#28 - Chronicle (2012)

I had heard nothing of this film, so what a delightful surprise it was! It is a science fiction film about these 3 teenage boys who find some weird thing in the woods one night that gives them… basically super-human powers. And one of the boys pretty much loses his cool and goes out of control. 

The creative part of this movie is the cinematography. It’s mostly shot to look like you are seeing everything from one kid’s camera. I mean, I’m sure every film nerd wants to do this, but no matter how much of a social reject, I can’t imagine a teenager carrying a camera with him everywhere. Well… I guess it might be more plausible nowadays. That whole idea starts out insanely creative, but it slowly fades (yet naturally) away as the movie goes on. 

The acting was also surprisingly good, for a bunch of people I’ve never heard of (NEWSFLASH: you don’t have to be famous to be a good actor). Chronicle actually opened at #1 at the box office, which makes director Josh Trank one of the youngest directors in history to have a #1 film (Spielberg was 28 with Jaws and Cameron was 30 with Terminator). Excited to see what he does next…

#27 - The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

I don’t have much to say about this film - I’m not in the fashion of seeing blockbusters! This is my first film in the theater in 2012. I only saw two in the theater last year. The recent shooting incident is quite unfortunate… it’s not actually something to practically fear… but it somehow does not add to the comfort of movie theaters. Regardless of that incident, I still enjoy movies much more at home. 

I didn’t read anything about this film… I was a big fan of the previous one, but it’s been so many years that my interest kinda died down. I don’t really watch superhero movies in general, so I found those parts of the film kinda cheesy. “Ooooo, Batman is at his lowest point in life, and he somehow must pick himself up!” Yeah, that happens in every superhero film. After Ledger’s Joker, every villain is going to seem lame. Bane was lame. I was REALLY surprised by Anne Hathaway’s awesome Cat Woman performance. Thanks to the movies, I thought Cat Woman had lost all credibility. And I somewhat believe Anne Hathaway is an obnoxious theater kid. But alas, her Cat Woman was a completely independent bad ass, yet the audience knew she was sad inside and felt sorry for her. The rest of the performances were pretty meh. I love him dancing around LA in cute indie films - but Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the last people I want to see as a super hero (well, he technically wasn’t a super hero in this film… but…). The little cameos were awesome, but yeah, a little distracting. 

Overall, great movie. I actually haven’t seen any of the pre-Nolan films, so I plan on eventually watching all the Batman movies in order. 

salesonfilm:

Harold Lloyd in Haunted Spooks (1920)

(via theloudestvoice)

lilja-youngblood:

ABANDONED NEW YORK MOVIE THEATRE

“The Kings Theatre, formerly Loew’s Kings Theatre, is a movie palace-type theater located at 1025 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, New York City. Opened in 1929, closed since 1977.” 

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#26 - Drive (2011)

Why did I wait so long to watch this film? How could I have waited so long to watch this film? And what can I do to make sure I don’t wait so long to watch good films again? Not sure. But I mean, the title card is in PINK SCRIPT. If that doesn’t scream “Jessie’s movie of the year,” I don’t know what does. 

And it certainly moves to the top of my ranks of 2011 films. The styling. I have only been to LA once in my adult life… but it was exactly how I always thought of it. Everything was either deco (30s), neon Eames (50s), or deco/Eames revival (80s). No other time period or style existed in my mind in LA. And that’s why it’s so beautiful. I’m completely smitten with this film’s soundtrack. The electronic sounds felt a little off at first, but it seemed to mesh as it went on. I was a little disappointed in the use of BRUSH SCRIPT font for the titles. I mean, with all the other careful art direction in this film, they couldn’t create a slightly better font than Microsoft?

The casting was perfect. I had doubts about Gosling when he first appeared on screen and doubts of Mulligan, but they worked. And Albert Brooks is an amazing asshole! The only thing I had really heard about this movie before was that people were shocked with how violent it was. Meh, not that crazy. 

I haven’t been updating shit… but here is a very very long list of 19 movies I’ve watched this year. That brings my total up to 25! Slightly behind…

*indicates a movie I would recommend

Thunderball

*Midnight in Paris

Live and Let Die

*Mighty Ducks (OK, only if you were a 90s kid)

Tiny Furniture

For Your Eyes Only

The Bat

Rocky

*Under the Boardwalk

*Adventures of TinTin

Margin Call

*Corman’s World

Pirates of the Caribbean 4: People are Still Giving Us Money

Roadie

*The Descendents

Moneyball

*Hugo

The Help

The Muppets

chaplininpictures:

Sunnyside (1919)

(via theloudestvoice)

etharzaherl:

Modern Times <3

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I flipped out when I saw the Google Doodle today. The Horse in Motion! The amazing experiment that led to such great things, such as board games turned into movies. And of course, the namesake of my Tumblr :) Thank you, Mr. Muybridge!

I will be writing more soon. Watching movies (somewhat) just haven’t had time for write-ups.

#6 - Goldfinger (1964)

Somehow, about 7 years ago, I decided this was my favorite Bond film? WTF??? This movie is horrible, horrible camp. And not even good over-the-top camp like the Batman TV series or Dr. Phibes. None of the action scenes are interesting, the whole plot is stupid. I was really pissed. Why was this my favorite??? I guess because I love the name Pussy Galore, and I was once obsessed with <i>Catch Me If You Can</i> which shows a clip from this film. And I love Shirley Bassey, who does the theme for this one. If you are watching Bond films, you can definitely, DEFINITELY skip this one. 

Man, Connery was one HAIRY dude. That just wouldn’t fly in movies today.

I think I’ve been watching movies on track to hit my goal of 50… just haven’t been updating!