In Theaters/Rentals: What Have You Seen Lately?

Because of a recent topic I posted (seen here: http://www.cigarpass.com/forumsipb/topic/73505-world-war-z-who-is-going-to-see-it-plus-the-hobbit/) on WWZ, and watching it branch off into a discussion on The Hobbit, I thought it would be a good idea to create a catch-all ongoing thread where we can discuss *current* or upcoming movies in theaters as well as new rentals, and maybe add a mini review or your recommendation based on your experience.

All I ask is that you keep the plot-specific **SPOILERS!!** to a minimum so that you don't ruin the experience of somebody that hasn't seen it yet. That being said, I'll start it off:

I just rented "Hit and Run" starring Bradley Cooper and Dax Shepard and I thought it was hilarious, definitely a movie worth a rental. For the movie currently I'm currently looking forward to seeing in the theaters right now is "Gangster Squad" which opens this Friday. The other new movie that's out on Blu-Ray that I'm looking to buy is "End of Watch." Hollywood butchers the hell out of my job, so I'm anxious to see this because several of my buddies who have seen this film say it is the best cop film out right now in terms of portraying the reality of the day to day stuff that goes on. Has anyone seen it, and if so, what did you think?


Now I turn it over to you: What are you looking forward to seeing in the theaters? What have you seen lately?

Jack Reacher: The wife and I just saw this during last weekend and it was really good and I would recommend it. This is the film I saw the trailer for WWZ at.


I hope to go see Texas Chainsaw 3D tonight if I get out of work early enough. "Gangster Squad" is on my list to see in the theaters as well it looks great! Also I am Dying to see Zero Dark Thirty

New movies at home on Blu-Ray:
~Ted= Great Boston Humor
~MIB3 =Very well done to tie a lot together
~Pitch Perfect=Great songs and a few funny parts to breakup the enjoyment of the singing. If you liked the show Sing Off you will like this movie!
~Hunger Games= Great movie I can't wait for the next one! I wish I enjoyed books or I would read ahead
~The Dark Night Rises= Outstanding special effects and I LOVE LOVE LOVE how they ended this Trilogy
ETA: Both of my brother in-laws are cops as well and said the same as your buddies I have not seen End of Watch yet but look forward to it.

The Hobbit was better than the LOTR movies, but that's not saying a lot, in my opinion. It stayed truer to the book, so I liked it better. True Tolkien nerd here.

Watched a movie called Fracture a week or so ago. It's a few years old, but Anthony Hopkins was really good.

Life of Pi was excellent as well.

I recently saw the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D with the ole lady. I thought it was good, but not great. Nothing really too scary, IMO.

Cool visuals with the 3D - yes
Gore, tons of blood - yes
Did it have it's own little twist - yes
Skanky girls w/ small clothing - yes

Make you jump in your seat - no

Of course, my definition of scary will differ from others. Being raised very young on all the old school horror classics and having a fiendish mind myself, it takes a lot for me to 'jump' in my seat. I find myself being the only person in the theatre laughing as people are sawed in half. Oh well, to each there own. I would recommend it for sure, for the simple fact that it's a cult classic and one should always watch the latest versions. Although, I wish I just saved the $30.00 for the tickets, rented it from TimeWarner when released and bought some Opus with the extra dough. Great flic, but I have found that 'war' type movies are the only ones worth watching on the big screen. Like the new movie "Zero Dark Thirty" which Im really excited to see...

I watched the remake of Footloose the other night. It wasn't any good, but that Julianne Hough sure is purty.

If you like Sci-Fi, buy Looper on Blu Ray. It comes --->this close<--- to being perfect.

Gavin said:

Watched a movie called Fracture a week or so ago. It's a few years old, but Anthony Hopkins was really good.

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Fracture is a great flick and the wife loves Ryan Gosling so it was a win win.

I'm sitting in the theater now getting ready to watch Texas Chainsaw 3D. I'll fill you guys in on what I think. I am a sucker for all original classic horror movies but I always need to compare to the original.

Great thread idea Jon!
Paul

Got to agree with TP on the "Ted" movie. Definitely a "guy humor" type of movie. Took my wife with me and she didn't find some of the comedy as

funny as I did.

I also want to see "End of Watch". The trailers I have seen look very intersting. I agree with soulpup that Hollywood has not done very well with the LE

profession pictoral so am interested in the portrayal in this one. My 22 yoa son has followed in my footsteps and is a uniformed patrol officer with my former department.

All great movies. I bought fracture when it came out, that movie is amazing! I love character driven thrillers like that, it was done so well, painting the picture of Anthony Hopkins' character.

Thanks for the info Alan, I was wondering about Looper. It looked interesting, but I just wasn't sure. Based off your recommendation, I'm going to check it out now. I used to say, "You can't go wrong with Bruce Willis," but he's been doing a ton of weird little B movies and direct-to-DVD films for the past few years, so I decided to skip it for fear that it would be another lame movie.

Ooh! Yes, I forgot about Zero Dark Thirty, that one is going to be amazing....hopefully.


Keep em' coming fellas, we're onto something good here!

Along with the movies mentioned above I'm also looking forward to seeing:

The Master
Flight
Argo
and definitely Django Unchained!!!

souldog said:

I used to say, "You can't go wrong with Bruce Willis,"

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Agreed and so I'm also looking forward to A Good Day to Die Hard (#5) lol since I thought the 4th one was pretty good.

ETA: Of Bruce Willis' recent stuff, I thought he was probably best in "Cop Out" with Tracy Morgan and in this year's "Moonrise Kingdom" by Wes Anderson.

I was a bit disappointed in Ted. We picked up the unrated version on DVD, and I really expected it to be just non-stop raunch and crass jokes. There were some jokes, but the funniest parts of the movie were all seen in the trailers. The funniest part, to me, was Ted saying something to the nature of, "Some people say I sound like Peter Griffin when I'm drunk..."

Since I have a 5-year-old, I've seen lots of kids movies. Most recently in theaters was "Wreck-It Ralph", which was actually pretty damn outstanding. Anyone that grew up with Atari, NES and Sega Genesis will really find some enjoyment in this flick. I'm not a video gamer, but this movie really got it right. Also, the main character is voiced by Dewey Cox, himself. You can't go wrong.

On DVD I recently watched both The Pacific and Band of Brothers, again. Nothing short of amazing, every time I see them. I also watched "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (sucked, of course), "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", "300" (haven't watched that since 2007'ish), "United 93" and some others that I found up on the shelf.

I haven't seen many of the movies in the last few years that I really want to see. Just haven't made time for movie-watching. That's going to change, though.

kann said:

I was a bit disappointed in Ted. We picked up the unrated version on DVD, and I really expected it to be just non-stop raunch and crass jokes. There were some jokes, but the funniest parts of the movie were all seen in the trailers. The funniest part, to me, was Ted saying something to the nature of, "Some people say I sound like Peter Griffin when I'm drunk..."

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I completely agree, not that I didn't like the movie, because I did. But I was underwhelmed, because I saw the trailers and I saw some hilarious stuff. One of those movies that happened to show every funny scene in their trailers I suppose.

LilBastage said:

If you like Sci-Fi, buy Looper on Blu Ray. It comes --->this close<--- to being perfect.

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+1!

I'd seen a trailer for it on a recent Netflix rental, hadn't heard of it (I don't really watch TV) but saw it had Bruce Willis in it, figured "Why not?"

So, I was expecting a Bruce Willis movie, basically---you know, slam bang bang bang boom, lots of stunts and random explosions and witty one-liners. I wasn't expecting . . . that. Holy shit.

That's one hell of a movie indeed.

~Boar

A buddy and I were bored tonight so we went to see End of Watch in the cheap theater. Jeez that was an intense movie. Definitely not what I was expecting, but definitely worth watching.

coopsdeloops said:

A buddy and I were bored tonight so we went to see End of Watch in the cheap theater. Jeez that was an intense movie. Definitely not what I was expecting, but definitely worth watching.

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Yes! Like I said, that's a pretty realistic depiction of the shit we deal with, at least those of us in the major cities with gang problems and stuff. My brothers in the more rural cities, I'm not sure of, but I'd say it's pretty spot on Coops. Glad you enjoyed it! I just purchased it early off of itunes.

I just watched The Dark Knight Rises for the first time. I loved it.

Having said that, I'm starting to question my own taste in movies. So many movies of the last few years that a lot of people I've agreed with in the past have hated, I've loved. I'm confused about the whole thing, really, and it's got me rethinking some of my past movie watching experiences.

Watching Cool Hand Luke tonight. It is still in my Top 3 of All Time.

Saw Django Unchained last weekend. Brutal, and not just the language and violence. I didn't expect an almost 3 hour long movie. Tons of interesting cameos, and Jamie Fox does a good job but Christoph Waltz really stole most of the scenes he was in.

Decent movie, about what you'd expect from a Tarantino western. Could've used some editing imho(or an intermission).

I just couldn't get behind Dark Knight Rises . . . maybe it's because, damn, how do you top something like Ledger's Joker role? (You don't, and they didn't) but bottom line---when I sit down to a movie, I make a handshake deal with the screen that I'm going to willingly suspend disbelief for the next couple hours, and go on their rollercoaster ride. I figure THEIR end of the deal is to not make that freakin' impossible to do. :angry:


Sure, it's a comic book movie (and I love comic book movies!) but STILL . . . a madman holds a whole city hostage for months, and nobody sends in Seal Team Six? Seriously? And he somehow manages to ship Batman halfway across the world to some isolated prison hellpit, and Batman has time to get tortured, heal up from his beating, hear "Eye of the Tiger" playing in his heart again, make three tries at scaling the wall, get all the way back to Gotham and all THAT just in the nick of time to save the day?

Dooooooood. By then I was shouting "blow me!" at the screen. ???

~Boar

I can see all that. I still thought it was awesome.

I watch movies to escape reality. I don't try to apply reality to what I see on the screen.

Not A Nice Person said:

I just couldn't get behind Dark Knight Rises . . . maybe it's because, damn, how do you top something like Ledger's Joker role? (You don't, and they didn't) but bottom line---when I sit down to a movie, I make a handshake deal with the screen that I'm going to willingly suspend disbelief for the next couple hours, and go on their rollercoaster ride. I figure THEIR end of the deal is to not make that freakin' impossible to do. :angry:


Sure, it's a comic book movie (and I love comic book movies!) but STILL . . . a madman holds a whole city hostage for months, and nobody sends in Seal Team Six? Seriously? And he somehow manages to ship Batman halfway across the world to some isolated prison hellpit, and Batman has time to get tortured, heal up from his beating, hear "Eye of the Tiger" playing in his heart again, make three tries at scaling the wall, get all the way back to Gotham and all THAT just in the nick of time to save the day?

Dooooooood. By then I was shouting "blow me!" at the screen. ???

~Boar

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Haha, well put about the handshake. I gotta say I mostly agree with your points about this movie, and I'm a HUGE fan of the series up to this point too. Sure Batman Begins follows the typical three-act character introduction structure but absolutely blows it out of the park IMO. Then Dark Knight comes is with its intricate storyline and hugely engaging themes and really take it to the next level. Especially with Heath Ledger playing this incredible villain that thrives on chaos and anarchy at it's very core who envelops you in this psychotic reality that's possibly even scarier than the man himself.

And then splat! The series takes a nose dive lol. I think it's almost obvious that they've run out of new and creative ideas. People say that maybe they should've taken more time on this one? For starters, the storyline was way too similar to first one and had too many holes as BOAR mentions. Next, so many of the great qualities of the earlier films were totally lost in this one. Casting and acting wise yes Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, etc are amazing, but Anne Hathaway??? Are you f-in kidding me? I almost barfed lol. And did you guys notice the many awkwardly lame conversations? The script was everywhere, long terrible monologues, no good witty banter with Freeman or Caine, actually no elevated conversations of any kind. Not to be a complete killjoy, I saw it in IMAX and have to say that the opening sequence was awesome! And who can argue with quality of the sets, costumes, and soundtrack!

Just watched Lawless with the misses. It was a great movie based on a true story that took place during the prohibition. If you haven't seen it I recommend it highly. Guns, booze, violence, and women!

Paul