Feedback on a couple movies please

[CathyA]

DH and I have been watching all our old DVDs many times, and its getting a little boring. So I splurged and bought a couple new DVDs. But when I got home and looked them up, I think I might return them all. Although a couple of the reviews are "really great movie" or "worst movie ever".......so they weren't much help.

Here's the names of them. If you can give me any opinions, I'd appreciate it.

Prometheus (Charlize Theron)
Olympus Has Fallen (Morgan Freeman) (lots of bad reviews)
The Town (Ben Affleck)
Biutiful (Javier Bardem) ....This one looks good, but depressing
and I grabbed this for the heck of it, but I think its too stupid......."The Hangover"

Thanks!

[iris lilies]

The Hangover was funny in a couple of places, but it wasn't worth it for me. I'd rather wait for a known funny movie which for me seems to be about once every 3 -4 years. Funny films are few and far between, but funny tv shows are rife. tv does "funny" better than films. But be sure to try The Heat, it was a scream! Another summer blockbuster comedy was This is It was was reasonably funny. It was about a bunch of Hollywood well knowns and the Apocalypse. Lots of cameos in the film.

I fully expect to love Biutiful but it was just ok.

I know nothing about those other films.

[AmeliaJane]

It's so hard to tell from reviews--I have had several experiences recently with things with bad reviews that I enjoyed. Of the five you mention, I have seen two. I hated Prometheus so much that I didn't finish it, and I had been looking forward to it for a long time. Despite supposedly being trained astronauts, the characters all act so dumb that I couldn't bear to watch.

On the other hand, I liked The Town a lot. It is dark, I'll warn you, and not particularly cheerful, but if you like crime dramas it's worthwhile--great cast and they're given good material to work with.

[CathyA]

Thanks IL and AmeliaJane. I actually had The Town and Premetheus in the pile that were still 'maybes'. I guess its down to "The Town" now. I don't like violent movies, but DH seems okay with them......so we'll see.
We have so many old DVDs. One good thing about growing older and having a poor memory, is we can still watch quite a few of them and don't remember the ending. haha

[Yossarian]

Prometheus seemed like an Alien remake. I didn't finish it- was the ending any different?

[Jilly]

Prometheus was disappointing, although visually interesting. Worse was that I forgot that I had previously borrowed it from the library and reserved it again a month ago. Erp.

I considered borrowing the other titles you list, but decided not to.

[bae]

One word of advice: "Netflix".

[Simplemind]

Gotta say I'm with Bae. I can't think of a bigger waste of money than to buy movies you don't know anything about. My DH was a collector and is now out of the habit. Doesn't matter if it is cheaper to buy than to rent, you end up storing them. Netflix is cheap entertainment and you can watch it whenever you want. We have less than 10 left. The rest went into a garage sale.

[puglogic]

The only movies we ever purchase are the ones that we have already seen, usually more than once, and love so much that we want to have them on our shelf. I think we may have ten or fifteen.

Netflix or the library's interlibrary loan seems a much better way to experiment with movies, in our humble opinion. You can't tell from reviews whether YOU are going to like something, and it's a big waste of money even if it's just a few dollars.

[iris lilies]

My city library has 28,000 dvds. I think there's something to choose from there and it is free, as long as I return them on time. The fines are stiff at $.50/day.

CathyA, do you use your library's collection? It sounds like you aren't very picky about film and so I would bet that you can easily find excellent films to watch. Especially if you find titles in their online catalog and bring those dvds to your nearest library for pickup--that's a good way.

I do also have the cheapest Netflix subscription but that's about $8/mo and if you only watch 1 film per month, that is not cheap.

I will be interested in what you think of Biutiful. It won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film and those are usually pretty good. This one was worthwhile if not up to the level some other Best Foreign films.

[CathyA]

Actually, I am picky, but DH isn't as much so. I mostly buy for him. He has to think so hard during the work week, I think he likes to be mindless for awhile on the weekends! There's many I don't watch with him.

I haven't decided about keeping Biutiful. I haven't opened it yet. It sounds really depressing. I used to like depressing, if it was a very good movie, but not so much so any more. I'll let you know if I watch it.
We can't "stream" any movies where we are. We only have a limited amount of internet time, and I usually don't want to "waste" it on a movie.
The library in our little town doesn't have much to offer, and the Blockbuster store closed several years ago.
We might try Netflix. We do have alot of old DVDs, but we have watched them all many times over.
Plus, we never go to the movies (or anywhere for that matter), so I don't mind spending a little on DVDs. The actual packaging does bother me, but at least there's a recycling place about 40 miles from here that accepts CD and their cases, etc.

[Weston]

The Town was excellent. I think Ben Affleck is an outstanding director whose main fault is that he usually casts Ben Affleck as the star. Olympus was horrible on so many levels.

[CathyA]

Thanks Weston. The online reviews of Olympus were pretty bad too. That's a little surprising with Morgan Freeman in it.
We did watch The Town. It was okay. I like Ben Affleck, but he's too much the same in every picture he does.
I find the critic's reviews of it (that are on the DVD sleeve) quite unbelievable anymore. I forget what movie I watched awhile back that was supposed to be funny, and I didn't even crack a smile through the whole thing!
I used to value Roger Ebert's opinions, but anymore, they don't seem to jive with what I think is good.

[CathyA]

Iris Lily..............We finally watched Biutiful. Wow..........DH and I both feel like we won't complain about anything ever again! haha
I thought it was a well-made film. Yes, it was very uncomfortable to watch. I mean, what else could go wrong??

SPOILER ALERT - so don't read any further down if you haven't seen it.







Here's a few comments I have about it.........although I need to watch it again, as it was in subtitles, and I felt I had to either read them, or look at the imagery. I couldn't do both at once.

It was a great example of bipolar illness in his wife. It was very uncomfortable to watch her manic episodes.
He made some bad choices in his life.........but I have never lived in that kind of poverty, so I can't say what I would do.
But.....he had a big heart and tried to be responsible. In the midst of everything falling down around him........his wife's problems, his way of earning a living, his feeling responsible for the death of all those people,
his cancer..........he tried to do the right things. He was very generous and tried to be fair. I think alot of people in his position would have become much more selfish and irresponsible.
Now, I have a couple questions for you IL.....

Did Ige really come back at the end? DH and I were thinking he was imagining that. We sort of wanted to be angry with her leaving, because she offered some stability and happiness for them, but she had her own issues to deal with, and wanted to go back to Africa. You can't fault her for that.
Also.......where was the little boy at the end? It was a moving scene with his daughter, but I wondered where the little boy was.
I guess he was also a bit of a psychic too. I'm trying to understand why his son (?) was also sitting in the funeral home with the other 3 dead boys. I know he was imagining that, but wondered how it tied into things.
Like I said, I need to see it again to better understand it.
It was pretty hard to watch and definitely wasn't a feel-good movie.......but I thought it was excellent.

[iris lilies]

Now, I have a couple questions for you IL.....



So sorry, I only vaguely remember the ending and can't answer. This film was not a favorite of mine and that surprised me because I expected to really REALLY like it.

I strongly recommend last year's Oscar winning Best Foreign film, Amour. It had such beautiful quietness as two people reach the end of their lives. There were slight ambiguities about the ending, but the main idea is very clear. Amour was also nominated for Best Film, that same year. That is weird and I don't know what to make of that.

[Packy]

I found a new, unviewed dvd under the shelf, that I had misplaced years ago. It came from the dollar store, and is titled: "Breakfast At Tiffany's",from the 1950's. Has anyone else seen this film? At least I don't have to take it back, and if anyone here is interested, I'll send it along after I see it.

[iris lilies]

I found a new, unviewed dvd under the shelf, that I had misplaced years ago. It came from the dollar store, and is titled: "Breakfast At Tiffany's",from the 1950's. Has anyone else seen this film? At least I don't have to take it back, and if anyone here is interested, I'll send it along after I see it.

What was Capote's connection with that film? I can't remember. You might like Capote's In Cold Blood, the film. Have you read the book?

[crunchycon]

Capote wrote the short story from which this film is derived. "Breakfast" is on many 'classic movies' lists; I'm not a giant fan of Truman Capote and think the story is kind of sad, but -- if you like Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard and/or Patricia Neal, you'll enjoy the acting. Definitely worth unwrapping the DVD and having a look.

[ToomuchStuff]

The film came out in the early 60's and Moon River was wrote to Audrey Hepburns singing capabilities. I remember it well as being a cultural icon at least through my friends generation (and I believe later due to a song about it). Well worth seeing.


Since this thread has been resurrected, has anyone watched Gravity?

[happystuff]

I like Breakfast at Tiffany's enough to own my own copy. The last movie I went to see in the theater was Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and I finally got a copy of that for Christmas. I don't know anything about the stuff in the theaters now-a-days.

[early morning]

My husband loved Gravity. I've not seen it.... happpystuff, I really liked Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. We watch a lot of library movies and I watch all the previews- we don't see much regular TV or pay attention to what is showing at the MegaPlex so that's one way we decide what we want to watch next. We've watched some really great films I would never have heard of otherwise. One of our favorites was The Band's Visit, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was another.