Moviewatcher122's 2015 Film Diary: March

March 1



"It's funny to think that just a year ago, I sat in that Knightsbridge Pub actually planning to murder her. And I might have done it, if I hadn't seen something that changed my mind."
"Well? What did you see?"
"I saw you."

After being underwhelmed by The Lady Vanishes, it's nice to see a movie with that Hitchcock greatness I was expecting from the last one. The acting was great for the time, the story was well told and I was interested with what was happening from start to finish. The only problem I had with this movie is that the ending was kind of disappointing and it just felt anti-climactic. It just wasn't a good enough payoff in my opinion, but it's still another classic Alfred Hitchcock movie.

March 2



"Put it this way, now. Say I rent to a woman, well, she has to have a room with a bath. I insist on it, because otherwise she's got the hall bath tied up all the time, washing her goddamn hair and her clothes and everything she can think of..."
"If you keep out the women in the first place, see, you keep out the hookers, and then you keep out the cops, and that's how you have a clean place."

This was a very fun movie. It had some really well-written dialogue, some good acting and it was also funny at times. It's a pretty good movie and I was never bored while watching it.

March 2



"I think you owe me a solid reason. I worked my ass off for you and the kids to have a nice life and you owe me a reason that makes sense. I want to hear it."
"Because. When I watch you eat. When I see you asleep. When I look at you lately, I just want to smash your face in."

This was a pretty funny movie. It doesn't really get going until the second half, but the first half still had it's share of funny moments too. I wouldn't say it's Danny Devito's best movie he directed because I think that Matilda is slightly better, but it's probably his second-best and it's just overall a very good movie.

March 3



"Are you sure it's safe?"
"It's better than safe. It's death proof."

I love Quentin Tarantino's movies and he's one of my favorite directors, but I just did not care for this movie. Now when I watched Planet Terror which I watched about a year ago which I loved the hell out of and after I finished watching it I was planning on watching this movie right after, but I then decided that I didn't feel like it. In hindsight I think I made a good choice as this is the weaker half of Grindhouse. It's not terrible or anything, but compared to Planet Terror it just sticks out like a sore thumb. There is barely any action in this movie and it normally wouldn't be a problem as I love Tarantino's dialogue and the lack of action in Jackie Brown worked out well, but in this movie his dialogue just wasn't that good. The main problem I have with this movie are those girl characters. They're just very shallow and uninteresting. They may look nice, but that's it. The worst part is that the majority of this film focuses on them. Not only is it a problem because they're shallow and uninteresting, but because you'd expect this movie to focus on Kurt Russell's character and it actually should've done so because he was the only good character in this movie.

Now the one thing I really hated about this movie was the ending. I did say that Kurt Russell's character was the only good character in the movie, but unfortunately near the end he gets the shit beaten out of him by the shallow and uninteresting girls and then the movie ends. What kind of ending is that? It's like Quentin Tarantino just lost interest in this movie near the end and just said "Fuck you, here's your ending." Now this movie does have some things going for it as I did like the car crash scene and some parts of Tarantino's dialogue were interesting, but it's just an average movie overall. There's a reason Quentin Tarantino considers this his worst movie.

Also, keep in mind that I did see the Grindhouse version of this movie instead of the extended version since I had no idea there was an extended version or a cut version, but I'm not going to watch this movie again just for 20+ extra minutes of footage because I doubt it's going to change my opinion on the movie as a whole.

March 4



"My name is Quintus Dias. I am a soldier of Rome, and this is neither the beginning nor the end of my story."

This movie is far from being anything remarkable and the character depth is very lacking, but hey I did not go into this movie expecting any hint of depth. This is just a fun movie and that's all the movie was trying to accomplish, but beyond that it does have some good acting for this type of movie, it's confidentely made and Neil Marshall does know how to write dialogue. It's an entertaining movie and it delivered exactly what I expected.

March 5



"San Diego has a big carjacking problem. They bump you, and when you stop, they mutilate you and take your car."

This is a very funny movie and it's one of those comedies that really good, but not a lot of people have heard of. As much as I like Ben Stiller as a comedic actor, in this movie he drops his usual shtick and just plays a normal guy which was different. This was overall a pretty good movie and it's very underrated.

March 5



"And until we can see each other as equals, justice is never going to be even-handed. It will remain nothing more than a reflection of our own prejudices."

So I just got around to finishing the book this movie is based on and it is one I loved every page of. I can't say I'm the biggest fan of courtroom stories, but the way the book was written was fantastic and it was very unpredictable at times. I thought it was a very different take on the whole courtroom story and there was so much danger involved in that case that I was starting to doubt if the case would even finish let alone if Jake Brigance will win it or not. He does win the case and it's a happy ending, but after all the shit the characters went through it makes that kind of ending earned. Since this is the most highly-regarded movie based on a John Grisham book, I had high hopes for this movie. When I started reading the book I was skeptical with Matthew McConaughey playing the leading role because I just can't stand him as an actor even to this day when people claim he's turned his career around, but the further I got with that book I started to think that maybe he could actually pull this role off and I could actually see why they casted him for this role.

OK, so how does this movie compare to the book? I actually thought it was just as great as the book. First of all the casting for this movie was fantastic. Matthew McConaughey delivers one of his rare great performances, Samuel L. Jackson was perfect for the role of Carl Lee and he played that role so well and Sandra Bullock who didn't seem like the best choice for the role, but she was actually really good. It just goes to show what an inconsistent actress she is. There were also a couple of people who I had no idea were in this like Kevin Spacey and Donald Sutherland which was a nice surprise. The way the story was done in this movie was done just as well as the movie and while it did have some stuff missing from the book, none of it was that important to the story. I think the best part of this movie that was done even better than it was in the book was the speech near the end. Holy crap was it powerful. Just the way McConaughey delivered it was excellent and it's done better in the movie because it was longer than it was before and because these kind of speeches just aren't AS powerful in printed form. I just loved everything about this movie from the acting to how it retains it's thought-provoking subject matter. Of course the book is still better, but this adaptation nearly comes close to being better than the book and it's overall a great adaptation.

March 6



"How can it take so long to do a simple alignment on an american sedan with standard rack-and-pinion steering and MacPherson struts When your garage is equipped with the proper Borg-Warner digital hydraulic radiometer?"
"Maybe because I was out back finishing a beer."

I've knew about this movie for many years as I've seen a part of it on TV before and I knew that Chris Farley and Adam Sandler had a role in it. After seeing this movie it looks like I could've kept going on ignoring this as it was painfully unfunny. Most of the jokes were either terribly obvious or relied on these aliens not knowing how the earth works or their crazy alien language. Hell, there's this one running joke where one of the aliens thinks condoms are chewing gum and whenever they repeated it I was like "Yes, because that joke was so funny the first time." Now I not the type of person who hates stupid humor or anything as I think it can be the funniest kind of comedy sometimes, but this is not funny. It's just stupid. The only reason I didn't give this the lowest rating is because it did have a couple of jokes that got a good laugh out of me one of them being Chris Farley's reaction to how this alien woman eats a whole sub sandwich. This is another reason why movies based on Saturday Night Live sketches are destined to fail as I don't know of any movies besides Wayne's World (Including the sequel.) and The Blues Brothers that were good.

March 6



"I don't reckon you've got long. Seen that before. Gut wound. The slug's probably torn right through your liver. Mate of mine in Ulster got caught in sniper fire. Bullet blew his inside out. He screamed for a good 10 minutes. We couldn't send a medic in, the section was too hot. So we all took cover... and watched him die. I've never told that... to anyone... you should've called an ambulance... for the girl..."

This could've been a really good movie, but it's too flawed to be any better than a decent vigilante film. Michael Caine is great in this movie and it is entertaining, but there are a few scenes that go on longer than needed and the movie takes itself too seriously at times. It thinks it's an artistic movie when it's really just a standard vigilante movie. It also really starts to lose steam near the end of the movie which sucks because this movie was really good before that happened. So I liked this movie, but it's flaws keep it from being any better than it already is.

March 7



"Eddie, don't come back here. And whatever you gotta do on the outside, don't get caught. You sure don't want your ass back in here."

I felt like I needed to watch another vigilante movie after seeing Harry Brown and wanted to watch one that wasn't so serious. This movie doesn't really get going until the second half, but it's still a highly entertaining movie and it does not take itself too seriously which is a plus especially considering that the movie I watched before it did.

March 7



"What the hell are you talking about? You saw me at the hospital, what you think I asked for that? Is that what you think? If that's what you think then you get the fuck out of my house!"

This was a pretty conflicting experience. I mean I did love this movie from Jodie Foster's amazing and very believable performance and it was thought-provoking and told a very dark, but well done story. On the other hand this is the kind of movie that I would NOT want to watch again. I mean you'd have to pay me a lot of money to get me to watch it again because that rape scene was so disturbing, so realistic and so agonizing that I could only experience it this one time. Still it's a great movie and it is one of those movies that you can never forget as it will stick with you after watching it.

March 9



"I am the father of this nation, Nicholas. And you have most... grossly... offended your father."

This wasn't really a great movie, but it was still very interesting and Forest Whitaker delivers an amazing performance. It's a pretty good movie even though it's not particularly memorable.

March 10



"People, they love blood. They love action. Not this talky, depressing, philosophical bullshit."

HOW THE FUCK DID THIS MOVIE WIN BEST PICTURE? I genuinely feel like I'm missing something since people are raving over this movie like it's the best thing to happen to cinema and they're praising the technical aspect of this movie. Oh Christ, this isn't the Citizen Kane of this generation is it? I didn't understand what was so amazing about the technical aspects of that movie and the same goes for this one too. As for the acting, yeah I don't see what's so great about it either. The acting is average at best and lackluster at worst and the sad thing is that most of these actors are talented. (Except for Zach Galifinakis who is talented as a comedian, but I'm not convinced that he's capable of serious roles.) Also this is supposedly a dramedy, but most of the "humor" seems like it's trying to appeal to the 10 year olds that snuck into this movie. The worst part about this movie is that it's just philosophical bullshit and I'm not just trying to use parts of dialogue from this movie to say how bad it is, it's actually what I think this movie is. It tries way to hard to be deep, insightful, artistic, weird and it just fails at all of it. The only thing that's close to being meaningful in this movie is the line I quoted as it is truthful, but it would've truly meant something if this actually was a good movie when it's not. It's a line that deserved a much better movie. I usually hate it whenever someone says "You just didn't get it." to someone who doesn't like a movie, but in this case I really don't get this movie. The only reason it doesn't get the lowest rating is because the actors are at least trying and while I wasn't blown away by the technical aspects they were still good. Sadly, this is going to the film that Alejandro González Iñárritu is going to be known for which is depressing because 21 Grams is a much better movie than this and it is more artistic and more meaningful than this piece of shit ever will be and it is the worst movie I have ever seen that won Best Picture.

March 10



"The problem with artificial intelligence is it's way too unpredictable."

Now as you may already know, audiences were really disappointed by Elysium as it didn't meet their expectations and it was one of those cases where the marketing was better than the actual movie. I on the other hand actually really liked this movie despite it falling into familiar territory and tackling some of the same themes that District 9 already did. This movie however is completely different from both of those movies. I was mostly interested in this movie for the premise and the way they executed it was fantastic. Chappie himself was a highly likeable character and he's the type of character that gave me a variety of feelings for him. I felt bad whenever he got hurt, I was happy whenever he was and laughed whenever he did something funny. The way they made this robot was very well done and Sharlto Copley does a great job of bringing the character to life. I also thought the ideas they tackled in this movie was great and I thought it was a really well-done social commentary on the world. Now here's a problem I know some people had with this movie, but I personally didn't. It was the acting from the members of Die Antwoord which were Ninja and Yo-Landi. Some said their acting wasn't good, but I really thought they did a very good job. Now I am familiar with their music which I think is great music by the way and it's true that the characters they are playing are just exaggerated versions of their music personas, but they really did a good job of doing that and there were a couple instances where I forgot that they were members of a rap group. Not saying their performances were amazing or anything, but far better than some people would make them out to be. I also thought the ending of this movie was sad and overall I just really loved this movie and I'm so glad I saw it in theatres.

March 11



"It's as if Perry and I grew up in the same house. And one day he stood up and went out the back door, while I went out the front."

While I did like this movie, I felt like it could've been better. I was kind of disappointed because I was expecting this movie to be about Truman Capote's life, but it was just about a certain part of it. I also thought the plot for this movie could've worked really well, but the way it was executed just felt like Dead Man Walking except with Truman Capote which was kind of a letdown. There are still good things about this movie, most notably is the late Philip Seymour Hoffman as Capote as he was born to play this role and pulled it off flawlessly and the dialogue was decent, but overall the movie really isn't as good as it should be.

March 12



"Excuses are like assholes, Taylor, everybody got one."

Not only did I love this movie, but it might even make a place in my top 15 or at least a spot in my favorite movies as this is quite possibly my new favorite war movie. As much as I love Apocalypse Now, I personally think this one is better just because it has everything. It has really great acting, excellent dialogue and the characters are probably some of the best characters I've seen in a war movie. Whenever they were in danger, I could almost feel the danger that they were going through. I would like to cover a bit more on the acting by saying that this movie was pretty much Tom Berenger's big break. I can't say I'm a fan of him or say that he's a particularly good actor, but this is easily his best role. Also Charlie Sheen who I actually would consider myself to be a fan of his work, but this is easily the best movie he's been involved with and this is his best role too. I loved every minute of this movie and it is Oliver Stone's best work.

March 13



"Nelson, we're talking about nuclear detonators here. You don't just "lose" them and then "find" them. You lose your comb and then find it, but not detonators. Now I want to know where they were found, and who found them. You get my drift?"

It does feel a little underdeveloped at times, but this is still a very fun sci-fi movie that was just the right amount of campy.

March 15



"We got thirty-six cases of booze. That's better than money."

While I do Eddie Murphy's career started to go downhill during the 90's like most people, he still managed to star in a few gems over the years and this is one of them and I'd even go far to consider it a classic movie of his just like Bowfinger. As for Martin Lawrence, well I kind of have mixed opinions on him. I don't really hate the guy, but his films have been hit or miss. He was funny in movies like the Bad Boys films and had his moments in Blue Streak and Nothing to Lose, but was really unfunny in movies like Big Momma's House and one of his stand-up comedy films that was so awful that I couldn't even finish it and gave up about an hour into it. In this movie though his shtick was actually funny and him and Eddie Murphy made a surprisingly good comedic team. Hell, this is probably the best movie that Martin Lawrence is involved with that isn't Do The Right thing. Not only did this movie have me laughing a lot especially when they turned into grumpy near old men near the end of the film, but I also really appreciated the message this movie was going for. The only real problem I had with this movie was the ending where the movie cheated us into thinking that Eddie Murphy's and Martin Lawrence's characters have died when they really weren't. It's not that I didn't like it because it's a happy ending, but I just thought it felt cheap in my opinion. Still I really liked this movie for what it is and it's better than everything that Eddie Murphy was in during the 2000's that isn't Shrek 1 or 2.

March 16



This was a really great foreign movie. I loved the story and where it went, the dialogue and I loved the characters for reasons I do in most crime movies whether they're based on real life events is that they do a great job of making you sympathize for them even though they were terrible people in real life. I really liked this movie and I would really like to check out the second part of this movie sometime.

March 16



"When I think of my wife, I always think of the back of her head. I picture cracking her lovely skull, unspooling her brain, trying to get answers. The primal questions of a marriage: What are you thinking? How are you feeling? What have we done to each other? What will we do?"

This film was based on another book that I finally got around to finishing and all I can say is that this movie is even better than the book and the book was great by the way. Now I already knew that the author of the book wrote the screenplay for this film and that can either be a good thing or a bad thing as some authors tend to not know the difference between writing a book and writing a screenplay. (*cough* Cormac McCarthy.) Gillian Flynn however knew exactly what she was doing with her own source material and made it even better. Now I'm going to start by saying that the acting in this movie was great and everyone in this movie was casted very well and even the odd choices like Ben Affleck and Tyler Perry worked out very well. As for the way they told the story, it was done very well. I liked how it was able to maintain the novel's style of storytelling and it even had me on the edge on my seat despite knowing what was going to happen although the ending for this movie is completely different. I'm not going to spoil the differences or anything, but I will say that I prefer the new ending much more. I loved every minute of this movie, but the scene that stood out the most for me was the whole "cool girl" speech as that part was just very chilling. The lengthy runtime on this movie never was a problem for me and just the way David Fincher directed this movie was fantastic. I'm just going on a bit of a tangent by saying that while I do respect him as a director, he has made a couple of overrated movies and the only great movies I had seen from him were Fight Club and The Game. This movie however is probably his best movie since Fight Club.

I feel like I'm just gushing over this movie, but I just really loved this movie and it's one of the best movies of 2014 and that was a pretty good year for movies by the way. Even if you aren't familiar with the book, I'd still recommend it either way because it's just that good of a movie.

March 17



"You're so beautiful."
"That's kind, child. Especially when it's said that yours is the face of true beauty in this kingdom. This all must be difficult for you. I too lost my mother when I was a young girl. I can never take your mother's place, ever. But I feel that you and I are bound. I feel it there, your heart."

When the trailer for this movie came out I thought it looked awesome, but kind of had the feeling the movie wouldn't be as good as the trailer. The reviews for this movie weren't very positive and as time went on my interest in this movie started to decrease, but today I decided that I was finally going to see if I was missing out on anything. It's far from being the movie that it could've been, but I think it's somewhat better than people give it credit for. It does have it's flaws as the casting is hit and miss and the acting can be incredibly hokey at times, but I felt like the movie never took itself too seriously and it knows when to have fun. The way they told the Snow White story was fine and some of the actors in this movie really stand out like Chris Hemsworth and Bob Hoskins while people like Charlize Theron and Kristen Stewart were... *ahem* "fair." It also does overstay it's welcome at times as some parts of this movie could've been cut out, but overall I thought it was a decent movie. Nothing special, but it's still not a bad movie to spend your time on.

March 18



"I love you, Molly. I've always loved you."
"Ditto."

I've heard a lot of things about this movie and I was kind of skeptical about it because of it's popularity and because I'm normally not a fan of romance movies, but I decided to finally see it due to my appreciation for Patrick Swayze. This was actually less of a romance movie than I thought it would be. It did a really good job of mixing genres and I just really liked the overall story to this movie as it was a very unique idea that was ahead of it's time. It was also funny at times and everyone in the movie delivered a very good performance. As for the love story, even that was done well. It really didn't feel like the standard, Hollywood love story as I thought it really felt genuine and the romantic themes they did with this story was really well done. Also the ending I really wasn't expecting as I thought it was going to be the standard Hollywood ending, but I really liked how Swayze's character goes through all this trouble to get his girlfriend to see him and in the end all he wanted to do was show his love for her. I don't know about you, but I really thought they were going to pull that "The couple gets back together again." ending.

It's not really a great movie as it does get a little convoluted at times and I have seen better love stories in a movie, but this was still better than I expected and I can now understand why so many people like it.

March 19



"This is our city! Whoever they send here, we're gonna catch them, we're gonna cook them, and we're gonna eat them!"

This movie is just terrible. In some parts it's a hilarious unintentional comedy while in other parts it's just a awful, blatant Mad Max rip-off. Paying homage to a movie franchise is one thing, but basing your characters, storytelling, dialogue and pretty much everything else makes your movie a rip-off. Not even Bob Hoskins can save this movie and that's usually his special skill with not-so-good movies.

March 21



"I'm getting tired of what's right and wrong."
"They hang people for that, Cora!"

Well, this just wasn't the movie it could've been. It had it's interesting moments and Jack Nicholson was perfect for the role, but the dialogue and storytelling was just so tedious and this was written by David Mamet who actually does write very good dialogue. To be fair, this was the first script he ever written for a movie, but his dialogue just wasn't as good as it is today and I think they should've at least gotten someone to re-write it. It's just a very forgettable movie and I think it had the potential to be much better than it already is.

March 21-22



"I am offended. Not because I got a problem with bitter, predictible, whining millionaire disc jockeys complaining about celebrities or how tough their life is, while I live in an apartment with paper-thin walls next to a couple of Neanderthals who, instead of a baby, decided to give birth to some kind of nocturnal civil defense air raid siren that goes off every fucking night like it's Pearl Harbor."

Technically this movie is flawed, but the actual comedy, satire and dialogue is what made me love this movie. I love how the movie explained what is wrong with the world these days, but at the same time it lets you think for yourself as well. I agreed with most of the things this movie had to say even before I saw this movie and most of the jokes had me laughing so hard. There is some technical problems like the effects looking a bit fake at times, but I love this movie so much that I can overlook things like that.

March 26



"Existence. Well, what does it matter? I exist on the best terms I can. The past is now part of my future. The present is well out of hand."

Hey guys, so I've never talked about personal problems on here before because this is just a movie journal where I mark everything I've seen and write my thoughts on them, so I don't forget them in the near future. I haven't been watching any movies in between God Bless America and this one because I was going through an identity crisis. I already know what I want to be in life, but I didn't know where to start and I had a mental breakdown which was due to my Asperger's Syndrome and anxiety issues which have gotten worse over the years. I am better now as I'm finally taking the right medication, but I think this movie logging played a part in what made me who I am today. I mean let's look back from my movie diary from 2012 where most of my thoughts were just one-liners and the kind of movies I'd watch were mostly well-known movies, but the more movies I watched is when I started to delve more into lesser known movies and now my thoughts are much more detailed than they were before. It also helped me understand human emotions with characters which also improved who I am and also helped me finally fully realize my own emotions. I was actually worried that my opinions on movies like Lost in Translation which was my first experience with an overrated film and The Fault in Our Stars change because of it, but then I realized that it was just the overall presentation that ruined the movie and not the subject matter itself and I still stand by my opinions on those being shitty as the way I look at movies haven't changed. I will still be watching movies as much as I can, but I'll only do it if I want to and not just for the sake of getting one watched.

So, I've heard a lot of good things about this movie and I caught a part of it on TV and since I'm a huge music lover I decided to watch it. Now I'm not really too familiar with Joy Division although I have heard a few of their songs before which I didn't know until I saw this film. Despite the fact that I didn't know much about Joy Division, I still loved this movie. I loved the attention to detail with the time this movie took place in, the way they told the story and the acting was incredible. It's not perfect as there were certain parts where the movie would lose my interest, but other than that it's a great movie and it actually makes me want to listen to Joy Division's albums.

March 28



"I am going to the Amazon. Yay."
"Like the website?"

I don't even know why I chose to watch this movie, but I guess I just did because it was on Netflix and because I actually liked the first movie. This is just another one of those sequels that exist just for the sake of existing. All this movie is useful for is to get your kids to settle down for an hour and a half and it will manage to entertain them as kids are the only audience this movie really caters to. I really liked the first Rio movie because it had some really breath-taking and colorful animation, likeable characters and it had jokes that could make kids and adults laugh. Now the animation in this movie does look good too, but it's just not as impressive the second time around. There also really aren't that many jokes and there were a very small amount of them that I thought were genuinely funny and were well-thought out. The story is also uninspired and it just lacks everything that made the first movie good. It's not a terrible movie and I can see kids loving it, but it's just a lazy and unneeded sequel.

March 29



"You should never stop thinking about a life you've taken. That's the price you pay for taking it."

I have heard some buzz about this movie when it came out and I had an interest in seeing it whenever I could. Since it is on Netflix, I was able to see it. Now, I have always wanted nothing to do with the Twilight movies, so that means I haven't seen any movies with Robert Pattinson before (FYI, I'm embarrassingly behind on the Harry Potter films.) and this movie is my introduction to him and I have to say that he was actually pretty good. Like I said before, I haven't seen any of the Twilight movies before so I can't say for sure if he is actually a good actor or not, but this movie proves that he can act. Besides that Guy Pearce and Pattinson had really good chemistry and it did tell a compelling story. It's not a masterpiece or anything, but it's definitely worth checking out.

March 30



"Are you gonna write a really good book this time so we can go home?"
"I'm gonna write the best book that anyone's ever read."

Damn, this movie certainly lives up to it's title. This is a very chilling and creepy movie with an original story and it is one of the more genuinely scary horror films in modern times mainly due to the fact that there's quite a bit of tension and build-up to it. While it didn't leave me with this scared feeling like some horror movies have, but it does have it's really scary moments and some of the stuff just came out of nowhere.

March 31

Re-watch

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"I am the Nightrider. I'm a fuel injected suicide machine. I am the rocker, I am the roller, I am the out-of-controller!"

I decided to just scrap the whole western month by not ending the month with one in favor of revisiting the first two Mad Max movies in anticipation for the new one which I am super hyped for. Also because Doomsday was such a bad rip-off of the series that it made me wish I was watching it. This movie was even better on the second viewing. During the first time I saw this I thought it really started off slow, but I think it was because I went into it expecting a different kind of movie as I loved the first half of the movie much more this time. I loved how they told the post apocalyptic story with a crazy scenario, messed up villians and an awesome main character. Even though this movie doesn't really get going until Mad Max just loses his sanity, I appreciated this movie for what it is much more this time and still a very fun movie overall.

March 31-April 1

Re-watch

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"Two days ago, I saw a vehicle that would haul that tanker. You want to get out of here? You talk to me."

Just like the first movie I loved it much more on the second viewing and I'm now convinced that this movie is better than the original and is the best in the series so far. While I do love the first movie, this one is the real deal as the first one was just the warm-up of the series as this one is more action-packed and more off the wall. I love Mad Max even more as a character in this one and I just think the little things of this movie is great like the attention to detail with the post-apocalyptic world to the action scenes which were just as exciting as they were the first time. There wasn't anything I didn't like about this sequel and I would even consider it to be one of the best post-apocalyptic movies ever. In retrospect Beyond Thunderdome is a good movie as it had a creative concept and the execution was decent, but it just lacked that feel that Mad Max and The Road Warrior have.

I want to touch on the new Mad Max by saying that I feel that there is a small percentage rate that it's going to suck. It looks very competently made judging from the trailers and it helps that we have George Miller working on it. I'm also really starting to like Tom Hardy filling in Mel Gibson's shoes as I really feel that he has what it takes to play the role.
Also, interesting to note that they released a new trailer for it on the same day I re-watched these movies. What a strange coincidence.

March 4



"You wanna quit, Ethan?"
That'll be the day."

I feel like I'm missing something. People hail this as an amazing movie and some people claim that it's John Wayne's best movie and John Ford's best movie, but I just don't see what's so damn amazing about it. I find it ironic that this movie is called The Searchers because to me it felt like this movie was searching for a decent plot, searching for decent acting, searching for something worthwhile, but the movie just couldn't find it. Pretty much everything about this movie was just a big pile of meh. The story which might have been amazing and groundbreaking back then is nothing to write home about today. The dialogue wasn't anything special and I just could not care what was going on in this movie. I think the worst thing about this movie the acting. It isn't horrible, but it's incredibly hammy and over the top by today's standards and it just hasn't stood the test of time. As for John Wayne's performance he was OK, but he didn't impress me that much and the sad thing is that this movie is my introduction to John Wayne. This is the first movie I saw that he was in and it wasn't a good choice as it didn't convince me that he was the legend that everyone says he is. I will watch one or two more of his movies this month as I really want to like this guy, but this movie didn't do a good enough job of showing how great he is acting-wise or character-wise. Since this movie has other problems I think it's more of the movie's fault than it is John Wayne's. As for John Ford, this isn't my introduction to him. I have seen The Grapes of the Wrath a couple years ago and while I didn't think it was an amazing movie by any means, it was by far much better than this one and at least that one had a compelling story and characters. You'll probably disagree with me, but this is just a very forgettable movie that is too dated for it's own good and there is just nothing in this movie that stands out. I just hope The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence is better than this, but as for True Grit I have no doubts that it will be good.

March 8



"You risk your skin catching killers and the juries turn them loose so they can come back and shoot at you again. If you're honest you're poor your whole life and in the end you wind up dying all alone on some dirty street. For what? For nothing. For a tin star."

This is exactly the kind of movie I wanted from The Searchers. It had a good story, very good acting and it was overall a very good movie for it's time. It's not a great movie, but I still enjoyed it and this is the perfect movie to watch when short on time as it's only 85 minutes long.

March 14



"You'll just end up like all the other gringos - drinkin' tequila, shittin' out chili peppers, & waitin' fer... nothin'."

Most people would consider The Wild Bunch to be Sam Peckinpah's masterpiece and I did think that was his best movie at one point which was before I was this one and I can easily say that this was Peckinpah's best movie. I just loved the storytelling and the characters and the way the friendship between the two main characters in a way felt similar to the friendship in Butch Cassidy in the Sundance Kid and I mean that in the nicest way possible. It's also got some great shoot-out scenes that had me on the edge of my seat and the ending was just powerful. This is overall a fantastic western film that I loved the hell out of.

March 19



"Yeah, yeah. So we got off to a bad start. Well ya' know what it means when somebody like me gets off to a bad start? Not a God damn thing."

Didn't think I was going to like it at first, but it just took a little time for the story to actually develop. This was a very cool movie for it's time and it's still fun to watch to this day. I loved Peter Fonda's character, I really liked the dialogue and for once I've seen a film where the plot revolves around cars and actually has some substance to it besides it being just an entertaining rental like The Fast and the Furious for example. I just wish Death Proof was as good as this one.