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I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Lincoln. I went because my dad and grandfather wanted to go, and it's the holidays so you should go to the movies your parents/grandparents want to go to, but I expected to be looking at my watch the whole time. Not so, though. It wasn't, like, mind-blowingly good, but it was a lot more entertaining that I thought it was going to be. And also, like you guys all said, weirdly suspenseful. blixie's response sums mine up perfectly.

So yeah, I liked it, and it wasn't a chore to sit through. James Spader was totally fab. His moments with the rest of his posse were obvious attempts to inject some humor, but they were actually funny, so it worked. I loved watching the members of Congress be absolute, unapologetic bitches to each other all the time. And Lee Pace! Lee Pace was there! I love him, and there was no way in hell I was going to sit through Twilight just for him, so him turning up in this movie was a treat. A treat, I tell you.

If the tone had been just a bit off, I think it could have been absolutely terrible, but David O. Russell hit the right notes. The whole cast is very good too.

I'm a total David O. Russell fangurl but yeah, I ADORED Silver Linings Playbook any movie that can have that much fun at the expense of Eagles fans is going to be a big favorite. And THAT is the Jennifer Lawrence who wowed me in Winter's Bone. While I often seen Bradley Cooper and appreciated that he *could* be sexy, this is the first time I've ever found him so hot. I thought it managed to be both offbeat while still staying true to romantic comedy expectations, it didn't

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Hee.

I enjoyed it and I'll stand alone in saying I thought Sally Field was amazingly good

Not alone in that - I thought she was fantastic. I tend to like her in general, though.

blixie wrote:

If the tone had been just a bit off, I think it could have been absolutely terrible, but David O. Russell hit the right notes. The whole cast is very good too.

I'm a total David O. Russell fangurl but yeah, I ADORED Silver Linings Playbook any movie that can have that much fun at the expense of Eagles fans is going to be a big favorite. And THAT is the Jennifer Lawrence who wowed me in Winter's Bone. While I often seen Bradley Cooper and appreciated that he *could* be sexy, this is the first time I've ever found him so hot. I thought it managed to be both offbeat while still staying true to romantic comedy expectations, it didn't

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Hee.

LOL Which I'm thankful for because I'm not sure how I would have felt about that.

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I still haven't seen Winter's Bone, but yes, I had heard she was fantastic in it, and she definitely is here. So is Bradley Cooper though. He and De Niro (and Jacki Weaver too for that matter) play off each other very well.

Morning Angel wrote:I still haven't seen Winter's Bone, but yes, I had heard she was fantastic in it, and she definitely is here.

Definitely check it out - her Oscar nom was well deserved, and it's a really great movie, too.

I saw Wreck-It Ralph yesterday and enjoyed it a lot. The voice work was terrific, particularly Alan Tudyk and Sarah Silverman. I don't even like Silverman but she was really affecting as Vanellope. The scene where

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was kind of shocking because she was so anguished.

All the references and nods to past arcade games and characters were very well done. I would have liked to have seen more of those characters incorporated into the story, though, like the ones Ralph is with at the bad guy anonymous meetings. Other than that, a fun Saturday afternoon movie.

sagitare, I thoroughly enjoyed Wreck-It Ralph, too! I almost cried during a few scenes, including the one you mentioned. I think John C. Reilly was the absolute best choice for Ralph because he has such an Every Man voice. He sounds like your average guy, and right when he began talking at the start of the movie, I began to feel sad because he can inflect his speech with such wistfulness. I figured Sarah Silverman's voice would irk the hell out of me, but I ended up really liking Vanellope and found her obnoxiously endearing! Jack Brayer as Fix-It Felix Jr. was adorable. I just wanted to hug him so badly. The tiny detail that got me most excited was suddenly seeing Beard Papa in the Sugar Rush game!

So before I saw Lincoln I figured DDL was a lock to be nominated for an Oscar, but figured he might not win because he won Best Actor not all that long ago, and that the Academy might want to use this year as a make-up win for another actor. After seeing Lincoln, I think I can safely say DDL is going to win in a walk, and the voting won't even be CLOSE. He just absolutely disappears into the role, and manages to make Lincoln into a fully realized person in a way that I really didn't think was possible. It's so easy to see him as a saint, and while some of that is there in the performance, it's so much more than that. Kudos all around to the cast, including the always delightful JGL, James Spader, Tommy Lee Jones, Lee Pace, and Gloria Rueben who all make the most of their brief screen-time.

I can totally understand why people might think based on the trailers the movie is going to be a somber history lesson, but there is actually a LOT of humor in the movie, and it's quite suspenseful. But I must also admit, I'm a history and political science buff, so all the machinations in the House of Representatives was fascinating to me. I have to hand it to Speilberg, he made a movie about the passage of the 13th Amendment and Abraham Lincoln that also very clearly speaks to how little has changed in Washington since then. It doesn't hit you over the head with that idea, but it's not hard to miss that thread running through the movie. My inner political geek was so jazzed by that.

whatthedeuce wrote:I think John C. Reilly was the absolute best choice for Ralph because he has such an Every Man voice. He sounds like your average guy, and right when he began talking at the start of the movie, I began to feel sad because he can inflect his speech with such wistfulness.

Yes, he was very good at that and I agree, he was an excellent choice (as was Jack Brayer - his character was so adorable! Loved the story line between Felix Jr. and Calhoun!)

Jack Brayer was pitch perfect as Felix because he has such an innocent, earnest tone in his voice. Very fitting for the "awshucks" and "gee willikers"-type phrases that he was spouting. He and Calhoun were hilarious and adorable! AI also thought the little egg-shaped neighbors in Felix's building were too cute for words. I wanted to pinch their cheeks even when they were being dickish to Ralph.

I liked how the neighbours moved in that jerky/early animation type of way, too.

Yeah, their movements had that very authentic, old school game feel to them!

Saw Silver Linings Playbook over Thanksgiving break and loved it. And I say this as an Eagles fan (I could relate to his dad's frustration!) And I almost lost it laughing at the

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Finally saw Argo, which I thought was very good. On a very shallow note I don't think Ben has ever looked better.

I took my nephew to see Rise of the Guardian's and I have to say I think I was more entertained than he was. If you need to see a holiday movie with a child I highly recommend it. I may have even gotten a bit of dust in my eye at the end...but I have to say I now without a doubt believe in The Easter Bunny, The Tooth Fairy, The Sandman, Santa and best of all Jack Frost!

Has anyone seen The Man with the Iron Fists? It comes out here tomorrow. There are a couple of issues. First, it got 51% on Rotten Tomatoes and 6.6 on IMDB. Normally that would be a no. But I got some movie vouchers for my birthday a few months ago. It looks like I won't be able to use them all before they expire. I'd like to use as many as I can, but at the same time I don't want to waste my time on shit. So what's the Snarkfest opinion? Yes or no?

I really didn't think I'd enjoy Rise of the Guardians, but it was great! I honestly cooed every single time Sandman was on the screen because he was just so disgustingly adorable! I loved North and thought Alec Baldwin was great with his Russian accent. Not that it sounded authentic or anything, but it was really charming nonetheless.

Man With The Iron Fists is a really cool idea (or several cool ideas) executed extremely poorly. A lot seems to be on the editing room floor, because it seems like Russel Crowe's character has an arc but we never see one as such. Also, it kind of reflects America's weird priorities on sex vs. violence--the movie is grusomely violent, but there's no toplessness, despite many important scenes taking place in a brothel.

Turns out it isn't playing at either of the cinemas within easy reach. There's only so far I'll go for a movie I'm not sure about.

Skyfall was awesome. Daniel Craig just might be the best Bond, and that from someone who loved the old Connery portrayal of 007.

I just saw Life of Pi and cried at least five separate times. Beautifully done. I loved the book but was always skeptical on how it would be filmed, but I take it all back, kudos Ang Li.

Oh excellent! I read it with my book club a few years ago and we're all going to see it together on Monday! Glad to hear it's good!

I really was very moved by it.

My son and I went to see it last night. He seemed a bit overwhelmed by it last night, but told me today how much he liked it. It's definitely the "deepest" movie he's ever seen. It was gorgeous and the 3D (and CGI) was so well done. I was quite skeptical, too when I heard it was being made into a film but it turned into a stunning achievement. It also reinforces my feeling that I never again want to travel by ship.

Kiran wrote:I just saw Life of Pi and cried at least five separate times. Beautifully done. I loved the book but was always skeptical on how it would be filmed, but I take it all back, kudos Ang Li.

This is one of my favourite books so I was skeptical too, but I thought the movie was visually stunning & really well done overall. My only reservation is that I felt the themes came across as preachier than in the book (but that's probably partly what happens when you lose some of the internal monologue you get in a written work).

It's one of my favorite books, too, and I thought Ang Lee did a wonderful job adapting it to screen. It's too bad that the Best Actor field is so packed this year, because Suraj Sharma was excellent and deserves recognition.

I saw Silver Linings Playbook this weekend and I feel conflicted. If I stop to think about it on an intellectual level, I have mixed feelings about what I think the movie was trying to say about its rather, uh, serious subject matter. On a pure emotional level, though, I love love loved it and wanted to draw so many hearts around it when I was done, and Cooper/Lawrence/DeNiro/Weaver were all SO good. So yeah, conflicted.