Movie Recommendations/Want To See List (2007-2011)

[Nat of the Living Dead]

Saw Alien vs. Predator: Requiem last night.  It was a lot better than the first AvP but holy cow, absolutely no story.  Effects, creatures, and kills are outstanding but there is no point to the movie except to get as much gore, death, and creature action into a 1hr 26 min movie.  Some of the concepts were great but lack of plot, story, and bad dialog sink this ship.

But really, who goes to this type of movie for plot?  It can be a fun monster movie popcorn muncher if you give it the chance.

2 1/2 stars out of 5.

[arkymark]

My daughter wrote movie reviews in college, but now she doesn't have any outlet other than her blog.  Here are a couple in case anyone is interested:

Juno: A++ I know I posted briefly about this, but I saw it again with my dad, and it's risen even higher in my estimation. It's pretty much perfect. The cast once again is spectacular -- Ellen Page (Wilby Wonderful), Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Allison Janney, J.K. Simmons (The Closer) -- and the writing is fresh and inventive and a sort of clever that grows on you the more you think about it.

The most absorbing aspect -- (The story, in case you've been in a box or something, is of 16-year-old Juno who accidentally gets pregnant and decides to give the baby up for adoption to the Lorings (of the Pennysaver Lorings)...) -- is the way Juno realizes she doesn't have the whole situation well in hand. When her baby's adoptive father turns out to be less than pure of heart, she's totally out of her depth, and everything about her, from body language to facial expressions, communicates that. George Michael Cera is as always beautifully shy and awkward.

There's just something so captivating...and odd...about this teenage girl and the mildly disfunctional world she lives in. The language, as I said before, is fresh and inventive (Honest to blog?!) .... If I had to categorize it, I'd put it on the shelf between "Ghost World" and "Napoleon Dynamite." So you should see it, basically.

* * * * * *
Enchanted: A It was a last minute Christmas-Eve selection, and I'm pleased to say that it hit every one of my romantic-disney-fairytale-squeal buttons. It opens in what first seems to be an alarmingly unironic animated land, where Giselle (Amy Adams) inhabits an animal-inundated treehouse and her prince, Edward (James Marsden, of lunch at PJ Clarke's fame http://mkp-hearts-nyc.livejournal.com/77949.html) fights ogres and dodges his stepmother (Susan Sarandon) and his mother's minion, Peter Pettigrew Timothy Spall.

A little bit of through-the-looking-glass and out-of-the-Times-Square-sewer and all four eventually find themselves in real-world New York (I'm proud to say I recognized every single Central Park location...). Giselle stumbles into the path of Patrick Dempsey (who, seriously, is indecently handsome. He's like a Paler Editorion of George Clooney. Yum), a single father and divorce attorney who's lost faith in love yet is about to get engaged to his girlfriend of five years, Rent/Wicked's Idina Menzel... And that's about as thick as the plot gets.

Which is totally ok. The visuals are lush, and all the self-referencing is done with a much lighter touch than the hammer-heavy Shrek franchise even attempted. Any girl with a disneyfied childhood will recognize the shape of Sleeping Beauty's animated gown, Cinderella's soap bubbles, the island rhythms of the Little Mermaid (music by Alan Menken) or...all of Snow White's plot points....

Essentially you've got a picture-perfect princess-to-be stuck in a jaded city, and a bunch of city residents who don't quite know what to do with her....And it's hilarious. My favorite moments were when Giselle songfully summons an army of roaches and pigeons and rats to clean up Dempsey's apartment, and the way she harvests his curtains and bedsheets to handsew herself some sweet peasant girl ensembles each morning. Love it.

[CALSGR8]

Arky,  Good thoughtful reviews.  How old is she?

[arkymark]

Arky,  Good thoughtful reviews.  How old is she?

22. 

[CALSGR8]

Oh, Ok.  From previous conversations, I didn't know if she was school age or not.

[kimnat]

We have all been wanting to see Enchanted!  Thank you for posting that!  Sounds like fun!

[CALSGR8]

We have all been wanting to see Enchanted!  Thank you for posting that!  Sounds like fun!

I think it would be fun for your little prince and princesses!  I've heard its good but haven't seen it yet.

[natsfan1a]

It does sound like a fun movie to see!

[kimnat]

Maybe we'll get out to see it tonight or tomorrow.  Depends on how the daddy thinks the budget looks after Christmas.  Might end up waiting for pay per view.

[arkymark]

 I hesitate to cut and paste more of the daughter's reviews here because it is such shameless promotion, but Sweeney Todd, Golden Compass and The Savages, with Atonement likely to follow (what did you do for your Christmas break?) may be found at the following if you sort through a bit of bloggishness, in case any are interested:

http://mkp-hearts-nyc.livejournal.com/

[CALSGR8]

She writes well.  Enjoy her Journal as well as movie reviews.  She's got NYC the way I remember it when I used to visit it as a child.  At the time, I had relatives in Lonnng Beach Lonnn-gI-sland.  Long Beach Long Island, just trying to be funny with the way its pronounced.  .

[arkymark]

She writes well.  Enjoy her Journal as well as movie reviews.  She's got NYC the way I remember it when I used to visit it as a child.  At the time, I had relatives in Lonnng Beach Lonnn-gI-sland.  Long Beach Long Island, just trying to be funny with the way its pronounced.  .

Thanks.  I like it, but I'm sort of biased.  I've read that the Long Island practice of running the final consonant of one word onto the beginning vowel of the next is because that's how it's done in Yiddish.  Apparently there are Jewish people living on Long Isand.  Who knew?

[saltydad]

Thanks.  I like it, but I'm sort of biased.  I've read that the Long Island practice of running the final consonant of one word onto the beginning vowel of the next is because that's how it's done in Yiddish.  Apparently there are Jewish people living on Long Isand.  Who knew?

 

[ronnynat]

Saw Pan's Labyrinth last night. Awesome cinematography and really well cast. Definitely recommended for those that can deal w/ a little fantasy and a little gore . Not for kids, though.

[2IPAs]

Juno was a lot of fun--it reminded me of Little Miss Sunshine with the dysfunctional family dynamics. I am going to try to see Charlie Wilson's War this weekend. I wimped out on seeing  "I am Legend" because I heard it was super scary.

[kimnat]

I REALLY want to see Nat'l treasure!  But I think the new Veggie Tales movie, "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" will be next.

[CALSGR8]

National Treasure 2 is GOOD!  I saw the ads for the Veggie Tales movie.  I said to myself "Kim and crew are probably going to see that one!" 

[Nat of the Living Dead]

Talking vegetables conveying Christianity in slappy happy dance and song just doesn't sit well with me.  I have a hard enough time digesting asparagus!

Tonight I am watching "Shoot'em Up" with Clive Owens.

[arkymark]

Saw Pan's Labyrinth last night. Awesome cinematography and really well cast. Definitely recommended for those that can deal w/ a little fantasy and a little gore . Not for kids, though.

The new scary story Orphanage is produced by the guy who directed Pan's Labyrinth.  Looks very scary.

[kimnat]

Talking vegetables conveying Christianity in slappy happy dance and song just doesn't sit well with me.  I have a hard enough time digesting asparagus!

It's quite cute and funny!  It's not like you're being beaten upside the head w/ the message.  They use Bible verses to reinforce the moral of the story, but they're really fun stories!  Shoot  Juliana's Kevin comes from the Veggie Tale creators other creation: 3-2-1 Penguins!  And they include some really great humor that only grown ups get, too.

Now, we have to work on you w/ asparagus.  That's one of my kids favorite vegetables.  And I'm not kidding.  They love that, spinach, broccoli, green beans, lima beans, carrots & corn!  As a matter of fact when given a choice, they grab raw carrots and fresh fruit over cakes and cookies every time!

[Nat of the Living Dead]

Just finished Shoot'em Up. Insane. Absolutely insane and absolutely fun. Clive Owen rocks, Monica Bellucci is stunning, but Paul Giamatti is completely awesome. What a roller coaster ride!  Over the top action with some witty, smartass, action gags included.  Action buffs have got to see it.

[natsfan1a]

We just returned Mulholland Drive to Netflix. We'd seen it on network tv recently but they butchered it so badly that we wanted to see the original. My husband and I both liked it.

Next in the queue is Waitress.

[arkymark]

I believe Waitress and Mullholland Drive are literally the extreme ends of the movie spectrum.  I'm sort of meant to see Mullhulland Drive for a while but I think ya gotta be in the mood.

[natsfan1a]

Interesting. I won't know for sure until I've seen Waitress, I guess. I do think that you have to be in the right mood to watch any David Lynch movie (or at least that's true for me).

[ronnynat]

Just saw Stardust. Surprisingly pretty darn good. De Niro was classic as a gay pirate . The movie could have been edited to be closer to an hour and a half instead of 2 hours, but that's really my only complaint.