Justin at the Movies

Last Week on DVD

// December 15th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Random Movie Musings, Recommendations

The Cove

by: Justin

Why do we think we can tell the Japanese what they can and can’t do? We decided that we can tell them that what they are doing, and what they have been doing for hundreds of years, is now wrong. Anything that is not the American way must be wrong. Right? Check out this very important documentary.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Jesse’s Rating: 3/5

by: Jesse

I’m having a hard time writing about this movie, partly because it’s been awhile since I saw it and partly because it’s the sixth movie in a series. I think that fans of the previous movies will be happy with this installment, and people who are fans of the books but have been disappointed by the movies, like me, might be pleasantly surprised. I don’t hesitate in voicing my disgust for the first three films. I can’t remember number four, but then decided to give six a chance. I watched number five before we went, and loved it. This one is almost as good.

I don’t think the Harry Potter movies will ever completely meet my expectations of what they should be, but the last two installments have renewed my faith. They’re getting darker and more complex. Daniel Radcliff isn’t quite as annoying as he once was. Therefore, if you’re a Harry Potter fan, you’ll most likely enjoy ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.’

Julie & Julia

Justin’s Rating: 2/5
Jesse’s Rating: 1.5/5

by: Jesse

I was very excited to see Julie & Julia. The previews made it look fun and girlie: just up my alley! I love quirky women and I’m a fan of Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. Sounds like a *recipe* (ha ha) for an enjoyable movie-viewing experience. Unfortunately, I was greatly disappointed. For me, this movie holds little merit. Surprisingly, the acting was sub-par. Meryl Streep’s portrayal of Julia Child’s unique “accent” was extremely inconsistant, coming off British half the time and just plain annoying the rest of the time. Amy Adams’ performance was forgettable.

The biggest problem with ‘Julie & Julia,’ however, was the complete lack of story, or plot, or purpose. Why did this make a movie? Why should we care? I kept waiting for the conflict, for some sort of intrigue, anything to grab my interest. This movie is supposed to be about how one woman’s life inspires another woman to take a journey to find herself. Unfortunately, it wasn’t successful. I have no emotional response to this movie at all. That’s not a good thing.

Public Enemies

Read the review here.

World’s Greatest Dad

 *PICK OF THE WEEK*

Justin’s Rating: 4/5
Jesse’s Rating: 4/5

by: Justin

Have you ever watched a movie where the movie ended, and you attempt to talk about it with someone and it feels like you watched two completely different movies? This is that movie. This movie is hilarious, ,original, and disturbing all at the same time. Unfortunately, not everybody understands dark comedy. Not only is this movie dark humor, but it is also satirical. How many people in this world understand satire these days? I would dare say not very many. Which is unfortunate because this movie is awesome, and completely misunderstood by the majority of people who watch movies. Smart people get it, and smart people like it, and I like the company that puts me in.

Robin Williams gives his best performance since ‘Good Will Hunting,’ and it was so nice to see him do some serious acting again. I believe that he is one of the most underrated actors in hollywood. I don’t think there are many people that can convey emotion verbally and nonverbally as well as he does. This movie starts off as just a dark comedy, and then takes a completely unexpected turn and dives in the satire/social commentary world. As somebody who had a close friend pass away in high school, I identified with the commentary that was being made in this film, and I appreciated it quite a bit. Although this movie is not for everybody, it is hilarious and entertaining throughout. Although I could have done without the Robin Williams naked, I still recommend it. It is my pick of the week so I included the trailer. Watch it. Even the trailer is funny.

Focus Features

// December 12th, 2009 // 7 Comments » // Random Movie Musings

In a day and age when it is nearly impossible to find a good movie, there is one thing you can almost always count on. That one thing is the production company Focus Features. These guys never let me down…ok, almost never let me down. For the last decade they have been who Dreamworks aspired to be, before they decided to start making crappy movies. So, if you are ever roaming the aisles of your local video store, or surfing through the digital stores and you don’t know what to get, just look for something that says Focus Features across the front. They make good, artistic cinema. I promise. Feel free to pick up any of these movies on this list as well. They all have my stamp of approval, and there is no better stamp.Here is a list of some of the movies that they have done since 2000.

8 Femmes (8 Women): My Rating–4 stars
Ash Wednesday: My Rating–4 stars
Lost In Translation: My Rating–5 stars (One of my 100 favorite movies)
21 Grams: My Rating–5 stars (One of my 100 favorite movies)
Mean Creek: My Rating–3.5 stars
Diarios de Motocicleta (The Motorcycle Diaries): My Rating–4 stars
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: My Rating–5 stars (One of my 100 favorite movies)
Shaun of the Dead: My Rating–4 stars
The Door in the Floor: My Rating–4 stars
Brodre (Brothers): My Rating–4.5 stars
Brick: My Rating–4.5 stars
Broken Flowers: My Rating–4 stars
The Constant Gardener: My Rating: 3.5 stars
Winter Passing: My Rating–3 stars
Hollywoodland: My Rating–4 stars
Catch a Fire: My Rating–3 stars
Atonement: My Rating–3.5 stars
Se, Jie (Lust, Caution): My Rating: 3.5 stars
Into the Wild: My Rating–4 stars
Eastern Promises: My Rating–5 stars
Reservation Road: My Rating–4 stars
Dan in Real Life: My Rating–4 stars
In Bruges: My Rating–4 stars
Burn After Reading: My Rating–3.5 stars
Milk: My Rating–3.5 stars
Sin Nombre: My Rating–4 stars
Coraline: My Rating–4 stars
Away We Go: My Rating–4 stars

A Stupid Observation

// December 8th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // Random Movie Musings

This is just a really stupid observation I made today. Look at all three of these DVD covers of ‘Transporter 1, 2, and 3.’

Could this be any more retarded? Seriously. Can one be more uncreative? Who got paid for this? This is the same exact formula used for each DVD. Jason Statham jumping sideways firing two guns–check. Some kind of flamy mist going across the middle–check. A girl on the cover–check. She’s there on the first one, she’s in the flamy mist. But did you see what they did there on the last one? They made him jumping the other direction. I am super impressed about that.

Tragedy

// November 29th, 2009 // No Comments » // Jesse, Random Movie Musings

by Jesse

I have another horror movie-induced post for you!

I have a theory about horror movies that, so far, has proved to be completely, 100% accurate.  I haven’t seen every horror movie, obviously, so maybe one day I’ll watch a movie that will shatter my theory.  I hope not, it’s really good.

My theory is this:  the people who appear in horror movies as the victims are ALWAYS people who have survived and are recovering from an intense tragedy in their lives.  They have survived something horrible and they are struggling to move on when suddenly, they are being terrorized by psycho killers, ghosties, insanity, etc.  Don’t believe me?  I have examples.

The Haunting in Connecticut
This movie is about the Campbell family. Sara, the mom, is desperately trying to keep her family together as her husband, Peter, struggles with alcoholism and the increasing financial demands of their son, Matt’s, cancer. They move to upstate Connecticut to be closer to a cancer clinic, despite the second mortgage it incurs. Soon, as they are being terrorized by evil entities, they discover that the house has a horrible and evil history.

The Last House on the Left
Still recovering from the loss of their son, John and Emma Collingwood take their daughter, Mari, to their vacation home, “the last house on the left” for some much-needed relaxation. When Mari heads into town to visit a friend, the two girls find themselves in a horrible situation. They are kidnapped by an escaped murderer and his family. Mari’s friend, Paige, is stabbed to death in the woods. Mari is raped and shot and left for dead. Then, the fugitives find their way up to “the last house on the left” where John and Emma give them shelter for the night, not knowing what the strangers have done to their daughter. When they find out, there is a battle to the death between the two families.

Prom Night
Donna was a normal teenager until one of her teachers, Richard Fenton, became obsessed with her. Her parents got him fired but he continued to stalk her. One night, Fenton, comes into the house and kills Donna’s father, brother, and finally, her mother right in front of her. For the past three years, Donna has been trying to live a normal life. On Prom night, Fenton escapes prison and comes after her and everyone close to her again.

The Unborn
Casey Beldon was supposed to have a twin brother, but he died in the womb. She begins suffering from horrible dreams of a little boy with blue eyes. The spirit of her unborn brother is haunting her, trying to take over her body and make it into the world of the living, and terrorizing all her friends and family.

The Uninvited
The main character Anna lost her ill mother in a fire, tried to commit suicide, and has been living in a mental hospital. She returns home, hopefully to start her life over, and instead has to contend with her unsupportive father, her new evil stepmother, and ghosts haunting her house.

Orphan
I saved this movie for last because it epitomizes my theory to the fullest extent. This movie is about the Coleman family. Mother, Kate, and father, John, are trying to rebuild their relationship after extreme tragedies. Yes, plural. John had an affair 10 years ago that Kate is still trying to forgive him for. Kate is a recovering alcoholic, in therapy, and she struggles with it everyday. Because of Kate’s alcoholism, she lost her job, her daughter Maxine almost died in a drowning accident, and she miscarried her other daughter, Jessica. Because of the drowning accident, Maxine is now deaf and dumb. This couple decides that they are ready to add another child to siblings Maxine and Daniel. They find a charming girl named Esther at the orphanage and immediately fall in love with her. Soon, though, Esther is manipulating and terrorizing the family.  She gets Maxine, Daniel, and Kate out of the way so she can seduce John.  When he refuses her, she goes on a murdering rampage.

Okay, so, I’m sure this theory doesn’t apply to every horror movie ever made…I’m not challenging anyone to try and prove me wrong.  All I’m saying is, next time you watch a horror movie, keep my theory in mind and I promise, more times than not, you will see it in play.

Twilight: New Moon

// November 27th, 2009 // 6 Comments » // Reviews

Justin’s rating: 1.5/5

Having finally seen this, I can now officially say how much I dislike this movie. I could spend paragraphs upon paragraphs tearing this movie apart, but I won’t. Well, not the movie anyway, but the story I certainly will. But first just to sum it all up, we will just say the writing, directing, and “acting” are all very sub-par. But that’s all I will say about the actually movie, for the sake of not getting myself thrown out of my house.

However, let’s talk about the story. First off, Bella Swan is one of, if not the, worst characters ever put on film. Could there ever be anybody more selfish, immature, pathetic, and just basically horrid? She doesn’t care about anybody but herself and she proves that throughout the story. She wants to be turned into a vampire, despite what it will do to her father, her mother, her friends, Jacob, and Edward. Not even he wants her to be a vampire. But she doesn’t care about them or their feelings, because she wants to be a vampire. End of story. It’s all about me. Me me me me me me. Also, her whole relationship with Jacob just makes her a freaking terrible person. I can’t stress that enough. Girls are supposed to look up to this girl? Are you kidding me?! Again?! Edward comes along and then it is so long Jacob. She doesn’t even care that he exists and then Edward leaves, and then what does she do? She runs to Jacob to fill that “void” in her heart. Then she proceeds to lead him on forever and then when he wants more she tells him to back off, but continues to hang out with him so  she doesn’t have to be alone. Then when Edward comes back it is so long Jacob again. Once again she doesn’t care that he exists. Does this remind anybody of those terrible girls you knew that just hung out with you because it was better than being alone, but the minute something better came along they were out the door. I can’t possibly express my incredible hatred for this character. 

Secondly, how much of a sixth grade mentality does she have? “Oh, if I can’t be with Edward then I don’t even want to live.” How pathetic. Get some sense of self, girl. Doesn’t this attitude remind you of those pathetic drama queens you knew in middle school that wanted to kill themselves because their boyfriend broke up with them? Get a life. Get some goals. Get un-pathetic. Edward leaves and then you just sit around and mope for months?! Are you kidding me?! Grow up.

After the movie, Jesse brought up a good point that she didn’t even intend to. She said that because of the movies she believes that more people are now Jacob fans then Edward fans because he is more likeable and more attractive. This is hilarious to me because before the first movie came out there was a poll in Entertainment Weekly that polled their readers to find out how many were Jacob fans and how many were Edward fans. I could go back and find it in one of my issues if I wanted, but I don’t. Anyway, there were thousands of votes and it was something like 85% Edward to 15% Jacob. So those percentages were based on their personalities and their actions in the book and had nothing to do with physical appearances. But now that they have seen the movies there are all of a sudden more Jacob fans, because he is more attractive. Hmm….tells you what’s more important to girls doesn’t it?

Lastly, none of this can be defended with stuff that happens in the book. These are movies, not books. I am somebody who has not read the books and has only seen the movies. Therefore, the movies have to hold their own and make sense within their own medium, and they don’t. For example, Lord of the Rings. They cut stuff out of those movies but they still gave you everything that you needed to know to understand the story. I haven’t read those books either, and I understand the story and the characters completely. However, in the Twilight movies, the characters don’t make any sense, whatsoever. And I have never seen a more blatant attempt to film a boy without her shirt on, just to get girls to watch the movies. There is no logical explanation as to why this kid is running around with his shirt off, except for one reason. And you know what that is. I don’t mind romance and love stories, but cheesy melodramatic love stories are pretty torturous. Even for a sap like me.

Nine

// November 27th, 2009 // No Comments » // Random Movie Musings

As a person who thoroughly enjoys musicals, I think this one looks fantastic, and the cast is amazing. I am excited to see Daniel Day-Lewis in a musical. I am very much anticipating this one.

Invictus

// November 19th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Random Movie Musings

If it weren’t for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I would give Clint Eastwood the filmmaker of the decade award. Anytime there is a movie with Clint Eastwood’s name on it, I will be the first in line to see it. This movie looks great, and features Morgan Freeman who is one of my favorite actors. Remember what happened last time Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman teamed up? I hope this one turns out just as well, and with Clint getting snubbed twice last year, nominations for him and his film are pretty likely.

Oscar Watch

// November 12th, 2009 // No Comments » // Random Movie Musings

by Justin

I have started the official oscar watch, you can view it by clicking on the link at the top of the page. On that page we will have a list of the potential nominees for each of the major categories. I was going to start this a long time ago, but 2009 has been one of, if not the worst years every for movies. So far, this year has had very few movies to rave about and go figure it just happens to coincide with the year that the Academy expanded the list of ‘best picture’ nominees to ten instead of five.

As of this post, there aren’t three movies that deserve a best picture nomination, let alone ten. If you want my exact feelings on the expansion, I wrote this post months ago that you can feel free to go back and read. Let’s hope oscar season has some really good films to offer, or this is going to be one of the worst oscar ceremonies ever.

I also must point out that I don’t necessarily agree with all the potential nominations on the page, they are just possibilities. I have colored the ones orange that I feel deserve a nomination. The page will also be changing constantly as new oscar-worthy movies come out. So keep an eye on it and we will see how well we can predict the nominations. I also must add that I have not and will not look at any other oscar predictions anywhere. Every thing on this page and on all of our posts are one hundred percent original thought unless stated otherwise. I want to see how well I can predict the nominations without any outside influence. We also don’t read any reviews, so all of our reviews are one hundred percent original. My predictions also only include movies that I have seen, if I haven’t seen it yet it won’t be on there. Go. Enjoy.

**The strange back and forth use of ‘I’ and ‘we’  is due to the fact that the oscar predictions are my oscar predictions, and there are posts written by two of us. Make sense? If not, oh well. I couldn’t really think of a way to explain it.**

The Taking of Pelham 123

// November 9th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Reviews

by Justin

Starring: Denzel Washington, John Travolta, John Turturro, James Gandolfini

Director: Tony Scott

Rated: R (Language)

Justin’s Rating: 2.5/5

The Taking of Pelham 123 is a decent thriller that has nothing really of substance to offer other than pure entertainment. Ryder (John Travolta) hijacks a subway train so he can exchange the hostages lives for millions of dollars. Walter Garber (Denzel Washington) is the control center operator on the other end of the line that receives the call from Ryder. Ryder gives the city of New York one hour to give him ten million dollars or he will kill one passenger for every minute that they are late in delivering the money to him. That’s pretty much all there is to this movie. Obviously the city of New York tries to figure out a way to get the hostages back safely without having to comply with Ryder’s demands. This whole thing start to finish is just like every other hostage negotiation movie ever made. The performances are nothing to rave about and John Travolta’s character is completely flat with no clear motives. The movie does start right away which was good, and it is pretty well paced. I would only recommend this movie to those that want to be entertained at the very basic level and don’t want anything more. However….

Is there any way that we can get some originality back in hollywood? Absolutely nothing about this movie is original. And when I say absolutely nothing, I mean absolutely nothing. First off, it’s a remake. Gee that’s weird. There aren’t any other remakes out there being made are there? Secondly, the characters. Denzel Washington is always one of two guys. He is either the cop hero, or the common citizen hero. In this movie he plays the common citizen hero. I know you may be thinking, “whatever, in Training Day he was a bad cop.” If that is what you are thinking for the defense of his characters than you are beyond help. I realize he was great in ‘Glory,’ but he hasn’t done anything since that strays to far away from what I have said. Don’t get me wrong, I love Denzel Washington as an actor and a person (because I know him personally of course) I just wish that he would branch out a little bit. He is very talented and I would like to see him utilize it more.

Then we have John Travolta. This movie features John Travolta’s bad guy character. He also is only two characters, his good guy character and his bad guy character. I realize that in film you are either the protagonist or the antagonist, but every time he is a “bad guy” he is the same bad guy character and every time he is the “good guy” he is the same good guy character. His character in The Taking of Pelham 123 is the same character that you will see in ‘Swordfish’ and ‘The Punisher.’ It consists of him yelling constantly and shouting the “F” word as much as possible. That’s what he does. As I said before, if you are looking to just stare at the screen and and find enjoyment at the very basic level, then this is the movie for you. If, however, you want to watch a good film that is well written and consists of good overall performances, then you may want to look elsewhere.

Better Denzel Films:
Glory
Philadelphia
Training Day

Better Travolta Films:
Pulp Fiction
…
…

Fantastic Mr. Fox

// November 9th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // Random Movie Musings

This movie looks fantastic.