40Cent @ the movies

[Centurion40]

I rented Drive and watched it on Blu-ray last night. I remember Groggy Grog (over at WG) raving about it, so I gave it a whirl.  After about an hour, I would only think "WTF is wrong with that dude (Groggy), apart from the obvious.  This movie is slow, plodding... deadly dull. BORING!"  Then, like a shotgun blast, it hits you HARD.  Too bad it took an hour to get there.

[bayonetbrant]

Took the GF to see John Carter on Saturday.  Not having read the story previously, I had no idea what to expect.  As a story, it was pretty simple, but as a movie, it played VERY well.  There was humor, romance and action.  And it was visually appealing, too.  The CGI was good and the settings were believeable.  No reason not to take your signifigant others out to see it.

40's rating system: 34 out of 40

How would it play for a 9-yo?  Bayonet Jr wants to see it

[bayonetbrant]

the Bourne series is better.

the book or the movie(s)?

[MetalDog]

Took the GF to see John Carter on Saturday.  Not having read the story previously, I had no idea what to expect.  As a story, it was pretty simple, but as a movie, it played VERY well.  There was humor, romance and action.  And it was visually appealing, too.  The CGI was good and the settings were believeable.  No reason not to take your signifigant others out to see it.

40's rating system: 34 out of 40

How would it play for a 9-yo?  Bayonet Jr wants to see it

I think he would really enjoy it.  The love story angle is not mushy, the landscape is sufficiently "alien" (it's Utah) to be Mars and the aliens and special effects are good enough to keep him interested.  Plus there's action galore.  The only thing you might have to explain is the "bad guy" of the picture (the power behind the throne, not the Jedaak trying to absorb Haven).

[MIGMaster]

Finished watching J Edgar Hoover this evening....not bad, but I could take it or leave it. I liked Anthony Hopkins and Nixon much better.

[Centurion40]

I just finished watching Hot Tub Time Machine for the 8th time.  Man I love that movie.  Highly under-rated comedy, IMHO.

[Centurion40]

The Mrs and I went to see (against my best judgement) 21 Jump Street last night.  I have to say, it wasn't bad; and was probably one of the most funny movies released so far this year.  Even Channing Tatum was not a dud.

30 out of 40

[LongBlade]

We watched In Time last night starring the improbable Justin Timberlake.

First: Timberlake was good. Much better than I had anticipated.

Second: his costar was wooden, though in fairness her character (in fact almost everyone else) lacked depth.

Third: Despite what is to follow, it was entertaining.

Fourth: Timberlake got duped. I doubt he realized how much of a Socialist message the film had. It was masked with Time substituting for Money. Bottom line is that people fight for their lives - their physical bodies are stuck at 25 years old, but they must earn time to live. Society is segregated by wealth, with the poorest having to fight from day to day for life.

Meanwhile at the upper ends there is more than enough time for everyone, with some of the richest having enough time to live for literally a thousand years.

So Timberlake goes about playing the role of Robin Hood - stealing time from the rich and giving it to the poor because "there's more than enough for everyone."

Sound familiar?

Other than the poorly disguised message (which is both wrong and offensive to those of us who know better) it is entertaining and probably worth a dollar at Redbox.

Viewed as a straight up action film: 32/40.

Seen and the thinly veiled socialist dribble it is: 5/40. Unless you like those kinds of messages, then add five to the score above.

[LongBlade]

Saw Jack & Jill (comedy) last night via Redbox.

Adam Sandler is cute and always entertaining, but crossdressing as a fraternal twin didn't come across as a win. When the family's only solid chuckles came from potty humor, it is safe to say this was barely amusing. Amusing, yes, but only just.

Harmless enough to show to most anyone, but I'm sure there are probably better entertainment options out there. I'd recommend passing on this unless there is really not much else to do.

17/40

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Watched Flowers of War today.  It's a film about an opportunistic Yank (Christian Bale) scamming his way through China in 1937 when the Japanese attack.   he holes up in a Cathloic church where he winds up with a Chinese hooker who's trying to protect a group of schoolgirls from the attentions of the Japanese.   The director tries to invoke emotions with his visuals and score, but it just feels overdone and hackneyed.  Lots of slow motion shots of bullets flying through stained glass Jesuses while boys' choirs sing in the background.  I think the director wanted to channel the spirit of Rick from Casablanca into Bale's character, but in the end it just felt contrived.  20/40

I watched Putin's Kiss yesterday.  (I'm on antibiotics and can't do much else right now, so it's a movie weekend.)  It's a documentary about a young woman in a Putin supporter's youth group called a Nashii.  It documents her rise to power within the group.  She's a very proud, nationalistic Russian but starts having doubts as teh film goes on.  She meets and starts dating a dissident journalist and, when he gets  beaten to a pulp, she starts to question what's going on in her organization and her country.

It's a very interesting look at what's going on in Russia today and one can easily draw parallels between it and the rise of nationalistic movements going on in the rest on the world today as well as see how people in similar circumstances could have been drawn into similar groups in the past.  Where the movie falls apart is in the director's attempt to link everything bad (especially the attack on the journalist) back to Putin when there's no clear evidence to do so.  Interesting film but could have done without the director's heavy handed political opining overlaid on top.

30/40

[LongBlade]

Watched Flowers of War today.  It's a film about an opportunistic Yank (Christian Bale) scamming his way through China in 1937 when the Japanese attack.   he holes up in a Cathloic church where he winds up with a Chinese hooker who's trying to protect a group of schoolgirls from the attentions of the Japanese.   The director tries to invoke emotions with his visuals and score, but it just feels overdone and hackneyed.  Lots of slow motion shots of bullets flying through stained glass Jesuses while boys' choirs sing in the background.  I think the director wanted to channel the spirit of Rick from Casablanca into Bale's character, but in the end it just felt contrived.  20/40

I watched Putin's Kiss yesterday.  (I'm on antibiotics and can't do much else right now, so it's a movie weekend.)  It's a documentary about a young woman in a Putin supporter's youth group called a Nashii.  It documents her rise to power within the group.  She's a very proud, nationalistic Russian but starts having doubts as teh film goes on.  She meets and starts dating a dissident journalist and, when he gets  beaten to a pulp, she starts to question what's going on in her organization and her country.

It's a very interesting look at what's going on in Russia today and one can easily draw parallels between it and the rise of nationalistic movements going on in the rest on the world today as well as see how people in similar circumstances could have been drawn into similar groups in the past.  Where the movie falls apart is in the director's attempt to link everything bad (especially the attack on the journalist) back to Putin when there's no clear evidence to do so.  Interesting film but could have done without the director's heavy handed political opining overlaid on top.

30/40

Thanks, SDR. Putin's Kiss sounds interesting.

[Centurion40]

Rest up SDR.   So just what kind of infection did you get whilst on vacation, eh? 

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Heh.  You sound like my doc and pretty much everyone else at work.  Despite my protestations, my doc pretty much demanded I go get tested for the clap and other reminders of debauchery.  Naturally enough, the two lab techs just had to be hot chicks.  "so yeah....I'm here to get tested for chlamydia....so... how you ladies doin?"  Test results all came back negative, so nyah!  Also got tests for Hep A, B, & C, typhoid, yellow, and dengue fever and yesterday, I got to crap in a bucket to test for schistosomiasis.   I'll get those results on Thursday.

[Windigo]

I am scared to ask where you went SDR, but that is always a good clue as to what you may have. If you think you brought something home with you and its a tricky diagnosis then suspect parasites. I took veterinary and human health entomology as part of my entomology science minor in University (I shit you not), insects are vectors for all sorts of nasty stuff. Malaria tests were done too I asume?

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Diving trip to Thailand.