie and the other Runaways from taking the world by storm...for a little while, at least.

This was a decent, but fairly simplistic, bio-pic. Solid performances by both Kristen Stewart (who really nailed the "Joan Jett" vibe) and Dakota Fanning.

 

[eljay]

Resident Evil - When a deadly virus is released into the Hive - Umbrella Corporation's secret subterranean genetic research facility - a team of specialists is sent in to retrieve survivors, shut down the main computer and quarantine the facility. The job won't be easy, though: The Hive is teeming with virus-infected, un-dead employees as well as other, more evil residents...

This cult favourite was lame (thin story, weak dialogue, bad acting and silly action scenes) but watchable.

 

[eljay]

AC/DC: No Bull - AC/DC play at the Plaza De Toro De Las Ventas in Madrid in 1996 during their "Ballbreaker" tour.

A solid and very energetic performance. The only real disappointment is Brian Johnson's voice - once a powerhouse wail, now a hoarse rasp. That aside, the PQ is good (and doesn't suffer from Donington's shortcomings*) and the AQ - despite being only 5.0 - is big, raw** and fairly well-mixed.

---------------
*Donington's footage suffers from uneven contrast and excessive grain in numerous dusk-lit scenes.
**On Donington, Angus' guitar work is mostly (entirely?) overdubbed, and in general the audio sounds far too "clean" for a live track. It's disappointing.

 

[Nels Stewart]

The Square - A construction contractor is taking kickbacks on a project. He's also having an affair with a hairdresser, who's pressuring him to leave his wife.
When opportunities present themselves to make good their escape to a new life, a series of bad decisions lead to arson, deaths, blackmail and even more bad decisions.
A taunt Australian thriller that's tightly directed with a sense of foreboding from the first frame to the last suffers a bit from the lack of any likable characters. Otherwise, an intriguing film.

 

[eljay]

Harry Brown - Widower Harry Brown - a retired Royal Marine officer - leads a quiet, if somewhat lonely life on a south London council estate. When the violent, drug-dealing punks who are increasingly terrorizing citizens of the estate kill his best friend and the police prove unable to hold those responsible accountable for their crime, Harry is forced to take matters into his own hands.

I was a bit disappointed by the story, which was a little too straightforward, contrived, clichéd and obvious. Despite that, the movie was fairly decent overall - thanks, in great part, to Michael Caine's elegant and understated performance - and was worth a viewing.

 

[eljay]

Final Destination - Moments before departure, Alex Browning has a disturbing premonition that the plane he is on will explode, killing everyone aboard. His hysterical reaction causes him and six other passengers to be removed from the flight. Minutes later, when Alex's premonition comes true, the survivors realize that they have cheated Death. Before long, however, Death comes calling - one victim at a time - to collect his due.

A lightweight but entertaining "horror" flick.

 

[pharsyde]

The Road shares the premise of the novel on which it is based: a father (Mortensen) and his young son (Smit-McPhee) struggle to survive a number of years after an unspecified, devastating cataclysm has destroyed civilization, killed all plant and animal life, and obscured the sun; only remnants of mankind remain alive, reduced to scavenging or cannibalism. Man and boy are traveling southward, in the hope that it will be warmer. Along the way, they search for shelter, food, and fuel, and avoid bands of cannibals while trying to maintain their own sense of humanity. The man carries a revolver, but has only two bullets which he wants to keep in case they need to commit suicide. Flashback and dream sequences spaced throughout the narrative show how the man's wife, who has a much more expanded role in the film than in the book, committed suicide after delivering the child and losing the will to go on in a seemingly doomed world.


i've watched this a few times, picking up on (additional) points of interest with each viewing. i'm betting the book would be very interesting read. but ..mehh. = ) the film is very good too - i get it. ha !

surprisingly excellant AQ and VQ. surprisingly meaning .. i must have been watchin' alot of crap (jokingly) DVD reproduction lately. this particular transfer (if that's the right term) caught my attention immediately (in comparison)

great story, i think.

 

[eljay]

Tsotsi - Tsotsi's turbulent life as a small-time Soweto thug becomes much more complicated and confusing - both logistically and emotionally - when, during a botched car-jacking, he ends up with his victim's car...and her baby.

This captivating foreign drama is one of the best movies I have seen in some time, and it left me speechless at its conclusion. The story is lean and well-paced, the dialogue is spare but effective (as are many of the silences) and Presley Chweneyagae - a young actor with tremendous and effortless presence - delivers a powerful and riveting performance.