With the tidal wave of must-see summer movies coming soon, I've been playing a bit of catch-up with the movies that I missed out on last year.   To be honest, I didn't even know "Rocky Balboa" existed until seeing the trailer on the Casino Royale DVD this month.  The trailer looked appealing enough for me to give it a rental, and I'm glad I did; it's an excellent film, and a good Rocky flick in general.  Stallone definitely carries a great performance as the aging "Italian Stallion," and the story and characters are genuinely more emotional and in-depth than its predecessors.  It's a deliberately slower-moving film, but the big fight and climax at the end proves to be a superb payoff.  Recommended; it's certainly a finale that's much more befitting to close the series with than Rocky V. 

And "Ice Age: The Meltdown" was pleasantly surprising.  The plot itself isn't particularly strong, but the cast of characters are.  The comradeship between Manny, Sid, and Diego has clearly solidified since the first film, which comes through nicely when those life-threatening situations come up.  Throw in Crash and Eddie (and to a lesser extent, Ellie), and there's a nice group dynamic happening as they press on in their journey.  At the very least, Ice Age's gotten me warmed up to CG animation again, so I'll be ready for Ratatouille.

Still, I may go see TMNT before its theatrical run is over.  Anyone seen it?

Casino Royale I saw a long time ago.  Wonderful movie, I absolutely loved the fact that it was the emotional and physical development of James Bond.  It wasn't for everyone and a lot of people were disappointed, especially if they went expecting to see a typical Bond movie.  It was long and a fantastic movie, whatever the actors name is did a wonderful job exploring the previously unseen depth of James Bond, I hope for many more with him in the leading role.

Recently though... I've seen 300.  And I hated it, every single waking second of the movie was pure rubbish.  I can respect that it's a new style of action movie, that was probably the only thing good I have to say about it though.  I went in with an open mind and knowing before hand that it would be nothing but an action movie... but honestly... there's no character development, there's barely any story, the scripting and dialogue is horrible (some of those one liners...) and the music is generic rock battle themes.  I'm pretty much against the norm here I guess, since everyone I know loves the movie and proclaims it as the greatest movie they've ever seen.  If you want to tout it as being a great action movie or for exemplary CG work that's fine, but by no means is this a good movie.  My generic one line review of this movie is that it's honestly like paying to watch someone play Dynasty Warriors 4 for an hour and a half...

I also saw Blood Diamond.  Fantastic movie.  Horribly gruesome and unexpectedly violent, but I guess that goes with the territory.  Superb acting on DiCaprio's behalf, he honestly never ceases to amaze me (Though, that one movie where he was trapped on some jungle island was really bad, most of his movies are exceptionally good).  The average moviegoer probably can't relate to the message they're trying to get across during the last 10 minutes of the movie (aka: Blood Diamonds are bad don't buy them), but hopefully it didn't fall completely on deaf ears (or blind eyes?).

Followed by another look into the govenrnmental workings of the African nation I watched The Last King of Scotland, which was pretty good.  The acting by Forest Whitaker and "the other guy" was pretty good.  Almost a documentarized movie, but it was a very realistic look into the history of a country I really know nothing about.  After watching the movie, I think one can aptly compare him to an eclectic version of Hitler.

I watched Babel (So I've been watching a lot of award winners and nominees lately, sue me), and I enjoyed that.  The directors perspective on the intertwining of 4 different peoples lives and the how the connections between them can affect each individual person in a completely different was is amazing.  I'd like to see 21 Grams now, for some reason I thought that was some drug movie but I guess I was mistaken.

I saw Rocky Balboa as well, and loved it.  I don't remember much about the original Rocky movies but I know they were mostly touted as a sports film with an emotional moving story.  The last movie in the series is more of an emotionally moving film with a sports finale.  Rocky has something in him that every American can relate.  In one form or another, Rocky is America.  The speech he gave his son outside the bar on the street was one of the most emotionally moving speeches ever.  The fact that Sylvester Stallone is going on 60 something now and still can pull off the same groundbreaking acting he could 20-30 years ago is amazing as well.

As far as International films I went to NYC twice in the last 6 or so months to see two anime premiers.  The first was Paprika, it was the first American showing of Satoshi Kon's newest animation.  Satoshi Kon is an on again off again director for me.  I didn't really enjoy Perfect Blue, I loved Memories, I never saw Millenium Actress, I loved Tokyo Godfather's and I didn't really like Paprika.  His style of directing is a bit on the crazy side, Paprika was extremely hard for me to follow...

I also went to the NYC International Children's Film Festival and saw Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo ("The Girl Who Leapt Through Time") with a couple of my friends and it was pleasantly enjoyable.   I think it was aimed at a much younger crowd here in America but it was good nonetheless.

~jb

Wow, that is really harsh. I saw it and I didn't think it was THAT terrible... it was somewhat better than some of the stuff out there (lets face it movies aren't as good as they use to be). What really got to me is the big deal the teenagers I went to see the movie with made over it... they acted like it was the greatest thing since sliced bread and made me feel so out of the loop because I said it was just "ok" - appearently my mind is a little too mature to be entertained solely by brutal displays of violence alone for a movie to be good on the whole.

Oh, and not to start anything but I've watched my friends play Samurai Warriors/Dynasty Warrior for hours on end and even though I don't pay to watch that, two hours and nine dollars to watch 300 is almost like a vacation. Of course, maybe I should stop hanging out with them and rent some good movies and watch them.

I watched and had no problem with 300; it is a good movie.  It was much better than Sin City (Frank Miller's other comic-turned-movie), which is by far one of the worst movies I've ever seen.  I mean, 300 was no V For Vendetta (not that I like Alan Moore's stuff--luckily the movie is so much better than that horrid comic and is one of the better movies I've ever seen), but there was more to it than just the violence.

How old must you be before you start to say something like "lets face it movies aren't as good as they use to be"?  Are you going to next start comparing everything released to Birth of a Nation?  Sheesh!

Curious about that one myself...it looks awesome.

Same here.  I think I'll end up seeing it as a rental though.

Lots of people have seen it.

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808719771/critic

1 critic gave it a B, the other 11 critics said it sucked. I'm guessing it sucks. Might be fun, but only if you're in a mood for a stupid movie. Anyway, that's what I gather.

-avatar!

However, I am a bit excited about the upcoming "Stardust" movie
I remember reading the comic and I thought it was quite awesome, and would make a good movie, and I guess someone in Hollywood thought so too! Well, with the success of 300 and other comic book adaptations it's about time someone makes a good Neil Gaiman movie.

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/stardus … h28XRfVXcA

cheers,

-avatar!

Hey Av...I'm less interested in general reviews by the populace, and more interested in the folks on this board's opinion...At least those that care to give it, having seen it.

Finally got talked into seeing the Da Vinci Code. I think it made itself out to be a little more important than it actually was (the last 5 minutes or so of the movie were a total waste), but the moment-to-moment writing was entertaining enough to get through it.

Die Hard With a Vengeance is still brilliance though.

Last movie I saw was 300.  It was decent, nothing special.  I wouldn't recommend it.

Next movie I'm going to see is Grindhouse on Friday and then Harry Potter 5 and The Simpsons in July.  I suppose I might get peer-pressured into seeing Spider-Man 3 since I have a friend for whom Spider-Man is a religion, but I have no desire to see it.

That wasn't what I was getting at. I mean do you think all the special effects and computer animation make today' movies good or better and those that came before? Some movies today simply have no soul outside their flash - same could be said for some video games. And no, I haven't seen "Birth of a Nation" so your reference and attempt at an insult has more or less fizzled. I really don't care if I sounded like an old fart saying what I said and I'll stand behind it.

Edit:

As you get older I think it is acceptable to want more out of movies, books and the like... and no, I'm not going to sit here and act like a movie buff, philosopher or a book worm when I'm not because I don't need to stroke my own ego (like a kitty).

For what it's worth, I saw TMNT myself, and was very pleasantly surprised.

I went in not expecting much, and came out feeling very content and confident about the Turtles's revival.

The movie sadly lacks any of the series' bad guys (except for the Foot Clan obviously), but introduces an enjoyable cast of new characters, the voice work is great with some very big names thrown in, and the action is pretty decent.
Looks good too.
Sure, there's plenty of cliches and it won't win any originality awards, but it was very entertaining anyway, and the Turtles still rule.

I think you'll like it, Angie.

36th Chamber of Shaolin
Dirty Ho
Legendary Weapons of China

The above 3 are Shaw Bros. productions and the first I've seen from that studio.

Big Boss - First Bruce Lee movie I've seen. I bought a boxset, so I'm going to watch them in order.

Master of the Flying Guillotine - I have no intention of being within 10 miles of a master of a flying guillotine.

Shaolin Soccer - The second Stephen Chow movie I've seen.

Break Out - Just another crazy Korean movie. I bought it because it has several of the actors from "Attack the Gas Station". It's always amusing to see them in other movies.

Tazza: The High Rollers - The most recently released movie I've seen.

shaolin soccer was awesome.. its got so many piss-yourself funny parts like airplane or naked gun...

Agreed. Special effects used to be something that added to movies, now movies are designed around them. Many movies are nothing but dull CGI with no story, no character, and no real acting. That's not to say that special effects and great movies don't go together, because they certainly can, however these days it seems that producers prefer special effects over storytelling. Fortunately, that's not always the case.

cheers,

-avatar!

ps And as for video games which lack soul... well the epitome of the situation can be expressed in two words "Final Fantasy". You can disagree if you want, but after FFVI (with the exception of Tactics) it's been a straight decent into dulldom in my opinion.

"Recently though... I've seen 300.  And I hated it, every single waking second of the movie was pure rubbish."

Heh, I thought I felt the same way.  Except 'exemplery CG'?  I mean, there was a LOT of it, for sure, and in that way its impressive because, well, how many computers that must've taken!  But making sure every action scene switches from 'fast motion' to 'bullet time' and repeat enough to make someone sick, and chaining a ton of special effects as if you're chaining enemies in Silvergun, I don't think is very good looking.  Its big and ugly, actually.  For some reason I liked Sin City's style, even though that was overblown at times, but this didn't work at all... ugly ugly UGLY.

And of course, it almost seems that the US goverment paid for the movie to be made, heh.

But, you can't beat the very best line ever!

*Spartans huddled around campfire*
Half-naked commander:  "Unless I miss my guess, we're in for one wild night!"

Ahh, double entendre indeed :-)

I checked out the Miami Vice Director's Cut DVD last night. Wow, it is intense! I assume that some of the shots taken during the gun battles (pun not intended) were what had to be omitted from the theatrical release to keep an R rating. I'll probably find out when I check out the commentary. My only problem with the movie was the hard to hear and understand dialogue. If I'd turned up the volume any more on my sound system the bass would've rocked the house. I had the same problem with Michael Mann's previous film, Collateral. Overall, though, I'd say it was another great Michael Mann film.

Dumb & Dumber: Director's Cut

One of the Funniest Movies Of All Time with the lost 1994 R-rated footage put back in, what else is there to say for a $10 steal like this??

DEAD SILENCE

A genuinely scary movie about guys and dolls, puppets and dummies, it borrows heavily from the SH movie and even has a fear-chord from Resident Evil Cubed ripped directly from the game's soundtrack (Second Floor of Spencer Mansion Theme).
But if you've been looking for a 21st century horror flick that actually lives up to its hype, definitely check this one out, just don't say I didn't warn you!!

The Number 23

A pretty good psychological thriller, not nearly as scary as DS but if you're a number-cruncher looking for some dark stimulation you should give this flick a try.

I really wanted to see Bridge to Teribithia but it seems to be out of stock, guess I'll just wait fer the bluRay

"Birth of a Nation" is from 1915, one of the oldest movies of which I've heard, and was chosen as an extreme example for that reason alone.  There was no insult in it to fizzle.

Special effects (before and since the advent of CGI) have helped make all kinds of movies better and have played an integral role in helping make so many directorial visions become immersive.  As the field has developed over the last 140 years it has made the experiences better.  Do you think Star Wars: A New Hope would've been just as good if it were made using 1920's special effects technology?

yesterday at target, i noticed they have a US dvd release for last year's Takashi Shimizu (ju-on) horror film Reincarnation (Rinne). all i can say is THANK YOU, ITS ABOUT FRIPPING TIME THEY RELEASED AN ORIGINAL VERSION INSTEAD OF REMAKING IT WITH AMERICAN ACTORS!!

You know what, I'm not even continue this talk/argument/whatever it is with you... if I wanted to get into a war with someone I'd go post at the Gamefaqs message boards. I don't have time or energy to spend on someone who takes someone's general opinion (because that's what it is) so literally they need to place it under a microscope and overanalyze it and feel the need to take pot shots at it.

By the way, where did I say *ALL* movies that use special effects were soulless??

If you're not adverse to watching movies in another language (and I doubt anyone here is), go see The Lives of Others.  An absolutely stunning film.

Are you going to get upset if I answer this question too?  Learn to say what you mean then.

OK, leave it at that... I'll go dwell and ponder why I even bother attempting to chat anywhere in the first place