Last movie you watched......

LOVELACE
The novelty of seeing Amanda Seyfriend nekkid wears off pretty fast when the beatings and abuse start. Decent movie, but not something I'd watch again. Too unsettling.

ZODIAC
Never saw this before, but really enjoyed it. Mark Ruffalo looked like a stand-in for Peter Faulk, and Downey was fun in his small role. Really fascinating stuff. Just shows how scary random killing can be. Most killing involvee people who know each other, people who do it on the spur of emotion, etc., that someone just planning out murders on random people may never be caught.

 

"Breach," based on the FBI's investigation of the traitor Robert Hanssen. It had been recommended by someone who'd know as being a fairly good representation of intelligence work.

I liked it enough, but there weren't any surprises because I knew of the case. Ryan Philippe was a bit miscast. I don't he did the part justice, but Chris Cooper made a pretty good bad guy.

Gary Cole was in it, too, and I can't think of him as anything but Mr. Brady and Lumberg from "Office Space."

 

Rented Rush from the redbox last night. Wow. Visually it's amazing as well as great sound. Story isn't half bad either and it made me more curious about the rivalry with Lauda and Hunt. Pretty damn good overall IMHO.

 

As I noted on the last page of this thread, I had no idea this was a true story until the Richard Burton stuff, but it made me me curious about the rivalry, too. From the little reading I had time to do, it appears the film was historically pretty accurate.

 

Just watched Dallas Buyers Club, another one I didn't realize was based on a true story. It was pretty intense and well-acted.

Jared Leto was good, but I'm not sure I get why he appears to be such a lock for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Didn't think his performance was that amazing. Captain Philips is about the only other big movie I've seen so far, but Barkhad Abdi's performance was on par with Leto.

McConaughy was outstanding and holy crap did he look sick with that physique.

 

"Gravity." Whoa. Intense movie. Just insane. There were parts of the script that I felt were cheesy and unnecessarily contrived, but the directing and the effects were amazing. And Bullock was outstanding.

As of now, I've seen all but three of the best movie nominees. Going to try to add "American Hustle" tomorrow. Out of what I've seen, I think I lean toward "Dallas Buyers Club" as my favorite, but it isn't far ahead of "Captain Phillips." "Gravity and "12 Years a Slave" just behind those, then "Her" and then "The Wolf of Wall Street."

 

Watched The Butler Saturday night. It was emotionally powerful, but I didn't feel like it was that deep and glossed over many historical events and the presidencies of Nixon, Ford and Carter. If there was a movie that maybe should have been three hours long, it was this one. (The Wolf Of Wall Street would've been fine at two hours and not lost anything. The extra hour added nothing.) I guess I was expecting more from The Butler. While it got good reviews, I can now understand why it wasn't nominated for best picture.

 

The Captain Phillips trailers indicate precisely what you should expect. It's all a lead-in to the final fifteen minutes. It's professionally done, and Hanks is fine, but it's anything but groundbreaking, and nothing particularly special.

 

If you think the finale of Captain Phillips is "nothing particularly special," you have a warped sense of acting. That scene was one of the best acted scenes in the last 10 years.

 

Finally watched Captain Phillips - intense all the way through, very good movie. I'm shocked Hanks didn't receive an Oscar nomination. He was that good.

 

"The Lego Movie."

Just a ton of fun. My son is really into Legos right now - he's actually pretty damned good at building with them - and I surprised him by not telling him where we were going until we got there. He's 4 1/2 and a lot of the movie went over his head, but he still had a blast watching Legos come to life and chase each other around for 90 minutes.

 

Finally got around to "Wolf of Wall Street."

What a great fucking way to spend a night. I'm sure it could have been cut, but I'm not a film editor, so who knows? But I laughed out loud more than a couple handfuls of time, and it was just a raucous movie. I really really enjoyed it, much more than I expected to.