Dell's Good, Bad & Ugly Movie Reviews

[dell71]

Dell, would love to hear what you thought about The Departed - I have seen that movie about 10x - one of my favorites. (Worked at blockbuster couple years ago)

The Departed is awesome. It's one of the rare American movies that's better than the foreign film it's derived from. However, it's not better by much. The original is called Infernal Affairs. The Departed took the main storylines and did a copy & paste job but added more character development, emotion and slightly changed the ending. I still recommend seeing Infernal Affairs, if you haven't (& don't mind subtitles). If anyone hasn't seen either, I suggest seeing IA first.

My top 10 of 2006:

1. Children of Men
2. The Departed
3. Pan's Labyrinth
4. Inside Man
5. Letters From Iwo Jima
6. Casino Royale
7. The Pursuit of Happyness
8. Blood Diamond
9. V for Vendetta
10. Monster House

Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically): 16 Blocks, Apocalypto, Brick, Clerks II, Dave Chapelle's Block Party, Hard Candy, Little Miss Sunshine, Lucky Number Slevin, Miami Vice, Running Scared, Thank You For Smoking

Oh, and I also worked at Blockbuster for a while.

Dell, where is that link to you movie list? I know you had a spreadsheet type thing with all the movies you own. I'm feeling like I'm getting into that boat where I need to make a spreadsheet.

Also, how many movies that you own do you regret buying?

Click here to see my movie collection. You can add your collection to the same website, dvdaf.com - free of charge (that's why I use it).

The only ones I actually regret buying are the ones I get only because the wife or kids like them, but I don't. That's anything to do with Tyler Perry, or most of the dance movies I (we) have (Step Up, Step Up 2 the Streets, Stomp the Yard, Take the Lead, Save the Last Dance, Save the Last Dance 2, etc).

Yes, I do have a good number of crappy movies but they're mostly what I call so-bad-they're-awesome so I love those.


Anyhoo, glad to see all the love for In Bruges.

[dell71]

Saw Cabin Fever on your list, that movie was entertaining to say the least. Just downloaded City of God onto my computer and will be watching it tomorrow. I have heard nothing but good things.

City of God is a great movie. 'nuff said.

[Palooza]

I've been on the In Bruges bandwagon since it came out in theaters back in the beginning of 08. That movie is everything a movie needs to be. Funny, emotional, suspenseful, thought provoking, well acted, well written, well directed. I just can't get enough of it. I watch it everytime it's on HBO.. and I own it on DVD.

[NAHSTE]

The Departed is awesome. It's one of the rare American movies that's better than the foreign film it's derived from. However, it's not better by much. The original is called Infernal Affairs. The Departed took the main storylines and did a copy & paste job but added more character development, emotion and slightly changed the ending. I still recommend seeing Infernal Affairs, if you haven't (& don't mind subtitles). If anyone hasn't seen either, I suggest seeing IA first.

My top 10 of 2006:

1. Children of Men
2. The Departed
3. Pan's Labyrinth
4. Inside Man
5. Letters From Iwo Jima
6. Casino Royale
7. The Pursuit of Happyness
8. Blood Diamond
9. V for Vendetta
10. Monster House

Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically): 16 Blocks, Apocalypto, Brick, Clerks II, Dave Chapelle's Block Party, Hard Candy, Little Miss Sunshine, Lucky Number Slevin, Miami Vice, Running Scared, Thank You For Smoking

06 was such a solid year for movies. Departed and Children of Men are in my all-time top 10, and Blood Diamond, Inside Man, Happyness, Iwo Jima and Thank You For Smoking were all great too, just going off of what's on your list.

Lucky Number Slevin was a great movie other than Josh Hartnett, IMO. He literally ruined the movie for me. Everything else about it was solid or more than, other than him. Considering he had such a large role, I found that to be a problem I couldn't get past.

[dave]

My top 10 of 2006:

1. Children of Men
2. The Departed
3. Pan's Labyrinth
4. Inside Man
5. Letters From Iwo Jima
6. Casino Royale
7. The Pursuit of Happyness
8. Blood Diamond
9. V for Vendetta
10. Monster House

V for Vendetta the most overrated piece of crap ever.
I love Natalie Portman, but that movie sucked.
Trying to pass off the message that Bush sucks through a movie is fine, but this movie sucked.

[dave]

I like Ebert but sometimes he's a bit too lenient.

Then again, I might be a bit too harsh...


High School Musical 3: Senior Year
2008. Rated G, 112 minutes.
Director: Kenny Ortega. Starring Zac Effron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Corbin Bleu.
High school sweethearts, Troy (Effron) and Gabriela (Hudgens), as well as their classmates, have to deal with separation anxiety as graduation looms. Singing and dancing ensues. It does exactly what it wants to do. It gives it's target audience a romanticized, asexual, insulated from the real world version of high school in which every problem can be dealt with by an inoffensive pop tune complete with 1980s music-video styl group dance numbers. By the way, saying these kids have "problems" is overstating it quite a bit. They have inconveniences that slightly detract from the perfection of their lives. Adults in this world exist merely so we know they actually exist. The exception to this is the great and powerful drama teacher. Seriously. The whole thing is a rather innocuous affair that my pre-pubescent daughters both love. Honestly though, all that cheese just upsets my stomach. There, all better. MY SCORE: 3/10

Why in God's name did you watch this? We're asking you to be our movie reviewer, not fall on a sword.

I can live with you watching the odd episode of Gossip Girl (Leighton Meester is hot), but no man should be forced to watch High School Musical 1, 3 or 58 ... unless they're gay and like Zac Efron.

[Palooza]

Trying to pass off the message that Bush sucks through a movie is fine, but this movie sucked.

V for Vendetta is based off of a graphic novel from the early 80's.

[dave]

V for Vendetta is based off of a graphic novel from the early 80's.

When Reagan sucked.

[dave]

IMO, people started the ball rolling on V for Vendetta being great and suddenly it was great ... even if it wasn't.

[red33]

When Reagan sucked.

really? economically during his eyars America was great wasnt it?

[dave]

really? economically during his eyars America was great wasnt it?

Great if you were already wealthy, but the poor got fucked during the Reagan era.

Reagan a great TV orator, no doubt, but he's the most overrated president in U.S. history by a wide margin.

Republicans make him into more than what he was, because he was their last real hope.

In reality, he had no clue about real life, was likely already stricken with full-blown Alzheimers while in power, and was already taking part in illegal arms for hostage deals.

[Senser81]

I'm in the minority, but I'm not a fan of The Departed. The plot was complex, but not necessarily engrossing because I didn't really care for any of the characters. I couldn't take Jack Nicholsen seriously. Alec Baldwin was funny, but because he was so bad. I think it won awards because Scorsese had been shut out for so many years. After I watched the movie, it basically went out of my mind. It didn't really stick with me.

[Bigpapa42]

V for Vendetta the most overrated piece of crap ever.
I love Natalie Portman, but that movie sucked.
Trying to pass off the message that Bush sucks through a movie is fine, but this movie sucked.

I guess you could see the politics in the film as a commentary on contemporary American politics... except the film is a pretty direct adaption of the graphic novel, which was a commentary on contemporary British politics during the Thatcher era by an English writer. Truly, people who see the film as a commentary on contemporary modern American politics are seeing what they want to see. There are some parallels and such, but it was not the intent of the film and it could not have been the intent of graphic novel.

[FirstTimer]

Great if you were already wealthy, but the poor got fucked during the Reagan era.

Reagan a great TV orator, no doubt, but he's the most overrated president in U.S. history by a wide margin.

Republicans make him into more than what he was, because he was their last real hope.

In reality, he had no clue about real life, was likely already stricken with full-blown Alzheimers while in power, and was already taking part in illegal arms for hostage deals.

Bullshit as usual. Most any other group of historians getting together to make lists of the top Presidents always have Reagan ranked highly.

Actual history>>>>Dave's partisan hackery.

LOL at Iran-Contra being that big of a deal. Clinton did essentially the same damn thing in the 90's in the Balkans and most historians can't even for sure say Reagan for sure knew the extent of the issue because of his hands off managing style.

Similar to Harding and Teapot Dome.

Also find it funny you bitch about the poor under Reagan seeing as many of those were a direct or indirect result of Carter's failed economic policies.

Reagan wasn't perfect and made mistakes but give me a break with this partisan BS.

[Senser81]

Dave's political revisionist history is so skewed he listed BlyGilmore as the top MM moderator in history.