Topic: Critter's Random DVD Watchings

[Critter]

I thought it was about time I started up a thread for reviews of just random DVD's I watch, instead of just ones in marathons or that I saw at the cinema.

I was wondering if somone could please post the smiley rating system that I see being used around here so that I may use it with these reviews. I think I know roughly what it is but I want to make sure I know them all.

- Baby Mama (2008)            
- Knocked Up (2007)            
- Inglorious Basterds (2009)  
- Iron Man (2008)                
- Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997)  
- Edward Scissorhands (1990)  
- The Hangover (2009)    
- Batman (1989)    
- The Abyss (1989)    
- The Heiress (1949)  
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)  
- (500) Days of Summer (2009)
- Zombieland (2009) 

[Critter]

Baby Mama



Year: 2008

Director: Micheal McCullers

Cast: Tina Fey, Sigourney Weaver, Steve Martin, Holland Taylor, Amy Poehler, Greg Kinnear

Plot: A successful, single businesswoman who dreams of having a baby discovers she is infertile and hires a working class woman to be her unlikely surrogate.

My Thoughts: I found this film to be a very enjoyable, light-hearted comedy that I can see myself watching time and time again. Being a fan of Tina Fey from her 30 Rock and Mean Girls fame I was thrilled to see her teamed up in a film with Poehler. I feel that Fey and Poohler have a great, on screen comedic chemistry which has been displayed throughout many seasons of SNL. While the plot wasn't exactly deep or moving on any levels, which of course I didn't expect it to be, I still found the film very entertaining with quite a few laugh out loud moments. While the two lead women were fantastic I was delightfully surpised with the performances of Steve Martin and Sigourney Weaver who both portrayed interesting, and somewhat eccentric characters. I especially enjoyed seeing Weaver in such a light-hearted role in a comedy as I have been a fan of her from the Aliens franchise for a long time and love seeing her in something other than sci-fi. Overall this was a fun film with plenty of laughs that was definatly carried well by the great cast.

My Rating:

[snowcat]

I was surprised that I did not like this film.

I think Tina Fey is hilarious, she was great on SNL and 30 Rock is one of my favourite shows at the moment, a show she rights! I guess I also kinda liked Second City.

I just felt this film was not her, maybe because she didn't write it.

Afterall, I think I liked Mean Girls so much because she was a writer on it.

[Critter]

Being an almost avid hater of Lindsay Lohan I think I can put down the fact that I love Mean Girls almost entirley up to Tina Fey. That woman is a genious and gave us so many fantastic lines in that film.
I think Mean Girls, along with Anchorman are the two most highly qouted films for our generation (or were at my High School anyway ).

As far as Baby Mama goes it definatly doesn't rank up there with Feys other stuff but I enjoyed the light-heartedness of it. And Steve Martins 5 minutes of uninterupted eye contact cracked me up

[Tom]

I was wondering if somone could please post the smiley rating system that I see being used around here so that I may use it with these reviews. I think I know roughly what it is but I want to make sure I know them all.

There is a button on the "post reply" page called "Encore rating 5=Best, 0=Worst" (right next to the WhatYaGot buttons). It will insert "mr" tags and the number you will enter in-between them is your rating and will be mapped to the correct smiley.
The ratings are:
0 = (bad or worse)
1 = (boring)
2 = (not really bad, but not good either)
3 = (I enjoyed it)
4 = (now that was quite good)
5 = (Excellent!)

You can roughly think of it as a star rating going from 0 to 5 stars.

[Critter]

Thanks Tom!

[Critter]

Knocked Up



Year: 2007

Director: Judd Apatow

Cast: Seth Rogan, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Jason Segal, Jonah Hill

Plot: For fun loving party animal Ben Stone, the last thing he ever expected was for his one night stand to show up on his doorstep eight weeks later to tell him she's pregnant.

My Thoughts: While not an overly fantastic film I found 'Knocked Up' to be cute and enjoyable. Many of the characters had me laughing out loud, one of which was the performance from Alan Tudyk who is one of my favourite actors and I was pleasently surprised to see he had a small role in this. One thing I like about this film is the way the humour, which is often crude at times and often relies on sex jokes and pop culture references, actually blends quite nicley with the overall sweet storyline that the film presents. While I feel that Seth Rogans lovable stoner character may be getting a bit old it suited this quite film well and as usual he pulled it off without a glitch. Leslie Mann probably presented my favourite performance in this film and I thought her character was fantastic. Overall I definatly wouldn't call this one of my favourite films but it was an enjoyable experience and a nice light-hearted film that I can see myself enjoying with friends time and time again.

My Rating:

[Critter]

Inglourious Basterds



Year: 2009

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Cast: Brad Pitt, Melanie Laurent, Diane Kruger, Cristoph Waltz, Eli Roth,

Plot: In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis.

My Thoughts: Since I saw this film at the cinema before I joined this forum I thought I would wait until it was out on DVD so I could review it while still fresh in my mind. Basterds was one of my favourite cinema experiences of 2009 and yes, I am a Tarantino fan which can be a scary thing to admit in this forum but it’s the truth, I have been a fan for years. With Basterds Tarantino carries that somewhat quirky style of filmmaking that he has developed over the years through his other films. It’s the small details I love, like the way the font in the opening credits changed 5 different times, or the fact that sometimes the English translations of French or German words remained as they are in their native language or the way scenes sometimes so abruptly cut into the next.

Like all Tarantino films, one thing I especially love is his use of music, the way it’s either loud and quite in your face or just not present at all, I also loved many of the references to his other films and picked up at least two from the Kill Bill’s. While I knew some of the actors in this film quite well, such as Brad Pitt and Diane Kruger, I was pleasantly surprised to be introduced to many actors who being either French or German I had not known before. Cristoph Waltz especially delivered a memorable performance as the films antagonist while contributing greatly to one of the most intense opening scenes I have seen in a while, and one which I will surely not forget for a long time. Actor Melanie Laurent also gave one of my favourite performances of the film and I am now eager to track her filmography and watch many more of her films.

While Basterds may not have had an extremely fast-paced storyline I never once found it boring and don’t believe it had a dull moment. Unlike many films it was the dialogue heavy scenes that I often found just as, if not more captivating than its action packed counterparts. This is a film that I can see myself enjoying over and over again and I loved watching all the extras (over 90 minutes worth) on the blu-ray version that I have.

My Rating:

[Najemikon]

  I loved the film too. Looking forward to seeing it again.


*quickly races in and links arms with Critter to form a human shield*

We shall, we shall not be moved! We shall, we shall not be moved! Who's with us?

[Critter]

I recommend getting it on blu-ray. In the special features they actually put the entire 'Nations Pride' feature, as well as some cool little postcards in the cover of the DVD, each sporting a different Nations Pride poster.

*Joins human shield*

I for one will never be moved out of my status as a Tarantino fan!

[snowcat]

...Hmm, I apologise but I wont be joining this one.

Im a Tarantino fan! Reservoir Dogs is one of my favourite films, and I really enjoyed the Kill Bills, Jackie Brown and Natural Born Killers. Maybe im more a fan of his writing style, maybe its improved too much for me? I don't know.

...I just found Inglorious Mediocre ... I didn't not like, but I didn't really like it.

...I think the kind of film Tarantino makes is original (waits for Jimmy to argue ) maybe not story wise but technique wise, unfortunately his technique is getting old, can he ever really out do himself?

...I just think the edge wasn't there like in his earlier films.

...Of course, Adam Sandler was supposed to be in the film, but due to clashes with Funny People he wasn't Im glad he wasn't I don't think he would suit this film at all... but then again, I didn't think Brad Pitt did, the same way I didn't think Pitt suited Burn After Reading.

[Najemikon]

I get what you mean, Emma, as this will always be a Marmite film, just like his others, but it's how fresh the technique was for Basterds that made me love it. The opening scene and the restaurant were both sublime at least and then the finale... I said in my review one shot in particular from the final moments feels like it will be a classic moment for me. Loved it, loved it, loved it! 

[Critter]

I know what you mean about the opening scenes and the restaurant scene Jon. I saw this in the cinema and watching that opening scene in a packed theatre to me was an amazing experience. That conversation was so intense that the entire cinema was eerily quiet, you could tell people were practically holding their breathe through that scene and no one dared even cough until it finished. Just amazing. A lot of the cinema even applauded when the film finished and I joined it with them, and let me tell you, people clapping in the cinema in this town is a very rare thing indeed.

[Critter]

Jon where is your review for this? I just went through the list up above but I couldn't find it.

[Najemikon]

Jon where is your review for this? I just went through the list up above but I couldn't find it.

http://www.dvdcollectorsonline.com/index.php/topic,5216.msg94778.html#msg94778

It is in the list under I, though I'd spelt it wrong.  Just corrected. There are also reviews from Rich and Marie, and Achim has reviewed the original The Inglorious Bastards.