Their Vacation....Just...Got...Ruined.

The Ruins   dir. Carter Smith.

Four college kids go to Mexico for spring break or whatever and on their last day follow  a couple dudes to go to visit some ruins.   When they get there some villagers yell and kill one of them and make it clear that they are not  going to let them leave.  Turns out the vines running up and down the temple kill people.  So the killer in this movie is some weeds.  I think the people who gave this movie the green light were smoking some killer weed. (Ben Stiller is a producer).  

I like a good brainless horror movie as much as the next guy, but weeds?  And the weeds only actually kill one of them (by going down a guys throat... oooohh!).  It's one of those movies where "in the end the victims become the villains" thing which is super lame in this case, especially when a character dies by getting stabbed,  by doing the exact same thing another character did less than a minute earlier.   

2/10

Breathless  dir. Jean-Luc Godard

Guy steals a car, kills a cop, and then tries to sleep with a girl and get her to go to Rome with him.  They run around and hang out while he tries to get some money some guy owes him.  Meanwhile the police are closing in.

This movie is really cool.  Simple but effective.  Really made me want to be a car thief in France in the 50's.  Has a really loose feel.  I guess a lot of it was written and filmed the same day, with the actors getting fed their lines.  Ends like most New Wave movies I've seen.  I would really like to see the Criterion version, because the picture is probably a lot  better then on the version I got from Blockbuster.

8.5/10

63/150

casino
Martin Scorsese paints a colorful portrait of Las Vegas in the early 1970s as the oasis of glamour and corruption that it was. Against this backdrop, the story chronicles the rise and fall of three central characters: a play-by-the-rules casino owner with mob connections (Robert De Niro), his childhood friend and Mafia underboss (Joe Pesci) and an ex-prostitute with expensive taste and a driving will to get what she wants (Sharon Stone).

a pretty standard Scorsese movie, but in a good way. One of the few where De Niro is a good guy. Pesci is brutal, and sharon stone is a goddamn mess. Probably one of my top 5 fave mafia movies in my new found love of the mafia.

8/10

cash back
After his girlfriend dumps him, insomniac art student Ben (Sean Biggerstaff) takes a supermarket night-shift job and deals with his boredom by pretending he can stop time --a tactic that reveals life's hidden beauty and draws him to the intriguing checkout girl (Emilia Fox). Surrounded by equally creative co-workers, Ben learns that by freezing time, his world opens up to unimaginable possibilities, including a cure for his chronic sleeplessness.

I picked to watch this movie pretty much at random from netflix watch it now stuff due to the babe on the cover and the talk of time stopping. Ended up being a very pleasant surprise. The kids attitude towards breaking up and relationships is pretty funny and at the same time relateable, same goes for his view of beauty. Very fun romantic comedy without being wussy. Watch this with a lady

7/10

the ruins
An idyllic vacation in Cancun takes a dangerous turn for four young Americans when they're persuaded by a mysterious tourist to join an archaeological dig and subsequently find themselves lost within the cursed ruins of a forgotten city. Adapted by Scott B. Smith from his own novel, this bone-chilling thriller from director Carter Smith stars Jonathan Tucker, Laura Ramsey, Jena Malone and Shawn Ashmore.

awesome!!!! WEED MONSTERZZZZZ!!!! BEN STILLER. shitty movie but pretty funny, pretty scary when the weeds are moving in peoples skin.

5/10

hot fuzz
A top London cop (Simon Pegg) is ready to die of boredom when his superiors transfer him to a sleepy English village to work alongside a blundering but well-meaning young constable (Nick Frost). Craving some real action, the big-city bobby may just get his wish when the town begins to stir with a series of grisly "accidents." Is foul play afoot in this seemingly idyllic hamlet? Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead) directs.

i think when i saw this in the theater i didn't fully appreciate it. I am glad i watched it again cause there is lots of little stuff in it to notice that makes it hysterical.

9/10

the office (series one, British)
The workplace depicted in this six-part BBC series is as dysfunctional as it gets. David Brent (Ricky Gervais), office manager of nondescript Wernham Hogg Slough, is at once zany, clueless and mortifying. David likes to drink, divulge deeply personal information at odd moments, read his poetry and make a fool of himself in front of his team, which is made up of Gareth the sycophant, Tim the sensitive guy, flirtatious Dawn and many others.

amazingly uncomfortable without being goofy. Some of the greatest moments in television comedy.

8/10

the signal
When the phones, radios and TVs in the city of Terminus begin to broadcast the same strange signal, the transmission causes jealousy and hate to spew, turning once sane people into murderous lunatics. Trapped in a world gone mad, a faithless wife seeks the safety of her lover, while her affected husband hunts for her. David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry and Dan Bush each write and direct an act of this bloodthirsty horror tale.

brutal horror filmed in pulp horror. Freshest horror movie i have seen in a long time. 3 separate writes have there own act each with a different tone, but all pretty cool in it's own way.

8/10
134/300

see my previous post below for more complete reviews

Batmanorama

Dark Knight  Dir. Christopher Nolan

Dark Knight picks up where Batman Begins left off, with new villain "The Joker" (Heath Ledger) and new district attorney/soon to be villain/boyfriend of Rachel Dawes (Maggie (not Katie Holmes) Gyllenhall),  Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart).  Anyway.  Batman (Christian Bale) is trying to fight the mob with the help of Lt. Gordon (Gary Oldman), Dent,  and his work buddy/costume designer/weapons supplier, Lucius Fox.  Oh and his butler/jokester Alfred (Michael Caine).  At first Batman is more concerned with the mob then The Joker, but eventually The Joker gets Batmans attention.

I think this movie actually lives up to the ridiculous amount of hype.   Partially because Heath Ledger lives up to his ridiculous amount of hype.  Ledger is scary, funny and totally unrecognizable as the Joker.  (I loved his "magic trick").  He pretty much has an Oscar nomination locked up and I won't argue.  All the other main characters are perfect as well.  At two and half hours it never slows down, the score and cinematography really adding to the intensity.  Seeing the film on the IMAX screen was incredible, especially in overhead shots of Gotham and Hong Kong, and action sequences such as when Batman causes Jokers semi to flip over.  

My only complaint is the ending, and only because Heath Ledger died.  Basically the movie feels like what it probably is; the second part of a trilogy.  I'd feel a lot better with how this one ended if I knew we'd be getting more of Ledger's Joker.

9/10

Batman Begins  Dir. Christopher Nolan

Batman Begins is basically about how Batman begins to be Batman.

When I first saw "Begins" in the theatre, there wasn't all the hype that "Dark Knight" was getting and my only expectations were it should be cool because the guy that did  Memento was the director.   And it was cool.  Super cool.  

I was never really a fan of other comic book or superhero movies.  I hated Spiderman.  But Batman Begins actually makes the story of Batman believable.  The story takes it's time to show Bruce Wayne transform himself ("Batman" doesn't show up until like an hour into the movie).   All the main characters are great, and the script is awesome.  It proves a movie can be about a superhero and not be totally retarded.

9/10

The Sopranos:  Season 6 Part 2 (Final Season)

HBO series starring James Gandolfini as a Mafia boss and family man in New Jersey.

As I was watching the last few episodes, it seemed like they were kind of struggling to wrap everything up.  It's what I'm afraid is going to happen when "Lost" is finally over.  There are just too many key characters and subplots to just lead up to one nice neat climactic finish. However, once we  get around to the last scene.... I don't want to give it away.  I will just say after watching it twice, and then reading different theories on the internet, I am very satisfied with how it ended.

Season: 9/10

Series:  10/10

Foot Fist Way  Dir. Jody Hill

A smalltime Tae Kwon Do instructor, Fred Simmons (Danny  R. McBride) brings his friend and a couple students to meet Chuck "The Truck" Wallace (co-writer Ben Best) a smalltime action star (and Fred's hero).  He convinces Wallace to come to his students belt-qualifying testing, only  at this time "The Truck"  is no longer Simmons hero, but his enemy.

Fred Simmons is pretty much the same character that Will Ferrell plays all the time, so either 

a.) you like Will Ferrell movies and you will like this one.

b.) you don't like Will Ferrell movies and you won't like this one or...

c.) you like Will Ferrell movies so you don't like this one because it's some other guy.

I'm going with A.  It's stupid, it's kind of a rip-off, but it made me laugh.

8/10

The Day of the Locust   Nathanael West 

Takes place in Hollywood during the 30's and tells the tale of Tod Hackett, a set painter, who pines away for a wannabe actress, Faye Greener.  Not that she'd go  for him anyway, (just friends) but he is in competition with a cowboy, and his Mexican buddy, a producer, a dwarf, and a guy named Homer Simpson.

I read this because it was mentioned in Y: The Last Man.  I think Yorrick said it was his favorite book.  I wasn't really into it.  It kind of reminded me of "The Great Gatsby"  (There is even an F. Scott Fitzgerald quote on the back) but not as good.

6/10

movies:  61/150

books:  13/15

Rambo
When governments fail to act on behalf of captive missionaries, ex-Green Beret John James Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) sets aside his peaceful existence along the Salween River in a war-torn region of Thailand to take action. Although he's still haunted by violent memories of his time as a U.S. soldier in Vietnam, Rambo is unable to turn his back on the aid workers who so desperately need his help.

mindblowing. Maybe even sweeter action than bad boys 2 and die hard. SHITTTTTTTTTT. Stalone knows he is intelligible so he doesn't talk, and despite this it has a mildly entertaining/important story dealing with genocide in Burma.

9/10

First Blood
You'd think in this first film in a long line of sequels, the law would learn not to mess with ex-Green Beret John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone). Alas, no. When he's harassed by local law enforcement, this Vietnam vet snaps, runs for the hills and rat-a-tat-tats his way into the action movie hall of fame. This edition includes commentary by Stallone and deleted scenes -- including an alternate ending.

an awesome intro to the Rambo saga. All about poduncks trying to kill a super soldier for no real reason and it exploads to epic proportions. An amazing action movie filmed for an amazingly small amount of money. Stalone has a epic speech at the end that makes any slow parts worth the wait "I COULDN'T FIND HIS LEGGGGGG I COULDN'TFIND HIS LEGGGG"

7/10

Forgetting Sara Marshall
After his TV star girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell), breaks his heart, Peter (Jason Segel) wants nothing more than to enjoy his vacation in Hawaii. One problem: Sarah's vacationing at the same resort he is, and even worse, she's bringing her new beau. Produced by Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, Superbad), this hilarious comedy also stars Mila Kunis, Paul Rudd and Bill Hader.

pretty much the same as all of this team's movies, but still very solid. Lots of balls, lots of great one liners, and some great songs

7/10


Sopranos Season 1
Modern-day New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) brings an element of humanity to the "family" in this Emmy Award-winning series from HBO. In the first season, Tony turns to a psychiatrist (Lorraine Bracco) to come to terms with the effect of his job's brutality on his life. As the Feds crack down and the tension within the "family" rises, his wife (Edie Falco) and two kids have expectations of leading a normal life

foot fist way
A pompous control freak, small-town tae kwon do instructor Mr. Simmons (Danny McBride) finally loses his cool when he gets wind of his wife's infidelities. Facing meltdown, he sets out on a pilgrimage to see his hero, martial arts master Chuck "The Truck" Wallace (Ben Best), in action. But is the world ready for a meeting between these two black-belt egos? Expertly drawn characters and furious action make this a comedy that really packs a punch

same joke for the whole length with two or three funny parts. Will Farrel without Will Farrel...whatever

4/10

batman: dark knight
Batman (Christian Bale) teams with Lt. James Gordon (Gary Oldman) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) to continue dismantling Gotham City's criminal organizations in this sequel to Batman Begins. But a psychotic new villain known as the Joker (Heath Ledger) threatens to undo all their good work. The star-studded cast includes Maggie Gyllenhaal, Morgan Freeman, Anthony Michael Hall, Michael Caine and Eric Roberts.

A great (if not one of the greatest comic hero movies) movie, but i don't think it lived up the hype. Yes, Heath Ledger is good. Yes, the story written for his character is very well done, but without his death i don't know if it would be quite so praised, i feel he is no better than Javier Bardem in No Country. Other than that it's still a superhero movie, with plenty of cool scenes, but with a bit too much length. This was my first IMAX movie experience and it was pretty pleasant, with the intense sound being the real stand out component.

7/10

people under the stairs
Master of horror Wes Craven brings an urban twist to the classic fairy tale in the story of Fool, a 13-year-old lad who succumbs to ghetto pressures to steal from a local house. Fool's instant karma comes in the gruesome form of the house's residents -- an insane, deformed family of murderers. The perils of latchkey kids and warnings about absentee parents are the subtle social subtext as Fool and other victims try to escape the deadly home.

shitty, hole filled horror movie, but still manages to be entertaining for fans of monster squad or lost boys are stuff like that.

6/10

a night to remember
The Titanic's dramatic final hours are depicted in this film version of Walters Lord's book. On its maiden voyage, the ship struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic on April 14, 1912, taking the lives of 1,513 passengers. The vessel's tragic sinking is accurately recounted and filmed in real time; it's only 37 minutes shorter than the real-life event. A documentary on the making of the movie and commentary by Titanic experts are included.

filmed in 1958, this movie shines as a technical marvel. Exterior boat shots stand up (if not exceed) the modern Titanic movie effect without using gross digital bullshit. With lots of frustration for the viewer at the naivety of the boat's passengers and crew, this is a great portrail of probably went on on that boat.

Southland Tales
Set in a dystopian near-future, director Richard Kelly's visionary tale mines post-Sept. 11 angst and paranoia as Los Angeles teeters on the verge of social, financial and ecological catastrophe. While a heat wave takes its toll on the sprawling metropolis, one man foresees the coming apocalypse -- but can he prevent it? The Rock heads the star-studded cast, which includes Sarah Michelle Gellar, Justin Timberlake and Miranda Richardson.

With this amazing/weird cast, and a story of the post war conspiracy type stuff i'm pretty interested in, I was pretty bummed that this couldn't pull much of anything off. Despite the tangled mess there are a few ideas and weird jokes that i was entertained by, but overall it never gets it's direction straight. Directed by the guy from donnie darko.

5/10


129/300

Funny This Movie Isn't.

Death at a Funeral   (2007)  Dir. Frank Oz.

A whole bunch of crazy British stuff happens at a funeral.  Such as:

--a guy accidentally takes a hallucinant, which is actually pretty funny but goes on for way too long.

--an old guy curses a lot and is left on the toilet

--a midget tries to bribe the dead guys sons with pictures of the two of them (the midget and the dad, not the sons) in the act of being gay.

This is basically the whole movie with some other dysfunctional family stuff thrown in.  Not very funny though.  I expected more from a movie directed by Yoda.

5/10

Weeds Seasons 2 & 3

Nancy Botwin (Mary Louise-Parker) is still trying to juggle being a single mother of two and the biggest marijuana dealer in the California suburb of Agrestic.  In seasons 2 and 3 things just keep getting more and more complicated but Nancy always finds some way to overcome her obstacles.  

Despite the fact that the show is about a mom selling marijuana,  I don't think this is one of those things that you have to be really into/smoking weed to enjoy.  Nancy doesn't even smoke weed, she's just good at selling it.  For the most part, the show avoids any broad marijuana humor, like say on "That 70's Show" or "Harold and Kumar".  However it comes close to getting a little too over the top when Nancy starts hanging out with rival drug dealer "U-Turn", but that stuff is  actually funny, and manages not to go too far.  And like in the first season, Kevin Nealon formerly of SNL is hilarious as one of Nancy's best customers/accountant/councilman.

Season 2:  9/10

Season  3:  9/10

Batman: The Long Halloween   Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale

A  serial killer is going around killing gangsters (Soprano gangsters, not Coolio gangsters) on the holidays, thus earning him (or her?) the nickname "Holiday".   Batman, Captain Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent are on the case.

I bought this in anticipation for "The Dark Knight" because I've read that this is one of the influences in the two Cristopher Nolan directed Batman movies, and I was pretty dissapointed.

"Halloween" probably worked better when it was initially released in 13 issues over a year.  All at once, it's kind of boring reading about pretty much the same thing happening (someone dying on a holiday) and then nothing is resolved, and apparently nothing happens in between holidays.  And then there is a twist (sort of) and we find out who Holiday is and I didn't really care.

I can see  the influences, but in my opinion "Halloween" doesn't come close to "Batman Begins" and probably won't compare to "Dark Knight" either.

5/10

movies: 57/150

books:  12/15