Defiance (2008)

Finally, a movie about fighting back.

8/10

The Lives of Others (2006)

Spectacular foreign (German) film on the evils of the State.

9/10

Double Indemnity (1944)

Billy Wilder has a knack for intrigue. How do I know? Because he does stories that I would normally frown upon because of their lack of intellectual depth. Cross dressing to escape St. Valentine's massacre. Plotting murder for insurance money. We've seen this all before. Watching the guilty as a main character works in this case. You don't have to pull for them, you just have to watch them squirm when they don't know if they've been caught or not. Keyes is the good guy and it's easy to route for him despite him being the old ugly guy out to get the young beautiful couple. I've seen three Billy Wilder films and they all get the same rating.

9/10

The Crow (1994)

Alex Proyas' dark horror fantasy. Cool action choreography for its time. Nothing too special philosophically. Is this the original dark comic worlds? I doubt it, but it is one of the bigger early ones. Polito was great in Miller's Crossing, but a bit over the top with this portrayal.

7/10

The Man Who Would Be King (1975)

Funny. Some interesting parts. Caine still has that same voice.

7/10

Gattaca (1997)

Excellent film! I was going to say too much voice over, but stopped as soon as I thought that. Enigmatic Jude Law in this one. I missed that Vincent's father was Elias Koteas. Themes; not perfect but overall satisfactory.

9/10

Layer Cake (2004)

Daniel Craig

I'm sorry. I hate movies with all bad guys. A few years ago I would have given this a 7 or 8 out of 10.

1/10

Terminator Salvation (2009)

Wha-ha-hoa (as Dr. Wilson says). One of the best pure action/war films I've ever seen. Christian Bale had plenty of competition in the acting department as well. I was in complete enjoyment the entire time, so I can't think of any reason to take points off. Time travel paradoxes maybe...

9/10

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

Way better than expected! Thought it would be like the third Mummy movie. Gambit is such a badass. Please make X-Men Origins: Gambit. There were some pretty good plot twists. The death scene could have been done better.* I don't know much about the comic story, which is usual for me, so I enjoyed it. I just wonder why Gambit wasn't in the other movies. He was in the cartoon I watched as a kid. I would have given the movie a point higher rating if the writing were just a little bit better. The X-Men humor is present as always, not as good as the first two movies and on par with the third movie.

8/10

Touch of Evil (1958)

Orson Welles' true masterpiece. Dark and gritty. It could have used color. Heston, Leigh, and Welles paired make for great on screen chemistry. Integrity versus corruption is fun to watch as contrasted to just corruption in the police force. Excellent musical score for an older movie which usually has a lot of blare.

8/10

Catching Up

1. In Bruges (2008) 8/10
   
2. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) 4/10
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) 8/10
4. Gran Torino (2008) 10/10
5. WALL-E (2008) 6/10
6. Tropic Thunder (2008) 8/10
7. American Madness (1932) 8/10
8. Righteous Kill (2008) 8/10
9. Mister Deeds Goes to Town (1936) 7/10
10. Taken (2008) 9/10
11. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) 8/10
12. Brazil (1985) 9/10
13. Dark City (1998) 9/10
14. Some Like it Hot (1959) 9/10
15. Run, Fatboy, Run (2007) 7/10
16. Escape from Alcatraz (1979) 7/10
17. Alien (1979) 10/10
18. Ed Wood (1994) 7/10
19. Sunset Boulevard (1950) 9/10
20. Aliens (1986) 9/10
21. Blade Runner (1982) 8/10
22. Wanted (2008) 9/10
23. Changeling (2008) 10/10
24. Iron Man (2008) 8/10
25. The Fountainhead (1949) 10/10
26. Death Wish (1974) 7/10
27. Inherit the Wind (1960) 9/10
28. Lord of War (2005) 6/10
29. The Fountain (2006) 10/10
30. Kelly's Heroes (1970) 9/10
31. State of Play (2009) 8/10
32. Slumdog Millionaire (2008) 8/10
33. The Abyss (1989) 9/10
34. The Thing (1982) 8/10

The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

December 12

This is the kind of movie where special effects actually saves the movie. It was fun to watch the destruction of Earth through alien technology. Keanu Reeves' range is not very wide, but he is superb at what he does. Jennifer Connelly was a drool fest even with the weight loss, and, well, she has always been an excellent actress. The character arcs were pretty much the ruination of the movie, being that they were unbelievable. You can't be anti-technology and pro-human.

6.5/10.0

Four Christmases (2008)

December 10

Not a completely typical Hollywood comedy. It actually has a fresh approach at making the audience laugh. At least compared to the recent barrage of crude sexual humor. It avoids most of that, and when done it is sometimes subtle, the way it should be. The messages for the most part are bearable.

8.2/10.0

Fail-Safe (1964)

November 20

Unbelievably boring and ridiculous. In fact, so boring that anything potentially good about the movie was not noticeable. A few decent philosophical discussions, that's about it.

3.0/10.0

Quantum of Solace (2008)

November 14

Take away the seizure mode (thanks second unit director of the Bourne series!), and add in a few more classic bad ass Bond moments, and this movie would have been every bit as good as Casino Royale. What were they thinking with those action scenes that cut between the main fight and a horse race or an opera? Do they think headaches are fun? Although most of the action scenes had too much camera shaking, they had a gritty realness that almost made up for that. The fight in the hotel room in Haiti was probably the best "realistic" fight scene on screen. Strawberry Fields was beautiful, amazing, stunning, and the best Bond girl in ages. Too bad she was not the main Bond girl. The trip down the stairs scene was probably the funniest of the movie. Do you think she has handcuffs? You hope she has handcuffs. Bond's best scene was when he said she tried to shoot me and then flipped the motorcycle. Though a close second would be when he escaped imprisonment in a hotel and talked to M before jumping on outside of some balustrades over the main entrance of the hotel and walked along the sidings while the people after him were on the inside part of the hallway. The final fight scenes were the most rewarding. The movie is pretty much non-stop action. This would not be so bad if the camera would stop shaking for a few seconds.

8.3/10.0

Big Nothing (2006)

November 6

Great comedic timing from all, though special mention should be given to David Schwimmer, Jon Polito, Simon Pegg, and Alice Eve. OK, that's most of the cast, but still, they all gave nearly equal performances. Although it is another criminal farce movie, with plenty of convuluted plot points, it is fairly clever and touching. Just when you think the story could not possibly work out in a way that makes sense, things start to get back on track. Good for a few laughs.

8.1/10.0

Jackie Brown (1997)

October 10

Sam Jackson, Robert De Niro, and Bridget Fonda are hilarious because they are evil. They show how impotent and moronic evil is. At least Chris Tucker is killed early. The big setup is not very interesting, but at least the character development makes sense and is not there just for pop culture fun. The fifty minute finale was the highlight of the movie, where all things start to go wrong. Multiple POV's of the same scene.

7.9/10.0

An American Carol (2008)

October 8

Not that great. The ACLU zombies were hilarious. Farley's brother was pretty good at being Michael Moore. Overall, a fun movie because of the company that was kept during the watching.

6.5/10.0

The Anderson Tapes (1971)

October 4

Sean Connery and Christopher Walken team up. Walken is young. The first half is quite comedic. The second half is a great masterpiece of a heist. Very inventive and fun. The ending was great.

8.5/10.0

High Plains Drifter (1973)

September 20

Pretty crazy movie. Some great scenes, some boring scenes of preparing for what's to come. The movie is at its peak when Eastwood's the Stranger is kicking butt. There is too much going on to really tell if the Stranger is the man of justice he supposedly is portrayed as.

8.2/10.0