Seven Movies a Week #13

Welcome to another installment of Seven Movies a Week. I thought I had my week planned out, but I decided to change everything around while I was doing some research for next month’s movies. I had so many horror (scary) movies I wanted to check out next month, I couldn’t fit them into 31 days. I was kinda bummed out at first, but then I said to myself, “What is stopping me from starting the theme early?” The answer: nothing. So on Friday, I dropped the ‘Movies I Can’t Believe I Haven’t Seen’ theme (a theme I will revisit next year), and started watching some scary movies.

Movies I Can’t Believe I Haven’t Seen Day 13: SERPICO

Year of release: 1973

Written by: Waldo Salt, Norman Wexler & Sidney Kingsley (based on a novel by Peter Maas)

Directed by: Sidney Lumet

Starring: Al Pacino, John Randolph, Tony Roberts, Bernard Barrow & M. Emmet Walsh

What it’s about: The one honest cop in NYC

Thoughts Before Viewing: Being a big Al Pacino fan, I have no excuse for not seeing this movie. I don’t know what it’s about, but I do know it is one of Pacino’s best performances. So, I am excited to finally check it out.


Thoughts After Viewing: I don’t think I am breaking any new ground when I say this movie was great, with a great performance by Mr. Pacino. Definitely deserving of all the praise it gets.

EASY A

Year of release: 2010

Written by: Bert V. Royal

Directed by: Will Gluck

Starring: Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Cam Gigandet, Lisa Kudrow, Malcolm McDowell, Alyson Michalka & Stanley Tucci

What it’s about: The perils of being a loosey goosey

Thoughts Before Viewing: After seeing this trailer in front of what seems like every movie that I saw in the theaters for the past 2 months, I didn’t think I’d be seeing it. It looked OK, but movies like this are not my thing. But then I started seeing reviews for the movie, and a lot of critics liked it. So, I decided to give it a shot on six dollar movie day. I’m willing to spend six bucks on just about any movie.


Thoughts After Viewing: As I suspected, the movie was OK. Some things worked, while others did not. One of the things that didn’t work were the parents. I know they were going for the cool, laid back parents, but it was a bit too much. Thankfully, they didn’t have a big role. Emma Stone is very easy on the eyes, and does a great job at carrying the movie. Put any other person in the lead role and I probably would’ve hated this movie.

Movies I Can’t Believe I Haven’t Seen Day 14: SUNSET BOULEVARD

Year of release: 1950

Written by: Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett & D. M. Marshman, Jr.

Directed by: Billy Wilder

Starring: William Holden, Gloria Swanson & Erich von Stroheim

What it’s about: With the help of a writer, a former starlet is ready for her comeback.

Thoughts Before Viewing: Number 16 on AFI’s Top 100, and one of my mom’s favorite movies. Another movie that I hear great things about, but don’t know anything about.


Thoughts After Viewing: I loved it. An amazing movie with amazing performances. It lost out to ALL ABOUT EVE at the Academy awards. I have never seen ALL ABOUT EVE, but if it beat out this movie, it has got to be pretty damn good. I plan on checking that out in the very near future.

I’M STILL HERE

Year of release: 2010

Written by: Casey Affleck & Joaquin Phoenix

Directed by: Casey Affleck

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix

What it’s about: Joaquin Phoenix “quits” acting to become a rapper

Thoughts Before Viewing: I was one of the many people that never believed that Joaquin Phoenix was serious about quitting acting for hip hop. Because of that, I really didn’t have any interest in checking this movie out. Then, I read an interview with Casey Affleck last week. He let the world know that yes, this was fake. Believe it or not, this made me more interested in seeing it. I was very curious to see how they handed the documentary. Will it be obvious that it is a fake? Did Phoenix get into this character like Sacha Baron Cohen does?

Thoughts After Viewing: The movie is awful. If the movie was real, it would still be awful. As a fake documentary, Phoenix has some serious issues if he thinks any of this is entertaining. There are three good scenes in the movie, and two of those scenes involve Diddy. Now, I don’t know if Diddy was in on the joke or not, but it really doesn’t matter. He was hilarious. The other good scene was Phoenix’s appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman. These scenes happen late in the movie, so there is a lot of nonsense you have to sit through for about a combined 12 minutes of funny. Two of the three scenes can be seen on Youtube. I suggest you just do that instead of wasting almost two hours.

PRIMAL

Year of release: 2010

Written by: Josh Reed

Directed by: Josh Reed

Starring: Krew Boylan, Lindsay Farris, Rebekah Foord & Damien Freeleagus

What it’s about: The dangers of skinning dipping

Thoughts Before Viewing: I don’t know anything about the movie. I just know it’s a horror flick that is playing at Fantastic Fest this year. Thanks to IFC films, people who weren’t able to attend can still check out some of the movies On Demand. Thank you.

Thoughts After Viewing: I wish I had started off with a better movie, because this one was not very good. It wasn’t very interesting… none of kills were any good and the CGI… ughh terrible. I did know this was the worst of the four Fantastic Fest that are available, but I didn’t think it would be this bad. Avoid this movie.

RED WHITE & BLUE

Year of release: 2010

Written by: Simon Rumley

Directed by: Simon Rumley

Starring: Noah Taylor, Amanda Fuller & Marc Senter

What it’s about: A girl’s promiscuity leads to some deadly consequences

Thoughts Before Viewing: Another Fantastic Fest movie that is On Demand thanks to IFC Films. The buzz that I have been hearing about this movie has made it one of my most anticipated horror movies of 2010. As always, I haven been keeping away from major plot details. All I know about the movie is that there is a girl who enjoys having sex, which leads to bad things, and it has been described as “very hardcore.”

Thoughts After Viewing: Loved this movie. It does take a while to get to the “very hardcore” stuff, as all of it happens in the last 20 minutes or so. And yes, it is intense. As for the build up, I really liked it. You think the movie is going one way, then it just stops and goes a completely different direction. At first it is a little odd that movie starts focusing on a new character, but when everything comes together, it hits you like a punch in the gut. If you are a fan of horror, you should check this movie out. I believe it’s On Demand until the end of the month.

BURIED

Year of release: 2010

Written by: Chris Sparling

Directed by: Rodrigo Cortés

Starring: Ryan Reynolds

What it’s about: A man wakes up and realizes he has been….. buried alive!

Thoughts Before Viewing: This film has been playing the festivals in the recent months. People have been digging it (no pun intended). If I hadn’t been hearing good things about the movie, I probably wouldn’t have rushed to the theater to see it, mostly because the trailer did nothing for me.


Thoughts After Viewing: Last week I talked about how I’d been trapped in an elevator before, and this is why I think the director of DEVIL, John Erick Dowdle, did a good job. Now I don’t think I’ll be going out on a limb when I say 99% of the people that see BURIED have not been buried alive. Well, after 10 minutes you will know what it feels like. I can safely say this because I saw the rest of the audience fidgeting in their seats. Rodrigo Cortés did an amazing job. We get a couple of voices through the cellphone and some quick, grainy video. But other than that, it’s all Ryan Reynolds. Some people might not like Ryan Reynolds because of the movie roles he chooses to take. Well, screw those people, Reynolds brought the goods. The movie is out now, but it’s a very limited release. It will open everywhere on October 8th. Do yourself a favor and see this in theaters.

I stayed up late pretty much every night, but normally I am playing video games or cleaning up my DVR. This week I watched movies, A LOT of movies, six to be exact. Here is what I watched:

NEVER LET ME GO
DUTCH
KINDERGARTEN COP
THINNER
PURPLE RAIN
HOWL

This crazy week of movie watching has brought my total for the year up to 394.

I have my entire month of October planned out. Movies I have never seen, movies I have not seen in a long time, and quite a few new release films. I hope to watch the following movies:

HIGH LANE
HEARTLESS
FROZEN
THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
LET ME IN
THE SOCIAL NETWORK (this will probably be the only time I break the theme this month)