Last movie you watched......

From reading Surrat's wiki entry, it seems like they got most of the historical details right. To me, it was a pretty interesting take on what is largely viewed as a footnote to history. First woman executed by the US government, and she was quite possibly innocent. The wikipedia entry, btw, has a photo of the hanging. The part about Aiken later being the city editor for the Washington Post caught my eye.

 

Very funny movie. I enjoy Ed Helms' performances, but yes Reilly and Bri's stole the show. Anne Heche looked so different.

Also watched "Limitless" this weekend, thought provoking and Cooper does a junkie look pretty well (he cleans up nicely as well as I'm sure the XXs note.) DeNiro is okay but not enough of him.

 

Agree there wasn't enough of DeNiro, especially considering it was his best performance in a long while.

 

I agree with the first part of this statement but the end of it couldn't be more wrong. 3D/CGI aren't what's ruined good film-making. Utter laziness on the part of writers and an emphasis on making money over telling a good story on the part of studios is what ruined good film-making.

Nowadays, the only thing studios care about is a movie's opening weekend so you can get by with lazy/contrived writing as long as you can put together a decent visual piece that will play well in a trailer, where a movie's weaknesses are less evident.

And since writers are only getting hired based on the success of their last project financially, it makes more sense to spend two months writing Scary Movie 17 or Final Destination 7: The Finalist Finale of Final Destinations, when you know you'll have an audience, than spending six months writing a compelling story that might not find its audience until DVD instead.

 

"Our Idiot Brother"

Some unexpected tears. Paul Rudd was great -- as was a loaded cast. Rudd is extremely talented, and this character really showcased his full range like few of his other roles have. Loved the organic filmmaking, too; felt like something in the vein of Alexander Payne.

 

The emphasis has always been on making money.
Special effects make it easier to have a successful movie without a decent script.
Many, if not most, audience members prefer special effects to script.
Special effects are expensive, but they're more likely to pay dividends than scripts.

 

Couldn't tell if it was Velveeta or Kraft, but it was sure cheesy. Had some laughs (mostly from Steve Carrell) but he's starting to play the same character in every movie: the down-on-his-luck dad who is ostracized by the rest of his family only to come back at the end and pull everyone together.

And I thought the writing was kind of lazy. In reality, people don't truly learn things (especially about love) from 13-year-old boys. I gave it a C+ only because I like Dan in Real Life much better.

 

My wife and I saw The Conspirator on Sunday. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think it was fairly spot on historically with a few licenses taken. I was disappointed that they left out Mary Surratt's line as she was being taken up to the gallows "don't let me fall."

I like Kevin Kline, but now I have a dark spot in my heart for him for taking the role of Stanton.

Stanton was a criminal that I sleep soundly at night knowing that motherfucker is burning in hell.

 

My Soul to Keep: Ridiculously stupid and annoying horror movie from Wes Craven
Cowboys and Aliens: Entertaining, though not as entertaining as I'd hoped.

 

Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Really, really good. I couldn't believe when it was over and only 90 minutes had passed.

 

"The Sting." And probably going to check out the "The Conspirator." Thanks.

 

"Mean Streets."

I understand that it's a classic, and there's a lot to like ... but, damn, movie plots moved slooooooow in 1973, didn't they? As much as we hail the 1960s and '70s and pile on today's movies, screenwriting today is about 100 times more sophisticated and polished than it was in 1973, and it was obvious watching this.

Thoughts from someone who might be better at articulating the shift in movies from then to now?

I will say that it was cool watching a very young Bob DeNiro act.