10000X this. Voyager did Elysium far better.

Worth seeing? Well yeah, I suppose. I just wish the characters were such that you could give an arse about. They talk to the audience almost as much as they interact with each other! Seemed nearly every line was some epic announcement, "Behold! The fortress of Dol Guldur!" The number of lines that could have been followed with DUN DUN DUN was just too high for me. Gets old fast.

He isn't a godsend among actors, but he's done some great stuff - Hereafter in particular is one of Eastwood's best directing efforts, and a great film at that. Really love The Adjustment Bureau too. I remember enjoying the first Bourne, though I never saw any of the others. I actually do think he does quite a lot of good work, Damon - he always puts in a super-solid performance, even in an only average flick like Elysium.

Hahaha. Yeah, I think you could make the same complaint about LotR, but it's maybe a little more convincing in those movies (like a lot of the motiffs they carried over and now seem kinda overdone/trying to hard in The Hobbit).

The World's End - I'm not an expert on the work of Simon Pegg. Never saw Paul, Run Fatboy Run, or Hot Fuzz, and although I liked Shaun of the Dead I think it's a bit overrated. So I was apprehensive about this, and for the first half hour or so I found it more annoying than funny. Like it was trying way too hard.

But once the main antagonists were revealed things picked up and I couldn't help but enjoy myself. It still wasn't gut-busting funny, but it was consistently amusing. Even the action scenes were handled better than I expected. Yeah, I suppose on the strength of this one I should finally check out Hot Fuzz. Also thanks to TWE, I can't stop listening to The Sisters of Mercy's "This Corrosion."

Matt Damon is better than Christian Bale. You could say I'm another "person" that dislikes him.

Eli Roth has made a film called 'the Green Inferno'.. basically 'Cannibal Holocaust' again..
not sure how i feel about this.. hopefully it is raw as hell

I have faith in his ability to pull it off, but a found-footage flick like that probably won't past muster in today's world. People are so desensitized to it. Besides, CH wasn't all that great anyway, the best thing about it was the opening theme.

This. Bourne is a guilty pleasure among just about everyone, to say all three are not of any worth is a bit harsh. Taken is also quick cut and that has become a modern action classic. Damon definitely has range, Contagion and The Adjustment Bureau are the most obvious recent examples but also in Green Zone he expressed a wide range, as much as a no-bullshit military chief possibly could. Most like to judge him based on his more reserved/absent minded roles but those movies need that stern or sponge-like character trait in order to make it believable.

He just does whatever is necessary for the role. He hasn't been given a wealth of roles that demand very much from him, but every role he gets, he works with and makes it his own. He gives a solid, strong performance almost every time. I forgot he was in Contagion actually, that was also a good film.

American Hustle - 4/5

This is quite a bizarre, wacky comedy that mostly works on an understated level, building the madness as it goes with its characters, all of whom are people trying to hide from their regular lives and become something else. I don't know if this had to be 2.5 hours long, but it was fun pretty much all the way through. The comedy in this comes from the characters, who are constantly doing crazy things and putting themselves in ridiculous situations. And like any good comedy made well, you get some drama from this as well - out of the extreme lengths they go to find happiness, there is a modicum of something beyond simple schadenfraude gained from watching these people screw up, even approaching a kind of pathetic sadness. The "hustle" plot is a bit convoluted, but I'm confident if I see this on DVD with subtitles I wouldn't be confused. I enjoyed this, definitely a fun flick to round out the year.

I just watched Elysium. I almost fell asleep multiple times, but I did manage to finish it. To be honest, Matt Damon's acting in this movie wasn't that much higher quality than the rest of the cast which ranged from annoying to average. Sharlto Copley and Jose Cantillo were the only actors who got a interested reaction from me. The visuals were sometimes nice, most else was meh.

Cannibal Holocaust is rad but I'm a Cannibal Ferox man myself. I'm soooo wary of found footage films... not sure I'd enjoy anything in that style though I'm certainly up for being pleasantly surprised. Hopefully the practical effects are gruesome as shit and it isn't a bunch of "look away" bullshit when it's time for the gore.

P2 - This takes place on Christmas Eve, and I guess I felt like watching a Christmas movie but didn't want to go with a more obvious choice. So the guy with the impossible facial hair from The Hunger Games plays a psycho who keeps the star of "Continuum" trapped in her office building after everybody else has left.

This was filed under the "Horror" category, which seems kind of misleading. I think it was trying to be more of a psychological thriller, but it didn't completely succeed on that level either because the interaction between the two main characters was never all that compelling.


Watchable, with one or two fairly gory scenes, but nothing special.

Man, that chick is super hot though. That's the only reason I watched it, really. Wes Bentley is one of those actors I can't stand in anything. Something about his face wants me to punch him, not care about who he is or any of his motivations.
Also, dontlivefastjustdie, Cannibal Ferox rules! Dat unfitting soundtrack.

P2 may not be one of the worst made films I've ever seen, but it is one of the most annoying, cliched pieces of shit I've seen that some people apparently actually like...man, that movie pissed me off. Bunch of phoned in crap.

For some reason I have an urge to watch Eyes Wide Shut this Christmas. I can't remember if it's set around Christmas or New Years, and I originally saw it in like, April, but still! Might also throw on Black Christmas tonight...

Yeah, P2 almost played like a 100 minute long Hannah Minx Youtube video, with the leading lady dressed like this for most of it.

As a movie, it made me want to watch The Disappearance of Alice Creed again, which I mentioned before and I think Empyreal reviewed a few pages back. From what I remember of that one, it was a better example of the "kidnapped woman fights back" genre.


1974 or 2006? (I haven't seen either.)

It's definitely set around the holiday season, and a fine pick also. I specifically recall a scene towards the end where Nicole Kidman is shopping for Christmas presents with Tom Cruise.

I've always found The Ref a good watch around Christmas time. Because it's set during Christmas but more importantly Dennis Leary is on fire and wholly quotable while Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis make the perfect loathsome parents. It's witty and punch driven dialogue is so rapid so interest is always up there and it thankfully never gets too silly like most ensemble comedies. Released a year after the hit single 'asshole', Dennis Leary was really popular at the time and his presence in Demolition Man and Judgement Night are a testament to this.

I want high cholesterol. I want to eat bacon, butter and buckets of cheese ok? I want to smoke a Cuban cigar the size of Cincinatti in a non-smoking section. I wanna run around naked with green jello all over my body reading a Playboy magazine.

Watched these on the airplane yesterday.

Despicable Me 2 4/5

Fun movie, and a great continuation of the first which was one of the better recent animated comedies. Predictable on all of the plot twists, and the character progression was a bit weak on the villain but the humor was good and the movie was fairly original compared to a lot of other movies lately so didn't let it down much.

Two Guns 3/5

It was fun to watch and very mindless as it was so over the top. The plot twists were quite excessive and piled on heavily. The character development besides Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington was lame and the overall plot was ridiculous. The humor was well done though. Should't be watched if you are looking for a good plot, with depth. More of a mindless fun movie and it accomplished that well.

The Iceman 4/5 (maybe i'll bang it up half a point when I see the rest of it)

I didn't get to see the last 15 or 20minutes or so as the plane landed but before that it was very good. The pacing was rather slow but didn't feel like it dragged much, and the acting was excellent. If you are looking for a movie based on the life of a hitman than I suggest watching it. I would have liked there to be a little more depth into the mind of the Iceman though instead of just watching him but maybe they included some of that at the end of the movie.

Yeah, that movie was very good. Just a killer, no holds barred thriller with some real punch to it.

The 1974 Black Christmas. I don't really have an interest in seeing the remake.

volute, yeah, that's it. I knew there was some connection not just in my mind.

TWO BOOB.

Saw the Desolation of Smaug earlier. All in all a much better movie than the first one. The action scenes were way cooler and while there were some sort of silly/annoying deviations from Tolkiendom there were others that I felt actually enhanced the story a good deal.

Haha so good. Guy was a glorious motor mouth.

After seeing the new Hobbit twice, I can safely say Jackson still has it. Not without its flaws and there are more of those than any of the LOTR films, but I liked it better than the last Hobbit film. I do know people who prefer the original though.







That being said......holy hell, Smaug was fucking epic. That was the best 30-40 minutes of any Jackson Tolkien film yet. Seriously. He, the effects team and the voice actor out-Gollumed Gollum and I would be willing to watch a 2 hour film of nothing but Smaug, Bilbo and dwarves running around Erebor. I was so worried a talking dragon was going to come across as corny, woe is me of little faith.

I'm currently watching "The Bunker" by Rob Scott. It's not bad til now, has anyone ever seen it?

The Wolf of Wall Street was pretty much mindblowing. Scorsese at his best. Dicaprio better than I've ever seen him. Just see it. Best movie of 2013.

^ Been meaning to watch it since I heard about it. Anywho, I watched 'We're the Millers'. In concept, it seemed pretty okay - pot dealer assembles a bunch of people to pose as his family. The "family" is a disguise to prevent suspicion from the DEA while they smuggle tons of MJ across the border. I didn't feel the comedy in the movie and I didn't enjoy it at all primarily because of silly dialogue and some of the constipated acting. Nick Offerman was cool though. I'd give it a 4/10.

Insidious: Chapter 2 - "The original was better." Still, at least this sequel wasn't totally unnecessary in the way that Taken 2 was. The conclusion of Insidious 1 could have made that movie an effective standalone flick, but the franchise possibility was always there. And considering how cheap and profitable these things are, I can't really blame them for milking it.

Speaking of, without spoiling the ending of Chapter 2, the filmmakers made it very clear that there's going to be an Insidious 3: Dream Warriors in a couple years.

Watched Skyline (2010) on blu ray last night. Low budget alien invasion movie with ok effects, crap acting and a poor storyline. 4/10 Thank feck I only paid £2 for it. Straight to the pile of unwanted stuff that is going to the charity shop after the holidays.

Dude, if they did, I could totally forgive Chapter 2 for being a steaming turd.

Saw the Hobbit last night

4.5/5
I'll put it in a spoiler as I don't want to ruin it for anyone.

It should have been a stand alone. The original was fine. I haven't seen the sequel yet, but the fact that they even made one turns me off to the "franchise" anyway - what a silly idea.

I watched this also. The Further is a cool concept yet they of course didn't build upon it and I don't remember many jump scares in the first especially with loud overbearing music, yet Insidious 2 is littered to the brim and all but one were sigh worthy. The duo pair weren't funny or memorable this time and could have been scrapped, explaining the history behind the black bride killed what was good about the first - not knowing. Middle-of-the-road, cliche ridden ghost movie.

Although Taken 2 was unnecessary it was far superior to this forgettable heap. While it's set up was dull, after the kidnapping it was hardly predictable, it actually was suspenseful and delivered action in droves, the role reversal with the daughter was a good change too. Ending could have been more bloated/thorough but overall I think half a star difference. No where near awful as most claim.

Watched an old fave last night Apollo 13 (1995) Superbly acted drama from a cast larger than just the astronauts. I remember how this played out live at the time and we all prayed for the safe return of Apollo 13 to Earth. The film gets the balance right and is never over sentimental. Houston we have a problem. 9/10

This, all of it. Smaug was really fucking intimidating, and had a lot of charisma. Most entertaining character in a Jackson movie ever*.

Really liked this sequel, as it is. Will be looking forward to the end of the trilogy.

*That is, not counting the Kung Fu priest from Brain Dead.

Just finished watching Blackfish, was a great documentary that put a lot of things in perspective about captive orcas (and other captive animals in general)... Just how incredible smart all these mammals are and how much emotion they have in their own lives really makes me sympathetic, especially the first part of the movie with the interviews with the people that caught the whales back in the 70s. I did a tiny bit of research afterwerds and couldn't really find any experts/trainers that would back Seaworld, because it is somewhat question worthy when all the interviews in a documentary are completely one sided. I visited seaworld back in like 2007/8 and it was a great experience, but maybe its better that we just film and observe them in the wild, while there is some wild left before we shit all over it.

One fact that just is undeniable proof that we piss off captive animals is that there hasnt been a wild orca attack on humans, while dozens of attacks on humans by captive orcas have happened. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_wha ... _on_humans

Anyway, great documentary some very nice original footage and interviews, many documentaries I feel are extremely biased and turn me off while watching them but this one was very entrancing and if Seaworld doesn't want to comment on the movie that just gives more backing to the movie, and those that gave interviews for it.

Yes thankfully the scenes with Smaug were good, and he was very intimidating and clever. The way he toyed with everyone and his banter was very entertaining. The rest of the movie wasn't up to that level sadly, although Gandalf was great as always.

Totally agreed with the Smaug praise. I was a bit worried they'd either dumb him down or make him so aloof and esoteric as to lose some of his cleverness and ferocity, but the whole Bilbo/Smaug encounter totally ruled. I would marry the shit out of Benedict Cumberbatch.

I'm with you there. People actually liked that shit? Good God P2 was the only movie I ever hated so much that I walked out and left it unfinished. And I was watching it at home!

I've seen P2 get thrown around in various underrated lists, along with various half baked efforts like The Perfect Host and Session 9. Remember next to nothing apart from a torture scene with some sexual harassment bozo and a scene where the main character drops her phone behind a roller door. I can only assume the makers were trying to make Wes Bently scary, yet he's simply annoying, like a pungent stink that follows you around all day. The 'trapped in a parking garage with a psycho' premise is really dumb and subsequent chain of events implausible. I'm a little disappointed Alexandre Aja wrote it, although he's largely inconsistent with only two good films attached to his name, and they're both remakes..