calcufaust

I typically hate comedies, but this movie... this freaking movie. Quite possibly the funniest movie in the last 20 years. Incredibly quotable, really great subtle jokes blended with complete over the top silliness, and yet at the same time moments of sheer cool. There's only one scene that runs slightly long, and even that has a pretty good pay off. I could watch this movie every day and be happy, it's that fun.

95 _91%

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) - Rated 13 May 2010

It's hard to express just how well this movie works. How well it's constructed. How great the script is. How amazingly funny it is. Sure, it veers close to going off the rails at times, but in the exact right way. All of the actors in this are firing at all cylinders, and all told it's amazingly smart, if not incredibly silly at times.

65 _30%

Iron Man 2 (2010) - Rated 13 May 2010

It's not that this is a bad movie, or that it's not entertaining, it's just not great. The editing feels sloppy at times, some of the scenes don't quite work, and the third act is kind of weak. The movie does look pretty and individual moments work on their own, but strung together I found the entire thing lacking the spark of the original.

65 _30%

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) - Rated 30 Jan 2010

The movie has an absolutely amazing first act that does a great job of building to the "big" moment of the film, but after it hits its high note the movie becomes much less engaging. The problem is not the lack of a resolution, I think the issue is that the story follows threads that I don't think are so engaging while not paying more time to the things that would be. Ultimately, much like the characters in the film, once Miranda goes, you kind of wish she'd come back.

65 _30%

Thirst (2009) - Rated 30 Jan 2010

I don't have vampire films but I do have a dislike for vampire films that didn't really need a vampires. It's a shame that the effects are excellent, the imagery is nice, and that the great little character moments are wasted in a film that's just kind of there. You can pretty much figure out what's going to happen from major beat to major beat, and in a sense it becomes a chore. I didn't hate it, but I was hoping for more.

85 _83%

Zoo (2007) - Rated 30 Jan 2010

One feels that this movie shouldn't be as beautiful as it is. It's an uncomfortable subject that leads to an even more unfortunate death, and yet without showing the act, without getting explicit the movie has this great sadness and some beautiful images. I would love to see what these filmmakers did with a different subject matter because some of the imagery is so striking I kind of want to get lost in it it, especially the night time woods stuff.

60 _16%

The Exterminating Angel (1962) - Rated 30 Jan 2010

Conceptually I really like this movie, and I like the fact that it goes off in directions that are more interesting than one would think (clawing in to the walls for water for instance). Still, I ultimately found the film lacking. Most of this has to do with the ending, which even now I can't wrap my head around. It's not that it's a bad movie, I just never really felt engaged with it.

60 _16%

Sherlock Holmes (2009) - Rated 30 Jan 2010

I can see why the studio might have thought this was a good idea, but ultimately I feel this is a pretty forgettable action flick. RDJ is good but not as interesting as I would have liked. Still, the real problem with the flick start at the script stage. Making a Holmes movie where the villain has "magical" powers is just kind of silly because you know that eventually it's going to be revealed to be something, so why waste the audiences time?

75 _63%

Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) - Rated 30 Jan 2010

The road can be both liberating and isolating. The characters are rarely alone (the young group has each other and the GTO is constantly picking up hitchhikers) and yet they're alone most of the time. I like here that the director wasn't afraid to let the characters just be quiet. The racing scenes don't do much for me but there are some really neat sequences. The ending in pretty interesting different given some of its contemporaries.

70 _50%

Martyrs (2008) - Rated 17 Jan 2010

After the movie was over I couldn't help feeling that there were two good ideas here for a movie but only one kind of mediocre film in the end. I think either idea would make a great movie, but having them stuck together as this weird frankenstein monster did very very little for me. While the effects work was certainly good and the creature design interesting, the plot issues just really bothered me. The ending is pretty hilarious though.