Moviewatcher122's 2014 Film Diary: November

November 1



"Do you have to be depressed to write a sad song? Do you have to be in love to write a love song? Is a song better when it really happened to you? Like "Love Thing," where did you write that and who was it about?"
"When did you get so professional?"

Found this movie on Netflix and I felt like it would be the perfect movie to start off the month. Turns out that it was. The way this movie captures the 70's is fantastic and it has some really great performances. While I do think Jason Lee is a good actor, this is probably the only time he has REALLY impressed me and Kate Hudson who usually stars in terrible movies was also pretty good in this movie. It's a great movie that captures the 70's music scene perfectly.

November 3



While Mickey Rourke has had some good performances in his career, there are other movies where he just sleepwalks through a role and doesn't show any interest with the movie he's in. That is why I can never consider him to be a good actor which is a shame because this is another one of his good roles. He really does an impressive job with the type of role he's given and we also get some good acting from actors such as Forest Whitaker and Morgan Freeman which were both very early roles from them. It's a really underrated movie and doesn't deserve to be overlooked. Especially considering that it has a strong story and a very good cast.

November 5



"A man can be rich, if he has God in his heart."
"I don't think God is very interested in me, Father."

This movie turned out to be poorly marketed as people thought they were getting an action-thriller and turned out to be disappointing to a lot of people. Even I thought I was getting at least some kind of thriller going into this movie, but instead I got a character study and it's not a good one either. The first 5 minutes of this movie were actually good, but after that the movie starts to get boring. While George Clooney does deliver a decent performance, I just didn't care about his character and this movie gave me no reason to care about him either. Now there are some good things about this movie and visually the movie looks good, but it's just a really underdeveloped film and it's easily forgettable.

November 6



"Who has sex for three hours?"
"We did!"
"That's the length of the movie "Lincoln". You did the full Lincoln."

This is the worst movie I've seen that came out this year and I don't think any other movie that came out this year can top this one. This movie was really unfunny and there were times where I couldn't even tell if this movie was even trying to be funny or not. The acting was terrible and the actors in the movie seemed embarrassed to say their lines. There's this one scene where Jason Segel's character gets attacked by a dog and it's not funny since they treat it very seriously considering how dark it is and the dramatic music in the background playing. The only good performance in this movie was Jack Black's cameo, but even his character didn't get any funny lines and the main problem with this movie is that I didn't laugh once. Not once! I like Jason Segel, but this movie is just awful and it's just a poor excuse for a comedy.

November 6



"I don't think that's appropriate."
"Why don't you fuck off to America with your appropriate, fuckin' Barrack Obama."

I needed to watch something funny after watching that poor excuse for a comedy, so I took a chance on this movie and this one did the trick. This movie is a hidden gem of Irish comedy and it is definitely worth watching.

November 8



"Just 'cause you pour syrup on something doesn't make it pancakes!"

This was a good movie. It's far from being a masterpiece, but it's still a decent hood movie and I like what it had to say. What really impressed me about this movie was Tupac's performance. As far as rappers as actors go, he was actually pretty good.

November 8



"I told him to take the train. I told him to catch the BART. I didn't know they were gonna hurt my baby. I should've just let him drive. I should've let him drive, but I wanted to keep him safe. You gotta let me hug him. Please, let me hug him. Please. Please! He didn't like to be alone."

Now this movie was hard for me to judge as a whole. While I thought Michael B. Jordan's performance was great, I thought this movie really dragged on at times and I wish the movie focused more on the BART storyline instead of what happened before that. This movie would've gotten a 7/10 from me, but the last 20 minutes is what made me raise my rating for it a little more. It was just really heartbreaking and it's just shocking that this tragedy actually happened.

November 9



"Do not go gentle into that good night; Old age should burn and rave at close of day. Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

As some of you might already know, I hate Matthew McConaughey as an actor. I thought he was terrible back then and I seem to be in the minority of people who thinks that he's still the bad actor he was back then except with serious roles he can't pull off. This movie however is the only one I've seen where he actually delivers a exceptional performance. As for the movie, it was fantastic. It was a powerful emotional journey and the movie never felt overlong or anything with it's almost 3 hour time length. The acting was great, the story was great, the visuals looked amazing and I just loved everything about this movie. It doesn't top Boyhood, but it is the second best movie of the year.

November 10



"Sexual harrassment is about power. When did I have the power? When?"

This was a pretty underrated movie. Michael Douglas is great as always and I really like how it tackled its subject matter.

November 11



"It's really bright out, officer."
"Would you mind removing your hand from your forehead?"
"It's really bright out."

What the fuck did I just watch? No seriously, what the fuck did I just watch? This is a very weird movie and not in a good way. It's mostly just a movie where Anna Farris' character is stoned and makes really stupid decisions. That's the whole movie. This so-called comedy only had a couple funny parts, but most of the time it was like the movie isn't even trying to be funny. Also Anna Farris gives a really odd performance that makes me wonder if she wasn't acting at all and was actually stoned. This seems like the kind of movie where you have to be under the influence of drugs to find this movie funny and since I don't support the use of them I failed to enjoy this movie.

November 11



"You need more than guts to be a good gangster. You need ideas."

Wow, what a hell of a movie. The storytelling in this movie is phenomenal and it is just tells the story of what it was like to live in Rio de Janeiro back then flawlessly. Just the way it shows the cruelty of the real world is done better than pretty much every other American film. It is a masterpiece of cinema and it definitely lives up to the hype.

November 12



"I was married to a beautiful woman. She was unfaithful."
"Where is she now?"
"I told you, she was unfaithful."

While this isn't a great movie by any means, it's still a very good western. Sam Raimi does a good job directing this kind of movie and the acting is mostly good. The only performance I thought was kind of weak was Leonardo DiCaprio's. It just wasn't very good and I would excuse that by saying it was one of his earlier roles, but he was in What's Eating Gilbert Grape before this movie and that was a really good performance.

November 13



If you're a fan of Roger Ebert or his TV show with Gene Siskel then this movie is a must-see. While it's not the best movie of the year, it is the best documentary of 2014 and perhaps one of my favorite documentaries of all time. I'm not going to say too much about it, but just how the movie tells the story of his life is fascinating and for a documentary that was two hours the time really went by fast while watching this.

November 15



"You get behind me, we all profit; you challenge me, we all go down! There was one Napoleon, one Washington, one me!"

This is one of those movies that is good mainly because of the cast. Warren Beatty does a good job playing the leading role, Al Pacino is intentionally over the top in this movie and he pulls it off very well, Dustin Hoffman was good and I didn't even recognize him in this movie until the movie ended and Madonna was surprisingly good. It's mostly just a typical 90's comic book movie, but it's still a fun movie even if I'll forget about it in a week.

November 18



"Hillary. That's an unusual name."
"It's a German name. It means 'she whose bosoms defy gravity'."
"I'm pleased to meet you. My name's Nick."
"Nick? What does that mean?"
"Oh, nothing. My dad thought of it while he was shaving."

Since I never seen this movie before, I thought that today was when I should finally see it. While this isn't as good as Airplane! or The Naked Gun, but it's still a very funny spoof movie that still has some of the comedic brilliance that the other two movies had.

November 19



"I don't know how to be myself. It's like I'm permanently outside myself. Like, like you could push your hands straight through me if you wanted to. And I can see the type of man I want to be versus the type of man I actually am and I know that I'm doing it but I'm incapable of what needs to be done. I'm like Pinocchio, a wooden boy. Not a real boy. And it kills me."

I wasn't sure if I was going to like this movie or not because of the mixed reviews I've seen, but I really liked it. It was a very interesting movie with a very strong plot and it was executed very well. I was also really surprised how good Jesse Eisenberg was in this movie. I didn't think he pulled off playing a serious role in The Social Network and didn't think his role was that much of a stretch, but in this movie he really pulled off this kind of role. While he does play the same character type to some extent it doesn't feel like the exact same character he's played in other movies. While it isn't a great movie, it's still pretty good and I wouldn't mind watching it again.

November 22-23



"You are in more dire need of a blowjob than any white man in history."

This was a pretty good movie. It's far from being a great movie, but the late Robin Williams delivers a fantastic performance and he was the perfect guy to play the leading role.

November 24



"Look at me, you get over that fence you run. You don't stop, you run for your life, you understand? You don't fucking wait for me!"

I was originally going to avoid this movie, but when I saw positive reviews saying that it's an improvement over the first one I decided to check it out. Now this movie improves on what the first movie lacked. The first Purge movie had unlikable characters, terrible writing and the movie took place in one location and that just ruined the amount of potential that the premise had. This one takes place in the streets which is a better location for this kind of movie to take place and it also has some good action scenes and it does improve on some of the flaws that the first movie had. It's still not great though as I thought that the characters lacked depth and some of the acting wasn't good. It's a good sequel, but it's nothing great and it isn't something I would watch again.

November 26



While there are a lot of lesser-known movies I've seen that are unfairly overlooked, this is one of those lesser-known movies that are forgotten for a good reason. Judging from the cover I thought it was going to be a cool cop movie starring Michael Keaton, but what I got was a family drama with Michael Keaton as a cop. It tries to mix a heartwarming movie with a dark cop movie, but it just doesn't work. There are a few good things about this movie, but like I said this movie is forgotten for a reason and it's not worth watching.

November 27



"All aboard!"
"That's a conductor, not a bus driver."
"Hey, why don't you sit down and shut up."
"Now THAT's a bus driver."

This was a pretty good movie. It had a lot of suspense, a well-executed plot and it has some well-developed characters which is also a huge plus.

November 28



"Hey, did you ever do any of that, you know, obscene photographs and all that?"
"Mmm hmm. When I needed the bread."
"Where can I buy some?"

This is another movie I watched from MST3K and I'm glad they covered this movie because if it wasn't for them, this movie wouldn't have been watchable. The acting was terrible, the writing was terrible, the dialogue was atrocious and the action scenes were an abomination. Every little thing about this movie was awful in every way and it's one of the worst action movies ever made.

MST3K Rating: 10/10

November 28



"I look like somebody hit me in the face with Lil Wayne."

This movie really wasn't that funny. It had some funny jokes every now and then, but it is nowhere near as funny as the movie wants to be which sucks because it had a good comedic premise and when a movie has a good comedic premise and it isn't a funny movie then that means it wasn't executed well.

November 29



"Why would you want to hear my story? Do we know each other? Do we like each other? Let me tell you right off, ok... I'm not a like-able guy. Charm has never been a priority with me. And just so you know, this is not the feel good movie of the year. So if you're one of those idiots who needs to feel good, go get yourself a foot massage."

While this movie didn't really blow me away from the start, about a couple minutes into the movie where Larry David starts talking to the camera and says the quote I used for this movie that's when it really caught my interest. This is a really great movie with some really well-written dialogue and I found myself being able to relate to the main character even though I'm much younger than he is. It's a great movie and it's one of Woody Allen's best movies.

November 30



"I don't get wrapped up in a bunch of stuff I can't have."
"Relax, it's just for fun, bro."
"That's not fun. That's propaganda, man. All those Madison Avenue types telling you how to live your life. Fast cars, hot chicks... Reese's Pieces... Gucci... Werther's Original. I don't buy into that bullshit!"

I do not get the praise for this movie at all. It tries to tackle a complex issue which is depression, but it doesn't do a good job of doing so. The main character was just a typical whiny teenager who is depressed for no reason and the other characters were just underwritten. Also for a movie called It's Kind of a Funny Story, this movie is barely a comedy. There were maybe 2 or 3 lines in this movie that I actually thought were funny. This is just an overrated movie and I am just confused by the good reviews it gets.

November 30



"Jesus, that's terrible."
"That's a terrible scream. Jack, what cat did you have to strangle to get that?"
"The one you hired. That's her scream."
"You mean you didn't dub that?"

What a movie this was. It had a great plot, great acting and I was just invested into this movie from start to finish. It isn't a perfect movie, but the ending was just so great that it almost made me bump up my score. It's still a great movie and it's one of Brian DePalma's best movies.

November 4



Since I wanted to relax this month after watching nothing but Horror I decided to make this monthly focus a fun one, so I went with Jackie Chan films because they're fun and there are still a lot of movies from him that I haven't seen yet. This is one of his more underrated films. While there are action movies that are just made for money and will usually be forgotten in days and ones that don't know how to be fun. This movie is over the top and ridiculous at times, but the movie knows that. Like most of the Jackie Chan movies I've seen, they get really creative with the action scenes. It's a really fun and highly underrated movie that deserves a higher IMDB score.

November 7



"Guys, do whatever you want to the kid, but that's my watch you're holding."
"Well, there's a load of us, and only two of you, so piss off!"
"Easy fellas, you lost one war this way, don't make the same mistake twice."

This is pretty much the definition of unnecessary sequel. I thought the first movie was good, but nothing special and after watching this movie I was wondering if this was a sequel that people were actually asking for or not. Now this movie does have its moments and it is somewhat entertaining, but it's just an average sequel and it's only worth watching once if you liked the original.

November 9



While it's not as good as the original, it's still a pretty solid sequel. The action scenes in this movie are good even though they aren't on par with the ones in the original and it's also very funny too. A worthy sequel to a great movie.

November 14



"Super cops in Hong Kong are cheap and plentiful like commodities in supermarkets."

While it's still not as good as the first Police Story movie, I found myself enjoying it more than Police Story 2. This sequel improves on what the predecessor was kind of lacking. This movie had a better story, better action scenes that are almost on par with the original and it's just everything a sequel should be.

November 17



"You even share the same coffin as your father."
"The coffin is for you. You killed my father!"
"He had to die somehow. At least it was for a reason."

This one is the weakest of the series so far. While it is decent the story is kind of lacking and it's not as funny as some of the other movies in the series. It is an entertaining movie and it has some good things that keep it from being average, but it's kind of weak compared to the other Police Story movies.

November 25



"Who is laughing like that?"
"Me, sir."
"Do you know what you're going to do?"
"To laugh one thousand times?"
"Police, shoot him dead!"

This is the best Jackie Chan movie I've seen so far. It has a lot of action and it is also one of Jackie Chan's funniest movies. I just loved everything about it and I'd even say it's one of the best martial arts films. Also if you're going to see this movie, watch the original version and not the dubbed one as I've mostly heard negative things about it.