MI4: GHOST TURD-IN-THE-HALL - 5/10
I like action movies. A lot.
I can't stand drama snore-fests.
But this one had me fast forwarding 2X with subtitles and clicking on the time counter within thirty minutes.
Too many preposterous deus ex machina tech toys.
Maybe I'd call it "tech ex machina" save@ss complacency.
Gotta love the profitability on this gig, though.
Budget $145 million
Box office $693 million
WTH are people so delighted over?
I turned it off during the Dubai to Mumbai air hop aboard the GS. Snore....
A DANGEROUS METHOD - 6/10
It was fairly interesting, but I still FF@2X w/ sub-tittlies after the first half hour.
(KK's bubbies, such that they are, zipped right on by, thank God!)
Two points I found myself distractedly interested in were that historically the development of "the talking cure" as opposed to mechanical or chemical "cures" was revolutionary, and that our self-righteous society of "freedom" absolutely dismisses that not all "sex" is about sex or that some things which do not at all appear to be about sex are indeed quite about sex.
I was most impressed with Knightly's performance. It was a tough role to accept.
Kudos to both her and the director.
MARGIN CALL - 9/10
A very nice film.
Hoorah for another excellent indie film.
Maybe it's because at heart I am a numbers guy and clearly understand how digits on a screen or paper have a real life impact - but the tension of the responsibility to exactly "whom" do employees in this position have was meaningful to me.
At what point is technically legal behavior socially criminal?
I know they made money on this (barely), but I'm disappointed more people weren't interested in it.
Budget $3.4–3.5 million (est.)
Box office $11,507,328 (worldwide)
This is what I would call "a good movie that I didn't enjoy."
My nerves were a wreck during and afterward.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsBznn8D13zOdGlCeDRmWTFCYXJRWjJ3SUphZDNzMGc#gid=0
Of the 2011 Sundance features that received distribution, Margin Call & The Guard are the only two I'd recommend watching.
I'm still waiting for Trollhunter to stay on the library shelf long enough to snatch it up!
Hey, Pete! (below) -
What makes for a good Guy Ritchie trifecta is to watch his progression from LOCK, STOCK, AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS, when he had no financing, to SNATCH, when he did have better financing - but received a lotta grief over just a remake of the LS&TSB formula with cash, to ROCKNROLLA, where he ditched the "fun" and just caught grief for being poor at being serious.
And if you can, try to catch up with
DEFENDOR back to back with
SUPER.
>>
http://www.crackle.com/c/Defendor