MOVIE RATING THREAD 2010

[Wolfe]

That's what I thought about the book.

I guess real life just didn't provide them with a corker of an ending.

[Steve B]

I guess real life just didn't provide them with a corker of an ending.

Basically the story is too new and still ongoing.  When he somehow goes broke or gets murdered by the dad of some young girl who got raped by some perv on facebook,  then we will have an ending.

The book stopped just short of Facebook opening up to everyone (which seemed like a weird endpoint to me).  I assume the movie goes a little further.

[Wolfe]

The book stopped just short of Facebook opening up to everyone (which seemed like a weird endpoint to me).  I assume the movie goes a little further.

The movie cross-cuts between the deposition(s) in 2007 and the meat of the story in 2003-2005. The "meat" section ends with Facebook crossing over 1,000,000 members, so it sounds like it doesn't go that much further than the book.

[Hawkboy]

I read the Accidental Billionaires, and I kinda wanted to read the Facebook Effect, specifically because the author of "Effect" basically dismissed the book/movie as total bullshit, but when I thumbed through it at the bookstore, "Facebook Effect" looked like a 300-page love letter to Zuckerberg (while only mentioning the Winklevoss twins once or twice) that I decided against it.

[Steve B]

The "meat" section ends with Facebook crossing over 1,000,000 members,

Yup, that's where the book ends.

[Brandon]

Man, I haven't updated this in forever.

Toy Story 3
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World - New
Inception - New
Louis C.K: Hilarious - New
Iron Man 2 - New
How to Train Your Dragon 3-D
The Other Guys - New
Get Him to the Greek
When You're Strange (Doors Documentary) -- Moved
Alice in Wonderland 3-D
Cop Out

Phish 3-D

Edit to include: Phish 3-D - Awesome, but dunno if I'd put it on the list of actual "movies," as it was definitely just a concert video. There's a distinction between this and, say, Stop Making Sense or The Last Waltz. Granted, there's a distinction between almost every movie and those two in that those two are better than almost every movie.

Louis C.K: Amazing! One of the funniest stand-up things I've ever seen. Between this and Louie, Louis has become one of my favorite people in the whole world. He did a Q&A after our screening, too, which was also great.

Scott Pilgrim - Not much to say that hasn't been said already. Pretty great, not crazy deep but still crazy fun. Wallace Wells is the best guy ever, and should be included in all movies.

Inception - Is pretty much tied with Scott Pilgrim, these two will probably switch around. Would have been better if one of the team members was Wallace Wells.

Iron Man 2 - Pretty good. Maybe not as good as the first one, but still really fun. Plus, surprise appearance by Roger Sterling, who has my favorite line in the whole thing ("Stark Industries proudly presents: My ass")

The Other Guys - Funny. Better "movie" than Stepbrothers, but not nearly as funny. Still lots of great stuff and Bret Gelman steals the movie right out from the leads. It was also really distracting, but fun, to play "Spot the UCB person." I counted at least 10, maaaaaybe 11 if that really was my improv 201 teacher as a stockbroker on the floor.

When You're Strange - I moved this because, upon further inspection, it wasn't as great as I thought it was. Still good, but MAN does it make Morrison sound like Christ reincarnate.

[Steve B]

Toy Story 3
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World new
Inception  
Kick Ass
Hot Tub Time Machine
Iron Man 2
A-Team
How to train your Dragon
Despicable me
Shutter Islandnew
Shrek
The Karate Kid
Cop Out
The Last Airbender
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Tooth Fairy
The Spy Next Door
Alice in Wonderland


The Human Centipede - I moved this off the list, there is no way I can rate against movies like Shrek and Iron Man.  This just stands alone.

---

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, LOVED it.  But holy shit was it the final nail in the "I'm old coffin".  I actually got exhausted from it's "hipness".  The quick dialog, the editing, the graphics, etc.  It was flying at me so fast I had to work at keeping up.  It's definitely the next generation of film making.
Everyone did a great job but I especially thought the Culkin kid was great.

Shutter Island...  I could write a whole bunch about it but I'm sure it's all been covered. The "surprise" ending... Really?  Who didn't see that coming.  Maybe not EXACTLY what I was expecting (which made it a little better then it should have been) but...  I thought it was so obvious that I was waiting for another twist that was the surprise ending.  Overall, I thought it was ok, seemed like Scorsese was just biding time with this between other projects.

[Steve B]

Inception - Is pretty much tied with Scott Pilgrim, these two will probably switch around. Would have been better if one of the team members was Wallace Wells.

Yeah, this is pretty much how I feel (including the Wallace Wells comment).  I couldn't really decide which order these two go in.

[Brandon]

Inception was great on an intellectual level, it was really cool to go into a massive, blockbuster movie and actually be expected to use your brain and, ya' know, think, and Scott Pilgrim was crazy popcorn fun. If somebody manages to make a movie that's both I'll be crazily impressed. Inception 2: Wallace is In Your Dreams, Guy!

[Dobbin]

I finally saw THE OTHER GUYS. I thought it was the funniest Will Ferrel movie in a long, long time. It reminded me of something like BILLY MADISON or SHAKES THE CLOWN; where the movie and plot are largely subordinate to the collection of weird and riffing jokes, but I thought it all worked in a way that his movies haven't in a while.

All the supporting cast was great, too. I went in expecting to be a little disappointed, but it was the only thing playing at the time we could get to the movies,and I was surprised how it kept us laughing throughout.

[Kevin L Sheath]

I might join this. Let's see here:

SCOTT PILGRIM
INCEPTION
PIRAHANA 3D
IRON MAN 2
PREDATORS

I think that's all I've seen at the cinema this year.

[Ian Larsen]

Toy Story 3
Inception
Scott Pilgrim vs The World Moved
[The Princess and the Frog]
[The Bad Lieutenant - Port of Call: New Orleans]
Greenberg
Step Up 3
I Am Love
Four Lions
Blur: No Distance Left to Run
My Son My Son What Have Ye Done New
The Karate Kid
Still Walking
The Illusionist
A Single Man
No One Knows About Persian Cats
Home
The Expendables
[Ponyo]
Un Prophet
Shutter Island
The Secret In Their Eyes
Life During Wartime
White Material
[The Road]
City of Life and Death
The Human Centipede - First Sequence
[The Brothers Bloom]

Raavan
The Killer Inside Me
[Extract]
My Name is Khan

Alice in Wonderland


[Movies in brackets came out this year in the UK]

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MY SON MY SON WHAT HAVE YE DONE is a really entertaining oddball police procedural.  It's like Herzog's followed BAD LIEUTENANT by making its more subtly nuts little brother.  David Lynch's notes as producer seem to have consisted of asking for all the characters to talk about coffee a lot.

I haven't rewatched INCEPTION or SCOTT PILGRIM yet, but their battle for 2nd place seems to be the contest of the year. Everything that was said about them just above is just right.

[DerickA]

TOY STORY 3
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON
SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD
WINNEBAGO MAN
YOUTH IN REVOLT
BEST WORST MOVIE
DUE DATE
FLIPPED
THE A-TEAM
RAMONA AND BEEZUS
INCEPTION
GREENBERG
SEX AND THE CITY 2
IRON MAN 2
THE OTHER GUYS
LOTTERY TICKET
THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE
MACHETE new!
DESPICABLE ME
BROOKLYN'S FINEST
MACGRUBER
STEP UP 3D
WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY
DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS
PLEASE GIVE
THE GREATEST
PIRANHA 3D
JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK
FROM PARIS WITH LOVE
PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME
SHE'S OUT OF MY LEAGUE
GET HIM TO THE GREEK
MIDDLE MEN
I'M STILL HERE new!
THE EXPENDABLES
ALICE IN WONDERLAND
WHEN IN ROME
MARMADUKE
SHREK FOREVER AFTER
THE LOSERS
GROWN UPS
VALENTINE'S DAY
CYRUS
BOOK OF ELI
JONAH HEX
KICK ASS
DAYBREAKERS
COP OUT
THE CRAZIES
DATE NIGHT
THE KARATE KID
SALT
PREDATORS
LEAP YEAR
SHUTTER ISLAND
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE
GET LOW
CLASH OF THE TITANS
THE WOLFMAN
PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF
LEGION
THE LAST AIRBENDER
WINTER'S BONE
DEATH AT A FUNERAL
CHLOE
HOT TUB TIME MACHINE
EDGE OF DARKNESS
THE RUNAWAYS
FROZEN
A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
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MACHETE was fun, but ran out of steam a little too early. It felt too long. And all that "Mexican or a Mexican't" and "The border crossed US" talk makes me uncomfortable. It didn't feel like Trejo was the lead, though. The supporting cast really did their job well.

I'M STILL HERE is definitely interesting, fake or not, and one of the things that happens in it is so shocking that it's the primary argument for it being real. In fact, I'm surprised more people didn't react to it like they were watching JAWS in the summer of 1975. But it still lacks focus and it's incoherent a whole bunch. And real or fake, drugs should have factored into this more. Joaquin snorts a line of something in one scene, and his behavior is clearly that of a cocaine addict or some other stimulant. I'm not sure a sudden psychological breakdown explains the situation enough.

[Steve B]

I'M STILL HERE is definitely interesting, fake or not, and one of the things that happens in it is so shocking that it's the primary argument for it being real. In fact, I'm surprised more people didn't react to it like they were watching JAWS in the summer of 1975. But it still lacks focus and it's incoherent a whole bunch. And real or fake, drugs should have factored into this more. Joaquin snorts a line of something in one scene, and his behavior is clearly that of a cocaine addict or some other stimulant. I'm not sure a sudden psychological breakdown explains the situation enough.

For some reason I was thinking of "LET ME IN" when I read "I'M STILL HERE"  So I was VERY confused by your review until I reached "Joaquin snorts a line of something in one scene" and I thought for a second "one of the characters was names Joaquin?" and then it all clicked.

[Wolfe]

I haven't seen I'M STILL HERE, but it never once occurred to me that it was real. It seems to be obviously (and annoyingly) a stunt. BORAT as a celebrity cautionary tale. I mean, if it were actually on the level, wouldn't that make Virgil Malloy the worst brother-in-law in the universe?