Yes! I was just watching Police Academy at lunch! Weird, Bob.

Paul: As a huge fan of Pegg & Frost (& Edgar Wright), I was fearing the worst when I read some early reviews of how much worse this was than "Shaun of the Dead" & "Hot Fuzz", mainly because of the lack of Edgar Wright. But, like PopTodd said, this isn't a bad movie at all... in fact, I quite enjoyed it. It may not hit the high bar of their earlier stuff, but I think it's a good fit into their oeuvre.

The Lincoln Lawyer: Really pretty good. I mean, it won't make any Top 10 lists or anything, but it was rather enjoyable. I forgot that McConaughey can actually act once in a while. Phillippe wasn't great in his role, but overall, it was a pretty good movie.

Taxi Driver: I saw this on the big screen as a two-show-only release of the 35th Anniversary of it's original release... what needs to be said... One of the best movies of all time.

Oh, so you didn't go to

Let me know when you're here. We should try to meet up. I think at some point you were on my list of CMJers to meet. Since that list hasn't been updated or thought about in like seven years, you might be #1!

sounds good. prepare for disappointment!

Always.

Really, really good. In the same vein as Gomorrah but a much more of a personal tale, loved it. 4.5 stars


Very dark comedy that succeeded in making terrorists somewhat empathetic characters. A few really good laughs, but not something I particularly enjoyed. 2.5 stars


Duval was great, and there were some good moments, but this wasn't as funny as the trailer made it look. Maybe it was because I was expecting to laugh more, but this was pretty much a letdown. 3 stars

Just saw Hot Fuzz and I think that I enjoyed this flick more than any of the other Frost/Pegg vehicles, including Sean of the Dead. I laughed my ass off and loved all the references, to other movies, including their own. The chemistry between the two actors worked really well in the context of the cop buddy movie, as one would expect.
Yep. Definitely my favorite of the bunch.

Finally got up the courage to watch Restrepo. Fuck me. A lot of shit I'd rather forget. This flicks for real. Going to get after that bottle of MacAllan's I started the other night now.

whoa. restrepo documentarian & photojournalist tim hetherington killed today in libya.

Super was funnier than I expected. I do not believe I've ever laughed harder at people being bashed in the head with a pipe wrench.

Sucks. Resptrepo was great. I feel for his family but, not to be insensitive, he did put himself into some of the most dangerous, awful places on the planet for the last 20 years. I mean, West Africa, Liberian Civil War, Korengal Valley, and now Misrata.

Regular folk don't get killed by an RPG.

I don't think yr being insensitive. He definitely knew the risk by putting himself into those places. The trade-off though, was one of noble causes--educating us schlubs in suburbia about whats really going on out there in the world. Hopefully, his death (and that of the other photojournalist that was with him), will ignite some people to pick up Restrepo, but also know whats going on in Misrata.

Was just about to come and post about this. HERE's the NYT blurb

Realized yesterday that Chris Hondros, the photojournalist that was killed alongside Hetherington, was a NC State grad. He also has a young child and was supposed to be married this summer. Sad.

This wasn't bad. I think as a franchise it could be interesting. I definitely don't think its a younger kids movie, though. For me, it fell in line with Black Cauldron and films like that were actually sort of dark. The animation was spectacular though. There's a scene where one of the owls is flying through a storm and the water droplets, wind, feathers--absolutely stunning.

I read the first book in this series after learning that an acquaintance's mother was the author. It was okay. Not really interested in the movie. Owls who? Owls hoo.

...and on the opposite end of the spectrum, I watched this tonight. I'm only really so-so in touch with his story, so this was pretty great to finally get some info behind the man. Its a doting documentary about a guy who everyone thinks is a god, but happens to be apparently "one of the nicest, most genuine people" you will meet. It gets rather long towards the end, and I could've done without the Metallica love-in portions. I wish I could see the raw footage of the Grohl/Lemmy in the studio talking. Both seem to get one another, and they have great rapport. Still amazes me how big Motorhead is in the rest of the world. Sheesh. The Hawkwind portion was cool too. Wish there was a doc just on them.

*edit* appears the BR features the complete Grohl/Lemmy talk. And like 4.5 hrs of extras. Sheesh.

Also, I watched The King's Speech. Meh. It was ok, and an interesting story--but as a best picture?

scary shit

Source Code. this is better than the trailers make it out to be. i decided to see it based on moon and a coworker who flipped for it. there're some interesting ideas here about what it means to be a human being. a few geography and continuity errors here and there, but i enjoyed it overall.

The Conspirator. eh, i think av club said it best that "[it] should skip theaters altogether and become the first film released straight to middle-school history classes, where the standards for what can generously be deemed entertainment are much lower." there were no great scenes, spotty acting and it really latched onto allegory. nice production and fairly historically accurate; i'll be interested to see what else this company produces.

Ball of Fire. this is basically howard hawks' remaking snow white and the 7 dwarfs with barbara stanwyck and gary cooper. the dwarfs are professors writing a new encyclopedia and cooper's character goes into the streets to pick up slang. he meets stanwyck's cabaret singer and she ends up spending a few days with the professors while the heat cools on her gangster boyfriend. it's a billy wilder script, so it has some good stuff, but it's not very engaging and terribly predictable.

I saw The Lincoln Lawyer last week, and it's right up there with A Time to Kill and Dazed and Confused as the best (READ: only good) things McConaughey has ever done.

I have only seen Dazed and Confused of the three you list, but I liked Contact.

Right on the money...

Ding ding ding. I'll add Lonestar to that list as well.

Totally forgot about Lonestar...great one. As is another I completely blanked on, Frailty.