Rate recently watched movies

[KOTLP]

I started this in OOT a month or so back, but there hasn't been much interest lately so I thought I'd try it here. The idea is an ongoing thread that serves as an alternative for full reviews. The Lounge seems full of film addicts with good taste, and I'd love to hear what you've been watching lately.

I'll start with my last couple posts to the OOT thread, from the last two weeks.

Dog Day Afternoon (Sidney Lumet, 1975) - crime/drama - 9/10

Great performances all around, and I believe Al Pacino's best. After also finally waching 12 Angry Men a few weeks ago, I feel I really need to watch more Sidney Lumet films (still haven't even seen Network!).

Pitch Black (David Twohy, 2000) - sci-fi/horror - 5/10

Meh, mindless entertainment with some laughingly dumb parts. Riddick is a cool character, but the only one I cared about. Some decent moments of suspense and effects, but not much of a plot and little character development. I'm more into thinking sci-fi though, fans of the Alien type movies may dig this one.

Touching the Void (Kevin Macdonald, 2003) - documentary/drama - 8/10

Thank you to whoever recommended this one. One of the most amazing survival stories I've ever seen. Details, in riveting realism and brutal honesty, the true story of two mountaineers intent on becoming the first to conquer Siula Grande in Peru. Well done mix of dramatic reenactment and narration by the actual climbers. For anyone fascinated with insanely dangerous mountain climbs or horrific survival stories, this is a must see.

25th Hour (Spike Lee, 2002) - drama - 6.5/10

Mixed feelings. Most all the performances are excellent. Edward Norton continues to impress me. The subject is frightening and truly thought provoking. But, the pacing just doesn't work for me. After a while the slow motion sequences, zooms, and subplots become a distraction, and make the film seem too long. Spike Lee has a tendency to do this to me. Also, some of the minor characters are overly stereotypical and not believable. Good, but could have been great.

North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959) - thriller - 9/10

Wonderful blend of comedy and suspense. Great score too. Loved the drunk driving scene. And of coure I must mention the steamy dialogue between Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint. The Freudian train in the tunnel at the end totally cracked me up.

Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris, 2006) - comedy - 8/10

Probably the most fun I've had watching a new movie this year. Of course, seeing it in a cool small theater where you can drink beer helped [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Grandpa Hoover kicks ass.

Firefly TV Series (2002) - sci-fi - 9/10

This is now one of my all time favorite sci-fi series. The concept sounds cheesy, but this show is awesome. It's depressing that Fox cancelled it.

The Ice Storm (Ang Lee, 1997) - drama - 9/10

Very powerful. Better than American Beauty. This really deserved an oscar IMO, sadly it wasn't even nominated.

[Peter Harris]

Little Miss Sunshine - 5/10
Struggled too hard to be seen as "arty" cinema. Storyline reasonably solid, with good performances by some of the cast, especially the grandfather. Cavell's foray into more 'indie' waters comes off fairly smoothly. Film makes very unsubtle but worthy notice about the hypocrisy of beauty pageants in sexualising young females.

Children of Men - 5/10
Fairly good futuristic pre-apocalypse movie, but so many loose threads. Jenny and I left the cinema and spent an hour pointing out how many of the policies instituted in the future society wouldn't make sense. Really, if they'd spent another few months in concept development it would have been a tighter film. Worth a watch but you do need to suspend disbelief. SPOILER: <font color="white">the film should end 1 minute earlier too. The fact that it didn't frustrates me greatly.</font>

Volver - 6/10
Almódovar is still a good film maker, yes, he is. But, nothing is matching his earlier work a la Habla Con Ella. This is still the best film i've seen recently, but nothing jumps out to commend it.

[KOTLP]

Ugh, was really looking forward to Children of Men. Then again I've read three or four reviews since the UK release and they were overwhelmingly positive.

I think you are being way too harsh on LMS, I didn't find it "struggling to be arty" at all. And Grandpa Hoover alone makes it above average.

[MrMon]

[ QUOTE ]
Touching the Void (Kevin Macdonald, 2003) - documentary/drama - 8/10

Thank you to whoever recommended this one. One of the most amazing survival stories I've ever seen. Details, in riveting realism and brutal honesty, the true story of two mountaineers intent on becoming the first to conquer Siula Grande in Peru. Well done mix of dramatic reenactment and narration by the actual climbers. For anyone fascinated with insanely dangerous mountain climbs or horrific survival stories, this is a must see.


[/ QUOTE ]

I'll take the credit here, although I think someone else also mentioned it. If you haven't seen it, you really need to. It's not a spoiler to say that while you're watching it, the real guy is on screen, and you can only think "Why are you on screen? You're supposed to be dead, how in the world could you survive?"

I don't think the human will to survive has ever been captured better on screen. Truly amazing.