Movies I've Seen Recently – May – September 2010

Reading over this list I think DANG I watch a lot of movies, but who doesn’t? I don’t get to write about them as much I would like to, but I’m not a critic anyway. I haven’t done this in a while, but as you can see by the list that I’ve wanted to.

For older movies that I had a repeat viewing of I also included the date of release in [brackets]. I kind of separated them into three sections, but generally I’ve seen these movies between May and September 2010.

There are some “hidden gems” included on this list. Some of these movies are little known, but I found out about them and when I finally did see them they were good. I highlighted them in RED.

Films in theaters now worth checking out as of this publishing Takers & The Town and Devil. Takers & The Town are both heist movies, but both worth checking out.

So here's a quick rundown on the films I have seen recently all ratings are 1-5 stars with some minor commentary.

· Iron Man 2 3 stars. Solid.

· Robin Hood 1 ½ stars. (about a ½ star for the directing)

· Raw [1987] (repeat viewing) 5 stars. Still so effing funny

· Charlie Murphy: I Will Not Apologize NO stars. When talking about the Michael Richards (Kramer from ‘Seinfeld’) racist rant Howard Stern said this, (Paraphrasing) “Some people are “Comedic Actors” and NOT “Stand-Up Comedians”.” The same can be said for Charlie Murphy.

· The Princess Bride [1987] (repeat viewing) 4 stars. Classic!

· Star Trek: First Contact [1996] (repeat viewing) 4 stars

· Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay [2008] 3 stars. Same kind of stoner humor and same funny.

· Jennifer's Body [2009] 1 star. Horrible.

· Date Night 2 stars

· The Karate Kid [2010] 4 stars. Terrific remake, wasn’t expect it to be.

· Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths [2010] (animated) 4 ½ stars. Has all the “All-Stars” Superman, Batman etc. with wall to wall great action.

· Nothing But a Man [1964] 3 stars. Good movie, but hard to watch. Story is a downer. Best portrayal of racism by a white director though, they usually never get it right.

· Where the Wild Things Are 4 stars. Great live action children’s film.

· Menace II Society [1993] (repeat viewing) 5 stars

· She's Gotta Have It [1986] 3 stars. Good movie, but more an exercise in cinematography (camera work) than anything.

· Disappearing Acts [2000] (repeat viewing) 4 stars. One of the BEST depictions of black relationships on film.

· Pitch Black [2000] (repeat viewing) 4 stars

· Unthinkable 3 ½ stars. Starring Samuel L. Jackson, finally a movie he does some real acting in!

· Inception 5 stars

· GoodFellas [1990] (repeat viewing) 6 stars

· Memento [2000] 3 stars. Good movie, but I was really trying to get to the end (beginning?) to get to the mystery. Probably will go up in stars after I watch it again.

· Ripley’s Game [2003] 4 stars. A sequel to ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ [1999] with John Malkovich taking over the role of Tom Ripley from Matt Damon. Malkovich is THE REASON to see this sequel. He is fantastic as the older Tom Ripley. Matt Damon’s Tom Ripley was kind of a punk. Malkovich’s is SO gangsta. You got to see the film to see what I mean.

· Up [2009] (animated) 5 stars. Terrific! This film is as wonderful as everyone says it is.

· Salt 2 stars. Same ol’ counter-intelligence stuff I have seen done better in other films.

· This Filthy World [2006] 3 stars Saw this while channel surfing on cable early morning and was pleasantly surprised. Starring John Waters in a one-man show discussing his life and career in front of an audience. Funny, witty and entertaining.

· Sherlock Holmes 4 stars. This movie was better than I thought it would be. Great direction from Guy Ritchie. Personally the only drawback was the thick cockney accent that Robert Downey Jr. applied. I had to turn on the captions 5 minutes into the movie to understand what he was saying.

· The Book of Eli 3 ½ stars. 2 ½ for the movie 1 whole star for the ending.

· The Expendables 1 star. Should have been more fun than it was.

· The Godfather [1972] (repeat viewing) 6 stars

· The Godfather, Part II [1974] (repeat viewing) 6 stars

· The Last Exorcism 2 ½ stars. Explains everything in the film. Doesn’t leave you hanging, but only ok.

· Takers 3 ½ stars. Better than I thought it would be

· Beverly Hills Cop (1) [1984] (repeat viewing) 4 ½ stars

· Harry Brown 3 ½ stars. Gritty & raw with the excellent Michael Caine.

· Revenge of the Nerds [1984] (repeat viewing) 4 stars. Haven't seen this film in about 20 years & it's still funny & it's still a classic.

· Boomerang [1992] 4 stars. One Eddie Murphy’s best films and definitely one of the best ensemble black casts since he was ‘Coming to America’.

· The Godfather, Part III [1990] (repeat viewing) 3 stars. Not a classic like the 1st two parts, but I still liked it. Mostly for Andy Garcia and the shocking ending.

· The Score [2001] (repeat viewing) 3 ½ stars. Solid heist movie.

· Justice League: The New Frontier [2008] (animated) 2 stars. Ok. Has all the heroes in it, but a different kind of story.

· Machete 2 ½ stars .Ok. Didn’t hate it. Kinda bloody, but a movie called Machete…

· Training Day [2001] (repeat viewing) 3 ½ stars mostly for the performances of Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke.

· Batman: Under the Red Hood [2010] (animated) 3 stars. The coolest thing about this film was the villain Red Hood. He was the anti-Batman, killing bad guys. Cool.

· The Town 4 stars. Again, better than I thought it would be. Seen a thousand heist/robbery movies and this one managed to have a different angle.

· The Perfect Storm [2000] (repeat viewing) 3 stars. Solid movie.

· One False Move [1991] 3 ½ stars. Heard a lot of good things about this movie back when it came out. Finally saw it and it wasn’t THAT good, but it was good. Surprisingly, one of the stars Billy Bob Thornton, was horrible.

· Devil 3 stars. Solid movie.

· Malcolm X 5 stars. [1992] (repeat viewing) My second favorite Spike Lee Joint.

Here are my older reviews from earlier in the year.

Movies I Have Seen Recently-April 25, 2010

Ok here's a quick rundown on the films I have seen recently all ratings are 1-5 stars with some minor commentary.
•Zombieland 3 stars. Cool movie.
•Paranormal Activity 1 star. Not scary or suspenseful despite what the commercials and online ads say.
•Kick-Ass 3 stars. Funny, crude and violent, but I liked it.
•Why Did I Get Married Too? 3 ½ stars. Good flick. Not better than the 1st one, but good job by everyone.
•Clash of the Titans 1 star. Horrible. The action was weak on a television series scale. Think ‘Hercules: The Legendary Journeys’ on the big screen. Don’t need blood. I enjoyed ‘The Mummy’ (1st one) and it had no blood.
•Robocop [1987] (repeat viewing) 4 stars. Classic film. Of course the special effects technology is better now, but watched it again to see if it held up. It did.
•Death at a Funeral 1 star. Horrible. Only a couple of funny moments, but the whole cast didn’t gel. No chemistry AT ALL.

•Ninja Assassin 2 ½ stars. Usual revenge, clan, master crap. Very bloody, live action anime movie. It was cool though. I didn’t hate it.
•Predator [1987] (repeat viewing) 4 stars. Classic film. Still cool. Still great group of soldiers Bill Duke, Carl (Apollo Creed) Weathers, the big Indian guy from ’48 Hrs’, Jesse “The Body” Ventura and of course Schwarzenegger.
•Brothers 1 star. Wanted to see this in the movie theater. Looked like a good date movie. WRONG. The movie was pretty horrible. Waste of time.
•Citizen Kane 5 stars. I've heard the "greatest movie ever made" for a long time, but never sat down and watched it for myself and WOW. I don't know if it is the "greatest ever" yet, but masterful, masterful filmmaking on all levels. We had to watch some of the scenes in college and while I totally saw why the professor showed it to us I wasn't ready to watch it, I guess until now. I've said before that I can "turn off the filmmaker" the 1st time I watch a film and just enjoy it as a viewer, but gotdamn it was so beautifully shot I just couldn't. WOW.

Movies I have seen recently-March 7, 2010

Ok here's a quick rundown on the films I have seen recently all ratings are 1-5 stars with some minor commentary.

• Surrogates 1 ½ stars. A sci-fi TV movie that could have been made for SyFy channel.

• Edge of Darkness 2 stars. Good ending, but mystery is tooo drawn out and talky.

• The Wolfman 3 stars. Gets a little talky as well, but when it "wolfs out" it wolfs out!

• The Hurt Locker 4 ½ stars. Very good motion picture.

• Up in the Air 3 ½ stars. Exceeds on all levels, but nothing spectacular.

• Precious 4 ½ stars. Amazing motion picture.

• Brooklyn's Finest 1 ½ stars. sluggish and uneven. Lackadaisical performances.

• Shutter Island 4 stars. Good bordering on very good. A little too long. Great direction...of course (Martin Scorsese).