I am here... to party!

The Visitor (1979) is being re-released in theaters around the U.S. this weekend. If you like incredibly weird italian-trash, this is your movie.

http://drafthouse.com/movies/drafthouse ... or/houston

I'm going to see Godzilla 2000 in a big old theater tonight. They've got a balcony level and serve very reasonably priced beer. This is gonna be AWESOME.

I've never been to a theater that sells beer. There are a couple that I know of here in Connecticut, though.

That was the first Godzilla movie I saw on the big screen (not counting the Roland Emmerich film), so it holds a lot of nostalgia for me. Enjoy it!

Just wait everyone, May of next year has the Legendary remake of Godzilla.....it's going to be awesome.

Well shit, if you keep a movie for a MONTH, especially a new release, what do people expect?

"No late fees", man! You can keep movies literally as long as you want with no repercussions!

Which we shall never speak of again.

I've got a copy of Godzilla 2000 on DVD and have watched it multiple times but seeing it on a big screen was soooo good. That ending- the human antagonist lighting up a smoke and then yelling 'GODZILLAAA!!!' as he gets crushed. 'Godzilla is inside all of us' as Godzilla flips out and destroys the city to emotive, orchestral music. So good. I was huge fan when I was 12-ish and I've got a bunch of VHS packed away somewhere in my mother's basement that I'm now inspired to dig up and watch again.

Additionally, I'm leery of the upcoming Godzilla remake. Perhaps it's lingering anger from the movie that we shall not speak of but I'm also skeptical of the value in doing it. Have any hollywood remakes of foreign films been worthwhile? It will certainly lack a man in a big rubber suit kicking over model buildings, so mehhhh.

Last Vegas - 4.25/5

Just an enjoyable flick. Morgan Freeman, Robert Deniro, Kevin Kline and Michael Douglas go to Vegas - that's pretty much it. The star power makes it a curiosity by default, as these are all really talented guys (and we can thank Silver Linings Playlist for reminding DeNiro that he can actually act, which carries over to this too). But it's just a fun movie. It's way better written than The Hangover, with some funny moments and a general likability that permeates everything in it. The characters are all good and the way they play off each other is enjoyable. And the story is just the right mix of comedy and light drama to make for a very agreeable viewing. Maybe it plays a little too much to the mainstream Hollywood crowd, but I enjoyed pretty much every second of it. If you want a feel good movie to relax to, this is a surefire bet.

The Counselor - 4.25/5

Cormac McCarthy made this movie, which actually gives director Ridley Scott a fire under his ass after last year's underwhelming Prometheus - this is easily better, despite being pretty much a 180 in terms of themes, settings, etc. It's a drug movie about a rich Michael Fassbender getting involved with some hairy schemes. It also plays out as a loving send-off to Breaking Bad, from the cool neo-Western setting right down to the Dean Norris cameo - no, seriously. This is a bit scanty in terms of length, but it never bores. Lots of shit happens and everyone gets what they deserve. Pretty cool, roguish and vulgar flick. Fun.

Wild Strawberries - 5/5

As far as I know this is considered Ingmar Bergman's masterpiece, and I can see why. It's wonderful. A very heavy and dark film at times, but then at others, oddly uplifting and wistful. This is a film that attempts to do the impossible and encompass the scope of a man's life. As we're mostly seeing things from main character Isak's perspective, that goal becomes flawed - we only see what he considers to be his bad points, the worst things he ever did and his sins. But the film also takes the time to step outside his perspective now and again and show us that really, it's all relative, because we can reinvent ourselves around new people and step back and stop ourselves from slipping over the edge. There's good and bad to everything and nothing is truly set in stone - even the man whose sins weigh the heaviest on him can always make someone new happy, and leave a positive legacy in his last days. Breathtaking, sweeping cinema mastery.

Thor: The Dark World - 4/5

These Marvel movies keep getting better. While they're all basically cinematic candy, Marvel puts the right amount of work in and the actors have so much fun that it carries over to the viewer. I didn't really like the last Thor, but this one rocked out some awesome fight scenes, some surprisingly funny humor and cool scenery and special effects. It's not as good as, say, The Amazing Spider-Man, but it's solid and I had fun kicking back and watching it. Recommended.

I have to say, I loved Hiddleston's performance in The Dark World far more than his other two outings as Loki. For Loki to have worked in this film, we as an audience had to believe that he could be either plotting to betray Thor, or legitimately joining with him to kill the dark elves. Hiddleston made both sides of Loki seem believable.

And that thing That's totally what they should have done in Star Wars Episode III instead of that "nooooooo~" silliness.

Oh yeah, he was easily the weak link in the other movies he appeared in, but he was fun in this and, like you said, had some very good scenes. He got to show off more of his actual talent here, rather than just spout one-liners like in the other films.

Ender's Game - - Can I get a refund?

Easily the worst adaptation of book to movie I've ever had the privilege or should I say dis-privilege of seeing. From the get go a movie goer who has never read the book would surely be lost never to recoup and ultimately leave the theater bewildered and lost and wondering why they just paid to see this abomination. Truthfully though that's also how I felt. The whole point of the book is lost in translation during the blistering pace the movie keeps up only to reach a horrifyingly awful conclusion. I would say that 80%ish of the book was cut out to make this film and of the remainder pretty much the only resemblance to the book is the name. Crappy writing, plot changes for no reason, exclusion of all the major details of the book, what isn't Hollywood?

Gavin Hood has single handedly destroyed one of my favorite books in one foul swoop, way to go douche bag. And as for Orson Scott Card, I hope you got a fine payday from this sir because I have lost what miniscule respect I had for your work left. How could you even let this movie come out? You have just stooped to the level of George Lucas and from that there is no coming back.

Wait, spoof movie dynamic duo Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer came out with another one called The Starving Games? I haven't seen it advertised at all, but IMDB says it's out this weekend in the USA.

Come on, somebody here must have seen it. Let's have a review!

Hopefully when this one bombs they'll stop being allowed to make these awful pieces of shit they've been trying to pass off as movies for the last decade.

Hey, the main character's name is Kantmiss Evershot. Which is a play on Katniss Everdeen. See, that's smart writing!

But seriously, IMDB says they're currently filming a Fast and Furious spoof called Superfast. Maybe that one won't get much of a theatrical release either.

People really give a shit about those movies? I take pride in never having seen one of them. Seems pointless to waste time on em...

I was made to watch Meet the Spartans in the theater when it came out. My little brother was begging to see it and so he, me, and my father went to it. It was the first time I ever saw my dad physically uncomfortable watching a movie because of how horrible it was, something I wouldn't see out of him again until Paranormal Activity 3, which he outright declared was the worst movie he'd ever seen when we left the theater.

Meet the Spartans is not a movie. It's a soul-shredding, extra-dimensional phenomenon from which there's no escape.

Of all those "Movie" movies however, the worst one is Disaster Movie. Quite possible the most objectively bad movie in the history of objectively bad movies. Not even Meet the Spartans is as destructive to the senses as Disaster Movie.

I think they already made that, it's called New Kids Nitro and it came out in 2011.

You liked The Amazing Spider-Man that much? I didn't quite like but I'm not a fan of the character anyway. Just came back from Thor 2, it was freaking awesome. Much better in almost every regards than the first movie. The warriors three was very cool but perhaps not present enough and the bad guy was not quite developed but still cool, his motives were not clear/interesting though.

Kat Dennings was funny, Chris O'Dowd's cameo was nice! The battles scenes were awesome. I was thoroughly pleased with the movie, it was fun and spectacular.
I got that cup (with the keychain). I like these!

Your new Banhammer!

Well, yeah. Aside from being a great film, I grew up with the character - that probably had an effect on what I thought of it too. But even so, wonderful character acting, killer action scenes, great pacing, lots of cool cinematography = the fine wine of summer blockbusters, along with Avengers.

I found The Amazing Spider-Man to be lacklustre. It was the more or less the same thing (like we need another origin story), only more hip and trendy to appeal to the generation Y crowd. It's slightly more self-aware of it's cliches whereas the first just ran with it. I've got nothing against Andrew Garfield, he was great and emotionally devastating in Never Let Me Go, but here he comes off as a confident adult trying to play an awkward teenager, and most of his delivery of dialogue is wooden. I'm a fan of the Spider-man comics and so far no one has done them justice, every big budget movie has been overly-dramatic, painfully sappy and wrought with excessive emotion (the troubles of being a teen, the plight and burden of being a hero). The comics I think fondly of are about fun, action and outsmarting the villain, Peter Parker barely ever takes off costume, he's in battle mode at the drop of a hat unless he's vying for some girls affection.

I loved The Amazing Spider Man. I really didn't think much of it going into it, especially considering how much I love the first two Sam Raimi movies, but TASM was just so much fun to watch. The two main actors are so insanely likable that you cannot describe it, and the acting all around is really, really good. Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker was on the same level as Tobey Maguire's, but his Spider Man absolutely blew Maguire's away. There was more snark and sarcasm from Garfield's Spidey in the "small knives" scene than Maguire's Spidey had in all three movies, and really the douchey remarks to villains is what makes Spider Man so enjoyable as a character.

Also, the troubles of being a teen and the burden of being a hero is exactly what Spider Man is about. The latter element in particular is the entire crux of the character's existence and the main source of a lot of the tension in Peter Parker's life. Hell, it's the main element of a lot of superhero stories and characters. Just look at Superman and Batman, especially Batman.

Taken 2 - I hate to be an anti-sequel snob and say "The original was way better," but that absolutely applies here. Completely unnecessary followup, recommended only if you want to see the almost 30 year old Maggie Grace pretend she's still learning to drive a car.

That whole scene was both awful and hilarious.

Yeah, that was the most contrived, ridiculous way possible to frame an otherwise decent action movie - really phoned in writing.

Now I fucking hated Taken 2 so this isn't meant as a defense of the movie in any way, but you guys do realize there are plenty of people who live in major US cities with excellent public transportation who have never learned to drive, right? My brother is 34 and, while he was born in Nebraska, has lived most of his post-high school life in Boston. He's never even had a learner's permit.

I know that.

I was just poking fun at the whole "actors and actresses pushing 30 yet playing MUCH younger characters" thing, not making fun of real people who learn to drive later in life (or never).

I watched Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (the 1978 version) earlier today and I still stand by my opinion that it is one of the best horror/sci-fi flicks out there alongside the likes of Carpenter's The Thing, Alien, Cronenberg's The Fly and some others that have escaped my memory at the moment.

My gripe with the scene was that she was pretty damn fast in learning to drive and drifting a manual car in a strange city with people chasing and gunning them.

Disney's Maleficent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=704EXbJ-b5k

On one hand, I don't care the CGI fest that was shown. On the other.....Angelina Jolie for the few seconds we see and hear her seems to just nail the part.

Jolie looks insanely great in that. I'd see it just for her performance.

Took long enough. I couldn't sworn this was filmed three years ago.

The Place Beyond the Pines:

I finally got around to watching this. I quite enjoyed it and even though it's kinda evident that Gosling plays a similar character to the one he played in Drive, I felt he did justice to the role and the story. The movie is a series of events, all connected to each other. Yeah, it's one of those movies but it's not as all over the place as Babel was. It's restricted to three timelines. Luke (Gosling) is a stunt driver who breaks bad when he finds out that he has a baby son from a fling he had the previous year. The movie is built on that and you have other main characters like Avery (Bradley Cooper) and Luke's grown-up son come to the fore later on in the movie. It's a good watch and even though the pacing slows down a bit around midway, I didn't mind it too much.

8/10

Not sure what to think of this. If it's an accurate summary of the movie, I think I'll sit this one out.
The last thing I need is another epic disaster movie with cringe-worthy speeches.

Literally can't be good. Written by John Logan. Directed by Darren Aronofsky. Two of the biggest hacks in Hollywood. At least they were kind enough to group themselves together.

Yeah, I agree with darkeningday on this; Russel Crowe and Darren Aronofsky isn't a very good combination. I don't hate everything this John Logan guy was a part of, but eh, not exactly a bunch of films I'd say I love either...

I'm looking forward to Out of the Furnace, American Hustle, Nebraska and that new Coen Bros. movie. Good shit coming out, hopefully.