Airplane! (also known in Australia as Flying High!)

A comedy classic. I had to get it on DVD because I've had it on video for too long. I really love this movie, especially the whole 'Roger, Oveur' scene. Classic stuff. :frankiesmile:

Heavy Metal

An animated cult classic from 1981, I had been wanting to see it forever. I wasn't disappointed. In fact, I was incredibly surprised by the quality of the animation, especially during the segment Captain Sterrn (which, despite being one of the shortest segments, was one of my favorites). They're making a second movie in the vein of the original film (unlike Heavy Metal 2000, which deviated horribly) that's due to show up in 2010. I definitely hope to see it when it comes out.

Wall-E

Pixar truly is the holy God of computer animation, they never EVER fail to deliver a masterpiece and each time I find it impossible to think they can outdo themselves but, they did. Wall-E is without a doubt (in my opinion) the greatest movie they have made yet, it is magnificent and absolutely freaking flawless.

Its smart, its original, its fresh, its cute, its funny, its touching and its beautiful. Incredibles still ranks as my favorite Pixar movie of all time but in terms of quality, I see a true champion with this movie. I was so shocked at how original the story was and the novel ideas with how the humans live in the future.

Wall-E and his fellow fem bot co-star E.V.E are cute as cute can be and I absolutely loved watching them interact through out the movie. Flat out opinion: stop reading and start watching, GO SEE THIS MOVIE:D !!!

Visitor Q

Takashi Miike does it again. A grotesque, funny, disturbing and very adult film. Should I even mention it here? Anyway it has that great thing a lot of good movies have where you don't know whether the central character is an angel or a demon. Maybe both, maybe neither. The best character is the father, who has to be the world's worst TV reporter.

An evil film. Not for the faint-hearted.

Wall-E
and I have to agree with what Mr. Marshmallow said

my mom hated it caus "there was barely any talking" >_>;

Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs

The second in the quadrilogy of direct to DVD films from one of the best animated series' in the past 20 years. While the first film (Bender's Big Score) felt more epic and had the slightly better story. BWBB had a lot more of the classic Futurama wit and charm, plus it gave ample face time to a lot of the popular supporting characters who got short changed in BBS. Kif, Calculon, Zapp Brannigan and Wernstrom! for example all got a pretty good amount of screen time.

Anyone who is the slightest fan of Futurama would do well to check this one out.

Now I am off to petition the Olympic committee to make "Death Ball" an official sport in the 2012 games.

Still no That Guy though, I take it? Oh well, at least it's not on quite the same par as leaving Sideshow Bob out of the Simpsons Movie. I will NEVER forgive 20th Century Fox for that.

How's Mom been faring in these Futurama movies so far then? I always thought that she was a really cool character who deserved a lot more screen time. Before Futurama first premiered in the UK, I remember reading an article which stated that she would be the main villain of the series, but I only actually remember seeing her in four or five episodes overall.

Mom only got a brief cameo in the movie itself, but she did play a huge role in one of the DVD extras. The extra in question was sort of a "Lost episode" of Futurama which was just a collection of cut-scenes from the 2003 Futurama video game, in which Mom was the main villain.

Fright Night

A classic old 80's horror movie, well horror comedy actually. I was really impressed at the fantastic make up and special effects this movie had for its day and age. It looked very unique and original as opposed to crappy CGI monsters. The actors were way over the top and I loved every minute of it, they really made the movie much more fun and much more enjoyable to watch.

I always enjoy seeing Roddy McDowell on camera as well, I'm so glad I finally picked this movie up. This movie really withstood the test of time and I think still stands as one of the better vampire movies with better special effects then most people give older movies credit for.

Speaking of Bender's Big Score, I found that time-travel plot confusing, which I guess was probably sort of the point. Then again, I found the time-travel plot in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure fairly confusing as well. I think maybe my brain can't handle anything more than the most linear plot possible. I still can't really keep Harry Potter's straight.

If Fry and Leela don't get together by the end of all this I'll probably have an aneurysm.

Meet the Spartans.
Eh, it was okay. Not as bad as some people say. Scary Movie 1 & 3 are light years above this though. I'd give it 4/10

Wall-E

Fantastic. I simply cannot think of a better word to describe the experience. It is one of the finest CGI movies I have ever seen, and is easily the best film Pixar has made to date. If you haven't yet, go and see it. Now.

Shrooms

Caught this by accident...anyone else who's seen this will know that it involves the usual horror film cliches: group of teens, isolated location, creepy house, grisly deaths. Except this also throws magic mushrooms into the mix. I didn't enjoy it, couldn't really stand any of the characters, and I really don't like seeing gore.

That's cool. And hopefully she'll receive a bit more screen time in the two upcoming movies. Mom rocks.

Aww, you mean they're still not? Yeesh...gotta say, that was something which I did find ever-so-slightly frustrating about the latter half of the series...the number of episodes which concluded with the implication that Leela had finally realised her feelings for Fry only for things to be pretty much back to normal by the next episode (guess it's the secret of all television, right Fry?). I liked how they ended the original series finale, "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings", on an ambiguous, but pretty positive note, and I personally chose to take it as a sign that they would finally get together. I mean, I was never what you'd call a rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth Fry/Leela shipper, but I did feel sympathy for poor, sweet-natured Fry, and want him to succeed.

As for what movies I've been watching lately, I'm kind of surprised to acknowledge that I haven't really seen anything over the past several days. Usually, I always find the time to squeeze at least one in. Wow, I must be really busy right now.

Independence Day. Still a rousing good time everytime I see it. ;D

The Gridiron Gang. One of those "based on a true story" movies about a warden for a juvenile stalag who decides to form a football team with his charges. Decent little film, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson shows some acting chops here.

the last half on independence day. cool movie, i need to start watching it more often.

Hidalgo.

My 5th favorite. :bloosmirk:

Hancock

Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris

I was really impressed with both of these movies. Hancock is a very different breed of Will Smith movies, its VERY dark but also very funny, its extremely more mature and adult and not something kids are up for as far as tastes go. There's some confusing parts to the climax of the movie as the story gets kind of weird.

However, it certainly makes the movie more depth and proves there's more to it then meets the eye. The Gamera movie was fantastic. I'm not a Gamera fan by any means, but by fellow Godzilla fan is and he showed me the most recent Gamera trilogy movies that came out and this 3rd one was simply kick ass.

Great monster, bad ass new design for Gamera the turtle, deliciously attractive little cast, and nice camera and music work. All in all, two great movies :D.

Hairspray: The original John Waters version.

This is of course is the movie that inspired the musical of the same name, and last year's movie which was based on said musical.

Godzilla vs. Megaguirus

The Godzilla convention last week has got me into a giant monster movie mood lately. In this one Godzilla fought a huge freaking mutant dragon fly monster. Its a fairly under appreciated Godzilla movie and one of my personal favorites.

If they had only shown this one INSTEAD of Godzilla 2000 back in 2001, Godzilla movies would probably be in public theaters, I'd like to think so anyway.

Wall-E.

I finally got to see it today, I thought it was pretty funny as did my older sister. :bloosmirk:

Today marks my first movie in a theatre since December. What did I see? WALL-E; I just saw it this evening. I will go as far and say that this is probably my new favorite Pixar Animation film. Great soundtrack, and a terrific story. :)

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

An incredible improvement over the first film, this movie had LOTS of stuff going on. There's stories and characters and conflicts happening all over the pace. All of the characters new and old get plenty of time to get fully developed, the fight scenes were nothing short of spectacular.

I loved the new villain introduced and the crazy amount of new monsters they put in. Hellboy 2 is a great sequel, probably one of the better ones around. I don't care why it was made be it for money or popularity, this was a GREAT movie.

Fitzcarraldo

Basically a crazy european opera fan pulls a pretty big steamship up a mountain in the Peruvian jungle with the help of hostile natives. Who is the crazy european? Well really it's German genius filmaker Werner Herzog who actually sets himself a much harder task than the crazy european the film's actually about. Absolutely beautiful visual film, shot like a documentary in places with lots of focus on background activity that you really believe would be happening if they wern't there filming it. I was a bit uncomfortable with the jungle clearing scene but then at least Herzog didn't shrink from showing the destructiveness that flows out of human creativity and imagination.

Spirited Away

This was my very first anime, back in 2004, and I'm pleased to say that it hasn't lost any of its charm and appeal in four years time. :frankiesmile:

The brainchild of the highly-talented Hayao Miyazaki, Spirited Away is the story of Chihiro (voiced by Daviegh Chase, Lilo and Stitch), a very sheltered ten year old girl, moving to a new city. Along the way, she and her parents accidentally enter the spirit world. Chihiro's parents are turned into pigs, leaving her to fend for herself, something she is quite ill-equipped emotionally to do. At least, until she meets the mysterious Haku (James Marsden, Hairspray), who tells her that in order to survive, she must get work at the spirits' bath house.

Overall, beautiful artwork, acting, and storyline. Definitely worthy of the high praise it's gotten.

I'm in the middle of Cars right now. For some reason, this sounded really good to me a few days ago, and I finally rented it. It's really good the second time around for many reasons, but among them are:

1.)They play Bobby Troupe's "Get your Kicks on Route 66" during the film, which is kinda appropos, considering that 90% of the film takes place on small Rt. 66 town. Route 66 rocks.
2.) It really touches on the fate of the real Rt. 66 so well and, alas, accurately. Route 66 really is being passed over in favor of the interstates, and the moment this is touched in the film is very tender. I think it was Sally's (Bonnie Hunt) line about how Rt. 66 moved with the land, rather than cutting through it. True that, Sally. True that.

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid


Awesome movie, Steve Martin is awesome for the role.
The concept is so amazing. I won't give away the plot, but clips are taken from 1940's films, and he acts the scene after the 40's scene, it's hilarious and interesting at the same time.

I still haven't found the time to watch very much lately, but I caught the latter half of Carry On Camping the other evening. Now I know where Austin Powers got that silhouette tent gag from.

the last half of the simpsons movie. i feel i should show this to my dad now.

Some guy, Oh My God. You are in my head. I swear to god the other night i saw the last half of the simpsons movie, and thought the same thing.

The Dark Knight. Heath Ledger is brilliant as the Joker.

Saw Woody Allen's Sleeper last night. Great movie. Weird stuff.

Well, here I am with my first post in two months, because I really need to get something off my chest here; I went to see Wall-E last night and...well, in all honesty, I didn't think it was very good. :sadbendy:

If you know me at all, then you'll know that I'm a card-carrying Pixar worshipper; they are, to me, absolute masters of all aspects of their medium, and I've loved every one of their films up to this point, but Wall-E simply didn't work properly as a story in my eyes. The first twenty silent minutes are flawless, moving, charming and brilliant, rivalling anything Pixar's done for compelling character work and deep emotional meaning, but as soon as the action relocates to the Axiom, the film's beautiful simplicity and subtle existential reflection becomes lost under a suffocating mass of satire, hastily-introduced supporting characters and an awkward stop-the-villain-and-save-the-world climax. There's almost an embarassment of brave, creative and intelligent ideas at work here (the social satire, the environmental message, the Captain's dilemma, the redemption of the humans and misfit robot crew), but for the first time Pixar fail to develop said ideas properly or integrate them into a cohesive narrative, meaning that they all end up drifting around the film, jostling with each other for attention without ever really commanding it.

Most tragically, the biggest casualty of this messy plotting ends up being Wall-E himself, who ultimately ends up getting completely crowded out of his own film. He's a genius creation, yes, but he's also a low-key, subtle character; in the face of the narrative noise that forms the film's second half, he struggles to make his voice heard (so to speak), and his romance with Eve, so touching and adorable in the glorious opening, ends up an inconsequential footnote, deprived of the emotional punch it deserved by having been so oddly fragmented and dispersed amongst lesser material. Come the film's emotional finale, in which Eve attempts to revive a broken Wall-E, I found myself in the utterly unpleasant situation of feeling heartbroken not because of how much I cared, but because of how much I didn't. :'(

I'm someone who generally enjoys analysing and dissecting the things I watch, and as such I know that it's sometimes it's fun to pick apart a film you didn't really like, but believe me, I take no such pleasure from this. As I've said, I love Pixar dearly, and I wanted nothing more than to fall in love with Wall-E as much as almost everybody seems to have done, but in the final reckoning, I can't in good conscience evaluate it as anything other than their weakest film, by a large margin. Really disappointed...:sadbendy:

Weaker than Cars? Them's fighting words.

Phantom of the Opera -2004 version

I saw this at the theatre as part of a date with a guy back during the year when our favorite show first premiered. It's not exactly the classic musical/opera it was written to be as it was very much modernized, but the costumes and the music were still absolutely gorgeous! I bought the soundtrack only a few days afterward. I still love it. :frankiesmile: It inspires me, and makes me wish I were an opera singer and I can sing as splendidly as Christine can. I can't, blech. Doesn't mean I can't try though. :bendy:

Blood Simple

Excellent film. This was the Coen Bros' directorial debut, and a definite precursor to their more recent No Country For Old Men (which opens in precisely the same manner). As neo-noirs go, it's not as polished as NCFOM, nor as innovative as Fargo, but it's raw, taut and compelling, with some brilliantly atmospheric direction, and M. Emmet Walsh is particularly great in it. For my money, it also contains what has to be the single most gruesome moment in any of the Coen Bros' movies - makes me cringe every time!

Apropo Pixar, I was a bit lukewarm on Finding Nemo when first I saw it, but it grew on me with time (even if it's still not a favourite of mine). I'm not overly wild about Cars or A Bug's Life, but everything else from them I love (Ratatouille is now my second favourite movie of all-time), and I absolutely cannot wait to see Wall-E later this week. I want to get me a little plushie Wall-E at some point, only our local Disney Store seems to have sold out of all but the most expensive ones already. He's certainly quite bankable as a marketting character.

The Dark Knight

Yesterday, by chance, I was able to see the sequel to Batman Begins, and I was pleased how this film turns out. :bloogrin:

It is one of the few sequels that is actually a major improvement over it predecessor; the actors were superb, the plot is deep, and most of all, there were great sequences that leaves you wanting more.

What I also like about the sequel is the portrayal of the Joker (performed by the late Heath Ledger); unlike Jack Nicholson's version in Tim Burton's Batman (which I now find cheesy:P), this Joker was frightening, as well as unpredictable, making you wondering what he'll do next. This was surely Heath's greatest moment, and it's a shame that he has to pass away so soon. :(

Overall, the best film of 2008.

The Dark Knight

Saw it for the SECOND time today, mainly because my girlfriend hadn't seen it yet but also because I absolutely loved this movie. I caught the midnight showing of its original release and loved it then too. Everything about this movie was magnificent. The actors, story, pacing, action, music, its all flawless.

This sequel much like Hellboy, Spider-man, and X-men perfects every flaw the first movie had and improves on everything wonderfully. Heath Ledger (who truly IS a legend now) is god as the new Joker. He's creepy, eeriely funny and utterly psychotic. I knew he'd be good but I didn't think he'd be this damn good.

However one of my favorite aspects was Harvey dent/Two-face played wonderfully by Aaron Eckhart. He was the one I was most worried about but he played it totally bad ass. Also emperor26 much as I loved Ledger's Joker, I think its unfair to compare to Nicholson's Joker since they are both done VERY differently, different emphasized characteristics and are VERY different Jokers.

Word is that Ledger could be up for a posthumous Oscar. For the weekend, The Dark Knight (which was more a moral drama--superb one at that--than a comic book movie) took in over $155 million.

Yesterday TNT ran Batman Forever and Batman & Robin while ABC Family screened the 1989 Batman. After seeing The Dark Knight, the cheese of the aforementioned three films is quite evident.

2 Days in Paris

A pretty charming and enjoyable film from Julie Deply about a young couple who make a brief trip to Paris in the hopes of rekindling their on-the-rocks relationship. I liked it, albeit not quite as much as the Before Sunrise/Before Sunset films (if you're expecting something along those lines...well, you'd only be half-right). There's some neat character banter throughout, the film is well-directed, and Deply and Goldberg are both great as the two leads, but, I don't know, I just didn't find the protagonists here to be quite as likeable and sympathetic as I did those in the aforementioned films. What I liked best in this one was the more quirky, whimsical stuff - the "anti-globalisation protester" was a nice touch, easily my favourite character of the entire film.

Last night, I also attempted to watch There Will Be Blood, a new favourite of mine which I recently picked up on DVD...unfortunately, I'd literally been up all the night before typing out some essay work, and I somehow managed to wind up sleeping through the whole thing. Oh well, later.