Moviewatcher122's 2014 Film Diary: July

July 2



"I'm sick of being ashamed. I don't mind being dejected and rejected, but I'm not going to be ashamed about it. At least pain is real. I mean, you look around and you see nothing is real, but at least the pain is real."

While this was an enjoyable movie, it also felt dated and it just didn't leave a big impression on me. It is well-made and I like what it had to say, but it's not as good as it would've been 24 years ago and it's really not anything memorable.

July 3



"That's how I found her and from that moment I did not use my head, except to think about her."

So far, I think this is Orson Welles' best movie. If you've seen my other lists then you might already know that I couldn't stand Citizen Kane and that I really liked Touch of Evil, but didn't think it was the masterpiece everyone said it was. While I wouldn't call this movie great, it does have some great acting for it's time and I really enjoyed the second half that had some really neat effects. It's far from being a great movie, but it's still a very good one and it's somewhat underrated.

July 4

I didn't think it was possible, but this movie tops Fast Times at Ridgemont High as the most overrated movie of all time. The first 30 minutes is nothing happening besides talking which wouldn't be a problem if the dialogue wasn't so awful and the fact that no one in this movie can act except for one actor, but even he can't save this movie. It tries so hard to be disturbing, but it's not because the characters are so unlikeable. I really can't believe the praise this film gets because it's not disturbing, it's not art, it's just trash. I understand that this is supposed to be a movie that's realistic with its violence, but it's been done before in better movies. If this movie wasn't already bad enough it gave us the worst ending possible. Seriously? One of the characters uses the remote to rewind someone's death to bring him back to life?!? Not only is that a cheap ending, but it is not realistic at all. If someone dies you can't rewind them back to life. I don't care what anyone says. That ending was really lazy.

All I was expecting was a disturbing movie that would really scare the shit out of me, but I didn't get it. All it did was piss me off because it didn't do anything for me. It's just a terrible movie with no redeeming qualities at all.

July 4



"The only reason you're here is because there is no room for you anywhere else."
"Well, why don't you get me a room at the Holiday Inn?"
"Why don't you wise up?"

I wasn't going to end the day on a terrible note, so I decided to watch a movie that I knew I would like. It's a really well-made prison movie with a great performance from a young Sean Penn. The story isn't anything spectacular, but it does have some really good characters and it's one of the more darker teen movies of the 80's. I have no idea why this movie is forgotten especially considering that Sean Penn is in this movie. I blame the other Bad Boys movie.

July 5



"Would you read it?"
"Your novel?"
"Yeah, it's about 400 pages long, and I'm just looking for an opinion."
"My opinion is I hate it."
"Well you haven't even read it yet."
"If it's bad, I'll hate it because I hate bad writing, and if it's good, I'll be envious and hate all the more. You don't want the opinion of another writer."

For a recent Woody Allen movie this was really good. There were times while watching that I forgot it was a Woody Allen movie because it's one of his more diverse films. Owen Wilson delivers a performance that's possibly the best in his whole career and everyone else delivers a really good performance. Overall this is a very original movie and you should watch it if you haven't seen it already.

July 6



"The lights are growing dim Otto. I know a life of crime has led me to this sorry fate, and yet, I blame society. Society made me what I am."
"That's bullshit. You're a white suburban punk just like me."
"Yeah, but it still hurts."

This was an entertaining movie, but when it ended I was like "That's it?" It is cheesy 80's movie fun, but it just feels like the movie was too short for it's own good.

July 7



"What is wrong is wrong, no matter who said it or where it's written."

This was a fantastic movie. It had some amazing writing and the realism of this movie is amazing. It didn't feel like I was watching a movie at all. It felt like I was watching something that really happened which shows how realistic this movie is. If you're planning on seeing this movie then go into this one blind because that's how I watched this film.

July 7



"You always makin' big plans for tomorrow. You know why? Because you always fuckin' up today."

This was a really interesting movie. It had some great character development and I really liked how they took the prison escape plot and turned it into something different.

July 8



"You don't want to be trapped inside with me sunshine. Inside, I'm somebody nobody wants to fuck with do you understand? I am Charlie Bronson, I am Britain's most violent prisoner."

While this movie does have an engaging story, what really makes this movie great is Tom Hardy's performance. He really goes out of his way to deliver an amazing performance and it's too bad that it doesn't seem to get that much recognition, but then again this movie doesn't get talked about that much either.

July 9



"Hey mate! Good to see you. What can I get ya?"
"How about... drunk."

I don't really understand the low ratings this movie gets. I was expecting this to be a funny John Candy movie and that's exactly what I got. It's much better than some of the comedies we get today.

July 10



"Nobody ever listens to me, then when they do... we're gonna die..."

I decided to finally see this movie just to get it over with. To start with the obvious, I hated the shaky camera. I've seen a few movies with shaky-cam and this is the only time that it's bothered me. It looked like it was filmed by a drunk guy that doesn't know how to use a camera and it makes the action scenes annoying to watch. The acting was also horrible, so was the dialogue and the characters were unlikable. The only good thing about this movie were the special effects which looked really good, but overall this movie is painful to the eyes and painful to the ears.

July 11



"It was a virus created by scientists in a lab. You can't honestly blame the apes?"
"Who the hell else am I going to blame? It was a simian flu. They already killed off half the planet."

The original Planet of the Apes is one of my favorite movies of all time, so I was really looking forward to this movie and it also helped that Rise of the Planet of the Apes was good. This movie is actually better than Rise. In this day and age where summer blockbusters are mindless action movies, it's great to see an intelligent movie that has a great story and character development. I really loved how this movie focused on the apes, but still made the humans a big part of the movie. It's a movie that doesn't have any action in it until the second act, but when the action starts it's amazing. We get some great special effects and I loved seeing them in 3D. The acting is really great in this movie. Andy Serkis does an amazing job as Caesar and Gary Oldman delivers a performance that is just as great as you would expect. This is the best movie of the year and I'm not sure if there's going to be anything else that will top it. I might say this quite a bit, but this is a movie you have to see it theatres. It's the kind of movie that is meant to be experienced on the big screen and see it in 3D too because it's one of those rare times where the 3D is actually worth the extra money for.

July 13



"True love is just like a ghost - people talk about it, but very few have actually seen it."

I really wasn't expecting this to be anything great, but it managed to surprise me. I'm usually not a fan of Paul Rudd in leading roles, but his performance in this movie is the best I've seen from him. Emile Hirsch also delivers a great performance, but that's something that's to be expected from an actor like him. It also has some great dialogue and I just really liked what this movie had to say. Overall it's a near-perfect movie that's pretty much better than David Gordon Green's last three movies before this one.

July 14



"So your daddy dances in front of you, does he?"
"Only when he's rehearsing."

Honestly, I thought this movie was overrated. It is a funny movie and it did make me laugh a few times, but it's not as great as Rotten Tomatoes or IMDB would have you believe and I'm baffled by the fact that it got nominated for a few Oscars and it actually won one of them. What's so Oscar-worthy about it? Was it really a slow year for The Academy? Did they forget about Boogie Nights? To me it's just a comedy that's too forgettable to be Oscar-worthy or even Golden Globe-worthy. What's worse is this movie is that it seems to get less funny as the movie goes on. It's worth watching at least once, but don't expect anything great from it.

July 16



"I can't really remember when I last had any hope, and I certainly can't remember when anyone else did either. Because really, since women stopped being able to have babies, what's left to hope for?"

I've been wanting to see this movie for at least a couple of years not just because I think Clive Owen is a great actor, but because of the excellent premise this movie has. Knowing it was directed by Alfonso Cuarón, I knew that it was going to be well-executed. The way the future was portrayed was brilliant. It was actually more believable than some future movies that mostly rely on futuristic gadgets and the acting in this movie was amazing. Overall it's a fantastic sci-fi movie and I would definitely watch it again from time to time.

July 16



When I was looking for documentaries to add to my Netflix queue, I found this movie and decided that I felt like watching it now. It was a really interesting and informative documentary about Night of the Living Dead and the impact it had on people during the 60's. Even when it seems to drag on at times, it's still able to give some interesting information. It's far from perfect, but it's worth watching if you're a fan of Night of the Living Dead.

July 17



"Dad, I'm really scared. Can't we just go home?"
"Jessica, this is home. You need to get used to that."

Not to be confused with The Messenger which doesn't deserve to be confused with this abomination. It is a really lame horror movie that is completely devoid of anything scary and what's worse is that I was actually able to figure out how this movie ends. Also I seem to have mixed feelings with Kristen Stewart as an actress. She delivered a mediocre performance in Zathura, an OK performance in Adventureland, a great performance in Speak and in this movie she just lacked emotion. This movie does have some really good cinematography and it's not the worst horror movie ever, but it's still a great example with everything that's wrong with the horror genre today.

July 17



While this is another home invasion movie, this is much better than Funny Games. The acting was pretty good for a low-budget film and it actually succeeds at being disturbing. It's far from perfect, but it's still a really well-made film and it's very underrated.

July 18



"You live only for tomorrow."
"What?"
"The ones that live for tomorrow, get fucked by the ones living for today."
"What are you babbling about?"
"I only live for today. I'll show you just how fucked up that can be."

This was an awesome action-thriller. Even though the plot is simplistic, it was still executed well. The character development in this movie was great and it made the action scenes of this movie more suspenseful. The action scenes in this movie were great, but that's pretty much the case with most Asian films. I really liked this movie and it's definitely worth watching.

July 19



It kind of felt like wasted potential. It does have some genuinely funny jokes, but it also has the same cliches that romantic comedies have and some of the jokes fell flat as well. It's a shame that it has to be a typical romantic comedy because it could've been better than that and I would give this movie a higher rating if it wasn't so predictable. You don't even have to watch this movie to know how it ends. It's the most obvious ending that you could give to a movie of this genre.

July 19



"People choose their deaths when they choose how they live."

While this movie isn't anything special and it could've used more action, it's still decent entertainment even if you forget about it when it's over.

July 20

Congratulations Martha Marcy May Marlene! You are the 50th movie to get a 1 star rating from me. Why is that you may ask? Because it's one of those movies where nothing of substance happens and I have a low tolerance for those kind of movies. If a movie doesn't have a plot then at least try to make it interesting. I haven't been bored with a movie this much since I watched Somewhere which is another movie where nothing happens. For the first four minutes of the movie we get no dialogue. It's just tedious shit that doesn't belong in a movie. When we do get dialogue it's still feels like a movie where nothing happens. It just doesn't have anything to offer. No interesting characters, no plot, and meaningless dialogue.

I'm really having a hard time talking about this movie because nothing happens, but what I do have to say besides that is Elizabeth Olsen's performance. I do not understand what is so amazing about it. I thought her performance was lacking of any emotion. Then there's the ending which was terrible. It's not even an ending. It just ends and it made me feel like I wasted my fucking time on this waste of film. Had I known that this would be the type of movie I would hate, I wouldn't have watched it at all.

July 20



"You're in this position because you're not telling the truth."
"No, I'm in this fucking position because YOU HAVE A GUN!"

For a movie that takes place in one location, it was never boring and it was so suspenseful that I couldn't pause it at all. Not only that, but Colin Farrell also delivers a great performance and it also has some great social commentary and some occasional dark humor which were things I wasn't expecting from this movie. This is a great thriller that had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish.

July 22



"You killed my father, and you stole my elephant!"

This was a great martial-arts movie and I enjoyed it even more than Ong-Bak. While the story is a bit lacking, this movie makes up for it with some awesome fight scenes. Tony Jaa is a really talented martial artist, but it's just too bad that he wasted it on unnecessary sequels.

July 23



"If you don't see a vulnerability in somebody, you're probably not relating with them on a very personal level."

This was a really fascinating documentary on what goes on with independent video game developers and how long it takes for them to make one game. It was really interesting to see what happened during the progress and even though I knew that the games are already released by now, I still had this feeling that the games won't be finished on time and it's great when this kind of documentary can pull it off. I highly recommend this movie even if you're not a gamer.

July 24



Some people say we're racists. We're not racists. We're realists. Some people call us Nazis. We're not Nazis. No, what we are, we are nationalists and there's a reason people try to pigeonhole us like this. And that is because of one word, gentlemen.- Fear."

This is one of those movies that starts off good, but it gets better once you get to know the characters more. Even though they've done some terrible things, they are still the kind of characters you'll care about despite that. It's a great movie and I can definitely see myself watching it again.

July 26



"I'll shut the door on you. You lay down here and put your head in the door. And I'll slam it about 157,000 times."

*sigh* This is another one of those cases where the trailer is funnier than the actual movie. Most of the time it feels like this movie isn't even trying to be funny. No, it actually feels like the people behind this movie knew it was bad and just decided to put the funny parts into the trailer to trick people into seeing it because there were only two funny jokes in this movie that weren't already in the trailer. Melissa McCarthy was annoying and unfunny and Sandra Bullock was awkward and it looks like she was embarrassed to be in this movie. I know I say this quite a bit, but 2013 wasn't a very good year for movies and it especially wasn't a good year for comedy. The only good ones that come to mind are This is the End and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. The World's End was a letdown and movies like We're The Millers and Bad Grandpa which some people call the funniest movies of the year are ones that I have no interest in seeing. We also got Grown Ups 2 which is possibly the worst comedy of all time. Then we have this movie which shouldn't have been made and it's the worst buddy cop movie ever made.

July 27



"Well, I wouldn't back away from what's right just because it's hard. My father used to say: plant your feet and stand firm. The only question is where to put your feet."

While this was an entertaining movie, it's not the really fun movie that it could've been. What took the fun away from this movie a little bit was the tone. This movie took itself way too seriously. I think it's safe to say that it takes itself just as seriously as the other Lincoln movie. I'm not saying this movie isn't fun to watch, but I just think it would've been more fun if the tone wasn't so serious and just had fun with its ridiculous premise. The special effects in this movie were impressive and the action scenes were decent, but in the end it's just a movie that's fun, but also forgettable.

July 28



"You like old things."
"A shrink said to me once that I have trouble living in the present, so I linger on the past because I felt like I never really lived it in the first place, you know?"

I just don't know what to say about this movie. It just wasn't good. The dialogue was really uneven. Sometimes it was fine, but other times it was unnatural. The acting wasn't really bad, but it wasn't believable either. The main problem I have with this movie is Ben Stiller. His performance was OK, but his acting wasn't the problem. It was the character he was playing. During most of the movie I thought that his character could've been explored more until the movie was close to ending. It was then I realized that he was just a pretentious, unlikable, asshole. To be fair that was the point, but it doesn't have good dialogue to support it and Stiller's character has maybe one interesting and somewhat relatable quality about him and that's about it. Also the more I think about Ben Stiller's performance, the more I think that this role isn't that much of a stretch for him. His character feels similar to the characters he's played in comedy movies except if you removed any likability from them. Overall this movie was just a character-study that just didn't work. At least for me it didn't.

July 29



"Can't you just erase the bad parts?"
"My memory is a holographic array. If I lost half of it I'd still have every memory, just in half the resolution."

The story in this movie was simple, but it was still done very well. The character development was great and I really loved how the robot in this movie was someone in a suit instead of CGI. It made the robot look more realistic than CGI ever could. It does lose a little bit of steam near the end of the movie, but it's still touching enough for me to give it a 9/10.

July 30



"My job is to hunt terrorists. I don't negotiate. Within three days, I will find you. You can start counting."

This really wasn't anything special. The writing was average, the plot was weak and Kevin Costner delivers an performance that's OK at best. The action scenes were good at first, but by the third act they started to get tedious and the father/daughter problems just didn't work for this kind of movie. It's a somewhat entertaining movie, but it's one you'll forget about right after watching it.

July 30



While this isn't the great movie I was anticipating it to be, it was still pretty good. Nicolas Cage's performance was great and everyone else delivers a solid performance, but the story is the weakest part of the movie. It's not bad or anything, but it isn't anything special. Still the writing is pretty good and it's one of those movies that even people who don't like Nicolas Cage will still like this one.

July 31



"Michael Jennings is not a super agent, he's an engineer. Yet, somehow he managed to escape from a double-locked room. How? Was it fate? No. Fate was on our side. That means someone who knew, changed something."

Out of all the movies that were in my queue, only 3 of them were leaving Netflix on the beginning of August. Those movies were Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, Greenberg and this one. Out of all of them, this was surprisingly the best one. Yes it may be formulaic, but it is still a very fun movie. For the most part Ben Affleck's performance was half-decent and most of the acting in this movie was good. The only performance that isn't good was Uma Thurman's. She was passable until near the end of the movie and that was when her acting was terrible which is weird because she usually is a good actress. This was a very fun movie and it really wasn't as bad as everyone says.

July 31



"All people know the same truth. Our lives consist of how we choose to distort it."

This is one of Woody Allen's weaker movies. It does have its funny moments, but at times it can be annoying to watch. Some people praise how this movie is edited, but I found it to be annoying and it's really no better than the editing in a typical YouTube video. I also found that one actress in this movie really annoying and she couldn't act at all. It doesn't help that all of her dialogue was just yelling. It does have some interesting scenes and like I said it does have its funny moments, but it's not Woody Allen's best movie and it's mostly forgettable.

July 31



"I think people should mate for life, like pigeons or Catholics."

I think I found Woody Allen's best movie. Originally it was Annie Hall, but now it's this one. Everything about this movie is great. It has some of Allen's best dialogue, exceptional acting and it's one of the best romantic-comedies ever made. The drama in this movie is genuine and it has a happy ending, but it's not the typical kind of happy ending that most romantic-comedies have. As for the humor, it didn't make me laugh out loud like Sleeper or Bananas did, but every joke in this movie worked. This is a great movie in every way and it's Woody Allen's masterpiece.

July 14



"Are you having trouble with the directions?"
"I am. You're going too fast, yes."

I really liked this movie. While the plot isn't anything special, it is a really funny movie that mixes dark humor with heartwarming emotion very well.

July 15



"There are no real monsters."
"Except for the one in my closet."

The idea of a rabid dog being the killer for a horror movie is actually a more original idea than you would think. It makes for a really scary movie and it doesn't have any sequels that could potentially ruin the original. This was a very solid horror movie and it's one of the more underrated adaptations of a Stephen King book.