Mack's Movies 2013: January

January 2nd: Instant watch, TV screen
Overall opinion: Meh
The Hole wasn't brilliant but if you're thinking of watching it just know: it could be a looooot worse. In comparison to lotsa those awful teen slasher flicks this one's okay, it's got a plot sorta and it really does try. Neat idea, the characters are not complete buffoons nor big stereotypes- nothing special but still. I guess if you're a horror buff it's worth a look, it did have some cool moments. It wasn't very scary however. I'm a wuss and I watched it alone at night and I was only mildly creeped out. It was also very generic all over- like I said nothing special, but good enough that I wasn't hating it after.

January 2nd: Instant watch, TV screen
Overall opinion: Nooooope.

Welp it's what you'd expect of course, I mean Ron Perlman and Nic Cage as the two leads? The melodrama was palpable. Not to mention knowing anything about the history of this time period will probably not let you take any of this film seriously. It's sorta like Mel Gibson being that super nice plantation owner in The Patriot- some actors want to be in a period piece but don't want to deal with realistic characters tarnishing their image. It wasn't the worst I've seen but it was still sorta terrible. Looked sorta nice thought.

January 2nd: Instant watch, tv screen
Overall opinion: Pretty nice

I don't see many westerns but what I do see of them I figure John Wayne pretty much plays the same character. I think I liked Robert Mitchum more in this one. I haven't seen much of him in movies but I like him. I wish I could say more but I hardly know the genre... it was an interesting story, got some funny lines, nice characters. Pretty much what you'd expect for the time period, including some mild racism for humor's sake. I'd watch it again.

January 3rd: Instant watch, TV
Overall opinion: :/

I lost my control of Netflix today and this is what we ended up watching (nevermind the 4 hours of Grey's Anatomy). It wasn't terrible but... as a documentary I would have preferred a focus on the actual gaming of the arcade times, something I know absolutely nothing about, but this was a focus on the people who set world records on arcade games and apparently those who helped push along the awful negative gaming stereotypes back in the day. The more footage they showed the more I disliked almost every single one of those guys. And I couldn't even take shelter in the "this is just a movie" mantra because these are all legitimate, real life assholes. If I had know the amount of time this docu spent telling viewers about these dude's personal lives (I didn't see the title of it beforehand in my defense) I wouldn't have watched.

January 5th: Instant watch, TV screen
Overall opinion: Nice

January 5th: Instant watch, TV screen
Overall opinion: Very good, tough to watch

Did not know what to expect when I started this... I saw it on listal's Darkest Films (Definitive Edition), I can say it definitely deserves to be on that list. After watching I was left feeling melancholy for the rest of the day. It's heartbreaking and not a little horrifying, one of those films were you think "how much worse could this possibly get" and then it gets worse. But very worth watching, if you can handle it. Wonderful acting, powerful story, it really leaves an impression. It's easy to forget how humans can be the worst monsters... this movie shows that without flinching, though you probably will.

January 5th: Instant watch, TV screen
Overall opinion: Interesting


To be honest this movie seemed really strange to me. I could not at all fortell what was going to happen (a good thing of course) and I didn't get the characters at all, not at all. The comedy came off more dysfunctional than funny... it quirky and sort of like riding in a speeding car with a crazy driver, it just kept going even though I didn't know where or why. I liked it though, I was totally absorbed.

I watched this a few hours after watching The Snowtown Murders, it could be an after effect of the darkness of that film, that I was unable to process comedy properly. I will probably watch this again sometime this year under better circumstances.

January 6th: Instant watch, TV screen
Overall opinion: Good
"Did he say anything before he died?"

At first I put this on as a movie to watch while I was doing something else, but I was pleasantly surprised at the quality. It really hooked me from the begining, so I made time to sit and watch it. I was impressed at the cinematography and lighting, the acting (I had a hunch I would start to love Robert Mitchum and I was right, so far this guy can do no wrong), the worldly settings- having a movie that seems to promote globalism only a decade after WWII, and such a good film at that... I was a little let down at the ending but overall, a good movie.

January 6th: Theaters
Overall opinion: Okay

I was sort of dissapointed in The Hobbit... back in the days there were only books (and those cool animated movies) The Hobbit was always a lot dearer to me than LOTR was. For nostalgic reasons mostly, and maybe my expectations were too high. But with The Fellowship of the Ring being one of the best movies I've seen, how could my expectations not be high? Sadly this film made Bilbo's adventure (the start of it anyway) seem sort of dull and dare I say shallow. Maybe it's just the nature of the story, that it isn't as grave and dire an adventure as getting the ring to Mordor. Maybe I just do not like movies with too many dwarves as comic relief (as these several Snow White adaptations have taught me recently). One can only hope that the next part of this movie will be better.

January 6th: Instant watch, TV screen
Overall opinion: Fantastic


I have never seen a western like this and I don't think another western could possibly reach the high standards this movie has set for me. It was beautifully shot, I couldn't get over how nice some of the shots were, especially in the opening. I watched this with my mother and was happy she liked it too: she kept commenting how strange it was to see Henry Fonda play against type as the villain. I think he and all of the actors did a wonderful job. It felt so realistic in comparison to the John Wayne westerns I've seen. I can't wait to see more of Leone's films.

January 7th: Netflix instant: TV screen
Overall opinion: Good

It was a good and interesting film, beautiful setting, cool story, but still a little lackluster overall. I think it was Johnny Depp who was so disinteresting, though I preferred this over a lot of his other recent performances. That and the story felt minimal, sort of like a prequel to a bigger story. Not a masterpiece but worth seeing if you're interested, especially for Giovanni Ribisi's character Moberg. And at the least it piques my interest in the novel it was based on by Hunter S. Thompson.

January 7th: Netflix instant: TV screen
Overall opinion: Great

Loved it. Snatch is incredibly entertaining. An absorbing and winding story: it's a roller coaster of perfectly timed good and bad luck that had me grinning after almost every new development. All the acting was great, the editing was amusing and had great timing. I don't know that it brought anything new to gangster films, bu it's really worth checking out.

January 9th: Theaters
Overall opinion: Okay


My mother wanted to see this with my sister and I in theaters, so we did. I agreed because I usually like Seth Rogan and truth be told almost every time I laughed it was one of his lines. But it was better than I thought it would be, forsaking a romantic plot and sticking with the "life lessons" theme, and Barbra Streisand was surprisingly likeable. It didn't hold my attention too well at first but I was paying attention by the end. It was a cute kinda movie.

January 10th: Instant Watch, TV screen
Overall opinion: Okay
Netflix Instant Project 2013


Funny and quirky and the sleepwalking sure added an interesting flavor to it, but it still felt a little shallow. There is something I have yet to see in a standup comedian, no feeling of true emotional depth. All well and fine in actual standup routines but in this movie I couldn't get attached to this guy, I didn't find myself caring too much what happened to him. I got a few good chuckles out of his jokes though. His sleepwalking incidents were interesting.

January 12th: Instant watch, computer screen
Overall opinion: Okay
Expected a gritty revenge film, instead got a gritty violent film which didn't seem to have many morals, hopefully in a satirical way. But I am not so great at interpreting 70's films. It seemed pretty serious to me, that we were supposed to cheer on Charles Bronson's character as he murdered all these muggers. It just seemed very weird! He didn't even go after the specific muggers who attacked his family, he just killed any mugger he could find. And then other people started using violence to solve violence as well, and this made Bronson's character happy. It was really frustrating to watch.

On the plus side I got a kick out of their portrayal of Tucson, Arizona and the people living there. All cowboys all the time, partner!

Five by Five project, recommended by Xanadon't
January 18th: Instant watch, computer screen
Overall opinion: Great



What I loved most about this really great documentary was that it was so sincere. Somewhere I read a movie review that noted how movies these days are always extremely self-aware, full of irony, sarcasm, or they're making some kind of mockery, statement, or satire out of some other type of movie. Even documentaries can feel like that depending on the subject and presentation. But Marwencol felt candid to me, it all felt true and real like I haven't felt watching a movie in a while. The best docus open up a little window into whatever they're trying to present, and Marwencol is one of the best.

January 24th: Instant watch, computer screen
Overall opinion: What did I just watch?

This is a really strange documentary. I don't know what I was expecting- interesting plant knowledge I guess, I am always interested in learning about plants- but this was more like a trip. The atmosphere was that of a documentary about alien life when it wasn't being completely random and bizarre. Here's a review on Netflix that I think sums it up really well:

"By far the weirdest documentary Ive ever seen. If you can make it through the songs and interpretive plant dance I assure you that you will have a good deal of laughs. Or your head might explode in confusion. Features include: psychedelic time-lapse photography, motivational sing-a-long about George Washington Carver, rugged ex police guy that thinks plants can read his mind, mad sythesizer jams, and african space-seeds that receive signals from Sirius. Be careful though- a couple times it really seems like its over- like after the extended choreographed plant footage to the Beatles here comes the sun (because sure, why not throw that in there?) and the several other anticlimactic moments, but dont be fooled- theres much more fantastic randomness on the way. A+ they dont make documentaries like this today....or ever previously."

I cannot rate higher than 4/10 because it is not nearly as informative as I like my docus to be, nor very good quality, but at the same time it's weirdly interesting and one of the strangest American movies I've ever seen, and it is really cool to see so many people that into plants.

January 29th: Instant watch, computer screen
Leaving Netflix Instant on the 1st of Feb
Overall opinion: Okay


Not the biggest action movie fan, but, I kinda liked Payback. I wasn't sure how we were supposed to feel about Mel Gibson's character... the tagline says we'll be rooting for the bad guy, but I wouldn't have minded an ending where everyone went up in flames (I watched the Theatrical version though I hear the Director's Cut is completely different in tone and ending). But there's something to enjoy about a movie full of dirtbags fighting each other. Not terribly interesting but a fun ride and I was into it by the end.
Also, thumbs up to Lucy Liu in this one. I'd watch it again for her character.

January 30th: Instant watch, computer screen
Leaving Netflix Instant on the 1st of Feb
Overall opinion: Okay

"Eddie, would you marry a stripper who put her ass in your face?"
"I don't think I'd marry a stripper who wouldn't put her ass in my face."

A funny and lighthearted movie, not nearly as raunchy as I expected which might be good or bad depending on your tastes. I like Crispin Glover and he was entertaining here. Nothing too special but I'd watch it again.

January 30th: Instant watch, computer screen
Overall opinion: Okay


Leaving Netflix Instant on the 1st of Feb

A lot of the entertainment I got was from recognizing some of the cast from other works: Leland Palmer is in Red Foreman's gang as they wage a crime war against a robot created by FBI Agent Albert Rosenfield. Hilarious. But Kurtwood Smith was great as Boddiker, and the whole concept of the movie is neat (a little Inspector Gadget but still enjoyable). I loved the ED-209 though. It's beautifully dated animation and of course it growls and roars because, why the hell not? If I had a giant security robot you bet your ass it would make scary animal noises. Probably one of my top robot "characters" for its total lack of efficiency. Just brilliant.

The 80's vibe brings it down a little, I think. It's not held up the test of time, but in a way that adds a lot of charm. The action was okay if you really like explosions, though after the first 4 or 5 I was a little over those. I guess the extremely bloody shootout scenes make up for the slower parts, though it wasn't as exciting as I was hoping.