I still don't understand the big thing about MEAN CREEK, I thought it was quite overrated, 7/10 (B).

You originally gave it an 8/10 (B+) and said it was great but not as great as I said. But you can't be trusted because you thought PIECES OF APRIL was really overrated :razz:. Of course you also gave that an 8/10 (B+) in theaters and then on DVD you gave it a 7/10 (B-).

Anyway, MEAN CREEK was great. Too bad you didn't see it, but everyone I've shown it to has loved it. Great, natural performances, amazing score (coming from someone who rarely cares about the score music - this is actually some of the best score music I've ever heard), the best cinematography of the year (so freakin' gorgeous and on a $500,000 budget), directing (you'd think this was made by a master but he's a newbie - easily one of the most promising filmmakers in some time and that's why he got a Independent Spirit Award for being one of the most promising and he was given money toward his next feature - he couldn't have deserved it more - they made the right decision), etc... Perfect on pretty much every level. I didn't give it a 10/10 on first viewing, but I gave it a 9/10 (A-). Then watched it again and gave it a 9/10 (A). Then again and it became a perfect 10/10 (A+). It's better than the also great STAND BY ME (8/10 or B+), which it's often compared to. The rave reviews couldn't be better suited for a movie (like the A Entertainment Weekly gave it) and it deserved every one of them. It deserves more attention.

My rating for MEAN CREEK was always a 7/10 (B) How would you know? I wasn't even talking to you when I saw it :wink:

We weren't talking but you were on another board and gave it the 8/10.

Kinsey - B+

Liam Neeson is terrific but I felt the emotional core wasn't very strong. Still, I found the film very entertaining.

I Heart Huckabees - B+

I really didn't expect anything great but I enjoyed it, a lot. I don't know, I just loved the whole tone, the quirky characters, all the philosophic talk... it all worked for me. I'll need to watch it again.

Rewatches

MAY - 9/10 (A)
SIDEWAYS - 9/10 (A-)

THE 4400: SEASON 1/DISC 1 - 7/10 ( B )

Plot:

The 4400 tells the stories of 4,400 alien abductees after they are returned to earth, but they ended up being abducted by people from the future to save mankind. In the words of the executive producers, these are stories of people dealing with traumatic changes, driven by the mystery of what happened and why. Some of them have been affected in mysterious ways, and some will have certain abilities, both good and bad, so part of the drama will be watching them adjust to these changes within themselves.

The series kicks off with a ball of light sailing toward Earth, but rather than the expected catastrophic event, thousands of returned abductees are left with no memory of their otherworldly experiences. Each has been gone anywhere from a few months to several decades but hasn't aged a day.


I liked it a lot! Very interesting. It's too bad the first season is only 6 hours and 2 discs. At least the second is longer but now that it's already started on TV I'll have to wait until it comes out on DVD to see it, which should be sometime around December I'm thinking.

Anyway, my favorite characters so far are Shawn (Patrick Flueger) and Lily Moore (Laura Allen). I also like Nikki (Brooke Nevin). I like Chad Faust (Saved!, The Ranch) but his character Kyle hasn't had much to do yet since he has been in a coma since the beginning of the first episode. It was also cool seeing Kathleen Wilhoite (Gilmore Girls, an episode of 24, Perfect Opposites) in the second episode.

I loved the scenes in the first episode while the song "Worry About You" by Ivy played. And I loved the part in the second episode when "The Reason" by Hoobastank played.

I'm looking forward to watching more of this show. Recommended.

The last two:

Escape From New York
Grade: B

Escape From L.A.
Grade: B+

Madagascar - D+

Well... at least it was a little better than Shark Tale. Congradulations Dreamworks.

House of Wax

Scary? No. Stupid? A Bit. Exciting/Fun? Yes.

OK! yes it was a fun slasher movie, i enjoyde it a lot actually! the death scenes were awesome!

My only complaint was the 3rd son....Ugh i hate that!!!
i hope they dont make a sequel [-o<

Paris did a nice job!

B

The Triplets Of Slutville

Stunning cinematography, although the dialogue was poor and the sex scenes dragged on too long leaving little room for the paper-thin plot. *SPOLIERS* I wasn't sure why she put her finger in that dog like that, seemed a bit odd. *END SPOILER*

C

Surviving Christmas

It really wasn't as bad as a lot of people were saying. Ben Affleck did a great job I thought. As did James Gandolfini, Christina Applegate, and Catherine O' Hara. The plot was so contrived, and stupid. But it had a lot of funny parts, and the whole message of the movie was pretty cool. I enjoyed it quite a lot.

B

Cliffhanger - A

I forgot how much i loved it. Sly really is a beast in this film....i only wish they left the cut scenes in the film.

YESTERDAY (rewatches)

Hitch A
Cursed (PG-13 version) B+

Tonight I might watch a movie, but I am not sure which one.

Team America: World Police

This is quite possibly the Stupidest and most disrepectful movie EVER!!...... but hell it was hilarious
lol!! i bought the Unrated version, and wow the Sex scenes was so funny and.... disturbing....(my dad was sitting next to me, thats why) #-o

The songs were fantastic. when the killing of Janeane Garofalo, Hellen Hunt, Susan Sarandon were great! =D>
i dont know why, but i laughed so hard when they said bakalakalaka street *sigh*

B+

Batman Begins - B+

People are going to hate me for my review of Batman Begins, but this is truely what i thought. I went into the film expecting it to be brilliant and i really wanted it to be aswell. It started good, infact it didnt just start good, the whole film was good, it's just i had a few problems with it. The film took a wee while for it to get into "Batman mode", that didnt annoy me as i understood that he wasnt batman from a boy, so i expected this...but i also didnt expect them focus on it from so long. Minor matter. There are bigger things though, one is the fight scenes, its annoying when a film shoots so close to the actors that we cant actualy see what they are doing, whether theyare fighting or dancing!!! Also, it was way too dark, i could hardly see them dance, ahem i mean fight...the fighting scenes were just pathetic, i wanted to see Batman do stuff, instead i saw loads of flashes of fists and people getting punched and sound effects...well if that acts as a fight scene in todays tough competition then i might aswell be father christmas. Last but not least, one thing i found hard to understand was when Bruce Wayne spoke he was cool, just like Mr. Bale, however when he turned into Batman he spoke like a husky jazz musician pretneding to be the devil. Why husk your voice up for Batman???!?!?!!!!

Anyway, there were positive sides to this film, i know it seems as if im totally negative, but im really not, they just really annoyed me. I loved all the actors, Christian Bale was superb (apart from teh voice), possibly the best Batman yet, although its hard to compete with Val Kilmer and Michael Keaton. Michael Caine was amazing, his funny lines were what saved this film from not feeling like a waste of time for my gran (which is who i went with). Liam Neeson was crap. Enough said. Morgan Freeman, like all his films, was brilliant, best part probably. Scarecrow was cool, but i wish i saw more of him and his lame death was annoying too, i wanted him to be the big bad guy, but Liam Neeson was, which ruined it for me. Kate Holmes, bleh.

Overall, i liked it, it was an experience, but it certainly wasn't the best Batman yet, different, but not the best. 'Forever' is the best in my opinion. The only thing that was faultless was the story, it was brilliant!!!!!! Especially the part of the house getting burnt down, leaving no question as to how the Bat-cave looks different in Batman (1989), which i thought was good. Another thing i loved was the Joker card at the end. Even though this one wasn't what i expected, i still am going to be waiting for a second one, possibly with the Joker (unless the film i am waiting for was already made back in 1989, not sure). reason i gave it a B+ is because it was an action packed ride from beginning to end, despite the faults, i do like Batman and i'm willing to pass them by because of the years of excitement Batman has give me.

The Ring Two - 2 stars out of 5
War of the Worlds - 4 stars out of 5

Daredevil Directors cut

B+ -> a vast improvement over the theatrical version, in many ways, caracter development and plot, it really fills some voids the movie had when i saw it in the theater.As for the movie itself, its good, its not the best comic book movie ever, but its on my comic book top, its better than Spiderman 1 and X-Men 1.

peace

Monday night:

GHOST LAKE - 2/10 (F)

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! What a bad fucking movie! I felt like bringing it back to the video store the next day saying it freezes and hopefully since they only had one copy of the DVD they wouldn't put it back on the shelf and nobody else would have to suffer through it. They would still have one of the VHS though.

Just a stupid, stupid, movie. Awful acting, dialogue, etc... The main character seemed dumb too, and the dialogue and bad acting makes her seem worse. I usually try to find good points with each movie so even ones I hate don't automatically get the lowest rating possible because let's face it, pretty much nothing is THAT bad. But I actually couldn't think of anything good about this. Sometimes you watch a movie and you just feel like being harder on it than you would some because it just sucks and there's nothing good about it. I myself can't believe someone actually made this thinking it was an enjoyable movie and what's even more shocking is that a company actually purchased and released it. I'm sure they saw it as an opportunity to make a few easy bucks by giving it a cool cover and letting suckers rent it, but have they no shame? You'd think they wouldn't want to release a movie this bad even if they could get some quick cash. I wouldn't want my company to release it (if I had one that is).

Oh, and when I thought it was almost over it hadn't even been on for an hour yet and I find out there's about another hour to go. ](*,)

Mike, you seen My Summer of Love yet?

War of the Worlds: B

See my review in "Everyone's a Critic". I liked it, but it certainly isn't without problems. Far from Spielburg's usual masterpieces sadly, and probably my least favorite of all of his films.

When the best thing I could say about a movie is Paris Hilton, I knew something was wrong. I saw this a few weeks ago and thought it was simply terrible.

Eh, to each his own I guess. Glad you got some enjoyment out of it. :wink:

Princess Mononoke - A

One of my favorites.
Hm... I should watch Spirited Away or Laputa tonight.

War of the Worlds

.....i feel a little bit wierd about the movie
there were quite a few plot holes that i really notice (i dont usually see them)
The Ending was..OK, not the best, im like everybody else here ****they studied for so long, yet they forgot they cant survive her

but still it was a great fun movie!, i liked it
The Aliens were cool, the ships were cool! Tom and Dakota gave great performences!

sadly i will give the movie a B+ this was my most anticipated movie if the year and im a little disappointed!