Since there are as many slow days from a quality news standpoint in this industry as there are, I figured I would go ahead and do a recap of some of the movies I have recently seen from my Netflix queue.  These will just be quick shots, mini-reviews of these dvd rentals; just my feelings on the films I have seen.  I’ll try to update a post like this every so often, once I have enough to report on.  Maybe every month or two, something along those lines. Just work with me on this, cool?  I’ll even throw in my Netflix rating, based on their 5-star system.  Not the same system I use here, so my official The Film Nest ratings might be different.  Anyway, here are the latest movie rentals I have seen from my Netflix queue.

Brooklyn’s Finest

Don Cheadle and Wesley Snipes in Brooklyn's Finest.

This is a movie I was really excited about upon first hearing about it, but then mediocre reviews led me to skip it in theaters.  (This is a common theme with many of my Netflix movies BTW.)  Nevertheless, the movie didn’t do it for me.  I was hoping for a mini-New Jack City or Training Day, but while in some ways it came off as Training Day 2, with Ethan Hawke still there, I’ve never been a huge Richard Gere fan, though he was fine here.  Visually the film was good looking, it just didn’t have any emotional resonance and the script was a bit jumbled.  Essentially a talking head movie, when I was hoping for something more action oriented.  The suspense was there, but something was just missing.  2 stars of 5

The Wolfman

Benicio really didn’t need much make-up to become the Wolfman, based on the original film.  Cheesy graphics didn’t help this.  The film had a strange tone.  Really, Emily Blunt’s character is going to fall for the Wolfman even though her husband/fiancee just died?  Silly really.  There wasn’t enough rhyme or reason to why certain things were the way they were in the film.  Hopkins was actually tolerable as Wolfman senior, but this was just a poor effort overall.  1 star/5

Edge of Darkness

Mel Gibson dreams of Oksana's fate. Just kidding. I think.

Mel Gibson’s return to the big screen before we heard the recent tapes from dude’s personal life.  He is thrashed, but again, I was down with seeing him return to his action roots.  Unfortunately, this was far too much if a talky to ever get too involved.  Where was the action? This was basically him investigating the entire time.  Disappointed.  The best part was (spoiler!) when that chick got killed by a car when exiting Mel’s vehicle. That was cool.  2 stars/5

Shutter Island

I’d already seen it in theaters, so you can see what I felt about it right here.  Very good movie.

The Book of Eli

Denzel and the Hughes Brothers sounded like an intriguing combination.  The look of the film was cool, with the washed out film stock.  I actually liked this about as much as I expected to.  I didn’t find the spiritual elements too overwhelming and actually thought that the end of the movie was pretty cool.  Maybe a little unrealistic for Denzel to care about the Mila Kunis character enough to worry about her the way he did, but it made for a decent film.  3 stars/5

Un Prophete (A Prophet)

This was a bit of an unexpected movie in terms of the way it played out.  It is set nearly entirely in prison, on the inside.  Not what I was expecting from a story about the rise of a kid into a gangster, baller.  Still, it was unique, a little gritty and pretty cool direction.  I was overall pleased.  If you can handle the foreign aspect of the film, I recommend it.  It was a little graphic in its violence and had some weird undertones with the ghost hanging around as much as he did, but still a nice work.  4 stars/5

The Burning Plain

I’ll watch a lot of Charlize Theron since I respect here so much as an actress.  This movie qualifies as one I wouldn’t otherwise have seen.  Catching Charlize naked was enough to make me finish the film.  Unfortunately, it all takes place the first five minutes of the movie.  Still, the story was interesting, if a little uneven.  I was down with the youngsters forbidden love storyline.  This was one of those full circle sort of films.  Not enough to recommend it highly though.  2 stars/5

I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell

Bad acting is the law in I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell.

I expected this to be unwatchable and it essentially was.  Its a guy movie through and through and yet it plays the happy-ending card at the end.  Completely lame, with marginal acting, an unbelievable story in some ways (that was supposedly based on true events); I am just shocked I actually sat through it all. A rare movie I watched during daylight hours just to finish the film.  Highly unrewarding in every way. 1 star/5

District 9 (Note: o.g. review not mine)

Saw it already last year and liked it enough to re-watch it. Not quite as good the second time through, but still an original story. Check it if you are a sci-fi fan. 4 stars/5

The future Kenneth Branagh-directed Marvel Universe film, Thor, has found it’s Odin (Thor’s father) in the go-to “grizzled old man,” Anthony Hopkins, reports “Variety,” today.

The casting process for this film has been a long one, with four names announced to this point, but the first coming way back in early July. The cast as-of-now reads: Chris Hemsworth (A Perfect Getaway) as Thor; Natalie Portman (the upcoming Oscar Bait film, Brothers) as Jane Foster, Thor’s love interest; English actor Tom Hiddleston as Loki, the supervillain; and now Hopkins, who can next be seen with Benecio Del Toro in The Wolf Man.

Hopkins is absolutely the first name that pops into producers heads when they need to find an elderly gentleman. It just has to be. It seems every single snow-topped male role goes to Hopkins. It’s for that exact reason he made his way on our list of 20 Actors Who May Want to Call it a Career. There’s no escaping him. I remain interested in what this film may have to offer, but that interest will be kept on hold for a while as the film isn’t slated for release until May 20, 2011. Until then, expect the next casting announcement to come in two months.

The title for Woody Allen’s new movie has officially been released.

According to “The Hollywood Reporter,” the title will be called You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. Allen, will serve as writer/director (naturally) and the Spanish company, Mediapro will produce. It will feature a talented cast of Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins and Naomi Watts. THR said, “Gemma Jones, Freida Pinto and Lucy Punch round out the cast in the film that revolves around different members of a family, their tangled love lives and their attempts to try to solve their problems.” Stranger is set for release next year and it will be Allen’s second collaboration with Medioprod, with two more being planned.

What can I say? Allen is one of the all-time greatest and I’m really excited to see his new film, especially since it feature Banderas, Brolin and one my favorite actresses, Naomi Watts. After deviating earlier this year with a comedy (Whatever Works), it appears Allen will travel back to the Spanish drama brought forth from his prior effort, Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Samuel L. Jackson proclaims to be a workaholic, and that may very well be true. It’s one of the major reasons he ended up on our 20 Actors Who Need To Call It A Career list. Woody Allen would never make it on such a list as long as I have a say, but the man is a machine. He’s consistently churned out at least one move per year since 1982! As writer and director and sometimes star. I’m aware that this fervent pace has caused more than a few people to feel the quality of his films has dipped severely, but you’re allowed to miss every once in a while when you can bring a gem like Match Point to the table.

Allen is returning to London were he made the triumvirate of Match Point, Scoop and Cassandra’s Dream. “He’s going, going, back, back, to London, London.” This time, he’s bringing Anthony Hopkins (another worthy addition to our aforementioned “20 Actors” list and Josh Brolin along with him. Like every Woody Allen project, nothing is known about any plot details, nor even a title at this point. Just cast.

Thanks to “Variety” for the great news. Allen currently has Whatever Works with my writing-idol Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood, wrapped up. No news as to when that will be released just yet, other than “sometime in 2009.”

I was turned on to Woody Allen in college and have been a huge fan of his since, so any news concerning an upcoming project of his is definitely welcome. Below is a scene from Play It Again, Sam, which he wrote and starred in, but did not direct. I think this catapulted him to prominence in my eyes:

Allen was also the subject of an episode of one my favorite TV shows, “Seinfeld.” “These pretzels are making me thirsty,” was instantly an iconic line.

As much as I like and respect Allen’s work ethic, and he does receive extra points for writing all his films, Alfred Hitchcock was the ultimate workaholic director. Hitch directed 1.13 movies per year over a 54-year career! That’s counting the latter span after his wife and closest collaborator had a stroke in which he directed only four films in 10 years. An absolute beast!