Snatch

Guy Ritchie might be my favorite director. I love his style, and it really shines here, more than in any other movie of his that I've seen. Snatch has a ton of good actors, all playing great characters. Each one contributes something, even if they’re only in a few scenes. It's consistently funny throughout, there's always something new and unexpected happening, and the way it all comes together is great.

I'm pretty sure I must have seen Snatch at some point. But I was only 14 when it came out, and I didn't remember it at all. I knew where the diamond ended up because I read a reference to it somewhere, but other than that and the fact that Brad Pitt played a gypsy, I didn't know anything about it.

I like Guy Ritchie's movies a lot, with the exception of Lock, Stock. Maybe I should watch it again. Or maybe not. Snatch seemed a lot like Rocknrolla and Layer Cake (not a Guy Ritchie movie), only a million times better. I don't know what the point of making Rocknrolla even was since he had already done Snatch. Lock, Stock would probably be similar enough that I wouldn't get anything out of it.
 
Snatch had me hooked right from the beginning. I love Jason Statham, although by the time I watched the second movie that I saw him in (The Bank Job, which incidentally, I didn't like him in), I had completely forgotten that he was in Snatch. To be fair, that was eight years later, which is a long time to remember an actor you've never seen in anything else.
 
But his character was great in Snatch. Although I didn't get why he needed to reference "zee Germans" three times. I loved his sidekick, too. I felt like I knew him from somewhere, but I don't think I really did, even though I've seen a few things that he's been in. I also felt like I had just seen the diamond guy and Brick Top as bad guys in similar movies, but apparently I hadn't.

Layer Cake

Layer Cake is your typical crime movie, but there are some interesting shots, characters, and events here and there, so it's worth watching if that's your thing.

Off to a slow start this year with only one movie a month so far. I don't know if I've ever actually known anyone who liked Layer Cake, but it's a name you hear thrown around, so I figured I should see it. I didn't know anything about it, but I do like Daniel Craig. His eyes are crazy blue. I wound up turning the subtitles on about a third of the way through, which I probably should've done to begin with, because it helped a lot.

RocknRolla

RocknRolla is a fun movie. I guess the plot is sort of original, but it mainly gets by on the likeability of the characters.

I guess I can officially say I like Guy Ritchie's stuff. The Man from U.N.C.L.E was great, and I liked Sherlock Holmes and Snatch (although I no longer remember the latter). RocknRolla really pulls you in. It's engaging right from the start, and the characters are all likeable. It's interesting how little Mumbles and One Two want to hurt people, considering their line of work.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Tinker Tailor Solider Spy is apparently about how pointless the Cold War was, or what a drag it is to be a spy, which doesn't exactly make for an enjoyable movie. It was interesting about half the time, though, and Gary Oldman's performance was great.

I wasn't interested in this when it came out; or before I watched it, frankly. I heard it was supposed to be good, but it just seemed boring. It did turn out to be about 50% boring. There were some parts where the suspense or storyline kicked in and it got interesting, mostly because of Tom Hardy or Gary Oldman.

Kingsman: The Secret Service

Kingsman: The Secret Service looks good, aside from the weird jumpy camera style they went with for a few of the fight scenes. There are some interesting ideas, but Eggsy's protégé character is totally one-note, and I would've liked it better if it had less immature violence and more parkour. 

I don't have many thoughts on Kingsman: The Secret Service that don't involve spoilers. It had just the right amount of "gadgets" to keep things interesting without being gimmicky. I was disappointed the parkour scene wasn't longer; they should've done more of that. And I hated the weird jumpy camera style of the fight scenes.

Cockneys vs. Zombies

Cockneys vs. Zombies was a cool idea, but the execution was atrocious. Nearly everything the characters did was illogical to the point of being obnoxious. I did like some of the characters, and it was funny at times, but you're better off just watching the trailer and pretending you've seen the movie. 

Cockneys vs. Zombies had a great trailer, so I was immediately interested. Roeper didn't review it, so I didn't have any help there. Reviews on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes were mixed. I felt like it was one of those movies where you would like it if you were predisposed to, so I kept it on my list.

That was a big mistake. This movie was terrible. The idea was cool - tough old people fighting zombies. But the execution was rough. It felt like some college kids got together and made a movie. The production value was just nonexistent. The zombies didn't look dead. They moved so slowly, I don't see how they could be a threat to anyone.

I haven't seen the classic zombie movies, but I think that's what they were going for with these zombies and effects; that and, they clearly had no money with which to make the movie. The effects were super fake and super gory at the same time. They were pretty gross. Even though the zombies were slow, I did still find them scary, but I'm easy to scare.

56 Up

56 Up was interesting, but I wouldn't try to watch it all in one sitting, and they should've delineated the classes more clearly.

For anyone who doesn't know, the premise of the "Up" documentaries is to take a bunch of people, and interview them/put out a documentary every 7 years, starting at age 7. Initially I think it was supposed to show contrast in socioeconomic status, and I think they should've stuck with that. My biggest problem with it was it didn't delineate clearly enough between the rich kids and the poor kids. I really had no idea who was who, with the exception of the one rich girl who never had to get a job.

Skyfall

This is the only James Bond movie I've ever seen. It was okay. Judy Dench is really old and wrinkly. Javier Bardem was a good villain.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

This movie was kind of frustrating. I didn't like all the tension of Hogwarts becoming a bad place, and I didn't like that Mrs. Figg was hurting people.

The Bank Job

This was the first Jason Statham movie I saw, and I wasn't really impressed.

I liked the 70's London setting. The "black power" subplot was lame, but I guess it was necessary since it really happened. Overall, it was too amateur and small-timey to be interesting, and I didn't find the ending to be realistic at all, probably because that's not even what happened.

In Bruges

Collin Farrell's eyebrows are the star of this movie. The first half is witty and amusing, but the movie loses some of its enjoyability when it turns serious, and the ending is too ambiguous for my taste.

Death at a Funeral

This is worth watching only because Alan Tudyk is brilliant in it. Other than that, the plot is rather un-interesting.

Hot Fuzz

The first half was great, but it lost something when it switched to action and dragged on for far too long

Love Actually

28 Weeks Later

This world is great. I think this movie was just as good as the first one. I liked the family theme, and the awesome music works just as well here as it did originally. I didn't like the ambiguous ending as much, though.

Keeping Mum