Fifty Fifty Movie Round Up: Movies 11-15

I haven't updated this in a bit, and since I'm at home I figured why not?

11.  Lincoln (11/17/12).  SO GOOD.  OH MY GOD.  It's a quiet movie that says a lot and is riveting.  There's no crazy action scenes and the only special effect is good acting.  Daniel Day-Lewis is pretty much a shoo-in for Best Actor and he deserves it.  Ricky loved watching all the political wheeling and dealing.  It's also great that a book like Team Of Rivals can get a movie deal.

12.  She's Having A Baby (11/21/12).  Very sweet and cute.  It's a weird movie at times, but I enjoyed it.  The end credits is pretty much made for John Hughes fans.  I loved young Elizabeth McGovern, especially since we're in the midst of our Downton Abbey watching.

13.  The Last Waltz (11/25/12).  This movie has been on my mental queue for years, but I wanted to wait until we had a bigger TV.  Well that finally happened so I rented it.  It's really beautiful and good, a loving tribute to some of the best musicians from the 70's.  Oh, and so much coccaine.  Soooo much coccaine.

14.  Miracle on 34th Street the 1947 version (12/21/12).  Neither of us had seen this movie, so during our Christmas movie stretch we made sure to watch this.  I liked it, a lot more than the remake from the 90's.  The end feels a little rushed.  It's great seeing what parades and deaprtment stores from the 1940's looked like.  And the guy who played Santa Claus... I'm pretty sure he's Santa in real life.  He was that believable and filled with mirth.  I read that Natalie Wood thought he was actually Santa, and was disappointed that he was not.

15.  Les Miserables (12/26/12).  Day after Christmas we made our pilgrimage to the Salem Cinema to see this movie.  Ricky enjoyed it, but me being a fan of the musical enjoyed it.  Yes, some of the performances were bad (Russell Crowe) and he used too much upclose and didn't mix it up at all, but I had realistic expectations and they were met.  This won't win Best Picture or even Best Actor, but it was enjoyable.

Fifty Fifty Movie Round Up: Movies 6-10

"You have a crazy group of movies to talk about." ~Ricky

...Yep.  Yep I do.

6.  See No Evil Hear No Evil (10/24).  This movie was the level of 80's hijinks and crap I expected.  A lot of Gene Wilder yelling and a lot of Richard Pryor making a wide-eyed look of shock.  That being said, I did laugh and I enjoyed seeing a young Kevin Spacey playing a vaguely European villain.

7.  30 Minutes Or Less (10/27).  It was funny but a little predicable.  I enjoyed a subtle Social Network reference.  I will say, at the request of Ricky, that we watched this movie at 4:30 on a weekend.  That is the perfect time to watch this movie... late afternoon on a weekend before doing weekend night stuff.

8.  Despicable Me (10/28).  I really loved this movie.  Clever and sweet and funny.  It has a lot of heart.  I strongly recommend this movie.  It's so fluffy I could die.

9.  Bottle Rocket (11/2).  I liked it a lot, but I have to say... I like his later works a lot better.  Cool to see young baby Wilson brothers, and it's funny and typically Wes Anderson weird, but my heart belongs to The Royal Tenenbaums.

10.  The French Lieutenant's Woman (11/11).  HUGELY disappointed with this movie.  It had great potential to be weird and different and creatively made, and it fell so flat.  I mean, Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons are great actors, but the whole time we kept thinking "you're falling flat, there's so much more you could do with this plot".


Wow, I seem grumpy about these five movies.  I promise the next five will be a lot happier!

Fifty Fifty Movie Round Up: Movies 1-5

I wanted to recap the movies in fives, and we've finished the first five, so here we go!

1.  Hamlet 2.  This is not a good movie, but we did laugh a few times.  It's amusing, and I'm glad I saw it, but I'd be pissed off if I bought it or saw it in a theatre.  Steve Coogan has a horrible American accent, but he is funny for sure.  Also, Ricky liked seeing Elizabeth Shue... but how can you not, as she's the lead in Adventures in Babysitting?  Worth a rent, but have realistic expectations.

2.  The Secret of the Kells.  SO GOOD.  I've been meaning to see this since it was nominated for an Oscar a few years ago.  The artwork is really striking, and it's a good story.  Also the perfect length of just a bit over an hour.  Strongly recommend checking out.

3.  Frankenweenie (2012 stop animated version).  Really good.  Reminded us of classic Burton, as it has a lot of neat visual elements and has the heart that a lot of his earlier pieces have (Beeteljuice, Edward Scissorhands) that perhaps some of his newer stuff does not (Alice in Wonderland).  It was nice that he brought back a lot of the veterans from his earlier pieces, like Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, and Martin Landau.  I cried like a baby, even though I KNEW WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN.  Really smart and clever.  Go see this movie in the theatres.

4.  I Love You Philip Morris.  This movie is made better by the fact that it is a true story and it pretty much happened the way they portrayed it in the movie.  It's definitely weird, but also loving and fascinating.  Jim Carrey is at his best when he's not playing the manic buffoon.  He's really good at this, and is quite engaging.  And you can't not love Ewan MacGreggor.  Rent it.

5.  United.  When I finished this movie, I thought "well that wasn't amazing".  But then I found out it was a TV movie and I decided I liked it for that.  David Tennant is great in it.  Dougray Scott plays his character quite oddly.  Nice supporting role of William from Downton Abbey.  Sadly he has the same fate as William did in DA.  (hint:  he dies)  Interesting story, and they do a good job at it for a TV movie.  Worth the rent.