Movies you saw for the first time May

just happened to watch Merlin  a movie version of the  1998 TV mini-series. was pretty good telling of the King Arthur legend with Sam Neill as Merlin, Helena Bonham Carter as Morgan (aka Margana) Le Fay and  Miranda Richardson as Queen Mab. Martin Short is excellent as the gnome Frik and provides the comic relief in the film. NOT as good as the 1981 Excalibur BUT still worth watching IF your into old English fables and the mystical Arthurian stories  of three

Anonymous (2011) VERY well acted semi-historical political drama set in Elizabethan England. the premise is that William Shakespeare was really a front for the nobelman Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford who used his plays such as Henry V and Richard III as propaganda designed to foment revolution against the Queen's advisors William and Robert Cecil. some in the English literary community believe it's probable that Shakespear's early works COULD have been written by someone other than than him because of the "time line" of his plays. he was most active as a playwrite while de Vere was alive.

Rhys Ifans plays Edward de Vere. Vanessa Redgrave plays the elderly Queen Elizabeth I. Redgrave's real life daughter Joely Richardson plays the young Elizabeth and Jamie Campbell Bower plays the young de Vere. David Thewlis plays William Cecil while Edward Hogg plays his son Robert.

Sebastian Armesto plays poet-playwrite Ben Jonson, who is first offered the job as "front" for de Vere's writings and Rafe Spall plays William Shakespeare who eventually accepts the job. Sir Derek Jacobi narrates the prologue and epilogue.

this may sound like a dry English semi-history lesson BUT its got enough court intrigue, "nobels behaving badly in bed" and action to satisfy. it's also a GREAT introduction to the early plays of Shakespear (or de Vere IF you believe the premise). it's on the ENCORE-Suspense channel all next week (which unfortunately is in 4x3 "skinnyscope")       

Watched Iron Man 3. :D

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004) I had never seen the whole movie and it's really "stupid funny". one hilarious line or sight gag after another throughout. John Cho as Harold and Kal Penn as Kumar are this generation's "Cheech & Chong". movie is filled with completely outrageous characters like H&K's stoner buddies Goldstein and Rosenberg,  "Freakshow" the tow truck driver, the "skate board punks", the racist cops and a completely wasted former Doogie Howser, M.D. star Neil Patrick Harris. even has a rabid raccoon and a cheetah. it's just under 90 minutes of non-stop laughs   

The first Harold and Kumar was good, the thrid one was good....The second one is complete person shyte.

W h o r e shyte.

Gangster Squad - it was very entertaining and good

The Campaign (2012) "comedy" with  Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis has a lot of one liners and sight gags that are funny BUT I though the overall movie was NOT. probably because the "dirty politics" was so close to real life. the "Motch Brothers" played by John Lithgow and Dan Aykroyd are an obvoius "take off" of Charles and David Koch. it's got some laughs BUT it also disgusting

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012) "cookie cutter" continuation of the DreamWorks Animation Madagascar franchise. good light entertainment. not too long @ 93 minutes. as in the previous movies, Chris Rock as the voice of Marty the Zebra, Sacha Baron Cohen as the voice of King Julien XIII and the Penguins are the most funny.

I watched Iron Man 3

It was pretty good. The villain was better in this one.

 

I watched The Great Gatsby.

It was good. Got a little sappy, but still entertaining. The chick is pretty cute in it.

First time for me to see "Babel" and "Loopers" 

The Merchant of Venice (2004) excellent film production of the Shakespeare classic with Al Pacino as Shylock (The Usurer), Jeremy Irons as Antonio (The Merchant). Joseph Fiennes as Bassanio (Antonio's friend and business partner) and Lynn Collins as Portia (Bassanio's love interest who's legal tricks saves Antonio)

VERY well acted by all involved. a must see IF your into Shakespeare or just excellent dramatic acting. a different type of roll for Pachino and he is outstanding. it's on HBO Signature again Monday May 20th @ 6:45 am pacific IF you want to record.   

A Man for All Seasons (1966). Best Picture Oscar winning British movie about 15th century Catholic martyr Sir Thomas More. Paul Scofield plays Sir Thomas More (Best Actor Oscar), Robert Shaw plays Henry VIII and Orson Welles plays Cardinal Wolsey. early work in their careers by John Hurt as Richard Rich and Vanessa Redgrave as Anne Boleyn.

yet another very well acted "period piece" historical drama that is definately worth viewing IF you like English history or just enjoy excellent acting. was on Turner Classic Movies this week SO probably will not be on again soon. Netflix an alternative   

and speaking of English "period pieces", I mentioned Anonymous (2011) in a previous post and lamented that it was "on the ENCORE-Suspense channel all next week (which unfortunately is in 4x3 "skinnyscope")". well it's on the STARZ-edge HD channel Monday May 20th @ 2:50 am pacific and again Thursday May 23rd @ 4:30 am IF you want to record full screen

I haven't seen it yet..But if you're talking about the short haired blonde chick, check out a movie called 'Shame'.

you guys need to check out Mud

Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) this fourth installment of the Ice Age series has the two funniest scenes EVER of the character Scrat in both the opening and closing of the movie and it is worth watching just for those alone. Wanda Sykes as the voice of Granny Sloth is the funniest character in this one after Scrat. excellent "family entertainment" as usual BUT think the "Pirate" characters and scenes might be way scary for little kids. it plays on various HBO channels all next week   

I rented some movies the other day. Holy garbage, I got some weird ones.

I'm sure some of you have heard of The Human Centipede. I heard about it, but never considered watching it until yesterday. It was kind of disturbing but also downright hilarious. Entertaining? Yes. Disgusting? Yes.

Boys Don't Cry

This was definitely a brave role for Hillary Swank. She plays a girl that pretends to be a boy and misleads a bunch of people and trouble ensues. I will forever think of Hillary Swank as a boy now.

I don't even want to THINK about The Human Centipede. just the premise makes me want to vomit

I went in to rent Antoine Fisher, but couldn't find it at first.

I also rented The American with George Clooney. I'll watch these tonight and report tomorrow. Hopefully, they can live up to The Human Centipede.

Antwone Fisher

This is the best movie I've seen in a long time. It is a story of overcoming abuse. The acting was excellent, especially the main character. It is based off a true story. The person in question actually wrote the screen-play based off his life I think. Denzel liked it so much that he decided to direct this movie himself as well as play a role in it. I highly recommend this movie.

Looper (2012) stunningly stupid movie and a complete waste of time. not even that much action in it. I'm suprised that Bruce Willis would let his agent involve him with this tripe

The Expendables 2 (2012) really fun non-stop action drama with an "all-star" cast of present and former action movie stars including Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Liam Hemsworth, Jean-Claude Van Damme (as a villian), Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

typical Stallone "oodles of ordnance" and plenty "blood and guts" throughout production and not too long at 93 minutes. has a lot of "one liners" alluding to the various action stars previous movies that are pretty funny. it's on EPIX2 again Saturday May 24th @ 3 am and Sunday May 26th @ 7 am & 6:45 pm pacific   

also a recent Jason Statham fav of mine, Safe (2012), is playing on EPIX1 again Friday May 25th @ 9:30 pm  and Saturday May 25th @ 7:30 am & 3:15 pm pacific. another excellent "non-stop action". don't think that Statham has ever made a "boring" movie. runs 95 minutes and it's SO good I was "isn't there MORE?" at the end    

Yeah, Looper sucked pretty bad. I didn't even know what the hell was going on, nor did I care to find out.

I saw a bad one myself.

Contraband-

This movie was such a POS. All aspects of this movie were terrible. The storyline was so stupid and unbelievable, I think a 4th grader wrote the script.

Mark Wahlberg should be banned from making movies. He sucks aasss and just wants money. The Fighter was good but that was because of Christian Bale.