Last movie you watched......

Finally got around to seeing Black Swan and The Fighter.
Had a problem with Black Swan because I wasn't sure if Portman's character goes nuts because of the pressure or she was always nuts. Also had a hard time "believing" anything because of the surreality of Portman's "visions." Now if it was all a ruse by the director to get a performance out of Portman's character...that I'd find interesting.
The Fighter was okay, but there was just too much going on with the mother, Dickie and Micky. Hell, Bale carried the movie and I never got a sense of what it all was about. The fight scenes were good, but it needed a few more scenes laying out exactly what the relationships were between Dickie and Micky and his mom. As it was - it just seemed like a lot of people yelling at each other.

 

If you fast forward through all the parts with the Japanese chick *and* all the long, drawn out "soundtrack only" scenes "Babel" is almost borderline tolerable. Almost.

I rewatched it again after living in Morocco, hoping it would be better. Nope. Enjoyed the trip down memory lane for the scenery and I understood the dialogue, but my feeling at the end was the same: "was I supposed to care about something in that long-drawn out piece of crap?"

 

I just saw "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," and it's the first comics adaption since "Sin City" that I thought translated well to film. It still wore me down a little at the end, as most comics-based films tend to do because the original material was meant to be digested serially.

Also rented "The Mechanic," which was a pretty good example of how a predictable film can be still be good with the right pace and attention to detail. Ben Foster is always fun to see, too.

 

Watched "Group Sex" on Netflix. No, it's not a porno. It's a movie about a guy who is down on his luck love-life wise and finds the girl of his dreams ... and in the process finds out she's a sex addict and attends weekly sex addiction meetings.

Naturally he puts on a ruse and pretends to also have a sex addiction and hilarity ensues.

Fun movie, interesting characters, definitely worth watching if you've got Netflix Instant Watch and you're in the mood for an adult comedy with a pretty funny script/plot.

I'd definitely recommend it if you're a fan of American Pie/Hangover type humor.

 

Watched a documentary about Margaret Mitchell last night. What a fascinating life. Never knew she was a key underground figure in Atlanta race relations.

 

What's it called, novvie? I love Margaret Mitchell.

Watched "Let the Right One In" and the American remake "Let Me In" last night. Liked the original better. Eli was more interesting than Abby.

 

Margaret Mitchell: American Rebel. It was on GPB

 

I don't think it's fair to put that label on Nicholson.
'As Good as It Gets'
'The Shining'
'The King of Marvin Gardens'
'About Schmidt'
'Hoffa'
'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'
'The Crossing Guard'

Those are off the top of my head and they're varied, interesting roles.

 

I'm not talking about Nicholson 40 years ago. I'm talking about the last 15 years, in which he's played "Jack" in everything he's been in.

 

Except "The Pledge."

 

I caved and saw Larry Crowne this afternoon. (it was a matinee, I was bored) It's not an entirely bad movie, but most of the people in it are horribly wasted, with the exceptions of Taraji Henson, Wilmer Valderrama (FEZ?! really?!) Gugu Mbatha-Raw (so adorable you'd never know she's actually British) and the Hanx himself, who actually looks pretty darn good once "Lance" completes the makeover. The nicest thing I can say about Julia Roberts is that she is a major wet blanket through the first three quarters of the movie and only pulls out of that in the final 20 minutes or so. But her romantic "chemistry" with Hanx is so off.

 

The Pledge was a disturbing movie.