Miscellaneous Movie Musings

[Ghoulish Delight]

One of these days I'm going to learn to trust Bob Odenkirk.

I still think he's a terrible actor, but as a producer, having his name attached to something continues to be a good indicator that I'm going to like it.

A while ago we stuck The Brothers Solomon on our Netflix queue for that very reason. Well, that and Will Arnett and Will Forte.

Then we watched a trailer and were less than excited about the movie's prospects. But we forgot to check our queue and it got sent.

Last night we finally felt in a stupid enough mood to put it on. Keeping in mind that we are already fans of Odenkirk's sense of humor, and are fully aware that it's stupid, I gotta say, this movie was damned funny. "Better than it had a right to be," as CP put it.

If you like Will Arnett, if you like Forte on SNL, you'll like this movie.

[Alex]

Watched the Russian "creatures of the night" action thriller Night Watch last night. This is the movie that got the director a shot at big-budge American movies resulting in last summer's abomination Wanted.

Wanted was a movie with a lot of style and an evil moral center. I hated it.

But Night Watch does not suffer that problem and I recommend it heartily. It also wins for best use of subtitles. It is available on Netflix via Watch it Now. As is the sequel Day Watch which I haven't watched yet so may suck.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Alex

Wanted was a movie with a lot of style and an evil moral center. I hated it.

CP's brother called it the worst movie of all time. And from his summary, I'm inclined to believe him. Makes me want to see it.

[Alex]

As mindless action movie it was ok, certainly not worst of all time. As a movie that seems to present a moral argument that is essentially evil (two of them in fact: "better to do horrible things and have an impact than to be a nobody" and "better to commit horrible atrocities in the name of faith than to seek evidence and justification") it is way down on the list.

Though I'd have to also nominate Four Brothers in the morally awful category as well.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Originally Posted by Alex

As mindless action movie it was ok, certainly not worst of all time. As a movie that seems to present a moral argument that is essentially evil (two of them in fact: "better to do horrible things and have an impact than to be a nobody" and "better to commit horrible atrocities in the name of faith than to seek evidence and justification") it is way down on the list.

Though I'd have to also nominate Four Brothers in the morally awful category as well.

I really enjoyed watching Wanted, though it was ridiculous. And the morality was rather repugnant, though that's coming from a moral relativist. Anyway, I was visually entertained but my intelligence felt insulted. Heh. I did enjoy hearing a new pop song by Danny Elfman.

I remember seeing the preview for Night Watch, which contained no dialogue, but something visual prompted me to say, "Is this Russian?! Is this a Russian horror film?!" The movie did not disappoint and was both visually arresting and complex, and the subtitles were both functional and gorgeously integrated into the film. I also haven't seen the 2nd or 3rd films, nor have I read the trilogy on which they are based.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Oh yeah, we also watched Kung Fu Panda. Not a bad flick. The story itself is kinda thin, but it wasn't hatefully bad, and it had some very good humorous moments (despite Jack Black) and a couple fantastic martial arts scenes. Pretty good stuff. And, having forgotten it was him, I was pretty surprised when it finally dawned on me that it was Dustin Hoffman's voice I was hearing. Great voice performance.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Trailer fo 9

Hadn't heard of this, looks intriguing. And that opening bit of music in the trailer is from one of my favorite artists, The Knife.

[SzczerbiakManiac]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Trailer fo 9

I thought that was gonna be Nine, but that (9) looks quite intriguing.

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

Saw Punisher War ZOne today. I actually liked it. Its not Oscar material, nor was the acting anything beyond cheesy but there was alot of great action, explosions and ultra violence. It had one of the best kill-shots I've seen in a long while. Lots of laughs, alot unintensional -- but really had fun watching it.

I also saw Role Models which was funny in many spots but it was extreamly predictable. I'd recommend renting it if there's nothing else to watch.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

In saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It begins with a tale about a clock maker, that is perhaps my favorite part of the entire film. I wouldn't say it goes downhill from there, it was just a very poignant moment in the film that happened to be at the very beginning and touched me the most personally.

It was beautifully filmed and contains subtle performances from every member of the cast. The film is a fairy tale, which I quite liked. It convincingly carried a mixture of realism and surrealism. I'm a fan of the director's (Panic Room, aside), and he doesn't disappoint. The movie is everything the trailers promised; it just fills in knowable gaps. Its predictability is perhaps the one thing it doesn't have in its favor. And there is some fat in the first half of the movie that could have been cut out, were it not for the filmmakers' apparent fascination with the success of the CGI used to make Brad Pitt look like a tiny old person.