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| Movie Review; So we don't go to the bad movies! | |
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| Topic Started: Feb 17 2008, 07:14 PM (3,100 Views) | |
| drummond and elmsley | Nov 22 2009, 01:22 PM Post #221 |
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Employee of the Month
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2012 9/10 The effects in this movie, were the best effects I have EVER seen in my life! While story is very typical, the action in this movie is tremendous! There is also a lot of comedy, so it's not TOO serious. ![]() Highly recommend it! |
| It wasn't me... | |
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| Old Ogastein | Nov 22 2009, 09:27 PM Post #222 |
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Still Here...
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I wrote this very long review for another site but thought I should share it with you guys! WORD OF CAUTION - They're may be some swearing and or inappropriate content or language that some may find offensive. The movie is rated 14A. ![]() Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire: A Summary and Review I have just returned from seeing Precious. I have been waiting anxiously since May when the trailer was released to see the film. When we were driving into Downtown to one of the two theaters playing it in limited release, I was nervous. Would it be sold out and I miss it? Would it live up to its hype? Would the reviews be true? Would I hate it? Questions were wandering throughout my mind. We parked and walked to the theater and discovered the theater opened at noon, it was about 11:15. We went to the machines where you can use your bank card to buy tickets in advance. We were the first ones in the theater and the first ones to sit down. I waited for half an hour in anticipation. It turns out the wait was worth it. The hype is not just hype, it is a realistic reception to a ground breaking film. The film begins with new comer, Gabourey Sidibe. She is walking through the halls of her Harlem highschool. "My name is Clareece Precious Jones. I want to be on the cover of a magazine. I wish a had a light-skinned boyfriend with good hair. But first I want to be in one of those BET videos. " The commentary gives you an early sympathy and soft spot for Precious. Cut ahead to Math class in which Precious images herself married to her math teacher. These fantasy scenes are prevalent throughout the movie. Cut back to real life where two kids are being noisy in front of Precious, she tells them to "Shut the fuck up, I'm trying to listen." We have learned that although she may be trying to listen, she doesn't understand math. Her teacher then tells her that the principal wants to talk to her. Precious is immediately uncooperative not answering her questions and being hostile. Precious ends up being suspended from school with the only seeming to be that she is pregnant for the second time. After being suspended we enter Precious' home life. She is shown watching dishes, one of the many tasks that she has to do for housework. Her mother, Mary (Mo'Nique) treats her as if she is a slave. Her mother suddenly hurls a skillet at her head. Producing a flashback of Precious being raped by her father. During this she images her self as a movie star, walking down a red carpet. Suddenly, there is a buzz on the buzzer. We are informed via a voiceover that crackheads buzz the buzzer for something to do. Precious goes to the buzzer and tells the whoever is downstairs to stop ringing. The buzzing continues, Precious returns uttering the same message. It buzzes yet again and she answers with the same message and is about to walk away when there is another ring, this time her mother informs her to press listen. It is her principal explaining that there is an alternative school that Precious should go to. Throughout this conversation, Mary is mouthing things such as "Get his bitch out of here." Precious who is also visibly irritated by this conversation says she understands and tells her principal to leave. We are then quickly shown what kind of person Mary is. Precious walks up to her bedroom only for her mother to yell for her to come back. Mary unleashes a fury of hate at precious telling her "She's worthless, don't nobody want you, don't nobody need" and saying she should have aborted Precious. Mary hurls a glass at Precious who retaliates by kicking a frying ban down the stairs at her mother. Mary looks at the pan bewildered for a moment at her daughter's fight and runs up the stairs after her. The screen cuts to black and we hear a struggle. ![]() Cut ahead to Precious' first day at her alternative school. Her mother is obviously skeptic telling her that she should go to the welfare instead of wasting her time with school. She could care less about Precious' education and shrugs her off calling her "Mrs. Onassis." Precious arrives at the school. She meets Cornrows (Sherri Shepherd), a receptionist who is quickly irritated and seems consumed in her own personal life and problems. Instead of talking to people, she would much rather put them on hold. She seems very annoyed by Precious' incompetence and gives her a placement test. Cut ahead to the next day. In the morning, Precious can not find any food. In one of the most disturbing scenes in the movie, the mother asked Precious "Come take care of Mommy Precious" while she is pleasuring herself. In a voiceover, Precious is very angry at that promising if her mother ever pulls that again, she will kill her. Precious still hungry decides to go to a fried chicken restaurant and indulge. She goes into the restaurant and requests her order. She gets the chicken and then asks the woman behind the counter for potato salad then she bolts. She runs out of the store, shoving chicken in her mouth. When she finally arrives at school she vomits in the school's garbage can (which is quite disgusting, she seems to barf endlessly.) She meets her teacher in the hall who informs her that her classroom door will close in 20 seconds. Precious thinks for a minute and enters the classroom late. We are given a formal introduction to Blu Rain (Paula Patton), who tells the class to introduce themselves. All the class introduces themselves in interesting and memorable introductions. The class of girls is the source of comic relief throughout the film, which is greatly needed to keep you from being 100% completely depressed. Precious who has skipped her introduction, then decides she wants to make one after everyone has gone. Ms. Rain gives her the confidence to admit she is good at something (cooking.) Fast forward to the Welfare Office. Here we are given our first glimpse of Mariah Carey as the ugly (in retrospective) Ms. Weiss. Precious is ignoring Ms. Weiss as if she is her principal at school. Ms. Weiss obviously doesn't have them same amount of patience as the principal, cutting her off fairly quickly. For some reason Precious then kind of spills the beans a bit about how her mother abused her. Cut back to an encounter with a Welfare Agent in the past. Precious' grandmother, who cares for her first daughter, Mongo, who has down syndrome has visited. The Welfare Agent buzzes and Mary commands Precious to grab her wig and tells her mother to give her Mongo. With her wig on and little Mongo in her arms, Mary stages a fake attempt that she actually cares for Mongo. The scheme works and the Welfare agent doesn't suspect anything. She leaves and Mary quickly throws the baby onto the couch beside her complaining that the baby is an animal. She also swears at the kid for throwing her licorice on the ground. Precious goes to pick it up only to be chewed apart by Mary. During a presentation in front of her class in which she is presenting a piece of writing that she wrote, her water breaks. She is quickly rushed to the hospital where she is seen screaming her lungs out on a stretcher. Here we meet Nurse John (Lenny Kravitez), who sympathizes with Precious. During a visit from the girls at the school, we see a different side of Precious, a side we haven't seen yet. She is giggling throughout a debate on whether or not McDonalds is good. Nurse John says he dose not eat it as it is not good for you, while Precious defends it by saying it is good. Nurse John then needs to go an area of the hospital and when he leaves he gives Precious a friendly kiss on the forehead. The girls then sing "Precious and John sitting in a tree" causing Precious to smile and laugh some more. Next, in the most shocking scene of the movie, Precious returns home from the hospital with her new baby boy, Abdul. She returns home and at first the reunion is very mellow. Mary is very calm and reserved. She asks to see the baby to which Precious moves the blanket to reveal his face. Mary then asks if she can hold him, to which Precious complies and she walks over and hands her the mother the baby. Her mom cradles the baby and is very friendly with it commenting "he has his father's face." This comment makes the audience uneasy, that she could release her fury onto a blitz of insults. However, she shockingly is reserved asking if Precious can get her a drink. Still cradling the baby, Precious walks into the kitchen and starts the sink and puts water into the glass. Next, is something that inspired a lot of gasps from the audience. Mary throws the baby onto the ground and grows a large glass object (possibly a vase) at Precious to which she narrowly avoids. Precious, bewildering by what just happened asks her mother if she is crazy and runs to her baby. Her mother body checks her into the wall and begins to point her finger in Precious' face. She grabs her mother's hand, only to have Mary slap her in the face. Precious then slams her mother into the sofa and grabs Abdul and begins to run down the stairs. Nearing, the last few stairs Precious trips and falls down a bunch of them and ends up back first looking up to the balcony. Meanwhile, Mary has grabbed her TV and is walking to the balcony. She hurls the TV down the stairs, to which Precious moves just out of the way quickly. Mary looks down in disgust as Precious runs away. The next approx. twenty minutes are the most uninteresting of the movie. Precious with nowhere to go breaks into the alternative school and stays there for the night. Ms. Rain then decides that one way or another she will find Precious a place to stay. While Ms. Rain is occupied with finding Precious a place to stay, she appoints Rita, a Jamaica student to run the class. Under Rita's rule the class is very interesting and it's a funny five minutes and a good refresher after Precious' escape from her house. Ms. Rain finds her a halfway house but offers her house for a few days first. Precious discovers Ms. Rain is a lesbian and the conversations that her and her partner have a quite intellectual. Precious can not follow the conversation, which also makes for a funny scene. At the halfway house, Precious receives a visitor, and it becomes clear who it is - Her mother. She begins the conversation by telling her, that her dad is dead. Precious who is unimpressed asked if that is the only reason she came to visit her. Her mother sheepishly responds by saying "he had the AIDS virus." Precious asks if her mother has it, to which her mother says she hasn't done it in the ass so there is no chance she could have it. Mary then asks if Precious will move back in with her, Precious leaves. The next day at school, Precious is unresponsive not saying much and we get a shot of her journal all it says is "Why Me?" In one of the most emotional scenes Precious tells her class she is HIV positive. She also says Abdul doesn't have it. When Ms. Rain still tells her to write Precious goes into one of the most heart wrenching speeches ever, explaining that love has "beat her, raped her, called her an animal." She pleads with Ms. Rain not to love her. Ms. Rain still tells her she needs to write and Precious, does begin to write, slowly but surely. ![]() In the strongest scene of the film, which also happens to be the last one Precious ends up back in Ms. Weiss' office. This time her mother also shows up. Immediately, the focus turns to Mary. Ms. Weiss begins to ask her about the abuse that is in her home. Mary affirms that there were never any drugs in her house at all when and that she would never allowed such a thing - ever! Ms. Weiss doesn't appreciate the bullshit and tells Mary to talk about the sexual and physical abuse in her house. Mary then goes into one of the most sickening and twisted monologues in cinema history. She explains how the abuse started. When Precious was three (this garnered a lot of shock from the audience) her husband was having sex with her when suddenly he grabbed Precious. Mary says that she never wanted Precious to be hurt. She repeats this over and over. But then she blames Precious for stealing her man saying "who was going to love me?" As Precious and Ms. Weiss listen to the monologue that are visibly disturbed. Mary then retrieves Mongo and hands her to Precious. Precious then gets up and says "I never understood you until today, and I'll never see you again." Precious then leaves. Mary then tries to plead to Ms. Weiss again repeating she didn't want Precious to get hurt and saying she wanted to be reunited with her family. Ms. Weiss gets up and walks away. Overall: Precious is a wonderfully crafted movie and it has the strongest performances of the year. Gabourey Sidibe will blow you away with her slated face Precious. You'll really sympathize for her character. But the one who brings the house down is Mo'Nique (almost literally, she's very hard on the furniture.) Her horrifying mother degrades Precious and makes you fear her as she dominates every scene she's in. However, at the end you can't help but feel sorry for her and truly understand her. Honorable mentions go to The girls in the class, Mariah Carey and Paula Patton. Although, flawed at times because of the quick cutaways, Precious is just simply one of my favorite movies of all time, that I am still struggling to understand. 10/10 |
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"I want a six figure salary, eight including cents. I've been fooled before. Thanks The Gap!" --Liz Lemon | |
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| Fin | Nov 22 2009, 10:14 PM Post #223 |
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Tilting Windmills
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Too lazy and been drinking to read the, what looks rad article, but i just wanted to say OO!!!!! |
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| davislyvania | Nov 22 2009, 11:28 PM Post #224 |
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You! Yes...YOU....
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So...it's NOT a movie about the One Ring..? |
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| Rylvan | Nov 23 2009, 07:31 PM Post #225 |
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The Twilight Saga: New Moon 6/10 I'm not sure how to begin, I may have more to say later that I can't remember right now. If you love Twilight you'll probably like the movie, but if you haven't read the books you likely won't. For the most part it was okay, but long. It's two hours and ten minutes and drags a bit. The action scenes help counter that a little, though slo-mo is used too much throughout. The secondary characters (like Bella's friends and dad) are funny and steal the show, but they play second fiddle to the main romance and aren't around as much as in the first film. The script sounds like some angsty teenager's diary, which is what it's supposed to be half the time, but if you don't learn to feel for the characters it gets tedious and annoying. Beware of the corny lines. Taylor Lautner does a pretty good job though, Jacob's very likeable, and sexy of course. The Volturi aren't in it very much, so Dakota Fanning seems rather underused (she only has like two, three lines). Bella's rather dreary the whole time and I found it hard to like her. The Wolf Pack are cool though. They're funny and great but you only get one real scene with them all, apart from when they're in wolf-form running after Victoria in the forest or eating Laurent. |
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Chuck Norris Points: 2 28 DAYS LATER: Abraham Weiss ~ 3:10 TO YUMA: Dwight "Bud" Marlowe ~ CANADIAN DOMINATION: Lord Marshal Casder ~ COPS: Jamie Vance ~ CSI: Jesse Vance ~ D&D: Caliban Canivar ~ GUARDIAN SOCIETY: Salvo, Alpha Boy ~ ON THE FRONT: Pvt. Dominic Reardon ~ MEDIEVAL TIMES: Prince Johann ~ SPIES: Leroy Perlman ~ STAR ADVENTURE: WO Andre Lanter ~ STRANDED: Justin Vance ~ SUPERNATURAL: Rhett Van Sprang ~ TIMESPLITTERS: Spc. Jeremiah "Rookie" Vance ~ WILD LIFE: Rex | |
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| disposablepuppetland | Nov 23 2009, 08:01 PM Post #226 |
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Hall of Famer
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OO - was that the whole plot you posted? I read the first three paragraphs then stopped cause I didn't want to spoil it. |
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[align=center]This is what DPL is about - Also known as The Justified Ancients of West-Side - Furthermore known as the Jam Cartographer of Canada[/align] | |
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| Old Ogastein | Nov 23 2009, 08:36 PM Post #227 |
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Still Here...
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Yes, I reviewed it and had a little bit of commentary. I have an overall consensus at the end. It's an amazing film and may be my favorite of all time. Strongly recommend. |
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"I want a six figure salary, eight including cents. I've been fooled before. Thanks The Gap!" --Liz Lemon | |
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| bweezy | Dec 10 2009, 05:31 PM Post #228 |
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On Vacation
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Saw Zombieland. Very funny. Sometimes its nice to leave your brain at the door and let a silly zombie flick entertain you. Rented Bruno on the weekend. Not nearly as good as Borat. I think Baron-Cohen was concentrating too much on pushing boundaries, and not enough on a plot. With the holidays fast approaching, The Princess and the Frog and the Chipmunks Sequel will be in my future. Heaven help me. -R |
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"Frosty's heart was so warm with love that he screamed in agony as he melted into a tepid little puddle." "Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." John F. Kennedy | |
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| Omnivorous | Dec 10 2009, 10:06 PM Post #229 |
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The AntiEss
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You could come over to mine and watch The Great Escape and Escape to Victory a few times.
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# of points: -2Department of Immigration Member
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| Pez201 | Dec 11 2009, 12:35 AM Post #230 |
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New and improved
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My review was better. ![]() Although I actually dislike the whole Twilight series.
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"I never said i was the first person..yesh. I admit Pez was the first one to throw a goat" - Fin Leader of the Canadian Fat Whale Party from 21/5/08 - 29/8/09 and from 1/8/09 when his 48 hour brain fuzz cleared up.
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| Rylvan | Dec 20 2009, 06:51 PM Post #231 |
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:rolleyes: I don't hate the Twilight phenomenon. I'm reading New Moon and so far it's not bad.Caught a bit of Christmas in Connecticut on TV last night. It was pretty good, funny, heartwarming, all that. |
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Chuck Norris Points: 2 28 DAYS LATER: Abraham Weiss ~ 3:10 TO YUMA: Dwight "Bud" Marlowe ~ CANADIAN DOMINATION: Lord Marshal Casder ~ COPS: Jamie Vance ~ CSI: Jesse Vance ~ D&D: Caliban Canivar ~ GUARDIAN SOCIETY: Salvo, Alpha Boy ~ ON THE FRONT: Pvt. Dominic Reardon ~ MEDIEVAL TIMES: Prince Johann ~ SPIES: Leroy Perlman ~ STAR ADVENTURE: WO Andre Lanter ~ STRANDED: Justin Vance ~ SUPERNATURAL: Rhett Van Sprang ~ TIMESPLITTERS: Spc. Jeremiah "Rookie" Vance ~ WILD LIFE: Rex | |
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| disposablepuppetland | Jan 15 2010, 12:41 PM Post #232 |
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Hall of Famer
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I just watched Serenity. I'd never seen it before. I realise some of you might express disbelief at that statement, but I'd avoided it because everyone who tells me how great it is also seems to be a huge Startrek fan, and I can't stand Startrek. I've been off sick though so I've had plenty of time to spend watching films I might not otherwise have watched. Overall it was much better than I expected, bearing in mind I expected it to be absolutely terrible. Good points: - Nothing like Startrek. - Believable characters. (except River) - Some nice locations. - Some interesting hardware and effects. - Mostly good dialogue. Quite amusing in places. Bad points: - Terrible cheesy, predictable ending. - Seems like a tiny universe. - 'The Reavers' - These guys are like the Infected from 28 Days Later, except somehow they can build and fly spaceships. - I'm bored of seeing one tiny girl beat up hundreds of heavily armed guys with a few dubious looking kung-fu moves. It was great when Crouching Tiger did it but it's long since passed its sell-by-date. This one isn't even a good effort. - Highly pretentious death moves involving swords and pressure points have no place in a film that's trying to take itself seriously. |
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[align=center]This is what DPL is about - Also known as The Justified Ancients of West-Side - Furthermore known as the Jam Cartographer of Canada[/align] | |
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| Redundancies | Jan 17 2010, 11:14 PM Post #233 |
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Cat Scratch Fever
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I shuold check out Serenity myself, if only because Nathan Fillion ("Mal") is seven kinds of awesome in "Castle" and I understand he's just as slick in Serenity/Firefly. |
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Seeking to bring back the Ministry of Darkness Cool points earned: 3 No TV and no beer make Homer something something. | |
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| Cowland5 | Jan 22 2010, 10:44 PM Post #234 |
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Baron de Pompous
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I just watched the Bucket List with some friends. Definitely one of my favorites now. |
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| MrPopo | Jan 25 2010, 04:49 AM Post #235 |
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All-Star
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Anyone ever see Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog ? (Written and directed by Joss Whedon of Buffy The Vampire Slayer/Serenity/Firefly fame) If you have not, you can get the full thing on youtube (in parts) to watch. Completely legal as it was made as a straight to web video. That being said 10 out of 10. Great acting. Great cast (Niel Patrick Harris can sing! So can Nathan Fillion (Malcolm Reynolds of Firefly/Serenity fame) et al). Frickin hilarious to watch. Etc etc...go watch it. All in all, short movie so not much I can say about plot except a screwed up superhero/supervillain fun. And if you like it that much, it is available on DVD with dozens of "Sing Along Blog" user created videos of fan villain auditions for Evil League of Evil - very funny stuff. |
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Society For The Liberation From The Dictatorial Ministry Of Donuts And Beer: SFTLFTDMODB, pronounced 'Sufto lofot domodab'. Our Motto: "Take That, Mister!" | |
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| Cowland5 | Jan 25 2010, 09:53 AM Post #236 |
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Baron de Pompous
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I've seen it. It's pretty good. As for the cast, you're forgetting about Felicia Day! |
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| Rylvan | Feb 17 2010, 03:31 PM Post #237 |
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When In Rome 6/10 The Proposal 7/10 It's Complicated 8/10 Sherlock Holmes 8.5/10 My mom likes romcoms, so I've seen a few the last year or so. |
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Chuck Norris Points: 2 28 DAYS LATER: Abraham Weiss ~ 3:10 TO YUMA: Dwight "Bud" Marlowe ~ CANADIAN DOMINATION: Lord Marshal Casder ~ COPS: Jamie Vance ~ CSI: Jesse Vance ~ D&D: Caliban Canivar ~ GUARDIAN SOCIETY: Salvo, Alpha Boy ~ ON THE FRONT: Pvt. Dominic Reardon ~ MEDIEVAL TIMES: Prince Johann ~ SPIES: Leroy Perlman ~ STAR ADVENTURE: WO Andre Lanter ~ STRANDED: Justin Vance ~ SUPERNATURAL: Rhett Van Sprang ~ TIMESPLITTERS: Spc. Jeremiah "Rookie" Vance ~ WILD LIFE: Rex | |
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| Rylvan | Aug 5 2010, 04:15 AM Post #238 |
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Inception 9/10 Kick-Ass 8/10 I would have given it a 7, but the last half hour really got good. Perhaps most notably the music. I'm gonna try and get my hands on the score. |
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Chuck Norris Points: 2 28 DAYS LATER: Abraham Weiss ~ 3:10 TO YUMA: Dwight "Bud" Marlowe ~ CANADIAN DOMINATION: Lord Marshal Casder ~ COPS: Jamie Vance ~ CSI: Jesse Vance ~ D&D: Caliban Canivar ~ GUARDIAN SOCIETY: Salvo, Alpha Boy ~ ON THE FRONT: Pvt. Dominic Reardon ~ MEDIEVAL TIMES: Prince Johann ~ SPIES: Leroy Perlman ~ STAR ADVENTURE: WO Andre Lanter ~ STRANDED: Justin Vance ~ SUPERNATURAL: Rhett Van Sprang ~ TIMESPLITTERS: Spc. Jeremiah "Rookie" Vance ~ WILD LIFE: Rex | |
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| Rylvan | Aug 17 2010, 11:31 PM Post #239 |
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Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World Rating: Awesome |
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Chuck Norris Points: 2 28 DAYS LATER: Abraham Weiss ~ 3:10 TO YUMA: Dwight "Bud" Marlowe ~ CANADIAN DOMINATION: Lord Marshal Casder ~ COPS: Jamie Vance ~ CSI: Jesse Vance ~ D&D: Caliban Canivar ~ GUARDIAN SOCIETY: Salvo, Alpha Boy ~ ON THE FRONT: Pvt. Dominic Reardon ~ MEDIEVAL TIMES: Prince Johann ~ SPIES: Leroy Perlman ~ STAR ADVENTURE: WO Andre Lanter ~ STRANDED: Justin Vance ~ SUPERNATURAL: Rhett Van Sprang ~ TIMESPLITTERS: Spc. Jeremiah "Rookie" Vance ~ WILD LIFE: Rex | |
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| Mirahge | Aug 17 2010, 11:41 PM Post #240 |
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And you say I have problems!
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Marmaduke: Rating: 2/10 Not even funny for the kids, don't waste your time, money, or dignity. |
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"Life continues on, with...or without you" ~Locust Queen, Gears of War 2 RP Charecters: James Redmen - 28 days later Pvt Damain Horton - On the Front Lance Dersan - Cops | |
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points: -2


7:14 PM Jul 10