We have been slacking! We skipped movies for a couple of months. Jer had picked this movie out, but I kept forgetting to post it so I’m finally getting it up here and we’ll just make it the November movie pick. This movie comes from a book series (Night Watch, Day Watch and Twilight Watch). I read the first book and Jer has actually read all three. We watched the first movie, but it didn’t really follow the book and it isn’t necessary to read them to follow the story. I decided I didn’t need to read the second book to watch this movie and I don’t think you need to read or watch the first movie to figure out what is going on with this one. At least I hope not, since we haven’t seen it yet. The trailer looks super awesome in terms of special effects and action. The director went on to make the Angelina Jolie movie Wanted.
Day Watch
Netflix synopsis: Anton (Konstantin Khabensky) finds himself in the middle of a mythic conflict between the forces of Light and Dark in this sequel to Night Watch, the surprise 2004 hit from Russia. To protect his son, who has come under the control of the dark side, Anton must seek an ancient artifact. But the powerful relic threatens to upset the uneasy peace between the two sides and puts Moscow at risk for a devastating cataclysm in this supernatural thriller.
Rotten Tomato Score: 63% (Certified Fresh Pick)
Tags: day watch, movie watching group, Movie Watching Group
Choke
Directed: Clark Gregg
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston, Kelly MacDonald, Brian William Henke
Trailer
Synopsis: Based on a Chuck Palahniuk novel, a sex-addict who works at a Colonial theme park fakes choking in restaurants so people can save him.
I love the book. It is twisted and very wrong. It is also shocking the first time you read it. I reread the book just before the movie came out and it wasn’t as shocking, but was still twisted and funny. While the movie seems to follow the book very closely, it doesn’t seem to capture the spirit of it. It is the same feeling I had after watching the first two Harry Potter movies. They stuck to the story very well, but they just weren’t as much fun as the books. Yes, I did just compare this movie to Harry Potter. The Harry Potter movies later on (starting with the third) captured the spirit and were as much fun as reading the books, but they were also worth seeing without having to say the books were better. They were both different experiences of the same story. Here, there isn’t much experience with just the movie. Everything I love about it can be found in the book. I am curious if anyone that hadn’t read the book would find it funnier than I did. I laughed out loud while reading the book, but only chuckled a couple times during the movie. It could have been that I knew what was coming, but I’m not so sure.
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Tags: Anjelica Huston, Brian William Henke, Choke, chuck palahniuk, clark gregg, Kelly MacDonald, Sam Rockwell
Burn After Reading
Directed: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Starring: George Clooney, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, Tilda Winton
Synopsis: Dumb gym employees find an ex-CIA’s memoirs and try to blackmail him.
I would have not known this was a Coen brother movie, if I didn’t know it going in. They usually have a way with words and weird phrases that I love. They even had weird phrases in No Country For Old Men, but I didn’t find any of it in this movie. It mostly had the same actors from other Coen brother movies and it was on the odd side, but it wasn’t one of their better movies.
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Tags: brad pitt, Burn After Reading, Frances McDormand, george clooney, John Malkovich, Tilda Winton
Sex and the City: The Movie
Directed: Michael Patrick King
Starring: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, Jennifer Hudson
Trailer
Synopsis: Four years after the series ended, the movie picks up four years later with Carrie engaged to Big, Samantha still in love with Smith, Charlotte finally pregnant and Miranda still living in Brooklyn with Steve.
The series had ups and downs, but I did always buy the direction the various characters went in, even if they were stupid mistakes. It fit their characters and usually ended up well, especially by the end of the series. The movie is soley for fans because they would be the only ones that would put up with the one long downer of a middle of the movie. It was pretty much a retread of what had happened in the series many times before. I would still get sad when the girls were sad and happy when they were happy, but I wasn’t thrilled by the contrived plot. The main plot I’m discussing would be Carrie’s storyline. The rest of it actually felt more true to life and closer to what happened in the series.
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Tags: Cynthia Nixon, Jennifer Hudson, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Sarah Jessica Parker, sex and the city
Death Race
Directed: Paul W.S. Anderson
Starring: Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Tyrese Gibson, Ian McShane
Trailer
Synopsis: In order to go even more extreme with reality television, there is a racing competition inside a jail with the prisoners.
While the movie was over the top, predictable, and filled with bad acting, it was still a fun time. A lot of what saved the movie was Jason Statham. He can actually act and looks sexy whether he’s dirty or clean or even wearing clothes. I preferred the scenes where he was wearing fewer clothing.
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I’ve gone back and forth on what my next movie will be, but I will go with one of my all-time favorite movies. It has a dumb plot, but I found it hilarious when I first saw it in fourth grade. Every time my brother and I would go to the video store, we would rent it. This was back in the days that no one owned movies since they all cost around $100, but I’m pretty sure we spent that after all the times we rented it. You don’t even have to like beer to enjoy it since I wasn’t not a beer fan in fourth grade. 
It also shows that Rick Moranis was once cool. Please don’t hate it because it is Canadian!
Strange Brew
Netflix synopsis: Hoping to snag some free beer by helping a brewery owner reclaim her business, goofy Canadian brothers Bob and Doug McKenzie (SCTV’s Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas) wind up battling criminal Brewmeister Smith (Max von Sydow), who plans to take over the world by releasing his hypnotic brew to the beer-guzzling population. Now, the fate of humankind lies in the hands of Canada’s biggest “hosers” in this classic comedy.
Rotten Tomato Score: 70%
Tags: movie watching group, Movie Watching Group, strange brew
Dark Knight
Directed: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Caine
Synopsis: Heath Ledger is super creepy as the Joker and Maggie Gyllenhaal has thankfully taken the role abandoned by Katie Holmes.
Lately, when I have been watching movies, I snooze a bit during some part of it. Usually only for a few seconds, but it still happens every time. Even though this movie was over 2 1/2 hours long, I didn’t doze off once. I was even amazed that I never felt tired the entire movie. I could feel it was a long one, but I didn’t want it to end. I was willing to have the movie go on forever.
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Tags: aaron eckhart, christian bale, christopher nolan, dark knight, heath ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, michael caine
Marci has the July pick and she picked Heavy Metal.
Heavy Metal
Netflix synopsis: Based on the fantastical illustrated magazine Heavy Metal, producer Ivan Reitman creates an otherworldly tale of good vs. evil. Packed with special effects, Heavy Metal set the standard for alternative contemporary animation. Plus a pounding soundtrack by Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick, Devo and more!
Rotten Tomato Score: 61%
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Directed: Guillermo Del Toro
Starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Luke Goss
Synopsis: There are no Nazis to fight this time, but an ancient Elvin race from the underworld coming up to cause problems for Hellboy and his friends.
I never imagined that Hellboy and Barry Manilow would share scenes together, but they do go together quite nicely. When the scene happens where Barry Manilow’s music makes an appearance, I realized how much fun Guillermo Del Toro must have had writing and making the film. This entire movie seems more fun compared to the first one. I was not a fan of the first one, even though it was made by the same people. I’m not sure where it went wrong, but it seemed like it was trying to hard and just didn’t work. This time around, the monsters are fantastic, the comedy works and everyone seems to be having a ball. That fun time was infectious and just made watching the movie a good time. I was even not annoyed by Selma Blair who always annoyed me. It was that entertaining!
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Tags: Doug Jones, golden army, guillermo del toro, hellboy 2, Luke Goss, ron perlman, Selma Blair
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
Directed: Seth Gordon
Synopsis: One guy has held the Donkey Kong world record for 20 years, but a middle school science teacher thinks he has the stuff to beat him.
This documentary has all the elements of a major motion picture. It has the set up between the two rivals–one cocky about something that happened in 1982 and one who has been close to winning many things in life, but always fell short of the prize. It has the comedy of how into video game records some people can be and the heartbreak of one guy beating a record, but not being able to be declared the best. There is also a final twist that you would not expect since it is real life and not a big Hollywood movie with a Hollywood happy ending.
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Tags: fistful of quarters, king of kong, seth gordon
