122 Take Shelter (B+)

Well sir, unlike you I do believe I liked this one.  I agree it was slow and drawn out and can understand how you weren't on board, but I was hooked in with the insanity and enjoyed.  I guess it's hit or miss though, because given another night I probably could have been just as hooked on Melancholia....And what a combo of back to back movie nights...first Melancholia now Take Shelter?!  Damn.  That's about 4.5 hours worth of slooooooow and twisted cinema.  Cinema that effs with your brain, rather than just watching a giant metal robot and that dude who played wolverine play shadow boxing together.  Thinking back on it I think I might make Melancholia a bit higher of a rating than I did, but I still liked Take Shelter better.

They portrayed Michael Shannon as a complete whack-a-doo in this film - which he is very good at portraying.  In fact, I've seen approximately 5 or so of his films over time and aside from maybe 1 of his supporting background character war roles, he's basically been totally loopy and odd in all of his films that I've viewed - would that be a correct statement?  I also noticed that there is a grouping of actors that seem to say yes to these off the wall films that bend the standard cookie cutter hollywood vision.  Like Dafoe and Udo Kier.  Anyway, back to Michael Shannon.  His character started semi normal - dad, husband, worker - and then he started to obsess over storms (no thanks to his crazed dreams) as well as take his dreams too literally.  Not just obsess, he literally became insane.  It was great to watch his own vision of himself coupled with his families vision of him, and tri-coupled with how the neighboring community viewed him.

I say bravo and give it a watch.  Good job Jeff Nichols.  Lastly I thought that his wife was Ron Howard's daughter.  I guess I have to start to realize that there are two of them and they are indeed different individuals.

121 Melancholia (B-)

Man, I really wanted this to be good.  It came recommended and I think I enjoyed pieces of it, but they just drug it out.  Cut 1 hour and redo a few scenes and perhaps you have a jem.  I don't know man...just couldn't love it.  But will say the last 3 minutes are pretty eye opening.

The plot of the movie, the point to it all...the premise - 100% fantastic (basically following a small family through their final few days on Earth as they wait for a planetary collision).  Hell, even the vibe they are trying to portray throughout is totally super great - but man....at 1 hour and like 30 minutes in...mid-way through the "Claire" saga....I was about to scream at the TV.  Just moved too slow.

The first 5 minutes with all the surreal footage was fantastic.  Reminded me a bit of Antichrist.  Then the entire wedding night was odd and okay, and I enjoyed watching it....then they killed it with part 2.  I don't even know what else to say.  I literally was ready for the "flyby" to squash the hell out of them.  Hell, during "Justine" I even enjoyed the part where they were trying to drive the limo and were stuck.  

A funny thing about the hail scene is a memory that triggers from this morning - on my way into work today there were small seeds releasing themselves, with white feathery "parachutes"...but the odd thing was that they flew down like snow in parts and also it occurred the ENTIRE drive to work.  As in, approximately 45 minutes over many different sceneries.  To me, being an ecologist, that is odd.  Speaking of science and physics, the end is totally unrealistic - I'd imagine.  There would be more craziness and storms etc.

Two days later this film still resides with me.  I agree still that they made it too long and the 2nd half was crazy and not good for the film, but because it still is in my mind and I've been thinking about the overall feel and message - I have actually agreed with myself to come back to this review and bump it up an entire letter grade from C- to B-.  Good day.

120 Repeaters (C-)

Good premise/idea for a movie....however execution below average.  Seems like a low budget flick that could be redone and make mega millions if give a bigger starting payroll and thus better actors.  Still, something worth watching on a rainy Saturday.  Would have been great if Paul Walker or Shawn Hatosy starred in the movie.

It was basically a ground hog day movie for the younger generation.  Three young 20ish kids keep waking up on the same day, so they begin to take advantage of the system and soon realize that their actions are "forgotten" with the start of the next day.  So they do whatever they want with each new waking day including jumping from bridges and robbing liquor stores.  In the end, their actions get worse and worse until it snows.  You'll see what I mean when you watch.

the experiment (C+) no. 119

I don't want to discourage folks from this flick - it was a pretty fun ride and I think you should watch it.  Initially I had it listed as a B- but honestly they could have made it a touch better in my book, thus there was a drop down to C+.  Regardless it was worth a watch.  Adrien Brody will say yes to any film I've decided.  That is my hypothesis.  By the end of his career he will have done tearjerkers, sci-fi, action, romance, horror, comedy, beard trimmer commercials, indie dramas....you get the point.  He and Forest Whitaker tore things up in the Experiment, although sometimes Forest's acting makes me laugh.  At one point in the movie there was the start to some violence and Forest went into the bathroom and realized he was aroused from this violence.  Why the hell did they need to add that to the movie?  When you watch you will laugh at this.

The movie is apparently taken off a real stunt which occurred back in 1971.  The basic plot was an experiment where guys signed up to pretend they were in a real life prison setting for 14 days.  They were to be paid $1,000 a day for the experiment for a total of 14k at the end of the two weeks.  The people in charge bused them out to a facility in the middle of nowhere and told them to leave their personal belongings at the door.  They divvied them up into cops and robbers and told them the rules.  I probably shouldn't have said that part and rather just let you watch for yourself.  But, it happens pretty fast into the movie so I don't think I ruined anything.

I've seen that one main actor Cam before (Cam Gigandet).  I think he was the dude from Pandorum.  Yep, just looked it up.  He's also in Never Back Down and I believe I recognize him from that trailer.  That is one fighting movie I may never see.  Apparently he's also this guy from Twilight Cam Gigandet IMDB (c) link to James from Twilight, guy with the longer hair from that scene where they played baseball in the field - so, I guess he's getting pretty famous.  He also looks like Chris Pine from Star Trek.

Was that other guy the dude from good charlotte?  He wore eye paint like he was one of the Madden brothers.  I found him after looking at the cast three times over - his name is Travis Fimmel.  Note to self and to all reading this: don't ever Google (c) Travis Fimmel.  Here is a picture I found of Travis Fimmel looking a bit like a Madden brother.  Come to think of it, the lead girl looks like Leslie Bibb.  There are a lot of look a likes going on in this one bros, a lot.  I didn't even mention the guy who looks like Buchemi.

London Boulevard (D-) #118

Here are the notes I have for this extremely crappy movie which my buddy and I watched last Wednesday.

• What's the point to this movie?  Seriously, it went no where and was actually annoying.
• I wonder why these famous actors agreed to do this flop of a movie?  Keira Knightly actually wasn't very good and her bangs drove me nuts.  She also was barely in the movie.  Colin Farrell did his normal everyday accent, from his native land, which means that I didn't understand half of what he said.  Like how I had to watch In Bruges 3x to get it...yeah, like that.  Will I watch this 3x in order to understand?  Never.  Instead I will only ever tell people that this movie sucked.
• The director kept flashing his name on the screen really big like.  I believe I saw his name 4x.  Two at the beginning and two at the end.
• In closing, I can't understand this movie and it was dumb.
• People - get it out of your queue.

Thanks!  Oh shoot, I forgot one last point...Colin Farrell should have had 'his people' shave his neck hair prior to filming.  I'm not perfect so for my harsh statements I am sorry, but honestly, his neck hair was a mess.  Just looked sloppy.

117 C.H.U.D. (B-)

Considering this epic adventure is from 1984, it is pretty dang good.  The scenery is well done, considering.  The acting is well done, considering (taking the 80's style into mind when watching).  And the bad-guys living in the sewers are well done for sure.  They do a lot of "under-city" scenes, as in down under the man-holes and in what seems to be caverns under the city - and they are actually pretty cool.  I took a screen shot of the bad-guys below with their cool glowing eyes, it's the 2nd picture below.  They are a bit reminiscent of I Am Legend in this shot because they were hovering in a group until they were startled.

Overall it's fun and worth watching.  Some interesting cast as well, including a quick scene with a young John Goodman towards the end, a supporting role by Daniel Stern (Home Alone bad guy), and John Heard as the main character.

I also love that in the first minute, literally at 1:06, this happens (first screen shot below):

116 Aaah! Zombies!! (A-)

I need to hurry up with this darn challenge.  I have a lot of movies left to go and I've got little time.  I need to average over 20 per month I believe to make it to 200 by July 5, that's not going to be easy!  Hell, I really slacked in February only watching 8 movies (plus a few I've seen before).

Aaah! Zombies!!....I have officially watched this twice within a few day period.  So so so effing good....really, so sarcastic, so great.  Low-budget at it's best!!!!  I will definitely be adding this towards the top portion of the 'top 161 movies of all time per Chris' list.

"What happened to you?"....."Kitty blew up" - ah-hahahahhaahaaah Zombies!!

Freaking brain margaritas.  That guy NEEDS to be in more movies, pronto!  He reminds me of Stiffler.

This flick is immediately lumped with Birdemic, Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl, and Die You Zombie Bastards, etc. as one of those, 'I could watch it over and over and over again' types.

Here are a few key words for IMDB to cue-in on: barrels intentionally mis-labeled as infant formula, supersoldiers (LOL),  Timmy taking a chest full of buck-shot and living to whine another day, hair falling out, well-trained in espionage, ask for permissions to "see" her, "it fell off", etc.

Highly highly highly recommended.  I'm still laughing!!!

Re-Animator 115 (B)

Well - I jotted down one thing during this movie which was something I didn't want to forget to talk about, and it was "throw cat, holy crap".  For those of you that have previously seen this horror classic, remember the first scene when the non-suspecting roommate heard cat noises coming from his renting roommate's room?  And then he went to find the cat, only to discover that the cat which was dead and in the refrigerator is now alive again?  And then in an effort to fend off this re-animated cat, at one point he throws it full speed against the wall of the basement.  Remember this scene??  Totally funny (not from a real life standpoint, but from a silly stand-point mid movie).  I laughed out loud at that scene.

There is a very Dead Alive feel throughout the 2nd half of Re-Animator.  Once they get to the morgue and all hell breaks loose, it gets pretty darned crazy.  You gotta love the one main surgeon that becomes re-animated yet doesn't have a head.  I bet they had a really fun time making those scenes come to life and putting together the plot!  All of the dead and naked morgue folk coming to life, haha!

I've heard Re-Animator 2 is even better, is this true homeys?

Sorry to the world that it took me so long to see this one.  I know, I call myself a horror fan but I should be ashamed.

Drive 114 (A-)

I like this movie because of the odd sense it gives off, very quirky yet still appeals to the general movie goer too I'd assume.  Kind of like Bad Lieutenant: Port of New Orleans.  It isn't a cookie cutter hollywood action flick, rather, it's both bizarre and plentiful.  I actually thought going into the movie that it took place in the 80's, but apparently not??  I do still feel a bit confused about that part though.  R. Gosling had on an 80's jacket and presented an 80's 'look' the entire movie, as well as drove cars around from the 80's.  But then I saw people texting on iPhones (c), and new mustangs and Chrysler (c) 300's etc...so, I guess it did take place in current times??  Strange.  How can we find this out?

This is my favorite gaff that IMDB decided to capture:


During the initial sequence, Driver is listing to the Clippers game on the radio, but the XM radio is tuned to the 60s on 6 channel, which plays music from the 1960s, not current sports.

Technically this is the 2nd movie I've seen with Ryan Gosling in it, but I thought it was the first until I just looked his career up.  I've seen Remember the Titans, but I don't really recall it.  Anyway, I like him and want to see some of his other works like The United States of Leland, Ides of March, and Half Nelson.  I just watched a few YouTube (c) clips and apparently they had him talk less on purpose.  My feel was they were going for a Sly type of tough guy role by having limited dialogue.  It worked I suppose.

There were two scenes which were totally crazy and one reminded me of Irreversible and Pan's Labyrinth.  If you get the connection here you will know the scene type I'm referring to.  Basically something which is totally over the top, brutal and graphic.  No, not that scene from Irreversible.  The other scene is when they said bye-bye to Blanche.  That scene reminds me of a movie I'm about to see soon called Rise of the Footsoldier.

The main bad guy - not Ron Perlman but his boss - was he trying to sound exactly like Gene Hackman in Get Shorty?  His voice was basically the same and his hair was similar too.  Sort of odd.  Almost like he took an inspiration from that performance and they built this character from Drive around Hackman's Harry Zimm.  Just something I noticed.  And Ron Perlman, man, that guy is a definite freak of nature.  He's fun to watch and I think he should be in more movies where he is the bad guy.  I like his acting.

Good to see Bryan Cranston getting a huge movie role - good work buddy.

Lastly and most important - can't Ryan Gosling take off his jacket once it gets bloody?