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Bolt (2008)

Great movie, it was simply stated in parts, intelligent throughout, funny, had some really great voice acting and a story that worked on many different levels. What surprised me the most was how crisp and clean the animation was, I think Pixar has spoiled me to the point where I don't expect the same level of animation from anyone else. And yes, I do realize that Pixar is Disney at this point so they were partly responsible for Bolt, but this still wasn't a Pixar movie, know what I mean? Anyways, back to Bolt, this was a traditional children's tale with just enough of an adult edge to it that it all came off in spot on fashion. This now slides up to my #2 movie of the year behind Wall-E, making my top 2 movies both animated and a good return to past glory for Disney.
 
I'm watching seasons 3 and 4 of the Simpsons. Target just had a great sale on them, all seasons were only $12.98 so I picked up a few.
 
The Replacements (2000)

This was fun, completely predictable and cliche, but fun, and that's all there is to it really.

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)

Breathtaking movie. It had such symmetry to it, the first act connected to the last act, and so on and so on. The writing was genius, and the performances were sublime and helped to put across the notion of love lost and what love really is better than any other movie I've ever seen. The movie wasn't hard to follow at all, the one knock I've heard others put forth about it, and it caused you to think both why you are watching it and then after. The only small problem I may have is that Mary was able to mail off Clementine's tape and get it to her a grand total of one day, two at the most, after she took the tape. But, I'm willing to forgive that and I'm also now willing to declare this a simply out, the greatest movie I've ever seen and my all time #1.
 
I loved Eternal Sunshine. Really an amazing piece, and you're quite right, a much better take on love than most of what you get from movies. (A good friend of mine -- who, ironically, I was in love with at the time -- once pointed out that love is a process, and that Hollywood only ever shows one step of a long journey.)

My latest viewing was City of God. What a piece! Visually breathtaking at points, very engaging, and you wind up with sympathy for almost everyone on all sides of a truly ugly fight. Remarkable, really.
 
I saw Eternal Sunshine when I was coming out of a horrendous relationship and I thought, "God, I wish this was available now." I would have absolutely removed this guy from my memory.

Powerful stuff.
 
I recorded three films on my DVR, and found them to be in the 4x3 aspect ratio, even though they were made in 2.35:1. I checked to see if these films were on DVD in the film video library in the building where I work, and they were! :D

So, I checked them out, and have watched two so far.

First, Jindabyne, is an Australian film. It is about four guys who hike into the outback on their annual fishing trip. They find the body of a 19 year-old aboriginal girl floating in the river. But, instead of immediately contacting the authorities, they continue their fishing trip, tying her to the bank with fishing line. The film is mainly about the reactions of their families, and their small town (Jindabyne) to what they have done. It was rather a good film.

Second, I watched Black Book. It was directed by Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, who also directed Robocop, Total Recall, Basic Instinct, and Starship Troopers. This has to be his best film. Intelligent and exciting, lots of action. It is about a Dutch Jewish singer in WW2, who joins the resistance to find out who betrayed her parents, and killed them. It's almost 2.5 hours long, but worth every minute. I highly recommend it!
 
Eternal Sunshine is an interesting case. It has a lot of elements that, on the surface, would normally irritate me in a movie: overly "clever" plot, cute/quirky/obnoxious girl character, Jim Carrey. Yet I, too, really liked this flick. I think part of it is my total crush on Kate Winslett- man she's good.

Black Book was good, but then I am an unabashed Verhoeven fan, with Robocop being one of my favorite movies ever and, yes, I like Showgirls (and yes, for the obvious reasons). I remember reading an interview with him where he talks about being a kid the Netherlands during the Nazi occupation, a clear inspiration for this movie.

I just started Dexter season 2- after the big climax of season 1, it's taking a while for 2 to kick in so we'll see how this goes.

The Shield just ended and it was one of the most perfect finales I've ever seen.

I caught some of Must Love Dogs while at home.... yech. I honestly don't know how people (women) enjoy this kind of crap.
 
GKarsEye said:
I caught some of Must Love Dogs while at home.... yech. I honestly don't know how people (women) enjoy this kind of crap.
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It's the dumbed down chick-lit formula. I can't stand it, yet MOST of my gal pals are totally into that crap. The few that get giddy over Harry Potter and Galactica with me are very few and far between.
 
GKarsEye said:
Black Book was good, but then I am an unabashed Verhoeven fan, with Robocop being one of my favorite movies ever and, yes, I like Showgirls (and yes, for the obvious reasons). I remember reading an interview with him where he talks about being a kid the Netherlands during the Nazi occupation, a clear inspiration for this movie.
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I'm a Verhoeven fan, too, and like Robocop a lot. I've not seen Showgirls, but for lack of opportunity, not the bad reviews.
 
Showgirls is the best cheeze-fest movie out there. Watch it knowing you're going to laugh your bum off in all the wrong places and seem some serious over-acting! I loved it.
 
The Prestige (2006)

I don't care, I just don't care. That's the main problem with this movie, in the end I have no reason at all to care. I don't care about the setting, I don't care about any of the characters, I don't care about what happens to any of the characters, and I don't care about any of the obvious twists. The twists are another big problem, mainly the huge Bale twist, it just doesn't work, at all. First, the whole, we were both living half lives therefore somehow we are redeemed for our actions and one of us should be allowed to ride off in the sunset with the little girl as long as the other one dies motif doesn't work. But, most importantly, it doesn't work visually, I don't buy Bale as both guys at any point in the movie. The Prestige also suffers from set-up syndrome, nothing can just happen, everything has to be set-up or foreshadowed in some way. Life doesn't work like that, and neither do movies. Some things are set-up or foreshadowed, but not every single big event. Lastly, the plot is convoluted to no end, yet it's far too easy to figure out. There's no suspense over what is going to happen, and the only twists are provided by characters doing things totally out of their character and contradictory to how they have acted for the rest of the movie. I watch movies like this, and the rest of Nolan's work, and I really don't see how anyone can view him as a decent film maker, let alone a great one. Like most of his other work, The Prestige was completely directionless, it was a gaggle of ideas thrown about without any cohesiveness to them.

As an aside, darn you IMDB kids for actually rating this highly and ensuring I had to watch it one more time as I continue my quest to DVR and then watch (and rate) every movie in your top 250! :mad:
 
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Fairly or not, The Prestige has been compared to The Illusionist because they're both about competing magicians and came out around the same time. IMO, The Illusionist is much better- plot makes more sense and there's no "magic" involved in the solution.
 
GKarsEye said:
Fairly or not, The Prestige has been compared to The Illusionist because they're both about competing magicians and came out around the same time. IMO, The Illusionist is much better- plot makes more sense and there's no "magic" involved in the solution.
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We are in the same, very small boat my friend. I loved The Illusionist, if not for Pan's Labyrinth it would have been my MOTY for 2006. It's such a well crafted movie, and it, unlike The Prestige, knows how to use its twist. In The Illusionist the twist isn't even the point, it's the journey of the inspector as he learns for himself what really went on with the princess.
 
See, I couldn't stand The Illusionist. It was advertised as a big, spooky movie about magic and it turned out to be this chick-flick. I think I was irritated that it was marketed in such a sneaky way.

I liked The Prestige, but in looking at what you said, I didn't care much for any of the characters myself. I thought parts of it were cool (Tesla, etc.) But, I didn't feel as I was given the opportunity to care for the characters. It was all, "what's going to happen NEXT? MUHAHAHA" kind of story telling. Interesting and it was enjoyable and entertaining, but it isn't a movie I'll run out to see again.
 
Alluveal said:
See, I couldn't stand The Illusionist. It was advertised as a big, spooky movie about magic and it turned out to be this chick-flick. I think I was irritated that it was marketed in such a sneaky way.
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Ah...Like The Village. Totally marketed as a horror flick, and people expecting it to be a horror flick were totally disappointed by it.
 
Nolan has made 7 films, and I have seen all but the first, Doodlebug.

I know Cell disagrees, as we've had this conversation before, but I think Memento is a great film. It reworks a traditional film noir gimmick, the flashback, into a device which successfully puts the viewer in the place of the film's protagonist. Very effective, and such innovations are very rare.

Insomnia and Following are both solid, engaging films, with plenty of unusual quirks to maintain interest, and enough substance to be more than just entertainment.

Batman Begins and Dark Night are both well-crafted, very entertaining genre films, but don't really rise above that.

The Prestige tries to be much more than it accomplishes. I found it entertaining. I liked the Tesla connection too, and its very dark tone. I did find it believable enough, within its own parameters, but I didn't find the characters very engaging. Still, I liked it better than The Illusionist. It sets out to be a fairy tale with modern sensibilities, and nothing more. In that I think it succeeded moderately well, but as such it was only moderately entertaining.
 
I found the Illusionist pretty to look at, but not much more. It didn't hold my attention at all. Whereas I liked the Prestige a fair amount. Yes, there's magic in it, of a sort... but having spent the whole movie showing how there was no magic in any other trick, I thought it was a lovely twist to bring in something truly uncanny. And while some of the characters truly are reprehensible, I enjoyed Bale's two characters a lot. The love story with Bale's characters' wife was far more honest and affecting than the somewhat cardboard passion of the leads in the Illusionist.
 
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