Movies You've Watched Most Recently

[Carson]

What movies have you most recently watched at home on DVD or at your local Theater? What did you think?

[guest8]

Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus ... and Avatar before that .. Im always watching movies at home though .. One surprise flick was Life Before Her Eyes.. I have had that for MONTHS and never watched it and I got bored last week and put it in and was really impressed I thought it was really good !

[Dr Hackenbush]

One movie I've watched recently that I feel is one of the best of the year is District 9.  I thoroughly enjoyed D9 despite the fact I figured out were the story was going early on.  It didn't detract from my enjoyment of the movie.  The SFX by WETA were excellent and pretty much seamless, unlike "I Am Legend" where the "night dwellers" looked to be CG circa 1993.  I particularly liked how the director opted to shoot documentary style at times, drawing the viewer in.  Outstanding performance by Sharlto Copley as well.  An all-around well made movie and well worth checking out.


Another movie I watched recently was Paranormal Activity.  I felt that PA was a decent movie, but not nearly as scary as talk made it out to be (at least not for me).  It was slow to develop as the characters and backstory were fleshed out.  I knew when to expect something to occur, so there wasn't much tension.  By far the best/scariest part was the ending (not to worry, no spoilers).  I will say that for a movie that cost 15K to make, the effects were well done.  No CG, just old school visual FX.  I'd recommend it, but just barely.

[Carson]

Thanks, Dr. I'm going to see District 9 tonight in fact. Going to look for that Life Before Her Eyes as well now.

Hurt Locker on DVD. Just saw it last week. Probably the best movie I've seen all year.

Brothers (Jake, Toby, Natalie) Definitely enjoyed it. Greatly anticipated but failed to move me in any memorable way. The effort is there and real moments of concern as to the outcome but it's one I'd wait for on DVD in retrospect. Natty Porthouse is the least performance of the movie. Jake is always above average to excellent as is Toby and neither of them disappointed. The star of this movie is 11 year old Bailee Madison. Perhaps the best child actor performance I've seen.

The only thing distracting when watching Bailee is how much she looks like Anthony Kiedis. I kept waiting for Flea to pop out and start playing bass.

[guest8]

Hurt Locker was a good film too ! ..

I have Lovely Bones and hope to watch that soon .. along with Viggo's newest The Road

[paul waines]

I hope this is not a British thing, but I was not impressed with District 9, it's up there with Jacksons King kong, A total waste of money. I bought it on blu-ray as well. It seems as though most films of late are geared up for the teenage kids market ( mostly teenage girls ) what is wrong with film makers today are they only bothered with making money ( I know it's a daft question ) I would like to see someone making films today who will venture off the norm, what happened to the art of cinema? has the internet killed it off already?

[Bulla]

Last ten I watched, out and at home.

Avatar - A great experience but over long and not as good as the hype suggests.
Withnail & I - Classic
An Education - Coming of Age in 1960's England. Great flick with fantastic performance from the female lead.
Un Prophete - Fantastic French Prison Drama
Let The Right One In - Great Swedish Vampire flick fairly faithful to the source.
Before The Devil Knows Your Dead - Crime Thriller, Seymour Hoffman and a nude/semi nude Marissa Tomei, whats not to like !
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs - The craziest kids movie in years, well worth a watch if you've got littluns.
Where The Wild Things Are - A little too melancholic for my tastes but impressive all the same.
A Serious Man - I'm biased but the Coens back to their best, worth it for Sy Ableman alone !
Fantastic Mr Fox - Shouldnt have been marketed as a kids flick but as a Wes Anderson fan I was satisfied enough.

And in case anyone is interested my top 5 of last year.

1) Moon
2) Hurt locker
3) A Serious Man
4) District 9
5) Adventureland

[supraman079]

A Serious Man - I'm biased but the Coens back to their best, worth it for Sy Ableman alone !

And in case anyone is interested my top 5 of last year.

1) Moon

I'm not Jewish nor do I know a lot about the Jewish tradition, so at times I was a little bit restless during A Serious Man. But, I do have to say, that the Coen Brothers are really good at what they do. Sy Ableman, that was a good performance. I think the thing that really rang true for me in this film was the use of music, and I'm not talking about the traditional Jewish music themes, but the secular music intertwined within the film. They did a wonderful job of juxtaposing images with music especially that part when Grace Slick is singing Somebody to Love. With what has built up so far in the film and this musical imagery was just amazing. I really left the theater thinking about this film over and over for about a week. I can't say many films have done that to me.

I agree with your number 1. Moon was a very good film and I thought Duncan Jones and Sam Rockwell both did an amazing job. They were able to make a sci-fi type film from the late seventies and early 80's style and not let it get boring.

I have yet to see the Hurt Locker, but I think from what I've heard I will really enjoy it. I've been trying to see it ever since it came out but something has always come up.

Chad

[Juli]

I really liked A Serious Man as well. I was lucky enough to see the Hurt Locker in theaters when it came out, and I thought that was a fantastic movie.

I want to see Moon but Netflix has "long wait" on it as do other new releases I want to re-watch (The Hurt Locker and The Hangover). 

~ Juli

[Dr Hackenbush]

Hell, I still haven't been able to see "Up" as it's been marked "Long wait" since it came out on DVD 

[guest8]

Oh another good one I watched recently was 'Up in the Air'.

[Cj]

I just watched Hurt Locker. I thought it was an excellent movie.

I also watched BlackHawk Down for the zillionth time. I love this movie but it really gets me pissed off and it brings out angry emotions. I actually met the real Sgt. Eversman who is played by Josh Hartnett. He was a guest speaker back in 2004 when I graduated a advanced training school. He spoke of the events in Somalia. He is a very humble person and was highly respected by the 20 or so members who made it through the school.

Cj

[supraman079]

I just watched Hurt Locker. I thought it was an excellent movie.

I also watched BlackHawk Down for the zillionth time. I love this movie but it really gets me pissed off and it brings out angry emotions. I actually met the real Sgt. Eversman who is played by Josh Hartnett. He was a guest speaker back in 2004 when I graduated a advanced training school. He spoke of the events in Somalia. He is a very humble person and was highly respected by the 20 or so members who made it through the school.

Cj

Cool deal CJ. Have you ever read the book by Mark Bowden? Gonna have to put Hurt Locker on my to do list this week or weekend.

Chad

[Carson]

Your last post includes some of the best of recent films, Bula.

Let the Right One In is the most original and authentic takes on Horror of the last 10 years, imo.
Adventureland was overlooked; all those rabid Kristen Stewart fans are seeing the wrong movie.


Un Prophete is next on my list.

[paul waines]

I too realy enjoyed " Let the right one in" I don't think it appeals to The U.K. public as I picked it up on Blu-ray for £8 in the reduced section??

I watched the remake of "The takeing of Pelham 123" on Saturday night, and it's one of those very rare cases where it is better than the original. Densel is great as always, and Travolta just seems to get better the older he gets. A jolly old film worth checking out. 

[kovacs01]

I just watched Monster Squad on blu-ray.  It was the first time I have seen it in probably 15 years, but it holds up very, very well.  I was pleasantly surprised. 

This weekend is going to be a marathon.  I plan on watching

The Lives of Others
Ink
The Counterfeiters
Sleep Dealer
Passchendaele
Frankyln

[Carson]

The Lives of Others is one of the best movies of the last decade in my opinion. True cinema. I believe you'll enjoy it. I am jealous of your marathon!

Watching the Olympic opening ceremonies tonight but watched Grey Gardens (Drew Barrymore, Jessica Lange) earlier. I enjoy Drew Barrymore for a lot of reasons but her acting isn't one. She's vibrant, unique, fun and always a laugh but she's a better Hollywood fixture than an actress in my opinion. Jessica Lange, in contrast, is always excellent. If anyone ever has interest in the Grey Gardens subject please skip the HBO movie with Drew for the real thing; the Maysles brothers 1975 documentary on DVD.

[Juli]

The Lives of Others is one of the best movies of the last decade in my opinion. True cinema. I believe you'll enjoy it.

I second you on that. 

~ Juli

[Dr Hackenbush]

Late to the game, as usual, but I finally saw Inglorious Basterds today and enjoyed the movie.  Tarantino writes some of the smartest scripts, especially dialogue, and I loved some of the shots he used.  My biggest issue with the movie is that they destroyed all that glorious nitrate stock   Blasphemy I tell you.  I had heard good and bad and didn't know what to expect.  I went into it with no expectations and came away pleasantly surprised.

[kovacs01]

I just watched Taegukgi.  It was the 4th or 5th time I have seen it, but the first time on Blu-Ray.  It is one of the truly great war films of our generation.  It is very graphic, however, at times making Saving Private Ryan look like a childrens' story.  

Collectively, the past decade of South Korean film has been absolutely amazing.  In my opinion, Hollywood (and the entire American film establishment in general) cannot hold a candle to what SK is doing right now.

Taegukgi
Musa
Natural City
The Host
My Sassy Girl
The Chaser
Memories of Murder
Oasis
Failan
Mother
A Moment to Remember
Oldboy
Lady Vengance
Sympathy for Mr Vengance
Thirst
A Bittersweet Life
JSA: Joint Security Area
A Tale of Two Sisters
The King and the Clown
Night and Day


All coming out between 2000 and 2010, this is as solid a top 20 films as any country out there could put up.  If you haven't discovered Korean cinema, you are really missing out.

[supraman079]

All coming out between 2000 and 2010, this is as solid a top 20 films as any country out there could put up.  If you haven't discovered Korean cinema, you are really missing out.

Amen.

[supraman079]

I just watched Taegukgi.  It was the 4th or 5th time I have seen it, but the first time on Blu-Ray.  It is one of the truly great war films of our generation.

Did you buy it from Korea as I've not seen it sold in the US. Well this was a year or so ago when I was looking. It's been a while. But it should still work for you in Japan and us in the US due to the Region Codes being dropped to 3 instead of 5 like the DVD's were.

The Blu-ray Disc region coding scheme divides the world into 3 regions, labeled A, B, and C.
Region A includes most North, Central and South American and Southeast Asian countries plus Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea.
Region B includes most European, African and southwest Asian countries plus Australia and New Zealand.
Region C contains the remaining central and south Asian countries, as well as China and Russia.

In attempts to circumvent region coding restrictions, stand-alone Blu-ray Disc players are sometimes modified by third parties to allow for playback of Blu-ray (and DVD) discs with any region code.[83] Instructions ('hacks') describing how to reset the Blu-ray region counter of some computer BD Disc player applications to make them multi-region indefinitely are also regularly posted to video-enthusiast websites and forums. Unlike DVD region codes, Blu-ray region codes are verified only by the player software, not by the drive and the computer operating system. The code is stored in a file of the player program or in the registry. In stand-alone players, it is part of the firmware.

[supraman079]

Taegukgi
Musa
Natural City
The Host
My Sassy Girl
The Chaser
Memories of Murder
Oasis
Failan
Mother
A Moment to Remember
Oldboy
Lady Vengance
Sympathy for Mr Vengance
Thirst
A Bittersweet Life
JSA: Joint Security Area
A Tale of Two Sisters
The King and the Clown
Night and Day

For those who like love stories "Time" is another good one to watch.

[kovacs01]

Did you buy it from Korea as I've not seen it sold in the US. Well this was a year or so ago when I was looking. It's been a while. But it should still work for you in Japan and us in the US due to the Region Codes being dropped to 3 instead of 5 like the DVD's were.

The Blu-ray Disc region coding scheme divides the world into 3 regions, labeled A, B, and C.
Region A includes most North, Central and South American and Southeast Asian countries plus Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea.
Region B includes most European, African and southwest Asian countries plus Australia and New Zealand.
Region C contains the remaining central and south Asian countries, as well as China and Russia.

In attempts to circumvent region coding restrictions, stand-alone Blu-ray Disc players are sometimes modified by third parties to allow for playback of Blu-ray (and DVD) discs with any region code.[83] Instructions ('hacks') describing how to reset the Blu-ray region counter of some computer BD Disc player applications to make them multi-region indefinitely are also regularly posted to video-enthusiast websites and forums. Unlike DVD region codes, Blu-ray region codes are verified only by the player software, not by the drive and the computer operating system. The code is stored in a file of the player program or in the registry. In stand-alone players, it is part of the firmware.

It is a Korean disc with english subtitles.  I dont care much about region though because my Oppo player is region free.  Most people havent heard of Oppo, but they make high quality players.  They have the best chipsets (superior upsacling) in the business, and their customer service is second to none.

There are more issues regarding region coding with blu-ray.  Sony, wary of the drawbacks they saw with the hacking of region coding on DVD players will pull the contract of any manufacturer that makes a region free player or a player that can be made region free with a simple service menu remote hack.  They have denied at least one BD contract based on this and pulled another one (it was a Momitsu I believe).  Once Sony cuts them off, the flow of firmware updates for the player stops shortly thereafter.  Oppo sneakily got around this by essentially making their firmware open source.  The region free hack for their player is one that was developed by a user and is uploaded via USB or disc.  I am glad because region free ability was one of the main characteristics I was looking for.  Mostly, I wanted the ability for my DVD's since I have 200+ that are not region 1.  To my knowledge, the Oppo is the only quality player that allows multiregion capability. 

[paul waines]

Region free Is my top priority also, I have two Blu-ray players both Panasonic, and both have been made multi-region. The play back is Excellent as I use them with my Projector, which is also full HD. I have had no problems with either of them, they play anything from anywhere.