Weren't we just talking about this not four or five posts ago, Xeo? It looks interesting, though. Praying they don't royally fuck this up.

Hangover II - 4.25/5

I can't help it, I dig the Hangover movies. I'm not one of the camp that will harp on about how hilarious they are and quote them all the time, but they're enjoyable and while I expected this sequel to be a step down, it was quite endearing and enjoyable. It's pretty much the same deal as the first one, only this time the stakes are higher and things get a little more risque and over the top - and it's to that end that I enjoyed this more than its predecessor. The Hangover II is just a solid, enjoyable romp with some real energy from all the actors that carries it forward like a speeding bullet train. I actually like these characters. Sure they're nothing great, but they work, and they make me want to see more of their goofy escapades. For that, I can say I enjoyed this wholeheartedly. Fun.

Megan is Missing

This is easily one of the most horrifying films I have ever seen - on its own I guess it's no masterpiece, talking strictly from a filmmaking point of view, but the effect is undeniable, and the whole comes out to be something potent, meaningful and horrific. The story is about two 14 year old girls, polar opposites really, who get involved with a shady guy online and pay dire consequences. Like Trust, Megan is Missing talks in detail about the dangers of internet chatting and what can happen when you're young and impressionable and do it. But where Trust was a poignant and affecting family drama, Megan is Missing is a bone-chilling, gaping maw of horror. The internet and all its uses is one of the hallmark social topics of our time, and so films that talk about it hit extra hard right now. The characters are presented in stark and uncompromising fashions. The first part of the film is just build up, but after the titular character Megan goes missing, things start to escalate rather quickly...and the final 22 minutes are absolutely sickening bile that will make you hate people. Was it a cheap ploy using the first 45 minutes to make us care about these girls, only to plummet us downward with the inhuman atrocities committed upon them? Yes. But it worked. There is evil in this world, and Megan is Missing showcases that evil in full, inglorious light. By far the most affecting and powerful of the whole 'found footage' genre that I've come across yet, Megan is Missing is a powerful and important horror film for this decade.

Miracle on 34th Street (1947) - 5/5

What can I say about this? It's just a classic for the holidays. Edmund Gwenn is excellent as Santa Claus as a fantastical character in a modern, cynical world - so cynical, even, that they put him on trial, trying to prove legally whether there is or isn't a Santa Claus! The whole thing is a great allegory for cynicism and the disbelief and 'maturity' that comes with growing up. Have we really gone so far away from our childhood idealism that we're willing to put Santa Clause on trial in our courts? This is a masterclass of a film and really propels itself forward with great dialogue, memorable moments and excellent characters. I'm not going to bother going on a huge thing about Miracle on 34th Street. It's just a classic - as tried and true as can be. Essential for holiday viewing!

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, (David Fincher version) is goddamn incredible. Rooney Mara is so compelling.

I jump around in this thread... so yeah, had a feeling maybe you guys discussed it already.

I like what I saw and heard, but yeah. It does look a bit over the top, when Alien was nothing but subtlety brilliance. Ridley Scott is pretty consistently awesome in my book, but who knows. I'm sure it'll shit all over Aliens 3 -> AVP and all the other post Alien/Aliens movies at least.

Literally seeing the space jockey thing though, that's what really scares me. The greatness of the space jockey is that you just don't know anything about it, it's so mysterious and creepy. We don't need to know anything about it. [random] It'd be like explaining why there's a dead soldier on the ground in front of the door to Kraid's room in Super Metroid. Small awesome things like that are best left unexplained so we can have an imagination, something a lot of modern movies fail to remember.

I enjoyed the first film, but the surprise factor was a big reason for the laughs. Sequel was a remake without the funny bits.

I agree because Bad Taste and Brain Dead are films i enjoy.

Prometheus trailer gave me a hard on. Dark Knight Rises looks neat too, as expected.

I got annoyed by how often the characters say "remember that time in the other movie when we were funny?".

Zack G. was like this the entire movie.

Young Adult is hands-down the worst movie I've seen all year. I don't think it'd be possible to make a movie with worse pacing - I was thoroughly bored before the opening credits had even started. Fuck.

Ooooh just saw the LOTR trilogy again (extended) over the course of last night and today. Sooo much 7-up in me right now my veins are throbbing at the side of my forehead. Eeueuueeegh. If I didn't have spoil it by watching the filming mistakes on youtube beforehand I would have been a little more at ease. Still good watching, though that CGI is looking dated about now.

Hope your brain doesn't explode, Ozzy.

Just watched Castle in the Sky again last night. Damn, this has got to be one of the best Miyazaki films ever. It's incredibly beautiful on a visual level, and the story/content is just as good and subtly compelling as any of the rest of his best works. Simple and fantastical, but manages to reach that sublime place so many other animation directors just can't seem to. The sheer amount of design work that went into it is pretty astonishing, too. Miyazaki films aren't usually too big on technology/architecture design, so it's great to see both at once going on here. Fucking great movie, definitely one for the pantheon of anime classics.

I'm not sure why this paragraph here made me feel like I had to watch this, but it did. In fact, it was completely on a whim and I torrented it nary a minute after reading it (the first movie I've ever bluebearded). It's just so... ugh, I don't even know how to feel or what to think, I just know it was goddamn horrifying. You're right, it's really powerful and it'll stick with me for quite some time. I don't even want to sleep now, for I fear what I'll dream of.

I think one of the reasons this affected me so much is because the two girls were basically like a segmented version of my best friend. Her personality and morals are more in line with the sheltered girl but the promiscuous girl looks a lot like her and talks exactly like her. It's probably a weird thing to notice, but her inflections and body language and speech patterns are like dead on matches.

Weren't you just waiting for the nasty ending bit to happen though?

I don't think it's a spoiler to say the two girls don't make it out alive, since the movie makes that clear in the opening minute, and there really was only like one or two graphic shocks, the worst thing that happens, you don't see the graphic part of. But yet the build up worked really well and there were only two things I thought were ineffective (the cheesy news reports and some of the other girls). I just woke up and I'm still uncomfortable having watched it

I wrote the almost exact same thing earlier.

The Bleeding House - 2/5

Pretty frigging boring really; interesting concept about some kind of serial killer who tries to 'set free the souls' of his victims by 'teaching' them stuff, but it falls flat when everything about the plot and backstories of these characters is so vague. There are some decent moments in this thing but mostly it just feels underdeveloped and amateurish. Thanks a lot Netflix, thanks a lot.

Love that film, although to be honest there are not many Miyazaki films that I don't like. Ponyo to me was a little disappointing, but that is compared to what came before it, but it is still pretty sweet. The actual animation in Ponyo was cool, but it seemed to be a departure from previous films of Miyazaki in terms of how it was drawn/animated. Howl's Moving Castle and the timelessly classic Porco Rosso are the shit for me.

Agree with pretty much everything you said there, except for the last bit. Porco Rosso I've still only seen once, and I watched it while sickeningly hung over, so my feelings about it were bound to be tainted. Can't really trust my perceptions of that film as they stand now, so another viewing is in order. As for Howl's Moving Castle, it's one of my least favorite Miyazaki films. I remember there being something horribly unformed and lacking about the plot, though to be fair I did only watch it once, so it looks like I'll have to go back and give both of those another shot.

Seen a bunch of movies since the last time I posted about such stuff.

Frozen River: A very compelling look at a life at the crossroads of the US, Canada and an Amerindian reservation and the poverty surrounding such places. The desperation, doing whatever it takes to get by and all the realistic dirt (without going overtly gritty like filmmakers are wont to do these days) makes it an excellent watch.

The Dead Zone: Cronenberg directing, Walken starring and based on one of the better books by Stephen King. Sounds good on paper, a bit lackluster in execution. Feels rushed. Feels like Cronenberg is tied by the adaptation from going as deep as he usually does. Walken does a good job with... I forget the main character's name, but anyways... Not really a multi-dimensional person so there's not much to do. Not as bad as Stephen King adaptations from this era tend to be, but not as good as you'd expect from Cronenberg.

Insomnia: The original Norwegian one. The remake follows the original pretty well. Enchanting, thrilling and well done though this one tends to focus much much more on the main character police officer than the remake, which does more exposition on the murderer played by Robin Williams and the cop investigating the main character (Hilary Swank in the remake) is given more space. So yeah, more of a character study than a murder thriller.

Death Wish: Everyone knows this. Pretty fun, not as brainless as the follow-ups. Funny how polarizing the writer and/or director saw the issues. Or maybe it's just woven that way for a more fluid flick though I doubt it. It's too blatant.

You should give these two another shot, Howl's... is glorious on a visual level, whereas Porco Rosso is a wonderful story with classic (and classy) animation. I somewhat agree with you about something....lacking in terms of plot content, or continuity in Howl's Moving Castle, not sure exactly what it's missing, but it is still a satisfying movie to watch. What about Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind? What are your thoughts on this one?

I know we don't condone lists here but I'd like to see everyone's top 3 films of the year. Maybe we could give a short description for each one.

Alright. I haven't seen too many films this year, but of what I've seen, I would put Drive and The Descendants at 1 and 2.

1. Drive - Awesome, awesome movie. Very artsy action flick, but not in the pretentious way. The atmosphere is sublime and accentuated with moments of intense violence and cool car chases. Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan are both great in this, especially Gosling who plays very reserved but extremely convincing. Something about watching drawn-out shots of his face is hypnotizing, even in a completely hetero way.

2. The Descendants - Well-written, superbly-acted movie that finds a great balance between comedy and depression. Unlike some of his other movies, Clooney is a very likeable character here. The actress who plays his eldest daughter basically steals the movie though. The Hawaiian setting is also really cool, and the cinematography makes good use of it. This type of drama probably won't appeal to a lot of people, but the story is believable and heavy, and I expect it's probably going to take home a bunch of awards.

3. I don't know, I still need to see Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

I'm thinking of watching the 2007 "The Girl Next Door" for the first time tonight. Any approvals? Can anybody list the pro's and con's this film bares? I've heard very good things about it, and I feel it should be noted I understand and am prepared for the intense violence it is deemed to have. You guys generally have great tastes in movies (*cough* Empyreal *cough*).

I still need to see Drive. I didn't hear anything about The Descendents but it looks cool.

I Saw the Devil - 4.5/5

This is a long, brutal and sadistic revenge flick from Korean director Ji-woon Kim. It's about a secret agent whose wife gets killed by a serial killer, and so he engages him in this cat-and-mouse kind of 'game' where he tortures him, lets him go and then captures him to torture him again. It's pretty over the top, but that's really one of its strengths as it just keeps you hooked masterfully. This is a thrill ride of epic proportions - literally like almost three hours - and maybe it could have been shorter, but I think the excess is part of why it's so cool. It just goes all out. The gore is pretty insane but it never crosses over into any kind of exploitation or anything. This is just a hard, bad-ass thriller to the bone; nothing more or less, and certainly not for the faint of heart. I like this for its zeal and energy. I Saw the Devil is essential for fans of any kind of serial killer suspense/thrill movies.

Can't quite remember exactly what was wrong with the storyline in HMC, but I do remember thinking after I watched it something along the lines of "Wait a minute....but...why did...?.....but that doesn't....but...how did....whaaat "

Nausicaä was definitely better on an overall level, probably not in the upper echelon of Miyazaki films, but really good nonetheless. Having read some of the comic, I can say it was really fun seeing it come to life on the big screen. The fictional world it portrays is just so damn cool... really makes me realize I have to buy the rest of that series at some point and read the entire thing. And watch the film again. Damn... MiyazakiFest on the horizon!

Haven't seen either of these, so I'll need to rectify that. Honestly I haven't seen that many movies this year but from what I've seen 2011 wasn't a great year with a lot of mediocre stuff. However there were 3 films I thought were excellent. So my top 3 would be:

1. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick): Just brilliant, I love this movie. I've already seen it 4 times, twice at the movies and twice on DVD and would readily watch it again any time. Visually spectacular and thematically rich. I've heard a lot of people say it was pretentious or too ambitious for it's own good - those people should probably stick to Hugh Grant movies.
2. The Turin Horse (Bela Tarr): Tarr's last film and his bleakest by far. I knew what to expect going in and pretty much got it, utterly soul-destroying stuff and not much more can or should be said. I won't say this tops his other works but it certainly left an impact on me lasting for several days. Technically stunning, film students will be studying this for decades.
3. Melancholia (Lars von Trier): I haven't liked much von Trier from what I've seen except for his mini-series Riget which I thought was great, but this was fantastic. Despite its bloated length I thought it was formally perfect with its two-part structure, the symbolic prelude foreshadowing the whole film, and the incredibly epic ending which left you in near-ecstasy upon leaving the cinema. Definitely a film which is more than the sum of its parts.

I'd still like to see Hugo (the Scorsese film) and the Tintin movie, but not much else has interested me.

I really must watch this soon. I only got into Tarr's films this year but they've lived up to their respective reputations. The Tree of Life and Melancholia will probably be growers for me. I'm not a big fan of Malick, but The Tree of Life gripped me more than any of his other films. I'll have to watch it on a big screen.

No fans of Tyrannosaur? I'll watch anything with Peter Mullan in. The rest of the cast were exceptional, too, including Olivia Colman. I'm used to her in comedic roles but she nailed this more serious role.

I fucking love Olivia Colman in Peep Show (much to DeathRiderDoom's chagrin), and I simply can't wait to get my hands on Tyrannosaur. I've even heard possible Oscar rumblings for her performance, which, for a low budget UK film, is unprecedented.

I can't help but feel that Aliens would be a much stronger movie without the little girl in it. I can't stand kids in those kinds of movies. Well,in movies in general.

Starting The Tree of Life now, really hope it's great as opposed to really overblown and pretentious...

edit: It's really good so far, about a half hour left, but yeah, it definitely is one of the better films of the year.

While I was away on vacation, I somehow had the time to watch Home Alone 1 all the way to 4 in a single day. 1 and 2 were pretty good; I'm sure I'd have enjoyed them as a kid. 3 was a step down, with the silly James Bond vibe it gave off in the beginning. It eventually became rather similar to the first. On the other hand, 4 was utter shit.

This is a good film to watch especially on a dark winter night, rather than write a review of this classic starring Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier, I'm amazed to find the whole film on youtube so thought I'd post it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27bPOV76wcU

I don't relate to many situations in cinema, but if there's a film where a family can find something to complain about in Hawaii, it's like the writer has been spying on me for all these years.

Tucker and Dale VS Evil - 4/5

I've wanted to see this sucker for a while, and it did not disappoint. This is a rollicking, goofy good time in which the horror trope of 'college kids go to the woods and get butchered by inmates' is reversed in a playful and humorous manner, underlining a rather simple moral pinning. It's a pretty simple message really - don't judge others by how they look. Things you learned in grade school apparently transfer well to comedy films, though, as this movie is fun and full of heart. It keeps you interested with simple twists and an infusion of hilarious over the top gore and jokes. Lead actors Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk play off each other well and the college kids are so ridiculous that they become humorous. By the end of this uniquely bloody, strange flick I was fully into the characters of Tucker and Dale. I can get behind these guys. And I can get behind this movie.

Trespass - 3.5/5

Nic Cage is putting out something like 5 movies every year these days. What, does he have some kind of way of cloning himself? That would be pretty freaky actually. This is a pretty decent flick. It's energetic and enjoyable and keeps you rolling with its myriad of punches and thrills, and the characters all seem to be into what they're doing. A pretty solid heist film, if not anything truly memorable or captivating.

The Tree of Life - 4.75/5

Perhaps not a film one can judge only on a first viewing, but I found The Tree of Life to be a spectacular film. At first I was pretty apprehensive, and the choppy directing and long artsy sequences at the start threw me off, but I kept watching and soon it all clicked into place...more or less, anyway. This is a movie about the unity of family and the thin, oft-breakable fabric of life. The characters are illustrated stunningly through subtle interactions and beautifully crafted scenes - they say more in subtext than there is dialogue throughout this entire film. Brad Pitt does excellently in this, and the child actors are all pretty damn good, too. The movie remains at a slow but stately pace for its duration and packs a sequence of scenes that tie together rather lazily in the manner that our real lives do. At its core this is both a movie about nothing (in the sense that there are no big plot hooks or overly dramatic changes to the characters' lives beyond the pedestrian) and a movie about a whole lot, its scope is so broad and encompassing. This is the barest, most unfiltered essence of human interaction and how we react to and take in each one. That could easily become boring as shit, but The Tree of Life ties everything together with a magisterial attention to detail and an understated kind of wonder, as if that of a young child, seeing the world for the first time. And for that I loved it.

Midnight in Paris - 4/5

I'm only familiar with one of Woody Allen's stories - The Kugelmass Episode - and based on that, I can say this movie isn't in any way surprising. It's a very whimsical, goofy tale with a light coat of subtlety and meaning - not running TOO deep or ingrained into every scene, but definitely there. Allen has a way of combining all at once a sappy romance, a supernatural fantasy tale and some down-to-Earth commentary into one fantastical package. This movie ticks all the boxes and is entertaining all the way through (well the romance parts get a little annoying after a while), but it never really FLOORS you, and so I can't call it truly great. Oh and Owen Wilson is a huge pussy. That also gets points taken off the final score.

Kill the Irishman - 4.75/5

Bad ass, man. This is a hard-hitting mob story based on true life events of Danny Greene, a sort of jack of all trades who nonetheless fell into a bloody, explosive other life with the mob despite his efforts to do good. This is a quick-paced, jam-packed film with something happening every second, and if you like any of the old Scorsese movies or the Godfather series or anything, this should be up your alley too. I don't know how accurate it is to the true events, but what it is is a great, gripping epic that keeps you interested all the way to the end. Ray Stevenson is fucking awesome in this as Greene, and he booms out commanding dialogue like he was damn well born to do it. Great performance, maybe my favorite of the year. Christopher Walken is cool, and the rest of the cast, made up of big names like Vincent D'Onofrio, Tony Darrow and more, is just icing on the cake. This is an awesome movie and you need to see it, end of story.

recently I watched The Stoning of Soraya M for the second time, and it was just as good as the first time. Truly a wonderful film that deserves to be seen by as many people as possible.

I watched two movies today, which is rare for me. First up was Limitless, which was recommended by a friend today and I decided I had nothing better to do. I am very glad I watched it, it's the best film I've seen in recent memory.

Second was The Help, which was great. I was expecting a feel good comedy, and wound up on the verge of tears for most of it and feeling depressed after it ended. Still, a great story nonetheless.

The Help would have been good if it was a half hour shorter and didn't try so hard to appeal to the mainstream comedy crowd. The drama parts were fine, but some of the other parts just sucked.

Has anyone seen Philosophy of a Knife? I've seen the trailer which definitely got me interested in it.

Wow, really?

I gotta seriously disagree. Newt's probably the best child character I've seen in a movie like that.

Just watched it due to your review. I am a die hard ray Stevenson fan and I can safely say this was the best performance I have seen from him yet. Soundtrack is perfect all around, and well envisioned for this type of film.