I hope I'm not stepping on anybody's (Nachokoolaid's) toes by opening the one for 2012, but I had nothing to do and this is always the time when we get ready for next year's movie journal.
For those of you who are new: in a movie journal, you write the name of every movie, that you watch, together with the date when you have watched it. Preferably also with a rating and a short review, but it's not a must.
The first page of this thread is reserved for your journals. So please wait at least till the end of January, so that everybody has enough time to start his or her journal, before you start discussing things in here.
If you still have no idea what the hell this is about or you are just curious what The Zone watched during the last few years, here are the last few threads:
20112010200920082007-----
January01st
#00001 Race To Witch Mountain (TV/1st time viewing)
Either Andy Fickman (tee hee...Fickman.) is a highly incompetent director or there was some heavy post production tinkering going on. It seemed to me like there was at least half an hour missing from that movie. This was one of the most confusing kids movies that I have ever seen! Even Dwayne Johnson seemed bored.And he is one of those guys, who normally make everything watchable!
EDIT: I have just learned, that the version that I saw, which was shown in the late afternoon on German TV, was heavily cut. Around 15 minutes were apparently missing, which explains the problems that I had.No rating until I saw the uncut version#00002 Kung Fu Panda 2 (DVD/1st time viewing)
The first one was already very good, but the sequel was even better!
8,5/10-----
2nd
#00003 Super 8 (DVD/1st time viewing)
I enjoyed it MUCH more than expected, but I have some serious issues with the last 10 or so minutes. I mean, I can get behind the alien killing the soldiers who tortured him, but after all the other shit he did, even during the climax, we are supposed to root for him in the end?
7,5/10-----
3rd
#00004 Red State (DVD/1st time viewing)
This was actually pretty good. It was seriously intense (mostly because the whole story was way too real) and full of great performances. Only the ending was a huge letdown and unlike other Smith movies, I doubt that I will rewatch this very often.
7/10-----
6th
#00005 Scream 4 (DVD/1st time viewing)
I really loved the first 5:30 minutes of it. They were so clever and stupid at the same time, that my hopes for this went up immediately. Unfortunately while the rest of it doesn't hold up to the opening (at one point it is really just a series of people getting stabbed, without suspense, fun or originality), it was still entertaining enough to make it watchable. Bonus points for the ending, wich really made me wonder who would survive at one point, but all in all the movie left me pretty indifferent.
6,5/10-----
7th
#00006 Malibu's Most Wanted (DVD/1st time viewing)
I didn't expect much from it and the first half was pretty much what I expected (although I DID laugh from time to time), but the 2nd half was seriously funny. I also have to give them bonus points for making B-Rad not a poser. I mean, he is a white upper class dork who acts like he's tha blackest guy from da hood, but it's his personality and he does that, because he loved Hip Hop culture since a child. It was a nice touch.
6,5/10-----
9th
#00007 (The) Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans (DVD/1st time viewing)
I liked it a lot. It has a very unique tone, somewhere between gritty cop drama and dark comedy with a karma message. Again it proved that Nic Cage isn't a bad actor, it's just that not every director knows how to adjust to him.
8/10-----
11th
#00008 Sons Of The Desert (TV/1st time viewing)
What can I say? Laurel and Hardy are still damn funny after 80 years.
8/10-----
15th
#00009 I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (TV/1st time viewing)
That was odd. Let's first say that it wasn't nearly as bad as expected. In fact, it was at its core even a pretty good movie. Chuck & Larry were some good and believable characters and Sandler and James shared a great chemistry together. But then the whole movie is taken down a whole step by the typical crazy Adam Sandler jokes, that most of the time just don't fit. And every time the movie looks like an honest pro-gay-anti-discrimination case, it turns immediately into a haha-those-fruity-gays-are-so-funny minstrel show. Not to mention that in a movie that is all about tolerance, Rob Schneider's disgusting yellowface cameo is just plain and simple inexcusable. I really would like to read the original Alexander Payne script, without all the Sandler jokes.
6,5/10-----
17th
#00010 Napoleon Dynamite (DVD)
I still don't love it, but like it even more than the last time. But those "movies about nothing" are one of my favourite subgenre anyway.
7,5/10-----
20th
#00011 Jackass 3D in 2D (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
Okay, I guess it's more enjoyable if you see it in 3D. And maybe it'S because those guys got older, but the stunts were less spectacular than in their previous outings. It seemed like they focused this time more on being gross, but y'know, I had fun with it.
7/10-----
23rd
#00012 Without a Paddle 2: Nature Calls (TV/1st Time Viewing)
I caught it on TV while I was waiting for an electrician to show up. It was okay. The first half was pretty amusing, but it lost steam, as soon as they found the tree house. Too bad that it lacked a real payoff. Oh well. This was directed by Ellory Elkayem, who directed one of my favourite creature feature comedies EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS.
4,5/10-----
25th
#00013 Rango (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
Now that was trippy. I didn't like it as much as expected, but it's definitely a unique piece of animated filmmaking. Especially from a visual point of view.
7/10-----
26th
#00014 The Green Hornet (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
Wow, I really liked it. It was nice to see a movie about two clueless wannabe superheroes, that doesn't try to be a parody. It was even surprisingly violent for a PG13 at times, if you ask me. The one, big thing, that really took the whole movie down a notch, was Seth Rogen. That guy is so unfunny and wooden, it's hard to take him seriously, even if he's just bantering with his buddy Kato. I still would watch a sequel.
7,5/10------
29th
#00015 Freaky Friday (2003 version) (TV/1st Time Viewing)
I was horrified, when the movie pretty much started with Lindsay Lohan, yelling the classic line "You are ruining my life!" at her mother, over the classic "I want to get my ears pierced" conflict. Really? Still with that shit? But it got better. Not mind blowing original or even any kind of original, but it was very entertaining. I just hated how they treated Lohan's love interest. First they prove that he is a responsible young man, then they turn him for laughs into a creepy stalker and then they just act like it was no big thing.
7/10-----
February03rd
Wow, it's been years since I saw it and couldn't remember anything about it. It turned out to be a typical but very enjoyable, late 90's Mel Gibson vehicle. Maybe with some rougher edges and if you know about the extensive re-shoots, the tonal shifts and plotholes become more visible, but I really enjoyed it.
7,5/10-----
04th
#00017 Payback: Straight Up - The Director's Cut (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
I heard that the director's cut was different, but I didn't expect it to be THAT different! It's like watching a whole new movie! And the best thing: It's also really damn good! I tend to prefer the theatrical cut though, but really, just a little bit. Anyway, well done! You get two good and highly watchable movies, made out of one! I wish director's cuts would be like that all the time.
7,5/10-----
7th
#00018 Master & Commander: The Far Side Of the World (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
This has been recommended to me as some kind of masterpiece for years and I won't call it a bad movie, but it left me pretty cold most of the time. But when it worked for me, it really did.
7/10-----
10th
#00019 Star Wars - Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (DVD)
I never hated it, but this time it even really clicked with me. I suddenly really got was Lucas tried to do and the story about Palpatine, manipulating some gullible folks into invading Naboo, just to gain political without making himself look like he was behind it all, was suddenly pretty engaging to me. Yeah there are still some flaws apparent (like the dragging half hour between Amidala's escape and the pod race), but now I liked it even more than before.
7/10 -----
11th
#00020 Disturbia (TV Recording/1st Time Viewing)
Oh wow, what was that? A D.J. Caruso movie, that didn't suck and even was very entertaining? Sure, it doesn't add anything new to the subgenre of REAR WINDOW rip-offs, but it played its familiar notes very well.
7/10------
13th
#00021 Star Wars - Episode 2: Attack Of The Clones (DVD)
I didn't remember much of it, but just like with Episode 1, suddenly all the political stuff clicked with me and I really enjoyed the movie. (Although, like I have to repeat AGAIN, I never hated the prequels.) But yeah, Hayden Christensen was awful and some of the romantic dialogue was ore than laughable.
7/10-----
14th
#00022 Star Wars - Episode 3: Revenge Of The Sith (DVD)
Oh hey, Christensen took acting lessons.He still has a lot to learn, but he wasn't as annoying as in Episode 2. With all the politics out of the way, all that is left is the story about an arrogant Struggling Background Artist, who is manipulated way too easy. It's in my opinion the weakest of the trilogy, but only because Lucas tries to go for these big drama moments, but fails to make them somehow believable. It's still a nice spectacle and I give Lucas credit for not pulling any punches in terms of character deaths and turning Anakin into a psychopath.
7/10----
19th
#00023 The Lord Of the Rings: The Fellowship Of The Rings (Extended Version) (DVD)
This is only the 2nd time that I watched this version. I'm still surprised by how much better it makes the movie, even though it was already damn great.
9/10------
24th
#00024 Trolljegeren (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
Flawed, but good. Call me insane, but I think mockumentaries work best, when they have a real budget and don't shy away from showing great special effects long and clear. Also it was nice, that they didn't try to ape the normal movie structure, while pretending to be a real documentary. Most of it really felt like it happened accidently. But there was still something lacking. I can't put my finger on it, but it feels like they didn't use the full potential of this carefully build up world.
7/10-----
25th
#00025 Back To School (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
It's not one of those non-stop laugh riots, like certain other college comedies from the 80's, but I laughed a lot.
7,5/10-----
28th
#00026 Being John Malkovich (DVD)
Is it me or does this movie get better with age? I always liked it, but I can't remember laughing so hard at it before, like I did this time. It also felt much darker to me, than before. Anyway, great movie.
8,5/10-----
29th
#00027 Attack The Block (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
I try not to overhype it, but it's seriously damn good. Well directed, scary, funny in the right moments without getting silly, at times touching and most of all, it manages to make you fucking HATE the protagonists from the beginning, only to make you understand and root for them, without making excuses for their behaviour. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I like the movie.
8,5/10-----
March07th
#00028 Shadow Of A Doubt (TV Recording/1st Time Viewing)
Charlie Charlie Charlie Charlie Charlie Charlie Charlie Charlie Charlie Charlie Charlie Charlie Charlie Charlie Charlie Charlie Charlie Charlie Charlie...anyway, a good movie, but I would have liked it more, if it wouldn't have been obvious from the beginning, that Uncle Charlie has something to hide. It would have been more fun, if the movie had started with his family, getting the telegram instead of showing what came before.
7/10-----
10th
#00029 Sundown: The Vampire In Retreat (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
That was seriously good. Lots of fun and full of original ideas. Okay, some of the many subplots didn't end really satisfying, but I highly recommend this movie.
7,5/10-----
31st
#00030 The Adventures Of TinTin: The Secret Of The Unicorn (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
One of the most entertaining movies of the last few years, even though Spielberg went way overboard with the virtual camera. It was constantly in motion and most of the time it seemed sloppy and improvised. Still a good movie.
8/10-----
April2nd
#00031 Where The Wild Things Are (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
Wow, I think this is one of the most fascinating pieces of film making of the last two or three decades. Full of surreal ideas, but still one of the most realistic depictions of childhood ever. At one hand completely different from everything that ever came before, but on the other hand completely accessible for the viewer.
9/10-----
4th
#00032 Nothing But Trouble (VOD/1st Time Viewing)
Y'know...I kinda liked it. Not because it's a good movie (because it really is not), but for its will to go all kinds of dark and absurd. I know, the R-word is something that nobody really likes to hear, but I would love to see a (more focused) remake of this. The story has enough potential.
6/10-----
5th
#00033 Glengarry Glen Ross (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
I didn't know anything about this movie, other that it's supposed to be great and Gil from THE SIMPSONS is losely based on Jack Lemmon's character. I really enjoyed it, even though it didn't pick up steam until its 2nd half. It's worth watching for some of the awesome monologues alone.
8/10-----
8th
Still a lot of fun, even though the movie is more a string of losely connected episodes. But Camillo and Peppone are two of the greatest fictional characters in history and Fernandel and Gino Cervi portray them pitch perfect.
8,5/10-----
9th
#00035 The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers (Extended Edition) (DVD)
This benefits a lot more from its extended run, than the first one did. Some ignorant people might complain that the movie now moves too slow, but it earned its slow pace, by fleshing everything out a bit more. No new scene feels unnecessary and always ads something new, from character development, to simple spots of humor.
9/10#00036 Il ritorno di Don Camillo (TV/1st Time Viewing)
Very good sequel, that now seems to be more coherent, thanks to several spread out plots like the dam or the two clocks. It also feels a little bit more serious, but there are still enough laughs to find. And seriously, how many movies do you know, where Jesus Christ gets the best punchline?
8/10#00037 Hop (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
Nice, little kids movie. From all those actors-versus-little-wisecracking-CGI-characters movies of the last few years, it's definitely the most watchable, without being great.
6,5/10-----
14th
#00038 Space Truckers (DVD)
What can I say? I really like that one. It's a little sloppy, way too episodic and feels like a TV pilot, but I would watch a new adventure of these guys every single week. Hopper, Dorff and Mazar share a great chemistry with each other and I'm a sucker for movies that are funny, but have a threat that is still serious enough.
7,5/10------
21st
#00039 X-Men: First Class (DVD/1st viewing)
It was good, but lost some steam in its last 1/3. Also the forced we-now-have-to-show-how-everything-that-we-knew-from-previous-movies-happened ending, was pretty silly.
7/10-----
28th
#00040 Good Burger (VOD/1st viewing)
I laughed very loud at times. Like many other comedies it loses some steam near the end, but if you like your comedies very silly, you will like this one too,
7/10#00041 Zathura (DVD/1st viewing)
I enjoyed it a lot. It lacks all the unnecessary studly that JUMANJI had and the time between the kids push that button for the first time and when the astronaut appears, is maybe one of the most exciting scenes, that I ever saw in a kids movie! This is also the first movie with Kristen Stewart that I ever saw and if you ask me, she's alright.
8/10-----
May01st
#00042 Puss In Boots (DVD/1st time viewing)
This must be the cutest movie ever, if you like cats as much as I do! Even without the cat bonus it was fun, but something was missing. It wasn't as epic or engaging as it should have been, but I did enjoy it anyway.
7,5/10-----
05th
#00043 The Slammin' Salmon (DVD/1st viewing)
I love Broken Lizard. This wasn't their best movie, but it had a lot to like. I mean, if there is one thing that they can do like nobody else, it's writing realistic banter between friends at a workplace.
7,5/10-----
08th
#00044 Super Troopers (DVD)
Still very funny. And it's another example of the Lizard's ability to create likeable characters, with a realistic co-worker/friendship chemistry. Not to mention that Brian Cox is awesome!
7,5/10-----
09th
#00045 Grown Ups (TV/1st viewing)
Call me crazy, but I actually enjoyed it a lot and credit most of the dislike towards the movie, to its cast of the Sandler crew. I'm sure that if the exact same movie would have been made as indie comedy, starring unknowns or at least actors from popular hipster show, it would have been that years LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. Or at least a lot better received. Yes, the movie doesn't have much of a story. Just a few old friends hanging out and trying to share the fun they had with their families, but that's its charme. For a Sandler vehicle it's pretty low key and I gotta admit that casting all these real life buddies, IS what makes it so enjoyable. You really feel that they like to spend time with each other and goof around.
7/10-----
10th
#00046 Bad Teacher (TV/1st viewing)
Entertaining and pretty funny, but nothing too memorable. I also think that while they went pretty far, in terms of movies with purposely dislikeable protagonists,
who end up unpunished and don't learn a valuable lesson or become better human beings, they didn't go far enough. The humor was pretty tame most of the time and I think they should have made her a little bit more than just a weed smoking, gold digging asshole.
7/10 If you ask me, it's the weakest Broken Lizard movie. It's also the most absurd one, but that makes it even more disappointing, because on paper it should have been absolutely hilarious. It's still fun to watch.
6,5/10-----
11th
#00048 Hanna (TV/1st Time Viewing)
Yeah, it was okay. A pretty basic action movie but also a pretty artsy one. I liked, but didn't love it and to be honest, I don't know if I will watch it again.
7/10-----
12th
#00049 Red Dawn (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
Ugh, what a piece of shit. After a great opening, it turns into an endless montage of kids, who I couldn't tell apart (except for Sheen, Swayze and Grey) and are either moping or shooting anonymous cannon fodder in the back. It would work as great cheese fest, if it had been made with any spark of suspense or excitement. Now I'm really waiting for the remake, because while it can't be much worse than the original, it could improve on a lot of things. I love the mentioning of the German Green Party in the opening scroll, though.
2/10-----
13th
#00050 Arthur (Remake) (TV/1st Time Viewing)
Not bad, but also very forgettable. Helen Mirren was awesome and to my surprise, she had a great chemistry with Russell Brand.
6/10-----
15th
#00051 The Losers (TV/1st Time Viewing)
If this would have been a DTV production, I would rate it higher, unfortunately it was a theatrical movie. One, that looked and was written like a DTV one. On the plus side, it was very entertaining and had a great cast.
6,5/10I think I like it even more than on my first viewing. It is well directed, has some cool characters (even though many of them die way too early) and is all in all a damn good PREDATOR sequel.
8/10-----
16th
#00053 Howard the Duck (DVD)
Well, fuck me, but I like it. It's a strange movie, but wasn't that the norm in the 80's? It's not exactly good, but there is enough to like in it. Even if it's often just because it'S so damn weird.
7/10-----
17th
#00054 Don Camillo e l'onorevole Peppone (TV/1st Time Viewing)
More funny Christian/Communist shenanigans. Not really better or worse than the previous two movies, but that's a good thing.
7,5/10-----
18th
#00055 Sherlock: A Scandal In Belgravia (TV recording/1st Time Viewing)
Entertaining, full of good character moments, but I don't really know what the big deal was. Sherlock tried 90 minutes long to guess the password for a smartphone and its owner refused to tell him. *shrugs*
7/10-----
20th
#00056 Haywire (Airplane/1st Time Viewing)
I really have to watch it again. I really liked it, but it was very hard to follow when you watch it on a moving plane, while being stoned from travel sickness pills.
No rating, but one careful thumb up#00057 Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (Airplane/1st Time Viewing)
That one was much easier to digest during the flight, but apart from Dwayne Johnson being charming as ever, it didn't have much to it. Unimaginative fluff, although not unentertaining.
5/10-----
21st
#00058 The Raid (Cinema/1st Time Viewing)
Holy shit, that was great! Almost non-stop action that never gets boring! And its makers somehow found the right balance between awesome and ugly violence. Bonus points for creating a great working suspense scene, based on
a machete stuck in someone's cheek.
9/10#00059 Dark Shadows (IMAX/1st Time Viewing)
I was surprised how much I loved this! I would even call it Burton's best since SLEEPY HOLLOW or BIG FISH. There is something about dark and serious movies, that aren't afraid of exploring their sillier side without becoming a self parody, that just clicks with me. The ending feels a little bit rushed and one part of me even wishes, Burton and Depp had turned this into a TV series instead of a movie, just because it would give some of the twists and revelations a larger impact after a weeklong build-up, but I highly approve of this. The IMAX experience didn't add anything to it, though.
8/10-----
24th
#00060 The Avengers (Cinema/1st Time Viewing)
In the tradition of all previous Marvel Studios movies and things that Joss Whedon did, it was good and even highly enjoyable, without being great. It might grow on me on repeated viewing but I think it tried too hard to be awesome and forgot to also be a real movie.
7/10-----
25th
#00061 Kim Possible: So The Drama (DVD)
So damn hilarious and action packed. Even though the 4th season was great, it made me almost regret that the show got renewed after this perfect ending.
8/10-----
26th
#00062 The Simpsons Movie (DVD)
It still holds up and probably even benefits from not being on TV every three weeks, like normal episodes of the TV show.
8/10-----
28th
This time I enjoyed it more than the last time, but it's still no masterpiece. It is undeniable good, though.
7,5/10------
June
1st
I'm surprised that this isn't based on a comic book. It definitely feels like it's based on one. And in this case, it's a good thing.
7,5/10-----
3rd
#00065 The Villain (TV Recording)
I can't believe that this movie exists. Kirk Douglas playing a Wile E. Coyote/Yosemite Sam hybrid, with Arnie as naive goody two shoes "Handsome Stranger". Almost no Looney Tunes gag was left out of this! Unfortunately it's not as good as it could be, but I have a really soft spot for this movie.
7/10-----
6th
I laughed loud and often. Bonus points for having the most hilarious prison rape joke ever!
8/10-----
9th
#00067 Cowboys & Aliens (DVD/1st Viewing)
Not exactly a bad movie, but very, very unexciting, especially if you consider the awesome supporting cast.
6/10#00068 Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Remake) (TV/1st Viewing)
Y'know, when you make a horror movie, but the only good things one can say afterwards are "Biel's boobs" and "Funny Harry Knowles cameo", you might have a problem.
2/10-----
10th
#00069 Bridesmaids (TV/1st Viewing)
When the movie started with one of those cliched sexscenes, where the man does whatever he wants and thinks he is awesome, while the woman almost falls asleep from boredom, I was scared, that it would be one of those all-men-are-pigs movies. It wasn't, but instead it was a how-my-life-got-worse-and-worse drama, with some admittedly funny slapstick moments. Seriously, nobody ever told me, how depressing the "funniest comedy of 2011" is! It almost completely lost me in its 2nd half, where Wiig's character encounters one blow of fate after the next one, caused by assholes who don't get what they deserve. And while those moments are apparently meant to be funny, thanks to the cartoony behaviour of the people who treat her like shit, it just made everything worse for me.
6/10-----
11th
#00070 Cars 2 (TV/1st Viewing)
Y'know...it wasn't bad. I still don't care much for the characters, but it was a fun, little spy thriller comedy. That these cute looking cartoon cars where doing some surprisingly nasty and violent things to each other, gave it even an extra bit of entertaining absurdity.
7/10-----
12th
#00071 Cats & Dogs: The Revenge Of Kitty Galore (TV/1st Viewing)
I'm a huge fan of part 1, thanks to its this-should-be-a-cartoon-but-it's-live-action status. It's pretty sloppy directed at times, but it's always fun to watch. Part 2 is not so sloppy, but it also lacks the whole insanity of part 1. There are still moments that make me glad that someone decided to make this movie (and built an animatronic cat in a Hannibal Lecter costume), but it's all more streamlined. Apart from the two cat assasins, most of the time the animals behave like real animals, which is kinda boring. Having a dog sit in front of a computer screen is definitely not the same as letting him have a kung fu fight against two ninja cats. There was also the subplot about Chris O'Donnell, which was seriously useless. But I liked that they now established that not all cats are evil and in fact most of them care for their owners too (Did a catlover lobby complain or something?) and more than once I had a big studly grin on my face.
6,5/10-----
15th
#00072 The Party (TV/1st Viewing)
Hilarious! I read the movie was mostly improvised, which would explain the at times pretty weird camera work. Although on the other hand, it gave the movie at times a documentary feel, which made it even funnier IMO.
8/10-----
16th
#00073 Retroactive (TV Recording/1st Viewing)
It's actually a pretty good movie, it just suffers from some bad directing (lots of cheesy slow motion, cars that explode in HUGE fireballs after being hit with one bullet...) and some awful dialogue. Especially Jim Belushi, who is actually pretty good in this movie (But I think he is one of the most underrated actors anyway), has to deal with some awful lines and at one point I just expected him to say something like: "In case you didn't notice before, I'm an eeeeeeeeeeevil redneck!" If you are able to ignore those flaws, you will find a nice, little b-movie, that knows how to keep its simple premise (It's kinda like a thriller version of GROUNDHOG DAY) interesting till the end. Even if the ending feels a little bit like they ran out of budget.
7,5/10-----
17th
#00074 Sherlock: The Hounds Of Baskerville (TV Recording/1st Viewing)
This was so far the best episode. Interesting till the end, for a change not easy figure out and an interesting modernization of the classic story.
8/10-----
20th
#00075 Fright Night (Remake) (TV Recording/1st Viewing)
Surprisingly well done. It only lacks the fun factor of the original (It's not "dark and brooding", but less a comedy than the original) and works best, whenever it tries to be its own movie. Almost everything that was imported from the original, feel out of place here. Peter Vincent is completely useless (and his backstory is ridiculous) and Evil Ed's character arc is rushed and could have left on the cutting room floor.That said, all actors are good (especially Colin Farrell, who is surprising me a lot recently!), the direction is stylish, but not flashy and the script is very solid. I approve of this remake.
7,5/10#00076 Eastern Promises (TV Recording/1st Viewing)
A cool, slow burning gangster drama, with brillant performances from Mortensen and Mueller-Stahl. Not exactly a crowd pleaser, but damn good cinema.
8/10-----
21st
Well, it doesn't hold up that well and Hobie #1 is really annoying, but all in all it's still fun to watch.
7/10-----
25th
#00078 The Lovely Bones (DVD/1st Viewing)
I can see why it failed to connect with audiences and many critics. It's not exactly an easy movie for the popcorn crowd and feels often seriously disjointed. (I'm sure the novel felt the same, but stuff like that works better in book form.) I really liked it! It was well directed and acted and I don't mind movies, that take a more philosophical approach to their stories.
8/10---
28th
#00079 Red (TV recording/1st Viewing)
The first half is fun, but it gets pretty boring from then on. It's a shame that none of the characters was really memorable. So much potential...
6/10-----
30th
I wish the movie would at least half as exciting as it looks, but unfortunately it doesn't. I read that the original cut runs almost 40 minutes longer, which might fix some of the issues I have with it, especially in terms of plotholes and story development.
6/10-----
JULY02nd
Man, this must be Richard Donner's sloppiest movie. It's fun to watch, but everything, from the direction to the script is so damn flawed, that it's incredible how it became such a cult phenomenon. (At least in the USA.)
7/10-----
04th
#00082 MacGruber (TV/1st Viewing)
Within the first 40 minutes, there are maybe just 2 or 3 laughs, Pretty good laughs, but not nearly enough for a good comedy. But then around the 40 minutes mark, the movie suddenly becomed fucking hysterical! Seriously, I was just willing to give up on it, when I couldn't stop laughing my ass off! I still think that a MacGruber movie was absolutely unnecessary, but at least half of it was WAY funnier than most of the SNL sketches.
7/10-----
11th
#00083 Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown (TV Recording/1st Viewing)
Some nice DTV action for teens. Without Michael Jai White, who also directed it, and some admittedly clever script ideas (like how the love triangle turned out or the character of the whiny emo kid), it would have been totally forgettable, but all in all it was pretty watchable without being great.
7/10-----
14th
#00084 Dirty Harry (TV/1st Viewing)
By today's standards maybe pretty slow, but all in all it's a movie that still works.
7,5/10-----
15th
#00085 Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark (DVD/1st Viewing)
That was a nice one. There were some pretty huge plotholes near the end, but the amount of scares and suspense, plus the believable stepmother/daughter arc, made me forget about them.
8/10-----
18th
#00086 The Punisher (2004) (DVD)
I liked it a lot more this time. When I saw it for the first time, I thought it dragged a lot, but this time I really enjoyed it. Yeah, it's not really The Punisher, but instead The Incredible Schemer, but the approach worked for me. And after all it was Franks first punishment, so I don't mind him doing things a little bit different in the beginning. Especially when it's personal.
7/10-----
24th
I love this movie so much. This (and MATINEE) is Dante's most underrated work. Everybody is brillant in this one! Hanks, Ducommon, Dern, Gibson, Feldman, the whole damn cast! I saw this movie a million times and I still crack up at most of the jokes.
9/10-----
28th
#00088 King Kong Vs Godzilla (TV)
What a mess of a movie. I know, that the version I saw was most likely the re-edited version of a re-edited version, but come on, it really made no sense. After 45 minutes they suddenly started a subplot about a woman, who thinks that her brother died in a plane crashm then we don't see her anymore for 20 minutes and her brother shows up on her doorstep alive, without even knowing that the plane that he missed crashed down! Then the subplot was over. It lasted two scenes. The whole movie was full of shit like that.
4/10
-----
AUGUST02nd
#00089 Treasure Planet (TV/1st Viewing)
A little bit of a mixed bag. All in all they made a much better movie than "Treasure Island in space" could have been. It's full of nice touches. The hero kid is a trouble maker (although of course still one with a good heart. More one of those typical cool loners, who rebel by using their flying surfboards over restricted property.), his father just left (makes me wonder why "divorce" seems to be such a taboo topic for Disney, but almost everyanimated movie protagonist has at least one dead parent), the villains don't shy away from cold blooded murder (and even suceed!) even though Silver (minus the Long John) is more misguided than evil.
(And even gets redeemed by the end!) Visually the movie is pretty stunning at times. The mix of hand drawn animation and CGI is less clunky than in TITAN A.E. The alien professor "Dr Doppler" isn't the typical funny Disney sidekick, but only because he is more understated in his tomfoolery. Then, really halfway into the movie, almost near the end, they suddenly introduce a wacky robot, voiced by Martin Short. That fella is pretty useless for the story and feels overall more like a late addition, but the 2nd half of the movie is still what makes the movie worth watching. So all in all it's not a great movie or even highly underrated, but it is watchable.
7/10-----
04th
#00090 Drive (DVD/1st viewing)
Very good. It's easy to make a slow movie, but it's difficult to make it as interesting and engaging as DRIVE. Although after hearing for months how bloody the
headshot, the fork in the eye and the headstomping were supposed to be, I was surprised how not-THAT-harsh they were. But maybe I just don't get easily shocked by fictional violence anymore. I also think that Albert Brooks' performance was overrated. He was good, but I think we should stop awarding comedian, just for playing serious,
8/10-----
05th
#00091 Corman's World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel (TV Recording/1st viewing)
I didn't expect this movie to get a German release and suddenly I see that it's running on a third-grade TV channel on a Saturday midnight. It's a good documentary, even though it doesn't tell anything new or mind blowing. The thing is, it could have been MUCH better if they hadn't acted like the success of the modern blockbuster (i.e. JAWS & STAR WARS) forced him to retire from filmmaking, until the ScyFyi channel called him. I shit you not! Just when it gets really interesting and we enter the era of PIRANHA, HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP, GALAXY OF TERROR or BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS, they stop and jump to his honorary Oscar. (In the beginning we saw him shooting DINOSHARK or some shit liek that.)
7/10
-----
06th
#00092 Battle Beyond The Stars (VOD)
Haven't seen thsi since I was a kid and I'm proud to tell you that it still holds up. Kinda. It's not a great movie, but it has a good cast (especially George Peppard and Robert Vaughn are fun to watch), some clever ideas (although many of them should have gotten more screen time), interesting characters and it movies in a swift pace.So while I wouldn't call it "good", it's far from being "so bad it's good". I definitely enjoyed it.
7/10-----
11th
#00093 Cedar Rapids (TV/1st viewing)
One of those cool character driven low key indie comedies with lots of known faces (Ed Helms, John C. Reilly, Sigourney Weaver, Alia Shawkat, Kurtwood Smith, Stephen Root...). It's a lot of fun from the beginning to the end. There are some darker moments (one plot point is about a drug addicted prostitute from a broken home), but it's never "dark" dark.
8/10-----
17th
#00094 Scooby Doo: Camp Scare (TV)
Scooby Doo done right. It has maybe one monster too much, but has a good mystery and some nice character moments.
7,5/10-----
18th
#00095 Scooby Doo: Abracadabra - Doo (TV)
Not as good as CAMP SCARE, but still a lot of fun for fans.
7/10-----
19th
#00096 Sherlock: The Reichenbach Fall (DVD/1st viewing)
I don't know man. So far every SHERLOCK episode had some script issues or plot holes, that keep me from REALLY enjoying them. I liked them all, but Sherlock often seems much dumber than he should be. My biggest problem this time, was the moment when
Moriarty tried to convince everybody that he was an actor from a TV kids show, who was hired by Holmes to appear as Moriarty in public. I mean, his trial was pretty much the trial of the century and I bet his face was all over the news. Don't you think that when an "award winning actor", as Mori's newspaper clippings said he was, is on trial under a different name, at least one person in the world would recognize him, make at least an internet meme ("Moriarty totally looks like that dude from the kids show") and suddenly it would be all over the news? This never happened, so it should have been a huge hint that Moriarty's story was a lie! And we never found out why the kid started to scream when she saw Sherlock in hospital eiter. Oh well, it was still an entertaining thing to watch.
7/10-----
20th
#00097 Skyline (TV Recording/1st viewing)
Okay, I liked it more than the rest of the world. It's not a BAD bad movie, it's just not a movie that ever reaches its potential. Look at it! You have an awesome, never seen before (seriously!) alien invasion! A survivor's story that takes place in a small place! Creepy, brain recycling aliens who come in several shapes and sizes, including
fucking big monster size! Great FX! (The movie had a DTV budget, but looked like BATTLESHIP!) And an ending, that is willing to go the extra mile! But then they screw it up with boring and/or annoying characters, a script that never knows how to get the maximum of suspense out of most scenes and even if the ending is willing to go the extra mile, it just stops halfway and returns. (I guess they ran out of money.) But all in all it was awatchable B-movie.
6,5/10#00098 To Be Or Not To Be (Lubitsch Version) (TV/1st viewing)
It's a great movie, but I have to say that I think the Mel Brooks version is a little bit better. The original has less slapstick, but also spends less time with the characters and is also less suspenseful in certain moments. It is still a clever mix of satire and spy comedy and is still VERY watchable and hilarious, though.
8/10-----
22nd
#00099 Rio (TV/1st viewing)
It wasn't bad, but it was very forgettable. The only thing that really stuck with me, was carnival scene, which was really a feast for the eyes, but on a script level it did nothing for me.
4/10-----
23rd
#00100 Pappa Ante Portas (TV/1st viewing)
Hilarity from Loriot, one of Germany's greatest humorists. It's not necessarily the most original story and too many beats are pretty typical sitcom tropes, but as expected, it 100% delivered on the joke department. It's been a while since a movie made me laugh so hard.
9/10-----
25th
#00101 Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows (DVD/1st viewing)
Just like part 1, it was very good, but not great. The one thing that bothered me a lot, was that the chemistry between Holmes and Watson, that worked so well in part 1, was nearly non-existent. But it had an awesome finale (which in fact shouldn't work at all!) and some seriously great action scenes (Guy Ritchie is maybe the only director who knows how to use time ramping right. He is the anti-Zack Snyder.). But be prepared for the most horrifying PG13 torture scene of all time! Believe me, this ain't an unintentional funny slapstick routine like in CASINO ROYALE! This came very close to the last act of LETHAL WEAPON!
7,5/10#00102 Blood And Bone (DVD/1st viewing)
Michael Jai White Vs Kareem Said from OZ, lots of great fights, Rufio, a well told straight forward story and did I mention the fights? Okay, I say it. This DTV production, directed by the writer of THE BIG HIT and DRAGONBALL: EVOLUTION is better than 99% of all theatrically released action movies of the last decade! If you still doubt why "the guy from SPAWN" has such a huge fanbase, rent this movie and become a fan too!
8/10-----
29th
#00103 Black Dynamite (DVD)
I liked it a little better this time around, but I still have problems with the tonal shift. The first half is a pretty accurate low budget Blaxploitation parody/homage, the 2nd half is all out spoof movie. But both halfs are pretty good.
7,5/10-----
31st
#00104 Horrible Bosses (TV/1st viewing)
Much better than expected. There is something about the current state of big studio comedies, that puts me off. For example, I was only mildly amused by HANGOVER and BRIDESMAIDS, so I really just expected a few good chuckles. In the end it was a damn funny movie, thanks to a clever script and a surprisingly great cast. I mean, I knew, that Bateman, Day and Spacey would deliver the goods, but I didn't expect much from Sudeikis, Farrell, Aniston and Foxx. In the end they all made me laugh more than just once. And holy shit, what kind of special effect wizardry did they use to make Aniston so sexy?!?
7,5/10-----
September01st
#00105 Mars Needs Moms (TV/1st viewing)
I knew that this was going to be better than I thought it would. I mean, the trailer was lame, the reviews were bad and it's one of the biggest box office bombs in history. It doesn't happen very often that a movie really deserves all this bad buzz. I wasn't prepared for how much I liked it in the end! Now I doubt that we will look back at it in 10, 20 years and say "What an underrated masterpiece", but for once it's very watchable. Nothing special, but not boring for one second. Then there are moments when it goes VERY dark, mostly when we deal with the backstory of "Gribble", who seems at first like an annoying sidekick, but then becomes the one character, whose story should be told in its own movie. And then the movie gets some interesting cultural relevance in its depiction of a Mars society, where men are not allowed to raise their kids. The movie is the ultimate loveletter to mothers, but it seems to me like they also tried to critizise how fathers always seem to get the short end of the stick when it comes to parenthood. Especially how little rights they have after a divorce and how having to go to work every day, makes them often look like the bad guy. What keeps the movie away from being really great? Ugly character design, no really exciting action pieces or great jokes and of course the MoCap paradox: They hire real actors to make the animation look realistic, but those actors stop moving realistic in those suits. They make huge gestures, walk funny and seem to have no idea what they are doing. MoCap critics usually only focus on their eyes, but believe me, those eyes are the least problem of that technology. I wonder why only AVATAR got that right.
7/10---
20th
#00106 Solomon Kane (TV/1st viewing)
Pretty watchable. Nothing special, but it reminded me of those cheap ass fantasy movies, that I saw on TV as a kid.
7/10-----
24th
#00107 Nighthawks (TV recording/1st viewing)
Hm. Well, it wasn't bad, but it was lacking almost everything that makes a movie good. Rutger Hauer was awesome, but he always is. But man, the cloches were killing me. We even got a We-are-not-so-different speech from Hauer! I almost forgot already that I watched it.
5/10-----
28th
#00108 Detention (VOD/1st viewing)
Holy shit, what an awesome movie! I'm not easily impressed by gimmicks and complete randomness, but this is the greatest kitchen sink movie in years! It squeezes so much shit in 90 minutes, that it shouldn't work, but it does! And it just gets weirder with every minute!
9/10-----
29th
#00109 Real Steel (TV/1st viewing)
This one wins the award for the least misleading trailer ever. It's exactly what you think it is: A cheesy father/son sportsdrama with a useless, but seriously cool SciFi gimmick.It's watchable, but apart from the boxing matches, it has no redeeming qualities.
5,5/10-----
October1st
#00110 Demoted (TV/1st viewing)
Sean Astin & Michael Vartan play some arrogant assholes who love to play cruel pranks on their also asshole co-worker David Cross, but then their cool boss dies and Cross gets his jobs, so he demotes them to secretaries. Of course they become better human beings and learn how hard it is for a woman to work in a man's world. It's pretty much what an R-rated Lifetime movie would look like. Pretty bland, with obvious morals, but with conversations about blowjobs and gags about peeing women. That said, this movie is not BAD bad. It has a nice, but simple message and once the protagonist learn what kind of assholes they were, they become pretty likeable. There are also two or three good laughs and David Cross is good in anything. But seriously, it's nothing to write home about.
5,5/10-----
6th
#00111 John Carter (DVD/1st viewing)
Now that was a seriously entertaining one. Nothing too special, but a lot of fun. It's a shame that we will never see another movie with Tars Tarkas.
7,5/10-----
8th
#00112 The Thing (2011) (TV/1st viewing)
Well...it wasn't AWFUL. IT was just a pretty forgettable monster movie with some surprisingly good visual FX (after all those bitching about the CGI I expected some VAN HELSING-esque cartoon shit, but in fact they did a pretty good job and it even looked in parts better than the animatronics that I saw in the making of later on YouTube.), GREAT sound FX and one seriously well done suspense scene. (The test.
Looking into each other's mouth is in such a movie a very scary thing to do. And I liked how it wasn't even a perfect solution!) I really wish they would have dared to tell a different story, because in the end, the Norwegians did everything exactly like the Americans in Carpenter's movie. The only real difference was the Thing itself, which acted more like an animal, always chasing and attacking people. Oh well, it could have been worse.
6/10-----
9th
#00113 The Thing (1982) (DVD)
Still works very well. Yeah, the FX aren't as shocking anymore, because over the years you got used to the gruesome look, but the overall mood of dread, paranoia and suspense still holds up. It's a perfect example of how to make a movie that is slow, but not boring.
8,5/10-----
16th
#00114 Rambo: First Blood Part 2 (TV recording, 1st viewing)
Nice, little right wing actioner from the 80's. It's impressive how little dialogue it has. The Vietnamese and Russian parts aren't even subtitled. It somehow makes the movie look more classy than it is.
6,5/10-----
18th
#00115 The Ward (TV recording, 1st viewing)
I don't know. It wasn't a BAD movie and after GHOSTS OF MARS it was definitely a step up for Carpenter, but unfortunately he was still in MASTERS OF HORROR mode. That means if it would have been an episode of this show, I would maybe like it more. Carpenter still knows how to create atmosphere and shit, but the script...oh, the script. Hint: If you give your script a surprise twist ending, don't steal from a movie that is less than 10 years old and that everybody still remembers. I don't know, I hope Carpenter picked this project just to do something easy as his first movie in a decade.
6/10-----
20th
#00116 Rambo 3 (TV recording, 1st viewing)
Yeah, it was okay. It had some nice action beats, but for any reason nothing really clicked with me. I don't even know why. I don't hate it, it just left me indifferent.
5/10-----
24th
#00117 Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (DVD, 1st viewing)
Definitely some funny shit. I love how they treated the monsters seriously and it surprised me how violent the movie gets in the end. After all,
all villains and even one not so evil one die at the end. One gets even thrown out of a window and the Frankenstein monster burns alive. But it's still good fun.
7/10-----
26th
#00118 Project X (DVD, 1st viewing)
Okay, I found my most hated movie of the year. Maybe even of that decade, although it's hard to tell when we are just 2 years in. Now, I don't mind anti-social behaviour in movies. It can be damn hysterical, but this movie was a huge love letter to being an irresponsible douchebag. Those three kids who throw the party, are the least popular kids at school, but they aren't lovable losers like the ones we always see in those kind of movies or maybe even you and me, when we were in school. No, they are horrible, unsympathetic assholes who deserve their outsider status. And it all gets worse from then on! To sum it up, they lie, steal, take drugs, abuse animals and almost get innocents killed, but by the end we are supposed to think that everything was cool, because they earned the respect of their school mates, one of them even got a little respect from his dad! WTF?!? They didn't even learn a lesson! Sure, they feel bad for what they did, but the next day they get rewarded, by now being the coolest kids in school! I'm sorry, ever since WANTED (a.k.a. "Your life sucks until you start killing people") the moral of a movie pissed me off that much. Fuck that movie and everybody who is associated with it.
1/10-----
27th
#00119 Scooby Doo & The Goblin King (TV, 1st viewing)
It was...interesting. It was definitely something different, considering that Scooby and Co. (in their animated form) haven't encountered any real fantastic creatures since the 80's. Its biggest flaw was that nothing REALLY interesting happened and I prefer Scooby movies with the whole gang anyway. (Velma, Daphne and Fred roles were more like extended cameos this time.) All in all it was a nice halloween special, but nothing more.
6/10-----
28th
#00120 Tower Heist (TV, 1st viewing)
Better than its reputation. It's not laugh out loud funny and the characters are mostly uninteresting (a huge no-no for heist movies of any kind), but their motivations and actions are believable, the heist itself is very entertaining and the ending is seriously surprising.
7/10-----
29th
Still very enjoyable. I love how the beginning is just a lot of weird shit happening and I have to give everybody involved credit for making a movie, that is at least to 1/3 about some people standing on their roofs and doing nothing, as exciting and re-watchable as this one. It still drags a little in the middle, but not nearly enough to make the movie less fun.
7,5/10#00122 Tremors 2: Aftershocks (DVD)
I gotta admit, that I think this one is a little bit better than part 1. Mostly because of how they cranked up the fun factor.
8/10-----
30th
#00123 Tremors 3: Back To Perfection/b] (DVD)
Not exactly bad, but at times pretty amateurishly made. You see that they didn't have a budget for shit, but the fact that they brought back every single survivor of part 1 (minus Bacon & Ward) automatically raises the entertainment factor.
[b]6,5/10
-----
31st
#00124 Tremors 4: The Legend Begins (DVD/1st Viewing)
Its two big problems are that not much is happening and that the new characters are less entertaining than the people behind this movie thought. Even Billy Drago's gunslinger is more annoying than badass. It picks up some steam near the end, which is what saves the movie from being awful.
5/10-----
November1st
#00125 The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (TV Recording/1st Viewing)
Very low budget 70's schlock with some good ideas, but none of them are executed well. It's just a long snoozefest.
2/10-----
3rd
#00126 The Princess Bride (DVD/1st Viewing)
Yeah, it was okay. There was some good stuff in it. Mandy Patinkin and Andre The Giant were awesome and I loved how Montoya freaked his enemy out by constantly repeating his "Hello, my name is..." line, but the movie as a whole just didn't do it for me. I blame it on Buttercup and Westley being an awfully bland couple and some huge story issues. For a movie, that is all about the magic of story telling, it has some big issues, if you know what I mean. (How did Wesley even know that Buttercup was kidnapped, why didn't he tell her that he was alive earlier and why the fuck did he act like an abusive ass towards her after he rescued her?) Also the movie lacks a certain degree of scale and epicness. Oh well. But I enjoyed it, although a lot less than the rest of the world did.
7/10-----
5th
#00127 Sherlock Holmes (Guy Ritchie version) (DVD)
On 2nd viewing I appreciate it and its mix of true Sherlock mystery and modern action movie a little bit more,but there is still a little bit of "it" missing, to make me love it.
7,5/10-----
7th
#00128 Jetsons: The Movie (TV Recording)
To be honest, it's pretty boring. There are some nice chuckles from time to time ("Polly want a gasmask?") and it has a surprisingly inspired art direction (especially that bizarre music video in the middle is awesome), but there is nothing really interesting going on and everything is just cliche after cliche. Even for me, who is able to enjoy some of the more trivial kids movies out there, this one has not much to offer.
4/10-----
11th
#00129 My Soul To Take (DVD/1st Viewing)
I don't know why this movie is so hated. There is lots of weird shit going down, but it's good weird shit. It keeps you guessing what the hell is going on, if there is a supernatural explaination or if there is a more "realistic" one. I just think that they should have explained the whole concept of it a little bit more at the end. I mean, I had no problems to put all the pieces together, but it would have been good if they had let me known if I was right.
7/10-----
13th
#00130 Return To Neverland (TV Recording/1st Viewing)
It wasn't really BAD, but the beginning,where Wendy and her family have to deal with WWII, was so much better and more ambitious than the rest of the movie. Captain Hook still rules, though.
6/10Part 2 below
