The Breakfast Club and Planet Earth and Sixteen Candles and Get smart. The breakfast club and sixteen candles were LOL Hilarious!

Dude. You just now got around to watching these movies? Where have you been in the past decade or two? Although, I do agree with the fact that The breakfast club is still worthy of a few chuckles here and there. "I got you for two weeks!" lol.

Wall E (2008)

At first I thought I was watching the animated version of "I am Legend" but then the movie took a different turn. It calls for paying more attention to the mother earth. It was ironic to see that the machines are the ones leading such campaign!

It's what I like to call a family movie
(my rating ****)



Hancock (2008)

I did not like seeing Will Smith as a drunk hero who caused so much destructions. His wanton to help people and his lack of manners were ironic!
(my rating **)

Here's a review of the movies that I rented this weekend....

Fools Gold - Disappointed. I thought it would be good, as I loved Kate and Matthew in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (Chick Flick, I know)...nevertheless, I fell asleep about 40 minutes into it. Maybe I was just tired and didn't give it a chance, but I had no desire to go back and finish it.

Jumper - Really Liked. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this movie! I absolutely loved the beautiful scenery and the entire cast, not to mention it was action packed! Oh, how I wish that I could teleport myself from place to place!!

Vantage Point - Loved loved loved! I loved the way it showed each character's perspective on what happened before, during and after the "President" begins his speech. The movie literally had me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end!

We just watched 10 Items or Less and I have to say it was pretty good. I had no idea what it was about when we sat down and we were pleasantly surprised. (I don't refer to myself as "we" I'm referring to my boyfriend and I)
I have to say that I enjoyed Morgan Freeman playing himself. It was just a refreshing movie.
King of California: I haven't made my mind up about this movie... it was kind of ridiculous!

The Sin Eater, Notebook, D.E.B.S., My Best Friends Wedding, and School of Life are all movies I've seen in the last week. D.E.B.S. was stupid...Sin Eater was AWSOME!!!

The Crown Prince (2006)

Starring: Max Von Thun, Vittoria Puccini and Omar Sharif

A story of ambitions, lost love and despair.

May require parents' guidance for sexual scenes.

(My rating ****)

Just watched "What Planet Are You From" (2000)

Was pretty cute. It has Annette Benning, Gary Shandling, Greg Kinnear, John Goodman...

Wall-E was great! And it made me want to go exercise right after, and nothing motivates me to do that!! :)

I just saw Hancock, Notes on a Scandal, Superbad and Quinceneara.

All really good movies. Hancock was okay but the ending killed it for me. Notes on a Scandal was marvelous and I love Cate Blanchett. Superbad was hilarious and Quinceneara was very well done. I was very interested in the character development in this one.

Just got done seeing the following movies this week:

Unfaithful - Richard Gere and Diane Lane
This movie wasn't too bad. Never saw Richard Gere play that kinda part before. Same goes for Diane Lane.

The Eye - Jessica Alba and Parker Posey
Saw the original awhile back. They were pretty much the same. Probably won't watch it again.

The Fallen - Denzel Washington and John Goodman
This was average for me. Did like the parts when Azazel kept moving from person to person. That was cool.

I saw the movie Teeth and it was hilarious. It wasn't exactly scary but it did have some funny parts. It was more like oh noes for the guys more than anything. LOL

I've also seen Transformers like 8 times (I can't wait for the sequel) and Tropic Thunder.

I just watched this movie called Flakes. Its kind of an indy movie, but Christopher Lloyd is in it and Zoe Deschanel. Its about the breakfast restaurant that only serves cereal that christopher lloyds character owns. I SO want to buy it!! It was really really good. The other one i watched recently, due to being a preview on flakes was a movie called I want someone to eat cheese with. It was ok. Im not sorry i watched it, but the plot is a little strange. It is a Chicago movie, which for me is always a good reason to watch a movie.

Sarah,
I love "It Happened One Night". It's my favorite film! I just saw "The Band's Visit" and enjoyed it. If you like independent films with substance and a bit of humor, I definitely recommend it. Also just saw "Traitor" and it was pretty good...I'm partial to Don Cheadle though.

I forgot to add "Lars and the Real Girl". I didn't know what I would think of this movie, but my husband & I both loved it! And Ryan Gosling...need I say more? :)

Hannah,

It Happened One Night is my favorite Clark Gable film. Lots of good laughs!

I also really enjoyed The Band's Visit - such deeply felt loneliness and longing from that main actress....wow.

I sort of saw Lars and the Real Girl on the plane (without headphones)....I imagine dialogue would have helped...but it looked a bit silly.

I watched "Silence Becomes You" yesterday. It was confusing and stupid. Not recommended.

I also saw "The Sasquatch Gang" which was produced by the same team as "Napoleon Dynamite". I figured for a lazy Sunday I'd give it a shot. It ended up being pretty funny and I like how each chapter was told in a comic book style. If you liked ND then you might want to check this one out.

Just saw "The Dark Knight"(in IMAX), The Mummy 3, and "Mama Mia" in the theatre. DK was amazing. And scary. And well, dark. The Mummy 3 was a movie where you keep waiting for great things to happen (and you have a feeling that the actors are as well)and are continually let down. Mama Mia was REALLY good. I can't wait to own this one and would actually go and see it again in the theatre if I could find the "sing-along" one playing somewhere.

At home we have watched HP 1 and 2 (YES, I had seen them before), Sweet and Lowdown (which was WAY better than I thought it would be)and Love, Actually for the 100th time. :) Have a list a mile long to go and rent, but I hate paying almost 6 bucks to rent a movie. SIGH. AND my stupid cable company shut off our "on-demand"..WHY WHY WHY....I hate Rodgers....

I just got the DVD, hadn't seen the film in years.
Cool World, directed by Ralph Bakshi.
What an amazingly, imaginative, and demented film.
It almost over-stimulates the senses.
There is so much going on it.
What an incredible cast as well. Gabriel Byrne, Brad Pitt, and
Kim Basinger.
Remember those days, when animation had edge to it?

For all the innovations in animation, the world of animation in America has gotten painfully smaller. They all follow the same formula and are targeted to the exact same audience.
With the pseudo edge of harmless jokes the kids might not get but make the parents chuckle, give me a break.

The wild success of all these computer animated films (deserved or not) has reinforced the notion that animation is strictly for kids.
No sophisticated or dark material can ever be tackled in this medium on the big screen. Thank God for Adult Swim.

I'll get off my soap box now.

I have just viewed The Lady Eve for about the 10th time, and I thought I'd write about it here. This list seems to mainly focus on contemporary cinema, so when I can I would like to present older films that are worth your attention (just to mix things up a bit).

SPOIILER ALERT: This post contains a vague plot outline.

The Lady Eve (1939) stars Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda in a classic 1930's screwball comedy. The first two acts are situated firmly in this tradition; the third act veers into a comedy of errors, brimming with slapstick. The final act suggests a theater of the absurd and boasts a happy ending that was consistent with the romantic sentiment of the era.

While this collection of styles might suggest a disjointed effort, Preston Sturges' sharp-tongued script and masterful direction pulls it all together in a fast-paced, memorable comedy. Stanwyck gives one of her finest comedic performances as the daughter of a grifter who falls in love with the heir to a wealthy brewery fortune, played excellently by Fonda in a rare comedic role.

The film takes a radical turn at the end of act two once Fonda discovers Stanwyck's identity as an adventuress, but that doesn't keep her from re-appearing as British Royalty in the final acts in order to seek revenge and get her man. Charles Coburn, Eugene Pallette and William Demerest give great supporting performances, adding comic levity via goofy slapstick and unforgetable dialogue.

This is one of Preston Sturges' finer films, which include Sullivan's Travels, The Great McGinty, and others

Cesar.... Cool World was the extreme movie to see back when it came out if you were into the club scene. We gobbled it up like candy back then. I loved that movie and still have the soundtrack. Nothing was cooler than "Cool World" and Holli Would.

our cable provider just had its free preview weekend for hbo and cinemax, and we went a little crazy with the dvr. here's what we've watched this week:

under the same moon - LOVED THIS MOVIE!!! that boy is the CUTEST thing ever. and it's just such a beautiful story with absolutely charming and loveable characters. highly, highly recommend.

shrek the third - eh...nothing's as good as the first.

i now pronounce you chuck and larry - let's just say i'm really, truly glad we did not have to spend money on this one...wow.

fantastic four: rise of the silver surfer - another terrible one. i mean, i wasn't expecting much, but holy cow...this movie blew my super low expectations out of the water with how truly bad it was.

a good year - it was okay...kinda slow. but not terrible.

no reservations - now this one caught me off guard. i had no desire to see this when it came out, but it was SO good! even my husband loved it. it was a sweet, rich movie and i was so impressed.

license to wed - i love john krasinski and i thought he was great in this......unfortunately, him and mandy moore had NO chemistry. and it's pretty hard to be a successful romantic comedy when the two main characters have no sparks between them.

sydney white - i'm a sucker for teen movies. this was pretty cute.

28 days - i love sandra bullock.....but not in this. not at all.

i think that's it so far......

Rachel....I was very surprised by No Reservations myself :) Great movie huh?

I did have a hard time with the destruction. But I loved the point of the movie. He, like so many people in the world, didn't know who he was; so he felt lost and lonely and out of sorts. But he knew he was important and special (aren't we all?) and once someone believed in him and he learned who he was, he stopped being destructive and became the "hero" he was meant to be. :)

Dawn: I don't know where you live, but check out your local library. My favorite little neighborhood movie shop was shut down (23 years in one spot!)..BUT...I did find out that I can go online to the library and call up their list of films. It's impressive..then just order them, by mail! Hey...Netflix..without any $$$ changing hands.

Currently there is no charge for this service, like the books by mail..but I think soon they'll be forced to..Still worth it

I just got "The Other Boylyn Girl" and the first season of "The Wire".

And..I do wonder...how on earth does everybody find time to watch all these movies??? I only word part time.and still have my books to read...thank heaven for all of your reviews and notes for god movies.

Now I have a book list...and a movie list. I need to be cloned!

I have suffered from a life-long case of insomnia...not sleeping helps you get all kinds of things done you never imagined....

I also check things out from the library around the corner from my place, but it doesn't have such a great selection.

At this very moment I'm watching Rambo: First Blood part II, and I have to say, it is pretty awful. The acting and dialogue are just ... well...bad!

Ok...last night I watched a movie again which I keep forgetting about, and, although it was on a commercial channel, enjoyed it greatly...again.

Secondhand Lions is really a cute movie, even though Haley Jole Osment really ought to be allowed to quit the cute, but emotionally torn characters. I mean, he was great in Sixth Sense and Pay It Forward, but, please, write him a different kid for once! I just all around like the story, and the lion attacking the future step-father was great!

In preparation for a spiritual retreat to Orvieto, Italy, the retreatants watched "Brother Sun, Sister Moon" (about the beginning of St. Francis spiritual life)- a movie I fell in love with in the 70s. The music by Donovan is great too - but despite searching for many years, I cannot find the soundtrack. Rats!

i just watched coco chanel. that....is an awesome movie.

We watched The Bank Job with Jason Statham and although my boyfriend liked it I couldn't really get into it. Everytime I looked up from my book another naked woman was on the screen.....that's about all i saw of it :) No wonder he liked it!! LOL

I watched "The Forbidden Kingdom". I waited a long time to see Jackie Chan and Jet Li together and I enjoyed this film. It brought all the elements of the kung fu pictures I loved (with a little Karate Kid mixed in). If you are familiar with Kung Fu movies, especially from the early 80s, you will see a lot of them in here. Two that may jump out at your are "The Bride With White Hair" and "Drunken Master".

Masculin Feminin - directed by Jean-Luc Goddard - France, 1966

In keeping with his trend of taking popular film genres and turning them upside-down, Goddard takes the battle of the sexes motif and runs amok in this film, a movie in which he claimed he wanted to illustrate "the children of Marx and Coca-Cola".

Set in Paris during the Vietnam War era, Masculin/Feminin is a kind of film journal in 12 episodes that focuses on a few youths in their early 20's. As it so often happens, Goddard reists conventional narrative structure (beginning - middle - end: conflict - development - resolution) and instead focuses on his characters as if they were gems (flawed, perhaps), constantly turning them over and over to relfect the light from different perspectives. Characters, as in "real life" contradict themselves, confront confusion, rise and fall. There are no heroes. There are no easy conclusions. Instead, we have some richly drawn characters who we get to know in some great detail over the course of the hour and forty minute running time.

Goddard begins his film by presenting superficial character aspects, only to turn them on their head. Girls who seem concerned with little more than their lipstick and hair eventually blossom into adults who grabble with existential questions of career, relationships, birth control, and society at large. On the other hand, clever young men who on the onset seem to be politically active and sure of themselves become jaded and listless, offering little more than empty phrases taken from philosophical textbooks.

All the while Goddard is up to his usual tricks: blasting pop music (or JS Bach) one second only to pull the sound and let his characters drift in complete silence. Pre-recorded sounds of street noises and busy urban dialogues from streetcorners are superimposed on top of intimate dialogue. Yes, we live in a world where our environment often dwarfs us and leaves us fragmented. As he so often does, Goddard pays homage to silent flims by using "cue cards" to add poetry and authorial commentary to the episodes.

Goddard, who often explored experimental ways of dealing with film narrative and structure, seems to have found the right balance of style and subject in Masculin/Feminin. While some of his films read as radical for the sake of being radical, Masculin Feminin strikes a nice balance between innovation and exploring society at large.

I watched Coco Chanel last night. It was good.
Shirley McClane looked more like Coco Chanel than she did like the Shirley McClane I am used to.
The only problem I had with the movie was the thousand commercials that lasted longer than the movie.
Maryanne

Loved the movie. Hated the long commercials.
Maryanne

Last week I watched Denzel Washington in Hurriacane, the true story of an black fighter who is innocent but is accusted of 3 murders and spends much of his life in prison but manages to keep his soul alive.
Maryanne Raphael

I loved Richard Gere in Chicago as the tap dancing lawyer. He was so great.
Aloha Maryanne

I watched Secondhand Lions twice and enjoyed it both times. Maryanne

Just watched "A River Runs Through It" for the first time. A very beautiful movie with natural, down to earth dialogue-especially the narration. It was originally written as a book, but the film is able to skillfully bring out the visual elements like the Montona scenery.

ooh steve, that is a great movie. and once that is good for men and women to watch together...hello brad! another good one for guys and girls is "white squall" - action-packed for the guys; hot-guy-packed for the ladies. :D

last week we went to see "kung fu panda" in the $2 theatre here. i loved it! it was so funny!

i have recently watched:

- the notebook (fabulous, i cried for like and hour, not just one gleaming tear full on sobbing)

- sydney white (the modern day fairytale)

- bunny house in theaters (not as good as i had hoped, funny but not a strong recommendation)

- fool's gold (good movie, p.s. i am marrying matthew mcconaughey)

Burn After Reading - better than I expected. Brad Pitt was a hoot as an iron-pumping, in-love-with-himself employee of a fitness center. I'm so used to seeing him in dark, serious roles. George Clooney portrayed the typical "smooze", but Frances McDormand was stellar! John Malkovich - well, he was John Malkovich! I'd give it one better than Entertainment Weekly - a B.

I must see Burn Before Reading. The Coen Bros. can do no wrong (we'll conveniently forget The Ladykillers, shall we?). This just might warrant a trip to the theater!

I'd say the Coen Brothers can do no right, not since RAISING ARIZONA. But that's just me. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN? What a waste of time and money.

I saw a revival of a brand-new restored print of THE GODFATHER over the weekend, which pretty well puts the Coen Brothers' entire mostly useless oeuvre to shame.

Tom: You're obviously an intelligent guy, but you're also one of the most negative people I've ever come across.

What Coen movie are you comparing to The Godfather? The only movie of theirs that even comes close in terms of theme and plot would be Miller's Crossing, but it's still a totally different movie from The Godfather and not much of a comparison.

Raising Arizona is good, but IMO, one of their lesser efforts.

I'm speaking more generally in terms of simply being an intelligent well-made film, of which the Coens have made exactly two: BLOOD SIMPLE and RAISING ARIZONA. The rest are over-rated and derivative, largely useless.

And Rob, you're obviously an intelligent guy, but please keep the personal comments to yourself.

Personal comments? The all-encompassing negativity is there for all to see. What's the point of describing a director's whole catalogue of movies (except for two)as "useless"? Sure it's a negative comment meant to display your dissastisfaction with Coen Bros. films, but how exactly are they useless? Smokey the Bear tv ads are useful. Movies are meant to be entertaining and perhaps thought-provoking.

I think that the Coen Brothers' films, except for BLOOD SIMPLE and RAISING ARIZONA, are useless. They are neither entertaining or thought-provoking, except maybe in as far as they provoke thoughts about how useless they are.

Disagreeing is one thing. Calling me one of the most negative people you've come across is another. You know nothing about me.

Again, keep the personal comments to yourself. They serve no purpose, and are utterly irrelevant to the topic at hand.

"They serve no purpose, and are utterly irrelevant to the topic at hand."


That's exactly how I feel about the posts where you call films useless.

On the other hand....I like your more positive posts. I just wish you'd find a more constructive way to diss a film. You're right...I don't know you at all. All I can go by is your posts.

At least I was actually talking about films, while you were indulging in making personal comments. And at least you admit that I made some positive posts, so the alleged negativity isn't as all-encompassing as you said it was.

Must all comments on films be of the "how wonderful! how joyous and perfect!" variety? If I want to say that a film or films is/are useless, I should be able to say so without being subject to personal comments.

Moving on.