Targets - 3/5
In the same league as a lot of the first films that the great directors of the 70s did. Surprisingly good but his best was yet to come.
Apocalypse Now - 5/5 (rewatch)
Wow. I am not a fan of Coppola in the least, Godfather is overrated and he hasn’t made a remotely good movie since the early eighties. But this is something special, right up there with Lawrence of Arabia as far as the great epics and maybe better.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind - 5/5
The best movie Spielberg ever made, before the weepy sentimental e.t. and way before his mad bid for respectability in the color purple.
Fast Times At Ridgemont High - 7/10
I wish I could say the lack of plot didn’t disturb me but I can’t, and that’s actually one of the very few things I can say against this movie. This movie has awesome things in it, two or three very good characters (and Sean Penn’s most shameful role I’d imagine). I had fun watching it. The score is A+ too.
Although, it really makes you think that 15 year old girls are massive sluts, which I don’t really agree with, and I sure hope I’m right! Because I’d have to kill myself if I ever have a daughter, just in case she turns out to be as slutty and careless as Stacy (what were you thinking when having unprotected sex with a guy who suffers from premature ejaculation?) (I don’t know the real english way of saying that so I just made this horrible sentence)
The film is pretty crude and I sort of liked that. It’s never boring and pretty fun to watch. I’m pretty sure the americans from my generation have seen this film, but I don’t think I ever came across a french guy who knew about it, exactly like The Breakfast Club (TBC is way better than Fast Times, mind you).
National Lampoon’s Vacation - 6/10
Not the best comedy, but it’s enjoyable. It’s the first movie I see with Chevy Chase, I couldn’t see why people are saying today that he’s a comedy legend but whatever. This movie is very uneven, some gags are great, some are ridiculously bad or badly developed.
Super Size Me - 7/10
It looks like Morgan Spurlock risked high by doing this documentary, but that’s what makes it so good. Because aside from the experiment, it’s engaged from the get go against the fast food industry and it really shows. I would rather see a documentary that starts in a more open for debate way and then closes to a conclusion that can lean on one side. In Super Size Me, you instantly know that you’re not going to even hear an once of a redeeming quality to the fast food industry.
I just realized I posted these 2 quick reviews on the 2010 topic, so I’m copy/pasting them in this thread:
The Breakfast club - 10/10
Incredibly smart dialogs, very well written. 1h30 of character development, that’s what I loved about this movie. It truly is a masterpiece and I still can’t believe I hadn’t heard about this movie before.
Leaves of Grass - 7/10
Edward Norton delivers a great performance playing 2 twin brothers, one of which is a redneck from Oklahoma. It’s a lot deeper that I expected it would be. I really enjoyed being surprised in that way.
My head exploded when I first saw Fast Times. The only thing I’d heard about the movie was Spiccoli and giggles was in it but I was stunned to see it was a real movie. The only rival to the supreme rule of the Breakfast Club as greatest high school movie of all time.
The Man Who Loved Women - 4/5
I’ve been on a serious Truffaut bent lately so this is kind of a let down when seen right after such masterpieces as The 400 Blows and Shoot the Piano Player. The more I think about it though the more I like it. Truffaut Light but still very good.
The Last Picture Show - 4.5/5
What’s left to be said?
Morning Glory - 3/5
Might be the best so-so movie of last year that I’ve seen. Smarter than the other so called comedies and actually seemed to have something to say. A pleasant surprise.
You’re right about Fast Times. Actually it is really growing on me since I posted my comment and I kind of want to re-watch it already.
I watched all 3 X-Men movies in preparation for the X-Men First Class movie. They’re kind of cool probably because I really like the X-Men universe (mind you, I never read comics, I just watched X-Men animated series as a kid), and Hugh Jackman makes a great Wolverine.
It is a pretty even trilogy, the 3rd one has a few cringy lines, but it’s still OK.
I heard it’s not entirely true to the comics, and some changes are totally weird to me (Mystique being in the brotherhood with Magneto, it seems they were not allies in the Comics…Rogue being a hero from the get go while she apparently was a villain first…). But I don’t care all that much, hell I wouldn’t know all this if I hadn’t read a little about the X-Men comic books right after watching the movies.
Now, I’m curious about First Class. The trailer looks great, we have a Basterd in the cast, Kevin Bacon as a villain, and the evolution from friendship to rivalry (not really though, but you get the point) between Charles Xavier and Magneto might be the most interesting thing they have to explore after the 3 movies. It’s one of the reasons I thought X-Men movies were great, the line between hero and villain isn’t that easily drawn.
True Grit - 3/5
This was so dissapointing for a Coen bros film. Seriously Jeff Bridges gives a mediocre performance which does not deserve an oscar let alone a nomination. The story was boring and is really just a disgrace to the Coen Brothers legacy. Maybe I was dissapointed because I am a huge coen bros fan.
127 Hours - 5/5
Danny Boyle has made his best film with 127 hours. The directing and acting is jus superb, probably some of the best cinematography ive seen in a film. The overall story is gripping and emotional and leaves you on the edge of your seat right until the very end. This is an Oscar worthy film.
I Saw The Devil - 10/10
Perfect movie, period. A must see especially if you want to stay away from movies that are easy to watch, where there’s a good guy and a bad guy. This one is nothing like that. Perfect, just perfect.
Somewhere - Needs a re-watch that will convince me, I hope. If I had to rate it now it would probably be around 5/10.
I’ll explain: the ideas and themes that the movie deal with are very interesting, at least to me. I found a lot of similarities with Lost in Translation especially during the first half, and then with Marie Antoinette for the general tone and pace, which are good things for me considering I love LiT, and really liked M-A (especially upon rewatch).
But there’s something that doesn’t fit with Somewhere, something that prevented me from getting into it, and, more importantly, prevented me from feeling…almost anything. The only thing that touched me was the loneliness felt by John Marco, and the father/daughter love…sometimes. But when the characters had breakdowns, or during a large part of the movie, and during the incredibly cringy bonding moments when they play video games that were probably not scripted at all, where Sofia Coppola was probably hoping for good emotion resulting from the freestyle acting given by the 2 actors, I felt pushed away from the characters, back to my reality.
The big problem here is that there is virtually no support in the form of witty lines, twists, or any other consolation prize you often find in movies. Here, the whole movie is built on the slow pace and acting (silent, most of the time). To give you a more precise idea of what I think Sofia Coppola went for, let me say that some scenes made me think of a poor, newer version of Barry Lindon. But Barry Lindon worked because the acting was amazing, which made you believe in what happened. Here, the acting is average, at best. The actors aren’t terrible, mind you, and I can see a shiny future awaiting for Elle Fanning, but it’s just not enough.
It felt like eating an amazing meal that was lacking just a bit of salt, kind of ruining the whole thing.
But as I said, there is the possibility that it was just me, and I’m going to give it another go in a few days or weeks, just to be sure.
Yup, i felt almost the same way. I said it before and I’ll say it again: Somewhere is Lost in Translation, minus the magic.
The King’s Speech 9/10 Best of the Oscar Contenders, this should win!
How to Train Your Dragon 9/10 Better than Toy Story 3, this should win the best animated feature prize!
Aight, now at least i have a reason to go to the oscar party this sunday. and by oscar party, i mean the party in vienna where they screen the Oscars to a movie theatre audience. 
127 Hours (might contain some spoilers only if you have no idea if the characters ends up living or not at the end): best film I’ve seen out of the list of best picture oscar nominees. I still have like half of them to watch, but it’s going to be hard to top that.
The opening credits and dynamic editing at times made me jizz my pants. James Franco’s performance is stellar. Makes you want to die and then live life at its fullest. Rarely have I ever been so shaken by a movie, it feels like I say that every time I comment a movie that I really like, but this time really felt awesome. I don’t recall being on the verge of crying out of joy, happiness and relief like that before. I have a newfound respect for Danny Boyle now. It’s a shame they awarded Slumdog Millionaire, because it’s nowhere near as good as 127h. Slumdog Millionaire had amazing shots and great cinematography, but aside from that it left me disappointed and unhappy about the ending, and I ended up thinking Boyle was somewhat of a hack, going for the easy emotions and basically fucking his movies up with such kinds of happy endings. But this time felt completely different. What an incredible picture that’s probably not going to win an Oscar. It deserves it over The King’s Speech and The Social Network, deserves to win 10 times more than Inception does. Just an all around brilliant picture, 10+/10, I reaaaally wish I wasn’t in Italy right now so I could see it in theaters.
Exit Through The Gift Shop - 8/10
Great documentary. I’m saying that even if I haven’t watched a lot of documentary destined to hit theaters in my life. The idea behind it is very cool, whether Thierry Guetta is a real person or a hoax from Banksy to be able to make a documentary about himself but from a different perspective, so not exactly about himself all in all. This idea works well even though I questioned where things were going, what were we actually talking about, really. That happened at around halfway point. But when I sorted that out, I fully enjoyed what went next.
Monsters - 8/10
This movie…is absolutely nothing like I’ve seen before. There must have been some romance/sci-fi crossover made before, but I’m quite sure they weren’t don’t that way, nor that well. The romance story is as convincing as those of more conventional films, meaning those films where you don’t have creatures the size of a building creeping around the characters at all times. The cinematography was so well done I literally praised whoever was responsible for it nearly every shot. As it turns out, the director is responsible for it, among other roles directors don’t usually take. This shows how low budget this film is, which is good, because you wouldn’t know it’s so low budget just by watching it. The CGI is minimal but convincing, which is very fitting in that case.
There are some quiet moments that I felt weren’t necessary, among other little flaws. But all in all, this movie defends itself very well.
I was going to give it a 7, but the cinematography and the very idea behind it earned it an extra point. And also, I’m trying to convince you guys to watch it if you haven’t already done that.
Drive Angry 10/10
awesomefest!!! too bad it doesnt make money.
Black Swan - 2/5
I have no idea how this piece of shit got nominated for best picture even when there are 10 nominations and the year of films sucked. A very boring and pointless movie that is a disgrace to the directors legacy.
The Wrestler - 5/5
Finally I saw this film and fuck me it is one of the best I have ever seen. Mickey Rourke gives a very good performance.
The Social Network - 4/5
I thought it was pretty good. Not as good as 127 Hours though but better than Black Swan and True Grit. I dint remember being bored by it through any stage but when your dealing with a movie about Facebook you cant expect it to be amazing. It is slightly overrated but I still liked it.
Catfish - 8/10
Another great documentary. I’m guessing you’d enjoy it Mr. Pink.
The trailer would get anyone excited: - YouTube
Lets just say the 2 guys who decided to shoot Nev’s daily life never expected their documentary to become that interesting (and weird). It’ll get you hooked the whole time. It would have been an interesting enough plot to make a movie out of it, so it’s even more impressive to know everything you see actually happened and was not scripted…
I’m on a streak of great movies at the moment, I’ve lost count of the number of good movies I’ve seen since the last “just ok” one I’ve seen (which was National Lampoon’s Vacation I think, not even sure, maybe there was another one that was worse after that).
Edit: Oh right, there was Somewhere, still not settled on that one.
And Ordell, I loved The Man Who Loved Women. We’re just not able to film relationships between men and women like that today. The way men seduce women is definitely the aspect I appreciate to see the most in movies that were made before I was born. Something has changed with feminism and all that, men turned into big pussies and you don’t get to see ballsy lines and witty comebacks as they used to do back in the days. Which saddens me, and scares me a little.
Shit that trailer looks good.
The Disappearance of Alice Creed - 7/10
What a fucked up movie. I can’t stop thinking about it and it makes me sick. The guy who wrote that is messed up!
Truffaut is officialy one of my favorites.
The Wild Child - 4/5
Wow.
Le Petit Soldat - 3/5
Let down after Breathless but just as interesting.
[quote=“Ordell Rodriguez”]Truffaut is officialy one of my favorites.
[/quote]
Right on. I always liked Truffaut more than Godard. Not that I don’t like Godard, but Truffaut made me more excited than Godard. He appealed to the emotions every bit as much as he appealed to the mind. Godard was never all that into emotions.
[quote=“Angel”][quote=“Ordell Rodriguez”]Truffaut is officialy one of my favorites.
[/quote]
Right on. I always liked Truffaut more than Godard. Not that I don’t like Godard, but Truffaut made me more excited than Godard. He appealed to the emotions every bit as much as he appealed to the mind. Godard was never all that into emotions.[/quote]
You ain’t fucking kidding.
But my fascination with Francois Truffaut was recently curtailed by my new found appreciation for Robert Aldrich.
Vera Cruz - 4/5
If you haven’t seen this western, you’re missing the pusszle piece linking Ford and Peckinpah.
Kiss Me Deadly - 5/5
The Big Knife - 3.5/5
Attack - 4/5
Awesome war movie. It’s approach reminded me at times of Inglourious Basterds.
The Last Sunset - 4.5/5
An even better western than Vera Cruz, one of the best I’ve ever seen. Check it out quick while it’s still instant on netflix. It demands to be seen.
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane - 4/5
Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte - 2.5/5
A contrived rehash of Baby Jane.
The Flight of the Phoenix - 3.5/5
A really cool adventure movie.
The Dirty Dozen - 5/5
One of my favorites.
Emperor of the North Pole - 3.5/5
A really cool little 70s movie.
Guess I’m a little late to the party since it’s already March '11.
That being said, I usually only watch movies when they come out on Blu Ray. Hate paying those outrageous theatre prices along with the additional $25 in popcorn and soda.
Didn’t really have any true favorites for 2010…although Toy Story 3 (Angel’s pick) did hit my “okay?” list.
Social Network-big thumbs down here. Not as boring as some thought, however not all it was pumped up to be either. Who told Justin Timberlake he could act?
Hoping for a much better 2011. Where have all the good movies gone?
Illegally Yours - 2/5
A horrible movie but like alot of Bogdanovich’s lesser works i just can’t slam it. It’s sweet, like At Long Last Love, just not as good.
Ive seen 3 really good films lately
Drugstore Cowboy - 5/5
Stranger Than Paradise - 5/5
Mean Creek - 5/5
I’d probably rank them in that order. Oh and by chance has anyone seen Down By Law? man thats another really good film.