What Did You Watch Today?

[New Damage]

Do The Right Thing (1989)

This all started whilst listening to the 'Graduation' album by Kanye West a while ago when he uses the line "...did you even take the test?/You got D's motherfucker D's!". I Googled the phrase found it be from this film. I showed my friends the clip of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsFjlLXP9GU, and finally got around to watching it last night.

For those who don't know, it's set on one street in New York mainly inhabited by black people along with some Puerto Ricans, as well pizzeria owned by a white Italian family and a corner shop owned by Koreans. It takes place on a Saturday, the hottest day of the year and from what I gather, takes places all on one day. It kind of reminds me of The Breakfast Club, in the sense that not that much happens throughout the film, except for the last 15-20 minutes or so. But looking back on it, you don't realise that racial tension is growing through-out the film, then things kick-off.

It's a good film with some good characters showing how they all have different roles in the community (Radio Raheem is amazing, he lives for playing Public Enemies' "Fight the Power" on his boombox, on repeat, all day). Some interesting camera angles are used to, like for instance that most of the time Raheem is staring straight down the lens of camera in a dominating manner, and conversely, those who talk to him look into the camera too, but in an upward direction, the only character to have this first-person sort of view. 8/10

Also, I honestly didn't know that Spike Lee was black!

Edited November 4, 2009 by TheModernWay

[ACCBiggz]

The West Wing: Season 5 - 9/10

[Jimmy]

9 - 7/10 I was really looking forward to this film. It was good, but it felt like it could've been so much more. Thing is, it's hard to feel sorry for a character who has to save the world from a creation who let loose. In the context of the film anyway. The whole thing looks amazing and it has some neat ideas and cool machine desings thrown in. But the dialouge is a little flat, and it lacks the spirit of a Pixar films. But I enjoyed it regardless; just felt like it could've been a little bit better. Shane Acker's debut does look promising though, and I hope he builds on this and comes back with something bigger and better.

[TKz]

Battlestar Gallactica: Season 1 -4 - 10/10

I've been watching this for the last few months and I've just finished season four and moved onto the final season. This show is immense. I mean totally, and utterly, amazing. One of the most compelling shows I've ever seen on television. Definitely pick this show up if you can; it's pure quality.

I tried watching the first episode and I just couldn't get into it at all. Am I supposed to watch the Mini-series first? Because if that first episode of the show was supposed to be the pilot, it was the worst one I've ever seen. I felt totally alienated from everything and it gave 100% no insight into anything going on or who anyone was. I was totally lost. I tried it out because we've both got quite similar tastes, but I just didn't enjoy this opening at all.

[Numbahs]

The Last House On The Left - It sucked a big penis/10

[Numbahs]

Law-Abiding Citizen - ** out of *****

Pandorum - * out of *****

[Toe]

House Of 1,000 Corpses

I remember watching it in high school and enjoying it. Now, it just seems like an awkward mess. My friend said it looked more like an art film then anything else, and I actually agree. While some of the shots are good, others are wierd and the changing filters and colours are not effective. You don't really relate to or feel for any of the characters - victim or villian. The best parts of the film are when you see Captain Spaulding in his roadside tourist attraction.

I am going to say this film is a 4/10.

[LL!]

I'm so glad Numbahs is back and reviewing movies.

[Numbahs]

X3: The Last Stand - ** out of *****

Easily the worst of the X-Men movies. All of the characters stink and have no real arc of any kind. The action depends heavily on wire work, which looks ridiculous and fake. Plus, Frasier is Beast.

[Jimmy]

Battlestar Gallactica The Final Season - 10/10

The perfect way to round off an amazing series. The series really starts and ends with a bang. I don't want to give anything away, but I can't pimp this show up enough. It's pure quality.

[ACCBiggz]

The West Wing: Season 6 - 8/10

[Hewey]

Been watching Third Watch quite a bit and while it's a bit hit and miss, the underlying stories are really interesting and there's a few REALLY standout episodes that make brilliant TV.

The other two surprising discoveries I've made are Mental - the series set in the psych hospital with the English guy who makes a really likeable lead character......and Boston Legal which is quirky enough with some fan-dabi-dozi characters, to be loads of fun.

Definitely agree with you on Third Watch. I don't know how far into it you are, but it gets really good during seasons 4 and 5. But the earlier seasons do have quite a lot of stand out episodes as well. Like you said, it's hit and miss, but the episodes that are fan-dabi-dozi is definitely brilliant TV.

[ACCBiggz]

The West Wing: Season 7 - 9/10

Could have been better, but gets a boost to 9 because of Donna/Josh & the fantastic live debate.

[Numbahs]

Up - **** out of *****

The best Pixar movie since The Incredibles. Despite being udderly ridiculous, it tells a fan-dabi-dozi story with characters that have clear goals. The opening ten/fifteen minutes is better than almost anything I've seen this year...

[livid]

Over the past week or so...

The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard - 6/10

I'm a huge Jeremy Piven fan so I had known about this movie for awhile. It's not horrible but could've been a lot better, especially with the cast that they had. There are parts where the plot and everything is utterly ridiculous and there are cringe worthy moments but for the most part, it's pretty funny. Craig Robinson steals the show though and I hope he gets bigger roles in the future. It doesn't reinvent the wheel but it does an okay job as a comedy. Sucks for Piven though as it bombed and didn't get very good reviews either so I wonder how many more starring roles he'll get, if any.

Spread - 5/10

It was better than I thought it was going to be and Ashton Kutcher actually does a pretty decent job in it. Not much else to say really as it's just kinda there.

Terminator: Salvation - 7/10

I thought that it was good but the script obviously sucked because the dialogue was was pretty bad. Sam Worthington was pretty good though and was probably the best one out of the bunch. I liked the cinematography a lot but for the most part, it's just a typical Summer action flick. And now the franchise rights are apparently being sold because of the economy so who knows if we'll see any more in what was supposed to a second trilogy.

The Open Road - 5/10

Jeff Bridges was good, but Justin Timberlake's acting was pretty forced. I usually don't mind him as I thought he did a pretty good job in his roles before but he wasn't that good in this one. Plus, he and Kate Mara seemingly had no chemistry. As for the story, it was pretty bad and Timberlake's mom character was god awful.

Zombieland - 8/10

Woody Harrelson is awesome and this movie just cements that fact to everybody. It wasn't as funny as I was anticipating but it's still a funny and good movie. Not much else to say as it was just a really good movie.

(500) Days of Summer - 9/10

I'm a huge Joseph Gordon-Levitt fan and I'd been looking forward to this movie for awhile because of that. He does an awesome job in it and I hope he continues to get more and more recognition for how good he is which is actually kind of crazy when you look at it, considering he was Tommy in 3rd Rock From the Sun. Zooey Deschanel is really good as well and this coupled with Yes, Man are her breakout roles as far as leads goes and I hope she continues to get bigger as well. Marc Webb did a fantastic job directing which is good considering that music video directors can go either way with their feature debuts.

Moon - 9/10

Sam Rockwell is one of my favorite actors and he does a superb job in this movie and I hope that he's at least nominated for Best Actor because like I said, he was really good in this. This is also the beginning of a very long career for Duncan Jones (David Bowie's son) and he's already getting bigger projects lined up. With the Oscars going to 10 movies being nominated for Best Picture, I could easily see this as being nominated

[ACCBiggz]

The best Pixar movie since The Incredibles.

Really? I found The Incredibles to be very forgettable (albiet a fine film). It's probably one I forget to mention even over A Bug's Life. And I'll also say WALL-E is far and beyond better than The Incredibles, in my opinion. All fine films though, except Ratatouille.

The American President - 9/10

Why do I love this movie so much? My name is Andrew Shepard, and I AM the President.

[Big Red Fury]

Saw The Box today, I thought it was pretty good.

8/10

[Numbahs]

Honestly, I've liked every single Pixar movie. Even Cars...

The Incredibles would've been an epic action movie if it was live-action. All of the (main) characters are clearly defined and get their own share of the spotlight when it comes to the action sequences.

[wolves]

Up - 9.5/10

Really good movie and the best animated one I've seen in forever. Lots of laughs but also a sort of grounded reality to it with all the emotional stuff going on. Even though there's an awesome talking dog and floating houses.

Sunshine Cleaning - 9/10

I had no idea that it would be as good as it was. I rented it just because it looked interesting, actually my idea of what it was about was way off from what it really is. Amy Adams does a very good job basically being the sole leading actor in the film with everyone else around her. She should really do more things like this.

[Rich]

So today I had a bit of a movie fest and watched:

Sex Drive 4/5

Waiting 4/5

Just Friends 3/5

The Wrestler 4.5/5

As a mini summary I can safely say Ryan Reynolds amuses me, as does Anna Faris.

The Wrestler is a fine piece of work, not perfect but I haven't put my finger on why yet but it wasn't a full on awesome movie, almost there, but not quite.