quick and dirty two-for-one movie review

[danny_galaga]

havent been to the movies for a couple of weeks, so i went and saw two tonight.

 first was pride 'pride and glory' starring edward norton and collin farrell. i love a good cop drama. but this one fell a little flat. the very first dramatic scene just wasnt very convincing. i think there is enough to keep you interested, but no oscar winners here. collin farrell was weak link methinks. i personally think it will be very hard for him to top 'in bruges'.

the copyright at the end says 2007, so im guessing you 'mercans probably saw this a year ago in the cinemas...

exciting enough to warrant 3.5/5 though

second movie was 'valkyrie'. i really enjoyed this. even though you know the general direction history takes with this story, the suspense kept up quite well. i dont think this is toms best role yet, but he was fine. the ensemble were quite good, although maybe there really wasnt enough time to explore each persons story.

good suspense thriller (is thriller the right word?) 4/5

oh, i was impressed that they used real P40 kittyhawks in the desert scene. dunno if the junkers were really flying or not, but they looked convincing...

my score for recent movies you may have seen:

  5/5 - Michael Clayton, In Bruges, Gran Torino

4.5/5 - Taken, Iron Man, Reign Over Me

  4/5 - Traitor, Bedtime Stories, Sunshine, pineapple express

3.5/5 - 300, Max Payne, You dont mess with the Zohan, Yes Man

  3/5 - That new Indiana Jones flick, Disturbia, That new TMNT flick,

2.5/5 - The Love Guru. Note: My 2.5 is probably someone elses 1. Just leaving room for worse!

[shardian]

Slightly off-topic, but I noticed you gave TMNT a 3. We recently did a TMNT marathon of all 4 movies.

TMNT 1 : 3.5 out of 5. This movie was radical then, and still surprisingly good now. A great reminiscing experience.

TMNT 2 : 2.5 out of 5. I liked this one as a kid. I'll sum it up by saying the 'suck' of the 90's was in full swing for this movie.

TMNT 3 : 1.5 out of 5. The 'suck' of the 90's was even WORSE for this film. I never saw it then because splinter's voice was wrong. Now I see my boycott was well justified. I fell asleep before the end.

TMNT 2008: 4 out of 5. I really, really enjoyed this movie. The styling of the baddies reminded me of Batman: TAS -which was a redeeming point of the 90's. The only drawback was the fact that April was made into a badass fighter too. Maybe it ended up that way in the comics or something, but based on 20 years of TMNT lore, it really didn't come across as believable.

[SavannahLion]

As much as I like TMNT, I'd like to see more alternate characters like Usagi make more appearances in the TMNT canon.

[ark_ader]

Saw Valkyrie today.

Wait for the DVD.

[danny_galaga]

Saw Valkyrie today.

Wait for the DVD.

so not a 4/5 from you then 

[patrickl]

Oh, I missed Gran Torino. Guess I should check that one out.

Didn't care much for Pineapple express though. I stopped watching after half of it. Does it pick up after half an hour or so?

When we were watching "In Bruges" we were also tempted to switch it off. The first half hour is seriously boring. That one really does pick up though 

Of the movies I watched recently I would say I liked "Seven pounds" and "Vicky Christina Barcelona" best. The worst were "Babylon AD" (absolutely ridiculous nonsense) and City of Ember (maybe the kids will like it though). Ghost Town, Burn After Reading, Religulous, The Happening, Bedtime Stories and Bolt were entertaining. Australia is one to watch with a GF.

[danny_galaga]

When we were watching "In Bruges" we were also tempted to switch it off. The first half hour is seriously boring. That one really does pick up though 

thats interesting. it certainly is somewhat quiet at the start, but to me it perfectly sets the tone for whats to come, and why. it just made so much sense

[patrickl]

When we were watching "In Bruges" we were also tempted to switch it off. The first half hour is seriously boring. That one really does pick up though 

thats interesting. it certainly is somewhat quiet at the start, but to me it perfectly sets the tone for whats to come, and why. it just made so much sense

Indeed, but that's after you've seen the whole movie.

I saw Changeling and Valkyrie last night. Changeling was horrible (wtf happened with la Jolie?), but Valkyrie was interesting.

[AtomSmasher]

I saw Slumdog Millionare last night and that was quite good.  The plot is about is old as they come, but it was told in a way that made it interesting again.

[danny_galaga]

I saw Slumdog Millionare last night and that was quite good.  The plot is about is old as they come, but it was told in a way that made it interesting again.

interesting you mention that. i once heard that there are only 7 stories to tell in the world. any story is going to be a variation on that. that makes sense to me. and therefore a good story is in the telling, as you've seen with slumdog. ill have to go and see it if its still showing...

note: i have never bothered to find out what the 7 basic stories are. i'd rather not know