Movies I've Seen Recently Deserving of the Official Martin Seal of Approval(TM)

I've been watching a lot of movies lately at home during my free time. My love for seeing movies has been rejuvinated by the overwhelming amount of High-Def movie channels that DirecTV offers nowadays. Being an HD snob, these are about the only movies I watch, and its allowed me to catch up on several old movies that I've missed for one reason or another. HDNet Movies is a great channel, and it offers a ton of new (old) movies seemingly every week. There's also the standard HDNet channel, which I used to only watch for Arrested Development, but they throw movies in there occasionally too. Same w/ Universal HD. Then there's the usual HBO/Cinemax/Starz/Showtime, and they've been showing just about 100% of their movies in HD now. It's heaven.

I've also been watching several movies by streaming them from my computer to the TV via my PS3, which is awesome. Several of these movies haven't been released yet on DVD or cable, but I've been able to get a "sneak peek." Don't ask how.

My buddy Justin Meyer has this thing he likes to call the Official Justin Meyer Seal of Approval. We know that when he affixes this Seal to something, we're in good shape - whether its appoving the theme of an MVC weekend or a restaurant to eat at, if its got the Official Justin Meyer Seal, you know its quality.

While I will give credit where credit is due, this being the internet, I'm going to steal (borrow) this idea from him in making my movie selections. Like Justin, I won't be handing these things out willy-nilly...it will be an honor to be selected, and I only hope that one day the Official Martin Seal of Approval (OMSA) will gain a reputation comprable to the OJMSA, such that friends and consumers alike will know that if its got an OMSA on it, you know its not just good, it's good enough....



Hopefully soon I'll have an offical logo that itself gets the Official Martin Seal of Approval, but I don't yet. Perhaps, Mr. Lowrance - you can help me with that?

Anyway, on to the OMSA's. This is by no means comprehensive, and only applies to movies I've seen in the last month or so (but I've seen a lot in that month), and I'll try to include some movies that you may have missed or that slipped under many people's radar. In no particular order, other than the order I can remember, which probably means I've seen them most recently:

Gone Baby Gone - Casey Affleck stars, Ben Affleck directed. Luckily, Ben Affleck doesn't star in the movie, which helps. Excellent cast - Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Amy Ryan, and Sgt. Taggert from the Beverly Hills Cop movies. I don't know how, but Casey Affleck is becoming a hell of an actor. And when Ben Affleck sticks to things he knows (i.e. Boston, like in this movie and Good Will Hunting), good things happen.

Into the Wild - Emile Hirsch, nuff said. This guy is awesome - I've liked just about everything he's been in, and he's been awesome in just about all of those movies. Some people may think it slow. I think it amazing. Plus this guy reminds me of my buddy T Nelson from high school. Apparently directed by Sean Penn, a fact I didn't know til just this second when I linked to the IMDB page.

You Don't Mess With the Zohan - Adam Sandler. Let's get to the lighter side - I loved this movie. When Sandler goes over the top with his character, its definately risky, and can suck (see, e.g. Little Nicky), but here, it works. Something about that Isreali character he plays - the accent, the bad-assness, the silky smooth - gets me cracking up every time. I didn't love it at first, but the 2nd and 3rd times I watched it, it had me rollin and quoting the lines more and more. Which brings me to...

Nacho Libre - Jack Black. Directed by the guy who did Napoleon Dynamite. Its almost unfair to put one of JB's movies on the list, b/c this guy could just look at the camera for 5 minutes w/ a blank expression and I'd be rolling. Not a new movie, so I'm kinda cheating here, but since I've seen it again recently, I'll add it to the list. Like Zohan, I didn't love this at first, but I can't get enough of it now. That over the top spanish accent got to where I would laugh at about everything he said throughout the duration of the flick. So many great lines, that you just have to see/hear (over and over preferably) to appreciate.

The Mist - based on a Stephen King short story from way back (one of my favorite authors), and directed by the guy who did Shawshank (an ultimate classic which is the embodiment of everything the OMSA stands for, but not included on this list of "recently seen" movies). This movies stars mainly a bunch of B list actors, and has that kinda B movie feel, with A movie production/direction. I thought it stuck pretty damn close to the short story (which was a good thing since that story was flippin' sweet), with one major difference - the ending. The last 2-3 mintues of the movie are HUGELY different than the book, and instantly vaulted this movie up a notch in my rankings. Its not all about the ending though - the movie is intense and (slightly) scary throughout - in an anticipatory way, not "in your face", which I think makes a better scary movie/thriller.

The Dark Knight/Iron Man - OK, let me explain. These were both hugely popular this summer, and both widely acclaimed, so they're unlike many of the movies I've listed above. I liked both of these movies. Hell, I liked em a lot. Both were excellent. But when you go into The Dark Knight during the 2nd weekend its out, after hearing nonstop how a freakin awesome movie it was, one of the best of all time, best comic book movie ever hands down, etc., that's a lot to live up to. Nearly unmeetable expectations, and in fact, it didn't get there, in my opinion. Still a great movie. Heath Ledger stole every scene he was in - he lived up to everything I heard leading up to the movie. The rest of the movie was good, but it was still a comic book movie, and some of it was still very formulaic. In fact, I think I probably liked Spider-Man the 1st time I saw it better than I liked the Dark Knight the 1st time, so I'm not even sure its the best comic book movie out there.
Keep in mind, I really liked this movie, but we're talking the OMSA here - almost, but not quite. But since this is the Official "Martin" Seal of Approval here, and I can do what I want, I'm gonna combine the Dark Knight w/ Iron Man, and give them 1 OMSA to share. See them in a double feature. Both are really good, and at the end of the evening, you'll definately have that OMSA-like feeling...


OK, that's it, that's all I got for now. If I can think of some more, I'll add them in later posts. And watch out for future movies/games/tv shows/songs/people/places/ideas/theorems, etc. which will be awarded the Official Martin Seal of Approval(TM)(est. 9/18/08) - a brand that's trusted worldwide.